Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices
Thomas Brooks · 1652
A handbook on temptation: the tricks that lead us into sin, and short, memorable answers to each one.
1665 · Prayer & devotion
The Secret Key of Heaven
Private Prayer
First printed as The Privie Key of Heaven, this is Thomas Brooks on closet prayer: prayer alone with God, as Jesus taught in Matthew 6:6, “enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret.” Brooks treats it as a duty every Christian owes, not an extra for the especially devout.
He gives twenty reasons for it, among them that Christ himself prayed alone, that in secret we may open our hearts freely to God, and that secret duties have an open reward. Then he answers the usual objections, gives counsel on how to pray in the closet (often, with the heart, and without trusting in the duty itself), and warns against what crowds it out: sloth, worldly business and secret sins.
- About 7 hours to read (103,000 words)
- Rewards a slower read
- Anyone who wants to pray more, or finds it hard to start.
Read it your way
Free to read and download. Paperbacks are coming soon. They will be printed on demand and sold at cost: we make nothing on them.
For churches, schools and local printers: the print-ready files are exactly what we send to Lulu, with the cover's spine sized to the page count. Print as many as you like.
Then & Now
What did 1665 look like?
Here is a paragraph from “2. The Main Objections Against Closet Prayer Answered,” as it was first printed and as you'll read it in this edition.
As printed in 1665
Here are three words that have three Articles, every word his ſeveral Article by it ſelf, τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, The Spirit, not a Spirit; and not holy, but the holy; nor of God, but of that God, 2 Cor. 1. 22. Who hath alſo ſealed us, and given the earneſt of the ſpirit in our hearts.
Today
↩ runs on
Here are three words that have three articles, every word his several article by itself, τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, τοῦ θεοῦ: “‸The Spirit,” not “‸a Spirit.” And not “‸holy,” but “‸the holy.” Nor “‸of God,” but “‸of that God‸‸.‸” “‸Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts” (2 Cor 1:22).
About this edition
Faithful, and easier to read
Brooks's The Privie Key of Heaven (1665) in modern spelling, from an earlier copy corrected against the 1665 printing; its dropped clauses, Latin, Greek and Hebrew restored from the page images.
75.2% of the words are exactly as printed. Most of the rest are spelling and punctuation; only 4.5% changed in grammar or wording. Every change is recorded, and you can see each one in Then & Now.
Open Then & Now- First published
- 1665
- Made from
- The 1665 London printing (EEBO-TCP A29703)
How this edition was made
Sources
Checked against
- Chapel Library's edition (Private Key to Heaven, EPUB, text in the public domain), which the earlier copy followed
- The 1665 printing's page images (archive.org), for the Greek, Hebrew and illegible places
- The earlier Freely Given Books copy (lightly modernized), folded in as the review
- Source files
- This edition on GitHub
- Licence
- Public domain (CC0): copy and share freely
- Found a mistake?
- Tell us
About the authorThomas Brooks 1608–1680A London pastor who stayed with his people through plague and fire.