God inflicts great and severe judgments upon men,
and upon cities and countries—that they may cease
from sin, receive instruction, and reform and return
to Him.
God's corrections should be our instructions,
His lashes should be our lessons,
His scourges should be our schoolmasters,
His chastisements should be our admonishments.
God, by fiery afflictions, and by burning up our comforts
round about us—awakens us, and brings us to Himself.
When iron grows rusty, we put it into the fire to purify
it; and so when the people of God grow rusty, then the
Lord brings them under fiery trials to awaken them, and
to purify them.
God has several special ends that he aims at by all the
fiery trials and sharp providences that He exercises His
people with. He intends a further and a fuller discovery
of their sins. In standing waters you cannot see the mud
which lies at the bottom of the pond; but when once the
water is drawn away—then it appears. Just so, in times
of prosperity there is a great deal of mud—a great deal
of unbelief, discontent, murmuring, impatience, passion,
pride, etc.—which lies at the bottom of men's hearts,
undiscovered. Oh, but when God shall once empty them
of their estates, and burn up all their outward comforts,
and set them with Job upon the ash-heap—then the
mud appears, then a whole army of lusts reveal
themselves!
In times of fiery trials, you may say with the
psalmist, "My sins are ever before me!"
My pride is ever before me,
my unbelief is ever before me,
my frowardness is ever before me,
my murmuring is ever before me,
my discontent is ever before me,
my impatience is ever before me, etc.
Godly men never come to know how bad they are,
until they come to be exercised with severe and
sharp trials. It was the speech of a holy man in a
great sickness, "In this disease I have learned
how great God is, and what the evil of sin is!"
Afflictions are a Christian's mirror, in which they
may run and read the greatness of God, and the
vileness of sin!
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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.