A29699:146
Paradise opened, or, The secrets, mysteries, and rarities of divine love, of infinite wisdom,…Paradice opened, or, The secreets, mysteries, and rarities of divine love, of infinite wisdom,…
Paradise opened, or, The secrets, mysteries, and rarities of divine love, of infinite wisdom, and of wonderful counsel laid open to public view also, the covenant of grace, and the high and glorious transactions of the Father and the Son in the covenant of redemption opened and improved at large, with the resolution of divers important questions and cases concerning both covenants ... : being the second and last part of The golden key / by Thomas Brooks ...Paradice opened, or, The secreets, mysteries, and rarities of divine love, of infinite wisdom, and of wonderful counsel laid open to publick view also, the covenant of grace, and the high and glorious transactions of the Father and the Son in the covenant of redemption opened and improved at large, with the resolution of divers important questions and cases concerning both covenants ... : being the second and last part of The golden key / by Thomas Brooks ...
London: printed for Dorman Newman, 1675
Title page typeset from the transcription.
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.
the more abundant will be your Harvest of Glory. Christ our General, the Captain of our Salvation, promises a Crown, (Rev 2. 10) and a Throne, (cap. 3. 21.) to all his afflicted and persecuted ones; which are the greatest rewards that a God can give, or that man can crave. It troubled one of the Martyrs when he was at the s•ake, that he was going to a place, where he should be for ever a receiving of Wages for a little work. But
Thirteenthly and Lastly, Afflictions, Sufferings, Persecutions, §13will discover what metal men are made of. All is not Gold that1 glisters: Many there be that glister, and look like Golden Christians; but when they come to the fire, they prove but dross: he is a Christian more worth than the Gold of Ophir, who remains Gold when under fiery Trials. The stony ground did glister and shine very gloriously, for it received the Word with joy for a season; but when the Sun of Persecution arose upon it, it fell away. Men that in times of Liberty and Prosperity embrace the Word, will in times of Persecution distrust the Word, reject the Word, and turn their backs upon the Word, if it be not rooted in their Understandings, Judgments, Wills, Affections and Consciences: ⟨image 36⟩Men may court the Word, and complement the Word, and applaud the Word, and seemingly rejoice in the Word; but they will never suffer Persecution for the Word, if it be only received into their heads, and not fast rooted in their hearts: The house built upon the Sands was as lovely, as comely, as goodly and2 as glorious a house to look upon, as that which was built upon the Rock; but when the Rain of Affliction descended, and the Floods of Tribulation came, and the Winds of Persecution blew, and beat upon the house, it fell, and great was the fall of it. No Professors will be able to stand it out in all Winds and Weathers, but such as are built upon a Rock; all others will sink, shatter and fall when the Wind of Persecution blows upon them: As sure as the Rain will fall, the Floods flow, and the Winds blow, so sure will an unsound heart give out when trials come; no heart but a sound heart, will hold out bravely when Sufferings come; no heart but a sincere heart, will bear the brunt of Persecution.