Are We Mad Now to Pursue After Holiness? (Part 5)

Thomas Brooks (1606-1680)[1}

“Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” — Hebrews 12:14

Objection: Some may object, and say, We see that no persons on earth are exposed to such troubles, dangers, afflictions, and persecutions, as those are exposed to who mind holiness, who follow after holiness. These are days wherein men labor to frown holiness out of the world, and to scorn and kick holiness out of the world; and do you think that we are mad now to pursue after holiness? Now to this great and sore objection, I shall give these following answers

We’ve seen three of those answers to this point:

1. First, It must be granted that afflictions and persecutions has been the common lot and portion of the people of God in this world.
2. Secondly, Christ and his apostles hath long since foretold us that afflictions and persecutions will attend us in this world.
3. Thirdly, I answer, That all the troubles, afflictions, and persecutions that do befall you for holiness' sake, shall never hurt you nor harm you, they shall never prejudice you, nor wrong you in your main and great concernments:

4. Fourthly, I answer, That the condition of persecutors, of all conditions under heaven, is the most sad and deplorable condition; and this will appear by the consideration of these five things:

• [A.] First, By the prayers and indictments that the saints have preferred against them in the highest court of justice, I mean in the parliament of heaven:
• [B] Secondly, Persecutions do but raise, whet, and stir up a more earnest and vehement spirit of prayer among the persecuted saints:

Moving on we see the third of these five points:

Thirdly, It will appear that the condition of persecutors is the most sad and deplorable condition of all conditions under heaven, if you will but seriously consider and lay to heart the sore judgments that are threatened, and that have been executed upon them: Deuteronomy 30:7,

“And the Lord thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them which hate thee, which persecuted thee;”

Nehemiah 9:9-11,

“And didst see the afflictions of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red Sea: and shewed signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on the people of his land; for thou knewest that they dealt proudly against them. So didst thou get thee a name, as it is this day. And thou didst divide the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; and their persecutors thou threwest into the deeps, as a stone into the mighty waters.”

Pharaoh and his princes and people were very great oppressors and persecutors of God's Israel, and therefore God visited them with ten dreadful plagues, one after another; but when, after all these plagues, God saw that their enmity against his people was as great, or rather greater than ever, and that they were still set upon persecuting of his people, then God takes up Pharaoh and his mighty host, and throws them as a stone into the mighty waters, (Exo 15:10).

God whets before he strikes, he bends his bow before he shoots, he prepares instruments of death before he brings men down to the grave, his hand takes hold on judgment before his judgments take hold of men; but if all these warnings will not serve their turns, God will overturn them with a witness. “He ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors,” or as the Hebrew has it, “against the hot burning persecutors.” God hath his hot burning arrows for hot burning persecutors. Let persecutors be never so hot against the saints, God will be as hot against them; and let them be never so much inflamed against the people of God, God will be as much inflamed against them.

When malicious and mischievous persecutors have done all they can to vex and fret, to daunt and affright, to dismay and discourage the people of God, then God will terrify the most terrible among them, and “they shall not prevail nor prosper, yea, they shall stumble and fall, they shall be ashamed and confounded.” When the time is expired that God has pre fixed for his people's sufferings, then God will retaliate upon their persecutors, then they that spoiled his people shall be spoiled, and they that dealt perfidiously[1] and treacherously with them, shall be dealt perfidiously and treacherously withal: 2 Thessalonians 1:6, “Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you.” It is but justice that God should trouble those that are the troublers of his people.

And God has even in this life been a swift witness against the persecutors of his people. Cain was a persecutor, and his brother's blood pursued him to hell; Pharaoh was a great oppressor and persecutor of his people, and God followed him with plague upon plague, and judgment upon judgment, till he had overthrown him in the Red Sea; Saul was a persecutor, and falls by his own sword; Haman was a great persecutor of the saints, and he was feasted with the king one day, and made a feast for crows the next; Pashur was a great persecutor, he smote the prophet Jeremiah, and put him in the stocks, and God threatened to make him a Magor-missabib, a terror to himself and to all his friends, Jeremiah 20:1-3; Zedekiah was a persecutor, he smote the prophet Micaiah on the cheek for dealing plainly and faithfully with the kings, and in the day of trouble and distress he goes from chamber to chamber to hide himself (1Ki 22); Jezebel was a great persecutor, she slew the prophets of God, and she was thrown out of a window, and eaten up of dogs, (1Ki 18:4-13; 2Ki 9:30); Herod the Great, who caused the babes of Bethlehem to be slain, hoping thereby to destroy Christ, shortly after was plagued by God with an incurable disease, having a slow and slack fire continually tormenting his inward parts; he had a vehement and greedy desire to eat, and yet nothing would satisfy him; his inward bowels rotted, his breath was short and stinking, some of his members rotted, and in all his members he had so violent a cramp that nature was not able to bear it; and so growing mad with pain, he died miserably.

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[1]  From Crown and Glory of Christianity, Thomas Brooks, The Works of Thomas Brooks, Vol IV, pp. 261-300, reprinted by Banner of Truth. Thomas Brook s (1608-1680) Nonconformist preacher and advocate of the Congregational way. Born into a Puritan family, he was sent to Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Author of Precious Remedies against Satan's Devices, The Mute Christian under the Smarting Rod, and others. He was buried in Bunhill Fields.

[2]  perfidiously – faithlessly, disloyally

Are We Mad Now to Pursue After Holiness? (Part 4)

Thomas Brooks (1606-1680)[1}

“Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” — Hebrews 12:14

Objection: Some may object, and say, We see that no persons on earth are exposed to such troubles, dangers, afflictions, and persecutions, as those are exposed to who mind holiness, who follow after holiness. These are days wherein men labor to frown holiness out of the world, and to scorn and kick holiness out of the world; and do you think that we are mad now to pursue after holiness? Now to this great and sore objection, I shall give these following answers

We’ve seen three of those answers to this point:

1. First, It must be granted that afflictions and persecutions has been the common lot and portion of the people of God in this world.
2. Secondly, Christ and his apostles hath long since foretold us that afflictions and persecutions will attend us in this world.
3. Thirdly, I answer, That all the troubles, afflictions, and persecutions that do befall you for holiness' sake, shall never hurt you nor harm you, they shall never prejudice you, nor wrong you in your main and great concernments:

4. Fourthly, I answer, That the condition of persecutors, of all conditions under heaven, is the most sad and deplorable condition; and this will appear by the consideration of these five things:

[A.] First, By the prayers and indictments that the saints have preferred against them in the highest court of justice, I mean in the parliament of heaven: Psalm 35:3-9,

“Draw out the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt. Let them be as chaff before the wind; and let the angel of the Lord chase them. Let their way be dark and slippery, [or darkness and slipperiness;]and let the angel of the Lord persecute them. For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged for my soul. Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall.”

Lamentations 3:61, seq.,

“Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord, and all their imaginations against me. The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day. Behold their sitting down, and their rising up, I am their music, [or I am their song.] Render unto them a recompense, O Lord, according to the work of their hands. Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them. Persecute and destroy them in anger, from under the heavens of the Lord:”

2 Timothy 4:14,

“Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil; the Lord reward him according to his works.”

Thus you see how the hearts of the saints have been drawn out against their persecutors. Prayers are the arms that in times of persecution the saints have still had recourse to. But,

[B.] Secondly, Persecutions do but raise, whet, and stir up a more earnest and vehement spirit of prayer among the persecuted saints:  Revelation 6:9, 10,

“And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? ”

The blood of the persecuted cries aloud for vengeance upon the persecutors. There is no blood that cries so loud, and that makes so great a noise in heaven, as the blood of the martyrs, as the blood of butchered persecuted saints. Persecutors, like these Roman emperors, in all ages have causelessly and cruelly destroyed the people of God; they delight in the blood of saints, they love to wallow in the blood of saints, they take pleasure in glutting themselves with the blood of saints, they make no conscience of watering the earth, nor of coloring the sea, nor of quenching the flames with the blood of the saints, yea, if it were possible, they would willingly swim to heaven through their hearts' blood, whom Christ has purchased with his own most precious blood.

Persecution puts an edge, yea, a sharp edge, upon the prayers of the saints: Acts 12:5,

“Peter therefore was kept in prison; but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.”

The Greek word ektenes signifies earnest and stretched-out prayer. When Peter was in prison, sleeping between two soldiers, and bound with two chains, and the keepers standing before the prison door, oh, how earnest! Oh, how instant! Oh, how fervent! Oh, how vehement! Oh, how constant were the saints in their prayers for his deliverance! Oh, their hearts, their souls, their spirits were in their prayers! Oh, their prayers were no cold prayers, no formal prayers, no lukewarm prayers, nor no dull or drowsy prayers, but their prayers were full of life, and full of warmth, and full of heat. They knew Herod's bloody intention to destroy this holy apostle by his imprisoning of him, and by the chains that were put on him, and by the strong guards that, were set upon him, and by his bathing of his sword in the, innocent blood of James, that his hand might be the more apt and ready for further acts of murder and cruelty; and oh, how did the consideration of these things whet and provoke their spirits to prayer! Oh, now they will have no nay, now they will give God no rest, till he has overturned the tyrant's counsel and designs, and sent his angel to open the prison doors, and to knock off Peter's chains, and to deliver him from the wrath and fury of Herod; and their prayers were successful, as is evident in the 12th verse,

“And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying, [or rather, as the original has it,] where many thronged together to pray.”

The violence and rage of their persecutors did so raise, whet, and encourage them to prayer, that they throng together, they crowded together to pray, yea, when others were a-sleeping they were a-praying, and their prayers were no sleepy prayers, they were no lazy dronish prayers, nor they were no book-prayers, but they were powerful and prevalent prayers; for as so many Jacobs, or as so many princes, they prevailed with God; they prayed and wept, and wept and prayed; they called and cried, and cried and called; they begged and bounced, and they bounced and begged; and they never left knocking at heaven's gates till Peter's chains were knocked off, and Peter given into their arms, yea, their bosoms, as an answer of prayer. Oh the power and force of joint prayer, when Christians do not only beseech God, but besiege him, and beset him too, and when they will not let him go till he has blessed them, and answered their prayers and the desires of their souls!

I have read that Mary Queen of Scots, that was mother to King James, was wont to say that she was more afraid of Mr. Knox's prayers, and the prayers of those Christians that walked with him, than she was of a knocking army of ten thousand men.

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[1] From Crown and Glory of Christianity, Thomas Brooks, The Works of Thomas Brooks, Vol IV, pp. 261-300, reprinted by Banner of Truth. Thomas Brook s (1608-1680) Nonconformist preacher and advocate of the Congregational way. Born into a Puritan family, he was sent to Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Author of Precious Remedies against Satan's Devices, The Mute Christian under the Smarting Rod, and others. He was buried in Bunhill Fields.

Are We Mad Now To Pursue After Holiness? (Part 3)

Thomas Brooks (1606-1680) [1]

“Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” — Hebrews 12:14

Thirdly, I answer, That all the troubles, afflictions, and persecutions that do befall you for holiness' sake, shall never hurt you nor harm you, they shall never prejudice you, nor wrong you in your main and great concernments:

Exodus 3:2,

“And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.”

Here you have a bush, a dry bush, a bramble-bush all on a-light fire, and yet not consumed. This burning bush was an excellent emblem of the church in the fire of tribulation and persecution. Though the church may seem to be all on fire by reason of afflictions and persecutions, yet it shall be preserved, it shall not be destroyed. God would not suffer his anointed ones, his sanctified ones, so much as to be touched, hurt, or harmed by those who had malice enough in their hearts, and power enough in their hands, not only to hurt them, but even to destroy them. Sanctified persons are sacred persons, and they that touch them touch the apple of God's eye, and whosoever shall be so bold to touch the apple of God's eye shall dearly smart for it.

It was no small affliction to have no settled habitation. To fly from place to place, from kingdom to kingdom, and from nation to nation, was without all peradventure an afflicted condition. Doubtless many fears and frights, many hazards and dangers did attend them, when they considered that they were as lilies among the thorns, and as a few sheep among a multitude of wolves. In the land of Canaan there were seven mighty nations (Deu 7:1). Now for the people of God, who were so few in number that they might easily and quickly be told, to sojourn and wander among these, could not but be very dangerous and perilous; and yet such was the love of God to them, and the care of God over them, that he suffered no man, whether he was high or low, honorable or base, rich or poor, civil or profane, to hurt or harm them: Daniel 3:25, 27,

“And the king answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt, and the form of the fourth is like unto the Son of God. And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.”

Though these holy men were cast into a furnace, into a fiery furnace, into the midst of a hot fiery furnace, yet God will work a miracle, yea, a glorious miracle, rather than the fire shall in the least hurt or harm them. God gives a commission to the fire to burn those mighty men that made the fire, and that cast his children into the fire, and whom the king would have to be spared and saved; and he lays a law of restraint upon the fire, that it should not hurt nor harm them whom the king would have destroyed.

Those, whom the King of kings will not have hurt, shall not be hurt, let kings and princes do their worst; that fire that burnt their bonds had no power to burn, no nor to touch, their bodies. God would not suffer the fire to singe a hair of their heads, nor to change the colour of their coats, nor to leave so much as an ill smell upon his people, that those heathen princes might see how tender he was of them, and how willing he was to put forth his almighty power rather than he would see them wronged or harmed. So chapters 6:21-23,

“Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live for ever. My God hath sent his angels, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt. Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God.”

Holiness, innocency, and integrity will preserve a man even among lions. Daniel preferred the worship of his God before his life. He made no great reckoning of his life when it stood in competition with divine glory, and therefore, rather than Daniel shall be hurt, God will by a miracle preserve him, he will stop the mouths of the hungry lions, and he will tame their rage, and overmaster their cruelty, rather than a hair of Daniel's head shall perish. When Daniel was taken out of the den, there was no hurt, no wound, no sore, no bruise found upon him. Daniel was a harmless man, and God keeps him from harms in the midst of harms.

Acts 18:9, 10,

“Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee; for I have much people in this city.”

Paul met with many trials and troubles, bonds and prisons, oppositions and persecutions, and yet none of all these hurt him, but God miraculously preserved him even to old age (Act 20:23). All the troubles, afflictions, and persecutions that attends holiness, can never reach a Christian's soul, they can never diminish a Christian's treasure; they reach the shell, not the kernel; the case, not the jewel; the lumber, not the goods; the outhouse,[2] not the palace; the ribbon in the hat, not the gold in the purse. The most fiery trials and persecutions can never deprive a Christian of the special presence of God, nor of the light of his countenance, nor of the testimony of a good conscience, nor of the joys of the Spirit, nor of the pardon of sin, nor of fellowship with Christ, nor of the exercise of grace, nor of the hopes of glory (Psa 23:4; 2Co 1:8,9,12); and therefore certainly they can't hurt a Christian, they can't wrong a Christian in his greatest and chiefest concernments.

O Christian, let persecutors do their worst, they can't reach thy soul, thy God, thy comfort, thy crown, thy paradise, &c.; and therefore let no man be kept off from pursuing after holiness because of afflictions or persecutions, seeing none of these can reach a Christian's great concernments.

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[1]       From Crown and Glory of Christianity, Thomas Brooks, The Works of Thomas Brooks, Vol IV, pp. 261-300, reprinted by Banner of Truth. Thomas Brook s (1608-1680) Nonconformist preacher and advocate of the Congregational way. Born into a Puritan family, he was sent to Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Author of Precious Remedies against Satan's Devices, The Mute Christian under the Smarting Rod, and others. He was buried in Bunhill Fields.

[2]       outhouse – outbuilding

Are We Mad Now to Pursue After Holiness?

Thomas Brooks (1606-1680)[1]

“Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” — Hebrews 12:14

Objection: Some may object, and say, We see that no persons on earth are exposed to such troubles, dangers, afflictions, and persecutions, as those are exposed to who mind holiness, who follow after holiness. These are days wherein men labor to frown holiness out of the world, and to scorn and kick holiness out of the world; and do you think that we are mad now to pursue after holiness? Now to this great and sore objection, I shall give these following answers

1. First, It must be granted that afflictions and persecutions has been the common lot and portion of the people of God in this world.

Abel was persecuted by Cain, (1Jo 3:12), and Isaac by Ishmael, (Gal 4:29). That seems to be a standing law,

“All that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution,” (2Ti 3:12).

A man may have many faint wishes and cold desires after godliness, and yet escape persecution; yea, he may make some essays[2] and attempts as if he would be godly, and yet escape persecution; but when a man is thoroughly resolved to be godly, and sets himself in good earnest upon pursuing after holiness and living a life of godliness, then he must expect to meet with afflictions and persecutions.

It is neither a Christian's gifts nor his graces, it is neither his duties nor his services that can secure him. Whoever escapes, the godly man shall not escape persecution in one kind or another, in one degree or another. He that will live up to holy rules, and live out holy principles, must prepare for sufferings. All the roses of holiness are surrounded with pricking briers.

The history of the ten persecutions, and that little book of martyrs, the 11th of the Hebrews, and Mr. Foxe his Acts and Monuments,[3] with many other treatises that are extant, do abundantly evidence that from age to age, and from one generation to another, they that have been born after the flesh have persecuted them that have been born after the Spirit, (Gal 4:20), and that the seed of the serpent have been still a-multiplying of troubles upon the seed of the woman.

Would any man take the church's picture, saith Luther, then let him paint a poor silly maid sitting in a wilderness, compassed about with hungry lions, wolves, boars, and bears, and with all manner of other cruel, hurtful beasts, and in the midst of a great many furious men assaulting her every moment and minute, for this is her condition in the world. As certain as the night follows the day, so certain will that black angel, persecution, follow holiness wherever it goes.

In the last of the ten persecutions, seventeen thousand holy martyrs were slain in the space of one month. And in Queen Mary's days, or, if you will, in the Marian days, not of blessed, but of most abhorred memory, the Popish prelates[4] in less than four years sacrificed the lives of eight hundred innocents to their idols! And oh that that precious innocent blood did not still cry to heaven for vengeance against this nation!

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[1] From Crown and Glory of Christianity, Thomas Brooks, The Works of Thomas Brooks, Vol IV, pp. 261-300, reprinted by Banner of Truth. Thomas Brook s (1608-1680) Nonconformist preacher and advocate of the Congregational way. Born into a Puritan family, he was sent to Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Author of Precious Remedies against Satan's Devices, The Mute Christian under the Smarting Rod, and others. He was buried in Bunhill Fields.

[2] essays – efforts; initial endeavors

[3] Acts and Monuments – a reference to the great work by John Foxe (1516-1587) originally entitled Actes and Monuments of These Latter Perilous Days, known to us as Foxe's Book of Martyrs.

[4] prelate – a minister or priest of the higher order, as an archbishop, bishop, or patriarch.