A KEY TO OPEN Heaven-Gate OR A ready Path to lead to HEAVEN Written and Printed for the benefit of all true Christians to read hear and make good use of before it be too late And therefore I advise every Man and every woman to observe and give good heed to what is spoken in this little Book and they shall be sure to find sweetness and happiness in this world and eternal joys in the world to come through the Might Merits and Mercies of Jesus Christ who saith Ask and you shall have seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you Written by Laurence Price London Printed for T. Vere at the sign of the Angel without Newgate 1666. A Key to Open Heaven-Gate Or A ready way to lead men to Heaven Here followeth good and sound Directions to set Men in the ready way to Heaven which way if they mistake they are never like to come there DEar and beloved Christians I would have you thus much to understand that all those that have a desire to go to Heaven must well and wisely endeavour themselves to follow this Pathway First you must truly and unfeignedly labour to serve God and obey his Commandments which is a duty that ought to be done without any grudge murmurings 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 sought for in their life time and therefore I davise you all good Christians to seek the Lord while he may be found for he his a God of truth of justice of Peace of Mercy of Love and such a one as would have all Men and woman to be saved Secondly here is another duty to be preformed by all Men that will find the ready way to Heaven as your brother is your veighbor even so is your neighbour is your brother & therefore ought every man and woman to love cherish and comfort each other and to live in peace and unity one with another and not to wrangle brabble fight scold and go to Law until they have undone one another for they that do such things are gone far out of the way to Heaven Remember therefore what our Saviour Christ saith in the Gospel A new Commandment give I unto you see that you love one another for if you love not your neighbour whom you see every day how can you love God whom you never saw therefore consider 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 desire all them that are called by the name of Christians to show themselves like Christians laying aside all hatred spite envy malice lying slandering backbiting hypocrisy and dissimulation and withal to break such bread as you w●uld have broken and likewise to do unto all men as you would they should do unto you This be sure is the readiest way for to please God and the nearest way to Heaven Yet more than this is to be done before you come to your journey's end You must repent you of all your former iniquities you must be good to them that have done evil to you and must forgive them their trespasses as you look to be forgiven at the hands of God And so far must your minds and your hearts be given to quietness that you must not so much as to let the sun go down while you are in wrath For vengeance is mine saith the Lord and I will repay it In the next place every christian ought at all times very early and late to pray unto the Lord that he will add a blessing to their endeavours and the better to be employed let them follow after God's Preachers and hear them Preach and Teach that are both able and willing to declare the word of God unto them and so by degrees they shall find the mercies of the Lord redoubled unto them and thereby they shall be brought to ripeness of understanding whereby to know and distinguish between good and bad which may be great furtherance to them in the way to Heaven True knowledge is of such an excellent virtue that it is sufficient to bring us acquainted with the principal things that are to be had in this life and after this life ended it shall bring our Souls into everlasting happiness True knowledge will make you understand that God the Father Created us that God the Son redeemed us and that God the holy Ghost sanctified us & preserveth all those that faithfully believe that our Lord & Saviour jesus Christ suffered death upon the Cross to save our souls from the tyranny of the devil and from the torments of Hell as you may read in the 13 Chap. of the Gospel written by St Matthew where it is said Blessed be your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear and your hearts for they understand And to be brief true knowledge and understanding may very well be termed a Key to open the gates of Heaven Then what man or woman will be so wilfully blind as to neglect the seeking for such an excellent virtue yet there are some and too many in these sinful & wicked times that are so careless and regardless that they had rather choose to follow the vain delights and pleasures of this wicked world than to seek for the Redemption of their souls and the joys of Heaven hereafter whom our Saviour Christ bought and paid for with his most precious blood Some there are likewise that bear a show of Godliness & yet they cannot or will not spare an hour in a day to hear a good Sermon or to serve God in Others their are that do utterly deny and as it were to make a scoff of the Scriptures and the word of God but I wish that all such persons may speedily amend their lives lest at the last day the righteous judge of all the world jesus Christ shall say unto them Depart from me ye workers of iniquity But now beloved Christians I would have you to consider and think on this that the day of vengeance is near at hand and every soul shall stand at the Bar of Arraignment before the righteous judge to tender up an account of all their deeds and actions good and evil and then shall the good be severed from the bad and the one sort with joy and triumph be received into everlasting happiness & the rest be cast into utter darkness where is nothing else to be heard or seen but weeping howling and gnashing of teeth Moreover I would have you to consider that at the general judgement there are none to be excused from coming to their answers and every one shall be forced to appear in their persons the rich and the poor the King and the Beggar the strong and the weak the bound and the free all must come whether they will or no for God hath no respect of person's and at that great and notable day of the Lord our God there is no delays to be made there shall be no Lawyers to plead a cause for another man or woman for he shall be sure to have work enough to do of his own neither shall there be any bribes accepted of therefore look well about you and prevent the wrath of the judge while you may and provoke not God to Anger lest your souls perish in displeasure Yet furthermore I would have you remember this that as the Saints of Heaven are crowned with glory and the wicked sent unto the gulf of misery there is no returning from neither of the places but where soever they are sent by the judge there they are to continue world without END Oh! what a heavy sight will it be to the Wicked when they shall see the godly entertained into Heaven among the glorious Saints and Angels of the Lord and they themselves to be cast into utter darkness for ever where they shall never behold the brightness of the Sun nor the glory of Christ again alas dear friends what a sad thing it is to think upon but ten thousand times worse to them that shall suffer themselves to be banished from the presence of Christ for ever Such cursed wretches as are here spoken of are them who have lost their way to heaven and can never find the Key to open Heaven Gate withal The last thing that I have to put you in mind of is that every one should remember his End and think upon the day of his death while he is alive on the Earth To this purpose the wise man Solomon hath taught us our Lesson and to the Life when he says Remember thy end and thy Creator in the days of thy youth as much as if he said Remember thy end to day to morrow and the next day & all the days of our lives And also that every night before we sleep we make our peace with God by way of humble Petition and prayers unto his heavenly Majesty that he will be pleased that if we never live to see the morrow morning to forgive all our sins & receive our souls into his heavenly Kingdom if every one will make use of what is here set down and constantly practise it in their lives and conversations they need not fear death let him come early or late sleeping or waking or what time soever it be neither can the gates of Hell nor the power of Devils prevail against them that have found the right way to Heaven And to conclude this point let all that ever mean well to their own souls take good notice of what is said it may be a means through Gods great mercy to bring them that are gone astray in the right and perfect way to Heaven where at the first entrance our Saviour jesus Christ will be ready to welcome us in with these sweet and comfortable greetings and embracements with words as followeth Come ye blessed Children of my Father receive a Crown and Kingdom of Glory which was prepared for you at the beginning To which kingdom The Lord in his good time bring us all There shall the blessed souls of the righteous behold the celestial Saints of the Lord & be partakers with them of the everlasting felicity which is unspeakable then shall they that mourned here be converted there And they that suffered reproachful words abusefull slanders shameful disgraces and presecutions for Christ and the Gospel's sake shall have a full reward and sweet satisfaction in the Sanctuary of the most high God & all those which have been wronged on Earth shall be righted in Heaven which consideration may very well serve to comfort all such as have been or are any ways afflicted derided or oppressed and falsely accused in this present life since there is a Crown of glory laid up for them in the life to come then let all true and faithful Believers be valiant-hearted and never be dismayed for all that can be done against them by the world the flesh and the Devil And for your further instruction I would wish you all to be well advised and to follow the Doctrine and Counsel of the Apostle St. Paul who biddeth you to put on the whole armour of God Having your loins girt about with the truth putting on the breastplate of righteousness and feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace taking up the sh●e●d of faith and helmet of salvation And being thus armed you need not fear all the Enemies that ever can assault or come against you as you may read in the 6 Chapt. of Ephes. 14 15 16 17 verses how to come by this Armour and how to use it you must learn that of our Captain and Leader jesus Christ who suffered many persecutions when he was upon earth as hunger cold banishment scorns and taunts whip & buffet spitting on the face and at last nailed on the Cross and pierced to the heart with a bloody spear in all which afflictions he was never seen to look upon Enemies with a frowning Eye nor to give them so much as an angry word but at the very point of death he took all things patiently and prayed for his enemies saying Father forgive them they know not what they do And when he fetched his last gasp at the yielding up of the ghost he cried with a loud voice Father into thy hands I commit my Spirit Thus was our Saviour jesus Christ made a sufferer for our sakes & all those torments did he undergo while he was on earth to teach us the way tr Heaven and this hath he purchased with his most dear and precious blood to save us from the torments of Hell and after that Christ had suffered the sharpness of death he ascended into heaven where he hath made already intercession for all them that are his followers And seeing that our Saviour hath led the way why should not we be as willing to come to him he hath promised he will never leave us nor forsake us if we do not leave nor forsake him Therefore let us look to ourselves if we will not find the way to Heaven the fault is our own Therefore to finish up all I once more desire you all that you will never leave Practising to find the way to Heaven For blessed are they that continue to the END A PRAYER O Most mighty Lord God full of mercy and compassion to all that call upon thy holy Name and seek after thy Heavenly Kingdom We thy poor distressed Servants and Children do upon the bent knees of our hearts prostrate ourselves before thee with all humility both of souls & bodies desiring that of thy infinite goodness thou wilt be pleased to teach us the way to come unto thee for we are not able to do any good thing of ourselves without thy powerful help we are weak but thou art strong and therefore draw us and we will follow thee direct our ways to come unto thee so that when the time comes that our souls shall be separated from our bodies we may be received into the Joys of Heaven and that for the sake of Jesus Christ our Saviour to whom with the Father and Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory Power and Praise both now and for evermore Amen FINIS