"Why should any living man complain when
punished for his sins?" Lamentations 3:39
To move you to silence under your sorest and
your sharpest trials, consider, that you have
deserved greater and heavier afflictions than
those you are under.
Has God taken away one mercy? You have
deserved to be stripped of all.
Has he taken away the delight of your eyes? He
might have taken away the delight of your soul.
Are you under outward wants? You have deserved
to be under outward and inward wants together.
Are you cast upon a sick bed?
You have deserved a bed in hell.
Are you under that ache and that pain? You have
deserved to be under all aches and pains at once.
Has God chastised you with whips? You have
deserved to be chastised with scorpions. 1 Kings 12:14.
Have you fallen from the highest pinnacle of honor
to be the scorn and contempt of men? You have
deserved to be scorned and condemned by God
and angels.
Are you under a severe whipping?
You have deserved an utter damning.
Ah Christian! let but your eyes be fixed upon your
demerits—and your hands will be quickly upon your
mouths! Whatever is less than a final separation from
God, whatever is less than hell—is mercy! Therefore
you have cause to be silent under the sharpest
dealings of God with you.
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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.