7. _Thou art not far from the kingdom of_ God, was just such a cast as this: and _yet lackest thou one thing_, was such another. These men’s religion had carried them a good way, and they were well onward in their journey to heaven; but it tired, and grew faint in the latter stages of the road, which was found either too narrow or too long, and so they stopped short, and made an eternal halt, when a little more resolution would have carried them through. The same thing we now see every day; there are many who have a liking to religion, who have had a good natural disposition, assisted by a religious education. Nor are they only inclined to religion, but partly practise it; they do many things, and forbear others. All goes on hopefully toward a thorough conversion; they are already past the most painful part of it, and are now upon the critical point; so that a grain or two more would turn the scale; insomuch, that there begins to be joy in heaven, and the angels are tuning their harps: yet there wants a little more weight on the side of religion, for want of which the counter-weight prevails against it; against reason, religion and divine grace together. They have indeed the workings of religion upon them; they feel several pangs of the new-birth; but after all, they want strength to bring forth. 8. The imprudence of this lame way of serving God (which I was to shew in the second place) appears first from this, that it is insufficient. Such a half religion can never hold weight in the balance of the sanctuary. Such men, ’tis true, are almost good; but almost to hit the mark is really to miss it. For religion consists in an entire love of God, and an effectual resolution to obey him. Even a bad man may love what is good in some degree, but not with an effectual, prevailing love. This therefore is what denominates a man good, when religion is the commanding ♦bias of his soul. And none but those who are thus thoroughly good, are so good as to be fit for happiness. To make us capable of that, there must be a peculiar frame of mind, to affect which in us is the one business of religion. And if it does this only almost, and by halves, as it can never bring us to heaven, so neither if it could, would it be able to make us happy there. ♦ “biass” replaced with “bias”