("A Believer's Last Day, His Best Day")
A believer's last day is his best day! Death is a change
of company. In this world, the godliest man must live
with the wicked, and converse with the wicked, etc.;
and this is a part of their misery; it is their hell on this
side heaven. This stuck upon the heart of David: "Woe
to me that I dwell in Meshech, that I live among the
tents of Kedar!" Psalm 120:5
I have read of a godly woman, who, being near death,
cried out, "O Lord, let me not go to hell where the wicked
are, for You know that I never loved their company while
in this life!"
"Oh, that I had in the desert a lodging place for travelers,
so that I might leave my people and go away from them;
for they are all adulterers, a crowd of unfaithful people!"
Jeremiah 9:2
And this was that which did vex and tear Lot's righteous
soul—"Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the
filthy lives of lawless men (for that righteous man, living
among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous
soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard." 2 Peter 2:7-8
Oh, but death is a change of company. A godly man does
but change the company of profane people, of vile people,
etc.—for the company of angels; and the company of weak
Christians—for the company of just men made perfect.
"Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does
what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names
are written in the Lamb's book of life." Revelation 21:27
"Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the
sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone
who loves and practices falsehood." Revelation 22:15
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Thomas Brooks (1608 - 1680)
Much of what is known about Thomas Brooks has been ascertained from his writings. Born, likely to well-to-do parents, in 1608, Brooks entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1625, where he was preceded by such men as Thomas Hooker, John Cotton, and Thomas Shepard. He was licensed as a preacher of the Gospel by 1640. Before that date, he appears to have spent a number of years at sea, probably as a chaplain with the fleet.After the conclusion of the First English Civil War, Thomas Brooks became minister at Thomas Apostle's, London, and was sufficiently renowned to be chosen as preacher before the House of Commons on December 26, 1648. His sermon was afterwards published under the title, 'God's Delight in the Progress of the Upright', the text being Psalm 44:18: 'Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from Thy way'. Three or four years afterwards, he transferred to St. Margaret's, Fish-street Hill, London. In 1662, he fell victim to the notorious Act of Uniformity, but he appears to have remained in his parish and to have preached as opportunity arose. Treatises continued to flow from his pen.[3]
Thomas Brooks was a nonconformist preacher. Born into a Puritan family, he was sent to Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He soon became an advocate of the Congregational way and served as a chaplain in the Civil War. In 1648 he accepted the rectory of St. Margaret's, New Fish Street, London, but only after making his Congregational principles clear to the vestry.
On several occasions he preached before Parliament. He was ejected in 1660 and remained in London as a Nonconformist preacher. Government spies reported that he preached at Tower Wharf and in Moorfields. During the Great Plague and Great Fire he worked in London, and in 1672 was granted a license to preach in Lime Street. He wrote over a dozen books, most of which are devotional in character. He was buried in Bunhill Fields.