A29699:64
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.
The ninth word of advice and counsel is this, Live not at uncertainties as to your spiritual and eternal estates;1 there are none so miserable as those that are strangers to the state of their own souls. It is good for a man to know the state of his Flock, the state of his Family, the state of the Nation, the state of his Body; but above all to know the state and condition of his own Soul. How many thousands are there that can give a better account of their Lands, their Lordships, their Riches, their Crops, their Shops, their Trades, their Merchandise, yea of their Hawks, their Hounds, their Misses, than they can of the estate of their own Souls? O my Friends, your souls are more worth than ten thousand2 worlds, and therefore it must be the greatest prudence, and the choicest policy in the world, to secure their everlasting welfare, and to know how things stands between God and your souls, what you are worth for Eternity, and how it is like to go with you in that other world, whilst a Christian lives at uncertainties as ⟨image 16⟩to his spiritual and everlasting estate, as whether he has grace or no grace, or whether his grace be true or counterfeit, whether he has an interest in Christ or not, a work in power upon his soul or not, or whether God loves him or loathes him, whether he will bring him to Heaven or throw him to H•ll: How can any Christian who lives at so great an uncertainty, delight in God, rejoice3 ever more, triumph in Christ Jesus, be ready to suffer and desirous to die? All men love to be at a certainty in all their outward concernments, and yet how many thousands are there that are at a marvellous uncertainty, as to the present and future state of their precious and immortal souls. But
The ninth word of advice and counsel is this, Live not at uncertainties as to your spiritual and eternal estates;1 there are none so miserable as those that are strangers to the state of their own souls. It is good for a man to know the state of his Flock, the state of his Family, the state of the Nation, the state of his Body; but above all to know the state and condition of his own Soul. How many thousands are there that can give a better account of their Lands, their Lordships, their Riches, their Crops, their Shops, their Trades, their Merchandize, yea of their Hawkes, their Hounds, their Misses, than they can of the esate of their own Souls? O my Friends, your souls are more worth than ten thousand