A77608:401
Heaven on Earth
Heaven on earth or a serious discourse touching a well-grounded assurance of mens everlasting happiness and blessedness. Discovering the nature of assurance, the possibility of attaining it, the causes, springs, and degrees of it, with the resolution of several weighty questions. By Thomas Brooks, preacher of the Gospel at Margarets Fishstreet-Hill.Heaven on earth or a serious discourse touching a wel-grounded assurance of mens everlasting happiness and blessedness. Discovering the nature of assurance, the possibility of attaining it, the causes, springs, and degrees of it, with the resolution of several weighty questions. By Thomas Brooks, preacher of the Gospel at Margarets Fishstreet-Hill.
London: printed by R.I. for John Hancock, 1654
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 sixth Property of that Faith that accompanies Salvation, is this, It is a world-conquering faith, it is a world over-coming faith. 1 John 5. 4. For whatsoever is born of God, over-cometh the world; and this is the victory that over-cometh the world, even our Faith. Faith overcomes the frowning world, and the fawning world, the tempting world, and the persecuting world, and that it doth thus. First, Faith by uniting the soul to Christ, doth interest the soul in all the victories and conquests of Christ, and so makes the soul a conqueror with Christ. John 16. ult. These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace, in the world you shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. We have to deal but with a conquered enemy, our Jesus hath given the world a mortal wound; we have nothing to do, but to set our feet upon a subdued ⟨p. 397⟩enemy, and to sing it out with the Apostle, Over all these, we are more then 1conquerors. Secondly, Faith overcomes the world by out-bidding fights, Faith out-bids the world, and so makes the soul victorious. The world set honours, pleasures, &c. before Moses, but his Faith out-bid the world, it presents the recompense of reward, it brings down all the glory, pleasures, and treasures of Heaven, of that other world, and sets them before the soul; and so it over-tops and overcomes the world by out-bidding it; so Christ for the joy that was set before him, endured the Cross, despising2 the shame. Thirdly, Faith overcomes the world by telling the soul, that all things are its own; says Faith, This God is thy God, this Christ is thy Christ, this Righteousness is thy Righteousness, this Promise is thy Promise, this Crown is thy Crown, this Glory is thy Glory; these Treasures are thy Treasures, these pleasures3 are thy pleasures. All things are yours (saith the Apostle) things present (are yours) and things to come are yours. Thus the Faith of the Martyrs acted,4