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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 the self-destructive nature of sin, illustrating that just as various figures in history faced their demise through their own actions, so too will individuals face eternal destruction due to their own choices. He presents a stark choice between life and death, urging listeners to recognize the justice in their fate if they choose to reject God. Brooks warns that if one opts for sin over salvation, they will ultimately bear the consequences of their folly, shame, and misery, which are of their own making.
What Can Be More Just?
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). 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.