A29687:268
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
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.
Secondly, The heart of a holy man rises against the least §2sins, as well as against secret sins, in a strict sense. I know there is no sin little, because there is no little hell, no little damnation, no little Law, nor no little God to sin against; but yet some sins may comparatively be said to be little,1 if you compare them with those that are more great and gross, that are more heinous and odious. Now the hatred of a holy man rises against the least, Psalm 119.163. I hate and abhor lying: but thy Law do I love. I hate, I abhor with horror, I loath, I detest, I abominate lying as I do hell it self: So much the Original word imports. Davids heart smote him for the cutting off the lap of Sauls garment: And his heart smote him again for numbering of the people; and yet neither of these sins were heinous or scandalous. Some write, that there is such a native dread and ⟨p. 114⟩terror of the Hawk implanted in the Dove, that it detests and abhors the very sight of the least feather that hath grown upon the Hawk. Certainly, there is such a holy dread of sin implanted in the heart of a Saint,2 that he cannot but detest and and abhor the least sin; yea, the very appearance of sin: his soul rises against the least motions or inclinations to evil, though they are silvered over with the most specious shows, and most glorious pretences: for he knows that the least sins are contrary to a righteous Law, a holy God, and to his blessed Saviour, and the Spirit his only Comforter.
Secondly, The heart of a holy man rises against the least §2sins, as well as against secret sins, in a strict sense. I know there is no sin little, because there is no little hell, no little damnation, no little Law, nor no little God to sin against; but yet some sins may comparatively be said to be little,1 if you compare them with those that are more great and grosse, that are more hainous and odious. Now the hatred of a holy man rises against the least,