Thomas Brooks

The choicest, sweetest, wisest, 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.

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.

It is not he who reads most, but he who meditates
most—who will prove to be the choicest,
sweetest, wisest, and strongest Christian.

The golden link of love!

It was the golden link of love that
fastened Christ to the cross!

Certainly the more Christ has suffered for us,
the more dear Christ should be unto us. The
more bitter His sufferings have been for us,
the more sweet His love should be to us, and
the more eminent should be our love to Him.
Oh, let a suffering Christ lie nearest your hearts;
let Him be your manna, your tree of life, your
morning star. It is better to part with all than
with this pearl of great price.

Christ is that golden pipe through
which the golden oil of salvation runs.

The highest, choicest, safest and sweetest life

Everything that a man leans upon but God—will be
a dart which will certainly pierce his heart through
and through. He who leans only upon Christ—lives
the highest, choicest, safest and sweetest life.

God eyes them

Though our private desires are ever so confused, though our
private requests are ever so broken, and though our private
groanings are ever so hidden from men, yet God eyes them,
records them, and puts them upon the file of heaven, and will
one day crown them with glorious answers and returns.

There are three things which
earthly riches can never do:
they can never satisfy divine justice,
they can never pacify divine wrath,
nor can they ever quiet a guilty conscience.
And until these things are done—man is undone!

The gate of heaven!

The best and sweetest flowers of Paradise God gives
to His people when they are upon their knees.

Prayer is the gate of heaven, a key to let us into
Paradise. God hears no more than the heart speaks;
and if the heart be dumb—God will certainly be deaf.

Crocodile sinners

The unbeliever never leaves his sin till sin first leaves him.
Did not death put a stop to his sin—he would never
cease from sin.

This may be illustrated by a similitude thus—
a company of gamesters resolve to play all night; their candle,
accidentally or unexpectedly, goes out, or is put out, or burns out.
Their candle being out, they are forced to give over their game,
and go to bed in the dark. But had the candle lasted all night,
they would have played all night.

This is every sinner's case in regard of sin—did not death
put out the candle of life, the sinner would sin still.

Should the sinner live forever, he would sin forever;
and, therefore, it is a righteous thing with God to
punish him forever in hellish torments.

Every impenitent sinner would sin to the days of eternity,
if he might live to the days of eternity.

I have read of the crocodile, that he knows no maximum size,
he is always growing bigger and bigger, and never comes to a
certain pitch of monstrosity so long as he lives.

Likewise, every habituated sinner would, if he were let alone,
be a monster, perpetually growing worse and worse.

A tender heart, a soft hand, an iron memory

("Words of counsel to a dear dying friend")

Look upon your dying day as your reaping day.
Now you shall reap the fruit of . . .
all the prayers that you have ever made, and
of all the tears that you have ever shed, and
of all the sighs and groans that you have ever fetched, and
of all the good words that you have ever spoken, and
of all the good works that you have ever done, and
of all the great things that you have ever suffered.

When mortality shall put on immortality, you shall
then reap a plentiful crop, a glorious crop, as the
fruit of that good seed, which for a time, has seemed
to be buried and lost.

As Christ has a tender heart and a soft hand, so He
has an iron memory. He precisely remembers . . .
all the sorrows, and
all the services, and
all the sufferings of His people,
to reward them and crown them.

"Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with Me,
and I will give to everyone according to what he
has done." Revelation 22:12

However harsh His hand may be

("A Heavenly Cordial" 1665)

None of God's afflictions upon His people ever make
any change or alteration of God's affections towards
His people.

However harsh His hand may be against them—
yet His love, His heart, His favor, His affections—are
still one and the same to them.

When Munster lay sick, and his friends asked him how
he felt? He pointed to his sores and ulcers, whereof he
was full, and said, "These are God's gems and jewels
with which he decks His best friends; and to me they
are more precious than all the gold and silver in the
world!"

God's dear love to His people is not founded upon
anything good in His people, nor upon anything good
which is done by His people—but only upon His own
free grace and goodness!

What could move the holy God to love us, who are poor,
worthless, fruitless sinners? This question is best resolved
in these words, "He loves us because He loves us!" The root
of His love to us lies in Himself! God's love to His people is
a lasting love, yes, an everlasting love! It is a love which
never decays nor waxes cold. "I have loved you with an
everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness."
Jeremiah 31:3

Death is a change of company

("A Believer's Last Day, His Best Day")

A believer's last day is his best day! Death is a change
of company. In this world, the godliest man must live
with the wicked, and converse with the wicked, etc.;
and this is a part of their misery; it is their hell on this
side heaven. This stuck upon the heart of David: "Woe
to me that I dwell in Meshech, that I live among the
tents of Kedar!" Psalm 120:5

I have read of a godly woman, who, being near death,
cried out, "O Lord, let me not go to hell where the wicked
are, for You know that I never loved their company while
in this life!"

"Oh, that I had in the desert a lodging place for travelers,
so that I might leave my people and go away from them;
for they are all adulterers, a crowd of unfaithful people!"
Jeremiah 9:2

And this was that which did vex and tear Lot's righteous
soul—"Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the
filthy lives of lawless men (for that righteous man, living
among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous
soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard." 2 Peter 2:7-8

Oh, but death is a change of company. A godly man does
but change the company of profane people, of vile people,
etc.—for the company of angels; and the company of weak
Christians—for the company of just men made perfect.

"Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does
what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names
are written in the Lamb's book of life." Revelation 21:27

"Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the
sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone
who loves and practices falsehood." Revelation 22:15

Death is a change of enjoyments

("A Believer's Last Day, His Best Day")

A believer's last day is his best day! Death is a change
of enjoyments. Death is a change of our more dark and
obscure enjoyment of God—for a more clear and sweet
enjoyment of God. The best believer in this world, who
enjoys most of God, and the visions of His glory—still he
does not enjoy God clearly; but he is much in the dark.

We are weak, and able to take in little of God. We have
but dark apprehensions of God. Witness our tears, sighs,
groans, and complaints, because we go forward and
backward. God hides Himself that we cannot see Him.

Ask those who live highest in the enjoyment of God,
"What is your greatest burden?" They will tell you,
"This is our greatest burden, that our apprehensions
of God are no more clear, that we cannot see Him
whom our souls do dearly love, face to face."

Oh—but now in heaven saints shall have a clear vision
of God! There are no clouds or mists in heaven!

Death is a change of our imperfect and incomplete
enjoyments of God, for a more complete and perfect
enjoyment of Him. It is an excellent expression that
Augustine has: "The glorious things of heaven are . . .
so many—that they exceed number;
so precious—that they exceed estimation;
so great—that they exceed measure!"

Bernard says, "For Christ to be with Paul was the
greatest security—but for Paul to be with Christ
was the chief happiness!"

There are no complaints in heaven, because there are
no needs. Oh, when death shall give the fatal stroke,
there shall be an exchange . . .
of earth—for heaven;
of imperfect enjoyments—for perfect enjoyments of God!
Then the soul shall be swallowed up with a full enjoyment
of God; no corner of the soul shall be left empty—but all
shall be filled up with the fullness of God.

Here in this present world, the saints receive grace;
but in heaven they shall receive glory. God keeps the
best wine until last; the best of God, Christ, and heaven
—is beyond this present world. Here we have but some
sips, some tastes of God; the fullness is reserved for the
glorious state. He who sees most of God here on earth,
sees but His back parts; His face is a jewel of that splendor
and glory, which no eye can behold but a glorified eye.

The best of Christians are able to take in but little of God;
their hearts are like the widow's vessel, which could receive
but a little oil. Sin, the world, and creatures take up so
much room in the best hearts—that God gives out Himself
little by little, as parents give sweets to their children. But
in heaven God will communicate Himself fully at once to
the soul! Grace shall then be swallowed up in glory!

Death is a change of a more inconstant and transient
enjoyment of God—for a more constant and permanent
enjoyment of God. Here on earth, the saints' enjoyment
of God is inconstant. One day they enjoy God, and another
day the soul sits and complains in anguish of spirit. But in
heaven there shall no clouds arise between the Lord and
a believing heart. God will not one day smile, and another
day frown; one day take a soul in His arms, and another
day lay that soul at His feet. In heaven there are nothing
but kisses and embraces, nothing but a perpetual enjoyment
of God! When once God takes the soul unto Himself, all tears
shall then be wiped away.

There are angels and archangels in heaven. Yes, but they do
not make heaven; Christ is the most sparkling diamond
in the ring of glory! It is heaven and happiness enough to
see Christ, and to be forever with Christ.

Now, oh what a glorious change is this! Methinks these
things should make us long for our dying-day, and account
this present life but a lingering death. "And so we will be
with the Lord forever! Therefore encourage each other
with these words." 1 Thessalonians 4:17-18

Death brings the soul to a state of eternal rest

("A Believer's Last Day, His Best Day")

Revelation 14:13, "Blessed are the dead who die in
the Lord." Why? "They will rest from their labor."

A believer's last day is his best day! Death brings
the soul to a state of eternal rest. Death is . . .
a rest from the trouble of our labors,
a rest from afflictions,
a rest from persecutions,
a rest from temptation,
a rest from sin, and
a rest from sorrow.

Now while we are here in this present world, the soul
is in a perpetual agitation. The godliest man in the world,
who is highest and clearest in his enjoyments of God—
either lacks some temporal mercy or spiritual mercy—and
will do so until his soul is swallowed up in the everlasting
enjoyments of God!

Death brings a man to an unchangeable rest!

Death is a believer's coronation-day, it is his
marriage-day. Death is an eternal rest . . .
from sin,
from sorrow,
from afflictions,
from temptations.

Death to a believer is an entrance into
paradise—into the joy of his Lord.

A believer's dying-day is his best day. The day
of his death, is better than the day of his birth.

Death puts an end to all changes

("A Believer's Last Day, His Best Day")

A believer's last day is his best day! Death puts
an end to all changes. What is the whole life of
a man—but a life of changes?

Here on earth, you often change . . .
your joy for sorrow,
your health for sickness,
your strength for weakness,
your honor for dishonor,
your plenty for poverty,
your beauty for deformity,
your friends for foes,
your silver for brass,
your gold for copper.

All temporal things are transitory. Man himself—
what is he—but a mere nothing—the dream of
a dream, a shadow, a bubble, a flash, a puff!

Now the comforts of a man are smiling
—but the next hour they are dying.

Now the Lord smiles upon the soul—and
at another time He frowns upon the soul.

Now God gives assistance to conquer sin—but
before long the man is carried captive by his sin.

Now he is strengthened against the temptation,
in a short while he falls before the temptation, etc.

But death puts an end to all changes. Now the
soul shall be tempted no more, sin no more, be
foiled no more. Now you may judge by this,
that a Christian's dying-day is his best day.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

That dead man or dead woman

("A Believer's Last Day, His Best Day")

"When calamity comes, the wicked are brought down, but
even in death the righteous have a refuge!" Prov. 14:32

We should lament over that dead man or dead woman . . .
whom hell harbors,
whom the devil devours,
whom divine justice torments!

But let rejoice over those departed believers whom
Christ embosoms, and whom all the court of heaven
comes forth to welcome!

"Let me die the death of the righteous, and
may my end be like theirs!" Numbers 23:10

"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death
of His saints!" Psalm 116:15

Do not fear death

("A Believer's Last Day, His Best Day")

Death is not such as some would paint it.

Never mourn immoderately at the death of any believer.
Death is not the death of the man—but the death of his
sin. Death is to them the greatest gain.

Remember this—death does that in a moment, which no
graces or duties could do for a man all his lifetime! Death
frees a man from those diseases, corruptions, temptations,
etc., which no duties or graces could do.

Do not fear death. Do not say of death, what that wicked
prince said to the prophet, "Have you found me, O my enemy?"
But rather long for death, not to be rid of troubles—but that your
soul may be taken up to a more clear and full enjoyment of God.

In life, we often find . . .
our comforts to be rare,
our crosses to be frequent,
our pleasures to be momentary,
our pains to be permanent.
Believers, your dying-day is your best
day. Oh, then, be not afraid of death!

The Lord Jesus has, as it were, disarmed death, and
triumphed over death. He has taken away its sting, so
that it cannot sting us! We may play with it, and put
it into our bosoms, as we may a snake whose sting is
pulled out. Paul, upon this consideration, challenges
death, and out-braves death, and bids death do his
worst, "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death,
is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of
sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. 15:55-57

Apt to hang and rest upon creature props

("A Believer's Last Day, His Best Day")

God sometimes strips His people of their dearest mercies, that
He may win them to a more complete and full dependence upon
His blessed self. Man is a creature apt to hang and rest upon
creature props. "Look to my right and see;" says the psalmist,
"no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for
my life." Psalm 142:4. Well, what does he do, now that all props
fail him? Why, now he sweetly leans upon God—"I cry to You, O
Lord; I say—You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the
living." verse 5. Men will hold upon one prop, and if God cuts off
that—then they will catch hold on another, etc., until God cuts
off all their props—and then they will come and rest and center
in God, and say, "All my fountains are in You!" Psalm 87:7

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

God takes away the creature

("A Believer's Last Day, His Best Day")

Diogenes noted the folly of the men of his time—that
they undervalued the best things—but overvalued the
worst things. Ah, that this were not the sin and shame
of professors in these days!

God sometimes strips His people of their nearest and
dearest outward mercies—that they may the more prize,
and the better taste—of spiritual and heavenly mercies.

God takes away uncertain riches—that His
people may the more prize certain riches!

God takes away natural strength—that His
people may the more prize spiritual strength!

God takes away the creature—that His
people may more prize their Savior.

Spiritual and heavenly things can alone satisfy
the soul. The language of a godly man is this,
"Ah, Lord! the good things which I have from
You, though they may refresh me—yet they
cannot satisfy me without Yourself!"

"Whom have I in heaven but You? And earth
has nothing I desire besides You. My flesh and
my heart may fail, but God is the strength of
my heart and my portion forever!" Ps. 73:25-26

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Christians or heathens?

("Hypocrites Detected, Anatomized, Impeached,
Arraigned and Condemned" 1650)

Many pretend to be Christians—and yet live like heathens.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Misery here—and hell hereafter

("Hypocrites Detected, Anatomized, Impeached,
Arraigned and Condemned" 1650)

"Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your
earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust,
evil desires and greed, which is idolatry." Col. 3:5.

You must be the death of your sins—or they will be
the death of your souls.

Sin is a viper, which always kills where it is not killed.
There is nothing gained by making peace with sin—but
misery here—and hell hereafter. Every yielding to
sin is a welcoming of Satan into our very bosoms!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A jewel of more worth than a world

("Hypocrites Detected, Anatomized, Impeached,
Arraigned and Condemned" 1650)

Time is a jewel more of worth than a world. Time is not
yours to dispose of as you please; it is a glorious talent
which men must be accountable for, as well as any other
talent. Of all talents, time is the hardest to use well.

Ah, beloved, have not you need to improve your
time, who have much work to do in a short time:
your souls to save,
a God to honor,
a Christ to exalt,
a hell to escape,
a race to run,
a crown to win,
temptations to withstand,
corruptions to conquer,
afflictions to bear,
mercies to improve, and
your generation to serve.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Optimum maximum

("Hypocrites Detected, Anatomized, Impeached,
Arraigned and Condemned" 1650)

God is optimum maximum—the best, and the greatest.

God is . . .
all ear to hear,
all hand to punish,
all power to protect,
all wisdom to direct,
all goodness to relieve,
all grace to pardon,
the horn of plenty,
the ocean of beauty,
without the least spot of injustice!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A jewel worth more than heaven!

("Hypocrites Detected, Anatomized, Impeached,
Arraigned and Condemned" 1650)

"Above all else, guard your heart!" Proverbs 4:23

Oh guard your eyes—that they behold no vanity!

Watch your hands—that they touch not the golden wedge!

But, above all, guard your souls! The soul is a jewel
worth more than heaven! Oh guard it! If that is lost
—all is lost. If that is lost—you are eternally lost! Of all
losses—the loss of the soul is the most incomparable,
irreparable, and irrecoverable loss!

It is the greatest folly in the world, to lose your soul.
"What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole
world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give
in exchange for his soul?" Matthew 16:26

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soberly, righteously, and godly

("Touchstone of Sincerity")

"Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly
lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and
godly, in this present world." Titus 2:12

These words contain the sum of a Christian's duty.
To live soberly toward ourselves, righteously
toward our neighbors, and godly toward God—is
true godliness indeed, and the whole duty of man.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

True hatred of sin

("Touchstone of Sincerity")

To hate sin is not merely to refrain from sin, for
so Balaam did. To hate sin is not merely to confess
sin, for so Pharaoh and Judas did. To hate sin is not
merely to be afraid to sin, for this may be where
there is no hatred of sin. To hate sin is not merely
to mourn because of the dreadful effects and fruits
that sin may produce, for so Ahab did, and the
Ninevites did, etc. He who fears sin for hell, fears
not to sin—but to burn. He hates sin indeed—who
hates sin as hell itself. It was a saying of one of the
ancients, that if hell and sin were before him, he
would rather fall into hell than fall into sin. Here
was a true hatred of sin indeed.

A hypocrite may be troubled for sin, as it blots his
reputation, and wounds his conscience, and brings
a scourge, and destroys his soul, and shuts him out
of heaven, and throws him to hell! But he is never
troubled for sin, he never mourns for sin, he never
hates sin because it is contrary to the nature of
God, the being of God, the law of God, the glory
of God, the design of God; or because of the evil
which is in the nature of sin, or because of the
defiling and polluting power of sin.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The hypocrite's bane

("Touchstone of Sincerity")

"The Pharisee took his stand and was praying like this:
God, I thank You that I’m not like other people—greedy,
unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I
fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get."
Luke 18:11-12

A hypocrite . . .
may know much,
and pray much,
and hear much,
and fast much,
and give much,
and obey much
—and all to no purpose, because he never does
anything in a right manner; he never carries on
his work from inward principles of faith, fervency,
love, delight, etc.

The scribes and pharisees fasted, prayed and gave
alms—but their hearts were not changed, renewed,
nor sanctified—and this proved their eternal bane.

A hypocrite never performs religious duties from
spiritual principles, nor in a spiritual manner. A
hypocrite is never inclined, moved, and carried
to God, to Christ, to holy duties—by the power
of a new and inward principle of grace working
a suitableness between his heart and the things
of God. A hypocrite rests satisfied in the
mere external acts of religion, though he
never feels anything of the power of religion
in his own soul. A hypocrite looks to his words
in prayer, and to his voice in prayer, and to his
gestures in prayer—but he never looks to the
frame of his heart in prayer. A hypocrite's heart
is never touched with the words his tongue utters;
a hypocrite's soul is never divinely affected, delighted,
or graciously warmed with any duty he performs.

A hypocrite's spiritual performances never flow from
spiritual principles, nor from a sanctified heart. Though
his works may be new, yet his heart remains old; his
new practices always spring from old principles; and
this will prove the hypocrite's bane, as you may see
in Isaiah 1:15, "When you make many prayers, I will
not hear, for your hands are full of blood." These were
unsanctified ones; their practices were new—but their
hearts were old still.

A hypocrite has no . . .
inward,
saving,
transforming,
experimental,
affectionate,
practical
knowledge of God.

A sincere Christian is enamored with Christ above all.
He cannot be satisfied nor contented with duties or
ordinances, without enjoying Christ in them, who is the
life, soul, and substance of them. But when hypocrites
do duties—all they do is from common principles, from
natural principles, and from an unsanctified heart—and
that mars all. Hypocrites make a great profession and
are much in the outward actions of religion; they make
a very fair show, they hear, they read, they pray, they
fast, they sing psalms, and they give alms; but these
duties being not performed from a principle of divine
love, nor from a principle of spiritual life, nor from a
sanctified frame of heart—are all lost, and the authors
of them are undone forever and ever. "If anyone does
not love the Lord, that person is cursed!" 1 Cor. 16:22

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This great doctor was so great a dunce

("Touchstone of Sincerity")

Nicodemus was a man of great note, name, and fame
among the pharisees, and he fasted, and prayed, and
gave alms, and paid tithes, etc., and yet was a total
stranger to the new birth. Regeneration was a paradox
to him. "How can a man be born when he is old? Can
he enter the second time into his mother's womb and
be born?" This great doctor was so great a dunce,
that he understood no more of the doctrine of regeneration,
than a mere child does the highest precepts of astronomy!

As water can rise no higher than the spring from whence
it came, so the natural man can rise no higher than nature.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

If you would live gloriously

("The Glorious Day of the Saints Appearance")

Professors look far too much upon the tempting world,
when she smiles and holds forth her beautiful breasts!
If you would live gloriously, look away from the
tempting world: it is a plague and a snare! Look away
from it—whether it smiles or whether it frowns.

Remember you have a God to look at, a Christ to look
at, and an unfading crown of glory to look at; which is
better than all—which is more than all other things to
your souls.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The true Christian hates all sin

("The Glorious Day of the Saints Appearance")

"I hate every wrong path." Psalm 119:104

The original word signifies to hate with a deadly and
irreconcilable hatred; to hate so as that nothing will
satisfy but the destruction of the thing hated.

The true Christian hates all sin. All sin strikes at God,
at His holiness, as well as at an upright man's happiness.
All sin strikes at God's glory, as well as at the soul's comfort;
therefore the soul strikes at all sin. All sins, in the eye of an
upright heart, are traitors to the crown and dignity of the
Lord Jesus; therefore the soul rises in arms against all. An
upright heart looks upon sin to be a universal evil. An upright
heart looks upon sin as that which has thrown down:
the most righteous man in the world, as Noah;
the best believer in the world, as Abraham;
the best king in the world, as David;
the best apostle in the world, as Paul;
the strongest man in the world, as Samson;
the wisest man in the world, as Solomon;
the meekest man in the world, as Moses;
the patientest man in the world, as Job;
and so his soul rises against it.

An upright heart hates all sins, even those he cannot
conquer. An unsound heart, a rotten heart, strikes at
some sins—and yet loves and retains other sins.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

They run on another's legs

("The Glorious Day of the Saints Appearance")

"I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean;
I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all
your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new
spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone
and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit in
you and move you to follow My decrees and be careful
to keep My laws." Ezekiel 36:25-27

The principal reason why Christians persevere in the ways
of God against all discouragements, is because they are
preserved in the ways of God—from spiritual principles,
from a principle of inward life and spiritual power. It is
true, if Christians only persevered from fleshly, carnal,
and external causes—they would soon wheel about, and
turn apostates, and be base, and what not. But they
persevere in the ways of God, from inward principles,
as in Jeremiah 32:40, "I will put My fear in their hearts
—and they shall never depart from Me." Christians
persevere by an inward principle of fear, faith, and love.

Isaiah 40:31, "Those who wait on the Lord shall renew
their strength like the eagle; they shall run and not be
weary," because they run on another's legs—namely,
the Lord Christ's; "and they shall walk and not faint,"
because they walk in the strength of Christ.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A sweet interpretation

("The Glorious Day of the Saints Appearance")

Love will enable the soul to persevere in the ways of
godliness against all discouragements, by putting a
blessed interpretation, and a heavenly construction
upon all the afflictions, sorrows, and discouragements
which an upright heart can meet with in the ways of
God. All the afflictions and discouragements which
upright hearts meet with, love will thus interpret and
expound: "Oh! all these afflictions are but means that
God will use to rub off my dross and filth, to convey
more of Himself! They are all my friends, and shall
work for my good! All these cursings, God will turn
to blessings," says Love. "All these afflictions which
befall me, are but out of some noble designs that God
has to reveal more of Himself and of His glory to me.
It is but that He may empty me more of myself and
of the creature, so that he may communicate more
of His own sweetness and fullness to my soul," says
Love. "I know, though for the present it is bitter—
yet," says Love, "it will be sweet in the end. I know
the way to the crown is by the cross, and I know all
those afflictions shall lead me to more heavenly
enjoyments of God!" Love thus puts a sweet
interpretation on all the afflictions which befall
the soul.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Too big for troubles and afflictions

("The Glorious Day of the Saints Appearance")

One way by which faith enables the soul to persevere against
all discouragements, is by raising the soul to converse with
soul-greatening objects, such as God and Christ, and those
treasures, pleasures, and sweetnesses which are in the Lord
Jesus Christ.

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are
wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by
day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving
for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we
fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.
For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is
eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

There is nothing which so enables the soul, and which so
divinely greatens the soul and makes it too large, too wide,
and too big for troubles and afflictions to discourage—
than faith's conversing with those high and glorious eternal
realities.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Those treasures are mine!

("God's Delight in the Progress of the Upright")

Faith enables us to walk in the ways of God, against
all the discouragements which may befall us. Faith
looks on God, and says with the psalmist, "This God
is my God forever and ever! He shall be my guide unto
death!" Faith looks on Christ, and says with Thomas,
"My Lord and my God!" Faith looks on the promises,
and says, "These precious promises are mine!" Faith
casts an eye upon the crown of righteousness, and
says with Paul, "Henceforth is laid up for me a crown
of righteousness!" It looks upon all treasures, pleasures,
and sweetnesses which are in Christ, and which are by
Christ prepared for the soul, and says faith, "Those
treasures are mine! Those pleasures are mine!
All that sweetness which is in Christ, is mine!"

Thus faith enables the soul to persevere against
all discouragements which it meets with.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The sweetener

("Hypocrites Detected, Anatomized, Impeached,
Arraigned and Condemned" 1650)

Communion with God is . . .
the life of all your graces;
the sweetener of all providences and mercies;
the strengthener of your hearts and hands;
the soul of your comforts;
the crown of your souls.

Nothing can compare with communion with God—
to fence you against temptations,
to sweeten all afflictions, and
to make you own God, and stand for God,
and cleave to God—in the face of all troubles
and oppositions. Communion with God makes
bitter things—sweet, and massive things—light.

A man high in communion with God, is a man too big
for temptations to conquer—or troubles to subdue!
Those who have but little communion with God—are
usually as soon conquered as tempted—as soon
vanquished as assaulted.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

An inlet to three dreadful things

("A Heavenly Cordial" 1665)

Death is dreadful to the unbelieving sinner, for it
puts an everlasting end to all his temporal . . .
mercies,
comforts,
contentments,
and enjoyments.

Death will put an everlasting end to all his pleasures
of sin. Now the sinner shall never more have one
merry day. In hell there is . . .
no singing—but howling;
no music—but madness;
no sporting—but sighing;
no dancing—but wringing of hands
and gnashing of teeth for evermore!

In a word, now the sinner shall find by woeful
experience that death will be an inlet to three
dreadful things:
1. To judgment, Heb. 9:27;
2. To an irreversible sentence of condemnation, Mat. 25:41;
3. To endless, ceaseless, and remediless sufferings.