"Without holiness no one will see the Lord." Hebrews 12:14
O, do not deceive your own souls! Holiness is of absolute
necessity; without it you shall never see the Lord!
There are many thousand thousands now in heaven—but
not one unholy one among them all! There is . . .
not one sinner among all those saints;
not one goat among all those sheep;
not one weed among all those flowers;
not one thorn or prickle among all those roses;
not one pebble among all those glistening diamonds;
not one Cain among all those Abels;
not one Judas among all the apostles;
nor one Demas among all the preachers;
not one Simon Magus among all the professors.
Heaven is only for the holy man—and the holy man
alone, is for heaven.
Without holiness here—no heaven hereafter! "And there
shall never enter into it, anything that defiles." Rev. 21:27.
God will at last shut the gates of glory against every
person who is without heart-purity.
If a man had . . .
the wisdom of Solomon,
the strength of Samson,
the courage of Joshua,
the policy of Ahithophel,
the power of Ahasuerus, and
the eloquence of Apollos;
yet all these without holiness would never save him.
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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.