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

And is it not a pitiful thing that men of reason, should vex themselves, and coil their bodies, and suffer hunger, and thirst, and weariness, and make such a stir and pother in the world, and all for nothing, and in a vain show? How many mornings have you risen to your labour, and how many days and years have you spent in it, and now it is all lost? How many thoughts and fears, and cares, have possessed and pestered your minds, and now they are all lost? Some of you have followed your trades, and some your husbandry, and some have run up and down after recreations: some of you have been scraping riches, and some contriving to keep up their reputation, and some to satisfy their appetites, and live in pleasure and contentment to the flesh; and now look back upon all that you have done and gotten, and tell your selves whether all this be not lost, yea alas much worse then lost: If you be not ready to pass this conclusion at the very heart, it is because your hearts are yet blinded and hardened in sin; but God will soon bring that to your hearts, that shall convince you of it. If God have made use of any worldly sensual person of you, for public good, of Church or state, as men do of thorns for hedging to their lands, or of briars to stop a gap, or of fire-wood to warm their family; yet as to any durable benefit to your selves, I may well say that all your Labour is lost.

And is it not a pittiful thing that men of reason, should vex themselves, and coil their bodies, and suffer hunger, and thirst, and weariness, and make such a stir and pudder in the world, and all for nothing, and in a vain shew? How many mornings have you risen to your labour, and how many dayes and years have you spent in it, and now it is all lost? How many thoughts and fears, and cares, have possessed and pestred your minds, and now they are all lost? Some of you have followed your trades, and some your husbandry, and some have run up and down after recreations: some of you have been scraping riches, and some contriving to keep up their reputation, and some to satisfie their appetites, and live in pleasure and contentment to the flesh; and now look back upon all that you have done and gotten, and tell your selves whether all this be not lost, yea alas much worse then lost: If you be not ready to pass this conclusion at the very heart, it is because your hearts are yet blinded and hardened in sin; but God will soon bring that to your hearts, that shall convince you of it. If God have made use of any worldly sensual person of you, for publick good, of Church or state, as men do of thorns for hedging to their lands, or of bryars to stop a gap, or of fire-wood to warm their family; yet as to any durable benefit to your selves, I may well say that all your Labour is lost.