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
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 –
Knowledge and Love – Thomas Brooks
Knowledge and love, like water and ice, beget each other. Man loves Christ by knowing, and knows Christ by loving.
– 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 –
God’s Grace Works Often in a Silent and Secret Way – Thomas Brooks
God oftentimes works grace in a silent and secret way and takes sometimes five, sometimes ten, sometimes fifteen, sometimes twenty years; yea, sometimes more, before he will make a clear and satisfying report of his own work upon the soul.
– Thomas Brooks –
from Heaven on Earth: A Treatise on Christian Assurance,1654
What is a Contrite Heart – Thomas Brooks
The Contrite Heart: True repentance includes sorrow for sin and contrition of heart. It breaks the heart with sighs and sobs and groans, for a loving God and Father is by sin offended, a blessed Saviour afresh crucified, and the sweet Comforter, the Spirit, grieved and vexed.
– Thomas Brooks –