*3. Let not therefore any Christian content himself with his present state, or his past attainments in goodness; much less let him designedly aim at a slender degree, such as he thinks may just carry him to heaven. He may be mistaken in his measure, and when laid in the balance be found wanting: but suppose he be not, yet he stands in his own light, and is frugal to his own great loss: for, ’tis but an ill thrift to deal hardly for heaven, and to think to go thither the cheapest way; since beside the danger of miscarrying, so much as he abates of his holiness, so much he abates of his own perfection, and cuts short his own happiness: and where is the gain or the wisdom of such a thrift? ’Tis folly and loss all over. Let us not therefore rest satisfied with narrow and scanty measures, much less expresly design them: for besides, that ’tis not easy to _persevere_ in such a weak and languishing state of piety (every little blast of temptation being ready to blow out a lamp that is fed with so little oil:) suppose we should persevere in it, yet there is no getting over this consideration, that the more we come short in goodness, the more we shall fall short in happiness; that every abatement in the former is so much deducted from the latter, a jewel taken out of their crown. Therefore let no one who pretends to Christian prudence, sit down with a low infant-state of goodness, but let him endeavour to grow in grace, and always to abound in the work of the Lord: not contenting himself with his present state, but always studying to excel himself, to grow better and better, and to make a constant progress in religion, correcting what is amiss, and supplying what is wanting, and aspiring after the largest measures and fullest degrees of holiness, always remembring, that all the while he is thus serving God, he is consulting his own interest, and that the more goodness he brings with him to heaven, the more happiness he will find there. 4. In consequence of this, a prudent Christian will begin betimes, and set out early in the ways of piety; not only that he may have the advantage of the morning, the proper time for travelling, and the satisfaction of serving God in the prime of his age, and the vigour of his strength: but also that he may lengthen his day, and have the more time to serve God in, and to prepare himself for the fruition of him in glory; that he may have the more time before him, to correct his disorders, to fill up his deficiencies, to regulate his passions, to purify his heart, to perfect his habits, to adorn his soul with all Christian virtues; in a word, to compose the state and frame of his mind for happiness, and to put himself in a due order for heaven. For these reasons ’tis Christian prudence to begin betimes, to run the way of God’s commandments, and not to defer that work to the declining part of life, which is the one business of the whole.