A29699:25
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.
Dedication: To his honoured Friends, Sir John More, Knight and Alderman of the City of London, and…
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.
Ah Friends, as there was never sorrow like1 Christs sorrow, so there was never love like Christs love, and of all his love none to that of soul-love, to say much in a little room. The spiritual enemies, which daily war2 against the soul; the glorious Angels, which hourly guard the soul, and the precious ordinances, which God hath appointed as means both to convert, and nourish the soul. The soul is capable of a Crown of life; Rev. 2. 10. Of a Crown of glory, 1 Pet. 5 4. Of a Crown of righteousness, 2 Tim. 4. 8. Of an incorruptible Crown, 1 Cor. 9. 25. The Crowns of earthly Princes stand as3 a Sophisters cap, on one side of the head. Many may say of their Crowns as that King said of •is, O Crown more noble than happy! In the time of Galienus the Emperour, Anno Christi 260. there were thirty Competitors on foot for the Roman Crown and Throne, who confounded and destroyed one another. A Princely Crown is oftentimes the mark for envy and ambition to shoot at: Henry the VI. was honoured with the Crowns of two Kingdoms, France & England, the first was lost through the faction of his Nobles, the other was twice plucked from his head. Earthly Crowns have so many cares, fears, vexations and dangers, that daily attend them ⟨image 6⟩that oftentimes they make the heads and hearts of Monarchs4 ache, which made Cyrus say, You look upon my Crown and my purple robes, but did you but know how they were lined with thorns, you would not stoop to take them up. But the Crowns that immortal souls are capable of, are Crowns without crosses, they are not attended with care of keeping, or fear of losing; there are no evil persons, nor evil spirits, that haunt those Crowns. Darius that great Monarch, fleeing from his enemies, he threw away the Crown of gold from his head, that he might run the faster: but a sincere Christian