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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 warns against the dangers of false teachings and corrupt influences that seek to deceive and lead individuals away from God. He emphasizes that many individuals take pride in leading others into error, which can ultimately result in spiritual destruction. Brooks likens these errors to poison, often presented attractively, making them more dangerous. He urges young men to be vigilant and discerning, as the allure of falsehood can lead to ruin, much like Jezebel's deceptive beauty. The sermon serves as a call to seek truth and guard one's heart against such corrupting influences.
Scriptures
So Foul a Hag
There are very many who lie in wait to deceive, corrupt, and poison your minds with God-dishonoring, Christ-denying, conscience-wasting, and soul-damning opinions, principles, and blasphemies. I have read of one who boasted and gloried in this, that he had spent thirty years in corrupting and poisoning of youth. Doubtless, many wretches, many monsters there are among us, who make it their business, their glory, their all—to delude and draw people to those dangerous errors and blasphemies which lead to destruction. Error and folly, says one very well, are the knots of Satan wherewith he ties children to the stake to be burned in hell. There is a truth in what the tragedian said long since, "poison is commonly drunk out of a cup of gold." So is an error soonest taken into the judgment and conscience, from people of the fairest carriage and smoothest conversations. Error is so foul a hag, that if it should come in its own shape, a man would loathe it, and fly from it as from hell. If Jezebel had not painted her face, she would not have gotten so many young doating adulterers to have followed her to their own ruin. Ah! young men, young men—the blessing of the Lord upon your serious and diligent perusal of this treatise may be a happy means to preserve you from being ensnared and deluded by those monsters "who compass sea and land to make proselytes for hell!"
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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.