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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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Thomas Brooks emphasizes that God is the ultimate portion for every believer, surpassing all earthly riches, honors, and successes. He explains that while creatures possess individual excellencies, God embodies the fullness of all goodness, wisdom, and beauty. The sermon highlights that believers have access to the entirety of God, who is their eternal possession, providing them with profound joy and comfort. Brooks encourages believers to recognize the immense value of having God as their portion, which far exceeds any material wealth or accolades. Ultimately, he reassures that this God, who is the universal good, is forever theirs.
He Who Can Truly Say This, Is a God
"The Lord is my portion, says my soul; therefore I will hope in Him." Lamentations 3:24 God is every believer's portion. Riches are not every believer's portion—but God is every believer's portion. Liberty and freedom are not every believer's portion—but God is every believer's portion. Honor and applause are not every believer's portion—but God is every believer's portion. Prosperity and success are not every believer's portion—but God is every believer's portion. God is a universal portion. God is a portion that includes all other portions. God has Himself the good, the sweet, the profit, the pleasure, the delight, the comfort—of all portions. There is no good in wife, child, father, friend, husband, health, wealth, wit, wisdom, learning, honor— but is all found in God. There is in God an immense fullness, an ocean of goodness, and an overplus of all that graciousness, sweetness, and kindness, that is to be found in all other things or creatures. All the goodlinesses and all the glories of all the creatures are eminently and perfectly to be enjoyed in God. The cream, the good, the sweet, the beauty, and the glory of every creature, and of every thing—centers in God. God is a universal excellency. All the particular excellencies that are scattered up and down among angels, men, and all other creatures—are virtually and transcendently in Him. He has them all in His own being. All creatures in heaven and earth have only their own particular excellencies; but God has in Himself the very quintessence of all excellencies! The creatures have but drops of that sea, that ocean, which is in God. They have but their parts of that power, wisdom, goodness, righteousness, holiness, faithfulness, loveliness, desirableness, sweetness, graciousness, beauty, and glory —which is in God. One has this part, and another has that; one has this particular excellency, and another has that. But the whole of all these parts and excellencies are to be found in God alone! There is none but that God, who is the universal good, who can truly say, "All power, all wisdom, all strength, all knowledge, all goodness, all sweetness, all beauty, all glory, all excellency, etc., dwells in Me!" He who can truly say this, is a God; and he who cannot, is no God. All the excellencies that are scattered up and down in the creatures, are united into one excellency in God; but there is not one excellency in God that is fully scattered up and down among all the creatures. There is a glorious union of all excellencies in God—and only in God. Now this God, who is such a universal good, and who has all excellencies dwelling in Himself, says to the believer, "I am yours, and all that I have is yours!" Every believer has the whole God wholly; he has all of God for his portion. God is not a believer's portion in a limited sense, nor in a comparative sense—but in an absolute sense. God Himself is theirs. He is wholly theirs. He is only theirs. He is always theirs. Our property reaches to all that God is, and to all that God has. He has all—who has the Possessor of all. To be able to say, "God is mine!" is more than if I were able to say that ten thousand worlds, yes, and as many heavens, are mine! Oh what a spring of joy and comfort should this be to all the saints! "This God is our God forever and ever!" Ps. 48:14
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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.