A29699:84
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.
Thirdly, That no person or persons on earth may sinfully shift §3off sufferings, or avoid sufferings; there being infinitely more evil in the least sin, than there can be in the greatest sufferings that can befall us in this world; 'tis best, 'tis safest to choose suffering rather than sinning, as Moses did; so Daniel chose rather to be1 cast among Lions, than that his Conscience should be a Lyon within him; and the three Children (or Champions rather) who were2 holily wilful, chose rather to burn in the fiery furnace, than to bow to the Image that the King had set up. He that values peace3 with God, and peace with Conscience, and the honour of God, and the credit of Religion, the silencing of sinners, and the rejoicing of the Saints, must choose to suffer rather than to sin, when storms arise, and troubles and dangers approach, many begin to consult, not how they may glorify God by suffering, but how ⟨image 20⟩they may provide for their own safety by sinning: Plato knew much of God, but (as Josephus shows) durst not set it down for fear of the people: And Lactantius charges the same upon Tully; Thou darest not (saith he) undertake the Patronage of the truth, for fear of the prison of Socrates: And Augustine 4doth as much for Seneca; he spends a whole Chapter in showing how he held the truth in unrighteousness; telling us how he reverenced that which he reproved, did that which he condemned, and worshipped that which he found fault with. Though these wise men saw the vanity of the Heathenish Deities, and the worship that was given to them, and looked upon them as utterly unworthy of respect from wise and sober men, nay, secretly scorned and derided them; yet would they not openly declare against them, and that for fear of the people who so much doted upon them: But Daniel's three young Worthies were men of that heavenly gallant•y, that they peremptorily resolved upon this, that though they should not be delivered by their God, yet they would not sin against their God, nor so much as demur, deliberate, or take time to consider whether they should suffer or sin; 'twas past dispute with them, brave and noble souls that they were. It is observable that when Paul speaks of his afflictions,