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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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Sermon Summary
Thomas Brooks emphasizes the grave danger of prioritizing worldly pleasures over the eternal soul, warning that many are so captivated by earthly delights that they risk losing their spiritual essence. He illustrates this peril with the Arabic proverb that likens those who chase after worldly gains to dogs, highlighting the folly of valuing transient, carnal satisfaction over the eternal joys found in holiness and communion with God. Brooks calls for a reevaluation of priorities, urging believers to seek the true treasures of heaven rather than the empty pursuits of this life.
Those Who Hunt After It Are Dogs!
Though of all losses, the loss of the soul is the greatest, the saddest, the sorest, the heaviest, and the most intolerable, inconceivable, and irrecoverable loss—yet a man bewitched with the world will run the hazard of losing his eternal soul, of damning it—to enjoy the world. Men who are bewitched with this world in these days, oh, how do they prefer their sensual delights, their brutish contentments, and their carnal enjoyments—before the beauties of holiness, and before heavenly glory, where holiness sparkles and shines in all its refulgence, and where their souls might be abundantly satisfied and delighted with the most ravishing joys, the most surpassing delights, and the most transcendent pleasures which are at God's right hand! The Arabic proverb says that "the world is a carcass—and those who hunt after it are dogs!" If this proverb is true, what a multitude of professors will be found to be dogs— who hunt more after earth—than heaven; who hunt more after terrestrial things—than celestial things; who hunt more after worldly nothingnesses and emptinesses —than they do after those fullnesses and sweetnesses which are in God, Christ, heaven, and holiness!
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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.