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

Quest. 24. Is it not a foolish wickedness, for that man to cry out ⟨p. 79⟩against making haste to heaven, and going so fast in the ways of God that hath loitered already till the evening of his days, and lost so much time as thou hast done? If thou hadst begun as soon as thou hadst the use of reason, and remembered thy Creator in the days of thy youth, and never lost an hour of thy time since then till now, thou hadst done no more then what thy God, thy soul, and all right reason required of thee! For surely he that made thee, hath in wisdom proportioned thy time to thy work, and hath not given thee an hour too much. A long life is short enough to prepare for everlasting. And shall a loitering Rebel that hath wasted so much of his little time, cry out, What needs so much ado?

Quest. 24. Is it not a foolish wickedness, for that man to cry out ⟨p. 79⟩against making haste to heaven, and going so fast in the wayes of God that hath loytered already till the evening of his dayes, and lost so much time as thou hast done? If thou hadst begun as soon as thou hadst the use of reason, and remembred thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth, and never lost an hour of thy time since then till now, thou hadst done no more then what thy God, thy soul, and all right reason required of thee! For surely he that made thee, hath in wisdom proportioned thy time to thy work, and hath not given thee an hour too much. A long life is short enough to prepare for everlasting. And shall a loytering Rebell that hath wasted so much of his little time, cry out, What needs so much ado?

Quest. 25. Is it not the graceless miserable sort of men, that cry out, What needs all this ado? Certainly it is: For Scripture, and Reason, and Experience tell us, that all that are godly, are of another mind: The more grace they have, the more they would have: The more they love God, the more they would love him. The more good they do, the more they would do. Do you not see how they labour after more grace? and hear how they complain that they are no better? O how it would glad them to be more Holy and more Heavenly! It is therefore the strangers and despisers of grace, that never knew by experience, the nature, and power, and sweetness of it, than say, It is more ado then needs. And is it not a most unreasonable thing for a man that hath no saving grace and holiness at all, to cry out against excess of holiness? And for a man that is in the captivity of the Devil, and ready suddenly to drop into Hell, if death do but strike the fatal blow, before he be regenerate, to talk against doing too much for heaven? And for a man that never did God one hours pleasing service, (