SECT. XII.
11. HOw forward and painful should we be in that work,* 1.1 where we are sure we can never do enough? If there were any danger of over-doing, then it might well cause men to moderate their endeavors: But we know, that if we could do all, we were but unprofitable servants;* 1.2 much more when we are sure to fail in all. It is true, a man may possibly pray too much, or preach too much, or hear, or reprove too much, (though I have known few that ever did so;) but yet no man can obey or serve God too much: For one duty may be said to be too long, when it shuts out another; and then it ceaseth indeed to be a duty. So that, though all Superstition, or service of our devising, may be call∣ed a Righteousness-over-much; yet as long as you keep your ser∣vice to the rule of the Word, that so it may have the true nature of obedience, you never need to fear being Righteous too much: For else we should reproach the Lord and Law-giver of the Church, as if he had commanded us to do too much. Ah, if the world were not mad with malice, they could never be so blind in this point as they are; to think that faithful diligence in serving Christ, is folly and singularity; and that they who set themselves wholy to seek eternal life, are but precise Puritans! The time is near when they will easily confess, that God could not be loved or served too much, and that no man can be too busie to save his Soul: For the world you may easily do too much, but here (in Gods way) you cannot.