Remember this, that as Noah was drunk with his own wine,
and as Goliath was beheaded by his own sword, and as the
rose is destroyed by the canker that it breeds in itself, and
as Agrippina was killed by Nero, to whom she gave breath;
so if ever you are eternally destroyed—you will be destroyed
by yourselves! If ever you are undone, you will be undone
by yourselves! If ever you are scourged to death, it will be
by rods of your own making! And if ever the bitter cup of
damnation be put into your hands, it will be found to be of
your own preparing, mingling, and embittering!
Behold, I have set life and death, heaven and hell, glory
and misery, before you in this treatise; and therefore, if
you will needs choose . . .
death rather than life,
hell rather than heaven,
misery rather than glory,
what can be more just—than that you should perish
to all eternity? If you will not have God for your portion,
you shall be sure to have His wrath for your portion,
and hell for your portion! Every man shall only thank . . .
his own folly for his own bane,
his own sin for his own everlasting shame,
his own iniquity for his own endless misery!
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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.