Thomas Brooks

“Everything that a man leans upon but God—will be a dart which will certainly pierce his heart through and through. He who leans only upon Christ—lives the highest, choicest, safest and sweetest life.”

Thomas Brooks

"wisdom that is from above will never work in a man to reason thus: I have no comfort, therefore I have no grace; I have lost that joy that once I had, therefore my condition is not good, was never good.  But it will enable a man to reason thus: Though my comfort is gone, yet the God of my comfort abides; though my joy is lost, yet the seeds of grace remain.  The best men's joys are as glass, bright and brittle, and evermore in danger of breaking."

Thomas Brooks

"a soul truly gracious can say : In having nothing I have all things, because I have Christ; having therefore all things in him, I seek no other reward, for he is the universal reward.  Such a soul can say : Nothing is sweet to me without the enjoyment of Christ in it; honours, nor riches, nor the smiles of creatures, are not sweet to me no farther than I see Christ, and taste Christ in them."

Thomas Brooks

"This will be a sweet help against them [wandering thoughts the soul is troubled with]: for the soul to be resolute in waiting on God, whether it be troubled with vain thoughts or not; to say, Well I will pray still, and hear still, and meditate still, and keep fellowship with the saints still.  Many precious souls can say from experience, that when their souls have been peremptory in their waiting on God, that Satan hath left them, and hath not been so busy in vexing their souls with vain thoughts.  When Satan perceives that all those trifling vain thoughts that he casts into the soul do but vex the soul into greater diligence, carefulness, watchfulness, and peremptoriness in holy and heavenly services, and that the soul loses nothing of his zeal, piety, and devotion, but doubles his care, diligence, and earnestness, he often ceases to interpose his trifles and vain thoughts, as he ceased to tempt Christ, when Christ was peremptory in resisting his temptations."

Thomas Brooks

"Thy soul is a jewel more worth than heaven and earth.  The loss of thy soul is incomparable, irreparable, and irrecoverable; if that be lost, and thou art undone for ever.  Is it madness and folly in a man to kill himself for company, and is it not greater madness or folly to break the neck of thy soul, and to damn it for company?  Suspect that way wherein thou seest multitudes to walk; the multitude being a stream that thou must row hard against, or thou wilt be carried into that gulf out of which angels cannot deliver thee.  Is it not better to walk in a straight way alone, than to wander into crooked ways with company?  Sure it is better to go to heaven alone than to hell with company."

Thomas Brooks

"They that walk with the most shall perish with the most.  They that do as the most shall ere long suffer with the most.  They that live as the most, must die with the most, and to hell with the most."

Thomas Brooks

"I will only instance in some, as that, 'That we, being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life' (1 Peter 2:9, Luke 1: 74,75).  Christ hath freed you from all your enemies, from the curse of the law, the predominant damnatory power of sin, the wrath of God, the sting of death, and the torments of hell; but what is the end and design of Christ in doing these great and marvellous things for his people?  It is not that we should throw off duties of righteousness and holiness, but that their hearts may be more free and sweet in all holy duties and heavenly services."

Thomas Brooks

"It is a sad and dangerous thing to have two eyes to behold our dignity and privileges, and not one to see our duties and services.  I should look with one eye upon the choice and excellent things that Christ hath done for me, to raise up my heart to love Christ with the purest love, and to joy in Christ with the strongest joy, and to lift up Christ above all, who hat made himself to be my all; and I should look with the other eye upon the services and duties that the Scriptures require of those for whom Christ hath done such blessed things"

Thomas Brooks

"It is not the hearing of truth, nor the knowing of truth, nor the commending of truth, nor the talking of truth, but the indwelling of truth in your souls, that will keep your judgments chaste and sound, in the midst of all those glittering errors that betray many souls into his hands, that can easily 'transform himself into an angel of light' (2 Cor 11:14), that he may draw others to lie in chains of darkness with him for ever."

Thomas Brooks

"There are no men on earth so fenced against error as those are that receive the truth in the love of it.  Such souls are not 'easily tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness, wherein they lie in wait to deceive' (Eph. 4:14).  It is not he that receives most of the truth unto his head, but he that receives most of the truth affectionately into his heart, that shall enjoy the happiness of having his judgement sound and clear, when others shall be deluded and deceived by them, who make it their business to infect the judgments and to undo the souls of men."

Thomas Brooks

"There is not a wicked man in the world that is set up with Lucifer, as high as heaven, but shall with Lucifer be brought down low as hell.  Canst thou think seriously of this, O soul, and not say, O Lord, I humbly crave that thou wilt let me be little in this world, that I may be great in another world; and low here, that I may be high for ever hereafter.  Let me be low, and feed low, and live low, so I may live with thee for ever; let me now be clothed with rags, so thou wilt clothe me at last with thy robes; let me now be set upon a dunghill, so I may at last be advanced to sit with thee upon thy throne.  Lord make me rather gracious than great, inwardly holy than outwardly happy, and rather turn me into my first nothing, yea, make me worse than nothing, rather than set me up for a time, that thou mayest bring me low for ever."

Thomas Brooks

"It is not what men enjoy, but the principle from whence it comes, that makes men happy."

Thomas Brooks

"there is more evil in the least sin than in the greatest affliction; and this appears as clear as the sun, by the severe dealing of God the Father with his beloved Son, who let all the vials of his fiercest wrath upon him, and that for the least sin as well as for the greatest."

Thomas Brooks

"it is not hasty reading, but serious meditating upon holy and heavenly truths, that make them prove sweet and profitable to the soul. It is not the bee's touching of the flower that gathers honey, but her abiding for a time upon the flower that draws out the sweet. It is not he that reads most, but he that meditates most, that will prove the choicest, sweetest, wisest, and strongest Christian."

Thomas Brooks

"Know that it is not knowing, nor the talking, nor the reading man, but the doing man, that at last will be found the happiest man. 'if you know these things, blessed and happy are you if you do them.' (John 13:17)"

Thomas Brooks

"That sorrow for sin that keeps the soul from looking towards the mercy-seat, and that keeps Christ and the soul asunder, or that shall render the soul unfit for the communion of saints, is a sinful sorrow."