Received today a shipment of Thomas Brooks's Works (Banner of Truth, 2001 reprint)
I've decided I'm going to first open volume 4, which is exclusively dedicated to one subject: holiness. The title of the volume is "Crown and Glory of Christianity", and it is a single treatise, composed of 58 sermons on Hebrews 12:14, "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord."
As I began reading the Epistle Dedicatory (why don't we do these anymore? Some of the wisest and most direct words spoken by some of my favorite elders in the faith - Owen, Calvin, Baxter, etc. - are found in their letters appended to their various treatises. Now all we get is silly advertising in the form of glib prefaces by well-known radio and TV preachers) I was struck by the poweful words spoken to part of his intended audience. A portion of these words follow, from the Epistle Dedicatory to Crown and Glory of Christianity by Thomas Brooks:
...if this Treatise should fall into the hands of any of the learned judges of this land, or into the hands of any of the justices of this nation, I would then take the humble boldness to offer this to their most serious consideration.... it highly concerns them to study this doctrine of holiness, yea to fall in love with holiness, and highly to prize it, and earnestly to press after it, and to be restless in their own spirits, till they have experienced the powerful operations of holiness in their own souls; for till then, they will never be able so to administer justice and judgment as becomes those that have the name of God, and the name of profession on them... My Lords and Gentlemen, you know that the wisest prince that ever sat upon a throne hath told us that 'righteousness exalts a nation,' Prov. xiv.34. It is not valour in war, but righteousness; it is not policy in government, but righteousness; it is not wittiness of invention, but righteousness; it is not civility in behaviour, but righteousness; it is not antiquity of forms, but righteousness; it is not largeness of dominion, but righteousness; nor is it greatness of command, but righteousness; that is the honour and safety, that is the renown and the security of a nation. That nation that exalts righteousness, that nation shall be certainly exalted by righteousness, Amos v. 24....it is not rich mines of gold and silver, nor magazines, nor armies, nor councils, nor fleets, nor forts, but justice and righteousness that exalts a nation, and that will make a mean people to become a great, a glorious, and a famous people in the world. The world is a ring, and righteousness is the diamond in that ring; the world is a body, and righteousness and justice is the soul of that body. Ah England, England! So long as justice runs down as waters in the midst of thee, and righteousness as a mighty stream, thou shalt not die, but live and bear up bravely against all gainsayers and opposers; but if injustice shall grow rampant, and thou shalt brandish the sword of justice in behalf of the friends of Baal, Balaam and Bacchus, and turn the wheel upon the righteous; if the sword of justice shall be a sword of protection to the desperate swearer, and to the cruel oppressor, and to the roaring drunkard, and to the cursing monster, and to the gospel despiser, and to the Christ contemner, etc., and shall be a devouring sword to the upright and peaceable in the land, divine vengeance will dig thy grave, and divine justice will tumble thee into it, though all the nations of the earth should labour to prevent it. It is a base and ignoble spirit, to pity Cataline more than to pity Rome; to pity any particular sort of men, more than to pity the whole. It is cruelty tot he good, to justify the bad: it is wrong to the sheep, to animate the wolves; it is danger if not death to the lambs, not to restrain or chain up the lions. But from all these vanities the Lord deliver all your souls! And oh that you would for ever remember this, that as the constitution of a man's body is best known by his pulse; if it stir not at all, then we know he is dead; if it stir violently, then we know him to be in a fever; if it keep an equal stroke, then we know he is sound, well, and whole; so the estate and constitution of a kingdom or commonweal is best known by the manner of executing justice therein; for justice is the pulse of a kingdom. If justice be violent, then the kingdom is in a fever; in a very bad estate; if it stir not at all, then, the kingdom is dead; but if it have an equal stroke, if it be justly and duly administered, then the kingdom is in a good, a safe and sound condition.
I apologize for the length of the extract... but Brooks's words are SO clear to those in our judicial branches of government (and, I believe, to others in representative government, as the government is given to promote justice for the people). I wonder if ever the national Justice Department was known as the Righteousness Department. It ought to be. :)
Posted by toddpedlar at November 9, 2004 10:48 PM | TrackBack