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

6. Holiness in the godly is the Image of God, in which we were created: and according to which we are renewed by the Holy Ghost. Eph. 4. 24. Col. 3. 10. Gen. 1. 27. And what can be spoken more Honourable of a creature, then that he hath his Makers Image▪ unless as to the Degree, that some have more of it ⟨p. 244⟩then others. It is the honourable Title of the Son himself, that he [is the Brightness of his Fathers glory, and the express image of his person] This is above the honour of any, or of all the Saints. But to have the Image of God in Wisdom, and Holiness, as all have that are sanctified, is a wonderful dignity to be given to a creature, and so low and unworthy creatures as we are. His commands tell us what are the qualifications of his people. [As he which hath called you is Holy, so be ye Holy, in all manner of conversation: For it is written, Be ye Holy, for I am Holy.] 1 Pet. 1. 15, 16. And how high a command, and strait a Rule is that, given us by Christ, Matth, 5. 48. [Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect!] Well may it be called an exceeding Righteousness, surpassing the Scribes and Pharisees, which all have that enter into the Heavenly Kingdom, Matth. 5. 20. There is nothing under Heaven, that is known to man so like to God, as a Holy soul. Remember this the next time you reproach such. All you that are the Serpents •eed, remember when you spit your venom against Holiness, that it is the Image of God that your enmity is exercised against. O what a strange conjunction of malignity and hypocrisy appeareth in the enemies of God among us! A picture of Christ that is drawn by a Painter, or a forbidden Image of God that is carved by an Image-maker in stone, that hath nothing but the name of an Image of God, these they will reverence, and honour, (though God hath forbidden them to make such Images of him) The Papists will […] before them, and the profane among us are zealous for them: when in the mean time they hate the noblest Images of God on earth. Forbidden Images of God have been defended, by seeking the blood of his truest Images. Do you indeed Love and Honour the Image of God? Why then do you hate them, and seek to destroy them? And why do you make them the scorn of your continual malice? Can you blow hot and cold? Can you both Love and Hate, both Honour and Scorn, the Image of God?