A29687:26
The crown & glory of Christianity, or, Holiness, the only way to happiness discovered…The crovvn & glory of Christianity, or, Holiness, the only way to happiness discovered…
The crown & glory of Christianity, or, Holiness, the only way to happiness discovered in LVIII sermons from Heb. 12. 14, where you have the necessity, excellency, rarity, beauty and glory of holiness set forth, with the resolution of many weighty questions and cases, also motives and means to perfect holiness : with many other things of very high and great importance to all the sons and daughters of men, that had rather be blessed then cursed, saved then damned / by Thomas Brooks ...The crovvn & glory of Christianity, or, Holiness, the only way to happiness discovered in LVIII sermons from Heb. 12. 14, where you have the necessity, excellency, rarity, beauty and glory of holiness set forth, with the resolution of many weighty questions and cases, also motives and means to perfect holiness : with many other things of very high and great importance to all the sons and daughters of men, that had rather be blessed then cursed, saved then damned / by Thomas Brooks ...
London: printed for H. Crips, 1662
Dedication: To all the Lords, Knights, Ladies, Gentry, Ministers and Commons of England, (and the D…
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.
but from all these vanities the Lord deliver all your souls. And O that you would for ever remember this, that as the constitution of a mans body is best known by his pulse; if it stir not at all, then we know he is dead: if it stir violently, then we know him to be in a Fever: if it keep an equal stroke, then we know he is sound, well, and whole; so the estate and constitution of a Kingdom or Common-weal, is best known by the manner of executing justice therein: for justice is the pulse of a Kingdom; if justice be violent, then the Kingdom is in a Fever, in a very bad estate; if it stir not at all, then the Kingdom is dead; but if it have an equal stroke, if it be justly and duly administered, then the Kingdom is in a good, a safe, and sound condition. When Vespasian asked Apollonius, What was the cause of Nero's ruin? he answered, That Nero could tune the Harps well, but in Government he did always wind up the strings too high, or let them down too low; The Application is easy.
but from all these vanities the Lord deliver all your souls. And O that you would for ever remember this, that as the constitution of a mans body is best known by his pulse; if it stir not at all, then we know he is dead: if it stir violently, then we know him to be in a Fever: if it keep an equal stroak, then we know he is sound, well, and whole; so the estate and constitution of a Kingdom or Common-weal, is best known by the manner of executing justice therein: for justice is the pulse of a Kingdom; if justice be violent, then the Kingdom is in a Fever, in a very bad estate; if it stir not at all, then the Kingdom is dead; but if it have an equal stroak, if it be justly and duely administred, then the Kingdom is in a good, a safe, and sound condition. When Vespasian asked Apollonus, What was the cause of Nero's ruine? he answered, That Nero could tune the Harps well, but in Government he did alwayes wind up the strings too high, or let them down too low; The Application is easie.
Now having premised thus much in the general, give me leave to tell you, that there are eight special Rules that you are carefully and faithfully to observe in the administration of Justice and Righteousness. And how you will be able to act suitable to those Rules without a Spirit of holiness, without principles of holiness, and without an experience of the powerful influences and operations of holiness in your own souls, I cannot for the present understand.