"Without holiness no one will see the Lord." Heb. 12:14
To 'see' implies both vision and fruition. Without holiness, no
man—be he high or low, noble or ignoble, rich or poor, etc.,
shall ever come to a blessed acquaintance with God here, or
to a glorious fruition and enjoyment of God hereafter.
Oh, how great a misery,
how great a punishment,
how great an affliction,
how great a trouble and torment,
how great a tribulation,
how great a hell
—will it be for all unholy people to be forever and ever
banished the court of heaven, and to be shut out from
the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His
power—and to be everlastingly confined to the prison
of hell, and to the society and company of that damned
crew who will be still a-cursing and a-blaspheming God,
and adding to one another's torments!
Ah, friends! without holiness all is lost . . .
your soul is lost,
Christ is lost,
God is lost,
heaven is lost,
glory is lost!
What are all other losses, compared to these losses?
Well, sirs, if none of these arguments can prevail
with you to labor after holiness, I must conclude . . .
that divine justice has hardened you,
that Satan has blinded you,
that your lusts have besotted you,
that this world has bewitched you,
and that it would have been ten thousand thousand
times better for you, to have never been born, than
to live without holiness, and
to die without holiness, and
to be everlastingly damned for lack of holiness.
"Without holiness no one will see the Lord." Heb. 12:14
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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.