Diseases, aches, sicknesses, pains—they are all the
daughters of sin, and he who is not sensible of them as
the births and products of sin, does but add to his sin,
and provokes the Lord to add to his sufferings. Is. 26:9-11
No man shall ever be charged by God for feeling his
burden, if he neither frets nor faints under it. Grace
does not destroy nature—but rather perfects it. Grace
is of a noble offspring; it neither turns men into stocks
nor to stoics. The more grace—the more sensible of the
tokens, frowns, blows, and lashes—of a displeased Father.
Though Calvin, under his greatest pains, was never
heard to mutter nor murmur—yet he was heard often
to say 'How long, Lord, how long?'
A pious commander being shot in battle, when the wound
was searched, and the bullet cut out, some standing by,
pitying his pain, he replied, 'Though I groan, yet I bless
God I do not grumble.' God allows His people to groan,
though not to grumble. It is a God-provoking sin to lie
stupid and senseless under the afflicting hand of God.
God will heat that man's furnace of affliction sevenfold
hotter, who is in the furnace but feels it not.
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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.