"When they saw Him, they pleaded with Him to leave
their region." Matthew 8:34
A man bewitched with the world will prefer the most base
and contemptible things, before the Lord Jesus Christ. He will,
with the Gergesenes, prefer his swine before a Savior,
Matthew 8:28-34. When they saw what a sad market their
hogs were brought to, they desired Christ to depart out of
their country. These Gergesites had rather lose Christ,
than lose their porkers. They had rather that the devil
should possess their souls—than that Jesus should drown
their pigs. They prefer their swine, before their salvation!
They present a wretched petition for their own damnation;
they pleaded with Him to leave their region. Though there is
no misery, no plague, no curse, no wrath, no hell—compared
to Christ's departure from a people; yet men bewitched with
the world will desire this. "When they saw Him, they pleaded
with Him to leave their region." Matthew 8:34
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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.