Christians, spend your days in admiring the transcendent love
of Christ—in undergoing hellish punishments in your stead! Oh
pray, pray hard that you "may be able to comprehend what is
the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of that love of
Christ, which passes knowledge!" Ephesians 3:18-19
The love of Christ put Him upon these bodily and spiritual
sufferings—which were so exceeding great, acute, extreme,
and universal—and all to save you from wrath to come!
His miseries, sorrows, and sufferings are unparalleled, and
therefore Christians have the more cause to lose themselves
in the contemplation of His matchless love. Oh, bless Christ!
Oh, kiss Christ! Oh, embrace Christ! Oh, cleave to Christ!
Oh, follow Christ! Oh, walk with Christ! Oh, long for Christ
—who for your sakes has undergone insupportable wrath
and most hellish torments!
Oh, look up to dear Jesus, and say, "O blessed Jesus,
You were accursed—that I might be blessed! You were
condemned—that I might be justified! You underwent
the very torments of hell—that I might forever enjoy
the pleasures of heaven! Therefore I cannot but dearly
love You, and highly esteem You, and greatly honor
You, and earnestly long after You!"
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Thomas Brooks (1608 - 1680)
Much of what is known about Thomas Brooks has been ascertained from his writings. Born, likely to well-to-do parents, in 1608, Brooks entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1625, where he was preceded by such men as Thomas Hooker, John Cotton, and Thomas Shepard. He was licensed as a preacher of the Gospel by 1640. Before that date, he appears to have spent a number of years at sea, probably as a chaplain with the fleet.After the conclusion of the First English Civil War, Thomas Brooks became minister at Thomas Apostle's, London, and was sufficiently renowned to be chosen as preacher before the House of Commons on December 26, 1648. His sermon was afterwards published under the title, 'God's Delight in the Progress of the Upright', the text being Psalm 44:18: 'Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from Thy way'. Three or four years afterwards, he transferred to St. Margaret's, Fish-street Hill, London. In 1662, he fell victim to the notorious Act of Uniformity, but he appears to have remained in his parish and to have preached as opportunity arose. Treatises continued to flow from his pen.[3]
Thomas Brooks was a nonconformist preacher. Born into a Puritan family, he was sent to Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He soon became an advocate of the Congregational way and served as a chaplain in the Civil War. In 1648 he accepted the rectory of St. Margaret's, New Fish Street, London, but only after making his Congregational principles clear to the vestry.
On several occasions he preached before Parliament. He was ejected in 1660 and remained in London as a Nonconformist preacher. Government spies reported that he preached at Tower Wharf and in Moorfields. During the Great Plague and Great Fire he worked in London, and in 1672 was granted a license to preach in Lime Street. He wrote over a dozen books, most of which are devotional in character. He was buried in Bunhill Fields.