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

O had you but seen the Life to come, you would say, There is a Necessity of attaining it! Had you been one hour in Hell, you would think that there is a Necessity of escaping it, and that there is no Necessity to this.

O had you but seen the Life to come, you would say, There is a Necessity of attaining it! Had you been one hour in Hell, you wou'd think that there is a Necessity of escaping it, and that there is no Necessity to this.

What say you to all this? Is it not of Truth and Weight? Can you deny it? Or should you make light of it? None but an Infidel can deny it; and none but a dead-hearted sinner can make light of it. Believe the Word of God, and the Truth of it will be past question with you: Consider but that you are men that have immortal souls; and the weight of it will appear inestimable to you; above contempt; above neglect. Believe it Sirs, you may as well see without light, and breath without air, and be supported without earth, or live without food, as be saved without Holiness, or happy without the One thing necessary. Heb. 12. 14. John 3. 3, 5. Matth. 18. 3. And when this is resolved of by God, and stablished as his standing Law, and he hath told it you so oft and plainly, for any man now to say, [I will yet hope for better; I hope to be saved on easier terms, without all this ado] is no better then to let his face against the God of heaven, and instead of believing God, to believe the contradiction of his own ungodly heart; and to hope to be saved whether God will or not; and to give the lie to his Creator, under the pretence of trust, and hope: It is indeed to hope for impossibilities: To be ⟨p. 54⟩saved without Holiness, is to see without eyes, and to live without life: And who is so foolish as to hope for this? Few of you are so unreasonable as to hope for a crop at harvest, without ploughing or sowing; or for a house without building; or for strength without eating and drinking; or to sleep and play, when you have nothing to maintain your families, and say, You hope that God will maintain both you and them. And yet this were a far wiser kind of hope, then to hope to be saved without the One thing necessary to salvation; and without a heart that is set upon it, and a life that is employed for it. It is the Holy Ghost that calleth you to answer the question,