Rich in Spiritual Experiences

The mature Christian is rich in spiritual experiences. Oh! the experiences that he has of the ways of God, of the workings of God, of the word of God, of the love of God! Oh! the divine stories that old Christians can tell of the power of the word, of the sweetness of the word, of the usefulness of the word as a light to lead the soul, as a staff to support the soul, as a spur to quicken the soul, as an anchor to stay the soul, and as a cordial to comfort and strengthen the soul! 

Oh! the stories that he can tell concerning the love of Christ, the blood of Christ, the offices of Christ, the merits of Christ, the righteousness of Christ, the graces of Christ, and the influence of Christ! Oh! the stories that an old disciple can tell of the indwelling's of the Spirit, of the operations of the Spirit, of the teachings of the Spirit, of the leadings of the Spirit, of the sealings of the Spirit, of the witnessing's of the Spirit, and of the comforts and joys of the Spirit! 

Oh! the stories that an old Christian can tell of the evil of sin, of the bitterness of sin, of the deceitfulness of sin, of the prevalence of sin, and of the happiness of conquest over sin! 

Oh! the stories that he can tell you of the snares of Satan, of the devices of Satan, of the temptations of Satan, of the rage of Satan, of the malice of Satan, of the watchfulness of Satan, and of the ways of triumphing over Satan! As an old soldier can tell you of many battles, many scars, many wounds, many losses, and many victories even to admiration; so, an old saint is able to tell you of many spiritual battles, many scars, many wounds, many losses, and many victories even to admiration. 

Experimental religion is far beyond mere notions and impressions. A sanctified heart is better than a silver tongue. No man so rich, so honorable, so happy as the old disciple, who is rich in spiritual experiences. 

[Thomas Brooks] 

 

Psalm 92:12-14...The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing; ❤

Biblical Knowledge

Reader, remember this: if your biblical knowledge does not now affect your heart, it will at last, with a witness, afflict your heart. If it does not now endear Christ to you, it will at last provoke Christ the more against you. If it does not make all the things of Christ to be very precious in your eyes, it will at last make you the viler in Christ's eyes. 

[Thomas Brooks]

Proverbs 2:6 ... For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

Colossians 1:10 ... That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;

1 Timothy 2:4 ... Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. ❤

Not as Wicked as Others?

Whatever evil you behold in other men's practices, realize that you have the same evil in your own nature. There is the seed of all sins, of the vilest and worst of sins in the best of men! When you see a drunkard, you may see the seed of that sin in your own nature. When you see an immoral man, you may see the seeds of immorality in your own nature. 

If you are not as wicked as others it is not because of the goodness of your nature, but from the riches of God's grace! Remember this: there is not a worse nature in hell than that which is in you, and it would manifest itself accordingly if the Lord did not restrain it! 

There was one who was a long time tempted to three horrid sins: to be drunk, to lie with his mother, and to murder his father. Being a long time followed with these horrid temptations, at last he thought to get rid of them, by yielding to what he judged the least, and that was to be drunk; but when he was drunk, he did both lie with his mother and murdered his father. Why, such a hellish nature is in every soul that breathes! And did God leave men to act according to their natures, all men would be incarnate devils, and this world a total Hell. 

In your nature you have that that which would lead you with the Pharisees to oppose Christ; and with Judas to betray Christ; and with Pilate to condemn Christ; and with the soldiers to crucify Christ. Oh, what a monster, what a devil you would be should God but leave you to act suitable to that sinful and woeful nature of yours! 

[Thomas Brooks]

1 Corinthians 15:10 ... But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. ❤

How to Conquer The World!

Perhaps the world the smiling world or the frowning world; the tempting world or the persecuting world lies as a heavy stone or burden upon your heart, as it does upon the hearts of thousands in these days. Witness their attempting anything to get the favors, honors and riches of this world! 

Ah! how many have turned their backs upon God, and Christ and truth to gain the world! How will you get this burden off? Only by the exercise of faith. Many men may hear many sermons often and yet remain worldly. They may pray like angels and yet live as if there were no Heaven nor Hell. They will talk much of Heaven and yet those who are spiritual and wise, smell their breath to stink strongly of earth. 

All their endeavors can never cure them of this soul-killing disease until faith breaks forth in its glorious actings. A man may hear sermons and pray many years and yet remain as carnal, base and worldly as ever! There is no way under Heaven to remove this burden but by the exercise of faith!

Faith presents the world to the soul under all those notions which the Scripture holds forth the world unto us by. The Scripture holds forth the world as an impotent thing, as a mixed thing, as a mutable thing, as a momentary thing. Now faith comes and sets this home with power upon the soul, and this takes the soul off from the world. 

Faith causes the soul to converse with those more glorious, soul-satisfying, soul- delighting and soul-contenting objects! Now when faith is busied and exercised about soul-ennobling, soul-greatening, soul-raising and soul-cheering objects, a Christian tramples the world under his feet! 

In Hebrews 11, it was the exercise of faith and hope upon noble and glorious objects, which carried them above the world above the smiling world, and above the frowning world, above the tempting world, and above the persecuting world! 

Faith conquers the world, by assuring the soul of enjoying of better things. Men may talk much of Heaven, and of Christ and religion. But give me a man who really and clearly lives under the power of divine faith, and I cannot see how such a one can be carried out in an inordinate love to these poor transitory worldly things. 

[Thomas Brooks]

1 John 5:4-5 ... For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.  Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? ❤

"Sin"

Sin is worse than suffering; it is better to suffer than to sin. Every sin is an attempt to dethrone God in your heart. Sin never goes alone but leaves a stain wherever it touches.

[Richard Baxter]

Sin is the dare of God's justice, the rape of His mercy, the jeer of His patience, and the contempt of His love. Sin turns the soul into a dungeon of darkness.

[John Bunyan] 

Sin is infinitely worse than any affliction. One sin allowed, is enough to damn the soul. Sin is the soul's only sickness, and Christ is the soul's only Physician.

[Jeremiah Burroughs]

Sin in the heart is like Jonah in the ship it turns the soul into a tempest. Sin will usher in the greatest and saddest losses imaginable. Sin is Satan's firstborn.

[Thomas Brooks]

Sin is an offense against infinite holiness and deserves infinite punishment. Sin is a deicide every sin would kill God if it could.

[Stephen Charnock]

Be killing sin, or it will be killing you. The seed of every sin is in every heart. 

[John Owen]

The smallest sin is an infinite evil, because it is committed against an infinite God. Sin is the foulest evil it pollutes everything it touches. 

[Samuel Rutherford]

Sin is the cause of all suffering and the root of all sorrow. Sin is the disturber of Heaven, earth, and Hell. One of the greatest sins, is not to see sin as the greatest evil. Sin is the soul's enemy, the heart's wound, and the thief of eternal joy.

[Ralph Venning]

Till sin is bitter, Christ will not be sweet. Sin has the devil for its father, shame for its companion, and death for its wages. Sin is a spiritual poison that would murder the soul. Sin is worse than Hell, because sin brought Hell into being.

[Thomas Watson]

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"Afflictions"

Afflictions teach us to value the blessings of God which in prosperity we are apt to forget.

God's afflictions are not to destroy us, but to wean us from the world and bring us closer to Christ.

It is folly to doubt God's goodness because of His chastening rod, for the rod is in the hand of infinite love.

[Richard Baxter]

Afflictions are but God's furnace to refine His gold. 

Christ's school of affliction is the best school in this world.

God would not rub so hard, if it were not to fetch out the dirt that is ingrained in our natures.

Afflictions are God's medicines to cure His people.

[ Thomas Brooks]

As the winter prepares the earth for the spring, so affliction prepares the soul for glory.

The greatest afflictions are less than we deserve.

God empties us of worldly comfort to fill us with heavenly joy.

[William Bridge]

God's people are like gold they are purified by fire. 

God does not strike as an enemy to destroy, but as a father to correct.

[Jeremiah Burroughs]

Sanctified afflictions are better than unsanctified prosperity.

The furnace of affliction is where God polishes His jewels.

[John Flavel]

God's wounds cure sin's kisses kill.

[William Gurnall]

Afflictions quicken our desires for eternal things.

Afflictions are blessings to the soul, though they seem bitter to the flesh.

[John Owen]

Your afflictions are your father's love-tokens.

When I am in the cellar of affliction, I look for the Lord's choicest wines.

[ Samuel Rutherford]

God breaks the cistern to drive us to the fountain.

The fire does not destroy the gold, but only refines it.

God's hammer breaks us in pieces, that He may fashion us into His own likeness.

God squeezes the sins out of His saints by affliction.

It is better to go limping to Heaven, than leaping to Hell.

[ Richard Sibbes]

A sick bed often teaches more than a sermon.

God's rod is a pencil to draw Christ's image more distinctly upon us.

[Thomas Watson]

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An Outlet and An Inlet!

Death is an outlet and an inlet to a holy man. Death is an eternal outlet to all his sins, to all his sorrows, to all his shame, to all his sufferings, to all his afflictions, to all his temptations, to all his oppressions, to all his confusions, and to all his vexations. Death is an eternal inlet into the clear, full, and constant enjoyment of God, the sweetest pleasures, the purest joys, the highest delights, the strongest comforts, and the most satisfying contentment's. 

Death is the funeral of all a holy man's sins and miseries and the perfection of all his joys, graces, and spiritual excellencies. Death is not the death of the man but the death of his sin. Death is a Christian's discharge from all trouble and misery. Death came in by sin and sin goes out by death. Death cures all diseases: the aching head, and the unbelieving heart; the diseased body, and the defiled soul. Death will cure the holy man of all natural and spiritual afflictions. 

Death is God's gentle usher to conduct us to Heaven! Death to a holy man, is nothing but the changing of his grace, into glory; his faith, into sight; his hope, into fruition; and his love, into eternal rapture! 

Oh, who would not go through death to Heaven, to eternal life, to immortality and glory! Death to a Christian, is a welcome guest, a happy friend, a joyful messenger! 

[Thomas Brooks] 

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Philippians 1:21-23 ... For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:

1 Corinthians 15:54 ... So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. ❤ 

A House Without Light!

Our earthly fire, when it burns it shines, it casts a light. It has light as well as heat in it. But the fire of hell burns but it does not shine, it gives no light at all. It retains

the property of burning but it has lost the property of shining. Christ calls it "outer darkness," or utter darkness that is, darkness beyond a darkness.

Light is a blessing that shall never shine into that infernal prison. In Jude verse 6, you read of "chains of darkness." It would be a little ease, a little comfort, to the damned in hell if they might have but light and liberty to walk up and down the infernal coasts; but this is too high a favor for them to enjoy; and therefore, they shall be shackled and fettered down in chains of darkness, and in blackness of darkness so that they may fully undergo the scorching's and burnings of divine wrath and fury forever and ever.

In Jude verse 13 you thus read, "To whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever." The words signify exceeding great darkness. Hell is a very dark and dismal region, and extreme are the miseries, horrors, and torments which are there. Sinners, when they are in hell, when they are in chains of darkness, when they

are in blackness of darkness they shall never more see light! Hell is a house without light!

Though our earthly fires have light as well as heat, yet the infernal fire has only heat to burn sinners; it has no light to refresh sinners; and this will be no small addition

to their torment.

[Thomas Brooks]

Colossians 1:13 ... Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

Matthew 25:30 ... And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Luke 11:36 ... If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light. ❤

The Dirty Lane!

Look upon your dying day as a gainful day. There is no gain compared to that which comes in by death. A Christian gets more by death, than he does by life. To be in Christ is very good, but to be with Christ is best of all, "I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far!" (Philippians 1:23) It was a mighty blessing for Christ to be with Paul on earth, but it was the top of blessings for Paul to be with Christ in Heaven!

Seriously consider these things: By death you shall gain incomparable crowns!

  a crown of life, ... Revelation 2:10, James 1:12
  a crown of righteousness, ... 2 Timothy 4:8
  an incorruptible crown ... 1 Corinthians 9:24-25
  a crown of glory ...   1 Peter 5:4
There are no crowns compared to these crowns!

By death you shall gain a glorious kingdom! "It is your Father's pleasure to give you a kingdom!" (Luke 12:32) We must put off the rags of mortality, that we may put on our robes of glory! There is no entering into paradise, but under the flaming sword of this angel, death, which stands at the gate.

Death is the dirty lane through which the saint passes to a kingdom, to great kingdom,
 to a glorious kingdom, to a peaceful kingdom, to an unshaken kingdom, to a lasting kingdom, yes, to an everlasting kingdom!

Death is the dark, short way, through which the saints pass to the marriage-supper of the Lamb!
 

[Thomas Brooks]

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Presence of a Loving God!

God loves His people with a first love! 1 John 4:19, "We love Him because He first loved us."

By nature, we were without God, and afar off from God; we were strangers to God, and enemies to God, yes, haters of God! Therefore, if God had not loved us first, we would have been everlastingly undone! God loves His people with a free love! Hosea 14:4, "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely." 

I know they are backslidden, but I will heal their backslidings. I know there is nothing at all in them, which is excellent or eminent, which is honorable or acceptable, which is laudable or lovely yet "I will love them freely" of My own, free, rich, absolute and sovereign grace! God loves His people with an everlasting love! Jeremiah 31:3, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, with loving-kindness have I drawn you." 

 

That is, "I love you with the love of perpetuity, or with the love of eternity. My love and My affections to you shall continue forever!" God loves His people with an unchangeable love! Malachi 3:6, "I am the Lord, I do not change; therefore, you sons of Jacob are not consumed." Men change, and counsels change, and occurrences change, and friends change, and relations change, and kingdoms change; but God never changes! "He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man, that He should change His mind," 1 Samuel 15:29. 

God is immutable in His nature, in His essence, in His counsels, in His attributes, in His decrees, in His promises, etc. He is Omnina immutabilis, "Altogether immutable!" God loves His people with a special love, with a peculiar love, with a distinguishing love, with a superlative love! God loves His people with the greatest love, with a matchless love! John 3:16, "God so loved." This signifies the greatness of God's love, the vehemence of His love, and the admirableness of His love. What an unspeakable comfort must this be to God's people to have the presence of a loving God, to have the presence of such a loving God with them in all their troubles and deep distresses! 

If the presence of a loving friend, a loving relation in our troubles and distresses, is such a mercy oh, what then is the presence of a loving God!

[Thomas Brooks]

Isaiah 43:4... 4 Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.

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The Presence of a Loving God!

By nature, we were without God, and afar off from God; we were strangers to God, and enemies to God, yes, haters of God! Therefore, if God had not loved us first, we would have been everlastingly undone! God loves His people with a free love! Hosea 14:4. "I will heal their backsliding; I will love them freely." I know they are backslidden, but I will heal their backslidings. 

I know there is nothing at all in them, which is excellent or eminent, which is honorable or acceptable, which is laudable or lovely yet "I will love them freely" of My own, free, rich, absolute and sovereign grace! God loves His people with an everlasting love! Jeremiah 31:3, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, with loving-kindness have I drawn you." That is, "I love you with the love of perpetuity, or with the love of eternity. My love and My affections to you shall continue forever!" 

God loves His people with an unchangeable love! Malachi 3:6, "I am the Lord, I do not change; therefore, you sons of Jacob are not consumed." 

Men change, and counsels change, and occurrences change, and friends change, and relations change, and kingdoms change; but God never changes! "He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man, that He should change His mind," 1 Samuel 15:29. 

God is immutable in His nature, in His essence, in His counsels, in His attributes, in His decrees, in His promises, etc. He is Omnina Immutabilis, "Altogether immutable!" God loves His people with a special love, with a peculiar love, with a distinguishing love, with a superlative love! God loves His people with the greatest love, with a matchless love! John 3:16, "God so loved." This signifies the greatness of God's love, the vehemence of His love, and the admirableness of His love. 

What an unspeakable comfort must this be to God's people to have the presence of a loving God, to have the presence of such a loving God with them in all their troubles and deep distresses! If the presence of a loving friend, a loving relation in our troubles and distresses, is such a mercy oh, what then is the presence of a loving God! 

[Thomas Brooks]

Isaiah 43:4 ...  Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.

1 John 4:19 ...  We love him, because he first loved us. ❤

Sinned Away Shame!

They had sinned away shame, instead of being ashamed of sin. Continuance in sin had quite banished all sense of sin, and all shame for sin so that they would not allow nature to draw her veil of blushing before their great abominations. How applicable these scriptures are to the present time; I will leave the prudent reader to judge. 

 Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed. Jeremiah 3:3

But what does the prophet do now that they were as bold in sin, and as shameless as so many harlots; now that they were grown up to that height of sin and wickedness; now that they were above all shame and blushing; now that they were grown so proud, so hardened, so obstinate, so rebellious, so bent on self-destruction that no mercies could melt them or allure them, no threatening's or judgments could in any way stop them! 

The prophet goes into a corner, he retires into the most secret places and there he weeps bitterly. There he weeps as if he were resolved to drown himself in his own tears. "I will weep in secret because of your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly, overflowing with tears!" (Jeremiah 13:17)  

In the times wherein we live, Hell seems to be broken loose, and men turned into incarnate devils! Soul-damning wickedness's walk up and down the streets with a whore's forehead, without the least check or restraint. Ah, England! England! What pride, luxury, debauchery, lewdness, drunkenness, cruelties, injustice, oppressions, fornications, adulteries, falsehoods, hypocrisies, atheisms, horrid blasphemies, and hellish impieties are now to be found rampant in the midst of you! Ah, England! England! 

How are the Scriptures rejected, God derided, and wickedness tolerated! And what is the voice of all these crying abominations, but every Christian to his closet! Every Christian to his closet, and there, weep with weeping Jeremiah, bitterly for all these great abominations whereby God is dishonored openly. Oh, weep in secret for their sins, who openly boast in their sins, which should be their greatest shame! Oh, blush in secret for those who are past all blushing for their sins. For who knows, but that the whole land may fare the better for the sakes of a few, who are mourners in secret! 

 [Thomas Brooks] 

Jeremiah 6:15 ... Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the Lord.

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Puritan Quotes 1

Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit which freely submits to and delights in God's wise and fatherly disposal in every condition. (Jeremiah Burroughs)

It is not the bee's touching of the flower that gathers honey, but her abiding for a time upon the flower that draws out the sweet. It is not he who reads most, but he who meditates most who will prove to be the choicest, sweetest, wisest and strongest Christian!  (Thomas Brooks)

Let us use worldly things as wise pilgrims do their staves and other things necessary for their journey. So long as they help us forward in our way let us make use of them, and accordingly esteem them. But if they become troublesome hindrances and cumbersome burdens let us leave them behind us or cast them away. The temptations of prosperity, like unseen bullets, wound and kill us before they are discerned! (George Downame)

The best course to prevent falling into the pit is to keep at the greatest distance from it. He who will be so bold as to attempt to dance upon the brink of the pit may find by woeful experience, that it is a righteous thing with God that he should fall into the pit! Sin is a plague, yes, the greatest and most infectious plague in the world; and yet, ah! how few are there who tremble at it, who keep at a distance from it! (Thomas Brooks)

Riches are long in getting with many pains, hard in keeping with much care, quick in losing with much sorrow. (Thomas Fuller)

Your life is short, your duties are many, your assistance is great, and your reward is sure! Therefore, faint not, hold on and hold up in the paths of godliness and Heaven shall make amends for all! (Thomas Brooks)

Where one thousand are destroyed by the world's frowns ten thousand are destroyed by the world's smiles. The world, siren-like, sings us and sinks us! (Thomas Brooks)

We fear men so much because we fear God so little. One fear cure another. When man's terror scares you turn your thoughts to the wrath of God! (William Gurnall)

When we grow careless in keeping our souls then God recovers our taste of good things again by sharp crosses. (Richard Sibbes)

How sweet is rest, after fatigue! How sweet will Heaven be, when our toilsome journey is ended. (George Whitefield)

The winter prepares the earth for the spring so do sanctified afflictions prepare the soul for glory! (Richard Sibbes)

As the wicked are hurt by the best things so the godly are bettered by the worst. (William Jenkyn)

Poverty and affliction take away the fuel that feeds pride! (Richard Sibbes)

To bless God for mercies is the way to increase them. To bless Him for miseries is the way to remove them. (William Dyer)

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Broke Her Heart All in Pieces

The more a man apprehends of the love of God, and of the love of Christ the more that person will grieve and mourn that he has offended, provoked, and grieved such a Father, and such a Son. The more clear and certain evidence a man has of the love and favor of God to his soul, the more that man will grieve and mourn for sinning against such a God. 

 There is nothing which thaws and melts the heart, which softens and breaks the heart like the warm beams of divine love as you may see in the case of Mary Magdalene. She loved much, and she wept much for much was forgiven her. A sight of the free grace and love of Christ towards her, in an act of forgiveness, broke her heart all in pieces. 

A man cannot stand under the shining of divine love with a frozen heart, nor with dry eyes. The more a man sees of the love of Christ, and the more a man tastes and enjoys of the love of Christ the more that man will grieve and mourn for all the dishonors that he has done to Christ. 

[Thomas Brooks] 

Luke 7:38 ...  And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.

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Not The Doll or The Rattle

Worldly portions can never satisfy the souls of men. Absalom's beauty could not satisfy him. Haman's honor could not satisfy him. Ahab's kingdom could not satisfy him. Balaam's gold could not satisfy him. Ahithophel's wisdom could not satisfy him. The pharisees' learning could not satisfy them.  Dives's riches could not satisfy him. 

All the world cannot fill the soul; nor can all the creatures in the world fill up the soul with complete satisfaction. Nothing can be the satisfaction of the soul but He who made it. All earthly portions are dissatisfying portions. They do but vex and fret, gall and grieve, tear and torment the souls of men. 

The world is a circle, and the heart of man is a triangle, and no triangle can fill a circle. Some good or other will be always lacking to that man who has only outward good to live upon. The soul can never be at rest, until it comes to rest and center in God. God Himself is the soul's only home. No good but the chief Good, can suffice an immortal soul.

It is the breast and not the doll nor the rattle which will satisfy the hungry babe. And it is God, and not this or that creature which will satisfy the soul of man. 

[Thomas Brooks] 

Ecclesiastes 5:10 ... He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.

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The Diamond in That Ring!

The whole of Scripture is but one entire love-letter, all written in golden letters, dispatched from the Lord Christ to His beloved spouse on earth. In it, there is so much to be read of the love of Christ, the heart of Christ, the kindness of Christ, the grace of Christ, and the glory of Christ, that a holy heart cannot but love, and embrace, and endeavor to conform to every line. 

The whole Word of God is a field and Christ is the treasure which is hidden in that field! The whole Word of God is a ring of gold and Christ is the diamond in that ring! 

[Thomas Brooks] 

John 5:39 ... Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

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Biblical Knowledge ...

Reader, remember this: 

If your biblical knowledge does not now affect your heart, it will at last, with a witness, afflict your heart. 

If it does not now endear Christ to you, it will at last provoke Christ the more against you. 

If it does not make all the things of Christ to be very precious in your eyes, it will at last make you vile in Christ's eyes. 

[Thomas Brooks]

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James 4:4 ... Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

Romans 13:14 ...  But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

Matthew 6:24 ... No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. ❤

When Adam Fell...

Adam's first estate was a state of perfect knowledge, wisdom and understanding. It was a perfect state of holiness, righteousness and happiness. There was nothing within him, but what was desirable and delectable; there was nothing without him, but what was amiable and commendable; nor was there anything around him, but what was serviceable and comfortable.  Adam, in his innocent estate, was the epitome of wisdom and knowledge, the image of God, the delight of heaven, the glory of the creation, the world's great master, the Lord's great darling. 

But when Adam fell, we fell. When he lost all, we lost all. 

There are five things we lost in our fall: 

1. Our holy image and so became vile. 

2. Our divine sonship and so became children of Satan. 

3. Our friendship with God and so became His enemies. 

4. Our communion with God and so became strangers.

5. Our happiness and so became miserable. Sin and death came into the world by Adam's fall. 

[Thomas Brooks] 

Romans 5:17 ... For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)

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All The Sins of The Saints!

All the afflictions, and all the temptations, and all the oppressions, and all the oppositions, and all the persecutions which befall a godly man, shall work for his good. Every cross, and every loss, and every disease which befall the holy man, shall work for his good. Every device of Satan, every snare of Satan, every deceit of Satan, every stratagem of Satan, and every enterprise of Satan against the holy man, shall work for his good. They shall all help to make him more humble, more holy, more heavenly, more spiritual, more faithful, more fruitful, more watchful.  Every prosperity and every adversity, every storm and every calm, every bitter and every sweet, every cross and every comfort, shall work for the holy man's good. 

When God gives a mercy that shall work for his good. When God takes away a mercy that shall work for his good. Yes, even all the falls and all the sins of the saints shall work for their good! Oh, the care, the fear, the watchfulness, the tenderness, the zeal which God raises in the souls of His saints by their very falls! Oh, the hatred, the indignation, and the detestation which God raises in the hearts of His children against sin by their very falling into sin! 

Oh, what love to Christ, what thankfulness for Christ, what admiration of Christ, what cleaving to Christ, what exalting of Christ, what drawings from Christ's grace are saints led to, by their very falls!  It is the glory of God's holiness, that He can turn spiritual diseases into holy remedies! He can turn soul poisons into heavenly cordials! He can prevent sin by sin and cure falling by falling! 

O Christian! What though friends and relations frown upon you, what though enemies are plotting and conspiring against you, what though needs, like armed men, are breaking in upon you, what though men rage, and devils roar against you, what though sickness is devastating your family, what though death stands every day at your elbow yet there is no reason for you to fear nor faint, because all these things shall work for your good! Yes, there is wonderful cause of joy and rejoicing in all the afflictions and tribulations which come upon you considering that they shall all work for your good. 

[Thomas Brooks] 

Romans 8:28 ...  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.❤

Biblical Knowledge.

Reader, remember this: if your biblical knowledge does not now affect your heart, it will at last, with a witness, afflict your heart. If it does not now endear Christ to you, it will at last provoke Christ the more against you. If it does not make all the things of Christ to be very precious in your eyes, it will at last make you the viler in Christ's eyes. 

[Thomas Brooks]

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Luke 9:26 ... For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels.

Matthew 10:33 ...  But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

1 John 2:23 ... Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also. ❤