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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 a fretful and muttering spirit under affliction is a greater judgment than the affliction itself, as it mirrors the nature of the devil. He warns that such a spirit is akin to the devil's sin and punishment, highlighting that the devil is perpetually restless and seeks to lead souls astray. Brooks illustrates how Satan tempts individuals with various lures, always seeking to ensnare them in sin, and he urges believers to recognize the danger of a discontented heart. The sermon serves as a reminder that true peace comes from trusting God amidst trials, rather than succumbing to a spirit of fretfulness.
Scriptures
He Never Lacks an Apple for an Eve
It is ten thousand times a greater judgment and affliction—to be given to a fretful spirit, a froward spirit, a muttering spirit under an affliction—than it is to be afflicted. This is both the devil's sin, and the devil's punishment. God is still afflicting, crossing and vexing him; and he is still a-fretting, repining, vexing, and rising up against God. No sin like the devil's sin; no punishment like the devil's punishment. A man were better to have all the afflictions of all the afflicted throughout the world at once upon him—than to be given up to a froward spirit—to a muttering, murmuring heart under the least affliction. When you see a soul fretting, vexing, and stamping under the mighty hand of God, you see one of Satan's first-born, one who resembles him to the life. No child can be so much like the father, as this froward soul is like to the father of lies. Though he has been in chains almost this six thousand years, yet he has never lain still one day, nor one night, no, nor one hour in all this time—but is still a-fretting, vexing, tossing and tumbling in his chains—like a princely bedlam. He is a lion—not a lamb; a roaring lion—not a sleepy lion; not a lion standing still—but a lion going up and down. He is not satisfied with the prey he has already gotten— but is restless in his designs to fill hell with souls. He never lacks . . . an apple for an Eve, nor a grape for a Noah, nor a change of clothing for a Gehazi, nor a wedge of gold for an Achan, nor a crown for an Absalom, nor a bag of silver for a Judas, nor a world for a Demas! If you look into one company, there you shall find Satan dishing out his meat to every palate. If you look into another company, there you shall find him fitting a lace to every shoe. If you look into a third company, there you shall find him suiting a garment to every back. He is under wrath, and cannot but be restless. Here, with Jael, he allures poor souls in with milk—and murders them with a nail! There, with Joab, he embraces with one hand—and stabs with another! Here with Judas, he kisses—and betrays! And there, with the whore of Babylon, he presents a golden cup—with poison in it! He cannot be quiet, though his chains be always on! And the more unquiet any are under the rebukes of God, the more they resemble Satan—whose whole life is filled up with vexing and fretting against the Lord. Let not any think, says Luther, that the devil is now dead, nor yet asleep; for as he who keeps Israel, so he who hates Israel, neither slumbers nor sleeps!
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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.