A29687:822
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, and lastly, the degrees of glory that Saints shall have in heaven, shall not be given out to them upon the account of their merits, or the dignity of their persons, or the worthiness of their works, but upon the account of Gods mere mercy and grace, who in the day of retribution will delight to crown his own gifts (not our merits) and where he shall find the greatest measures of grace & holiness,1 there he will of his own free mercy bestow the greatest measure of glory. Well friends, remember this, you must always carefully distinguish between the essence and substance of glory, and between degrees and measures of glory. Now the essence and substance of glory (which consists in ⟨p. 519⟩the Saints full communion with God, and in their perfect conformity to God, and in their universal subjection to God, and in their everlasting fruition of God) be common to all the Saints, so that no one Saint shall have more of the essence and substance of glory then another has, yet the degrees and measures of glory shall be distributed to some more, to some less. Now that there shall be different degrees of glory in heaven, answerable to the different degrees of grace and holiness that the Saints reach to here on earth, and that God will at last proportion his Rewards according to the different degrees of labour, service, and sufferings of his people in this world, may be made evident. 1. By clear Scriptures. 2. By Arguments. Now there are several Scriptures that speaks out this truth: take these for a taste.
Fourthly, and lastly, the degrees of glory that Saints shall have in heaven, shall not be given out to them upon the account of their merits, or the dignity of their persons, or the worthiness of their works, but upon the account of Gods meere mercy and grace, who in the day of retribution will delight to crowne his own gifts (not our merits) and where he shall finde the greatest measures of grace & holiness,1 there he will of his own free mercy bestow the greatest measure of glory. Well friends, remember this, you must alwayes carefully distinguish between the essence and substance of glory, and between degrees and measures of glory. Now the essence and substance of glory (which consists in ⟨p. 519⟩