Thomas Brooks

The Soul of Prayer – Thomas Brooks

The very soul of prayer lies in the pouring out of a man’s soul before the Lord, though it be but in sighs, groans, and tears. One sigh and groan from a broken heart is better pleasing to God than all human eloquence.

– Thomas Brooks –

How to Choose Friends – Thomas Brooks

Let those be thy choicest companions who have made Christ their chief companion.

– Thomas Brooks –
 from Smooth Stones taken from Ancient Brooks: Selections from the Writings of Thomas Brooks

A Christian’s Embrace of Hope – Thomas Brooks

A Christian will part with anything rather than his hope; he knows that hope will keep the heart both from aching and breaking, from fainting and sinking; he knows that hope is a beam of God, a spark of glory, and that nothing shall extinguish it till the soul be filled with glory.

– Thomas Brooks –

Prayer Without the Heart – Thomas Brooks

The Jews at this day write upon the walls of their synagogues these words, Tophillah belo cavannah ceguph belo neshamah; that is, a prayer without the heart, or without the intention of the affection, is like a body without a soul.

– Thomas Brooks –
from The Secret Key To Heaven, 1665

What Do You Find Sweetness In? – Thomas Brooks

Oh what bitterness do I now find in that which Satan, the world, and my own deluded heart told me I should find sweetness in.

– Thomas Brooks –
from Heaven on Earth: A Treatise on Christian Assurance, 1654

Preaching Christ Changes the Heart – Thomas Brooks

The teaching of this and that opinion may please a man’s fancy, but it is only the preaching of Christ that changes the heart, that conquers the heart, that turns the heart. Peter, by preaching a crucified Christ, converts three thousand souls at once.

– Thomas Brooks –

Tempting Sin – Thomas Brooks

To venture upon the occasion of sin, and then to pray, “Lead us not into temptation,” is the same as to thrust thy finger into the fire, and then pray that it may not be burnt.
– Thomas Brooks –