A29686:194
A cabinet of choice jewels, or, A box of precious ointment being a plain…A cabinet of choice jevvels, or, A box of precious ointment being a plain…
A cabinet of choice jewels, or, A box of precious ointment being a plain discovery of, or, what men are worth for eternity, and how 'tis like to go with them in another world ... / by Thomas Brooks ...A cabinet of choice jevvels, or, A box of precious ointment being a plain discovery of, or, what men are worth for eternity, and how 'tis like to go with them in another world ... / by Thomas Brooks ...
London : Printed and are to be sold by John Hancock ..., 1669
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
The Ninth Maxim or Consideration.
Ninthly, Consider this, That in divers men there are §9divers degrees of Assurance, and in one and the same gracious Soul, there are different degrees of Assurance at divers times, but there is in no man at any time in this life, perfection of degrees, for our understanding and knowledge in this Life is imperfect, both as to the faculty and its acts, 1 Cor. 13.12. For now we see through a glass darkly (Gr. in a Riddle) but then face to face: Now I know in part, but then shall I know even *as also I am known. A clear distinct, immediate, full and perfect knowledge of God is desirable on earth, but we shall never attain to it till we come to Heaven, this Well is deep, and for the most part we want a Bucket to draw withal, the best of men can better tell what God is not, than what he is; the most acute and judicious in Divine knowledge, have and must acknowledge their ignorance, witness that great Apostle Paul, who learned his Divinity among the Angels, and had the Holy Ghost for his immediate Tutor, yet he confesses that he knew but in part; certainly there is no man under heaven that hath such a perfect, complete and full assurance of his Salvation (in an ordinary way) as that one degree cannot be added to the former; Neither is there any repugnancy in asserting an infallible assurance, and denying a perfect assurance, for I infallibly know that there is a God, and that this God is holy just and true, and yet I have no perfect knowledge of a Deity, nor of the holiness justice and truth of God, for in this life the most knowing man knows but in part: Dear friends, in the Church of Christ there are Believers of several growths, there are Fathers, young men, Children and Babes, 1 John 1.13, 14.