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

Quest. 11. Doth not Reason tell thee, that the place in which thou must live for ever, should be more diligently minded (and prepared for) then this in which thou must continue but for a while? Alas, it is so short a time that we must be here, that it makes all the matters of this world (as such) to be inconsiderable things, as dreams and shadows. What great matter is it for so short a time, ⟨p. 74⟩whether we be rich or poor, well or sick, in credit or in contempt! whether we laugh or weep! When our part will be so quickly acted, and we must go naked out of the world as we came into it. For so short a time, a poor habitation may serve the turn, as well as the most splendid Palace: A painful, obscure, afflicted life, may do as well as the most plentiful provisions, and the greatest ease and worldly honours. The purple and fine linen, the silks and bravery will be soon forgotten; and the soul in Hell will be no more the better for them, then the rotten carcass in the grave. The taste of the delicious meats and drinks will quickly be forgotten: and sportful youth will be turned into cold and languid age: and the most confirmed health into dolorous sickness; and mirth and laughter into mournful groans. And is such a transitory life as this, more worthy of your care and greatest diligence, then life eternal? O one would think that the world that you must be ever, ever in, should never, never be forgotten! There is the company that you must live with for ever: There is the state that you shall never change: There is the Joy or Torment that shall have no end; and while you forget it, you are posting to it, and are almost there. And can you be too careful for eternity?

Quest. 11. Doth not Reason tell thee, that the place in which thou must live for ever, should be more diligently minded (and prepared for) then this in which thou must continue but for a while? Alas, it is so short a time that we must be here, that it makes all the matters of this world (as such) to be inconsiderable things, as dreams and shadows. What great matter is it for so short a time, ⟨p. 74⟩whether we be rich or poor, well or sick, in credit or in contempt! whether we laugh or weep! When our part will be so quickly acted, and we must go naked out of the world as we came into it. For so short a time, a poor habitation may serve the turn, as well as the most splendid Palace: A painful, obscure, afflicted life, may do as well as the most plentiful provisions, and the greatest ease and worldly honours. The purple and fine linnen, the silks and bravery will be soon forgotten; and the soul in Hell will be no more the better for them, then the rotten carkase in the grave. The taste of the delicious meats and drinks will quickly be forgotten: and sportful youth will be turned into cold and languid age: and the most confirmed health into dolorous sickness; and mirth and laughter into mournful groans. And is such a transitory life as this, more worthy of your care and greatest diligence, then life eternal? O one would think that the world that you must be ever, ever in, should never, never be forgotten! There is the company that you must live with for ever: There is the state that you shall never change: There is the Joy or Torment that shall have no end; and while you forget it, you are posting to it, and are almost there. And can you be too careful for eternity?