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

But if Man unquestionably have an End, it is either something that is Nobler or Baser then himself, and some state that is Better or Worse then that in which he seeks his end. Baser it cannot be: for that were Monstrous, that Baser things should be the End of the more Noble. Beasts are made for Man, and therefore not Man for Beasts. The Earth is made for Beasts and Men, and therefore we are not made for the Earth. Our Means is not our End. If you grant that we are made for God that made us (as nothing more sure) then How is it that God can be our End if there be no life but this? 1. Here we are but in seeking him, and still are forced to complain that we fall short. Here we are but in the use of means. 2. We find that our Knowledge, Desires, and Love, will here reach no higher then to carry us on towards that perfection that is in our eye, and not to satisfy the soul. The creature that doth attain his End, hath Rest in it, and is better then before. But we have nothing here like Rest, and should be in a worse condition hereafter, if we had no more. 3. Here we sin against the Lord, and wrong him more then we serve him: we know but little of him and his work; and serve and praise him but a little, and not according to the capacity of our nature. And therefore if he have not a higher end for us, and we a higher end to seek then any is in this world to be found, our Natures seem to be in vain. For my part, though it be in weakness, I must needs say it is my trade, and daily work to serve my God, and seek after an immortal blessedness: And if I thought that there were no such thing to be had▪ and no such use for me, I must needs stand still, and look about me, or in my practice unman my self by a brutish life, as I had brutified my self in my estimation and Intention. For what […] ⟨p. 139⟩I find to do in the world! What should I do with my Reason and Knowledge, or any faculty above a beast, if I had no higher a work and end then beasts? Verily, if I had lost the Hopes of another life, I knew not what to do with my self in the world! but must become some other creature, and live some other kind of life, then now I live.

But if Man unquestionably have an End, it is either something that is Nobler or Baser then himself, and some state that is Better or Worse then that in which he seeks his end. Baser it cannot be: for that were Monstrous, that Baser things should be the End of the more Noble. Beasts are made for Man, and therefore not Man for Beasts. The Earth is made for Beasts and Men, and therefore we are not made for the Earth. Our Means is not our End. If you grant that we are made for God that made us (as nothing more sure) then How is it that God can be our End if there be no life but this? 1. Here we are but in seeking him, and still are forced to complain that we fall short. Here we are but in the use of means. 2. We find that our Knowledge, Desires, and Love, will here reach no higher then to carry us on towards that perfection that is in our eye, and not to satisfie the soul. The creature that doth attain his End, hath Rest in it, and is better then before. But we have nothing here like Rest, and should be in a worse condition hereafter, if we had no more. 3. Here we sin against the Lord, and wrong him more then we serve him: we know but little of him and his work; and serve and praise him but a little, and not according to the capacity of our nature. And therefore if he have not a higher end for us, and we a higher end to seek then any is in this world to be found, our Natures seem to be in vain. For my part, though it be in weakness, I must needs say it is my trade, and daily work to serve my God, and seek after an immortal blessedness: And if I thought that there were no such thing to be had and no such use for me, I must needs stand still, and look about me, or in my practice unman my self by a brutish life, as I had brutified my self in my estimation and Intention. For what