A29687:706
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, Of all men under heaven you will have the greatest §4accounts to make up with God, and therefore you have the more cause to seek after holiness. Where God gives much,1 there he looks for much: O Sirs, God will bring you to an account for that Talent of honour, and that Talent of wealth, and that Talent of birth, and that Talent of power, and that Talent of Authority, and that Talent of interest, and that Talent of ⟨p. 442⟩Time, &c. that he has entrusted you with; and how will you be able to stand in the day of account without holiness in your hearts? King Philip the third of Spain, whose life was free from gross evils, professing that he would rather lose all his Kingdoms, then offend God willingly; yet being in the Agony of death, and considering more thoroughly of his account that he was to give to God, fear struck into him, and these words brake from him; Oh, would to God I had never reigned! oh, that those years I have spent in my kingdom, I had lived a private life in the Wilderness! oh, that I had lived a solitary life with God! how much more securely should I have now dyed? how much more confidently should I have gone to the Throne of God? What do's all my glory profit me, but that I have so much the more torment in my death? Well Gentlemen, there is a day a coming wherein the Lord will call you to a strict account, both for the principal, and also for the interest of all those Talents of honour, riches, and greatness, &c. that he has put into your hands; and how will you be ever able to hold up your heads in this day of account, without you experience principles of holiness in your hearts, and hold forth the power of godliness in your lives? If Saul was astonished when he heard Jesus of Nazareth but calling upon him;2 3If Herod was affrighted when he thought that John Baptist was risen from the dead; If the Philistines were afraid when they saw Davids Sword; If the Israelites were appalled when they saw Aaron's Rod;4 If Judah was ashamed when he saw Tamar's Signet and Staff; And if Belshazzar was amazed when he saw the hand writing on the wall;