A saint or a brute the certain necessity and excellency of holiness, &c. ...…

But sensual Pleasures are of so short continuance, that they are gone before we feel well that we have them. The drunkard, the glutton, the fornicator, the gamester are drinking but a sugared cup of poison: and merrily sowing the seeds of everlasting sorrow: Satan is but scratching them (as the butcher shaves the throat of the swine) before he kill them: One quarter of an hour ends the pleasure and leaves a damp of sadness in its room: He that hath had 40. or 50. years pleasures, hath no relish of it when it is past; but it is as if it had never been: and much worse. He that hath spent a day, or month, or year in Pleasure, hath no more at night, or at the years end, when it is gone, then he that spent that time in sorrow. The bones and dust of thousands lie now in the Church yard, that have tasted many a sweet cup and morsel, and have had many a merry wanton day: And are they now any better for it, then if they had never known it? And are not the poor and sorrowful there their equals? And doubtless their souls have as little of those pleasures as their dust. In Heaven they are abhorred: In Hell they are turned into tormenting flames, and remembered as fuel for the devouring fire. There are Gluttons, but no more good cheer: There are Drunkards, but no more drink: There are Fornicators, but no more lustful pleasures: There are the playful wasters of their time, but no more sport and recreation: There are the vain-glorious, ⟨p. 321⟩proud, ambitious souls, but not in glory, honour and renown; but their aspiring hath cast them into the gulf of misery, and their pride hath covered them with utter confusion, and their glory is turned to their endless shame. Those that are now overwhelmed with the wrath of God, and shut up under desperation, are the souls that lately wallowed here in the delights of the flesh, and enjoyed for a season the pleasures of sin; and now what fruit have they of all their former seeming happiness? He that is feasted and gallantly adorned and attended to day, is crying for a drop of water in vain tomorrow, Luk. 16. 23, 24, 25, 26. Christ tells you the gain of earthly riches, and the duration of earthly pleasures, to the ungodly, Luk. 6. 24, 25. [Woe to you that are rich, for you have received your consolation: Woe to you that are full, for you shall hunger: woe to you that laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.]