PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks — Volume 3
Brooks, Thomas, 1608-1680 · 327,831 words · 286 reading sections
Section 121
[1.] First, You must honour them by hearing therfi, and giving credit to their message. The want of this honour troubled Jonah too much ; * Who hath believed our report V Not to believe the report that they make concerning God and Christ, &c., is to cast the greatest dis- honour that can be upon them.^ The wise men, Ma…
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And I will persecute tliem with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and I will deliver them to be removed to all the king- doms of the earth, to be a curse, and astonishment, and an hissing, and a reproach among all nations, whither I have driven them.' But why will God do this ? ' Because they have no…
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The Romans, when their emperors and great ones died, and their bodies were buried, they caused an eagle to mount on high, thereby to signify the soul's immortality and ascent. He gave good counsel who said, ' Play not the courtier with your soul ; the courtier doth all things late, he rises late, and dines late, and su…
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(5.) Fifthly, No man can tell what is in the breasts, in the womb, of divine Providence. No man can tell what a day, a night, an hour, may- bring forth.^ Who can sum up the many possible deaths that are still lurking in his own bowels, or the innumerable hosts of external dangers which beleaguer hiin on every side, or …
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(6.) Sixthly and lastly. In this treatise, as in a glass, all sorts of pro- fane persons, and all sorts of self-flatterers, and all sorts of hypocrites, may see [1.] that their present state and condition is not so safe, nor yet so happy, as they judge it to be. Again, in this treatise, as in a glass, all sorts of prof…
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proffer to him that he would make him a great nation if he would but stand neuter till he had revenged himself upon a rebellious people. But Moses had no mind to preferment upon those terms ; he preferred the public good before his own honour, profit, and advancement, and therefore follows God close, and never gives ov…
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' In Austin's account he was the gallantest of all the old Romans. [More exactly M. Atilius, M. F. L. N. Kegulus : Livy, £jnt. 18 ; Val. Max. iv. 4, sec. 6. — G.] EPISTLE DEDICATORY. ' 243 A Catiline, says the satirist, a trouble of mankind, grows as the weed, almost everywhere ; but a Brutus, a worthy patriot, that …
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6. Sixthly and lastly,When Christians of public spiritSjCome to die, their public spiritedness and general usefulness will be no small comfort and cordial to them. Nehemiah was a man of a public spirit, and accord- ingly he pleads it wdth God. ' Tliink upon me, oh my God, for good, according to all that I have done for…
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by imparting of them for God's honour, and the comfort and benefit of others. ' Give,' saith Christ, ' and it shall be given to you ; good mea- sure, pressed do^vIl, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom,' Luke vi. 38. The Jews wore large and loose garments, so that they could bear away …
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Gentlemen, Those that shall read what I have writ in this epistle, concerning public spiritedness and charitableness, and know you well, they know how to make the application without any further direction from me. Sir John, I must crave leave to say, that it is and will be your honour and comfort, both in life and deat…
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250 A CABINET OF JEWELS. [ChAP. I. rainbow is not a cause why God will not drown the world, but a sign that God will not drown the world ; and as it is a sign that God will not drown the world, we may and ought to rejoice in it, and to take com- fort from it, Gen. ix. 1 3, 14, 16. So here, &c. It is agreed on all hand…
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II. Secondly, consider, that true, sound, solid marJcs, signs, and evidences, are the best uriy to prevent delusions. There is no such deceit in sound and solid evidences, as there is in flashy joys, and in high and strange raptures, by which many glistering professors have been sadly deceived and deluded. Young Samuel…
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competent only to those that are strong men in Christ, and that are grown to a high pitch of grace, of holiness, of communion with God, of spiritual enjoyments and heavenly attainments, and sweet and blessed ravishments of soul ; and by this means they come to conclude ao-ainst the works of the blessed Spirit in them, …
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• I Thes. V. 23 ; John iii. 5-8, and chap. i. 16 ; Ps. xlv. 13. The new creature hath all the parts and lineaments, as in the body there is a composition of all the elements, and a mixture of all the humours. * Mat. V. 3-6, &c. Every child of God hath all the graces of the Spirit in him radi- cally, though not gradual…
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[7.] Seventhly, He that can clear his right to any one promise,, he may safely and boldly conclude Ids interest in every promise. The promises are a golden chain, and he that has a right in one link of the chain, has a right in every link of the chain, 2 Peter i. 5-7; Eph. v. 22, 23 ; 2 Peter i. 4. As there is a chain …
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[9.] Ninthly and lastly. If you daily irresent a greater and a choicer good in the 'promises to your souls than any this world affords^ then certainly you have an interest in the irromises. If when honours, or riches, or pleasures, or the applause of men do present themselves unto you, you can readily present to your o…
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we of the least measures of grace. A man may read the king's image upon a silver penny, as well as upon a larger piece of coin. The least dram of gi'ace bears the image of God upon it ; and why then should it not evidence the goodness and happiness of a Christian's estate ?^ It is a true saying, that the assurance of a…
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VII. Seventhly, Consider, that all men and women that are desirous to know how it will go ivlth them in another luorld, they must i^eremp-^ torily resolve to he determined by Scripture in the great matters of their interest in Christ.^ This blessed scripture is the great uncontro- verted rule, and therefore if a person…
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and compendious way of obtaining a blessed assurance, and a full estab- lishment of heart, in all sound, solid, and abiding joy and peace, Eph. i. 13 ; and therefore Luther,' though, as he confesseth, he was often tempted to ask for signs, apparitions, and revelations from heaven to confirm him in his way, yet tells us…
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I able than many, — may I not say, than most, — do apprehend or believe ; ' for if a gracious man will but argue rationally from Scripture, he shall be forced to conclude that he has grace, and that he has an interest in Christ, and that he shall be saved, unless he be resolved beforehand boldly to deny Scripture truth…
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* Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy com- mandments, or, as the Hebrew hath it, ' Then shall I not blush when my eye is to all thy commandments/ The traveller, you know, hath his eye towards the place where he is going ; and though he be yet short of it, yet he is putting on and pressing forw…
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^ There are some that are poor in estate, and otliers tliat are poor in spirit ; and there are some that are poor-spirited in the cause of God, Christ, the gospel, and their own souls ; and there are others that are poor in spirit. There are some tliat are spiritually poor, as all are that are destitute of grace, and o…
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[11.] Eleventhly, A godly man may argue thus: They which truly ' hunc^er and thirst after righteousness are blessed, and shall be filled,' Mat. V. 6 ; or they that are hungering and thirsting, as the Greek runs, beino- the participle of the present tense, intimating, that wherever this is the present disposition of men…
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all the world ; it is a vessel of honour, it is a spark of glory, it is a bad of eternity, it is the price of blood, it is beautified with the image of God, it is adorned with the grace of God, and it is clothed with the righteousness of God. Such are blessed as shew mercy to others, from gracious motives and considera…
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and shall see God. By the pure in heart, here in the text, we may safely understand the sincere and single-hearted Christian, in opposition to the double-minded Christian, as you may easily perceive by comparing the scriptures in the margin together.' Mark, purity is twofold : First, simple and absolute ; and in this s…
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[14.] Fou'iieeiithly, A godly man may argue thus : Such as sin hath not a dominion over, are not under the law, but under grace. Rom. vi. 14, 'But sin hath not a dominion over me, therefore I am not under the law, but under grace.' Sin may rebel in a saint, but it shall never reign in a saint. Look, as those beasts, in…
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sin, even then when he is worsted by sin and led captive by sin. A tyrant m obeyed unwillingly ; the wills of his subjects rise up against his commands, and if his power were not superior to their wills, they would never obey him. Sin is no king, but a tyrant in the souls of the saints, and therefore tbeir wills, so fa…
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' David, in an. hour of temptation, once made provision for his lusts, 2 Sam. xi. 14, 15; biit tliis was not his course, his trade, &c. ^ .lob XX. 12, 13; Prov. ii. 14; Amos vi. 13; Zeph. iii. 11; 2 Thes. ii. 12. ^ Plutarch. 278 A CABINET OF JEWELS. [ChAP. I. with, which had been acted by the devil all night, and le…
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Ans. Sol. Canst thou truly say, in the presence of the great and glorious God, that is the trier and searcher of all hearts, that thou hast given up thy head and life to the rule, authority, and govern- ment of Jesus Christ ; and that thou hast chosen him to be thy sovereign Lord and King, and art truly willing to subm…
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elect, precious : and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.' John vi. 40, * And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life : and r will rai.«e him up at the last day.' Ver. 47, ' Verily, verily, I say unto you. He that believeth …
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'^ Ever siuce man ceased to bo what lie should bo, lie striveth to seem to bo what ho is IJUL It is not the outward show that shews what things are. 3 ' Take lli-'ht.'— U. Chap. I.] a cabinet of jewels. 283 that they may upon gospel grounds justly claim as their portion, as their inheritance ? And oh that all such Ch…
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' Mark, you cannot despise the gifts or graces of any that are sincere, but by interpreta- tion you judge the Spirit, and despise the Spirit, as it is said of the poor in I'rov. xvii. 6. Chap. L] a cabinet of jewels. 285 their conditions, do begin to question their own estates and conditions; yea, and many times pere…
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' As is not a note of equality, but likeness ; so that the sense may be this : Look, as God knoweth me after a manner agreeable to liis infiuito excellency, so shall I know God according to my capacity, not obscurely, but perfectly, as it were face to face. A CABINET OF JEWELS. 287 that we are in a justified state, a…
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[2.] Secondly, Though many poor, weak, doubting, trembling Chris- tians dare not say that they do love tlce Lord Jesus Christ, yet they dare > 1 John V. 13 ; Isa. 1. 10 ; Mark ix, 24 ; 1 Cor. ii. 12 ; 1 Johu iv. 13, 14 ; Heb. vi. 11, 12 ; Eph. iii. 17-19 ; 2 Peter i. 10. Chap. I.J a cabinet of jewels. 289 say that t…
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[8.] Eightlily, Though poor, doubting, trembling Christians dare not say that tJtey have such strength and poiver against their sins os they vjould have, or as they should have, or as many of the dear saints of God have, who often lead captivity captive ; yet they dare say, that when the Lord is pleased, novj and then,…
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[3.] Thirdly, Consider that there liave been veiy many under such dreadful horrors and terrors of conscience, and under »uch wrath and, displeasure of an angry God, and that have lain trembling upon their dying beds, and that have been even ready to be stvalloived up in the gulf of despair, ivho would have given all th…
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XII. Twelftbly, Consider that it is a Christian's greatest vAsdom and highest concernment, to take the most commodJous time for the casting up of his spiritual accounts. If I would know what I am worth for another world, and what I have to shew for 'the inheritance of the saints in light,' then I am to take my heart wh…
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Lim worth a melting and trying every morning, 3'^ea, every moment. It is certain that great prosperity and worldly glory are no sure tokens of God's love, Prov. i. 82, Ps. Ixxiii. 5, Eccles. ix. 1, 2 ; and it is certain that great troubles and afflictions are no sure marks of God's hatred ; and yet many poor Christians…
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XIII. Thirteenthly, Consider you onust never judge yourselves un- sound, or hypocrites, by those things which the Scripture never makes a character of an unsound. Christian, or of an hypocrite, or of hypo- crisy} Mark, as you are to receive no comfort, but what is backed with clear scripture, nor no evidences for the g…
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lies like a load upon their hearts, and how soon would it bring them into a condition of peace, comfort, quietness, and settlement. 0 sirs ! every working and appearance of hypocrisy doth not presently prove the per- son in whom it is to be an hypocrite. A man may be hypocritical, either, 1, really ; or, 2, in opinion …
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XV. Fifteenthly, Consider in jud(/lnfj of yourselves and i/our spiH- tual estates and conditions, you must ahvays have an eye to yonr natural tempers, complexions, constitviions, and inclinations, and the ' Eccles. ix. 1-3 ; Isa. i. 25, xxvii. 9; Ileb. xii. 10, 11 ; Jamo3 v. 10, 11. Chap. I.] a cabinet of jewels. SOI…
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lest you bear false witness against the real work of the Spirit in you. There are none so apt to question the truth of their grace as those are that are truly gracious. Though Satan cannot hinder the Holy Spirit from working true grace in the soul, yet he will do all he can to fill the soul witlr fears and doubts and j…
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2 Everything which is a ground of grief or sorrow to the people of God, is not a snflB- cient ground of questioning their integrity, or the goodness and happiness of their spiritual estates and conditions. If, upon every slip, failing, and iniirniity, a Christian should question all that ever was wrought in him, and do…
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XVIII. Eighteenthly and lastly, jTAa^ trouble, grief, and sorrow for sin, that drives a man from God, is sinful, and must one day he re- pented of and luept over. All true trouble, grief and sorrow, drives to God, as is evident by the scriptures in the margin.^ Suppose thou hast so and so sinned, yet it is a false infe…
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A universal willingness to be rid of all sin, speaks the heart to be sound and sincere with God. The enmity that grace works in the heart against sin is against the whole kind ; it is against all sin, as well pro- fitable and pleasurable sins as disparaging and disgracing sins ; and as well against small sins as agains…
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they will be willing to let Israel go, then they will be willing to let drunkenness go, and pride go, and uncleanness go, and worldliness go, &c. ; but when their sickness is over, and the pangs of conscience abated, and judgments removed, oh! then they return with the dog to his vomit, and with the sow to the wallowin…
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But now graceless men are much more willing to be rid of their afflictions than to be rid of their sins. Witness Pharaoh, who cries out, Take away the frogs! see Exod. x. 17 : Exod. viii. 8, 'Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said. Entreat the Lord, that he may take away the frogs from me, and from my people…
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[4.] Fourthh% That soul that does not, nor through grace assisting, will not alloiv himself, or indulge himself in a course of sin, or in the common practice of any knovjn sin, that soul is certainhj a gracious soul. ' The evil that I do, I allow not,' Rom. vii. 1.5. So Ps. cxix. 1, 3, ' Blessed are the undefiled in th…
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self for the pride of his heart in numbering of the people, 2 Chron. xxxii. 25, 2 Sam. xxiv. 10. And how does the same prophet chide himself for sinful dejection of spirit : ' Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted in me?' Ps. xlii. 11. And how does he at another time befool himself, and be-beas…
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[6.] Sixthly, He that abstains from sin, he whose heart rises against sin, he that sets himself against sin, because of the evil nature of sin, because of that vileness and Jilthiness that is in sin, he certai)ily has a pHnciple of grace, a seed of God in him. He who refrains from sin, and whose heart rises more agains…
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that laid the corner-stone in that land of darkness, for before sin there was no hell, Judges v. 8 ; Ps. cvii. 34 ; Deiit. xxviii. 21. It was sin that crucified the Lord of glory, Rom. viii. 7. Now, oh how great must that evil be that has ushered in all these great evils into the world ! Sin is enmity against God ; God…
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' The contrariety to sin, which is in a real Christian, arises from an inward gracioas nature, which is opposite to the whole species or kind of sin, as contrarieties of nature are to the whole kind ; as light is contrary to all darkness, and fire to all water. So that tliia contrariety to sin arising from the inward m…
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Others, or produce holy shame ; or when they make the blood of Christ more precious and dear to the soul ; or when they engage a Christian so much the more to watch and pray, and pray and watch, that he may either be kept from the hour of temptation, or in the hour of tempta- tion ; or when every fall makes sin more bi…
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[9.] Ninthly, Where a hare naked comviand of God is commonly, ordinaHly of that power, force, and authority with the soul, as to curb sin, and restrain the soul from sin, and to arm and fence the soul against the encrooxhnients and commands of sin, there is certainly a saving vjork, a 'povjerfid vjork of God upon that …
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[10.] Tenthly, Constant desires, and earnest and constant endea- vours to avoid and shun all knovm appearances of sin, evidences the truth and reality of grace in the soul} Certainly that man is a true Nathanael, that makes it his business, his work, to abstain from all appearances of evil. An hypocrite loves the appea…
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Christians must not only hate imcleanness, but they must hate every- thing that looks like it, or that has the least communion with it. So in that Deut. xii. 30, ' Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared, by follomng of them, after that they be destroyed from before thee, and that thou inquire not after their gods…
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ments,' &;c. Precious aromatical oiutments were things greatly in use and esteem amongst the Israelites, and a special part of their treasures, as is evident by the Scriptures in the margin.^ And yet a good name, which hath its foundation in virtue, and in a holy, innocent, blameless, harmless, and exemplary life, is b…
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into his bosom for succour ? &c. And shall not we have that compas- sion on poor sinners' precious and immortal souls, as to abstain from the appearance of sin, which may more ways than one prove so exceed- ing prejudicial to them ? &c. Wicked men are wonderful prone to watch for the saints' baitings, Jer. XX. 10. Chr…
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[8.] Eighthly and lastly. Consider ivhcut some refined heathens and civilised pagans have done in this very case. There are stories of heathens that would not look upon excellent beauties, lest they should be ensnared. Democritus plucked out his own eyes to avoid the danger of uncleanness. Socrates ' speaketh of two yo…
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thy servant, who "is devoted to thy fear.' Verse 44, ' So shall I keep thy law continually for ever and ever.' Verse 45, ' And I will walk at liberty : for I seek thy precepts.' Acts xxiv. 1 6, ' And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men.' Heb. xiii. 18, ' P…
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.