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Thomas Brooks
Thomas Brooks (1608 - 1680). English Puritan preacher and author born in Glastonbury, Somerset. Likely educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, he entered ministry during the English Civil War, possibly serving as a chaplain in the Parliamentary navy. By 1648, he preached in London, becoming rector of St. Margaret’s, New Fish Street, in 1652, where he ministered through the Great Plague and Great Fire of 1666. A nonconformist, he was ejected in 1662 under the Act of Uniformity but continued preaching privately. Brooks wrote over a dozen works, including Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices (1652) and The Mute Christian Under the Rod, blending practical theology with vivid illustrations. Known for his warm, accessible style, he influenced Puritan spirituality, emphasizing repentance and divine sovereignty. Married twice—first to Martha Burgess in 1640, with whom he had four sons, then to Patience Cartwright—he faced personal loss but remained steadfast. His sermons drew crowds, and his books, reprinted centuries later, shaped Reformed thought. Brooks’ legacy endures through digital archives and reprints for modern readers.
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Thomas Brooks emphasizes that true repentance involves a deep, godly sorrow for sin, which is a gift from God that transforms a hardened heart into one that is soft and tender. He explains that this sorrow arises from a profound understanding of God's displeasure with sin and the serious consequences it brings, rather than merely mourning worldly losses. Brooks contrasts the godly sorrow exemplified by Peter, who mourned for the sin itself, with Judas, who only regretted the punishment he faced. Ultimately, he asserts that only a divine hand can cultivate such heartfelt repentance in a believer.
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No Hand but a Divine Hand
"God makes my heart soft." Job 23:16 Sorrow for sin is one part of true repentance. A sincere mourning is a deep mourning; it springs from serious and deep apprehensions of the great anger and deep displeasure of God, and of the woeful nature, demerit, burden, bitterness, vileness, and filthiness of sin. Oh the sighs, the groans, the sobs, the tears, which are to be found among repenting sinners. No man is born with godly sorrow in his heart, as he is born with a tongue in his mouth. Godly sorrow is a plant of God's own planting; it is from God, and God alone. The spirit of mourning is from above; it is from a supernatural power and principle. There is nothing that can turn a heart of stone into flesh, but the Spirit of God, Ezek. 36:25-26. Godly sorrow is a gift from God. No hand but a divine hand can make the heart soft and tender under the sight and sense of sin. Nature may easily work a man to mourn, and melt, and weep, under worldly losses, crosses, and miseries; but it must be grace, it must be a supernatural principle, which must work the heart to mourn for sin. "God makes my heart soft." Job 23:16 Godly sorrow is a sorrow for sin as sin. Godly sorrow is a mourning rather for sin—than for the trouble which sin brings; it is not so much for loss of goods, lands, wife, child, credit, name, etc., but for that a holy God is offended, a righteous law violated, Christ dishonored, the Spirit grieved, and the gospel blemished, etc. Peter's sorrow was godly, but Judas' sorrow was worldly; Peter mourns over the evil of sin, but Judas mourns over the evil of punishment.
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Thomas Brooks (1608 - 1680). English Puritan preacher and author born in Glastonbury, Somerset. Likely educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, he entered ministry during the English Civil War, possibly serving as a chaplain in the Parliamentary navy. By 1648, he preached in London, becoming rector of St. Margaret’s, New Fish Street, in 1652, where he ministered through the Great Plague and Great Fire of 1666. A nonconformist, he was ejected in 1662 under the Act of Uniformity but continued preaching privately. Brooks wrote over a dozen works, including Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices (1652) and The Mute Christian Under the Rod, blending practical theology with vivid illustrations. Known for his warm, accessible style, he influenced Puritan spirituality, emphasizing repentance and divine sovereignty. Married twice—first to Martha Burgess in 1640, with whom he had four sons, then to Patience Cartwright—he faced personal loss but remained steadfast. His sermons drew crowds, and his books, reprinted centuries later, shaped Reformed thought. Brooks’ legacy endures through digital archives and reprints for modern readers.