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

Necessity makes the Traveller trudge from morning till night; and the Carrier to follow his horses through fair and foul from year to year; it makes some dig into the bowels of the earth, in mines and coal-pits; and some to hale Barges; and some to cut through the terrible Ocean, and venture their lives among the raging waves and storms; and some even to beg their bread in rags from door to door: And O what will not Necessity do that can be done? And yet how many thousands trifle or do nothing for their souls, as if there were no Necessity of being saved; or no Necessity of being Holy that we may be saved. When alas, all the Necessity in the world, is no necessity at all, in comparison of this. You must beg, or starve, or famish, if you ⟨p. 53⟩do not work: But you must burn in Hell, if with fear and diligence you work not out your own salvation, Phil. 2. 12. (for all that it is God that worketh in you). You must lie in prison if your debts be not paid: But you will be cast into outer darkness, if by the pardon of your sins, you be not discharged from your debt to God. You may become beggars if you be idle in your Callings: But you will be the prisoners of Hell, and shut out of all the Happiness of the Saints, if you labour not for the food that doth not perish, and strive not to enter in at the strait gate, and give not diligence to make your Calling and Election sure. John 6. 27. Matth. 7. 13. Luke 13. 24. 2 Pet. 1. 10. You must suffer hunger and nakedness, if you have not food and raiment: But you must suffer everlastingly the wrath of God, if you have not the One thing necessary. You will be the scorn and laughingstock of men, if you fall under their contempt and lose your honour: But you will be the enemies of God, and hated by him, if you continue to contemn his grace.

Necessity makes the Traveller trudge from morning till night; and the Carryer to follow his horses through fair and foul from year to year; it makes some dig into the bowells of the earth, in mines and cole-pits; and some to hale Barges; and some to cut through the terrible Ocean, and venture their lives among the raging waves and storms; and some even to beg their bread in rags from door to door: And O what will not Necessity do that can be done? And yet how many thousands trisle or do nothing for their souls, as if there were no Necessity of being saved; or no Necessity of being Holy that we may be saved. When alas, all the Necessity in the world, is no necessity at all, in comparison of this. You must beg, or starve, or famish, if you