"Man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks up evil
like water!" Job 15:16
A wicked man is a sin-lover; he is a sin-maker,
he lives in sin upon choice.
All profane people . . .
give up themselves to wickedness,
wallow in all ungodliness,
delight themselves in all manner of filthiness,
commit wickedness with greediness,
draw iniquity and sin with cords of vanity,
weary themselves to commit iniquity,
are so desperately set upon wickedness,
that neither the rod of God, the lashes and checks of
their own consciences, nor the flashes of hell upon their
souls—can stop them. They are resolved that they will
gratify their lusts—though they damn their souls; and
that will live wickedly—though they perish eternally!
By custom in sin, they have destroyed all conscience
of sin, and contracted such desperate hardness upon
their own hearts, as neither . . .
God's smiles nor frowns,
God's promises nor threatenings,
life nor death,
heaven nor hell,
can possibly hinder them.
The hearts and ways of wicked men are full of
hells; and therefore to fill heaven with such,
would be to fill heaven with hells.
Certainly God will shut the gates of glory upon
such workers of iniquity. These souls are . . .
sadly abandoned by God, and
woefully blinded by Satan, and
fully ripened for ruin.
"All will be damned who have not believed the truth but
have delighted in wickedness." 2 Thessalonians 2:12
"Unless you are converted . . . you will never enter
the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:3
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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.