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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 the profound significance of God's presence in the lives of His people, asserting that it serves as a sovereign antidote to life's troubles and challenges. He explains that the divine presence transforms afflictions, making them bearable and even light, while providing strength against sin and temptation. Brooks illustrates that with God’s presence, even the most daunting circumstances become manageable, turning storms into calm and poverty into plenty. He concludes that a sincere Christian, enveloped in God's presence, experiences a taste of heaven on earth, regardless of their trials.
A Most Sovereign Antidote
God is with His people to counsel them in all doubtful and difficult cases, and to defend and secure them against all their enemies and opposers. God's presence is infinitely better than the presence of all outward comforts. A sound sincere Christian can . . . never have enough power against sin, nor ever enough strength against temptation, nor ever enough weanedness from this world, nor ever enough ripeness for heaven, nor ever enough of the presence of the Lord. The special presence of God with His people is a most sovereign antidote. Troubles will be no troubles, distresses will be no distresses, dangers will be no dangers, —if the divine presence is with you. Mountains will be molehills, stabs at the heart will be but as scratches upon the hand—if the divine presence is with you. God's special presence will turn . . . storms into calms, winter nights into summer days, prisons into palaces, banishments into enlargements, weakness into strength, poverty into plenty, death into life. Just so, while a Christian enjoys the singular presence of God with him, he will make nothing of this affliction and that affliction, of this trouble and that trouble, of this loss and that loss. God's presence makes . . . heavy afflictions light, and long afflictions short, and bitter afflictions sweet. A man in misery, without this gracious presence of God, is in a very hell on this side of hell. God's gracious presence makes every condition to be a little heaven to the believing soul. There is nothing, there can be nothing, but heaven— where God is specially present. "The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress!" Psalm 46:7 "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble." Psalm 46:1
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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.