"Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
God forbid. How shall we who are dead to sin, live
any longer therein?" Romans 6:1, 2
To argue from God's mercy to sinful liberty—is the devil's
logic—and such logicians do ever walk as upon a mine of
gunpowder ready to be blown up! No such soul can ever
avert or avoid the wrath of God. This is wickedness at the
height—for a man to be very bad, because God is very good!
There is not a worse spirit than this in hell. Ah, Lord, does
not wrath, yes, the greatest wrath, lie at this man's door?
Are not the strongest chains of darkness prepared for such
a soul? To sin against mercy is bestial; no, it is worse!
To render good for evil is divine.
To render good for good is human.
To render evil for evil is brutish.
But to render evil for good is devilish!
There is nothing in the world which renders a man more
unlike a Christian, and more like Satan—than to argue
from God's mercy to sinful liberty; from divine goodness
to licentiousness. This is devilish logic, and in whomever
you find it, you may write, 'This soul is lost!'
A man may as truly say, 'the sea burns', or 'the fire cools'
—as that God's free grace and mercy should make a truly
gracious soul to live wickedly.
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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.