The sweet nature of grace
Thomas Brooks, “The Unsearchable Riches of Christ”
Grace begets the greatest joy and sweetness in the
hearts of men, that possibly can be. Grace is a panoply
against all troubles—and a paradise of all pleasures.
Grace is compared to the sweetest things; to sweet spices,
to wine and milk. Grace is a sweet flower of paradise, a
spark of glory, etc. Grace is nourished and maintained by
that sweet Word, which is sweeter than the honey or the
honey-comb, and by sweet union and communion with
the Father and the Son.
Grace is exercised about the sweetest objects, namely—
God, Christ, promises, and future glory.
Grace sweetens all your services and duties. Your best
religious performances are but stinking sacrifices—if they
are not attended with the exercise of grace. Grace is that
heavenly salt which makes all our services savory and
sweet in the nostrils of God.
Grace is of the greatest and sweetest use to the soul.
It is an anchor at sea, and a shield at land. Grace is a
staff to uphold the soul, and a sword to defend the soul.
Grace is bread to strengthen the soul, and wine to cheer
the soul. Grace is medicine to cure all diseases, and a
plaster to heal all wounds, and a cordial to strengthen
the soul under all faintings, etc. Grace is . . .
your eye to see for Christ,
your ear to hear for Christ,
your head to design for Christ,
your tongue to speak for Christ,
your hand to do for Christ, and
your feet to walk with Christ.
Grace makes men of the harshest, sourest, crabbedest
natures—to be of a sweet, lovely, amiable, pleasing temper.
Grace turns lions into lambs, wolves into sheep, monsters
into men, and men into angels—as you may see in Manasseh,
Paul, Mary Magdalene, Zaccheus, and others.
Yet sometimes grace, in a rugged unhewn nature, is like . . .
a gold ring on a leprous hand, or
a diamond set in iron, or
a jewel in a swine’s snout, etc.
