BY LAW OR BY GOSPEL

God brings in some by the sweet and still voice of the Gospel, and usually such that are thus brought into Christ are the sweetest, humblest, choicest, and most fruitful of Christians. God is a free agent to work by law or Gospel, by smiles or frowns, by presenting hell or heaven to sinners’ souls. God thunders from Mount Sinai upon some souls, and conquers them by thundering. God speaks to others in a still small voice, and by that conquers them. You that are brought to Christ by the law, do not you judge and condemn them that are brought to Christ by the Gospel; and you that are brought to Christ by the Gospel, do not you despise those that are brought to Christ by the law. Some are brought to Christ by fire, storms, and tempests, others by more easy and gentle gales of the Spirit. The Spirit is free in the works of conversion, and, as the wind, it blows when, where, and how it pleases (Jn 3.8). Thrice happy are those souls that are brought to Christ, whether it be in a winter’s night or in a summer’s day.

Thomas Brooks