Grace Gems

[nChrist]

The cockatrice must be crushed

(Thomas Brooks, "The Privy Key of Heaven" 1665)

"Lust having conceived, brings forth sin." James 1:15

First, sin has its conception--which is its delight;
and then sin has its birth--which is its action;
and then sin has its growth--which is its custom;
and then sin has its end--which is its damnation!

The very thought of sin, if but meditated on,
will break forth into action; action into custom;
custom into habit; and then both body and soul
are irrecoverably lost to all eternity!

If the subtle Serpent can but wriggle in his tail
by a sinful thought, he will soon get in his head
by a worse action!

The cockatrice must be crushed in the egg,
else it will soon become a serpent!

(My Note: Cockatrice is a legendary and evil monster born from the egg of a serpent. The author obviously uses this term in connection with the devil.)

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[nChrist]

Two infamous strumpets

(Thomas Brooks, "The Privy Key of Heaven" 1665)

"You have set our iniquities before You, our secret
 sins in the light of Your presence." Psalms 90:8

"Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot
 see him? Do not I fill heaven and earth?" Jer. 23:24

"The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, keeping
 watch on the wicked and the good." Proverbs 15:3

As we are never out of the reach of God's hand,
so we are never from under the view of God's eye.

God is privy to our most secret sins. His eye is as much
upon secret sins, as it is upon open sins. God has an eye
upon our inmost evils. He sees all that is done in the dark.

There is no cloud, nor curtain, nor moment of darkness,
which can stand between the eyes of God and the ways
of men. "For a man's ways are in full view of the Lord, and
He examines all his paths." Prov. 5:21. In this scripture
Solomon mainly speaks of the ways of the adulterer, which
usually are plotted with the most cunning secrecy; yet God
sees all those ways. Look! as no boldness can exempt the
adulterer from the justice of God, so no secrecy can hide
him from the eye of God. Though men labor to hide their
ways from others, and from themselves--yet it is but labor
in vain to endeavor to hide them from God. Men who labor
to hide God from themselves, can never hide themselves from
God. Paphnutius turned Thais and Ephron, two infamous
strumpets, from their harlotry, with only this argument--
"That God sees all things in the dark, when the doors
are closed, the windows shut, and the curtains drawn."

Those sins which lie closest and are most secretly lurking in
the heart, are as obvious and odious to God as those who
are most fairly written upon a man's forehead. God is all
eye; so that He sees all--even the most secret turnings
and windings of our hearts.

"Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight:
 but all things are naked and opened (that is, anatomized)
 to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." Hebrews 4:13

What is the curtain, or the darkest night, or the double lock,
or the secret chamber--to Him who clearly observes all things
in a perfect nakedness. God has an eye upon the most inward
intentions of the heart, and the most subtle motions of the soul.
Certainly there is not a creature, not a thought, not a thing,
but lies open to the all-seeing eye of God. The Lord knows
all our secret sinnings as exactly as our visible sinnings.

"If you cannot hide yourself from the sun, which is God's minister
of light; how impossible will it be to hide yourself from Him, whose
eyes are ten thousand times brighter than the sun!" (Ambrose)

"My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from Me,
 nor is their sin concealed from My eyes." Jeremiah 16:17

This is the killing aggravation of all sin--that it is done before
the face of God; that it is committed in the royal presence of
the King of kings! The very consideration of God's omnipresence
should bravely arm us against sin! Shall not the strict, the pure,
the jealous eye of an all-seeing God--keep you from sinning in
the secret chamber, when all curtains are drawn, doors bolted,
and everyone in the house sleeping--but you and your Delilah?

Oh! what dreadful atheism is bound up in that man's heart,
who is more afraid of the eye of his father, his pastor, his
child--than he is of the eye and presence of the eternal God!
Those who wallow in secret sins, act as if there were . . .
  no God to behold them,
  nor conscience to accuse them,
  nor judgment-day to arraign them,
  nor justice to condemn them,
  nor hell to torment them!

Though they may escape the eyes of men--yet
they shall never escape the judgment of God!

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[nChrist]

A precious commodity in hell

(Thomas Brooks, "Heaven on Earth" 1667)

Most men spend the greatest part of their time
on things that are that are of little or no value;
as Domitian, the Roman emperor, who spent his
time in catching of flies.

Make a speedy and a thorough improvement of all
opportunities of grace and mercy. Do not trifle
away your golden seasons. You have much
work to do in a short time. You have . . .
  a God to honor,
  a race to run,
  a crown to win,
  a hell to escape,
  a heaven to obtain,
  weak graces to strengthen,
  strong corruptions to weaken,
  many temptations to withstand,
  afflictions to bear,
  many mercies to improve,
  and many services to perform, etc.

He who neglects a golden opportunity, does
but create to himself a great deal of misery.

"Time," says Bernard, "would be a precious
commodity in hell, and the use of it most
gainful; where for one day a man would give
ten thousand worlds if he had them."

When men trifle away their precious time, and golden
opportunities, playing and toying with this vanity
and that vanity; we may ask whether these men
have--no no Christ, no Scripture, no promises, no
blessed experiences, no hopes of heavenly glories
--to enjoy and take delight in?

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[nChrist]

Whining and whimpering?

(Thomas Brooks, "Heaven on Earth" 1667)

"My Beloved is mine, and I am His!" Song 2:16

"I know," says the spouse, "that Jesus Christ
is mine! I can with the greatest confidence
and boldness affirm it. He is . . .
  my Head,
  my Husband,
  my Lord,
  my Redeemer,
  my Justifier,
  my Savior.
And I am His!
I am sure that I am His.
I am His by purchase;
I am His by conquest;
I am His by election;
I am His by covenant;
I am His by marriage;
I am wholly His;
I am specially His;
I am universally His;
I am eternally His!"

A well-grounded assurance will make a man . . .
  patient in waiting,
  courageous in doing,
  cheerful in suffering.
It will make a heaven in a man's heart--on
this side heaven; and make him go singing
into paradise, despite all of life's calamities
and miseries--as he realizes that he is . . .
  everlastingly chosen and beloved of God,
  that God's heart is set upon him,
  that his name is written in the book of life,
  that there is laid up for him a crown of righteousness,
  and that nothing shall be able to separate him from
  Him who is his light, his life, his crown, his all in all.

Ah, Christians! only remember what Christ has done for
you, and what He is still a-doing for you in heaven, and
what He will do for you to all eternity--and you will not be
able to spend your days in whining and whimpering.

Christians, your mercies are greater than your miseries!
One hour's being in the bosom of Christ, will recompense
you for all your trouble and travail on earth! Why, then,
do you spend more time in sighing, than in rejoicing?

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[nChrist]

Peccatum est Deicidium

(Thomas Brooks, "Heaven on Earth" 1667)

"The deceitfulness of sin." Hebrews 3:13

Sin . . .
  has its original from a deceitful subtle serpent,
  is the ground of all the deceit in the world,
  is the great deceiver of souls.

Sin . . .
  debases the soul of man,
  defiles and pollutes the soul of man,
  renders the soul most unlike to God,
    who is the best and greatest;
  renders the soul most like to Satan,
    who is a very sea and sink of sin!

Sin robs the soul of . . .
  the image of God,
  the holiness of God,
  the beauty of God,
  the glory of God,
  the righteousness of God.

Sin is peccatum est Deicidium--a killing of God!

"But they kept shouting--Crucify Him! Crucify Him!"
    Luke 23:21

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[nChrist]

The trifles which God gives

(Thomas Brooks, "Heaven on Earth" 1667)

The emperor Augustus, in his great feasts,
gave trifles to some--but gold to others.

Just so--honors, riches and worldly pleasures are
the trifles which God gives to the worst of men.

God gives His gold--His special love and grace--only
to His people.

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[nChrist]

Devour me, devour me!

(Thomas Brooks, "Heaven on Earth" 1667)

Assurance will sweeten the thoughts of death--
and all the aches, pains, weaknesses, sicknesses,
and diseases--which are the forerunners of death;
yes, it will make a man look and long for death.

Nazianzen said the king of terrors, "Devour me,
devour me! Death cures all diseases, the aching
head, and the unbelieving heart!"

Assurance makes a man smile upon the king
of terrors. The assured soul knows that death
shall be the funeral of . . .
  all his sins,
  all his sorrows,
  all his afflictions,
  all his temptations.

He knows that death shall be the resurrection of
his joys. He knows that death is both an outlet
and an inlet; an outlet to sin; and an inlet to the
soul's clear, full, and constant enjoyment of God!
And this makes the assured soul to sing it sweetly
out, "O death, where is your sting? O grave, where
is your victory? "I desire to depart and be with
Christ, which is better by far!" "Make haste, my
beloved." "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly!"

Now death is more desirable than life. Now says
the soul, "let him fear death, who is averse to go
to Christ."

The Persians had a certain day in the year, in which
they used to kill all serpents and venomous creatures.
The assured Christian knows that the day of death will
be such a day to him--and that makes death lovely and
desirable. He knows that sin was the midwife which
brought death into the world; and that death shall be
the grave to bury sin. And therefore death is not a
terror--but a delight unto him. He fears it not as an
enemy--but welcomes it as a friend.

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[nChrist]

The mortifying of your darling sins

(Thomas Brooks, "Heaven on Earth" 1667)

Most professing Christians have not the right art of
mortifying sin. All their attempts are to hide a lust,
not to quench it.

A great motive to provoke you to the mortifying of
your darling sins, is solemnly to consider, that the
conquest and effectual mortifying of one bosom sin,
will yield a Christian more glorious joy, comfort, and
peace--than ever he has found in the gratifying and
committing of all other sins.

The pleasure and sweetness which follows victory over
sin, is a thousand times beyond that seeming sweetness
which is in the gratifying of sin. The joy which attends
the subduing of sin--is a noble joy, a pure joy, a special
joy, an increasing joy, and a lasting joy. But that joy
which attends the committing of sin--is an ignoble joy,
a corrupt joy, a decreasing joy, a dying joy.

The truth is--if there were the least real joy in sin, there
could be no hell-torments, where men shall most totally
sin, and be most totally tormented with their sin.

Ah! Christians, be restless, until, in the spirit and power
of Jesus, you have brought under control, that sin which
sticks so close unto you!

Remember this, nothing below the conquest of bosom
sins can make a jubilee in the heart. It is not a man's
whining and complaining over sin--but his mortifying
of sin, which will make his life a paradise of pleasure!

If, notwithstanding all that has been said, you are still
resolved to dally with sin, then you must resolve to live
as a stranger to God; you must expect sad trials without,
and sore troubles within; this shall be your just wages
for playing with sin! If you like the wages, then dally
with sin still; if otherwise, then sacrifice your Isaac!

Ah! souls, of all unpardoned sins, your bosom sins will
be presented by God, conscience, and Satan at last
--as the most filthy and ugly, as the most terrible and
dreadful. Your bosom sins at last will appear to be those
monsters, those fiends of hell--which have most provoked
God against you, which have shut up Christ's affections of
love and compassion from you, which have armed conscience
against you, which have barred the gates of glory against you,
which have prepared the hottest place in hell for you, and
which have given Satan the greatest advantage eternally
to triumph over you!

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[nChrist]

Grace, grace!

(Thomas Brooks, "Heaven on Earth" 1667)

"That no flesh should glory in His presence." 1 Corinthians 1:29

God does not look for any goodness or merit in the creature to draw
His love--but He will justify, pardon, and save for His name's sake. All
the motives which move God to show mercy are in His own bosom.

Salvation is only from free grace, and not from anything good in us,
or done by us.

God is free to bestow His promises upon whomever He pleases.
He often steps over the rich, and chooses the poor;
He often steps over the learned, and chooses the ignorant;
He often steps over the strong, and chooses the weak;
He often steps over the sweet nature, and chooses the wicked nature;
He often steps over the noble, and chooses the vile; etc.,
that no flesh may glory, and that all may shout out "Grace, grace!"

"By the grace of God I am what I am!" 1 Corinthians 15:10

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[nChrist]

A heaven unto me!

(Thomas Brooks, "Heaven on Earth" 1667)

That knowledge which accompanies salvation, is a
heart-affecting knowledge. It affects the heart
with Christ, and all spiritual things. Oh, it does
wonderfully endear Christ and the things of Christ
to the soul.

"Oh, feed me with Your love--Your 'raisins' and Your
'apples'--for I am utterly lovesick!" Song 2:5 "Oh,"
says the spouse, "my heart is taken with Christ, it is
ravished with His love; my soul is burning, my soul is
beating towards Christ. Oh, none but Christ, none but
Christ! I cannot live in myself, I cannot live in my duties,
I cannot live in external privileges, I cannot live in
outward mercies; I can live only in Christ, who is . . .
  my life,
  my love,
  my joy,
  my crown,
  my all in all.
Oh, the more I come to know Him  . . .
  in His natures,
  in His names,
  in His offices,
  in His discoveries,
  in His visits,
  in His beauties,
the more I find my heart and affections to prize
Christ, to run after Christ, to be affected with
Christ, and to be wonderfully endeared to Christ!

Oh, God forbid that my heart should be affected
or taken with anything in comparison with Christ.
The more I know Him, the more I love Him;
the more I know Him, the more I desire Him;
the more I know Him, the more my heart is knit unto Him.
His beauty is captivating,
His love is ravishing,
His goodness is attracting,
His manifestations are enticing,
His person is enamoring,
His lovely looks please me,
His pleasant voice delights me,
His precious Spirit comforts me,
His holy word rules me;
All these things make Christ to be a heaven unto me!
Oh, but all that mere notional knowledge, that speculative
knowledge, which leaves a man short of salvation--never
affects the heart; it never draws it, it never endears the
heart to Christ, or to the precious things of Christ. Hence
it is that such men, under all their notions, under all their
light and knowledge, have . . .
  no affection to Christ,
  no delight in Christ,
  no workings of heart after Christ.

"If anyone does not love the Lord, that person is cursed."
    1 Corinthians 16:22

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[nChrist]

Soul-mollifying

(Thomas Brooks, "Heaven on Earth" 1667)

Saving faith is soul-softening, it is soul-mollifying.
Peter believes soundly--and weeps bitterly.
Mary Magdalene believes much--and weeps much.

Faith sets . . .
  a wounded Christ,
  a bruised Christ,
  a despised Christ,
  a pierced Christ,
  a bleeding Christ
--before the soul, and this makes the soul sit down
and weep bitterly: "They will look on Me whom they
have pierced and mourn for Him (all gospel-mourning
flows from believing), as for an only son. They will
grieve bitterly for Him as for a firstborn son who has
died." Zechariah 12:10.

Oh! the sight of those wounds which their sins have
made--will wound their hearts through and through!
It will make them lament over Christ with a bitter
lamentation. Ah! nothing will kindly, sweetly, and
effectually break the hardened heart of a sinner,
but faith's beholding the blood of Christ trickling
down His sides!

That Christ should love man when he was most unlovely;
that man's extreme misery should but inflame Christ's
affections of love and mercy--this melts the believing soul.

That Christ should leave the eternal bosom of His Father;
that He who was equal with God--should come in the form
of a servant; that He who was clothed with glory--should
be wrapped in rags; that He whom the heaven of heavens
could not contain--should be cradled in a manger; that from
His cradle to His cross--His whole life should be a life of
sorrows and sufferings; that the Judge of all flesh should
be condemned; that the Lord of life should be put to death;
that He who was His Father's joy--should in anguish of spirit
cry out, 'My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?' that
that head which was crowned with honor--should be crowned
with thorns; that those eyes which were as a flame of fire,
which were clearer than the sun--should be closed up by the
darkness of death; that those ears which were used to hear
nothing but hallelujahs--should hear nothing but blasphemies;
that that face which was white and ruddy--should be spit upon
by the beastly Jews; that that tongue which spoke as never
any man spoke, yes, as never any angel spoke--should be
accused of blasphemy; that those hands which swayed both
a golden scepter and an iron rod, and those feet which were
as fine brass--should be nailed to the cross--and all this for
man's transgression, for man's rebellion! Oh! the sight of
these things, the believing of these things, makes a
gracious soul to break and bleed, to sigh and groan,
to mourn and lament!

True faith is a heart-breaking, a heart-melting faith.

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[nChrist]

A vulture, a worm eternally gnawing him!

(Thomas Brooks, "Heaven on Earth" 1667)

"And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's
 glory, are being transformed into His likeness with
 ever-increasing glory." 2 Corinthians 3:18

Saving knowledge is a transforming knowledge, which
metamorphoses the soul. Divine light beating on the heart,
warms it, and betters it; it transforms and changes it, it
moulds and fashions it into the very likeness of Christ!

The naturalists observe that the pearl, by the often
beating of the sunbeams upon it, becomes radiant.
Just so, the often beating and shining of the Sun of
righteousness, with His divine beams, upon the saints,
causes them to glisten and shine in . . .
  holiness,
  righteousness,
  heavenly-mindedness,
  humbleness, etc.
Divine light casts a general beauty and glory upon
the soul; it transforms a man more and more into
the glorious image of Christ!

Look! as the child receives his features from his parents;
just so, the beams of divine light and knowledge shining
into the soul, stamp the living image of Christ upon the soul.

Mere notional knowledge may make a man excellent at
praising the glorious and worthy acts and virtues of Christ;
but that transforming knowledge which accompanies
salvation, will work a man divinely to imitate the glorious
acts and virtues of Christ.

When a beam of divine light shined from heaven upon Paul, ah,
how did it change and metamorphose him! How did it alter and
transform him! It made his rebellious soul, obedient: "Lord, what
will You have me to do?" Acts 9:6. Divine light lays upon a man
a happy necessity of obeying God. Divine light makes . . .
  this lion--into a lamb,
  this persecutor--into a preacher,
  this destroyer of the saints--into a strengthener of the saints,
  this tormenter--into a comforter,
  this monster--into an angel,
  this notorious blasphemer--into a very great admirer of God,
and the actings of His free grace.

Just so, when a spark of this heavenly fire fell upon the heart of
Mary Magdalene, oh what a change, what a transformation does
it make in her! Now she loves much, and believes much, and
repents much, and weeps much. Oh what a change did divine
light make in Zacchaeus, and in the jailor!

Truly, if your light, your Biblical knowledge does not better you,
if it does not change and transform you; if, under all your light
and knowledge you remain as vile and base as ever; your light,
your knowledge, your notions, your speculations, will undo you.
That knowledge which is not a transforming knowledge--will
torment a man at last more than all the devils in hell; it will be . . .
  a sword to cut him,
  a rod to lash him,
  a serpent to bite him,
  a scorpion to sting him, and
  a vulture, a worm eternally gnawing him!

God at last will own no knowledge, but that which leaves
the stamp of Christ, the print of Christ, the image of Christ
upon the heart; but that which changes and transforms the
soul, which makes a man a new man, another man than
what he was before divine light shined upon him.

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[nChrist]

To sin and not to blush!

(Thomas Brooks, "Heaven on Earth" 1667)

Only those things which are sinful, are shameful.

"Then, when I make atonement for you for all you have
 done, you will remember and be ashamed and never
 again open your mouth because of your humiliation,
 declares the Sovereign Lord." Ezekiel 16:63

When the penitent soul sees his sins pardoned, the
anger of God pacified, and divine justice satisfied,
then he sits down ashamed.

Sin and shame are inseparable companions.

A Christian cannot have the seeming sweet of sin, but
he shall have the real shame which accompanies sin.
These two God has joined together, and all the world
cannot put them asunder.

It was the vile and impenitent Caligula who said
of himself, "that he loved nothing better in himself,
than that he could not be ashamed."

A soul who has sinned away all shame, is a soul ripe for
hell--and given up to Satan! A greater plague cannot
befall a man in this life, than to sin and not to blush!

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[nChrist]

Loathsome thoughts

(Thomas Brooks, "Heaven on Earth" 1667)

"You will remember your conduct and all the actions by
 which you have defiled yourselves, and you will loathe
 yourselves for all the evil you have done." Ezekiel 20:43

True repentance includes a loathing and abhorring of sin,
and of ourselves for sin.

The sincere penitent loathes his sins, and be loathes himself
also because of his sins. He cries out, "Oh these wanton eyes!
Oh these wicked hands! Oh this deceitful tongue! Oh this
crooked will! Oh this corrupt heart! Oh how do I loathe my
sins, how do I loathe myself! My sins are a burden to me, and
they make me a burden to myself! My sins are an abhorrent
to me, and they make me abhor myself in dust and ashes!"

A true penitent has not only low thoughts of himself, but
loathsome thoughts of himself. None can think or speak
so vilely of a Christian--as he thinks and speaks so vilely
of himself. "Behold, I am vile!" Job 40:4

"They will loathe themselves for the evil they have done
 and for all their detestable practices." Ezekiel 6:9

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[nChrist]

The sweetest joys are from the sourest tears

(Thomas Brooks, "Heaven on Earth" 1667)

Sin is a turning the back upon God--and the face
towards hell. Repentance is a turning the back
upon sin--and a setting the face towards God!

True repentance is a sorrowing for sin because it
is offensive to God. Peter was sorry for his sin;
Judas was sorry his for punishment. Peter grieves
because Christ was grieved; Judas grieved because
he would be damned.

As Noah's flood drowned his nearest and his dearest
friends, so the flood of penitent tears drowns men's
nearest and their dearest lusts! Be they Isaacs or
Benjamins, be they right eyes or right hands, true
repentance puts all to the sword; it spares neither
father nor mother, neither Agag nor Achan.

Repentance is a turning from all sin, without any
reservation or exception. One stab at the heart kills,
one hole in the ship sinks her, one act of treason
makes a traitor. Just so, one sin not forsaken, not
turned from, will undo a soul forever.

A true penitent looks upon every sin as poison, as
the vomit of a dog, as the mire of the street, as the
menstruous cloth, which of all things in the law was
most unclean, defiling, and polluting. He looks thus
upon every sin, turns his heart against every sin,
and makes him not only to refrain from sin--but
to forsake it, and to loathe it more than hell.

True repentance breaks the heart with sighs,
sobs, and groans--that . . .
  a loving Father is offended,
  a blessed Savior crucified, and
  the sweet Comforter grieved.

Penitent Mary Magdalene weeps much, as well as loves
much. Tears, instead of jewels, were the ornaments of
penitent David's bed. Surely that sweet singer never
sang more melodiously, than when his heart was broken
most penitentially.

The sweetest joys are from the sourest tears;
penitent tears are the breeders of spiritual joy. The
bee gathers the best honey off the bitterest herbs.
Christ made the best wine of water; the strongest,
the purest, the truest, the most permanent, and the
most excellent joy is made of the waters of repentance.

"Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy."
     Psalm 126:5

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