A29703:399
The privy key of heaven, or, Twenty arguments for closet-prayer in a select discourse…The privie key of heaven, or, Twenty arguments for closet-prayer in a select discourse…
The privy key of heaven, or, Twenty arguments for closet-prayer in a select discourse on that subject with the resolution of several considerable questions : the main objections also against closet-prayer are here answered ... with twenty special lessons ... that we are to learn by that severe rod, the pestilence that now rageth in the midst of us / by Thomas Brooks.The privie key of heaven, or, Twenty arguments for closet-prayer in a select discourse on that subject with the resolution of several considerable questions : the main objections also against closet-prayer are here answered ... with twenty special lessons ... that we are to learn by that severe rod, the pestilence that now rageth in the midst of us / by Thomas Brooks.
London : Printed for and are to be sold by John Hancock, 1665
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.
Fifthly, and lastly, Because the servants redeeming of time for private prayer from his Sleep, his Meals, his Recreations, &c. cannot but be infinitely pleasing to God, and that which will afford him most comfort when he comes to die. The more any poor heart acts contrary to flesh and blood, the more he pleases God; the more any poor heart denies himself, the more he pleases God; the more any poor heart acts against the stream of sinful examples, the more he pleases God; the more difficulties and discouragements a poor heart meets with in the discharge of his duty, the more love he shows to God; and the ⟨p. 192⟩more love a poor heart shows to God, the more he pleases God, Jer. 2. 2, 3. Go, and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, thus saith the Lord, I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals; when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a Land that was not sown. Israel was holiness unto the Lord, and the first fruits of his increase: all that devour him, shall offend; evil shall come upon them, saith the Lord. God was very highly pleased, and greatly delighted with the singular love and choice affections of his people towards him, when they followed after him and kept close to him, in that tedious and uncouth passage through the waste, howling wilderness. How all these things do comport with that poor pious servant that redeems time for private prayer upon the hardest terms imaginable, I shall leave the ingenious Reader to judge. And certainly, upon a dying bed, no tongue can express, nor heart conceive (but he that feels it) the unspeakable ⟨p. 193⟩comfort that closet duties will afford to him that hath been exercised in them, upon those hard terms that are under present consideration. But,
Fifthly, and lastly, Because the servants redeeming of time for private prayer from his Sleep, his Meales, his Recreations, &c. cannot but be infinitely pleasing to God, and that which will afford him most comfort when he comes to die. The more any poor heart acts contrary to flesh and blood, the more he pleases God; the more any poor heart denyes himself, the more he pleases God; the more any poor heart acts against the streame of sinful examples, the more he pleases God; the more difficulties and discouragements a poor heart meets with in the discharg of his duty, the more love he shewes to God; and the