Glorious Day of the Saints Appe
says faith. Faith carries a man gloriously through all. If you would do gloriously, abound in faith, let faith have elbow-room. I shall say no more of this. Though there be other directions, I will rather leave them.
3. Is it so, that the saints shall be glorious? Then this serves, in the next place, by way of use, for singular COMFORT and CONSOLATION. Shall the saints at last appear glorious? It speaks singular comfort to all believers, against all the reproaches, and contempt, and scorn which they may meet with in this world. What though you are scorned, and one says this, and another says that?
Here is your comfort--you shall appear glorious. What though this worthy man's body is mangled here and there by bloody butchers? yet this body shall appear glorious at the last. What a singular comfort is it! The apostle makes the same use from the same consideration: 1 Thes. 4:15-17, "We who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever." Oh, comfort yourselves with this consideration-- that he shall appear glorious at last, with the rest of the glorious renowned saints!
This may comfort us against all reproaches, and scorns, and contempts that men throw upon us! And what though the glory of the saints is now hidden by prevailing distempers, and afflictions, and poverty? yet here is your comfort--the day is coming when your glory will break out, when your rags shall be taken off, and your glorious robes put on, when God will wipe away all the dirt and filth that has been thrown on you by vain spirits. Therefore bear up, brave hearts! There is a day coming when you shall appear glorious, and it will be but as a day before that day overtakes you.
Then, again, If the saints at the last shall appear glorious, then it bespeaks all, in the last place, to long for that day! You shall at the last appear in glory. Oh then long for that day; cry out with the church, "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly!" Cry out again with the church in Solomon's Song, 8:14, "Make haste, my beloved;" or as the original has it, "Flee away speedily, my beloved, and be like a roe or a young deer upon the mountains of spices."
Will you remember these two things, to engage you to be much in longing for this day, wherein the saints shall appear in glory. Divers things might be said—but I shall reduce all to two things.
Firstly, Until this day--your happiness will not be complete, therefore long for it. Until the saints shall appear glorious, all will be incomplete; your comforts, your graces, your enjoyment of God, and of that glory that he has provided. Until this glorious day your glory will be incomplete; therefore long for the day wherein all shall be complete.
Secondly, Until then--the innocency of the saints shall not be fully cleared. Oh long for that day wherein the saints shall appear in glory, for until then the innocency of the saints shall not be fully cleared.
Now I say, the devil and wicked men throw much dirt on them, and reproach and revile them, and what not, and something of that will stick—but let this bespeak all such to long for that day wherein all dirt, scorn, and filth shall be wiped off, wherein God will clear the righteousness, integrity, and innocency of his saints. Therefore seeing the saints shall appear glorious, be not discouraged, however you appear in the world to the eye of men. Now you are strangers, far from your Father's house—but it will be but as a day before the trumpet sound and the angels shall gather you, before the robes of glory shall be put on, and your mourning weeds shall be taken off, and the glorious crowns put on your heads, and your happiness shall be complete. Long for this day; for this will be a day indeed of refreshing from the Lord. I shall say no more to this point—but earnestly desire that God would please to make it take impression on your spirits. The saints shall appear glorious. Oh let it be our glory, while we are here, so to walk as those who expect to appear glorious another day!
As for this thrice-honored champion now in the dust: for his enjoyment of God, from my own experience, being with him both at sea and land, I have abundance of sweetness and satisfaction in my own spirit, which to me exceedingly sweetens so great a loss. I shall not speak of the wife's loss, nor the brother's loss, nor the army's loss; for the loss of this worthy is a loss to the kingdom, and if they are not in a sad, sinful sleep, they will say so. And, indeed, it is with me, I ingenuously confess, as it was with him who, when he was demanded what God was; he desired three days' consideration to give an answer, and when those days were expired, three more; and then he gives this answer, "That the more he thought of him, the further he was from discovering of him." The more I think of the gallantry and worth of this champion, the further off I am from discovering his worth. I think he was one of whom this sinful nation was not worthy; he was one of whom this declining parliament was not worthy; he was one of whom those divided, formal, carnal, gospellers was not worthy. He served his generation faithfully, though he died by the hand of treachery. I am fully satisfied, with many more, that he is now triumphing in glory; and it will be but as a day before he shall see his enemies stand at the bar. For my own part, I can truly say that, to the best of my memory and understanding, I have not observed that the hearts of the people of God have been so generally and eminently affected with the loss of any worthy, as with the loss of this worthy; no, not for any worthy that has fallen since the sword was drawn, though many precious worthies have fallen upon the ground; which strongly speaks out the love of the people of God to him, and their honorable esteem of him.
They honored him in his life, and they showed great respect to him in death. He was a joy to the best of men, and a terror to the worst of men. But for my part I would rather choose, I sincerely confess, if it were possible, to weep over him with tears of blood, than to trouble you further with relating his gallant service for the good of this sinful kingdom.
We will cease from saying anything more of him, and sit down satisfied and joying in this--that the day is coming when the saints shall appear glorious; and with that we will refresh and cheer our spirits as with a cordial, that there is a day coming when we with this deceased worthy shall appear glorious. And it will be but as a day before our royal robes shall be put on our backs, and crowns set on our heads. I am now done; and so shall commend you "to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified," [Acts 20:32.]
MONERGISM BOOKS
Glorious Day of the Saints Appearance by Thomas Brooks, Copyright © 2019
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American
Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Monergism Books. ePub, .mobi & .pdf Editions October 2019 Requests for information should be addressed to: Monergism Books, PO Box 491, West Linn, OR 97068