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

So great is the difference between a dreaming Opinion in Religion (called a De•• Faith); and a serious, hearty, practical Belief, that if they that say (and do but say) they believe the holy Scriptures, and yet are ungodly, had soundly Believed, Considered and digested this very Text, it would have made such a change both in their Hearts and Lives, as would have told them by happy experience, that the Gospel is not a dead letter, nor saving faith a lifeless uneffectual thing; and that God sent not his son into the world only to be complemented with, and reverently treated with a few good words; nor his Gospel and Ministers merely to be entertained with a demure, silent, and respectful audience; nor hath proposed his Kingdom to be merely the matter of commendation or discourse: But that as man is a creature of a Noble and Capacious Nature, so he hath an high and noble End, and consequently the highest employment for his Reason; and that Religion is the most NECESSARY, and must be the most SERIOUS business in the world. Did they believe this Text, as verily as they pretend to believe the Gospel, it would help to the recovery of the understandings of the Ambitious, and make the proud ashamed of their glory, and settle the drunken aspiring minds of those that think it worth more than their salvation, to sit upon the highest perch: It would call off the covetous worldling from his immoderate seeking provisions for the flesh, and save them that are drowned in the cares of this life, by showing them the true and necessary treasure: It would spare them many a vexatious thought, and a great deal of unnecessary labour, and prevent the shame and horror that must befall them, when in the end they find their labour lost, and all their expectations frustrate: It would quickly stop the mouths which prejudice, ignorance, malignant enmity ⟨p. 3⟩and deliration, have opened against a life of faith and serious Godliness; and cause them that scorn it as a Needless thing, to make it their daily business and delight. It would tell the sluggish senseless sinner, that he hath work of everlasting consequence upon his hand, and that it is no time to dream or loiter: And it would tell the brutish sensualist that there are more sweet and durable delights; and the time-wasting fool that time is precious, and he hath none to spare and cast away, having so great a work to do.

So great is the difference between a dreaming Opinion in Religion (called a De•• Faith); and a serious, hearty, practical Belief, that if they that say (and do but say) they believe the holy Scriptures, and yet are ungodly, had soundly Believed, Considered and digested this very Text, it would have made such a change both in their Hearts and Lives, as would have told them by happy experience, that the Gospel is not a dead letter, nor saving faith a lifeless uneffectual thing; and that God sent not his son into the world only to be complemented with, and reverently treated with a few good words; nor his Gospel and Ministers meerly to be entertained with a demure, silent, and respectful audience; nor hath proposed his Kingdom to be meerly the matter of commendation or discourse: But that as man is a creature of a Noble and Capacious Nature, so he hath an high and noble End, and consequently the highest imployment for his Reason; and that Religion is the most NECESSARY, and must be the most SERIOUS business in the world. Did they believe this Text, as verily as they pretend to believe the Gospel, it would help to the recovery of the understandings of the Ambitious, and make the proud ashamed of their glory, and settle the drunken aspiring minds of those that think it worth more than their salvation, to sit upon the highest pearch: It would call off the covetous worldling from his immoderate seeking provisions for the flesh, and save them that are drowned in the cares of this life, by shewing them the true and necessary treasure: It would spare them many a vexatious thought, and a great deal of unnecessary labour, and prevent the shame and horrour that must befall them, when in the end they find their labour lost, and all their expectations frustrate: It would quickly stop the mouthes which prejudice, ignorance, malignant enmity