THOMAS BROOKS

God hears no more than the heart speaks; and if the heart be dumb, God will certainly be deaf.

Much faith will yield unto us here our heaven, but any faith, if true, will yield us heaven hereafter.

The best way to do ourselves good is to be doing good to others; the best way to gather is to scatter.

Afflictions are but as a dark entry into our Father's house.

A man's most glorious actions will at last be found to be but glorious sins, if he hath made himself, and not the glory of God, the end of those actions.

He that hath deserved hanging may be glad to escape with a whipping.

For great is truth, and shall prevail.

Truth is mighty and will prevail.

Every man obeys Christ as he prizes Christ, and no otherwise.

Cold prayers shall never have any warm answers.

The sovereignty of God is that golden sceptre in his hand by which he will make all bow, either by his word or by his works, by his mercies or by his judgements.

Those sins that seem most sweet in life, will prove most bitter in death

Humility makes a man richer than other men, and it makes a man judge himself the poorest among men.

The purpose of God is the sovereign cause of all that good that is in man, and of all that external, internal and eternal good that comes to man. Not works past, for men are chosen from everlasting; not works present, for Jacob was loved and chosen before he was born; nor works foreseen, for men were all corrupt in Adam. All a believer's present happiness, and all his future happiness springs from the eternal purpose of God.

There is great danger, yea many times most danger, in the smallest sins... Greater sins do sooner startle the soul, and awaken and rouse up the soul to repentance, than lesser sins do. Little sins often slide into the soul, and breed, and work secretly and undiscernibly in the soul, till they come to be so strong, as to trample upon the soul and to cut the throat of the soul.

Satan promises the best, but pays with the worst; he promises honor, and pays with disgrace; he promises pleasure, and pays with pain; he promises profit, and pays with loss, he promises life, and pays with death. But God pays as he promises; all his payments are made in pure gold.

Ah! sinner, remember this, there is no way on earth effectually to be rid of the guilt, filth, and power of sin, but by believing in a Saviour. It is not resolving, it is not complaining, it is not mourning, but believing, that will make thee divinely victorious over that body of sin that to this day is too strong for thee, and that will certainly be thy ruin, if it be not ruined by a hand of faith.

How many threadbare souls are to be found under silken cloaks and gowns!

God looks not at the oratory of your prayers, how elegant they may be; nor at the geometry of your prayers, how long they may be; nor at the arithmetic of your prayers, how many they may be; not at logic of your prayers, how methodical they may be; but the sincerity of them he looks at.

Sin in a wicked man is like poison in a serpent; it is in its natural place.

There is no such way to attain to greater measures of grace, as for a man to live up to that little grace he has.

An humble soul looks upon Christ's righteousness as his only crown.

Humility can weep over other men's weaknesses, and joy and rejoice over their graces.

Christ dwells in that heart most eminently that hath emptied itself of itself.

Satan often paints sin with virtue's colors.