"Whoever touches you, touches the apple of His eye."
Zechariah 2:8
The apple (or pupil) of the eye is the tenderest piece
of the tenderest part. The eye is kept most diligently,
and strongly guarded by nature. A man can better bear
a thump on the back, the biting of his finger, the cutting
of his hand, the pricking of his leg, or a blow upon his
arm—than a touch on the eye.
Oh, that persecutors would be quiet, and let God's people
alone, and take heed how they meddle with God's eyes!
There is no touching of them, to wrong or injure them,
but you wrong and injure the Holy One of Israel, who will
certainly revenge Himself upon you. Those who strike
at God's eyes, do through them strike at God Himself,
which He will never put up with. It is a dangerous thing
to molest and trouble, to afflict or annoy the people of
God; for God Himself is very sensible of it, and accordingly
He will certainly requite it. Acts 9:4, "Saul, Saul, why do
you persecute Me?" Those who persecute the servants of
Christ—they persecute Christ Himself, who lives in them,
and is mystically united to them.
Look! as there is by virtue of the natural union a mutual
sympathy between the head and the members, the husband
and the wife—so it is here between Christ and His saints, for
He is a most sympathizing, compassionate, tender-hearted
Savior. Those who shoot at the saints, hit Christ; their
sufferings and their reproaches are counted His. He who
bore the saints' griefs when He was on earth, really and
properly, He bears them still now He is in heaven, in a
way of sympathy. Christ in His glorified state, has a very
tender sense of all the evil that is done to His children, His
members, His spouse—and looks upon it as done to Himself!
I say to the persecutors of Christians, "Let the people of
God alone, for if you do but make their finger ache, God
will make your heads and hearts ache for it before He has
done with you!"
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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.