pearls

But when thou art Prodigal of thy soul, will God be prodigal too, for thy sake, and betray and prostitute the kingdome of Heaven, for a sigh, or a groan, in which thy pain may have a greater part than they repentance? God can raise up children out of the stones of the street and therefore he might be as liberal as he would of his people, and suffer them to be sold for old shoes; but Christ will not sell his birth-right for a messe of pottage, the kingdome of Heaven, for the dole at a Funeral. Heaven is not to be had in exchange for an Hospital, or a Chantry, or a Colledge erected in thy last will: It is not onely the selling all we have, that must buy that pearl, which represents the kingdome of Heaven; The giving of all that we have to the poor, at our death, will not do it; the pearl must be sought, and found before, in an even, and constant course of Sanctification; we must be thrifty all our life, or we shall be too poor for that purchase.

John Donne, "A Sermon Preached at Greenwich, Aprill 30. 1615"