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
Be the first to react on this!
Thomas Brooks (1608 - 1680)
Much of what is known about Thomas Brooks has been ascertained from his writings. Born, likely to well-to-do parents, in 1608, Brooks entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1625, where he was preceded by such men as Thomas Hooker, John Cotton, and Thomas Shepard. He was licensed as a preacher of the Gospel by 1640. Before that date, he appears to have spent a number of years at sea, probably as a chaplain with the fleet.After the conclusion of the First English Civil War, Thomas Brooks became minister at Thomas Apostle's, London, and was sufficiently renowned to be chosen as preacher before the House of Commons on December 26, 1648. His sermon was afterwards published under the title, 'God's Delight in the Progress of the Upright', the text being Psalm 44:18: 'Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from Thy way'. Three or four years afterwards, he transferred to St. Margaret's, Fish-street Hill, London. In 1662, he fell victim to the notorious Act of Uniformity, but he appears to have remained in his parish and to have preached as opportunity arose. Treatises continued to flow from his pen.[3]
Thomas Brooks was a nonconformist preacher. Born into a Puritan family, he was sent to Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He soon became an advocate of the Congregational way and served as a chaplain in the Civil War. In 1648 he accepted the rectory of St. Margaret's, New Fish Street, London, but only after making his Congregational principles clear to the vestry.
On several occasions he preached before Parliament. He was ejected in 1660 and remained in London as a Nonconformist preacher. Government spies reported that he preached at Tower Wharf and in Moorfields. During the Great Plague and Great Fire he worked in London, and in 1672 was granted a license to preach in Lime Street. He wrote over a dozen books, most of which are devotional in character. He was buried in Bunhill Fields.