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# A softly moderate pace will never win the prize
- URL: https://www.theholyfight.com/a-softly-moderate-pace-will-never-win-the-prize/
- Published: 2026-11-03T21:23:58.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-03T21:23:58.000Z
- Description: Thomas Watson, Heaven Taken by Storm
- Author: Sean Catlett
- Tags: Library, Thomas Watson

> If any shall ask us why we are so violent, tell them, it is for a Kingdom. If they shall ask us why we make such haste in the ways of religion, tell them, we are running an heavenly race, and a softly moderate pace will never win the prize.

**Thomas Watson**, *Heaven Taken by Storm* (1669)

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Thomas Watson (c. 1620–1686) was an English Puritan preacher. *Heaven Taken by Storm* was first published in 1669\. Spelling here is modernised; the words are his.

"Holy violence" is Watson's phrase for all-out, wholehearted effort toward God (Matthew 11:12).

More words from the saints who fought before us are in [the Library](https://www.theholyfight.com/tag/library/).