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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 that God uses afflictions, troubles, and evils as a means to purify His people, much like an apothecary uses one poison to eliminate another. These hardships serve multiple purposes: revealing, preventing, embittering, mortifying sin, and reviving and increasing the graces of His children. Brooks illustrates this with a story of a man whose attempt to harm another inadvertently led to healing, paralleling how God’s trials ultimately lead to spiritual growth and healing. He reassures that all things work together for the good of those who love God, reinforcing the idea that afflictions are part of His divine plan for believers.
Scriptures
All the Afflictions, Troubles and Evils
As the apothecary makes one poison to drive out another poison—so can God make the poison of afflictions, to drive out the poison of sin. All the afflictions, troubles and evils which befall the people of God, work together for their good; for God uses these afflictions . . . to reveal sin; to prevent sin; to embitter sin; to mortify sin; to revive His children's decayed graces; to exercise His children's graces; to increase His children's graces. I have read a story of Pereus, who, attempting to kill another with a thrust of a sword, only pierced and opened his abscess; and so he was instrumental to save him, whom he designed to have killed! Just so, all the afflictions and troubles which the righteous meet with—they do but serve to cure them . . . of the abscess of pride, or of the abscess of earthly-mindedness, or of the abscess of self-love, or of the abscess of hypocrisy. "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28
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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.