"The Lord is my portion, says my soul; therefore
I will hope in Him." Lamentations 3:24
"Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are
considered as a speck of dust on the scales; He lifts up
the islands like fine dust." Isaiah 40:15
All nations are but as a drop in a bucket, that may in a
moment be wiped off with a finger—in comparison of God,
nay, they are all nothing; but that word is too high, for
they are less than nothing. Had a man as many worlds at
his command as there are men on earth, or angels in heaven,
yet they would be but as so many drops, or as so many
atoms—compared to a saint's portion!
When Alcibiades was proudly boasting of his spacious lands,
Socrates wittily rebukes his pride by bringing him a map of
the world, and wishing him to show him where his lands did
lie; his lands would hardly amount to more than the prick of
a pin. England, Scotland, and Ireland are but three little spots
compared to the vast continents which are in other parts of
the world; and what then is your palace, your lordships, your
manors, your farm, your house, your cottage—but a little speck
—but a prick of a pin—compared to God, who is so great,
so vast a portion!
Oh, sirs! if you had the understanding of all the angels in
heaven, and the tongues of all the men on earth, yet you
would not be able to conceive, express, or set forth the
greatness and largeness of a saint's portion.
Can you count the stars of heaven, or number the sands of
the sea, or stop the sun in his course, or make a new world?
Then, and not until then, will you be able to declare what a
great, what an immense portion God is. If "no eye has seen,
no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has
prepared for those who love Him", oh how much less, then,
are they able to declare the great things that God has laid
up for His people in the eternal world!
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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.