Remember the Lord, who has given you the talent, for he shall require it again with usury. That the one talent may not be taken from you, put it to usury, according to the command of the Lord, who has given you the talent. Matt. 15:19.
I say to you through the grace of God, that ye be valiant, and walk as become the saints of God. Consider what the Lord metes out to idle servants; namely, to utterly lukewarm and slothful hearts, unfit and cold for all love to God and the brethren. You have experienced what I now write.
Be admonished by this, lest God let a like punishment come upon you. Beware, beware of such as act contrary to the command of God lest ye learn their abominations; but reprove it with strict attention, and excommunication, according to the command of Christ, yet with all love and compassion for their cold hearts. Matt. 18:17. If you do this, you shall readily see how the flock of God dwells among the wolves (Acts 20:29), and shall witness a brief and speedy separation of those who will not walk in the right paths and living ways of Christ, namely, through crosses, misery, imprisonment, self-denial, and ultimately through death. Then you can present yourselves to God your heavenly Father, a pure, godly, true church of Christ, which is cleansed through his blood (Eph. 5:26), that it may be holy and unblamable in the sight of God and men, separated from all idolatry and abomination, and redeemed, that the Lord of all dominion may dwell in it, and that it may be a tabernacle unto him. Beloved brethren, understand whether what I write unto you be truth, and use diligence to walk according to it. Let no one divert you from your aim, as has been the case with some even until now; but go straight on in all patience, without deviating, that you do not take up the cross which God has laid upon you, only to lay it down contrary to the honor and praise of God, and to the transgression and violation of his eternal, true, just, and life-giving commandments.
Do not become weary, if you are chastened of the Lord (Heb. 12:5); for whom God loves he chastens, even as a father that is well pleased with his son. To what will you have recourse, if you would flee from God? What can help you if you forsake God? Is it not God who fills heaven and earth? Does he not know all the secrets of thy vain heart, and the lasciviousness of thy reins? All things are manifest to him, and there is nothing concealed from him. Vain man, whither will you go, that God shall not see you? Why do you flee the rod of your Father? (Heb. 12:8). If you will not be chastened according to the will of the Father, you cannot inherit his riches. Why do you love a short and transient rest more than the godly and moderate correction and chastisement of the Lord to your salvation? How long will you eat flesh of the fat of Egypt? How long will you be carnally-minded? (Rom. 8:8). The flesh perishes, and all its glory; the word of the Lord alone abides forever.
Beloved brethren, mark what I write to you; for it is necessary, since you see that there are but few who will endure the chastening of the Lord; for by far the greater number when they suffer a little in the flesh, become faint and weary, and do no longer look unto Jesus, the Captain and Finisher of our faith. They also forget all his commandments, and esteem the jewel which the calling of God every where presents and points out to those that overcome of small value; but they regard this temporal rest, which is before their eyes as far better and more profitable, than the eternal for which we must hope. Moreover, there are some who, when this is presented to them, accuse God, though very unjustly, of not being willing to keep them under his protection. You know whom I mean, take heed that you have no fellowship with them.