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<DATE>2007-04-30</DATE>
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<NAME>Emma Leeson Huber</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<IDG S="marc" R="OX" ID="A70852">
<STC T="W">P3370</STC>
<BIBNO T="umi">99832833</BIBNO>
<VID>37308</VID>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>A KEY TO OPEN
Heaven-Gate.
<HI>OR,</HI>
A ready Path to lead to
HEAVEN. Written and Printed for the bene|fit
of all true Chri&s;tians, to read, hear
and make good u&s;e of, before it
be too late. And therefore I advi&s;e every Man, and
every woman to ob&s;erve and give good
heed to what is &s;poken in this little
Book, and they &s;hall be &s;ure to finde
&s;weetne&s;&s;e, and happine&s;&s;e in this
world, and eternall joys in the world
to come, through the Might, Merits,
and Mercies of Je&s;us Chri&s;t; who &s;aith,
<Q>Aske and you &s;hall have, &s;eeke, and yee
&s;hall finde, knock and it &s;hall be opened un|to
you.</Q> Written by <HI>Laurence Price.</HI></P>
<P><HI>London,</HI> Printed for <HI>T. Vere</HI> at the &s;ign of
the Angel without Newgate, 1666.</P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB REF="2">
<PB N="1" REF="2">
<HEAD>A Key to Open
Heaven-Gate.
Or,
A ready way to lead men to Heaven.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">Here followeth good and &s;ound Di|rections
to &s;et Men in the ready
way to Heaven; which way if they
mi&s;take, they are never like to
come there.</HEAD>
<P>_DEar and beloved Chri&s;ti|ans,
I would have you
thus much to under&s;tand,
that all tho&s;e that have a
de&s;ire to goe to Heaven,
mu&s;t well and wi&s;ely en|deavour
them&s;elves to follow this
Path-way.</P>
<P><PB N="2" REF="3">
Fir&s;t, you mu&s;t truly and unfeignedly
labour to &s;erve God, and obey his Com|mandements
which is a duty that ought
to be done without any grudgings, mur|murings,
or delays; for he that is alive
to day, may be dead before to morrow:
and then it will be too late to look after a
way that they never &s;ought for in their
life time: and therefore I davi&s;e you all
(good Chri&s;tans) to &s;&eacute;ek the Lord while
he may be found, for he his a God of truth
of Iu&s;tice, of Peace, of Mercy, of Love
and &s;uch a one as would have all Men
and woman to be &s;aved.</P>
<P>Secondly, here is another duty to be
preformed by all Men that will find the
ready way to Heaven: as your brother is
your ueighbor, even &s;o is your neighbour
is your brother, &amp; therefore ought every
man and woman to love, cheri&s;h, and
comfort each other, and to live in peace
and unity one with another, and not to
wrangle, brabble, fight, &s;cold, and go
to Law, until they have undone one ano|ther,
for they that do &s;uch things are
gone far out of the way to Heaven. Re|member
therefore what our Saviour
Chri&s;t &s;aith in the Go&s;pel. <HI>A new
<PB N="3" REF="3">
Commandment give I unto you, &s;ee that you
love one another, for if you love not your
neighbour whom you &s;ee every day how can
you love God whom you never &s;aw,</HI> there|fore
con&s;ider and take heed in time what
you do: he that hateth his neighbour,
hateth his brother, and he that hateth his
brother hateth God, and he that hateth
God, will never find the way to Heaven
and therefore I de&s;ire all them that are
called by the name of Chri&s;tians to
&s;hew them&s;elves like Chri&s;tians, laying
a&s;ide all hatred, &s;pight, envy, malice,
lying, &s;landring, backbiting, hypocri&s;ie,
and di&s;&s;imulation, and withall to break
&s;uch bread as you w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">uld have broken;
and likewi&s;e to do unto all men as you
would they &s;hould do unto you. This be
&s;ure is the readie&s;t way for to plea&s;e
God, and the neare&s;t way to Heaven:
Yet more then this is to be done before,
you come to your journeys end: You
mu&s;t repent you of all your former ini|quities;
you mu&s;t be good to them y^t have
done evil to you: and mu&s;t forgive
them their tre&s;pa&s;&s;es, as you look to be
forgiven at the hands of God. And &s;o
farre mu&s;t your mindes and your hearts
<PB N="4" REF="4">
be given to quietne&s;s, that you mu&s;t not
&s;o much as to let the &s;un go down while
you are in wrath, <HI>For vengeance is mine
&s;aith the Lord, and I will repay it.</HI></P>
<P>In the next place, every chri&s;tian ought
at all times very early and late, to pray
unto the Lord, that he will add a ble&s;&s;ing
to their endeavours, and the better to be
imployed, let them follow after Gods
Preachers, and heare them Preach and
Teach, that are both able and willing to
declare the word of God unto them, and
&s;o by degr&eacute;es they &s;hall find the mercies
of the Lord redoubled unto them, and
thereby they &s;hall be brought to ripene&s;s
of under&s;tanding, whereby to know and
di&s;tingui&s;h betw&eacute;en good and bad, which
may be great furtherance to them in the
way to Heaven.</P>
<P>True knowledge is of &s;uch an excellent
vertue that it is &s;ufficient to bring us
acquainted with the principall things
that are to be had in this life, and after
this life ended, it &s;hall bring our Soules
into everla&s;ting happine&s;s.</P>
<P>True knowledge wil make you under|&s;tand
that God the Father Created us,
that God the Son red&eacute;emed us, and that
<PB N="5" REF="4">
God the holy Gho&s;t &s;anctified vs, &amp; pre|&s;erveth
all tho&s;e that faithfully believe
that our Lord &amp; Saviour Ie&s;us Chri&s;t
&s;uffered death upon the Cro&s;&s;e, to &s;ave
our &s;ouls from the tyranny of the divel,
and from the torments of Hell; as you
may read in the 13 Chap. of the Go&s;pel
written by St&punc; <HI>Matthew,</HI> where it is &s;aid,
<HI>Ble&s;&s;ed be your eys for they &s;ee, and your
ears for they hear, and your hearts for they
under&s;tand.</HI></P>
<P>And to be brief, true knowledge and un|der&s;tanding
may very well be termed a
<HI>Key to open the gates of Heaven,</HI> Then
what man or woman will be &s;o wilfully
blind as to neglect the &s;&eacute;eking for &s;uch an
excellen<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter"> vertue; yet there are &s;ome, and
too many in the&s;e &s;inful &amp; wicked times,
that are &s;o carele&s;&s;e and regardle&s;s, that
they had rather choo&s;e to follow the vain
delights and plea&s;ures of this wicked
world, than to &s;&eacute;ek for the Redemption
of their &s;ouls, and the joyes of Heaven
hereafter, whom our Saviour Chri&s;t
bought and paid for with his mo&s;t pre|cious
blood.</P>
<P>Some there are likewi&s;e; that bear a
&s;hew of Godline&s;s, &amp; yet they cannot or
<PB N="6" REF="5">
will not &s;paire an hour in a day to hear a
good Sermon, or to &s;erve God in&punc; Others
their are, that do utterly deny, and as it
were to make a &s;coff of the Scriptures,
and the word of God; but I wi&s;h that all
&s;uch per&s;ons may &s;p&eacute;edily amend their
lives, le&s;t at the la&s;t day the righteous
Iudge of all the world, Ie&s;us Chri&s;t &s;hal
&s;ay unto them, <HI>Depart from me ye work|ers
of iniquity.</HI></P>
<P>But now beloved Chri&s;tians I would
have you to con&s;ider and think on this
that y^e day of vengeance is near at hand,
and every &s;oul &s;hall &s;tand at the Barr of
Araignment before the righteous Iudge
to tender up an account of al their d&eacute;eds
and actions good and evil: and then &s;hall
the good be &s;evered from the bad, and the
one &s;ort with joy and triumph be recei|ved
into everla&s;ting happine&s;s, &amp; the re&s;t
be ca&s;t into utter darkne&s;s, where is no|thing
el&s;e to be heard or &s;&eacute;en, <HI>but weep|ing,
howling, and gna&s;hing of teeth.</HI></P>
<P>Moreover I would have you to con&s;ider
that at the generall judgement there are
none to be excu&s;ed from comming to
their an&s;wers, and every one &s;hall be
forced to appear in their per&s;ons; the
<PB N="7" REF="5">
rich and the poor, the King and the Beg|gar,
the &s;trong and the weak, the bound
and the fr&eacute;e; all mu&s;t come whether they
will or no: <HI>for God hath no re&s;pect of
pe<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;ons:</HI> and at that great and notable
day of y^e Lord our God, there is no de|lays
to be made, there &s;hall be no Law|yers
to plead a cau&s;e for another man or
woman: for he &s;hall be &s;ure to have
work enough to do of his own, neither
&s;hall there be any bribes accepted of,
therefore look wel about you, and pre|vent
the wrath of the Iudge while you
may; and provoke not God to Anger,
le&s;t your &s;oules peri&s;h in di&s;plea&s;ure.</P>
<P>Yet furthermore I would have you
remember this, y^t as the Saints of Hea|ven
are crowned with glory, and the
wicked &s;ent unto the gulph of mi&s;ery,
there is no returning from neither of the
places, but where &s;oever they are &s;ent
by the Iudge, <HI>there they are to continue
world without END.</HI> Oh! what a
heavy &s;ight will it be to the Wicked?
when they &s;hall &s;&eacute;e the godly entertain|ed
into Heaven among the glorious
Saints and Angels of the Lord, and they
them&s;elves to be ca&s;t into utter dark|ne&s;s
<PB N="8" REF="6">
for ever, where they &s;hall never be|hold
the brightne&s;s of the Sun, nor the
glory of Chri&s;t again: alas dear friends
what a &s;ad thing it is to think upon? but
ten thou&s;and times wor&s;e to them that
&s;hall &s;uffer them&s;elves to be bani&s;hed
from the pre&s;ence of Chri&s;t for ever.</P>
<P>Such cur&s;ed wretches as are here &s;po|ken
of, are them who have lo&s;t their way
to heaven, and can never find the <HI>Key to
open Heaven Gate withall.</HI></P>
<P>The la&s;t thing that I have to put you in
mind of is y^t <HI>every one &s;hould remember
his End,</HI> and think upon the day of his
death while he is alive on the Earth. To
this purpo&s;e the wi&s;e man <HI>Solomon</HI> hath
taught us our Le&s;&s;on, and to the Life;
when he &s;ayes, <HI>Remember thy end, and thy
Creator in the days of thy youth,</HI> as much
as if he &s;aid, <HI>Remember thy end to day,
to morrow, and the next day, &amp; all the days
of our lives.</HI> And al&s;o that every night
before we &s;l&eacute;epe, we make our peace with
God, by way of humble Petition and
prayers unto his heavenly Maje&s;ty, that
he will be plea&s;ed that if w&eacute;e never live
to &s;&eacute;e the morrow morning, to forgive
<PB N="9" REF="6">
all our &s;ins &amp; receive our &s;oules into his
heavenly Kingdom: if every one will
make u&s;e of what is here &s;et down, and
con&s;tantly practice it in their lives and
conver&s;ations, they n&eacute;ed not fear death
let him come early or late, &s;l&eacute;eping or
waking, or what time &s;oever it be, nei|ther
can the gates of Hell&punc; nor the power
of Divels prevail again&s;t them y^t have
found the right way to Heaven. And to
conclude this point; let all y^t ever mean
wel to their own &s;ouls, take good notice of
what is &s;aid, it may be a means through
Gods great mercy to bring them that are
gon a&s;tray, in the right and perfect way
to Heaven, where at the fir&s;t entrance,
our Saviour Ie&s;us Chri&s;t will be ready
to welcome us in with the&s;e &s;w&eacute;et and
comfortable gr&eacute;etings and imbrace|ments,
with words as followeth: <HI>Come ye
ble&s;&s;ed Children of my Father, receive a
Crown and Kingdom of Glory, which was
prepared for you at the beginning.</HI> To
which kingdome, The Lord in his good
time bring us all. There &s;hall the ble&s;&s;ed
&s;ouls of y^e righteous behold the cele&s;tiall
Saints of the Lord, &amp; be partakers with
them of the everla&s;ting felicity which is
<PB N="10" REF="7">
un&s;peakable, <HI>then &s;hall they that mourned
here, be converted there.</HI> And they that
&s;uffered reproachfull words, abu&s;efull
&s;landers, &s;hamfull di&s;graces, and pre&s;e|cutions
for Chri&s;t and the Go&s;pels &s;ake
&s;hall have a full reward, and &s;w&eacute;et &s;ati&s;|faction
in the Sanctuary of the mo&s;t high
God, &amp; al tho&s;e which have b&eacute;en wrong|ed
on Earth, &s;hall be righted in Heaven,
which con&s;ideration may very wel &s;erve
to comfort all &s;uch as have b&eacute;en or are
any ways afflicted, derided, or oppre&s;&s;ed,
and fal&s;ly accu&s;ed in this pre&s;ent life;
&s;ince there is a Crown of glory laid up
for them in the life to come, then let all
true and faithfull Believers be valiant-hearted,
and never be di&s;maid for all that
can be done again&s;t them by the world
the fle&s;h, and the Devill.</P>
<P>And for your further in&s;truction, I
would wi&s;h you all to be well advi&s;ed,
and to follow the Doctrine and Coun&s;ell
of the Apo&s;tle St. <HI>Paul, who biddeth, you
to put on the whole armour of God, Having
your loynes girt about with the truth, putt|ing
on the bre&s;t-plate of righteou&s;ne&s;s, and
feet &s;hod with the preparation of the
Go&s;pel of peace, taking up the &s;h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">d
<PB N="11" REF="7">
of faith, and helmet of &s;alvation,</HI> And
being thus armed you need not fear
all the Enemies that ever can a&s;&s;ault or
come again&s;t you; as you may read in
the 6 <HI>Chapt.</HI> of <HI>Ephe&s;.</HI> 14, 15, 16, 17,
<HI>ver&s;es,</HI> how to come by this Armour, and
how to u&s;e it, you mu&s;t learn that of our
Captain and Leader Ie&s;us Chri&s;t, who
&s;uffered many per&s;ecutions when he was
upon earth, as hunger, cold, bani&s;hment,
&s;corns and taunts, whippings, &amp; buffet|ings,
&s;pitting on the face, and at la&s;t
nailed on the Cro&s;s, and pierced to the
heart with a bloody &s;pear; in all which
afflictions he was never &s;een to look upon
Enemies with a frowning Eye, nor to
give them &s;o much as an angry word,
but at the very point of death he took all
things patiently, and prayed for his ene|mies,
&s;aying, <HI>Father forgive them, they
know not what they do.</HI> And when he
fetcht his la&s;t ga&s;p at the yielding up of
the gho&s;t, he cryed with a loud voice, <HI>Fa|ther
into thy hands I commit my Spirit.</HI></P>
<P>Thus was our Saviour Ie&s;us Chri&s;t
made a &s;ufferer for our &s;akes, &amp; all tho&s;e
torments did he undergo while he was
on earth, to teach us the way tr Heaven,
<PB N="12" REF="8">
and this hath he purcha&s;ed with his mo&s;t
dear and precious blood, to &s;ave us from
the torments of Hell; and after that
Chri&s;t had &s;uffered the &s;harpne&s;s of death
he a&s;cended into heaven, where he hath
made already interce&s;&s;ion for all them
that are his followers. And &s;&eacute;eing that
our Saviour hath led the way, why &s;hould
not we be as willing to come to him? he
hath promi&s;ed he will never leave us nor
for&s;ake us, if w&eacute;e do not leave nor for|&s;ake
him: Therefore let us looke to our
&s;elves, if w&eacute;e will not find the way to
Heaven, the fault is our own.</P>
<P>Therefore to fini&s;h up all, I once more
de&s;ire you all, that you wil never leave
Practi&s;ing to find the way to Heaven.
<HI>For ble&s;&s;ed are they that continue to the
END.</HI></P>
<DIV2 TYPE="prayer">
<PB REF="8">
<HEAD>A PRAYER.</HEAD>
<P>O Mo&s;t mighty Lord God full of mercy
and compa&s;&s;ion to all that call upon thy
holy Name, and &s;eek after thy Heavenly
Kingdome: Wee thy poor di&s;tre&s;&s;ed Ser|vants
and Children, doe upon the bended
knees of our hearts, pro&s;trate our &s;elves be|fore
thee, with all humility both of &s;ouls &amp;
bodies; de&s;iring that of thy infinite good|ne&s;&s;e
thou wilt be plea&s;ed to teach us the
way to come unto thee, for we are not able
to do any good thing of our &s;elves, without
thy powerfull help; we are weak, but thou
art &s;trong; and therefore draw us, and wee
will follow thee; direct our wayes to come
unto thee, &s;o that when the time comes
that our &s;ouls &s;hall be &s;eparated from our
bodies, we may be received into the Joyes
of Heaven, and that for the &s;ake of Je&s;us
Chri&s;t our Saviour, to whom with the Fa|ther,
and Holy Gho&s;t, be all Honour and
Glory, Power and Prai&s;e, both now, and
for evermore, <HI>Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
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