They that will go to heaven must run for it, because, as the way is
long, so the time in which they are to get to the end of it is very
uncertain; the time present is the only time: it may be thou hast no
more time allotted thee than that thou now enjoyest: "Boast not
thyself of to-morrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring
forth." Do not say, I have time enough to get to heaven seven years
hence; for I tell thee the bell may toll for thee before seven days
more be ended; and when death comes, away thou must go, whether thou
art provided or not; and therefore look to it--make no delays--it is
not good dallying with things of so great concernment as the
salvation or damnation of thy soul. You know, he that hath a great
way to go in a little time, and less by half than he thinks of, he
had need to run for it.
They that will have heaven must run for it, because the devil, the
law, sin, death, and hell, follow them. There is never a poor soul
that is going to heaven, but the devil, the law, sin, death, and
hell make after that soul. "Your adversary the devil, as a roaring
lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour." And I will assure
you the devil is nimble; he can run apace, he is light of foot, he
hath overtaken many, he hath turned up their heels, and hath given
them an everlasting fall. Also the law, that can shoot a great way;
have a care thou keep out of the reach of those great guns the ten
commandments. Hell also hath a wide mouth; it can stretch itself
further than you are aware of. And as the angel said to Lot, "Take
heed; look not behind thee, neither tarry thou in all the
plain"--that is, anywhere between this and the mountain--"lest thou
be consumed;" so say I to thee, Take heed; tarry not, lest either
the devil, hell, death, or the fearful curses of the law of God, do
overtake thee and throw thee down in the midst of thy sins; then
thou, as well as I, wouldst say, They that will have heaven must run
for it.
They that go to heaven must run for it, because, perchance, the
gates of heaven may be shut shortly. Sometimes sinners have not
heaven's gates open to them so long as they suppose, and if they be
once shut against a man, they are so heavy that all the men in the
world and all the angels in heaven are not able to open them. "I
shut, and no man can open," saith Christ. And how if thou shouldst
come but one quarter of an hour too late? I tell thee it will cost
thee an eternity to bewail thy misery in. Francis Spira [Footnote:
Francis Spira, an eminent lawyer of Padua, Italy, flurished in the
first half of the sixteenth century. He embraced the reformed
religion, and advocated evangelical sentiments with very great zeal.
But at legnth, terrified by the threats of the papal church, he made
a public recantation of his religious opinions. His apostasy from
the faith threw him into despair, and amid intolerable mental
agonies, refusing all sustenance and comfort, and affirming his
certain condemnation for having abjured the known truth, he
miserably expired. See Sleidan's History of the Reformation, page
475.] can tell thee what it is to stay till the gate of mercy be
quite shut; or to run so lazily that they be shut before thou get
within them. What, to be shut out--what, out of heaven! Sinner,
rather than lose it, run for it; yea, and "so run that thou mayest
obtain."
Be not daunted though thou meetest with never so many
discouragements in thy journey thither. That man that is resolved
for heaven, if Satan cannot win him by flatteries, he will endeavor
to weaken him by discouragements, saying, Thou art a sinner, thou
hast broke God's law, thou art not elected, thou comest too late,
the day of grace & past, God doth not care for thee, thy heart is
naught, thou art lazy--with a hundred other discouraging
suggestions. Then thou must encourage thyself with the freeness of
the promises, the tender-heartedness of Christ, the freeness of his
invitations to come in, the greatness of the sin of others that have
been pardoned, and that the same God through the same Christ holdeth
forth the same grace free as ever. If these be not thy meditations,
thou wilt draw very heavily in the way to heaven if thou do not give
up all for lost; therefore I say, take heart in thy journey, and say
to them that seek thy destruction, "Rejoice not against me, O my
enemy, for when I fall I shall arise, when I sit in darkness the
Lord shall be a light unto me."
Let me give thee a few motives along with thee. It may be they will
be as good as a pair of spurs to prick on thy lumpish heart in this
rich journey.
1. Consider there is no way but this; thou must either win or lose.
If thou winnest, then heaven, God, Christ, glory, ease, peace, life,
yea, life eternal, are thine; thou shalt be made equal to the angels
in heaven; thou shalt sorrow no more, sigh no more, feel no more
pain; thou shalt be out of the reach of sin, hell, death, the devil,
the grave, and whatever else may endeavor thy hurt.
But contrariwise, if thou lose, then thy loss is heaven, glory, God,
Christ, ease, peace, and whatever else tends to make eternity
comfortable to the saints; besides, thou procurest eternal death,
sorrow, pain, blackness and darkness, fellowship with devils,
together with the everlasting damnation of thy own soul.
2. Consider that this devil, this hell, death, and damnation follow
after thee as hard as they can, and have their commission so to do
by the law, against which thou hast sinned; and therefore for thy
soul's sake make haste.
3. If they seize upon thee before thou get to the city of refuge,
they will put an everlasting stop to thy journey. This also cries,
Run for it.
4. Know also, that now heaven-gates, the heart of Christ with his
arms are wide open to receive thee O methinks that this
consideration, that the devil followeth after to destroy, and that
Christ standeth open-armed to receive, should make thee reach out
and fly with all haste and speed!
5. Keep thine eyes upon the prize: be sure that thine eyes be
continually upon the profit thou art like to get. The reason why men
are so apt to faint in their race for heaven, lies chiefly in either
of these two things:
(1.) They do not seriously consider the worth of the prize; or else
if they do, they are afraid it is too good for them. Therefore keep
thine eye much upon the excellency, the sweetness, the beauty, the
comfort, the peace that is to be had there by those that win the
prize.
(2.) And do not let the thoughts of the rareness of the place make
thee say in thy heart, This is too good for me; for I tell thee,
heaven is prepared for whosoever will accept of it, and they shall
he entertained with hearty good welcome.
6. Think much of them that are gone before; how safe they are in the
arms of Jesus. Would they be here again for a thousand worlds? Or if
they were, would they be afraid that God would not make them
welcome? What would they judge of thee if they knew thy heart began
to fail thee in thy journey, or thy sins began to allure thee and to
persuade thee to stop thy race? Would they not call thee a thousand
fools, and say, O that he did but see what we see, feel what we
feel, and taste of the dainties that we taste of? O if he were one
quarter of an hour to behold, to feel, to taste, and enjoy but the
thousandth part of what we enjoy, what would he do? What would he
suffer? What would he leave undone? Would he favor sin? Would he
love this world below? Would he be afraid of friends, or shrink at
the most fearful threatenings that the greatest tyrants could invent
to give him? Nay, those who have had but a sight of these things by
faith, when they have been as far off from them as heaven from
earth, yet they have been able to say with a comfortable and merry
heart as the bird that sings in the spring, that this and more shall
not stop them from running to heaven. Sometimes when my base heart
hath been inclining to this world, and to loiter in my journey
towards heaven, the very consideration of the glorious saints and
angels in heaven hath caused me to rush forward--to disdain these
poor, low, empty, beggarly things, and say to my soul, Come soul,
let us not be weary; let us see what this heaven is; let us even
venture all for it, and try if that will quit the cost. Surely
Abraham, David, Paul, and the rest of the saints of God, were as
wise as any are now, and yet they lost all for this glorious
kingdom.
7. To encourage thee a little further, set to work, and when thou
hast run thyself down weary, then the Lord Jesus will take thee up
and carry thee. Is not this enough to make any poor soul begin his
race? Thou perhaps criest, "O, but I am feeble, I am lame;" well,
but Christ has a bosom; consider, therefore, when thou hast run
thyself down weary, he will put thee in his bosom. "He shall gather
the lambs with his arms, and carry them in his bosom." This is the
way that fathers take to encourage their children, saying, Run,
sweet babe, until thou art weary, and then I will take thee up and
carry thee.