"Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we
are not ignorant of his devices." 2 Corinthians 2:11
Christ,
the Scripture,
your own hearts,
and Satan's devices,
are the four prime things that should be first and most
studied and searched. If any cast off the study of these,
they cannot be safe here, nor happy hereafter. It is my
work as a Christian, but much more as I am a Watchman,
to do my best to discover . . .
the fullness of Christ,
the emptiness of the creature,
and the snares of the great deceiver.
Satan being fallen . . .
from light to darkness,
from felicity to misery,
from heaven to hell,
from an angel to a devil,
is so full of malice and envy that he will leave no means
unattempted, whereby he may make all others eternally
miserable with himself. He being shut out of heaven, and
shut up "under the chains of darkness until the judgment
of the great day," makes use of all his power and skill to
bring all people into the same condition and condemnation
with himself. Satan has cast such sinful seed into our souls,
that now he can no sooner tempt, but we are ready to
assent; he can no sooner have a plot upon us, but he makes
a conquest of us. If he does but show men a little of the
beauty of the world, how ready are they to fall down and
worship him! Whatever sin the heart of man is most
prone to, that the devil will help forward! Satan loves
to sail with the wind, and to suit men's temptations to
their conditions and inclinations.
From the power, malice and skill of Satan—proceeds all the
soul-killing plots, devices, stratagems and machinations,
which are in the world. A man may as well count the stars, and
number the sands of the sea, as reckon up all the devices of Satan!
"Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we
are not ignorant of his devices." 2 Corinthians 2:11
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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.