“My desires to you are:
That you would make it your business to study Christ, His Word, your own hearts, Satan’s plots, and eternity, more than ever;
That ye would endeavour more to be inwardly sincere than outwardly glorious: to live, than to have a name to live;
That ye would labour with all your might to be thankful under mercies, and faithful in your places, and humble under divine appearances, and fruitful under precious ordinances;
That as your means and mercies are greater than others’ so your account before God may not prove a worse than others’;
That ye would pray for me, who am not worthy to be named among the saints, that I may be a precious instrument in the hand of Christ to bring in many souls unto Him, and to build up those that are brought in in their most holy faith; and ‘that utterance may be given to me, that I may make known all the will of God,’ (Eph. 6:19);
That I may be sincere, faithful, frequent, fervent, and constant in the work of the Lord, and that my labour be not in vain in the Lord; that my labours may be accepted in the Lord and His saints, and I may daily see the travail of my soul.
But, above all, pray for me:
That I may more and more find the power and sweet of those things upon my own heart, that I give out to you and others;
That my soul be so visited with strength from on high, that I may live up fully and constantly to those truths that I hold forth to the world;
And that I may be both in life and doctrine ‘a burning and a shining light,’ that so, when the Lord Jesus shall appear, ‘I may receive a crown of glory which He shall give to me in that day, and not only to me, but to all that love His appearance.’
For a close, remember this: your life is short, your duties many, your assistance great, and your reward sure. Therefore, faint not, hold on and hold up, in ways of well-doing, and heaven shall make amends for all.
I shall now take leave of you, when my heart hath by my hand subscribed, that I am, your loving pastor under Christ, according to all pastoral affections and engagements in our dearest Lord,
-Thomas Brooks”
–Thomas Brooks, The Works of Thomas Brooks, Volume 1, Ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1666/2001), 6-7.
