"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit
within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give
you a heart of flesh. I will place My Spirit within you
and cause you to follow My statutes and carefully
observe My ordinances." Ezekiel 36:26-27
A true child of God has the law of God written, not only
in his understanding—but also in his heart and affections.
And this is that which makes his obedience to be pleasing
and delightful to him.
If he might be free from the injunctions and directions of
the word—he would not value such a liberty. He would not
swear, nor lie, nor be drunk, nor whore, nor dissemble, nor
cheat, nor run into all excess of riot if he could—because in
his soul he has a principle of grace, and an inward contrariety
and antipathy against evil. He would not cease to hear, to
read, to pray, to meditate if he could—because his soul takes
a pleasure and sweet delight in these things.
There is a principle within him agreeable to the precepts
of Scripture, which makes all pious performances to be easy
and pleasurable to him.
Look! as the eye delights in seeing, and the ear in hearing,
so a gracious heart (except when it is under a cloud of
desertion, or in the school of temptation, or under some
grievous tormenting afflictions, or sadly worsted by some
prevalent corruption) delights in obedience.
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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.