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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 addresses the question of unending pain and suffering, emphasizing that while God has reasons for His actions, He is not obligated to reveal them to us. He warns against questioning God's decisions, asserting that God, as the ultimate authority, has the right to afflict without explanation. Brooks encourages believers to accept their afflictions with silence and trust, recognizing that God's purposes are ultimately for their benefit, including the purification of their lives and souls. He reminds Christians that the hidden reasons for suffering belong to God alone, urging them to focus on the revealed truths in Scripture.
Why Is My Pain Unending?
"Why is my pain unending and my wound grievous and incurable?" Jeremiah 15:18 Though God has always reason for what He does—yet He is not bound to show us the reasons of His doings. It is an evil and a dangerous thing to cavil at, or to question God's proceedings—who may do with His own what He pleases. He is unaccountable and uncontrollable; and therefore none has a right to question Him. As no man may question God's right to afflict him, nor His righteousness in afflicting him; so no man may question the reasons why He afflicts him. As no man can compel God to give a reason for His doings; so no man may dare to ask Him the particular reasons of His doings. Kings are not bound to give their subjects a reason of their doings; and shall we bind God to give us a reason of His doings, who is the King of kings and Lord of Lords, and whose will is the true and only rule of justice? The general grounds and reasons which God has laid down in His word why He afflicts His people, as—that is for their profit; for the purging away of their sins; for the purifying of their lives; and for the saving of their souls—should work them to be silent and satisfied under all their afflictions; though God should never satisfy their curiosity in giving them an account of some more hidden causes which may lie secret in the abysses of His eternal knowledge and infallible will. Ah, Christian! it is your wisdom and duty to sit silent and mute under the afflicting hand of God upon the account of revealed reasons, without making any curious inquiry into those more secret reasons which are locked up in the golden cabinet of God's own bosom! "The secret things belong to the Lord our God." Deuteronomy 29:29
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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.