The Works of Thomas Watson

by Thomas Watson

I wonder whence the Scriptures should come—if not from God. Bad men could not be the authors of it. Would their minds be employed in inditing such holy lines? Would they declare so fiercely against sin? Good men could not be the authors of it. Could they write in such a strain? or could it stand with their grace to counterfeit God's name, and put, "Thus says the Lord," to a book of their own devising? Nor could any angel in heaven be the author of it, because the angels pry and search into the abyss of gospel mysteries, which implies their ignorance of some parts of Scripture; and surely, they cannot be the authors of that book which they themselves do not fully understand.

"Be holy, for I am holy." There is a twofold holiness; a holiness of equality, and a holiness of similitude. A holiness of equality, no man or angel can reach to. Who can be equally holy with God? Who can parallel him in sanctity? But there is a holiness of similitude, and that we must aspire after—to have some analogy and resemblance of God's holiness in us—to be as like him in holiness as much as we can. Though a candle does not give so much light as the sun—yet it resembles it. We must imitate God in holiness.