James H. Brookes Books: A Guide to All 6 and Where to Start
James H. Brookes (1830–1897) pastored in St. Louis for almost forty years, led the Niagara Bible Conference and wrote more than two hundred books, booklets and tracts. TheWay Library has six of his books, all free to read. They cover the three things he cared about most: the way of salvation, the return of the Lord Jesus, and the truth and inspiration of the Bible. For his life story, see who was James H. Brookes.
Where to start
If you're new to Brookes, start with The Way Made Plain. It's his clearest book, written for anyone who wants to know how to be saved and how to be sure of it.
After that, choose by what you want:
- On the Second Coming, in short: Till He Come.
- On the Second Coming, in full: Maranatha, or The Lord Cometh.
- On whether the Gospels can be trusted: Is the Bible True?
- On whether the Bible's very words are inspired: Is the Bible Inspired?, or the short tract Chaff and Wheat.
All six were restored from scans of old printings. Chaff and Wheat has a few badly garbled paragraphs in the middle. Maranatha and Is the Bible Inspired? also have damage: the first letter of many chapters is garbled, and some lines are misread. They're still readable, but expect a few rough patches.
On salvation
The Way Made Plain
Brookes wrote this for inquirers and new believers, in twenty short chapters that come in pairs. He starts with the Holy Spirit's work of showing people they need to be saved. Then he takes away the false hopes one by one: sincerity can't save, our own righteousness can't save, and the law offers the sinner no hope. In between he shows Christ the Saviour of everyone who believes. The heart of the book is the pair of chapters titled Nothing Between the Sinner and the Saviour, where he argues that the gospel leaves nothing for the sinner to do first, not even repentance as a separate work, since true repentance always includes faith. The last chapters explain belief and confession from Romans 10, the believer's safety under the shed blood, prayer, and the assurance of faith from 1 John.
It is not the Spirit's work in us, but Christ's work for us, that delivers us from condemnation and places us on the heavenward side of the cross beyond Judgment.
The Way Made Plain, The Believer's Safety
It's warm, direct and full of Scripture, with a few stories along the way. It's a good book to give a friend who is seeking. Read The Way Made Plain.
On the return of Christ
Maranatha, or The Lord Cometh
This is Brookes's best-known book. He takes its name from Paul's word in 1 Corinthians 16:22, which means "the Lord comes," and he explains it in the introduction. Then he sets out the question between those who believe Christ comes before the thousand years of Revelation 20 and those who believe He comes after. He argues that the Lord's coming is literal and personal, not death or Pentecost or providence. Nine chapters under the heading "No Millennium Till Christ Comes" work through the prophets, the Gospels, the Epistles and Revelation, and answer post-millennial writers of his day. Later chapters cover the history of the doctrine, its practical power for holiness and service, the restoration of Israel, the two resurrections and the hope of the church. A diagram at the end sets out the order of events.
The power and value of a doctrine which leads the soul to an easy and established posture of waiting and watching for Jesus Himself can hardly be overestimated.
Maranatha, or The Lord Cometh, Power of the Doctrine
Brookes quotes many other writers in this book, for and against his view. It's long and detailed, best for readers who want to study the subject. Read Maranatha, and for more books like it, see our guide to the best Christian books on the Second Coming.
Till He Come
A much shorter book on the same hope, from 1891, and the easier place to start. Brookes writes because, he says, the Lord's return has dropped out of most preaching. In fourteen chapters he gathers the teaching of the apostles and of Christ, argues that His coming may be near, and shows that this age ends not in a converted world but in growing evil. He reads the parables of Matthew 13 against the post-millennial view and holds that Antichrist is a coming person. In The Rapture he teaches that Christ comes first into the air for His people, who are kept out of the tribulation, and later with them to the earth. The last chapters show the practical power of the hope and set out the order of events. Hymns of the advent are scattered through it.
All who read the New Testament carefully must perceive that our Lord, and then the Holy Ghost by the apostles, represent His second advent as possible at any time.
Till He Come, His Coming May Be Near
In defense of the Bible
Is the Bible True? Seven Addresses
Seven talks given to answer David Friedrich Strauss, the German critic whose Life of Jesus treated the Gospels as myth. Brookes covers inspiration, the canon of the New Testament, the character of Jesus, what friends and foes have said about Him, the resurrection, the Bible as its own witness, and alleged contradictions between the Gospels. His point on the character of Jesus is that no one could have invented Him.
It does not concern us to know what opinion Strauss chose to entertain of the character of Jesus, but it does concern us to know that Jesus plainly and frequently predicted His resurrection.
Is the Bible True?, The Resurrection of Jesus
These were spoken to church audiences, so they're easier to follow than most books of apologetics. Read Is the Bible True?.
Is the Bible Inspired?
Here Brookes defends verbal inspiration, the belief that God gave the very words of Scripture and not only its ideas. He begins with the faith of the church from the early fathers through the Reformation confessions, then answers the newer theories that the Bible only contains God's word. The rest of the book lets the Bible speak for itself: "Thus saith the Lord" in the histories and prophets, how Jesus and the Gospels used the Old Testament, how the epistles quote it as the voice of God, and how the New Testament was given with the same authority.
He does not say, The spirit of the Lord thought by me, but spake by me; nor does he say, the truth of God was in my mind, but His word was in my tongue.
Is the Bible Inspired?, The Inspiration of the Historical Books and Psalms of the Old Testament
That line is on David's last words in 2 Samuel 23:2, and it shows how Brookes reads: closely, word by word. Read Is the Bible Inspired?.
Chaff and Wheat: A Defense of Verbal Inspiration
A short tract from 1891, written during the controversy over Professor Charles Briggs. The title comes from Jeremiah 23: "What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD." Brookes defends the King James rendering of 2 Timothy 3:16, shows that Moses, David and Jeremiah claimed to speak God's very words, and answers Briggs, Robertson Smith and Wellhausen by name. He ends with two lists: twenty-one things the word of God does, from new birth to judgment, and fourteen names the Bible gives itself.
As for thoughts being inspired, apart from the words which give them expression, you might as well talk of a tune without notes, or a sum without figures.
Chaff and Wheat
Several paragraphs in the middle, on Paul, Peter and Pentecost, are badly garbled in this scan. The closing lists are clean and worth reading on their own. Read Chaff and Wheat.
Why read Brookes today
Brookes is clear about the gospel, sure of the Bible and full of longing for Christ's return. He wrote for ordinary Christians, and he never lets doctrine stay in the head. Begin with The Way Made Plain, and if you want help with the question of being sure you're saved, see our guide to the best Christian books on assurance. For his best lines, see our collection of James H. Brookes quotes. All six books are on the James H. Brookes author page.