"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!
You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you
have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice,
mercy and faithfulness." Matthew 23:23
Take heed of spending too much of your precious time about
circumstantials, about the minor things of religion, as "mint,
dill, and cummin," or in searching into the circumstances of
worship, or in standing stoutly for this or that ceremony, or
about inquiring what fruit it was which Adam ate in paradise,
or in inquiring after things which God in His infinite wisdom
has concealed.
It is one of Satan's great designs to hinder men in the great
and weighty duties of religion, by busying them most about
the lowest and least matters of religion. Satan is never better
pleased, than when he sees Christians puzzled and perplexed
about those things in religion, which are of no great consequence
or importance. Such as are more busied about ceremonies than
substances, about the form of godliness than the power. Such are
more taken up with the outward dress and garb of religion,
than they are with the spirit, power, and life of religion.
There cannot be a surer nor a greater character of a hypocrite,
than to make a great deal of stir about little things in religion, and
in the meantime neglect the great and main things in religion.
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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.