"If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or
the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices
you, saying, 'Let us go and worship other gods (gods that
neither you nor your fathers have known, gods of the
peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end
of the land to the other), do not yield to him or listen to
him. Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him.
You must certainly put him to death. Your hand must be
the first in putting him to death, and then the hands of
all the people. Stone him to death, because he tried to
turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you
out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery." Deut. 13:6-10
This Scripture tells us, that if father, or mother, or brother,
or sister, or kinsman, or friend, should go about to draw a
man from God, his hand should be first upon him to put him
to death. Now, bosom sins, darling sins—they seek to draw
a man's heart from God, and therefore a gracious soul can't
but rise up against them, and do his best to stone them,
and to be the death of them!
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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.