PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks — Volume 2
Brooks, Thomas, 1608-1680 · 342,041 words · 288 reading sections
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Rkgister No.. . 2/...</....^ Digitized by the Internet' Archive in 2006 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://w.ww.archive.org/details/completeworksoft02broouoft NICHOL'S SERIES OF STANDARD DIVINES. BY JOHN C. MILLER, D.D., LINCOLN OOLLEQB ; HONORAET CANON OF WORCBSTEB; RECTOR OF ST MARTIN'S, BIRMINGH…
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Shewing eight notable differences between a true and a counter- feit assurance, &c., ..... 512—519 Also in this chapter is set forth in nine special things, the difference between the whisperings of the Holy Spirit and the hissings of the old serpent, &c., . . . 519-523 Containing answers to several special questions…
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The same author in one of his epistles hath this remarkable relation, viz., That the same day wherein Jerome died, he was in his study, and had got pen, ink, and paper to write something of the glory of heaven to Jerome, and suddenly he saw a light breaking into his study, and smelt also a very sweet smell, and this vo…
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liberty, his life, but he can never be stripped of his God. As God is a portion that none can give to a Christian but himself, so God is a por- tion that none can take from a Christian but himself; and, therefore, a.^ ever you would have a sure portion, an abiding portion, a lasting portion, yea, an everlasting portion…
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It hath been long since observed to my hand, that Daniel sets forth the several monarchies of the world by sundry sorts of cruel beasts, to shew that as they were gotten by beastly subtilty and cruelty, so they were supported and maintained by brutish sensuality, craft, and tyranny ( * This you will find fully cleared …
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The Lord is my portion, saith Tny soul ; therefore vnll I hope in him.r—liAM.. III. 24. Certainly if Ennius could pick out gold out of a dunghill, I may, by divine assistance, much better pick out golden matter out of such a golden mine as my text is, to enrich the souls of men withal. The best of painters [Apelles], …
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(1 .) First, God is a present portion. He is a portion in hand, he is a portion in possession. All the scriptures that are cited to prove the doctrine, evidence, this to be a truth, Ps. xlviii. 14, Isa. xxv. 9. And so doth that Ps. xlvi. 1, ' God is a very present help in trouble.' The He- brew word hetsaroth is in the…
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camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household,' Job i. 3; but at last God gives him twice as much as he had at first, * for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses,' Job xlii. 1 2. Cattle are only inst…
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(3.) Thirdly, As God is an immense portion, a large portion, so God is an all-sufficient poHion : Gen. xvii. 1, * And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God : walk before me, and be thou perfect. I am God Almighty,' or as some carry the words, ' I …
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(4.) Fourthly, As the Lord is an all-sufficient portion, so the Lord is a most absolute, needful, and necessary jpoiiion. The want of an earthly portion may trouble me, but the want of God for my portion will damn me. It is not absolutely necessary that I should have a por- tion in gold, or silver, or jewels, or goods,…
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(5.) Fifthly, As the Lord is a most absolute, needful, and necessary portion, so the Lord is a pure and unmiaxd portion. God is an un- mixed good, he hath nothing in him but goodness; he is an ocean of sweetness, without one drop of bitterness ; he is a perfect beauty, with- out the least spot or shadow of deformity, D…
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[7.] Seventhly, and lastly. The light of all bodies is (he most incom- pound light ; it will never mix with darkness ; no more will God : 2 Cor. vi. 14, 'What communion hath light with darkness V The na- ture of God is void of all composition. Light expels darkness, it never mixes nor mingles with it. By what has been …
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(7.) Seventhly, As God is a glorious portion, so he is a peculiar por- tion, he is a portion peculiar to his people, Ps. cxlii. 5, 6 ; Jer. x. 16. This is evident in the text, and in all the scriptures cited to prove the point, Ps. xvi. 5, and so in that Ps. Ixvii. 6, * Then shall the earth yield her increase, and God,…
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portion. He is a portion that includes all other portions. God hath himself the good, the sweet, the profit, the pleasure, the delight, the comfort, &c., of all portions.' There is no good in wife, child, father, friend, hu.sband, health, wealth, wit, wisdom, learning, honour, &c., but is all found in God : Rev. xxi. 7…
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Now God is so every particular belie*^er's portion, as that he is every believer's portion : 1 Cor. i. 1, 2 ' Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, unto the church of God, which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, …
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portions. Ahab's fingers itched to be a-fingering of Naboth's dneyard. ] Kings xxi. 1-5. A man can no sooner come to enjoy an earthly por- tion, but other men's fingers itch to be a-fingering of his portion, as daily experience doth sufficiently evidence. But God is a portion that the fire cannot bum, nor the floods ca…
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' Aristotle, that great secretary of nature, being not able to comprehend the reason of the sea's ebbing and flowing, cast himself into it; oh how much less able was he to com- prehend God, blessed for ever 1 Lam. III. 24] an ark for all god's noahs. 29 past finding out ! When men and angels do search farthest into G…
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Though men have never so great a stock, yet if they still spend upon it they will certainly consume it; oh, but God is such a stock as can never be spent, as can never be consumed. If a sparrow should but fetch a drop of water out of the sea once a day, yea, once in a thousand years, yet in time it would be exhausted ;…
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(1 3.) ThirteentMy, As God is an inexhaustible portion, so God is a soul-satisfying portion, Ps. xvii. 15. He is a portion that gives the soul full satisfaction and content: Ps. xvi. 5, 6, 'The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup : thou maiutainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant plac…
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loveth abundance with increase. This is also vanity.'' All the world cannot fill the soul, nor all the creatures in the world cannot stock the soul with complete satisfaction. As nothing can be the perfection of the soul but he that made it, so nothing can be the satisfaction of the soul but he that made it. If a man b…
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* Vide Ainsworth and D. Rivetus on the place. The Hebrew words in this Exod. iii. and their several significations do well agree with the name Jehovah, which implieth, that God here sending Moses, is eternal in his being, faithful in hig promisefi, and almighty in the performance thereof. 30 AN ARK FOR ALL GOD'S NOAHS…
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Look, as the rainbow shews itself in all its dainty colours, and then vanisheth away; so doth all worldly honours, riches, and preferments shew themselves and then vanish away ; and how many in our days have found it so ! When one was a-commending the riches and wealth of merchants ; I do not love that wealth, said an …
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desire no more ! He had it. Oh then, were I but a king, I would desire no more ! He had it. Oh then, were I but an emperor, I would desire no more ! He had it. Oh then, were I but emperor of the whole world, I would then desire no more ! He had it ; and yet then he sits down with Alexander, and weeps that there are no …
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' Ps Ixxxix. 34, 85 ; Isaiah liv. 9, 10 ; Ps. cxi. 5 ; Ps. cv. 9 ; Mic. vii. 20 ; Heb. vi. 13-19 Luke i. 73. * Inserted in the Critici Sacri. — G. Lam. III. 24.] an ark for all god's noahs. 41 people, Thou art my people ; and they shall say, Thou art my God.' This threefold repetition, ' I will betroth thee,' ' I wil…
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[4.] Fourthly, It lays them, open to a neglect and slighting of the ways of God, and of the otyJlinances of God, Job xxL 5-16 ; Mai. iii. 13-15 ; Jer. xxii. 21. Wheu the protestants in France were in their prosperity, they slighted powerful preachings, &c., and began to affect a vain frothy way of preaching and living,…
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Again, When wicked men are at the highest, then are they nearest their fall ; as you may see in that 37th Psalm, and that 73d Psalm, and in those great instances of Pharaoh, Adoni-bezek, Benhadad, Ahab, Sennacherib, Haman, Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, and Herod, &c.' Look, as the ship is soonest cast away when she is to…
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Again, God will bt^g them to an account for all tlioae talents of power, of honour, of riches, of trust, of time, of interest that God hath given them in the world; and the more they have employed the liberality and bounty of God against God or his glory, or interest, or people, the shorter shall be their felicity, and…
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ever, ever, yea and for ever and ever take care of thee, and look after thee, and be mindful of thee.' Though they had changed their glory for contempt, Heb. xi. 36-38, their fine raiment for sheep-skins and goat-skins, their silver for brass, their plenty for scarcity, their fulness for emptiness, their stately houses…
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Again, That little estate that a righteous man hath is most com/monly 60 AN ARK FOR ALL GOD's NOAHS. [LAM. III. 24. a more lasting, a more abiding, a more permanent, and a more en- during estate than the great and large estates of the wicked are, Pro v. XV. 16, and xvi. 8. Ps. xxxvii. 16, ' A little that a righteous …
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52 AN ARK FOR ALL GOD's NOAHS. [LaM. III. 24. that are in the highest authority, and that great oppressors, cruel tyrants, and crafty politicians shall be impoverished, and brought to penury, beggary, and misery. And this we have often seen verified before our eyes. O Christian ! what though thou hast but a little of…
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' Prov. xii. 26. A man that hath God for his portion, doth as much excel and out- shine such as have only Mammon for their portion, as the sun excels and out-shines the stars, t 54 AN ARK FOR ALL GOD'S NOAHS. fLAM. III. 24. and priests unto God and his Father.' ^ They have the power, sovereignty, and authority of kin…
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tions, love, desire, joy, hope, confidence, &c. If riches increase, oh, set not thy thoughts upon them ; if riches increase, oh, set not thy affec- tions upon them ; if riches increase, oh, set not thy love upon them, set not thy desires upon them, set not thy joy and delight upon them, nor never place thy hope or conf…
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(5.) Fifthly, If the saints have such a glorious, such an incomparable portion ; then let them he cheerful and comfortable under aU worldly crosses, losses, and troubles. Acts v. 17-42, Rom. v. 2-4. With what a Roman spirit do many vain men of great estates bear up under great losses and crosses ; and shall not grace d…
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(6.) Sixthly, If the saints have such an excellent and such a trans- cendent portion, as hath been discovered, then away with all sinful shifts, ways, courses, and compliances to gain an earthly portion. Was it not horrid, yea, hellish baseness in Ahab, who had a whole kingdom at his devotion, to possess himself of poo…
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to wait on God, and it is your strength to exalt and lift up God, and it is your strength to walk with God ; it is your strength to live, and your strength to die, and therefore be sure to keep up your joy in God. It is one of the saddest sights in all the world to see a man that hath God for his portion, with Cain to …
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' Gregory the great was wont to say, that he was a poor man, whose soul was void of grsuse, pot he whose coffers were empty of money. 62 AN ARK FOR ALL GOD'S NOAHS. [LAM. III. 24. worlds, and will he not give you bread to eat, and raiment to put on ? Hath he given you those spiritual riches that infinitely exceed and…
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[4.] Fourthly, Inordinate cares are a dishonour and a reproach to the mercy, bounty, and liberality of God. They proclaim God to be a hard master, and not to be of so free, so noble, and so generous a spirit, as Scripture and the experiences of many thousands speaks him to be. I have read of a duke of Milan, that marry…
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[6.] Sixthly and lastly. Inordinate cares are a reproach to the pity and compassion of God, Mat. vi. S2. They speak out God to be a God of no pity, of no bowels, of no tenderness ; whereas God is all pities, all bowels, all compassions, all tendernesses : Ps. ciii. 13, ' Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lo…
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replying, Do you desire nothing else ? No, saith he, all things are in BasiXijcuc, in this one word, like a king; so all things are in this one word, ' The Lord is my portion.' He that hath God for his portion, hath all things, because God is all things ; he is a good that contains all good in himself. All the good tha…
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Judges xviii, 6-28 ; and so the peace, plenty, aud prosperity of the Bohemians cast them into so great a security, that they began to grow very loose and base in their lives, and very cold and careless in the things of God, and in all their soul-concernments ; insomuch that many of their most pious and prudent men did …
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Lam. III. 24.] an aek for all god's noahs. 71 should I die, being so rich ? If the whole realm would save my life, I . am able either by policy to get it, or by riches to buy it ; fie, quoth he, will not death be hired ? will moaey do nothing ?^ It is reported that Queen Elizabeth could not endure so much as to hear d…
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. ing mercies for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin,' Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7. And certainly to keep up such precious thoughts and notions as these are of God, is that work of works that lies upon every man's hand that hath God for his portion. Osirs! there is a very great aptness and proneness, even in t…
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3 [Foxe.] Acts and Mon., 813. [By 'Dutch' is meant High Dutch, i.«. German; ' Dentsch: of. stib voce, in Foxe, by Townsend, vol. iv. pp. 282-284. — G.] * Clare's ' Martyrologie,' as before, p. 49.J. — G. 74 AN ARK FOR ALL GOD's NOAHS. [LAM. III. 24. did neckerchief become me so well as this chain, said Alice Driver,…
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I have both heard and read of a rare story of Mrs Honywood, a famous profcwssor of the gospel, and one that for many years together lay under the burden of a wounded spirit, and was much troubled in mind for want of assurance that God was her portion, and that she should be saved from wrath to come. At length there cam…
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Plutarch reports of one, who would not be resolved of his doubts, because he would not lose the pleasure in seeking for resolution, like to him that would not have his physician to quench the thirst he felt in his ague, because he would not lose the pleasure of drinking; and like those that would not be freed from thei…
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and an heaven of joy over him. All his looks will speak out joy within, and all his words will speak out joy within, and all his works will speak out joy within, and all his ways will speak out joy within. I remember a notable saying of one, How sweet was it to me of a sudden to be without those sweet vanities ! and th…
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* 1 John i. 1-4 ; 2 Cor. 13, 14. Man's summum bonum stands in his communion with God, as Scripture and experience evidences, Ps. cxliv. 15. My God and I am good com- pany, said famous Dr Sibbes. Lam. III. 24.] an ark for all god's noahs. 81 Regius, having one day's converse with Luther, said,' It was one of the sweet…
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When Alexander the Great had overthrown Darius, king of Persia, he took among the spoils a most rich cabinet, full of the choicest jewels that were in all the world ; upon which there rose a dispute before him, to what use he should put the cabinet ; and every one having spent his * Lord, saith Austin, the more I medi…
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[2.] Secondly, If God be thy portion, then in all thy str aits, tHals, trou- bles, and wants, thou wilt run to thy God, thou wilt fly to the Lord,as to thy only city of refuge :' 1 Sam.xxx. 6, 'And David was greatly distressed, for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved (or bitt…
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up.' And so Moses in that Ps. xc. 1, 'Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations ;' or as the Hebrew hath it, thou hast been our refuge-place in generation and generation. By this Hebraism, generation and generation, the prophet sets forth all generations, to shew that there hath been no generation wher…
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[3.] Thirdly, If God be thy portion, then thou wUt holdfast thy portion, and rather part with anything than part with thy portion. Naboth would not upon any terms part with his inheritance ; he would rather let all go, yea, his very life go, than let his inheritance go, his portion go : 1 Kings xxi. 3, ' And Naboth sai…
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I have read of Cynaegii-us,' an Athenian captain, who, in the Persian wars, pursuing his enemy's ship, which was laden with the rich spoils of his country, and ready to set sail, how he first held it with his right hand till that was cut off, and then with his left hand till that was cut off, and then with his stumps t…
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neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal : for where your treasure is, there will your hearts be also.' Ps. Ixiii. 1, ' O God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee ' (or, I will diligently seek thee, as merchants do precious stones that are of greatest value), * my soul th…
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•* A man of no resolution, or of a weak resolution, will be won with a nul, and lost with an apple ; but a man of a noble resolution will own God in the face of the greatest ina> esty on earth. Lam. III. 24.] an ark for all god's noahs. 93 all the nations of the earth ; and therefore, notwithstanding all that Joshua …
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[7.] Seventhly, If God be thy portion, then thou wilt look upon all things below thy God as poor, low, mean, and contemptible things, Ps. Ixxiii. 24, 25. A worldly man looks upon all things below his earthly portion as contemptible ; and so doth a Christian look upon all things" below his God as contemptible : Philip, …
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[8.] Eighthly, If God be thy portion, then thy God is most 'pn^ecious to thee, then thou settest the highest price and value vmaginahle wpon thy God. Every man sets the highest price upon his portion. Though a man may set a good price upon his delightful gardens, his pleasant walks, his delicate fish-ponds, his fruitfu…
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[2.] Secondly, If God be most precious to thee, then all the dis- honours that are done to Ood, his truth, his uorshi'p, his ways, his ordin/inces, his institutions, his government, his people, are most grievous and burdensome to thee. * The reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me,' Ps. Ixix. 9 ; * I…
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the house, are given up to the king to be at his dispose, at his service, then he is entertained as a king, and honoured as a king, and valued and prized as a king; and so when all the keys of the soul, and every room in the soul, and every faculty of the soul, are given up to God to be at his dispose, at his service, …
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You see how sadly Micah takes on for the loss of his wooden gods, in that Judges xviii. 23, 24, 'And they cried unto the children of l)an: and they turned their faces, and said unto Micah, What aileth thee, that thou comest with such a company ? And he^ SE^id, Ye have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, an…
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(10.) Tenthly, If God be thy portion, then thou wilt set the highest price, value, and esteem upcni those that have God for their portion, Ps. xvi. 3, Prov. xii. 26, and chap, xxviii. 6. A man that hath God for his portion, never values men for their arts, parts, gifts, gay clothes, gold chains ; no, nor by their birth…
1,313 wordsSource & rights
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.