Suppose a man should come to his dinner table, and there
should be a knife laid down, and it should be told him, "This
is the very knife that cut the throat of your child!" If
the man would use this knife as a common knife, would not
everyone say, "Surely this man had but very little love to his
child, who can use this bloody knife as a common knife!"
Just so, when you meet with any temptation to sin, oh, then
say, "This is the very knife which cut the throat of Jesus,
and pierced His sides! This very knife was the cause of His
sufferings, and made Christ to be a curse!" Ah, how should
Christians look upon sin as that accursed thing, which made
Christ a curse—and accordingly to abhor it! Oh, with what
detestation should every Christian fling away his sins! "Sin,
you have slain my Lord—and poured out His heart's blood!
You have been the only cause of the death of my Savior!"
Look upon the cross on which Christ was crucified, and the
pains He suffered thereon—and the seeming sweetness which
is in sin, will quickly vanish. When you are solicited to sin,
cast your eye upon Christ's cross; remember His astonishing
sufferings for your sin, and sin will soon grow distasteful to
your soul. How can sin not be hateful to us—if we seriously
consider how hurtful it was to Jesus Christ?
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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.