Perseverance in goodnesse, enjoyned. [ 1988]
IT is the part of a good Workman not to leave his work imperfect;* 1.1 A good Physitian will not forsake his Patient when he hath done but half his cure; The Husbandman gives not over, when he hath sowen but some part of his ground; And he that doth but half build an house, is but half a Carpenter: So he that entereth into the way of Christianity, and standeth still is but half a Christian, the greatest part of his-work is yet behind; It is not enough to be∣gin well, but to continue in well-doing, It is not so much the entrance into, as the Perseverance in goodnesse that is required; God left not that great work of the Creation in the first or second day thereof, but in six dayes finished it to the glo∣ry of his name; nor as then in the generation of the Creatures, but now also in their Regeneration,* 1.2 Whom he loveth, he loveth to the end; and the good work that he hath begun in any shall be perfected; having then so fair a coppy to write by,* 1.3 so good an example to live by, let us so run that we may obtain, so sail in the Sea of this World that we never give over till we arrive in the desi∣red Heaven, so to begin as to be sure to make an end; that it may be never said to our great and just reproach, This Man began to build, but was not able to fi∣nish, Luk. 14. 30.