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

Quest. 18. Darest thou say that Christ doth more then needs, in his Intercession for us with the Father now in Heaven? It is he that sendeth the spirit to sanctify us: It is he that prayeth that we may be sanctified by the truth? We have no grace and holiness but what we have from him. And darest thou say he doth too much? It is he that sends his Ministers to call men to a holy life: Look into his Word, and see whether the doctrine which they preach be not there prescribed to them; and the duties of holiness there commended. If therefore it were erroneous or excessive, it would be long of Christ, and not of his Messengers or Disciples, that speak and do no more for holiness, then he bids them; but fall exceeding short.

Quest. 18. Darest thou say that Christ doth more then needs, in his Intercession for us with the Father now in Heaven? It is he that sendeth the spirit to sanctifie us: It is he that prayeth that we may be sanctified by the truth? We have no grace and holiness but what we have from him. And darest thou say he doth too much? It is he that sends his Ministers to call men to a holy life: Look into his Word, and see whether the doctrine which they preach be not there prescribed to them; and the duties of holiness there commended. If therefore it were erroneous or excessive, it would be long of Christ, and not of his Messengers or Disciples, that speak and do no more for holiness, then he bids them; but fall exceeding short.

Quest. 19. Art thou wiser in this, and more to be believed, then all the ancient Prophets, and Apostles, and servants of God in former ⟨p. 77⟩ages, and then all that are now alive on earth, that ever tried a holy life? The Scripture will tell thee that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, and all the rest of the Saints that were then most dear to God, were so far from thinking that a holy life was more then needs, that they thought they could never be holy enough, and blamed their defects when they excelled such as now thou blamest as too precise. And if thou wilt prefer the words and example of a worldling, or of a sottish sensual man, before the judgement and example of these Saints, the company that thou choosest, and the deceivers whom thou followest, shall be also thy companions in calamity, where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see the Saints from East and West, from North and South, sit down with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the Prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you, and such as you thrust out: Even when the last in time (whom you here despised) shall be equal to the first and ancient Saints,