"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty!" Isaiah 6:3
Certainly there is nothing which renders God so formidable
and dreadful to unholy people—as His holiness does. "Leave
this way, get off this path—and stop confronting us with
the Holy One of Israel!" Isaiah 30:11.
"Oh that you would not preach so much, nor talk so much
to us—of the Holy One of Israel! Oh that you would cease
from molesting and vexing us with message upon message
from the Holy One! Why can't you talk and preach to us of
the merciful One, the compassionate One, the affectionate
One, the pitiful One, etc., and not be still a-talking to us of
the Holy One, the Holy One! Oh, we do not like to hear it!
Oh, we cannot bear it!"
Nothing strikes the sinner into such a terror as a discourse
on the holiness of God; it is as the handwriting upon the wall,
Dan. 5:4-6. Nothing makes the head and heart of a sinner to
ache like a sermon upon the Holy One. Nothing galls and gripes,
nothing stings and terrifies unsanctified ones—like a lively setting
forth of the holiness of God, Hab. 1:13.
But to holy souls, there are no discourses which more suit them
and satisfy them, which more delight and content them, which
more please and profit them—than those do, which most fully
and powerfully reveal God to be glorious in holiness. Well, this
is an everlasting truth—he who truly loves the holiness of God,
and loves God for His holiness—is certainly made partaker of
His holiness.
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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.