Humility: The Least of All the Saints

Thomas Brooks said, “Oh! Labor every day to be more humble and more low and little in your own eyes.” A significant concern for Brooks was how believers viewed themselves after they became Christians. After all, inheriting eternal life, gaining the riches of grace, being in favor with God may cause the recipient to be puffed up with pride, much like the Pharisees and religious leaders of the New Testament. But for Brooks, the true Christian is more willing to wash the feet of others than to have his feet washed. The believer who desires to walk in humility views themselves through the lens of Christ, who bore the cross in shame and disgrace to purchase salvation for sinners. A humble heart serves. A humble heart loves. A humble heart recognizes that not even a crumb of mercy is deserved. You are about to embark on a journey of the soul. Brooks enters every room of your heart and applies Scripture to clean out the cobwebs of bitterness, pride, and self-righteousness. You will be challenged, changed, and connected to the fountain from which all humility flows.

Publisher: H & E publishing
Type: Paperback
ISBN: 9781774840016

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Thomas Brooks was born in 1608. He entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in 1625, where such New England Puritans as Thomas Hooker, John Cotton, and Thomas Shepard were also educated, but he appears to have left before graduating. Brooks was ordained as a preacher of the gospel in 1640 and became a chaplain to the parliamentary fleet, serving for some years at sea. After the Civil War, Brooks became minister at the church of St. Thomas the Apostle, Queen Street, London (1648-1651). He was often called to preach before Parliament. In 1652, he became rector of St. Margaret’s, New Fish Street Hill, which was the first church that burned to the ground in the Great Fire of London (1666). Like Thomas Goodwin and John Owen, Brooks preferred the Congregational view of church government. Unlike many ministers, he stayed in London during the Great Plague of 1665, faithfully tending his flock. Brooks died in 1680 and was buried in Bunhill Fields, London’s famous nonconformist cemetery. John Reeve, who preached at the funeral, said Brooks had “a sweet nature, great gravity, large charity, wonderful patience, and strong faith.”

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‘A booklet packed full of valuable insights on both humility and pride. These are the two opposing paths we must choose between as we decide how we will respond to God. The first leads to life and peace. The other leads to death and destruction.’ P Jones