Thomas Brooks (84)
Puritan Pastor and Author1608 - 1680
Wrote “Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices”
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Pirates do not use to set upon poor empty vessels; and beggars need not fear the thief. Those that have most of God, and are most rich in grace— shall be most assaulted by Satan, who is the greatest and craftiest pirate in the world.
God will have nothing to do with proud persons, he will never dwell with them, he will never keep house with them.
He that dwells in the highest heavens, will never dwell in a haughty heart.
A family without prayer is like a house without a roof, open and exposed to all the storms of heaven.
Oh, then be ashamed, Christians, that worldlings are more studious and industrious to make sure of pebbles, than you are to make sure of pearls.
For a close, remember this, that your life is short, your duties many, your assistance great, and your reward sure; therefore faint not, hold on and hold up, in ways of well-doing, and heaven shall make amends for all!Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices
There are none that walk so close with God all the six days, as those that keep closest to God on the seventh day.
There are many now in hell who have had a great confidence of going to heaven.
Sin always dies most where faith lives most. The most believing soul is the most mortified soul.
The least sin is contrary to the law of God, the nature of God, the being of God, and the glory of God
Sin so bewitches the soul, that it makes the soul call evil good, and good evil; bitter sweet and sweet bitter, light darkness and darkness light
The main reason why men dote upon the world, and damn their souls to get the world, is, because they are not acquainted with a greater glory!Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices
Afflictions are God's furnace, by which he cleanses his people from their dross. Affliction is a fire to purge out our dross, and to make virtue shine. Afflictions are medicines which heal soul diseases, better than all the remedies of physicians.Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices
O the deadly sins, the deadly temptations, the deadly judgments that idle and slothful Christians are given up to; therefore, be active, be diligent, be abundant in the work of the Lord. Idleness is the very source of sin. Standing pools gather mud and nourish and breed venomous creatures, and so do the hearts of idle and slothful Christians.
Idleness is hateful in any, but most abominable and intolerable in ministers; and sooner or later none shall pay so dear for it as such. Witness the frequent woes that are denounced in Scripture against them. Where should a soldier die but in the field? And where should a minister die but in the pulpit?
All lip labor is but lost labor; when men's hearts are not in their devotion, their devotion is mere dissimulation. These hypocrites sought God and inquired early after God, but it was still with old hearts, which are no hearts in the account of God.
Hypocrites love to share with Christ in His happiness, but they do not love to share with Christ in His holiness. They are willing to be redeemed by Christ, but they are not cordially willing to submit to the laws and government of Christ. They are willing to be saved by His blood, but they are not willing to submit to His scepter. Hypocrites love the privileges of the gospel, but they do not love the services of the gospel, especially those that are most inward and spiritual.
A hypocrite may offer sacrifice with Cain and fast with Jezebel, and humble himself with Ahab and lament with the tears of Esau, and kiss Christ with Judas and follow Christ with Demas, and offer fair for the Holy Ghost with Simon Magus; and yet for all this, his inside is as bad as any of theirs. A 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, an angel without and a devil within.
It is not the presence of hypocrisy but the reign of hypocrisy that damns the soul; that hypocrisy that is discerned, resisted, opposed, and mourned over will never make a Christian miserable. Where the standing frame and general bent of a man's heart is upright, there the presence of hypocrisy cannot denominate a man a hypocrite. All men must stand and fall forever according to the standing frame and general bent of their hearts; if the standing frame and general bent of their hearts be sincere, they are happy forever!
Humility will keep the soul free from many darts cast by Satan and from many erroneous snares spread by him. As low trees and shrubs are free from many violent blasts of wind which shake and rend the taller ones, so humble souls are free from those blasts of error which rend and tear proud, lofty souls. Satan and the world have greater difficulty to fasten errors upon humble souls.
Humility is a grace hardly attained unto. Many, saith Augustine, can more easily give all they have to the poor than themselves become poor in spirit.
Holiness is the very picture of God, and certainly no hand can carve that excellent picture but the Spirit of God. Holiness is the divine nature, and none can impart that to man but the Spirit; the Spirit is the great principle of holiness.
God never yet sent any man to hell for sin to whom sin has commonly been the greatest hell in this world. God has but one hell, and that is for those to whom sin has been commonly a heaven in this world. That man that hates sin and that daily enters his protest against sin—that man shall never be made miserable by sin hereafter.
To think often of hell is the way to be preserved from falling into hell. Oh, that you would often consider the bitterness of the damneds' torments and of the pitilessness of their torments and of the diversity, the easelessness, the remedilessness of their torments! The sinner's delight here is momentary; that which torments hereafter is perpetual. When as sinners in hell, dost thou think, O young man, that another Christ shall be found to die for them or that the same Christ shall be crucified again for them or that another gospel shall be preached to them? Surely not.
The best way to prevent this hell of hells is to give God the cream and flower of your youth, your strength, your time, your talent. Death may suddenly and unexpectedly seize on you; you have no lease of your lives. Youth is as fickle as old age; the young man may find graves enough of his length in burial places. As green wood and old logs meet in one fire, so young sinners and old sinners meet in one hell and burn together.
He who lives up to a little light shall have more light; he who lives up to a little knowledge shall have more knowledge; he who lives up to a little faith shall have more faith; and he who lives up to a little love shall have more love. Verily, the main reason why men are such babes and shrubs in grace is because they do not live up to their attainments.
There is no such way to attain to greater measures of grace as for a man to live up to that little grace he has.
The end must be as noble as the means, or else a man may be undone for all his doings. A man's most glorious actions will at last be found to be but glorious sins if he hath made himself, and not the glory of God, the end of those actions.
By divine withdrawings, the soul is put upon hanging upon a naked God, a naked Christ, a naked promise. Now the soul is put upon the highest and the purest acts of faith (Isa. 63:15–16)—namely, to cleave to God, to hang upon God, and to carry it sweetly and obediently toward God—though He frowns, though He chides, though He strikes, yea, though He kills (Job 13:15).
The best God will always take the best time to hand out mercies to His people; there is no mercy so fair, so ripe, so lovely, so beautiful as that which God gives out in His own time. Therefore, hold thy peace; though God delays thee, yet be silent, for there is no possibility of taking a mercy out of God's hand till the mercy be ripe for us, and we ripe for the mercy (Eccl. 3:11).
The holiness of God and the honor of God call aloud upon all Christians to avoid the suspicion of sin. God is so essentially holy; so universally holy; so transcendently holy; so superlatively holy; so originally, radically, and fundamentally holy; He is so independently holy; so unchangeably, constantly, and exemplarily holy that He cannot but hate and abhor the very appearance of evil. Look, as apparent sin stirs up the judicial anger of God against sinners, so the appearance of sin stirs up the fatherly anger of God against saints. A gracious heart knows that God is "of purer eyes than to behold evil" (Hab. 1:13), and therefore He keeps at a distance from the appearance of iniquity. Of all men in the world none honors God at so high a rate as those that keep most aloof from the appearance of evil.
The more our gifts and graces are exercised, the more they are strengthened and increased. All acts strengthen habits.
Man is made to be a friend, and apt for friendly offices. He that is not friendly is not worthy to have a friend; and he that has a friend and does not show himself friendly is not worthy to be accounted a man. Friendship is a kind of life, without which there is no comfort of a man's life. Christian friendship ties such a knot that great Alexander cannot cut. Summer friends I value not, but winter friends are worth their weight in gold.
A sincere Christian prays his friends to search him, and he prays soul-searching ministers to search him; but, above all, he begs hard of God to search him: "Search me, O God."
A true friend is neither known in prosperity nor hid in adversity.
Faith has an influence upon all other graces. It is like a silver thread that runs through a chain of pearls; it puts strength and vivacity into all other graces.Smooth Stones
Faith cannot be lost, but assurance may; therefore, assurance is not faith.
Sinful examples are very enticing and encouraging; many have found it so to their eternal undoing. Those that have no ears to hear what you say have many eyes to see what you do. Bad princes make bad subjects, bad masters make bad servants, bad parents make bad children, and bad husbands make bad wives. It is easier for the bad to corrupt the good than for the good to convert the bad. It is easier to run down the hill with company than to run up the hill alone.
Though the devil be the greatest scholar in the world, and though he have more learning than all the men in the world, yet there are many thousand secrets and mysteries in the gospel of grace that he knows not really, spiritually, feelingly, efficaciously, powerfully, thoroughly, and savingly.Privy Key of Heaven
Melancholy is a dark and dusky humor which disturbs both soul and body, and the cure of it belongs rather to the physician than to the divine. It is a most pestilent humor where it abounds; one calls it the devil's bath. It is a humor that unfits a man for all sorts of services, but especially those that concern his soul, his spiritual estate, his everlasting condition. The melancholy person tires the physician, grieves the minister, wounds relations, and makes sport for the devil. There are five sorts of persons that the devil makes his ass to ride in triumph upon— namely, the ignorant person, the unbelieving person, the proud person, the hypocritical person, and the melancholy person. Melancholy is a disease that works strange passions, strange imaginations, and strange conclusions. It unmans a man; it makes a man call good evil and evil good, sweet bitter and bitter sweet, light darkness and darkness light. The distemper of the body oftentimes causeth distemper of the soul, for the soul follows the temper of the body. Cabinet of Choice Jewels
There was a holy man that rarely heard of other men's crimson sins, but he usually bedewed the place with his tears, considering that the seeds of those very sins were in his own nature. In thy nature thou hast that which would lead thee, with the Pharisees, to oppose Christ; and, with Judas, to betray Christ; and, with Pilate, to condemn Christ; and, with the soldiers, to crucify Christ. Oh! What a monster wouldst thou prove should God but leave thee to act suitably to that sinful and woeful nature of thine.
The serious thoughts of death may do that for you which neither friends, counsel, example, prayers, sermons, tears have done to this very day. Well, remember this: to labor not to die is labor in vain, and to put this day far from you and to live without fear of death is to die living. Death seizes on old men and lays wait for the youngest. Death is oftentimes as near to the young man's back as it is to the old man's face.
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Earthly inheritances are like tennis balls, which are bandied up and down from one to another and in time wear out. The creature is all shadow and vanity; it is filia noctis, like Jonah's gourd. Man can sit under its shadow but a little, little while: it soon decays and dies; it quickly fades and withers. There is a worm at the root of all earthly inheritances that will consume them in time.
A believer's inheritance—his glory, his happiness, his blessedness—shall be as fresh and nourishing after he has been many thousand thousands of years in heaven as it was at his first entrance into it.
Idleness is a sin against the law of creation. God creating man to labor, the idle person violates this law, for by his idleness he casts off the authority of his Creator.
It is a great mistake among many tender Christians to think that they have no communion with God but when they find God raising the springs of joy and comfort in their souls; when they find the sensible presence of God cheering, refreshing, and enlarging of them in their closets. Then they are willing to grant that they have had sweet communion with God in their closets, but if He breaks their hearts for sin, if He meets with them and makes His power and His presence manifest in debasing and casting down their souls upon the sight and sense of their strong corruptions and imperfections, how unwilling are they to believe that they have had any communication with God? Well, friends, remember this once for all, that a Christian may have as real communion with God in a heart-humbling way as he can have in a heart-comforting way; a Christian may have as choice communion with God when his eyes are full of tears as he can have when his heart is full of joy.
When the commands of authority run cross to the commands of God, the commands of God must be obeyed, though the greatest authority under heaven should be displeased and enraged. God never gave the greatest authority in the world any authority to act contrary to His commands. Disobedience to unlawful commands is no disobedience.
Afflictions are but our Father's goldsmiths who are working to add pearls to our crowns.Precious Remedies, 93
A humble soul knows that to bless God in prosperity is the way to increase it, and to bless God in adversity is the way to remove it.Unsearchable Riches of Christ
It is not the knowing, nor the talking, nor the reading man but the doing man that at last will be found the happiest man.Great Gain, 12
It is better to go to heaven alone than to hell with company.
Grace is a sweet flower of paradise, a spark of glory.
Christ dwells in that heart most eminently that hath emptied itself of itself.
The child's most precious things are most secure in his father's hands; so are our souls, our grace, and our comforts in the hand of Christ.
Let Job and Nebuchadnezzar testify this truth, who fell from great wealth to great want. No man can promise himself to be wealthy till night; one storm at sea, one false friend, one unadvised word, one false witness may make you a beggar and a prisoner all at once.
Sin is a plague, yes, the greatest and most infectious plague in the world; and yet, ah! how few are there that tremble at it, that keep at a distance from it!
Self-seeking blinds the soul. There is not a greater hindrance to all the duties of piety than self-seeking.
As sinful commissions will stab the soul; so sinful omissions will starve the soul.
It is only an infinite God, and an infinite good, that can fill and satisfy the precious and immortal soul of man.
Saving grace makes a man as willing to leave his lusts as a slave is willing to leave his galley, or a prisoner his dungeon, or a thief his bolts, or a beggar his rags.
It is not hasty reading, but serious meditation on holy and heavenly truths, that makes them prove sweet and profitable to the soul. It is not he that reads most, but he that meditates most, that will prove to be the sweetest, wisest and strongest Christian.
It is dangerous to be more notion than motion; to have faith in the head and none in the heart; to have an idle and not an active faith.
As ever you would enjoy the gracious presence of the Lord, take heed of a lazy, slothful, sluggish spirit in the things of God, in the concernment of your souls.
Many a husband hath been won to Christ by the holy life of the wife; and many a wife hath been won to Christ by the holy life of the husband.
It is God alone that makes heaven to be heaven.
The way of holiness that leads to happiness is a narrow way; but there is just enough room for a holy God and a holy soul to walk together.
True repentance is a turning, not from some sin, but from every sin.
Christ hath made an infinite satisfaction in a finite time, by undergoing that fierce battle with the wrath of God, and getting the victory in a few hours, which is equivalent to the creatures bearing it and grappling with it everlastingly.Works
Christ, the Scripture, your own hearts and Satan's devices, are the four prime things that should be first and most studied and searched.Works
Forgiveness makes not a Christian bold with sin, but fearful of sin, and careful to obey, as Christians find in their daily experience.Works of Thomas Brooks (5)
It is easier for the bad to corrupt the good, than for the good to convert the bad; it is easier to run down the hill with company, than to run up the hill alone.
if you will partake of other men's sins, you shall also partake of other men's plagues
We have all things in Christ. Christ is all things to a Christian. If we are sick, Jesus is a physician. If we thirst, Jesus is a fountain. If our sins trouble us, Jesus is our righteousness. If we stand in need of help, Jesus is mighty to save. If we fear death, Jesus is life. If we are in darkness, Jesus is light. If we are weak, Jesus is strength. If we are in poverty, Jesus is plenty. If we desire heaven, Jesus is the way. The soul cannot say, 'this I would have, and that I would have.' But having Jesus, he has all he needs—eminently, perfectly, eternally.
saints have chosen to suffer the worst of torments, rather than commit the least sinPrecious Remedies Against Satan's Devices
A Christian should wear Christ in his bosom as a flower of delight, for he is a whole paradise of delight. He who minds not Christ more than his sin, can never be thankful and fruitful as he should.Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices
those sins which we are apt to account small, have brought upon men the greatest wrath of GodPrecious Remedies Against Satan's Devices
Christ has freed you from all your enemies, from the curse of the law, the predominant damnatory power of sin, the wrath of God, the sting of death, and the torments of hell.Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices
Every one should strive to be like to them in grace whom they desire to be equal with in glory. He that shoots at the sun, though he be far short, will shoot higher than he who aims at a shrub. It is best, and it speaks out much of Christ within, to eye the highest and the worthiest examples.Smooth Stones Taken From Ancient Brooks
God makes afflictions to be but inlets to the soul's more sweet and full enjoyment of his blessed self.Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices
Satan will first draw you to sit with the drunkard, and then to sip with the drunkard, and then at last to be drunk with the drunkard. He will first draw you to be unclean in your thoughts, and then to be unclean in your looks, and then to be unclean in your words, and at last to be unclean in your practices.Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices
You who are so apt to abuse God's mercy, consider this, that in the gospel days, the plagues that God inflicts upon the despisers and abusers of mercy are usually spiritual plagues; as blindness of mind, hardness of heart, benumbedness of conscience, which are ten thousand times worse than the worst of outward plagues which can befall you.
Yes, true repentance makes a man to deny his sinful self, and to walk contrary to sinful self, to take a holy revenge upon sin
Judas called Christ Lord, Lord; and yet betrayed him, and has gone to his place. Ah! how many Judases have we in these days, that kiss Christ, and yet betray Christ; that in their words profess him—but in their works deny him; that bow their knee to him, and yet in their hearts despise him; that call him Jesus, and yet will not obey him for their Lord.
A poisonous pill is never a whit the less poisonous because it is gilded over with gold; nor a wolf is never a whit the less a wolf because he has put on a sheep's skin; nor the devil is never a whit the less a devil because he appears sometimes like an angel of light. So neither is sin any whit the less filthy and abominable by its being painted over with virtue's colors.
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