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

12. And I the less believe you, because I find that this hath been the common speech of others in all former ages. They that lived in the days of your fathers, said so of the former times [It was formerly a better world then now.] And if you had lived in those days of your fathers fore-fathers, you would have heard them say the same. Its common with men to feel the evil that's present, and to praise the days that are past, whose evil they felt not, or have forgotten. But hear what God saith, Eccles. 7. 10. [Say not thou, What is the Cause that the former days were better then these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this.] Eccles. 1. 9. The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be: and that which is done, is that which shall be done, and there is no new thing under the Sun.]

12. And I the less believe you, because I find that this hath been the common speech of others in all former ages. They that lived in the dayes of your fathers, said so of the former times [It was formerly a better world then now.] And if you had lived in those dayes of your fathers fore-fathers, you would have heard them say the same. Its common with men to feel the evil thats present, and to praise the days that are past, whose evil they felt not, or have forgotten. But hear what God saith, Eccles. 7. 10. [Say not thou, What is the Cause that the former dayes were better then these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this.] Eccles. 1. 9. The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be: and that which is done, is that which shall be done, and there is no new thing under the Sun.]

13. And little cause have we to believe you, when we have present experience that your words are false. We see that those are the best, that are most Godly. He is blind that seeth not an exceeding difference betwixt them and such as you that speak against them. Do not we see that they are sober, when some of you are drunken? and that they are seeking heaven when you are seeking the world? and that they are providing for their souls and pleasing God, and employed in the most sweet and heavenly works, while you are pampering the flesh, or making provision to satisfy its lusts? Do we not hear their speeches are of God, and their salvation, and things that edify, while you curse or swear, or talk filthily, or idly and unprofitably like dreaming or distracted men? And yet would you make us believe that you are as good as they, and that Religion makes men worse?