Heaven on Earth - Puritan Paperbacks (Brooks)
"All saints shall enjoy a heaven when they leave this earth; some saints enjoy a heaven while they are here on earth. That saints might enjoy two heavens is the project of this book." - Joseph Caryl
The subject of assurance is one of the most important elements in Christian experience. There is no higher privilege than to be a child of God and to know it, for assurance brings joy to worship and prayer, and provides strength and boldness to our witness. Correspondingly, failure and weakness in all these areas can often be traced back to a lack of assurance, or even false assurance. This work of Thomas Brooks, first published in 1654, deals with all of these aspects of assurance in a way that is both biblical and pastoral.
Brooks ‘scatters stars with both his hands’ wrote C.H. Spurgeon. His teaching is clear, thorough and greatly needed in the present spiritual climate. Brooks both explains what true assurance is and guides the reader in how it may be fully experienced.
Table of Contents:
- PROOFS THAT BELIEVERS MAY IN THIS LIFE ATTAIN UNTO A WELL-GROUNDED ASSURANCE OF THEIR EVERLASTING HAPPINESS AND BLESSEDNESS
- WEIGHTY PROPOSITIONS CONCERNING ASSURANCE
- HINDRANCES AND IMPEDIMENTS THATKEEP POOR SOULS FROM ASSURANCE; WITH THE MEANS AND HELPS TO REMOVE THOSE IMPEDIMENTS AND HINDRANCES
- MOTIVES TO PROVOKE CHRISTIANS TO BE RESTLESS TILL THEY HAVE OBTAINED A WELLGROUNDED ASSURANCE OF THEIR ETERNAL HAPPINESS AND BLESSEDNESS
- WAYS AND MEANS OF GAINING A WELL-GROUNDED ASSURANCE
- THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN A TRUE AND A COUNTERFEIT ASSURANCE, BETWEEN SOUND ASSURANCE AND PRESUMPTION
Author
Thomas Brooks (1608-1680) entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in 1625. He was licensed as a preacher of the gospel by 1640. After the Civil War, Brooks became minister at Thomas Apostle’s, London, and was sufficiently renowned to be chosen as preacher before the House of Commons in 1648. In 1662 he fell victim to the notorious Act of Uniformity, but he appears to have remained in his parish and to have preached the Word as opportunity offered. He went home to the Lord in 1680.