224 quotes
Thomas Brooks Quotes
The sharpest, most searching lines from Thomas Brooks, drawn straight from the Puritan Paperbacks. Filter by theme, or browse the whole collection.
“Know that it is not the knowing , nor the talking , nor the reading man—but the doing man, that at last will be found the happiest man. "If you know these things, blessed and happy are you if you DO them." (John 13:17)”
“Whatever sin the heart of man is most prone to, that the devil will help forward.”
“Satan loves to sail with the wind, and to suit men's temptations to their conditions and inclinations.”
“Where one thousand are destroyed by the world's frowns, ten thousand are destroyed by the world's smiles.”
“The world, siren-like, sings to us, then sinks us.”
“It is the greatest judgment in the world to be left to sin.”
“There is a great difference between a sheep which falls into the mire and a swine which delights to wallow in it.”
“Men must not think to dance and dine with the devil, and then to sup with Abraham in heaven.”
“Repentance is a flower which does not grow in nature's garden.”
“It is not he who reads most, but he who meditates most, who will prove to be the choicest, sweetest, wisest and strongest Christian.”
“Remember that it is not hasty reading, but serious meditation on holy and heavenly truths, which makes them prove sweet and profitable to the soul.”
“Those that have most of God, and are most rich in grace, shall be most assaulted by Satan, who is the greatest and craftiest pirate in the world.”
“Sin is the worst and most infectious plague in the world.”
“God hath in Himself all power to defend you, all wisdom to direct you, all mercy to pardon you, all grace to enrich you, all righteousness to clothe you, all goodness to supply you, and all happiness to crown you.”
“The world and you must part, or Christ and you will never meet.”
“Our sins are debts that none can pay but Christ. It is not our tears, but His blood; it is not our sighs, but His sufferings, that can testify for our sins. Christ must pay all, or we are prisoners forever.”
“The lazy Christian has his mouth full of complaints, when the active Christian has his heart full of comforts.”
“There is no little sin, because no little God to sin against.”
“He is the best preacher, not that tickles the ear, but that breaks the heart.”
“Deliver me, O Lord, from that evil man, myself.”
“A family without prayer is like a house without a roof, open and exposed to all the storms of heaven.”
“Hope can see heaven through the thickest clouds.”
“The first step toward heaven, is to see ourselves near hell.”
“Get Christ and get all; miss Christ and miss all.”
“In a storm there is no shelter like the wings of God.”
“Prayer crowns God with the honor and glory due to His name, and God crowns prayer with assurance and comfort. The most praying souls are the most assured souls.”
“He that will play with Satan's bait, will quickly be taken with Satan's hook.”
“He who stands upon his own strength will never stand.”
“It is not he who knows most, nor he who hears most, nor yet he who talks most, but he who exercises grace most, who has most communion with God.”
“To repent of sin is as great a mark of grace as not to sin.”
“God's hearing of our prayers doth not depend upon sanctification, but upon Christ's intercession; not upon what we are in ourselves, but what we are in the Lord Jesus; both our persons and our prayers are acceptable in the beloved.”
“Satan often paints sin with virtue's colors.”
“There is more evil in the least sin than in the greatest affliction.”
“An idle life and a holy heart is a contradiction.”
“Till men have faith in Christ, their best services are but glorious sins.”
“Where truth goes, I will go, and where truth is I will be, and nothing but death shall divide me and the truth.”
“A gracious soul may look through the darkest cloud and see God smiling on him.”
“Christ dwells in that heart most eminently that hath emptied itself of itself.”
“Those sins that seem most sweet in life, will prove most bitter in death.”
“Prayer is nothing but the breathing that out before the Lord, that was first breathed into us by the Spirit of the Lord.”
“If God were not my friend, Satan would not be so much my enemy.”
“As the body lives by breathing, so the soul lives by believing.”
“An humble soul looks upon Christ's righteousness as his only crown.”
“Many eat that on earth that they digest in hell.”
“Solomon got more hurt by his wealth, than he got good by his wisdom.”
“Humility makes a man richer than other men, and it makes a man judge himself the poorest among men.”
“Sin in a wicked man is like poison in a serpent; it is in its natural place.”
“Consider that the trials and troubles, the calamities and miseries, the crosses and losses that you meet with in this world, are all the hell that ever you shall have.”
“Though there is nothing more dangerous, yet there is nothing more ordinary, than for weak saints to make their sense and feeling the judge of their condition. We must strive to walk by faith.”
“Repentance is the vomit of the soul.”
“When afflictions arrest us, we shall murmur and grumble and struggle until we see that it is God that strikes.”
“Grace and glory differ very little; the one is the seed, the other is the flower; grace is glory militant, glory is grace triumphant.”
“The best and sweetest flowers of paradise God gives to His people when they are upon their knees. Prayer is the gate of heaven.”
“Cold prayers shall never have any warm answers.”
“A preacher's life should be a commentary upon his doctrine. Heavenly doctrines should always be adorned with a heavenly life.”
“Let those be thy choicest companions who have made Christ their chief companion.”
“God hears no more than the heart speaks; and if the heart be dumb, God will certainly be deaf.”
“Faith is the champion of Grace, and Love the nurse; but Humility is the beauty of Grace.”
“The sovereignty of God is that golden sceptre in his hand by which he will make all bow, either by his word or by his works, by his mercies or by his judgements.”
“A man full of hope will be full of action.”
“Sin is hell, grace is heaven; what madness it is to look more at hell than heaven.”
“God is as just as he is merciful.”
“A good conscience and a good confidence go together.”
“Afflictions are but as a dark entry into our Father's house.”
“Every thing that a man leans upon but God, will be a dart that will certainly pierce his heart through and through. He who leans only upon Christ, lives the highest, choicest, safest, and sweetest life.”
“Man's holiness is now his greatest happiness, and in heaven man's greatest happiness will be his perfect holiness.”
“What is honor, and riches, and the favor of creatures, so long as I lack the favor of God, the pardon of my sins, a saving interest in Christ, and the hope of glory! O Lord, give me these, or I die!”
“Christ is lovely, Christ is very lovely, Christ is most lovely, Christ is always lovely, Christ is altogether lovely.”
“The two poles could sooner meet, than the love of Christ and the love of the world.”
“Carnal reason is an enemy to faith: it is ever crossing and contradicting it. It will never be well with thee, Christian, so long as thou art swayed by carnal reason, and you rely more upon thy five senses, than upon the four Evangelists.”
“Your life is short, your duties many, your assistance great, and your reward sure; therefore faint not, hold on and hold up, in ways of well-doing, and heaven shall make amends for all.”
“A man's most glorious actions will at last be found to be but glorious sins, if he hath made himself, and not the glory of God, the end of those actions.”
“If it is not strong upon your heart to practice what you read, to what end do you read? To increase your own condemnation?”
“Self is the only oil that makes the chariot-wheels of the hypocrite move in all religious concerns.”
“That sorrow for sin that keeps the soul from looking towards the mercy seat is a sinful sorrow.”
“Nothing humbles and breaks the heart of a sinner like mercy and love. Souls that converse much with sin and wrath, may be much terrified; but souls that converse much with grace and mercy, will be much humbled.”
“A well-grounded assurance is always attended with three fair handmaids: love, humility, and holy joy.”
“Though true repentance is never too late, yet late repentance is seldom true.”
“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!”
“Communion with God makes bitter things sweet, and massive things light.”
“Though heaven be God's palace, yet it is not his prison.”
“He who obeys sincerely endeavors to obey thoroughly.”
“The snow covers many a dunghill; so doth prosperity many a rotten heart.”
“They do not love Christ who love anything more than Christ.”
“Holiness in angels and saints is but a quality, but in God it is His essence.”
“It is better to have a sore than a seared conscience.”
“Much faith will yield unto us here our heaven, but any faith, if true, will yield us heaven hereafter.”
“Sin which men account small brings God's great wrath on men.”
“The giving way to a less sin makes way for the committing of a greater.”
“There is nothing in the world that renders a man more unlike to a saint, and more like to Satan, than to argue from God's mercy to sinful liberty; from divine goodness to licentiousness.”
“There are five things that God will never sell at a cheap rate: Christ, truth, his honour, heaven, and assurance.”
“Take no truths upon trust, but all upon trial.”
“Precepts may instruct, but examples persuade.”
“Assurance makes most for your comfort, but holiness makes most for God's honor.”
“Godly lives convince more than miracles themselves.”
“Time is a jewel more worth than a world. Time is not yours to dispose of as you please; it is a glorious talent that men must be accountable for as well as any other talent.”
“True penitential confession is joined with reformation. He that does not forsake his sin, as well as confess it, forsakes the benefit of his confession.”
“There is no such way to attain to greater measures of grace, as for a man to live up to that little grace he has.”
“Weak Christians are afraid of the shadow of the cross.”
“We trust as we love, and we trust where we love; if you love Christ much surely you will trust Him much.”
“How many threadbare souls are to be found under silken cloaks and gowns!”
“Secret sins commonly lie nearest the heart.”
“There is the seed of all sins, of the vilest and worst of sins, in the best of men.”
“Christ doth not love believers with a low, flat, dull, common love, with such a love as most men love one another with, but with a love that is like himself.”
“So many read good books and get nothing, because they read them over cursorily, slightly, superficially.”
“Sin is a viper that does always kill where it is not killed.”
“Many are now dropped into hell that have formerly presumed of their going to heaven.”
“The first great work that men are to attend in this world is the eternal safety and security of their souls; the next great work is to know, to be assured, that it shall go well with their souls forever.”
“It is certain that great prosperity and worldly glory are no sure tokens of God's love.”
“Mercy is God's Alpha, justice is His Omega.”
“It is not greatness but grace, it is not riches but righteousness, it is not outward pomp or splendor—but holiness, that can overawe the vain spirits of men.”
“Affliction is a fire to purge out our dross, and to make virtue shine.”
“God is more taken with Lazarus's patched coat, than with Dives's silken robe, etc.”
“Many a valiant person dares fight in a battle or a duel, who yet will be timorous and fearful if suddenly surprised in a midnight alarm.”
“Sometimes you doubt of your acquaintance with God, and that leads you to doubt of your access to God, and acceptance with God.”
“Though true repentance is never too late—yet late repentance is seldom true.”
“No man lives so miserable, nor no man dies so sadly—as he who lives and dies a stranger to his own soul.”
“Afflictions are like pinching frosts, which will search us; where we are most unsound, we shall soonest complain, and where most corruptions lie, we shall most shrink.”
“First, The great journey that he has taken, from heaven to earth, on purpose to save sinners, strongly demonstrates his willingness to save them.”
“There is no such way to be rich—as to be poor and low in our own eyes.”
“That metal we account pure metal, which has not any baser than itself mixed with it.”
“Therefore, despair not, O aged sinner! but return unto the Lord, and you shall be happy forever.”
“If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord.”
“One of the kings of France died miserably by choking on a bite of pork; and his brother, being hit with a tennis ball, was struck into his grave!”
“The more any man in holiness resembles God on earth, the greater and the larger portion of glory that man shall have when he comes to heaven.”
“So a man bewitched with sin had rather lose God, Christ, heaven, and his own soul—than part with his sin.”
“They give Satan an advantage; they make the work of repentance more difficult; they make a man's life a burden, and they render death to be very terrible unto the soul.”
“Our hearts stand ready pressed to subject themselves to whatever God shall declare to be his will.”
“Tell me, O Christians, are not the gifts which Christ has conferred upon you, special gifts?”
“That man who makes himself the end of his actions, who makes honor, riches, applause, etc. the end of his actions—he must at last lie down in eternal sorrow, he must dwell in everlasting burnings.”
“Ah, Christians! don't make religious duties your money, lest you and your money perish together.”
“How often did holy Moses by his tears—quench the wrath of an angry God!”
“The best and the largest portion is laid up for that child that is most like his father.”
“God's holiness is infinite, it is so super-eminent and so superexcellent that it can neither be limited, nor lessened, nor increased.”
“Tertullian says that he was born for no other purpose but to repent.”
“A humble soul knows, that if he blesses God under mercies —he has paid his debt; but if he blesses God under crosses —he has made God a debtor.”
“Truly, all the riches and glories of this world cannot keep off the least calamity, neither can they make up the lack of the least mercy.”
“And now, if God will give all spiritual and all eternal good things to his people, how can he then but sooner or later give a clear and satisfactory evidence into his people's bosoms that he is their portion?”
“Starched oratory may tickle the brain—but it is plain doctrine which informs the judgment, which convinces the conscience, which bows the will, and which wins the heart.”
“For holiness, God is a incomparable; there are none to be compared with him, neither are there any among angels or among men, yes, or among the gods, who are like unto him.”
“There are many who are exceeding inquisitive to know whether their names are written in heaven or not.”
“The more grace acts in the soul— the more sin withers and dies in the soul.”
“To circumscribe God to our time, and to make ourselves lords of time; what is this, but to divest God of his royalty and sovereignty of appointing times?”
“Oh, the infinite wisdom and power of God—which has pardoned, washed, sanctified, and cleansed such guilty, filthy, and polluted souls!”
“Surely, says Satan, if you should seek repentance and grace with tears, as Esau, you shall not find it!”
“Can you think seriously of this, Christians, that a heathen should excel you, and not blush?”
“Pride is a sin that will put the soul upon the worst of sins.”
“The word notes to us thus much: that God will not dwell with a humble man as a wayfaring man dwells with his relations—a few nights and then away.”
“I think that in these days God punishes many men's former wickednesses, by giving them up to soul-ruining errors .”
“Daniel keeps humble and holy when he is lifted high, yes, made the second man in the kingdom.”
“Socrates prescribed for men to worship God according to the manner of the country where they lived; and what was this but to gratify the lust of men, by subjecting the rule of God's worship to the laws and customs of men?”
“The second remedy against this device of Satan is, seriously to consider, That there is nothing in the world that so provokes God to be wroth and angry, as men's taking encouragement from God's goodness and mercy—to do wickedly.”
“He will break their bones, and pierce their hearts—but he will cure them of this malady.”
“Grown men prefer one piece of gold above a thousand new pennies.”
“Again, You have the seeds of all corruptions in you; and is there any way to be rid of every sin—but by thriving in every grace?”
“But the riches of Christ do both keep off calamities, and make up the lack of all mercies that the soul craves or needs.”
“Now, says Christ, "I delight to do your will, O my God;" it is the joy and rejoicing of my heart to be a-seeking and a-saving lost sinners.”
“A beautiful face is at all times pleasing to the eye—but then especially when there is joy manifested in the countenance.”
“Man's life is but a minute, it is but a point of time, compared to the days of eternity.”
“Oh, keep the truth, and truth will make you safe and happy forever.”
“It is not spitting at Satan's name, nor crossing yourselves, nor leaning to your own resolutions, that will get you the victory.”
“Let the ambitious man take the honors of the world, so I may but have Christ.”
“He is a jewel more worth than a thousand worlds—as all know that have him.”
“Again, Will not Satan labor might and main to keep your graces low and poor?”
“About twelve, when the sun is usually brightest, it began now to darken, and this darkness was so great that it spread over all the land of Jerusalem; yes, some think over all the world.”
“What is the favor of man but a blast, a sunshine-hour, a puff of wind, a great nothing? and who then would spend an hour's time to secure it?”
“He looks upon scorners as spitting upon Christ, and worldlings as preferring Barabbas before Christ—and this makes him groan.”
“Oh, the rest, the peace, the comfort, the contentment—that the things of this world strip many men of!”
“Usually the holiest of men have least of earth, though most of heaven.”
“The raging waves beat sorely against Noah's ark—but they touched not him.”
“Idleness is hateful in any—but most abominable and intolerable in ministers ; and sooner or later none shall pay so dear for it as such.”
“Sin and Satan do sometimes work more violently and more strongly in the souls of saints than at other times.”
“The daily language of the penitent soul is this, "Lord, when will you heal the maladies of my soul?”
“There was none fit to umpire the business between God and man—but he who was God-man.”
“Holy Noah, holy Enoch, and the rest of the holy patriarchs, prophets, and apostles, walked only in ways of piety and purity.”
“The treasures of a saint are the presence of God, the favor of God, union and communion with God, the pardon of sin, the joy of the Spirit, and the peace of conscience.”
“Afflictions are God's furnace, by which he cleanses his people from their dross.”
“A humble soul knows, that to bless God in prosperity is the way to increase it; and to bless God in adversity is the way to remove it.”
“A saint may say, "In having nothing, I have all things, because I have Christ.”
“Well, remember this once for all, such as rest on duties, such as rest on their own righteousness, or on anything on this side Christ—such shall find them to be useless.”
“Other judgments often issue in men's seeking of the Lord, and in men's returning to the Lord.”
“Ah, who would endure an ocean of torture for a drop of sensual pleasure, or for a few bitter-sweets?”
“We try metal by knocking; if it sound well, then we like it.”
“Lay up this truth, feed upon this honey-comb. [2.] Secondly, Get this principle rooted upon your hearts, namely, That none ever yet obtained an interest in Christ but unworthy creatures.”
“Ah, Lord, this mercy I humbly beg, that you would rather take me into your own hand, and do anything with me, than give me up to those sad errors to which thousands have married their souls and are in the way of perishing forever.”
“He who does most work here—shall have most reward hereafter.”
“Gracious habits are the candles of the Lord set up in us; and God has set up those candles of heaven not to idle by, not to sleep by—but to work by, and to walk by.”
“Men who now embrace the word, will, in times of persecution, distaste the word, if it is not rooted in their understandings, judgments, wills, affections, and consciences.”
“You say "Tomorrow, tomorrow I will repent," when you know not what a tomorrow will bring forth.”
“Blessed are those who are kept by truth. 'Though I cannot dispute for the truth, yet I can die for the truth,' said a blessed martyr.”
“Oh say with the psalmist, "What shall I render to the Lord for all his favors, and great benefits.”
“There is not a headache, not a toothache, not a fever, not a grief, not a fall, not a wrench, not a plague-sore—but is a divine warning to man to prepare to die.”
“Haman was an agent for the devil, who paid him his wages at last, if you will, with a halter.”
“There is such a power and efficacy in the blood of Christ, as is sufficient to cleanse all sorts of sinners from all sorts of sins.”
“An erroneous mind is as odious to God as a wicked life ; and why should it not be so to us also?”
“He who could have turned stones into bread, could as easily have turned stones into gold, and so have made his disciples rich and great in the world—but he would not.”
“What head, what heart can conceive or reckon up the duration of God, who ever was, who still is, and who ever will be!”
“This is the most certain truth, that God graciously pardons those sins to his people—that he will not in this life fully subdue in his people.”
“The noblest faculties are imbased, when not improved, when not exercised.”
“The raging waves beat sorely against Noah's ark —but they touched not him.”
“When a man is stung with guilt, it is his highest wisdom in the world to look up to the brazen serpent, and not to spend his time or create torments to his own soul by perpetual poring upon his guilt.”
“A pure heart is a plain, simple heart, without fraud or deceit—like Nathaniel, in whom there was no deceit.”
“There was none fit to umpire the business between God and man— but he who was God-man.”
“Kings are as rare meat in heaven as venison is in poor men's kitchens," says the Dutch proverb.”
“Yes, once more tell me, O Christian, is not holiness a mercy-sweetening mercy?”
“All our nearest and dearest relations are like a bouquet, which the oftener we smell to it, the sooner it withers.”
“The third remedy against this device of Satan, is, to consider, That all the cross providences which befall the saints are for some noble good that God intends to confer upon them.”
“Strengthen such, that is, encourage them, by casting in a promise, by casting in your experiences, or by casting in the experiences of other saints, that so they may be supported.”
“By these ten arguments it does evidently appear, that believers may in this life attain unto a well-grounded assurance of their everlasting happiness and blessedness.”
“They never inquire what state they shall enter upon after death, whether upon a state of eternal woe or a state of everlasting bliss!”
“He will combat with all sin, though he cannot conquer one as he should, and as he desires.”
“The more grace acts in the soul—the more sin withers and dies in the soul.”
“God loves that his people should plead his promises; and he who does shall find God near him, though friends should leave him, and the world be in arms against him, etc.”
“Christians! though you may be very near and dear to Christ, yet until you come to see your assurance, you will spend your days in doubting, mourning, and complaining.”
“It is not the mere touching of the flower by the bee which gathers honey, but her abiding for a time on the flower which draws out the sweet.”
“Time is a jewel more of worth than a world.”
“A Christian may be stripped of anything but his God; he may be stripped of his estate, his friends, his relations, his liberty, his life, but he can never be stripped of his God.”
“He who has God for his portion enjoys all; and he who lacks a saving interest and propriety in God enjoys nothing at all.”
“Christ is the crown of crowns, the glory of glories, and the heaven of heavens.”
“Of all devils, it is the idle devil which keeps men most out of their closets.”
“One hour's communion with God in one's closet is to be preferred before the greatest and best company in the world.”
“Time spent in heavenly employments is no time lost from worldly business.”
“Grace is glory in the bud, and glory is grace at the full.”
“To have grace, and to be sure that we have grace, is glory upon the throne, it is heaven on this side heaven.”