A29687:332
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.
Fourthly, He that really and actually aims at the glory of God in what he doth, he will be doing what God commands,1 though nothing for the present comes of it: If his eye be truly fixed upon divine glory, a command of God shall be enough to carry him on in his work. Psalm 27.8. When thou saidst, Seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, Thy face Lord, will I seek. When the glory of God is a mans mark, his heart will sweetly echo and graciously comply with divine commands. Jer. 3.22. Return ye back-sliding children, and I will heal your back-slidings: Behold we come unto thee, for thou art the Lord our God. Gods commands fall with great power and force upon that mans heart, that hath divine glory in his eye. One word from God will command such a soul to a gracious compliance with what God requires, Psalm 119.4, 5. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts ⟨p. 165⟩diligently: O that my ways were directed to keep thy Statutes! As soon as God lays a command upon a Christian, he look:2 up to heaven for power to turn that precept into practice, O that my ways were directed to keep thy Statutes! O that I were as holy as God would have me to be! O that I were as humble and lowly as God would have me to be! O that I were as heavenly and spiritual as God would have me to be! O that I were as pure and perfect as God would have me to be! So ver. 48. My hands will I lift up to thy Commandments which I have loved. Many there be which thrust away with all their might thy Commandments, but I lift up my hands to thy Commandments. Many there be that will strain themselves to take a comfort,3 but I strain my self to lift up thy Commandments. Many there are who will stretch out their hands to take a reward, but I stretch out my hands to take hold on thy Commandments. To give a little more light into these words, Sometime the lifting up of hands betokens admiration; when men are astonished and ravished, they lift up their hands; I will lift up my hands to thy Commandments; that is, I will admire the goodness, the holiness, the righteousness, the purity and excellency of thy Commandments. Again, we lift up our hands when we betake our selves to refuge; why Gods commands are the Saints refuge; when they house and shelter themselves under the wings of Gods commands, they are safe. Again, men lift up their hands when they take hold on a thing;