10 "Goods" true of Christ according to Thomas Brooks

https://wee-windaes.nls.uk/the-deil-in-scotland/

In his Remedies against Satan's devices the Puritan Thomas Brooks reminds us that Christ is

1. The greatest good

2. The choicest good

3. The chief good

4. The most suitable good

5. The most necessary good

6. A pure good

7. A real good

8. A total good

9. An eternal good

10. A soul-satisfying good

10 Helps Against Temptation by Thomas Brooks

If you would not be taken with any of Satan’s devices, then ...

1. Walk by the rule [of the Word]

2. Take heed of vexing and grieving the Holy Spirit of God

3. Labour for more heavenly wisdom

4. Make present resistance against Satan’s first motions.

5. Labour to be filled with the Spirit

6. Keep humble

7. Keep a strong, close, and constant watch

8. Keep up your communion with God

9. Engage not against Satan in your own strength but be everyday drawing new virtue and strength from the Lord Jesus

10. Be much in prayer

(From Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices)

A precious remedy

Looking at Thomas Brooks' Precious Remedies I noticed this slightly seasonal (see italics)antidote to Satan's painting sin with virtuous colours.

REMEDY 4 Seriously to consider, That even those very sins that Satan paints, and puts new names and colours upon, cost the best blood, the noblest blood, the life-blood, the heart-blood of the Lord Jesus.
That Christ should come from the eternal bosom of his Father to a region of sorrow and death; that God should be manifested in the flesh, the Creator made a creature; that he who was clothed with glory should be wrapped with rags of flesh; he who filled heaven and earth with his glory should be cradled in a manger; that the almighty God should flee from weak man — the God of Israel into Egypt; that the God of the law should be subject to the law, the God of the circumcision circumcised, the God who made the heavens working at Joseph's homely trade; that he who binds the devils in chains should be tempted; that he, whose is the world, and the fullness thereof, should hunger and thirst; that the God of strength should be weary, the Judge of all flesh condemned, the God of life put to death; that he who is one with his Father should cry out of misery, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46); that he who had the keys of hell and death at his belt should lie imprisoned in the sepulchre of another, having in his lifetime nowhere to lay his head, nor after death to lay his body; that that HEAD, before which the angels do cast down their crowns, should be crowned with thorns, and those EYES, purer than the sun, put out by the darkness of death; those EARS, which hear nothing but hallelujahs of saints and angels, to hear the blasphemies of the multitude; that FACE, which was fairer than the sons of men, to be spit on by those beastly wretched Jews; that MOUTH and TONGUE, which spoke as never man spoke, accused for blasphemy; those HANDS, which freely swayed the scepter of heaven, nailed to the cross; those FEET, "like unto fine brass," nailed to the cross for man's sins; each sense pained with a spear and nails; his SMELL, with stinking odor, being crucified on Golgotha, the place of skulls; his TASTE, with vinegar and gall; his HEARING, with reproaches, and SIGHT of his mother and disciples bemoaning him; his SOUL, comfortless and forsaken; and all this for those very sins that Satan paints and puts fine colors upon! Oh! how should the consideration of this stir up the soul against sin, and work the soul to fly from it, and to use all holy means whereby sin may be subdued and destroyed!

Westminster Conference 02

The second day of conference was at least as good as if not better than the first day. Certainly the standard of discussion seemed a little better. Robert Oliver, Jeremy Walker and Robert Strivens chaired.

We kicked off with Westminster Seminary West President Robert Godfrey on tradition. Drawing on the work of Heiko Oberman (The Dawn of the Reformation) and one or two others he helpfully untangled the muddle of tradition using Oberman's three types and adding a fourth of his own. Oberman says

"Whereas in Tradition I truth is grasped and held through reflection on Holy Scripture and in Tradition II through reflection on Scripture and Tradition ... (in) Tradition III, truth is grasped and held by introspection and self-analysis on the part of the Church focused in the Teaching office".

So T1 is a school of interpretation such as the Reformed one; T2 involves an appeal to oral tradition as is common in Eastern Orthodoxy; T3 is tied up with J H Newman's idea of development of doctrine.

Godfrey's T4 includes ideas passed won that are a matter of prudence rather Scripture.

Having set this out at some length and illustrated it by reference to the controversy over images, Dr Godfrey went on to speak of the necessity of certain traditions and the usefulness of others. he closed by warning of the obvious dangers of traditions.

Of course, the difficulty is in disentangling what sort of traditions our traditions are.

In the second session Jonathan Watson tackled Thomas Brooks' excellent Precious remedies against Satan's devices. This sort of paper can be done badly but was done very well on this occasion. After a brief biography (there is not much to say as we have seen on this blog) we had a four point summary of how to deal with Satan's devices.

1. Know yourself

2. Know your enemy (his names, pervasiveness, hatred for us, great experience and his requiring a double leave to move - from God and then from you!)

3. Know your weapons

4. Helpful directions for Christian soldiers - there were 10 of these, to do with obeying the Word, not grieving the Spirit, seeking heavenly wisdom, resisting at the first moment, endeavouring to be Spirit filled, keeping humble, being on guard, keeping up communion with God, never relying on self and being much in prayer.

The book contains 38 devices and 189 remedies!

The final paper, given by Faith Cook, was on William Grimshaw. Much of this material was familiar to some of us but it was good to be reminded again of his example in this anniversary year.

On a personal note I have found the conference most heart warming. I especially appreciated the reminder of the Puritans commitment to godliness through disciplined highlighted in Brooks' gem of a work.