"The leaders of the people have led them down the
path of destruction." Isaiah 9:16
Take heed of settling yourselves under an unholy minister
—of one whose life gives the lie to his doctrine. An unholy
preacher is the greatest destroyer of the souls of men! He
who preaches well—but lives bad—does what he can, to
murder all his hearers at once! There is no greater
bar to holiness, than ministers' unholy lives. An unholy
life mars the soundest and the sweetest doctrine. The
sins of teachers are the teachers of sins!
An unholy minister is the greatest pest, the worst
plague, and the greatest mischief—that can be to
a people; for his enormities, his wickednesses, will
have the strongest influences upon the souls and
lives of men—to make them eternally miserable.
His falls will be the fall and ruin of many; for
people are prone to . . .
live more by examples—than by precepts;
mind more what the minister does—than what he says;
eye more how he walks—than how he talks.
Let a minister be ever so learned, solid, quaint, elegant,
zealous, judicious, sententious, etc.—yet if he is carnal,
covetous, worldly, vain, and loose in his life and walk,
his hearers will rather slight and abhor the holy things
of God.
When the preacher departs out of the way of holiness,
the people will quickly wander from all that is good. He
whose life is not a standing reproof to sin, will, by his
life, encourage sinners more and more in a way of sin.
There is nothing which keeps men so off from the love
of holiness, and from the pursuing after holiness—than
the unholy lives of their ministers.
"Watch your life and doctrine closely." 1 Timothy 4:16
"Set an example for the believers in speech, in life,
in love, in faith and in purity." 1 Timothy 4:12
"In everything set them an example by doing what
is good." Titus 2:7
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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.