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by Thomas Brooks
I Kings XIV. 13
Chapter V
Quest. But here an apt question
may be moved, viz., Whether at this great day, the sins of
the saints shall be brought into the judgment of discussion
and discovery, or no? Whether the Lord will in this day publicly
manifest, proclaim, and make mention of the sins of his people,
or no?
I humbly judge, according to my present light,
that he will not; and my reasons for it are these, viz.:
1. The first is drawn from Christ’s judicial
proceedings in the last day, set down largely and clearly in the
25th of Matthew, where he enumerateth only the good works they had
done, but takes no notice of the spots and blots, of the stains
and blemishes, of the infirmities and enormities, of the weaknesses
and wickednesses of his people, Deut. xxxii. 4-6. My,
2. Second reason is taken from Christ’s vehement
protestations that they shall not come into judgment: John v. 24,
‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth
on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.’ Those words,
‘shall not come into condemnation,’ are not rightly translated;
the original is, ei" krisin, shall
not come into judgment, not into damnation, as you read it in all
your English books. I will not say what should put men upon this
exposition rather than a true translation of the original word.1
Further, it is very observable, that no evangelist useth this double
asseveration but John, and he never useth it but in matters of the
greatest weight and importance, and to shew the earnestness of his
spirit, and to stir us up to better attention, and to put the thing
asserted out of all question, and beyond all contradiction;2
as when we would put a thing for ever out of all question, we do
it by a double asseveration, Verily, verily, it is so, &c.
3 Thirdly, Because his not bringing their sins
into judgment doth most and best agree with many precious expressions
that we find scattered, as so many shining, sparkling pearls, up
and down in Scripture, as, First, (1.) With those of God’s
blotting out the sins of his people:
‘I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions
for my own sake, and will not remember thy sins.’ ‘I have blotted
out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins,’
Isa. xliii. 25, xliv. 22. Who is this that blots out transgressions?
He that hath the keys of heaven and hell at his girdle, that opens
and no man shuts, that shuts and no man opens; he that hath the
power of life and death, of condemning and absolving, of killing
and making alive, he it is that blots out transgressions. If an
under-officer should blot out an indictment, that perhaps might
do a man no good, a man might for all that be at last cast by the
judge; but when the judge or king shall blot out the indictment
with their own hand, then the indictment cannot return. Now this
is every believer’s case and happiness. (2.) Secondly, To
those glorious expressions of God’s not remembering of their sins
any more: Isa. xliii. 25, ‘And I will not remember thy sins.’ ‘And
they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man
his brother, saying, Know the Lord : for they shall all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest of them, saith the Lord:
for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin
no more,’ Jer. xxxi. 34. So the apostle, ‘For I will be merciful
to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will
I remember no more,’ Heb. viii. 12.
And again the same apostle saith, ‘This is the
covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the
Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will
I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more,’
Heb. x. 17.
The meaning is, their iniquities shall quite
be forgiven, I will never mention them more, I will never take notice
of them more, they shall never hear more of them from me. Though
God hath an iron memory to remember the sins of the wicked, yet
he hath no memory to remember the sins of the righteous.3
(3.) Thirdly, His not bringing their sins into judgment doth
most and best agree with those blessed expressions of his casting
their sins into the depth of the sea, and of his casting them behind
his back: ‘He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us,
he will subdue our iniquities, and thou wilt cast all their sins
into the depths of the sea,’ Micah vii. 19. Where sin is once pardoned,
the remission stands never to be repealed. Pardoned sins shall never
come in account against the pardoned man before God any more, for
so much doth this borrowed speech import. If a thing were cast into
a river, it might be brought up again; or if it were cast upon the
sea, it might be discerned and taken up again; but when it is cast
into the depths, the bottom of the sea, it can never be buoyed up
again.
By the metaphor in the text, the Lord would have
us to know the sins pardoned shall rise no more, they shall never
be seen more, they shall never come on the account more; he will
so drown their sins, that they shall never come up before him the
second time.
And so much that other scripture imports: ‘Behold,
for peace I had great bitterness, but thou hast in love to my soul
delivered it from the pit of corruption; for thou hast cast all
my sins behind thy back,’ Isa. xxxviii. 17. These last words are
a borrowed speech, taken from the manner of men, who are wont to
cast behind their backs such things as they have no mind to see,
regard, or remember. A gracious soul hath always his sins before
his face: ‘I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before
me;’ and therefore no wonder if the Lord cast them behind his back.
The father soon forgets and casts behind his back those faults that
the child remembers and hath always in his eyes; so doth the Father
of spirits. (4.) Fourthly, His not bringing their sins into
judgment doth best agree with that sweet and choice expression of
God’s pardoning the sins of his people: ‘And I will cleanse them
from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and
Twill pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and
whereby they have transgressed against me,’ Jer. xxxiii. 8. So Micah:
‘Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passes
by the transgressions of the remnant of his heritage (as though
he would not see it, but wink at it), he retaineth not his anger
for ever,because he delighteth in mercy,’ Micah vii. 18. The Hebrew
word nose, from nasa, that is here rendered pardoneth,
signifies a taking away. When God pardons sin, he takes it sheer
away: that it should be sought for, yet it could not be found, as
the prophet speaks: ‘In those days, and in that time, saith the
Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall
be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found; for
I will pardon them whom I reserve,’ Jer. 1.20; and those words,
‘and passeth by,’ in the afore-cited 7th of Micah, and the 18th,
according to the Hebrew Vegnober Gnal, is, and ‘passeth over
;“ God passeth over the transgression of his heritage, that is,
he takes no notice of it As a man in a deep muse, or as one that
hath haste of business, seeth not things before him, his mind being
busied about other matters, he neglects all to mind his business;
as David, when he saw in Mephibosheth the feature of his friend
Jonathan, took no notice of his lameness, or any other defect or
deformity; so God, beholding in his people the glorious image of
his Son, winks at all their faults and deformities, which made Luther
say, ‘Do with me what thou wilt, since thou hast pardoned my sin;’
and what is it to pardon sin but not to mention sin? Isa. xl. 1,
2. (5.) Fifthly, In his not bringing their sins into the
judgment of discussion and discovery, doth best agree to those expressions
of forgiving and covering: ‘Blessed is he whose transgression is
forgiven, whose sin is covered,’ Ps. xxxii. 1. In the original it
is in the plural, blessednesses. So here is a plurality of blessings,
a chain of pearls.
The like expression you have in the 85th psalm,
and the 2d verse: ‘Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people,
thou hast covered all their sin. Selah.’ For the understanding of
these scriptures aright, take notice that to ‘cover’is a metaphorical
expression. Covering is such an action which is opposed to disclosure.
To be covered is to be so hid and closed as not to appear. Some
make the metaphor from filthy, loathsome objects, which are covered
from our eyes, as dead carcases are buried under the ground; some
from garments, that are put upon us to cover our nakedness; others
from the Egyptians, that were drowned in the Red Sea, and so covered
with water; others from a great gulf in the earth, that is filled
up and covered with earth injected into it; and others make it in
the last place an allusive expression to the mercy-seat, over which
was a covering. Now, all these metaphors in the general tend to
shew this, that the Lord will not look, he will not see, he will
not take notice of the sins he bath pardoned, to call them any more
to a judicial account.
As when a prince reads over many treasons and
rebellions, and meets with such and such which he hath pardoned,
he reads on, he passeth by, he takes no notice of them: the pardoned
person shall never hear more of them, he will never call him to
account for those sins more; so here, &c. When Cæsar was
painted, be put his finger upon his scar, his wart. God puts his
fingers upon all his people’s scars and warts, upon all their weaknesses
and infirmities, that nothing can be seen but what is fair and lovely:
‘Thou art all fair, my love; and there is no spot in thee,’ Cant.
iv. 7. (6.) Sixthly, It best agrees to that expression of
not imputing of sin: ‘Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth
not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile,’ Ps. xxxii.
2. So the apostle in that Rom. iv. 6-8. Now, not to impute iniquity
is not to charge iniquity, not to set iniquity upon his score, who
is blessed and pardoned, &c. (7.) Seventhly, and lastly,
It best agrees with that expression that you have in the 103d Psalm,
and the 11th and 12th verses: ‘For as the heaven is high above the
earth, so great is his mercy towards them that fear him. As far
as the east is from the west, so far bath he removed our transgressions
from us.’ What a vast distance is there betwixt the east and the
west! Of all visible latitudes, this is the greatest; and thus much
for the third argument. The
4. Fourth argument that prevails with me, to
judge that Jesus Christ will not bring the sins of the saints into
the judgment of discussion and discovery in the great day, is because
it seems unsuitable to three considerable things, for Jesus Christ
to proclaim the infirmities and miscarriages of his people to all
the world.
(1.) First, It seems to be unsuitable to the
glory and solemnity of that day, which to the saints will be a day
of refreshing, a day of restitution, a day of redemption, a day
of coronation, as hath been already proved. Now how suitable to
this great day of solemnity the proclamation of the saints’ sins
will be, I leave the reader to judge.
(2.) Secondly, It seems unsuitable to all those
near and dear relations that Jesus Christ stands in towards his.
He stands in the relation of a father, a brother, a head, a husband,
a friend, an advocate. Now are not all these, by the law of relations,
bound rather to hide and keep secret, at least from the world, the
weaknesses and infirmities of their near and dear relations? and
is not Christ? Is not Christ much more? By how much he is more a
father, a brother, a head, a husband, &c., in a spiritual way,
than any others can be in a natural way, &c.4
(3.) Thirdly, It seems very unsuitable to what
the Lord Jesus requires of his in this world. The Lord requires
that his people should cast a mantle of love, of wisdom, of silence,
and secresy over one another’s weaknesses and infirmities.
Hatred stirreth up strifes, but love covereth
all sins, Prov. x. 12, 1 Pet. iv. 8. Love’s mantle is very large;
love will find a hand, a plaster to clap upon every sore. Flavius
Vespasianus, the emperor, was very ready to conceal his friends’
vices, and as ready to reveal their virtues. So is divine love in
the hearts of the saints: ‘If thy brother offend thee, go and tell
him his fault between him and thee alone: if he shall hear thee,
thou best gained thy brother,’ Mat. xviii. 15. As the pills of reprehension
are to be gilded and sugared over with much gentleness and softness,
so they are to be given in secret; tell him between him and thee
alone. Tale-bearers and tale-hearers are alike abominable, heaven
is too hot and too holy a place for them, Ps. xv. 3. Now will Jesus
Christ have us carry it thus towards offending Christians, and will
he himself act otherwise? Nay, is it an evil in us to lay open the
weaknesses and infirmities of the saints to the world? and will
it be an excellency, a glory, a virtue in Christ to do it in the
great day? &c.
A fifth argument is this: It is the glory of
a man to pass over a transgression: ‘The discretion of a man deferreth
his anger: and it is his glory to pass over a transgression,’ Prov.
xix. 11, or to pass by it, as we do by persons or things we know
not, or would take no notice of. Now ‘is it the glory of a man to
pass over a transgression,’ and will it not much more be the glory
of Christ, silently to pass over the transgressions of his people
in that great day?5 The greater the treasons and rebellions
are that a prince passes over and takes no notice of, the more is
it his honour and glory; and so, doubtless, it will be Christ’s
in that great days to pass over all the treasons and rebellions
of his people, to take no notice of them, to forget them, as well
as to forgive them.
The heathens have long since observed, that in
nothing man came nearer to the glory and perfection of God himself,
than in goodness and clemency. Surely if it be such an honour to
man, ‘to pass over a transgression,’ it cannot be a dishonour to
Christ to pass over the transgressions of his people, he having
already buried them in the sea of his blood. Again, saith Solomon,
‘It is the glory of God to conceal a thing,’ Prov. xxv. 2. And why
it should not make for the glory of divine love to conceal the sins
of the saints in that great day, I know not; and whether the concealing
the sins of the saints in that great day will not make most for
their joy, and wicked men’s sorrow, for their comfort and wicked
men’s terror and torment, I will leave you to judge, and time and
experience to decide. And thus much for the resolution of that great
question. Having done with the motives that may encourage and provoke
young men to be good betimes, to know, love, seek, and serve the
Lord, in the spring and morning of their days.
Notes
- Vide Aquin. 87, Suppl. Estius. in I. iv.
Sen. dist. 47.
- John i. 51; iii. 3, 11; vi. 26, 32, 47,
53, &c.
- That which Cicero said flatteringly of
Cæsar is truly affirmed of God, Nihil oblivisci solet
proeter injurias, he forgetteth nothing but the wrongs that
daily are done him by his.
- Isa. ix. 6; Heb. ii.11, 12; Ephes. i.
21, 22; Rev. xix. 7; John xv.1; John ii.1,2.
- Non amo quemquam nisi offendam,
said a heathen.
Author
Singularly little is known about Thomas Brooks
as a man, other than can be ascertained from his many writings.
Born, probably of well-to-do parents, in 1608, Brooks entered Emmanuel
College, Cambridge, in 1625, where he was preceded by such men as
Thomas Hooker, John Cotton and Thomas Shepard. He was licensed as
a preacher of the Gospel by 1640 at the latest. Before that date
he seems to have spent a number of years at sea, probably as a chaplain
with the fleet. He is thus able to speak of his numerous friends
abroad, and of the scenes and happenings he had ‘observed in other
nations and countries’. Mention, too, is made of ‘some terrible
storms’. ‘I have been some years at sea’, he tells us, ‘and
through grace I can say that I would not exchange my sea
experiences for England's riches’. ‘Troubles, trials, temptations,
dangers and deaths’ were all encountered during his experiences
on board ship.
The Civil War over, Brooks became minister
of the Word at Thomas Apostles, London, and was sufficiently
renowned to be chosen as preacher before the House of Commons
on the 26th December, 1648. Three or four years later he
moved to St. Margaret's Fish-street Hill, London, but encountered
considerable opposition as he refused baptism and the Lord's
Supper to those clearly ‘unworthy’ of such privileges. The
following years were filled with written as well as spoken
ministry.
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.
Treatises continued to flow from his agile pen. In 1677-78
he married for the second time, ‘she spring-young, he winter-old’.
Two years later he went home to his Lord. No portrait of
him survives.
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