hand the glory of the Saints receives encrease as their labours and pains are fruitful as Divines say of Paul's glory One Heaven is too much for the best Saint that ever lived were not the reward of Grace and yet your Heaven shall multiply according to the fruit of your good doings which you left behind you And this will be instead of doing good in Heaven when the Saints leave that behind them which keeps fructifying after they have left this world Why what is that which they may thus leave behind them Their good Works and Words and Examples and holy Lives their Instructions Exhortations Counsels Encouragements their remarkable Actions and Sufferings for Christ By all which they act and speak even after death And there is no other way that I know whereby to do good when you are in Heaven And in this way shall the glorified Saints know in Heaven whether the good works which they left behind them do fructifie for they shall find and feel it in their enlarged Crowns further Augmentations and additional Glories And then they shall break out into new Songs of praise to God and the Lamb for helping them to sow their Seed on Earth which still fructifieth after they are gone to Heaven And in this way a Father may convert his Child or Children after his death as as I doubt not but many have done And then he heareth of it in Heaven two wayes 1. By his additional Glory 2. By the joyful Acclamations of the Angels for the conversion of a sinner Wherefore let us endeavour so to live here a little while that our good Works may live when we are dead and act when we are at rest and speak when we are gone down into silence and bring forth fruit unto holiness when we are in endless happiness and bring Souls to Heaven after us to tell us that our good Works and Words and Examples Instructions Exhortations Counsels sufferings Graces are yet all alive and well and like to yield a further Crop and Harvest of Joy and Honour to them that sowed them before their death Oh it is a blessed thing and the Wisdom of Saints to leave a stock of good Works behind them whereby to have a Trade going here on Earth which will afford them fresh Incomes of Glory whil'st they are already shining as the Sun in the the Kingdom of their Father And thus much for the first Use of Exhortation to do all the good we are able during our dwelling here on Earth 2d Branch of Exhortation Let the second Exhortation be to call upon you to value your Opportunities to make the best improvements of time whil'st you are in the Land of the living so as the World is often called For Hezekiah began now to consider the price of time who but lately was at the Gates of the Grave and deprived as he thought of the residue of his years that is which he might have lived according to the ordinary course of Nature Saith he Mine age is departed and removed from me as a Shepherds Tent That is which the Shepherd removeth from Plain to Plain according to his occasions as the matter shall require Now I am living here by and by my Body must lodge in the Tent of the cold Grave and my Soul return to God that gave it I have cut off like a Weaver my life he that is God will cut me off from the Thrum Ver. 12. I have cut off my life by my Sins and God hath cut it off by his righteous hand upon me Saith he I reckoned till morning Ver. 13. I shall be dead by the morning And now Hezekiah begins to prize time and cries The living the living he shall praise thee Thus when once the swift Shuttle of your life is come to a Thrum then you will see the value of Opportunity and cry The living the living c. and reckon till the morning and say There is but one day more between my life and Eternity And it may not be long ere that Morning or Evening cometh For little did Hezekiah a few dayes before think that he had been so near unto death being now but thirty nine years old and God having wrought so wonderfully for him in his late preservation from Senacharib For saith he Behold for peace I had great bitterness God lately destroyed the Host of the King of Assyria and gave me peace and I said I shall now now dye in my Nest and multiply my dayes as the Sand but I little thought of such a sickness to ensue my peace It seems he was surprized and so may you be if you look not well to it for God now gives fair warning of it They that will not prize Opportunity shall have an opportunity to prize it If they prize it not living they shall prize it dying Wherefore manage your seasons for the best ends while you have them and fill up your dayes with duty and be not so eager upon the World and the things thereof Opportunity is a golden Mattock to dig for Heavenly Treasure do not wear it out as many do in digging for Pibbls and at your latter end become a fool Beware therefore of idleness on the one side and cumbring your self with Worldly Occasions on the other but consider wherefore hath God given you life and time but to be serviceable in your day and to work for him in whom you live He did not give you time to play the Truant and design and labour to be rich and to grow great in the World and to arrive at such a Revenue and proportion of worldly Estate but he sent you into the World to do his work and to improve your Time and Talent for him And therefore when the World or the Flesh is putting such Employments upon you which will devour much time and divert you from the one thing necessary tell them That you must give an account of your time and you must not rob your Lord and Master of his hours which he sent you to improve in his service c. And certainly it is an undervaluing also of Heaven to think to go thither and to do little or nothing for God upon Earth though yet the recompence of reward is purely gracious or of meer Grace let our Labours for the Lord be never so many for what are all our Studies Works Sweat and blood and Spirits and Cost and Care and Time expended upon Christ in comparison with an exceeding Eternal weight of Glory Prize therefore and improve your times Here are several of you that are young or in your middle age or about Hezekiah's years Call your selves to an account and enquire of your own hearts what you have done Peradventure but little for God and what will turn to a comfortable account What then if God should now lay you as he did Hezekiah upon your sick Bed and threaten to cut off the Thrum of your lives Would
Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians and the second Epistle to Timothy and that to Philemon In all which are many excellent Points of divers kinds which greatly conduce to the Churches edification And better a thousand times that Paul had been kept 20 years out of Heaven than that the Church should have wanted these Epistles But is it not lawful then in any case to desire to dye Yes with subjection to God's will in case especially there are appearances that a Man's work is at an end For a Child of God may live so long that his faculties may be impaired his strength decayed his spirits spent and he may be full of pain too and so shut up that he can do little good And as Job saith A servant that hath wrought hard all the day and is weary earnestly desireth the shadow And so it is with a Child of God in this case The weary body naturally desireth the bed And sometimes God makes a clear discovery to some of his servants that their work is at an end Thus it was with Paul I am ready to be offered up and the time of my departure is at hand I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the Faith And it is with gracious Souls as with the Fruit of the Tree which when it is ripe drops naturally from it There is a Spiritual instinct inclining the Soul of a Believer Heaven-ward when the Fruit is ripe So that they come to their graves as a ripe Shock of Corn cometh in its season And a desire to dye in such a case is still the better when it proceedeth from a longing to be freed from sin and a desire to be with Christ Phil. 1. 23. Application If there are opportunities of service to be performed to God in this life which are not to be enjoyed after death and that the Saints may do that for God in the world which they cannot do in Heaven we are then 1. Informed That Heaven is the place of the Saints reward and not of their work When they dye they cease from their labours and their works do follow them They do not follow the Saints as if the Saints were there to follow their work but they follow them to be rewarded and crowned For their course is now finished their race is run and henceforth is laid up for them a Crown of Righteousness Heaven therefore is not their working-place but their resting-place they rest from their labours there is much to be received there but nothing to be done there but to live in the high praises of God and the Lamb to Eternity If our opportunities dye together with us then we are further informed That as there is no working in Heaven so there is no returning after death to work again in this world If a Man dye shall he live again No saith Hezekiah ver 11. I said in the cutting off of my days I shall go to the Gates of the Grave I shall nor see the Lord even the Lord in the Land of the living I shall behold Man no more with the inhabitants of the world That is I shall no more appear before the Lord in his Sanctuary to perform any more service there to him As if he should say I shall see the Lord in Heaven but I shall see him serve no more in the Land of the living which I desire to do For when Isaiah brought him the welcome tidings of his recovery one of first things that he saith to him is what is the sign that I shall go up to the House of the Lord For a King to go to the House of the Lord and to lead the way to the Worship of God was a very glorious service He looked upon it as a very great mercy to see and serve the Lord in the Land of the living but he thought he should see him so no more nor behold Man any more with the inhabitants of the world and therefore he should return no more Men have but one Soul and but one opportunity to act for the eternal salvation of it when they are dead the Eye that hath seen them shall see them no more and he that goeth down to the Grave shall come up no more And therefore it was not Samuel risen from the dead but the Devil that appeared and spake to Saul in the house of the Witch at Endor For the appearance ascended out of the Earth in the house of the Woman which was in the Tribe of Issachar whereas Samuel was buried at his house at Ramah which was in the Tribe of Benjamin Besides he was buried in his Grave-clothes whereas he is described rising in his Mantle And he was as all the Saints are after death at rest whereâ—s he that is there called Samuel saith to Saul Wherefore hast thou disquieted me to bring me up And it is not in the power of all the Devils in Hell to disquiet the Saints after death Other Reasons I might urge but these may suffice The dead return not again as David said of his Child when dead I shall go to him but he shall not return to me Opportunity is a part of time and hath nothing to do in Eternity Neither is there any regress or returning but by miracle from the Land of forgetfulness 2. Instructed in matter of Reproof To such as live long and do but little whereas we may reckon our lives by the good that we do in this world For as for lost time it cannot come into the account of our lives and it is a pitiful thing to be old only in time And all the good of many stricken in years will lie within a very little compass and to be an ancient Man or Woman of two or three years old sounds like a Contradiction So teach us saith Moses to number our dayes that we may apply our hearts to wisdom And surely this is one special way of numbring our days to know how long we have lived in serving our Generation and what time we have spent that way and he never applyed his Heart to Wisdom who hath not learned so to number his dayes There are but two lives that can be lived in this world viz. a Natural and a Spiritual and all live the first but few the second whereas it is our wisdom to live spiritually and so to live is to live First for the Generations that succeed us so as Hezekiah here desired to live Secondly To live for Eternity To live only a natural life is for Brutes and not for Men. And therefore you that are entred into years and have done but little are justly reprehended as having lived more like Fools than wise Men. Secondly What shall we say to such as have lived to no purpose at all All that they have done hath been to eat and drink and make a number And there are multitudes of these who have profaned
THE PRIVILEDGE OF THE Saints on Earth BEYOND Those in HEAVEN In respect of Gifts and Graces exercised Duties and Services performed sufferings and Tryals undergone by them which the Glorified are not capable of BEING The Sum of a Discourse upon a part of Hezekiah Song of Thanksgiving after his Recovery from his Sickness To which is added A short Discourse of the Nature and 〈◊〉 of the Gospel-day reaching from the Destruction of the Old to the 〈…〉 of the New Jerusalem out of 〈…〉 By WILLIAM HOOKE Preacher of the Gospel LONDON Printed for John Wilkins and are to be sold at his Shop in Exchange-Alley next door to the Exchange-Coffee-House over against the Royal-Exchange 1673. Courteous Reader Thou art desired to correct with thy Pen these following Errata's PAge 9. Line 15. for imparted read imported P. 11. in the Margin r. Eph. 3. last P. 13. l. 6. f. hence r. here P. 16. l. 10. for Spiritual r. special P. 22. in the Margin r. Job 7. 2. P. 23. l. 10. for the r. this P. 35. l. 13. blot out yet P. 51. l. 28. r. bridled P. 53. in the Margin r. Luke 8. 48. Luke 7. 50. P. 65. l. 9. for the r. your P. 91. l. 23 24. for Argumentations r. Augmentations P. 92. l. 8. for for r. so P. 92. l. last for were not the r. were it not for the. P. 95. l. 20. f. from plain to Plain r. from Place to Place P. 101. l. 22 for lon r. long In the second Sermon in the Epistle for go r. therefore TO THE READER THe greatest and highest Honour of the reasonable Creature is to serve him who is the best Good and last End Herein do we communicate with Angels whose glory it is that they are Ministring Spirits always beholding the face of God our Father for this very purpose How diligent then should we be to lay hold on and to improve all opportunities of service seeing our time is so short our work so great and our salvation nearer than when we first believed The Son of God hath given us a glorious pattern herein I must work the work of him that hath sent me c. Christ Jesus our Master improved all opportunities went up and down doing good filling all places where he came with the favour of his Doctrine and Miracles because he knew his time was short and the recompence of reward at hand The serious thoughts hereof would exceedingly spur us to a holy diligence especially considering that Heaven is a place not of work but reward where the Saints will be divested of serving and honouring God in many of these ways wherein now through grace they are enabled to bring much glory to his Name Many Graces Duties Gifts have here their place while we are Viatores but shall have no room when we come to be Comprehensores And this is the design of the worthy Author in this little Tract viz. to set before thee the great opportunities thou hast of service to God while thou art on this side Heaven beyond what are to be enjoyed there Were this throughly weighed how would Holiness be promoted Saints thrive Families flourish Churches revive we should not so passionately desire death meerly to be rid of all sufferings but should prize life if with it Christ Jesus might be magnified It is glorious work that God calls his Saints to ' ere they get to Heaven Is not suffering for Christ glorious work is not the exercise of Faith Hope and Patience glorious work To do good and to communicate both to the bodily and spiritual necessities of Saints and others is not this glorious work In a word to propagate pure Religion undefiled to the generations to come is not this glorious work Why herein are the Saints on Earth priviledged beyond those in Heaven where there is no room for the exercise of these Graces and Duties Oh! who would not pray that he might live to do God service spin not out precious time unprofitably Pray that thou mayest be counted worthy of this calling which is indeed a high calling and fulfil all the good pleasure of his Goodness and the work of Faith Hope and Patience with power that the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and ye in him according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ Isaiah 38 18 19. For the Grave cannot praise thee Death cannot celebrate thee They that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth The living the living he shall praise thee as I do this day The Father to the Children shall make known thy Truth THe words are a part of Hezekiah's thanksgiving for his recovery from his sickness beginning at the ninth verse This good King was not simply afraid of Death as appeareth ver 3d. But First He had then no Son to succeed him in the Kingdom for Manasseh was not then born and he was sollicitous for a Successour and the fulfilling of God's Promise to David which we have four times expressed viz. 2 Sam. 7. 12 13 16. 1 King 8. 25. Psal 89. 28 29. 132. 12. In all which places we find this Promise to David that there should not fail a Man of his Seed to sit upon the Throne of Israel so that his Children took heed to their wayes to walk before the Lord in truth as David their Father had done Here was a Promise with a Condition And hence it is I suppose that Hezekiah in his Prayer vers 3d makes mention of his fulfilling that Condition viz. That David's Children must take heed to their way if they desired to sit upon his Throne that they walk before him as David had done For saith Hezekiah Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart have done that which is good in thy sight As much as to say Lord I hope thou wilt not cut me off and leave the Kingdom without an Heir of the Seed of David seeing thou did'st promise him that thou wouldest not provided that his Children took heed to their way that they walked before him as David did And through thy Grace I have so walked in my measure and therefore I hope thou wilt not take me away who have performed the Condition So that Hezekiah though a very good Man was afraid of Death yet not simply but lest the Kingdom should want an Heir of the Seed of David And this that I have said confirms the Opinion of those that say that Hezekiah was loth to dye because then he had no Heir though that was not all the reason For Secondly He was also loth to dye in God's displeasure so as a Child of God my do For God doth testifie his temporal displeasure many times against his own Children If his Children forsake my Law and walk not in my Judgments If they break my Statutes and keep not my Commandments Then will I
visit their transgressions with the Rod and their iniquity with Stripes And he testifies it sometimes in their death as he did in the death of the Prophet that came out of Judah and Prophesied against the Altar it Bethel who was slain by a Lion for his disobeying the Word of the Lord. And Hezekiah was afraid that God had some controversie with him and he was loth to dye in God's displeasure Peradventure he was somewhat lifted up with his miraculous deliverance from the Host of Senacherib mentioned in the former Chapter For God did wonderful things as you know to effect that deliverance and this sickness was immediately after the destruction of Senacherib's Army for that happened in the 39th year of Hezekiahs life who lived fifteen years after his recovery from his sickness which two numbers make the whole number of Hezekiah's years which were 54 2 King 18. 2. So that this sickness of his fell out presently upon that great deliverance And the good Man was not so thankful perhaps as he should be but somewhat elevated For this was his weakness after his recovery His heart was lifted up and he rendred not again according to the benefit done to him for which God was angry with him What the sin was I will not positively determine only I thus conjecture but that he apprehended God's displeasure for his sin is evident from the words immediately before my Text saith he Thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back Therefore it seems his sins lay before the face of God till his recovery and upon this account he was loth to dye Thirdly He was loth to dye as fearing what should become of his Reformation For he knew what became of Jehoshaphat's though he left a son behind him and of Jehojadah's though he left a well-educated Nephew behind him Add hereunto that he found the Church in a very deplored condition when he came to the Crown And as for his present Reformation it had not lasted so long as his Father's Deformation and Idolatry and his Reformation had scarce taken root as yet therefore he was willing to live longer and not as yet to dye Fourthly That which made him the more unwilling was the nature of his Disease which by the Remedy and way of Cure a lump of Figgs laid for a Plaister upon the Boyl Ver. 21. I say which by the Cure seems to have been the Pestilence And he was not willing to go to Heaven that way though good Men may dye of that Disease and many times have done But yet a Child of God would for several Reasons willingly decline that way of dying if it might stand with the good will and pleasure of God Thus you see the Reasons why Hezekiah was loth to dye Now then being recovered and having a lease of his life for 15 years granted him he writeth down his thanksgiving as much affected with God's mercy towards him vers 9 c. In the Text read unto you there is 1. A Declaration of the state of the Dead as to the loss of all opportunities ever to praise and magnifie God any more or to hope for his truth in this world Secondly An Assertion of the opportunities enjoyed by the living thus to praise God and to make known his Truth that is His Truth and Faithfulness in his Promises For I conceive Hezekiah hath here a special respect to the Truth and faithfulness of God in his Promise made to David and his Seed in the foremtioned Texts of Scripture And therefore it is very likely that Hezekiah made known this Truth and Faithfulness of God to his son Manasseh who was twelve years old when Hezekiah dyed Though Manasseh it seems did little mind it or made any good use of it That Point of Doctrine which I shall insist upon is this That Doctrine There are opportunities of service to be performed to God in this life which are not to be enjoyed after death Or thus The people of God may do that for him in this World which they cannot do in Heaven David therefore makes an Argument of it in his Prayer and sad Complaint in his Sickness For saith he in death there is no remembrance of thee not but that the Saints in Heaven do remember God for they see him there but they cannot keep up his memorial any longer among the living he goes on In the Grave who shall give thee thanks The like we have in the 30th Psalm entitled A Song at the Dedication of the house of David viz. after his return as 't is conceived from his victory over Absalom who had dreadfully defiled David's house with Incest in abusing his Fathers Concubines which house therefore David endeavours to purge and cleanse in a solemn holy manner at his return and to dedicate it anew to God And in that Psalm he sheweth how he cryed to the Lord in the day of his trouble when Absalom rose up against him when he was afraid of his life and was loth to dye by the hand of his son saith he What profit is there in my blood when I go down to the pit shall the dust praise thee shall it declare thy Truth And dark deserted Heman makes use of the same argument Psal 88. 10 11. Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead and shall the dead arise and praise thee Selah Shall thy loving kindness be declared in the Grave or thy faithfulness in destruction Shall thy wonders be known in the dark and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness saith he Thy people may make known thy wonders in this life but not in the Grave But then do not the Saints when they are dead praise the Lord Yes But the Psalmist speaketh not of that but of praising God and declaring his loving kindness faithfulness and righteousness in the land of the living And all their service that way is at an end except by Miracle any be raised from the dead as Lazarus and Tabitha were So Psal 115. 17. The dead praise not the Lord neither any that go down into silence And hence saith David I shall not dye but live and declare the works of the Lord Psalm 118. 17. As much as to say there is no declaring of them after death But what are those services that may be done here which cannot be done in Heaven that so we may see the Point in Instances They are many and let me begin with these in my Text. The living the living he shall praise thee i. e. He shall praise thee before the Children of Men in the Land of the living Now this is a glorious service containing as much as is imparted in the first Petition of the Rule of Prayer i. e. Hallowed be thy Name which though it be a service done in Heaven yet in the presence of glorified Saints only without any propagation of praise to the Name of God for that is the priviledge of the Saints
doth rest in hope Not that their flesh doth hope but that resteth and their Souls hope for its rising again Accordingly it followeth That here in this life the Saints do exercise their patience which ceaseth in Heaven because our hope ceaseth there For patience is the servant of Hope 1 Thes 1. 3. called there the patience of hope For if we hope for that which we see not then do we with patience wait for it There is nothing in Heaven to put our patience to it It is true indeed what the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 13. last Now abideth Faith Hope and Charity these three but the greatest of these is Charity Because Charity i. e. Love never faileth ver 8. that is Heavens grace in a Spiritual manner But yet notwithstanding even Love it self hath a larger Object here in this world than in Heaven For there is a Love here which cannot be exercised there And that is To love our enemies which is the Command of the Gospel and a great Duty and was one of the last Acts of Christ upon the Cross Luke 23. 34. And the very last Act of Stephen the Protomartyr who was never like to act it more Act. 7. last Lord saith he lay not this sin to their charge Here in this life you may love all Unregenerate men and shew it in your desires and endeavours for their conversion Here also you may exercise a Love of sympathy with all both good and bad in their sufferings But in Heaven there is no room for this Love And as these gifts of Grace forementioned do greatly glorifie God but cease in Heaven so do Parts and common-Gifts also cease there For whether there be Prophesies they shall fail or whether there be Tongues they shall cease or whether there be knowledge that is imperfect mediate and the communication of it to others it shall vanish away And yet Prophesying is much to God's glory For He that Prophesieth speaketh unto men to Edification Exhortation Consolation And Tongues do also edifie So likewise for knowledge So that put all this together and there is much to be done here whereby God may be glorified and men edified and benefited which cannot be done in heaven And thus you see the Point made good in several Instances That there are opportunities of service to be performed to the Lord in this life which are not to be enjoyed after death Quest But if it be thus why have some of the Saints mentioned in Scripture desired to dye Answer Some of the Saints have done ill in so doing but others upon good ground First Some of them have not done well in desiring death for they have passionately desired it and to their own loss if God should have answered their desires herein For instance 1. Moses he was the meekest Man upon the Earth yet he seems to be in a passion when he said If thou deal thus with me kill me I pray thee out of hand Why was there no remedy but God must kill him and presently too if the burthen of the people lay a little longer upon him This was a passionate expression and desire of death And had he died there presently he had incurred a double loss to say no more in it 1. He had been cut short of the opportunity of doing that eminent service in conducting the people through the Wilderness For he lived 38 years longer and did much for God and his people during that time 2. If he had died then out of hand he had not dyed and been buried so honourably as he was afterwards upon Mount Nebo even by God's hand 2. And though Job was a patient Man yet he passionately desired death Oh! saith he that I might have my request and that God would grant me the thing that I long for Even that it would please God to destroy me that he would let loose his hand and cut me off Whereas God meant Job better than so viz. to turn his Captivity and to give him twice as much as he had lost and the full number of his former Children and so to double their number also shewing him that his first number was not last Moreover he shall yet live 140 years longer to serve and honour God in this world Again 3. Elijah was a Man subject to like passions as we are and being persecuted by Jezebel he requested for himself that he might dye and he said It is enough now O Lord take away my life for I am not better than my Fathers Whereas God intended better for him viz. that he should live yet longer and finish his Testimony against Ahab Jezebel and Ahaziah and then be carried triumphantly to Heaven in a fiery Chariot So 4. Jonah would needs dye in a fret Oh Lord saith he Take I beseech thee my life from me for it is better for me to dye than to live No Jonah was not in case to dye at present God would not take him at his word but he must live yet longer and repent Secondly As for some others of the Saints death hath been desired by them and not impatiently nor any way sinfully but very well and upon good ground You know 1. Just and devout Simeon when he had taken up Christ in his arms he blessed God and said Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace and the ground of this request lies in the words following according to thy Word His Prayer it seems was grounded upon a word from God For as God had told him that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ so he had promised him that then he should dye and so his Prayer was grounded upon a Promise 2. And as for Paul He desired to depart and to be with Christ which saith he is far better i. e. for me Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you And having this confidence I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of Faith So that 1. When he desired to dye he looked upon the benefit thereof abstractedly and absolutely but not comparatively 2. When he looked upon it on comparison with the benefits of life he was not so positive in the desire of death but having done great service and that too a long time for Jesus Christ for then he was Paul the aged Philem. ver 9. and being then in prison at Rome he hung for a time in Aequilibrio mid-way between two till at last the Scale turns to a desire to live further to serve Jesus Christ and his Church and people For though Paul was then in prison yet he did very much good there which had been lost had he then gone to Heaven For his bonds furthered the Gospel And they strengthned the Brethren and wrought upon several in Caesars Palace And there be converted Onesimus and there he wrote his Epistles to the
their lives in not answering the end of them They are meer Earth-cumberers and such who have lived only to themselves Thirdly But which is worse some have lived to wicked purposes having spent their days in sin and been offensive both to God and Men who as last will come to dye like Jehoram without being desired And such another was Hezekiah's Father even that King Ahaz who when he died was buried like Jehoram and not brought into the Sepulchres of the Kings of Israel And such another was that persecutor Jehoiakim for whom they lamented not saying Ah Lord or ah his glory Oh! these are to be exploded out of the Land of the living For Men shall clap their hands at them and hiss them out of the world he never did good work while he lived and he shall have never a good word when he dieth So much for Reprehension This Point instructs us in matter of Humiliation What hath been said should humble even the very best of God's people in that they have done no more service for Jesus Christ in their Generation You have possibly done something for him but you might have done more You might have praised him more declared the Truth more to your Children you might have projected and designed more for the glory of God and the good of Posterity you might have devised liberal things lived more exemplarily been more zealous of good works more edifying in your conversation you might have adventured more for Christ and whereas you have gained two Talents for him you might have gained five Truly for my part I might have done more and it humbleth me that I have done so little I remember it is said of Doctor Vsher in the Narrative of his Life and Death that when he was a dying he was humbled for his omissions And indeed they are great sins and the judgment of Christ at his appearing will pass much upon good works on the one side and omissions of them on the other And therefore we had need to sit in judgment upon our selves for our omissions before we dye For it is not enough to do good sometimes but we should be rich in good works and prepared unto every good work always abounding in the work of the Lord giving a portion to seven and also to eight going about as Christ did doing good And he that is thus exercised is fit to live and fit to dye But let us be humbled this day for our neglects For have not our hearts sometimes checked us upon reviews of the loss of our opportunities to do such or such a good work Saith a gracious and tender heart when he is come from such a person or such a place or such a company or occasion Alas what have I omitted I might have put in such a word for Jesus Christ I might have reproved such a sin or given such or such counsel or stopt such a vain discourse or given such an example or moved for such a good work c. Alas who knows the errors of his life this way and therefore this consideration calls for deep Humiliation and self-judging at this time 3. Exhorted We are here Exhorted and the Point affords Exhortation several ways To do all the good you are able during your abode here below seeing death will put an end to all your opportunities If God enable you to speak a good word to his honour and to the edification of others when you lye a dying you are never like to do so much good again to Eternity When you take your leave of the world you take your leave of doing good And therefore you had need bestir your selves while your Bodies and Souls abide here together Whatsoever therefore thy hand findeth to do do it with thy might for there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom in the Grave whither thou goest And suppose you have done well hitherto like a good and faithful servant be not yet weary of well doing but up and be doing still and in due time you shall reap if you faint not What a deal of good had Hezekiah done before he fell into this sickness He destroyed the Monuments of Idolatry set up a notable Reformation brought back the Tribes of Israel to the Lord God of their Fathers And yet you see here he is willing to live longer to do more So Peter had done much good in his time you know he converted about three thousand Souls at the beginning of his Ministry he had a most happy hansel Acts 2d And yet he takes another opportunity and sped well And after this he passeth through all quarters and came at last to Lydda Saron and Joppa you know what good he did in the house of Cornelius c. At length he becomes old then he writes to the Saints For saith he I think it meet as long as I am in this Tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance knowing that shortly I must put off this my Tabernacle even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me Moreover I will endeavour that you may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance First saith he I am aware of death approaching Secondly I will therefore do all the good I am able both with my Tongue and Pen. Thirdly I will endeavour that the good I do may live when I am dead that you may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance Even thus we should endeavour to live in this world after our departure Survive your Funerals and out-live your deaths For it is not enough that we shall then live in Heaven but we should endeavour to be doing of that good while we live that may make us live on Earth even when we are dead And in this way the memory of the Just shall be blessed and the Righteous had in everlasting remembrance It is the Saints happiness to have Glory and Honour and Immortality in Heaven but it is much to the glory and honour of God for the Saints to be immortalized on Earth and to live in their good Examples good Counsels good Names and good Works when their Souls are shining in Heaven Particularly 1. Dilate and diffuse the praises of God and make his Name glorious to the utmost of your power And let this be often sounding in your ears The living the living he shall praise thee Speak much and live much to his praise Let the high praises of God be in your mouthes Ainsworth and the Dutch Interpreters render it Let the exaltations of God be in your throat and it suits with the Original as also with the Translation of the 70. The Exaltations i. e. the lifting up of God in his Name Attributes Precept Promises Threatnings Providences c. let them be in your throats i. e. exalt your voices in exalting
that which God is pleased to grant to some and it is a great mercy where it is vouchsafed for it is not so eminently granted unto all that fear the Lord. Had Hezekiah now dyed his Distemper was so violent that he could not have dyed so comfortably I reckoned till morning that as a Lion so he will break all my bones From day even to night wilt thou make an end of me Like a Crane or a swallow so did I chatter I did mourn as a Dove Mine eyes fail with looking upward Oh Lord I am oppressed undertake for me But they that have done but little for the Lord and are not now like to do much had need to pray more especially that thus they may finish their course And if God grant you this mercy you may perhaps do as much good dying as ever you did living The few words of the penitent Thief have done good to thousands though he was a Man that never did good but much evil till he was converted upon the Cross And thus much for the Exhortation to value Opportunities and to make the best improvement of time while it lasteth 3d Vse of Exhortation If there are opportunities of performing service to God in this world which are not to be enjoyed after death and that the Saints do that for God here which they cannot do in Heaven Then be not too eager in your desires to dye It was Jobs weakness though indeed he was then in great distress and misery He longed for death and digged for it more thân for hid Treasures We must not be too forward to dig our own Graves We may prepare them as Joseph of Arimathea did and also we must prepare for them but let us not dig them impatiently or importunately Life is a great mercy yea and length of dayes It is annexed to the obedience of the fifth Commandment With long life will I satisfie him and shew him my salvation Why will not a Child of God be satisfied without length of dayes Yes he is satisfied to dye when God pleaseth If God will take him away sooner or later he he is satisfied It is said of Abraham Isaac David and Job that they dyed full of dayes And it was true both passively in that they were old Men and actively in that they were well satisfied to live so long And therefore Job left off digging for death long before he dyed Peradventure you have your exercises both outward and inward and withall you have good hopes of a blessed state in a better world and now you long for death and would fain be gone Take heed it is time enough to go to a glorious Eternity and when you are there you will never say you came not thither soon enough Here is more service for you to do Do not love your Reward beyond your Work A lazy servant will be often listening to the Clock or looking upon the Sun and longing for the Evening not minding so much his Work as his Wages It is said of Jehojada also that he was full of dayes when he dyed being one hundred and thirty years old He was full of days passively and full actively he was satisfied with this great length of dayes and very well contented and thankful to live so long He was deep in years I suppose about if not above an hundred years old when his Nephew Joash came to the Crown For he lived to see Joash married and after that the Temple repaired And he died not long before Joash who reigned but forty years But few men lived so long in those dayes and yet he did a great deal of good service unto the last And when he died they buried him in the City of David among the Kings because he had done good in Israel both towards God and towards his house And the most of it was done in his old Age. 4th Use of Exhortation If the people of God can do more service for him on Earth than in Heaven Be exhorted to prize their lives pray for them and improve them If Hezekiah here had died of his sickness the people of God would soon have missed him as when at last he died they did for you know what came after Consider what a deal of good ceaseth with the liâ—e of a good Man It is true his Works live but his working is dead Ministers shall preach no more Church-Officers rule no more dispense no more Benefactors lay out themselves no more publick Spirits act no more True their Examples Sayings Writings Memorie Fruits of their former Works may survive But their persons personal actings delightful presence sweet fellowship wholesome Counsels and ready helpfulness are dead and gone Whereas these are great mercies and many will say so when they are gone who made but little of them while they had them You know how the Elders of Ephesus and the Brethren at Miletus wept at Paul's parting sorrowing most of all that they should see his face no more and yet after that he lived many years and wrote an Excellent Epistle to the Church at Ephesus Oh how would they have wept had he then dyed at Miletus But few precious ones are prized enough till dead and perhaps not then neither The Israelites did not sufficiently value Samuel when he grew old but when they had tasted what Saul was and that Samuel also was taken away by death then they all lamented him Yea and Saul himself also wanted him who little regarded him whil'st living Bring me up Samuel saith he to the Witch at Endor He that before would not go to Samuel will now go to the Devil for him Bring me up Samuel Yes Rake him by all means out of his Grave And oh that Saul could but once more speak with Samuel How few are they who have a just valuation of these living mercies or that duly lay to heart the loss of them For it is our duty also to bewail the death of such as when the Church lost Stephen devout Men carried him to his burial and made great lamentation over him Oh know the price of living Saints especially the most useful ones You that are Children and have godly Parents who have made known the Truth to you take heed you think not they have lived too long but know that it is your mercy if they dye full of years and come to their Graves in a full age like as a shock of Corn cometh in its season Improve their lives and lament their deaths Sarah was an hundred twenty and seven years old when she dyed and yet Isaac lamented the loss of her for the space of three years and nothing could comfort him but his marriage with a dear Rebekah I beseech you love and honour your godly Parents beg their continuance with you and your profiting by them and be very obedient to the first Commandment with a Promise Joash had that benefit by his old Uncle Jehojada who was