"Then you will defile your idols overlaid with silver and
your images covered with gold; you will throw them
away like a menstrual cloth and say to them—Away
with you!" Isaiah 30:22
The true penitent is not so exceeding angry with himself
for anything—as he is angry with himself for his sins. There are
none who fret, and fume, and chafe at themselves for sin, as
penitent souls do. There are none who loathe themselves, who
abhor themselves, and who are weary of themselves, upon the
account of their sins—like penitent souls. It is not this thing nor
that, nor this enemy nor that, nor this party nor that, nor this
design nor that—but sin, which is the main—the grand object
of a penitent's hatred, scorn, wrath, rage, reproach, disgrace,
and contempt!
He who would be angry and sin not—must be angry at nothing
but sin. If some men would but spend more of their anger and
indignation against their sins, they would not be so angry as
they are with their brethren, that in disputable things differ
from them.
Be the first to react on this!
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.