No hypocrite is totally divorced from the love and liking
of every known sin. There is still some secret lust, which
as a sweet morsel he rolls under his tongue, and will not
spit it out. Every hypocrite lives under the dominion and
reign of one base lust or another—and will do what he
can to save the life of his sin—though it be with the loss
of his soul. A hypocrite always reserves one nest-egg or
another in his heart or life, for Satan to sit and brood on.
O sirs! Satan can hold a man fast enough by one sin,
as the fowler can hold the bird fast enough by one claw.
Satan knows, that one sin lived in and allowed, will as
certainly damn a man as many sins; just as one disease,
one ulcerous part, may as certainly kill a man as many.
One dead fly will mar the whole box of precious ointment.
One jarring string will bring the sweetest music out of tune.
If the leper in the law had the spot of leprosy in any one
part of his body, he was accounted a leper; although all
the rest of his body was sound and whole, Lev. 14. Just
so, he who has the spot of the leprosy of sin allowed in
any one part of his soul, he is a spiritual leper in the eye
of God; he is unclean, though in other parts he may not
be unclean.
If a swine does but wallow in one miry or dirty hole—it
is filthy; and certainly, that soul which does but wallow
in any one sin—he is filthy in the eye of God.
O sirs! remember that . . .
as one hole in a ship will sink it, and
as one stab at the heart will kill a man, and
as one glass of poison will poison a man, and
as one act of treason will make a man a traitor,
so one sin lived in and allowed, will damn a man forever!
One millstone will sink a man to the bottom of the sea as
well as a hundred. Just so, one sin lived in and indulged,
will sink a man to the bottom of hell as well as a hundred.
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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.