PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks — Volume 3
Brooks, Thomas, 1608-1680 · 327,831 words · 286 reading sections
Section 241
But now the repentance of hypocrites is not constant, but inconstant; it is not stedfast, but unstedfast ; it is not permanent, but transient ; it is quickly on, as quickly off. 'Come,' say they, in that Hosea vi. 1, •' and let us return unto the Lord.' But ver, 4, ' O Ephraim ! what shall I do unto thee ? O Judah, wha…
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[2.] Secondly, It is not such a turning from sin, as that the true penitent shall never relapse into the same kind of sin any Tnore; for a true penitent may fall into the same sin again and again. It was a sm for the disciples to sleep when Christ had commanded them to watch and pray, and yet they slept again and again…
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their bitter mournings over their relapses. Relapses into diseases, and relapses into sins, are more troublesome and dangerous than they are any ways delightful to all that are in their wits. (4.) Fourthly, They do not relapse out of any settled purpose or resolu- tion of heart to relapse, as wicked men do, Jer. ii. 2…
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call of sinners to repentance is to turn from sin, and to return to God : Isa. Iv. 7, 'Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord,' &c. Jer. i. 4, ' If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord, return unto me ; and if thou wilt put away thine abominations ou…
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Chap. IV.] a cabinet of jewels. 437 Holy Ghost with Simon Magus ; and yet for all this his inside as bad as any of theirs. An hypocrite is a Cato without and a Nero within ; a Jacob without and an Esau within ; a David without and a Saul within ; a Peter without and a Judas within ; a saint without and a Satan within …
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^ It is most true that the heafhon man saith, Qui hahct nnum vilium hahct omnia ; he that liatU any one vice, viz., reigniuy, hath all others with it. — Seneca, de bene/., lib. v. cap. XV. Chap. IV.] a cabinet of jewels. 439 wound strikes Goliath dead, as well as three-and-twenty did Cassar ;' one Delilah will do Sam…
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profession, yet his eye was still upon his prey, upon his bags ; and so he might have it, he cared not who went without it ; so he might be rich, he did not care though his Lord and his retinue grew never so poor. Judas under all his shows and sanctity, had not so much as common honesty in him.^- Counterfeit holiness i…
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[4.] Fourthly, There is never an hypocrite in the world that makes God, or Christ' or holiness, or his doing or receiving good in his station, relation, or generation, his grand end, his highest end, his ultimate end of living in the vjorld. Pleasures, profits, and honours, are the hypocrite's all he aims at in this wo…
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But now mark, a sincere Christian, if he prays or hears, or gives or fasts, or repents or obeys, &c., God's glory is the main end of all. The glory of God is his highest end, his ultimate end, Ps. cxv. 1 ; 1 Thess. ii. 6. A sincere Christian can be content to be trampled upon and vili- fied, so God's name be glorified.…
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these things the hypocrite minds not, regards not. The righteousness of an hypocrite is not only imperfect, but impure, a rag, a filthy rag ; and therefore he that rests upon such a righteousness must needs miscarry to all eternity, Isa. Ixiv. 6. O sirs ! who will say that that man needs a saviour, that can fly to heav…
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[6.] Sixthly, An hypoerite never embroices a whole Christ ; he can never take up his full and everlasting rest, satisfaction, and content in the person of Christ, in the merits of Christ, in the enjoyment of Christ alone. No hypocrite did ever long and mourn after the enjoyment of Christ, as the best thing in all the w…
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[7.] Seventhly, An hypocHte cannot mouivi for sin as sin, nor grieve for sin as sin, nor hate sin as sin, nor make head against sin as sin. Mark, to hate sin is not (1.) Merely to refrain from sin, for so Balaam did, even then when he was tempted to it. Num. xxii. (2.) To hate sin is not merely to confess sin, for so P…
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(4.) Fourthly, True hatred includes a constant and. perpetual con- flict : * The flesh will be still lusting against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh.' Though sin and grace were not born together, and though sin and grace shall never die together, yet whilst a believer lives in this world, they must live to…
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to him, Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart ? And Jeho- nadab answered, It is. If it be, give me thine hand. And he gave him his hand, and he took him up to him into his chariot ; and he said. Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord.' Come, make a greater blaze than fixed stars : ' Come, see my zeal …
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So Paul, who had been caught up into the third heaven, and learned his divinity among the angels, as one speaks [Chrj'sostom], and had such glorious revelations as could not be uttered, yet he accounts him- self less than the least of all saints : Eph. iii. 8, ' Unto me who am less than the least of all saints.' The Gr…
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upon God ? Will he call upon God as often as others call upon him to call upon God ? Oh no ! The hypocrite will not always call upon God ; he will not persevere in prayer ; he will not hold on nor hold out in prayer ; he is short-spirited ; he cannot always pray and not faint, or shrink back as sluggards do in work, or…
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But now a sincere Christian, he will hold on and hold out in the ways of the Lord, in the want of all outward encouragements, and in the face of all multiplied discouragements. When the eye of men, the favour of men, the bounty of men, and all other encouragement from men fails, yet then a sincere Christian will hold u…
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[10.] Tenthly, No hypocrite ever makes it his business, hisivork, to bring his heart into religious duties and services, Mat. xv. 8, Mark vii. 6. He never makes conscience of bringing his heart into his work. An hypocrite is heartless in all he does : Ps. Ixxviii. 34, ' When he slew them, then they sought him ; and the…
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[11.] Eleventhly, An hypocrite never perfoi^ms religious duties from spiritual pHnciples, nor in a spimtual manner. An hypocrite is never inclined, moved, and carried to God, to Christ, to holy duties, by the power of a new and inward principle of grace working a suitable- ness between his heart and the things of God. …
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0 sirs ! it is considerable, that outward motives and natural principles have carried many heathens to do many great and glorious things in the world. Did not Sisera do as great things as Gideon ? The dif- ference did only lie here, that the great things which Gideon did, he did from more spiritual principles and raise…
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is counted the purest and sweetest honey. There is no profit, nor pleasure, nor joy to that which the purity of the word yields to a sin- cere heart : Ps. cxix. 48, ' My hands will I lift up to thy commandments ■which I have loved." Sometimes the lifting up of hands betokens ad- miration. When men are astonished and ra…
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[13.] Thirteenthly, and lastly. An hypocrite cannot endure to be tried, and searched, and laid open. An hypocrite hates the light, and had rather go to hell in the dark than come to be weighed in the balance of the sanctuary, John iii. 20. A soul-searching ministry is to an hypocrite a tormenting ministry. That is no m…
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[1.] First proposition. It is the wisdom, and ought to be the luork of every Christian to own the least measure of grace that is in him, though it be 'mixed and mingled ivith many weaknesses and infirmities. Sin is Satan's work, and grace is Christ's work ; and therefore Christ's work ought to be e}' ed and owned, thou…
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It was a great saying of a very worthy man' that is now with God, viz.. That as he often got much good by his sins, so he often got much hurt by his graces. Dear hearts, when you look upon the stream, re- member the fountain ; when you look upon the flower, remember the root ; when you look upon the stars, remember the…
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turning aside to the covenant of works, Jer. xxxiii. 8, 9 ; Heb. viii. 10, 12. You may run and read in the covenant of grace, that he that is justified is also sanctified, and that he that is sanctified is also justified; and therefore why may not he that knows himself to be really sanctified, upon that very ground, sa…
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^ It is sad to be a stranger at home, and to be least acquamtcd with a man's own heart. — Aristotle. It is said of knowledge, non habet inimicum prater ignorantem. 472 A CABINET OF JEWELS. [ChAP. V, ducts of special or of common grace. Now, most Christians having but small measures of grace, holiness, and sanctificat…
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[4] The fourth proposition is this, // this way of trying our spiri- tual estates by holy and gracious qualifications, were not both laiuful and useful, then certainly the Holy Sioirit luould never have prescribed it, nor never have pressed men so earnestly upon it, as we find he has done in the blessed Scripture. Take…
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founded on the testimony of his conscience ; but from what did his conscience testify? from his sincere conversation. Again, take that memorable instance of Job ; God hid his face from him ; the arrows of the almighty stuck fast in him ; Satan was let loose upon him ; the wife of his bosom proved a tempter to him, a to…
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^ The most ordinary and safe way of coming to assurance is the discursive way in which a believer, from the fruits and effects of grace, infers he hath the habit, and from the habit concludes his justification and adoption ; and as this is a way least subject to delusion, so it is also most suited to a rational creatur…
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[9.] The ninth proposition is this, Sincere Christians may safely and groundedly rejoice, delight, and take comfort in those graces, or in those divine qiudities, which in the light of the S2:)irit they see and know are wrought in their souls} I do not say that a Christian should build the comfort of his justification …
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walk in much peace, comfort, and joy. Such Christians as are resolved to lie down in sorrow, till they have attained to a perfect assurance, must resolve to lie down in sorrow till they come to lay down their heads in the dust. Our graces are imperfect, and therefore that assur- ance that arises from the sight and evid…
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[12.] The twelfth proposition is this, viz.. That it is the great duty and concernment of Chnstians to keep the evidences of their gracious and happy condition aUvays bright and shining. Christians should make conscience of blurring and disfiguring the golden characters of grace in their souls. The least character of g…
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of God} By free grace you are to understand the gracious good will or favour of God, whereby he is pleased of his own free love to choose and accept of some in Christ for his owa. This Ave call first grace, because it is the fountain of all other grace, and the spring from whence they flow ; and it is therefore called …
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2. The second royal fort that Christians should have their eyes, their hearts fixed upon, whether their graces or gracious evidences sparkle and shine, or are clouded and obscured, is the mediatory righteousness of Christ} Beloved, there is a twofold righteousness in Christ. First, there is his essential and personal r…
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[3.] Thirdly, This righteousness of Christ presents us perfectly righteous in the sight of God. It is that pure, fine, white linen gar- ment whereby our nakedness is covered before the face of God : ' And to her was granted' (that is, to the Lamb's wife) ' that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white : for…
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[4,] Fourthly, The Lord frequently commands his people to love him: Deut. xi. 1, Ps. xxxi. 23, ' 0 love the Lord, all ye his saints!' And he has promised and engaged himself that his people shall love him : Deut. XXX. 6, ' The Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God w…
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Now, whenever you look upon your graces or gracious evidences with one eye, be sure you look upon the covenant of grace, your last royal fort, with the other eye. The whole hinge of a man's comfort and happiness hangs upon the covenant of grace. The covenant of grace is the saint's original title to heaven ; it is a sa…
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that you may find in it remedies to cure all your diseases, and cordials to comfort you against all your faintings, and a spiritual armoury to arm you against all your enemies, viz., the world, the flesh, and the devil, Isa. xl. 28, and Ps. cxlvii. 5. Dost thou, O distressed sinner, want a loving God, a compassionate G…
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' For this is all my salvation and all my desire ;' i. e. this is the great ground of all my hope concerning my salvation, and of all the happiness and blessedness which I look for in another world. This everlasting covenant, this sure covenant, is the great charter of charters that I have to shew for eternal bliss. Da…
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Thirdly, Trusting in our own duties, and resting on our own right- eousness, and not on Christ's solely, is a close, secret, spiritual, dangerous, and unperceivable sin, which the nature of man is exceedingly prone unto, Isa. Iviii. 1 -3 ; Zech. vii. 5, 6. The pharisees were mightily given up to trust in their own righ…
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Chap. V.] a cabinet of jewels. 497 was, he was by grace. ' By the grace of God I am what I am,' 1 Cor. XV. 10. He Hved, ' yet not he, but Christ lived in him,' Gal. ii. 20. He ' laboured more abundantly than they all, yet not he, but the grace of God which was with him,' 1 Cor. xv. 10. He was able to do all thin^-s, b…
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aud my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him.' Holy Christians shall have most of the spiritual presence of Christ, and of the singular manifestations of the love of Christ to their souls. The great reason of reasons why the springs of comfort, of joy, of inward peace, and of assur…
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merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins, and their iniquities will I remember no more ;' there is the promise of justification : 1 John i. 9, 'If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins;' there is our justification promised ; 'and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness;' there is th…
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1 Heb. xi. ; Rom. iv. 3, and viii. 24; Zecli. xii. 10. -' Plutarch, in tlie life of Tliocion, tells us of a certain gentlewoman of Ionia, who shewed the wife of Phocion all the rich jewels and precious stones she had. She answered her again, All my riches and jewels is my husband. This is more applicable to Christ, &c…
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is wrought in them, and done by them, that they forget their grand work, which is immediate closing with Christ, immediate embracing of Christ, immediate relying upon Christ, immediate staying, rolling, and resting upon Christ, for justification and salvation. Now , from these frequent miscarriages of Christians, some …
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[16.] The sixteenth and last proposition that I shall lay down is this : Whenever any fresh doubts or fears rise in your hearts upon the stirrings of corruptions, or debility of graces, or failing in duties, &c., then keep close to these two rules : First, have recourse to any of the former characters that are laid dow…
1,117 wordsSource & rights
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.