be never nearer the prize, but rather the farther off? Just so is it
here; it is not simply the runner, nor yet the hasty runner, that
winneth the crown, unless he be in the way that leadeth thereto. I
have observed, that little time which I have been a professor, that
there is a great running to and fro, some this way, and some that way,
yet it is to be feared most of them are out of the way, and then, tho
they run as swift as the eagle can fly, they are benefited nothing at
all.

Here is one runs a-quaking, another a-ranting; one again runs after
the baptism, and another after the Independency: here is one for
Freewill, and another for Presbytery; and yet possibly most of all
these sects run quite the wrong way, and yet every one is for his
life, his soul, either for heaven or hell.

If thou now say, Which is the way? I tell thee it is Christ, the Son
of Mary, the Son of God. Jesus saith, "I am the way, the truth, and
the life; no man cometh to the Father but by me." So then thy business
is (if thou wouldst have salvation), to see if Christ be thine, with
all His benefits; whether He hath covered thee with His righteousness,
whether He hath showed thee that thy sins are washed away with His
heart-blood, whether thou art planted into Him, and whether you have
faith in Him, so as to make a life out of Him, and to conform thee
to Him; that is, such faith as to conclude that thou art righteous,
because Christ is thy righteousness, and so constrained to walk with
Him as the joy of thy heart, because he saveth thy soul. And for the
Lord's sake take heed, and do not deceive thyself, and think thou art
in the way upon too slight grounds; for if thou miss of the way, thou
wilt miss of the prize, and if thou miss of that I am sure thou wilt
lose thy soul, even that soul which is worth more than the whole