A29687:382
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.
Look as the stamp of Antiquity upon some things is a disparagement and a dishonour to them, as an old garment that is past wearing, and an old house that is past mending, and an old ship that is past rigging; so the stamp of Antiquity upon other things is a praise and an honour to them, as old gold, old friends, old manuscripts, old monuments, old scars, and old holiness; the stamp of Antiquity upon holiness, is the praise and honour of holiness. Look as it is an honour to a man to be descended of an ancient house; so it is an honour to a man to be allied to holiness, because sanctity is of greatest Antiquity; and therefore above all gettings, get holiness. But,
Look as the stamp of Antiquity upon some things is a disparagement and a dishonour to them, as an old garment that is past wearing, and an old house that is past mending, and an old ship that is past rigging; so the stamp of Antiquity upon other things is a praise and an honour to them, as old gold, old friends, old manuscripts, old monuments, old scars, and old holinesse; the stamp of Antiquity upon holiness, is the praise and honour of holinesse. Look as it is an honour to a man to be descended of an antient house; so it is an honour to a man to bee allyed to holinesse, because sanctity is of greatest Antiquity; and therefore above all gettings, get holinesse. But,
Tenthly, Consider, that of all things holiness will render §10you most beautiful and amiable; as holiness is the beauty ⟨p. 200⟩of God,1 and the beauty of Angels, so it is the beauty and glory of a Christian too: holiness is a Christians greatest honour and ornament. Psalm, 93.5. Holiness becometh thine house (that is thy Church) O Lord for ever. There is no garment that suits the Church, that becomes the Church, like the garment of holiness; it is sanctiy that is the Churches excellency and glory; it is purity that is the Churches ornament and beauty. Holiness is a beauty that beautifies the Church; it is the gracefulness and comeliness of the Church; holiness is so beautiful a thing, that it puts a beauty on all things else; as holiness is the greatest ornament of the Church Triumphant, so it is the greatest ornament of the Church Militant,