PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks — Volume 4
Brooks, Thomas, 1608-1680 · 287,548 words · 250 reading sections
Section 61
(1.) First, The heart of a holy man rises against secret sins, against such as lie furthest off from the eye of man : Ps. cxix. 113, 'I hate vain thoughts, but thy law do I love.' What more secret than vain thoughts ? and yet against these the heart of a holy man rises. When Joseph was tempted to be secretly wicked wit…
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[2.] Secondly, A holy heart knows that Httle sins have exposed both sinners and saints to very great punishments. A gracious soul re- members the man that was stoned to death for gathering of sticks on the Sabbath-day. He remembers how Saul lost two kingdoms at once, his own kingdom and the kingdom of heaven, for spari…
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do for a hatful of gold ? he that will sell the poor for a pair of shoes, will destroy the poor for a brace of angels, ^ Amos ii. 6. He that will sell souls dog-cheap, that will slay the souls that should not die, and save the souls alive that should not live, for handfuls of barley and pieces of bread, will make no bo…
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HeB. XII. 14.] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 117 called their idols delectable, or desirable things, Isa. xliv. 9 ; they did dearly affect and delight in their idols ; but when God should come to put a spirit of holiness upon them, then their hearts should rise in hatred and detestation of their idols, as you may see in Isa…
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6. Sixthly, Persons of real holiness are cordially affected avid affiieted, grieved and troubled, about their oivn vileness and unholi- ness, Ezek. xxxvi. 25, 26, 31. You may see this in holy Job, chap, xl. 3-5, ' Then Job answered the Lord and said. Behold, I am vile ; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand up…
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7. Seventhly, Keal holiness naturalises holy duties to the soul; it makes religious services to be easy and pleasant to the soul. Hence prayer is called the prayer of faith, because holy faith naturaliseth a man's heart to prayer, 1 Pet i. 2, and James v. 15. It is as natural for a holy man to pray, as it is for him to…
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8. Eighthly, Where there is real holiness, there will be the exercise of righteousness towards men from righteous principles, arid upon reli- gious accounts, viz., the honour of God, the command of God, the will of God, the credit of the gospel, &c. Keal holiness towards God is always attended with righteousness toward…
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But now, where there is but the shows and appearances of holiness, there persons make no conscience of exercising righteousness towards men. Witness the Scribes and Pharisees, who, under a pretence ot praying, made a prey of widows' houses ; who, under a pretence of piety, exercised the greatest covetousness, unrighteo…
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have a soul to save as precious as mine own, and bought by the same blood of Christ. It is said of Constantino that in this he was truly- great, that he would have his whole court gathered together, and cause the Scriptures to be read and opened to them, that they might be made holy courtiers, and so fitted for the cou…
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128 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, RARITY, [Heb. XII. 14. thy dealings with thy servants, and holiness shall be written upon thy carriages towards thy children, and holiness shall be written upon all thy behaviours towards thy friends. Whatever thou puttest thy hand to in thy habitation, shall have holiness written upon i…
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2 Josh. vii. 9 ; Ps. Ixix. 9 ; Ezra ix. 3 ; Nch. ix; Dan. ix; Micah i. 8 ; Jer. xiii. 17. VOL. IV. * I 130 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, RARITY, [Heb. XII. 14. doth the holy prophet thus take on ? why doth he thus lament ? why doth he wish himself turned into waters, and into a fountain of tears ? why doth he prefer a h…
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132 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, RARITY, [Heb. XII. 14. of God's public visitation, Isa. xxvi. 20. When the house is on fire, the father hath a special care to provide for the safety and security of his children ; when the lumber is on fire, a man will be sure first to secure his box of jewels. In times of common calami…
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* In great fairs and markets, the pedlar and the ballad-singer who sell toys and trifles, have most children and fools hanging upon them ; but they that are wise and prudent attend those shops where there is best and richest commodities. You know how to apply it. 134 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, KARITY, [HeB. XII. 14. …
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[3.] Thirdly, A man that is affected and taken with the word as it is a holy word, he is always affected and taken with it ; he loves it and takes pleasure in it, as well in adversity as in prosperity : Ps. cxix. 59, ' Thy statutes have been my songs' — ay, but where? — 'in the house of my pilgrimage,' or ' pilgrimages…
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holy, for I am holy.' [I shall give you light into these words when I come to open the holiness of God to you.] So Mat. v. 48, ' Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.' i Our summum bonum in this world consists in our conformity to the heavenly pattern. In all imitations it is best …
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' ActB xxvi. 16-18. If a minister had as many eyes as Argus to watch, as many heads as Typheus to dispose, and as many hands as Briareus to labour, he might find employ- ment enough for thpm all in the faithful diacharge of his ministerial function. [Of. vol. i., p. 3, footnote 1. — G.] HeB. XII. 14.] AND BEAUTY OF HO…
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ments— that is, to his word ; for under this title, 'judgments,' you are to understand the whole word of God. And so there were some in Sar- dis that were of the same spirit with the worthies above mentioned : Eev. iii. 4, ' Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk…
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3 Quod non actibus sed Jinibus pensantur officia : That duties are esteemed not by their acts but by their ends, is most certain. 142 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, RARITY, [HeB. XII. 14. Amen.' Look, as bright shining golden vessels do not retain the beams of the sun which they receive, but reflect them back again upon …
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1 Antimachus the famous poet held on in his exercise, when all his hearers had left him but Plato ; saying, Plato est viihi pro omnibus, Plato is to me instead of all. So a holy minister, when he is deserted by some, and cast off by others, yet he will hold on in his work. [Told also of Antagoras the Rhodian : see Welc…
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plain enough.' 1 Silly, ignorant people are very apt to dote upon that most, and admire that most, which they understand least ; but prudent Christians judge of ministers not by their lungs, but by their brains ; not by their throats, but by their hearts and lives ; not by their voices and tones, but by the plainness, …
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what God requires : Ps. cxix. 4,5,' Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently. Oh that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes ! ' As soon as God lays a command upon a Christian, he looks up to heaven for power to turn that precept into practice.! Oh that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes ! Oh …
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^ Nunquam abs te absque te recede. — Bern. Meditat. HeB. XII. 14,] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 149 have no communion, no converse at all with God in duty, though they have no pledges of grace, no pawns of mercy, no tastes of love, no relishes of heaven in a duty, yet they can come off from the duty with content and satis…
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1 ' Heathen.'— Q. « James i. 26, 27, and iii. 8, 12; Mat. xxvi. 73. . . . HeB. XII. 14.] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 151 I. For the first, I shall propound these following considerations to provoke all unsanctified persons to look after holiness. 1. First, Consider the necessity of holiness. It is impossible that ever y…
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* I have read that the Isle of Arren in Ireland hath such a pure air that it was never yet infected with the plague, but such is not the nature of man. HeB. XII. 14.] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 153 straw ; it is like the foolish satyr that made haste to kiss the fire ; it is like that unctuous matter which, the naturali…
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Heb. XII. 14.] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 155 22-24.^ That Adam was invested and endowed with righteousness and holiness in his first glorious estate ; with righteousness, that he might carry it fairly, justly, evenly, and righteously towards man ; and with holiness, that he might carry it wisely, lovingly, reveren- tial…
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to rid them out of this world ; he thought them not worthy to live, though they were such worthies of whom this world was not worthy, Acts viii. 3 ; he was a ravening and an untired wolf that was never weary in worrying Christ's little flock, and in sucking out the blood of his lambs. Yea, and he was an injurious perso…
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we might be crowned with holiness, immortality, and glory. Christ was resolved that he would lose all that was near and dear unto him, but he would recover our lost holiness for us. Christ knew that heaven had been but a poor purchase, had he not purchased holiness for us. As heaven is but a low thing without God, so h…
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from a conceited god to be the most loathsome of men, a living carrion arrested by the \'ilest of creatures, upon the suit of his affronted Creator, Acts xii. 23. And great Haman feasted with the king one day, and made a feast for crows the next, Esth. vii. 10. But that honour that waits on holiness is honour that will…
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And Salvian also complains that the loose walking of many Christians was made by the heathen the reproach of Christ himself, saying, If Christ had taught holy doctrine, surely his followers had led better lives. And further, the same author relates how the heathens did reproach some Christians, who by their lewd lives …
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^ 0000000— these signify nothing ; but if you do but add a figure to them, 10000000, then they signify much. ' So holy Eliakim was a throne of glory to his father's house, lea. xxii 23. Heb. XII. 14.] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 165 and an ornament to the father ; so was Isaac's to Abraham : the holi- ness of the husband…
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7. Seventhly, Consider that hohness is the very ear-marh, the very livery and badge of Ghrisis servants and subjects: Isa. Ixiii. 8, ' For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie : so he was their Saviour ;' and ver. 18, they are called ' the people of his holiness.' God's people are too holy to …
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xxii. 30, ' He shall deliver the island of the innocent : and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands : ' or, as some read the words, ' the innocent shall deliver the island ;' that is, the inhabitants of the island.^ The innocent shall deliver those that are not innocent ; had there been but ten innocent, but t…
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' If among the rabble, if among the noble, if among the rich, if among the learned, a man could have been found that loved holiness, that was stout for righteousness, and that practised uprightness, God would have spared Jerusalem. * Linshiboth gnolam — paths of eternity, the paths of piety ; the paths of purity are p…
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10. Tenthly, Consider, that of all things, holiness will render you most beautiful and amiable. As holiness is the beauty of God,i and the beauty of angels, so it is the beauty and glory of a Christian too. Holiness is a Christian's greatest honour and ornament : Ps, xciii. 5, * Holiness becometh thine house ' — that i…
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11. Eleventhly, Consider this to provoke you to be holy ; that holi- ness is the most gainfullest and the most thriving trade in the world. Now that every one cries out that all trading is gone, oh that every one would settle to the trade of holiness ! Oh, there is no gain, there is no advantage, to the gain that comes…
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it was much that an Esau should say he had much ; but says holy Jacob, ver. 11, {Li col,) 'I have all.' Esau had much, but Jacob had all, because he had the God of all : he had him that was all in all. It hath been said of the great Duke of Guise, that though he was poor as to his present possessions, yet he was the ri…
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against all the troubles of tliis life. Noah's sanctity was Noah's safety in the midst of a deluge : and Lot's piety was Lot's security in the day of Sodom's ruin and misery : and the three children's innocency was a waU of fire about them in the midst of the fiery furnace : i and David's integrity was a shield and buc…
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can cure the aching teeth ; nor the honourable garter that can ease the gout ; nor the purple robe that can chase away the burning fever ; nor the velvet slipper that can heal the kibe-heel : 1 no more can treasures of gold or silver deliver from wrath, or help in a day of death. Oh, but righteousness, that delivers fr…
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* Ilafif>7]<rla signifies boldness of face, a lifting up of the face and countenance, in the sight or face of many beholders. It signifies a freedom and liberty of speech. HeB. XII. 14.] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 181 account ; when he that was a brat of Satan's is made a saint, when he that was like hell is made like h…
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12. Twelfthly, Consider this, that holiness will put the greatest splen- dour and majesty upon persons that can possibly be put upon them, Job xxix. 8-11 ; Pro v. xii. 26. There is nothing that imprints such a reverence and majesty upon man as holiness doth. There is nothing that is such a grace to man as grace. It is …
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13. Thirteenthly, Consider that the times and seasons ivherein ive live call aloud for holiness. Many say the times are bad, very bad, extreme bad : ay, and let me teU you that your hearts and lives are bad, very bad, extreme bad ; and it is these that have made the times so bad, so very bad, so extreme bad. It is in v…
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there is in most of the nations of the earth ? But now what is the choicest salve for all these sores ? Certainly holiness. What is the most sovereign remedy against all these maladies ? Nothing but holiness. 0 sirs, the more holiness rises in a nation, the more will righteousness run down as mighty streams, and the mo…
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better hearts and better lives, and vou will quickly see better times, Isa. i. 16-19. 14. Fourteenthly, Consider that holiness will render you most like to a holy God, a holy Christ, and to holy angels. God is frequently called the Holy One in Scripture ; he is called the Holy One above thirty times in the Old Testame…
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' All angels, in respect of their nature, are alike ; but what the particular differences are between angels, archangels, principalities, and powers, and what their distinct offices are, I confess, with Austin, I understand not, neither is it my duty to know, nor my danger to be ignorant of these things, &c. 190 THE N…
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I come now to lay down some means and helps to holiness. Sup- posing that the language of some of your souls may be this : Oh, what shall we do to be holy ! Oh, what course, what way, what means must we use that we may obtain this holiness, without which we now clearly see that we shall never come to a fruition of happ…
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[3.] Thirdly, True repentance is a turning, not from some sin, hut from every sin : Ezek. xviii. 30, ' Kepent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions ; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.' Every sin strikes at the law of God, the honour of God, the being of God, and the glory of God ; and therefore the penite…
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would quickly give them ease, and turn their hell into a heaven ? I was last winter with a young man, who upon his dying bed for several hours together, being in a dreadful agony, lay crying out, I am damned, I am damned, I am damned, I am damned ! Ah, how soon would this poor wretch have got out of this hell, if it ha…
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^ It is reported that God should say to a man who desired to repent in his old age, Ubi conaumpsisti farinam, ibi consume/ur/urem : Where you have spent your flour, there go spend your bran, &c. Heb. XII. 14.] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 197 xii. 17; and remembering that there will be a time when thy glass will be out, a…
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2. Secondly, If ever you would be holy, oh, then kike heed of a ivitch. Take heed of the world. The world often swells the heart with pride; it makes men forget God, neglect Christ, slight ordinances, and despise holiness, Deut. xxxii. 15, 22. Ah, the time, the thoughts, the strength, the spirits that this enticing wor…
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A man bewitched with the world will gain no good by the ministry of the word : witness Ezekiel's hearers, Ezek. xxxiii. 31-33 ; and witness the stony ground. Mat. xiii. 22 ; and witness Christ's fol- lowers, John vi. Some writers say that notliing will grow where gold grows ; certainly where the love of this world grow…
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too good to go to hell, and yet they are not good enough to go to heaven ; and many there be who are worse than others, and yet by comparing themselves with those they suppose very bad, they conclude themselves to be very good. Such a one was that proud Pharisee in Luke xviii., who thought himself a far better man than…
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spreadeth a net for his feet.' The Hebrew word — Machalik from Chalak — that is here rendered flatterer, signifies a smooth-boots, a soft, butter-spoken man ; because flatterers, the better to deceive, do use to oil their tongues and to butter their lips, that so by their smooth, soft speeches they may the more insinua…
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* Vitellius, looking for the messenger of death, made himself drunk to drown the thoughts of it. 206 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, RARITY, [HeB. XII. 14. end, and thou shalt never do amiss,' be apocryphal, yet the truth asserted is canonical, i I have read a story of one that gave a young prodigal a ring with a death's-…
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[3.] Thirdly, As there is nothing more sudden than death, so there is nothing more short than life ; and why then should you put the day of your death so far from you ? i If you consider the life of man absolutely, it is but short, it is but as a span, a shadow, a dream, a bubble, a blast, a puff of wind, a pile of dus…
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stoop, even to the holding of his stirrup. Tamerlane, a Scythian cap- tain, the terror of his time, died with three fits of an ague. Anacreon the poet was choked with the kernel of a grape, ^schylus was killed by the shell of a tortoise which fell from an eagle's talons, who, as some conceive, took his bald head for a …
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of the way ; ye have caused many to stumble at the law.' When the preacher departs out of the way of holiness, the people will quickly stumble at the law of holiness; when ministers are as wandering stars, no wonder if their hearers wander from all that is good. He whose life is not a standing reproof to sin, will, by …
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breach of a holy law, as the wounding and crucifying of a holy Saviour, as the grieving and sadding of a holy Sanctifier, and as an eternal loss and undoing of his own soul, and not mourn over it ? Oh, who can cast a serious eye upon the nature of sin, or upon the exceeding sinful- ness of sin, or upon the aggravations…
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(2.) Secondly, If ever thou wouldst be holy, thou must seek iJie Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the efficient cause of all that holiness that is in the world. The Spirit of God is a spirit of holiness, Rom. i. 4; he is frequently called the Holy Spirit : ' Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy Holy Spirit fr…
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shouldst, it may be as mucli as thy life and tliy soul is worth ; if a man slip the opportunity of a favourable gale, he may lie wind-bound tiU all be spent. When the Spirit moves salvation, and all the glory of heaven stands waiting at thy door, if now thou will but open, the King of glory will enter in, and bless the…
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218 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, RARITY, [Heb. XII. 14. come to the word, but come not to trample upon it, come not to scoff or mock at it, come not to despise it or to revile it, but come and lay it to your hearts, and it may do you good for ever. There is no better way to make thee holy than to attend on the holy word…
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.