A29687:384
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.
no glistering gold, no sparkling diamonds,1 no shining or glittering apparel, renders children so amiable and lovely in the eyes of their parents, as holiness doth. The holiness of the husband renders him very amiable in the eyes of the wife, and the holiness of the wife renders her very desirable in the eyes of her husband. The holiness of the master renders him very lovely in the eyes of his servants, and the holiness of the servants renders them very comely in the eyes of their masters, &c. Jewels holiness, Bradfords holiness, and Bucers holiness, rendered them very amiable and lovely, not only in the eyes of their friends, but also in the eyes of their enemies. There is nothing in this world that will render all sorts and ranks of people so glorious and famous in the eyes of one another, as holiness will do: Were all ranks and orders of men more holy, they would certainly be more lovely in the eyes of one another. O that all men would cease from being injurious one to another, and labour to be more holy, and then I am sure they would be more comely in one another's eyes. Holiness is lovely, yea loveliness it self; purity is a Christians splendour and glory; there is no beauty to that of sanctity; nothing beautifies and bespangles a man like holiness: Holiness is so lovely and so comely a thing, that it draws all eyes and hearts to an admiration of it. Holiness is so great a beauty, that it puts a beauty upon all other excellencies in a man. That holiness is a very beautiful thing, and that it makes all those beautiful that have it, is a truth that no Devil can deny. And therefore, O Sirs, as ever you would be ebautiful and lovely, labour to be holy. The natural beauty of Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, 2Joseph and Absalom was no beauty to that beauty, lustre and glory that holiness puts upon a man. Demetrius (saith Plutarch3) was so passing fair of face and countenance, that no Painter was able to draw him; Holiness puts so rare a beauty upon man, that no Painter under heaven is able to draw him. Scipio Africanus was so comely a person, that the Barbarians in Spain stood amazed at his comeliness: Holiness puts such a comeliness,4 and such an amiableness upon a person, ⟨p. 202⟩