Brother another And how often also do the Saints in Scripture reprove the wicked and ungodly I need not give you Instances for that It is not enough that we have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but we must also reprove them We must appear for Christ his Truth his Rules and Glory or where is our love to him Sometimes you shall hear cursing and swearing in your presence sometimes reproaching slandering flithiness foolish talking and sinful jesting sometimes you shall see Covetousness Pride Passion Anger and uncomely Language and sometimes inordinate affections and somtimes gross omissions of duty either to God or Man Here now are opportunities of doing a service for Christ and of appearing and witnessing for him so as you cannot do hereafter in glory In such cases therefore consider your duty and what the Lord requireth of you who will take it very ill if you have never a Tongue for him And do not say I am loth or I am afraid to speak and it will be ill taken or I shall do no good by testifying or I shall be accounted a busie-body but attend your duty and leave the event to God only beg Wisdom which is profitable to direct And however a Reproof take or speed yet you have done a better service for Christ than any Saint in Heaven can do I know indeed that such testimonies for Christ are soldom well taken but that ariseth from the pride of Man and however that must not hinder your duty for I am sure that the with-holding such testimonies when you are called to give them is very ill taken by Christ and if he take them well let proud spirits take them as ill as they please The like I may say as to the opposing of Error and Heresies according to your capacities and of informing and instructing the ignorant when a season is offered and of warning the unruly c. And you know not but you may do much good in such cases and your work may live when you are dead however your rewerd is with the Lord for whom you have performed this service There are other good and gracious Offices to be discharged which cease when you are dead I did briefly mention some of them in the Doctrinal part Let me now exhort you to attend them also As to pray one for another which Duty ends with our Lives For as I have said God will have but one Intertercessor in Heaven but here he requireth many Here we may yea must be trading one with another viz. Prayers for Prayers Ministers with people and people with their Ministers and one Saint with another Not but that we must pray for others also Oh! what a trade did Paul drive this way I have sometimes thought what a Catalogue of Churches and Saints he had to commend to God in his daily prayers How many Churches did he usually pray for saith he to the Church at Rome God is my witness that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers The like for the Church at Ephesus saith he I cease not to give give thanks for you making mention of you in my prayers So for the Church at Philippi saith he I remember you always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy And thus too he saith he prayed for the Church at Colossus The very same for the Church at Thessalonica We give thanks to God always for you all making mention of you in our prayers remembring without ceasing your work of Faith labour of Love and patience of Hope in our Lord Jesus Christ And doubtless had he written Epistles to all other Churches we should have heard of his prayers for them Neither did he pray only for Churches but also for several Saints in particular For he saith that he prayed for Timothy night and day that is Morning and Evening the whole put for the part And as for Philemon he saith That he made mention of him always in his prayers What a Catalogue then had Paul of Churches and Saints to recommend to God in his daily prayers For it is very likely that he prayed for many more than we find in his Epistles And as he prayed for the Churches so he desireth to be remembred in their prayers For as I said he drove a holy trade this way He begs the prayers of the Church at Rome in the very Language of a Begger for an Alms. Now I beseech you Brethren for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake and for the love of the Spirit that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me that I may be delivered So of the Church at Ephesus and of the Philippians and of the Colossians and of the Thessalonians and of the Hebrews for the greatest Apostle had need of the prayers of the meanest Christian only he begs no prayers of the Church at Corinth in his first Epistle to them as looking upon them under many and great offences for which he there reproves them Nor of the Churches of Galatia whom he look't upon as greatly backsliden from the Faith And he would not trade with broken men But here you see I have given you a notable example for your imitation in this Point Pray therefore for one another and trade together as you shall see occasion Yea you must pray sometimes for such as never desired it So likewise if you do hear of the afflicted condition of such and such of the Saints suppose in great poverty or in prison upon the account of Christ and a good Conscience or in some great distress otherwise or under sickness and in danger of death look upon your selves as obliged to put up one Prayer for them You know what the Apostle saith Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them and them which suffer adversity as being your selves also in the body Remember them How To sympathize with them to pray for them and to your power to help and relieve them And think it not enough that you pray for Saints but perform the like service for sinners also for your prayers may contribute much to their conversion as Christ's prayer Luke 23. 34. did to the conversion of many that were his enemies Acts 2. and Stephens prayer probably was heard in the conversion of Paul And be sure to pray for Children and Childrens Children that they may live in the sight of God and bear up his Name in their generations Neither rest in particular persons but pray also for the Churches of Christ this day in whom he is so much concerned as exercising his special Government in and over them Pray therefore for their peace and purity and progress in holiness and that they may be edified and walking in the fear of the Lord and comfort of the Holy Ghost be multiplyed And this is to pray for the peace of Jerusalem And
while they live in this world where they make the Name of God known to them that knew it not before This is the first and highest Petition of all in our prayers and therefore of greatest concernment Secondly There is another service in my Text which cannot be performed in Heaven and it is contained in these words The Father to the Children shall make known thy Truth And is not this also a most blessed service for it contains what is imported in the second Petition in the Rule of Prayer viz. Thy Kingdom come For this is one excellent way of advancing and enlarging the Kingdom of God in this world viz. when Parents shall make known the Truth and Faithfulness of God to their Children To which purpose consider Psal 78. 2 7. Deut. 4. 9. and 6. 6 7. And this is the great service of the Saints upon Earth both Ministers and People The things saith Paul to Timothy 2 Epist Ch. 2. Ver. 2. That thou hast heard of me among many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also And this is a service which cannot be done in Heaven For the dead Saints cannot contribute ought to the enlarging of the Kingdom of Grace in this World and as for the Kingdom of Glory there are but two wayes of enlarging that which are by the departure of the Saints on Earth to Heaven and by the Resurrection in neither of which doth God use the service of the glorified Saints at all The care therefore of the choicest Saints hath been not only for the time of their lives but for the Generations to come that they might know what God had done The time would fail to tell of Moses and Joshua and David and Paul whose Epistles close with this Doxology and hearty desire of glory to be given to Christ in the Churches for ever The truth is the whole Scripture is a Book of the Acts and Monuments of the Lord 's wonderful works in gathering and building protecting saving and doing good to his Church and that for this end that the Generations to come might put their hope and trust in God And this was the unanimous design of the Pen-men of holy Scripture This shall be written for the generations to come and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord. Thirdly Here in this world the Saints may live exemplarily blameless and harmless as the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation And this is a great service also For First Hereby some may come to be converted 1 Pet. 3. 1. and so the Kingdom of God is enlarged by this way also And Secondly Many hereby will be convinced and left without excuse in that great day For this is one way whereby the Sains shall judg the world they shall judg it exempâ—arily and in concurrence with Christ sententiarilly Now I say this is a service which cannot be done in Heaven where First There is no evil person Nor Secondly Any need of examples for the glorified Saints to walk by who are all perfect and under the immediate and sole Government of the Spirit of God There is but one example in Heaven and that is the exemplary cause of the glorification of our bodies viz. The glorified body of Christ For in this life the Saints conform to the grace of Christ actively and at the Resurrection they conform to his glorified body passively as to their patern Here in this world the Saints have opportunities of reproving Sin confuting Errors instructing the Ignorant warning the Unruly comforting the Feeble minded praying for their Relations and Friends c. Now there are no such things in Heaven where there is no Sin no Error no Ignorance no Unruliness none Afflicted no praying for Relations I remember how dying Mr. Rollock was much offended with a Kinsman for desiring his Prayers when he should come to Heaven God will have but one Intercessor there Hence they may do good to the bodies of Men. For they may feed the hungry give drink to the thirsty lodge the harbourless clothe the naked visit the sick and imprisoned whereas in Heaven there are no necessities or wants Here the Saint may suffer for Christ give a testimony to his Cause and to the Truth by the loss of their Relations and Friends of their Goods Health Ease Credit Liberty Houses Lands Countries Life c. For Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works follow them And this is such a service as the very Angels are in no wise capable of So that you see there are many services which the Saints may do here for Christ which they cannot do in Heaven Indeed if they could return to this life again they might do such works as these For when Lazarus was raised from the dead he entertained Christ again And when Tabitha was raised from the dead it is very probable that she fell to her good Works and Alms-deeds again to her making of Coats and Garments again for the poor as she had been wont Act. 9. 39. But these are rare examples of the returning of the dead Saints to this world again For as the Cloud is consumed and vanisheth away so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more He shall return no more to his house neither shall his place know him any more Lastly There are some gifts of grace which cannot be exercised in Heaven For First Here the Saints do believe whereas in Heaven Faith is turned into Vision Here they walk by Faith and not by sight as they shall do in Heaven And Faith is a gift of Grace whereby God is much glorified for it empties and humbles the Heart and carrieth it forth to Christ and glorifies God in all his Attributes Whereas in Heaven the Saints have all in hand and therefore they live by sight and not by Faith There is but one thing there to come to them to the compleating of their happiness and that is the resurrection of the dead in the Faith whereof they live but yet this Faith is of another nature than that which justifieth and saveth in this life Secondly It followeth hence That here in this life the Saints do exercise Hope waiting for the good which is held forth in the Promise which their Faith believeth they shall have Whereas in Heaven Hope is turned into fruition and enjoyment For Hope that is the thing hoped for that is seen is not Hope for what a man seeth why doth he yet hope for There is no hope in Heaven the Fathers to the Children cannot hope for thy Truth as Hezekiah here saith except it be of the Resurrection whereof the Saints have a most joyful expectation They are glad and rejoyce in that their flesh
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
these praises cry with the throat and lift up your voices like Trumpets And this argues that God's praises comes from your hearts when they are thus sounded as it were from your throats And this work exalteth you and that as high as the Heavens for it is the very service of Heaven only it is a greater service seeing the Proclamation of God's praises upon Earth tends to the propagation of them so as it is not in Heaven And truly he that is good at this is good indeed He is no Hypocritie for he is a self-denying man and one that loves God far above himself one that lives in God and delights in him and gives him the highest place in his heart Do what you can therefore this way and it will redound to a singular evidence of your sincerity 2. Endeavour also the Propagation of Christ's Kingdom pray for it and according to your capacity promove it You may remember what is written Psal 72. 15. where it is said of Solomon in the Type and of Christ in the Truth He shall live and to him shall be given of the Gold of Sheba Prayer also shall be made for him and daily shall he be praised Why must we pray for Jesus Christ yes by all means Of all that we pray for we must be sure to pray for Jesus Christ but not considered personally but Mystically You know how the people and the children prayed for Christ when they cryed saying Hosanná to the Son of David Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord Hosanna in the highest The words are taken out of the 11th Psal ver 25 26. They cryed saying Hosanna that is Save I beseech thee It is as much as God save the King send now prosperity It is meant especially of Christ as King Christ and his Kingdom And we never say Thy Kingdom come but thus we pray for Christ who prayeth for us every day or else we should be in a very sad case And truly if the Kingdom of Christ be within us we shall be very sollicitous and active for the Kingdom of Christ without us which Kingdom of his this day is in a very low condition as to the professed power and purity of the Gospel And yet if we can do little or nothing else yet we may pray for the Kingdom of Christ Let us therefore lay the state thereof to heart this day How often do the Saints under the Old Testament pray for the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus under the New say they God be merciful to us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us That thy way may be known upon Earth thy saving health among all Nations c. Mark ye That singular blessing which God commanded Aaron and his Sons to pronounce upon the people of Israel The Lord bless thee and keep thee The Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee The godly in David's time turned it into prayer for the enlarging of the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus under the Gospel accounting it a great blessing to themselves to have it enlarged by the accession of the Gentiles though yet it was to be accomplished in the rejection of the Jews but it is as if we should say Let God do what he pleaseth with a Nation so that his Gospel may be propagated and his Kingdom enlarged in the World If God's way may be known upon Earth and his saving health among all other Nations We should account that the Lord is merciful to us aud blesseth us and causeth his face to shine upon us We should love the Kingdom of Christ above all the Kingdoms in the World and That it shall come to pass in the last dayes that the Mountain of the Lords house shall be established upon the top of the Mountains and exalted above the Hills and that all Nations shall flow unto it You know what great heaviness and continual sorrow of heart Paul had for his Brethren the Jews and kinsmen according to the flesh and yet he magnified his Office in that he was the Apostle of the Gentiles That is he accounted it to be a glorious Office to be a Preacher to the Gentiles So that Le◠the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus come whatsoever become of any Kingdom or of all the Kingdoms under Heaven Thirdly Live exemplarily that your paterns may survive you and live when you are dead Thus Paul lived Brethren saith he be followers together of me and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample And he denied himself to make himself an example to others You know saith he how ye ought to follow us viz. in orderly walking in your particular Callings for we behaved not our selves disorderly among you neither did we eat any mans bread for nought but wrought with labour and travel night and day that we might not be chargeable to any of you Not because we have not power that is night to be maintained at your charge but to make our selves an ensample unto you to follow us And thus also he did unto the Corinthians For thus did Christ deny himself to give us an example Joh. 13. 14 15. If I then your Lord and Master have washed your feet ye ought also to wash one another's feet For I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you Consider also 2 Cor. 8. 9. For ye know the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might be rich And when Paul took his leave of the Elders of Ephesus who were never like to see his face more he leaves his example with them I have saith he coveted no mans Silver or Gold or Apparel Yea you your selves know that these hands have ministred unto my necessities and to them that were with me I have shewed you all things how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak The like did Samuel Thus also David left his example behind him for God set him up for a patern to all succeeding Kings in Israel whose Life and Reign God therefore measureth by their care to follow him as you may read frequently in the Books of the Kings and Chronicles For of such such Kings it is said They walked in the ways of David and of others that they did not so walk Examples are very prevalent in utramque partem either one way or t'other either for good or evil And therefore so walk according to God that others may follow you seeing your example will live whilest you live yea and when you are dead too For it will be said such a one lived thus and walked thus and thus he behaved himself in his family and thus in his fellowship with the Saints and thus in his dealings with his neighbours and with all men and thus he carried it under
his tryals and oppositions in an evil day and this and that was the Rule he walked by For he was a wise Man or she was a wise Woman and very consciencious and tender-hearted and sincere and active and stirring and zealous for Jesus Christ and fearful to give the least offence and ready to every good work and pitiful to the poor Saints his Heart and Purse and House were open for Jesus Christ And he was a just and peaceable Man and one that could govern his Spirit and Tongue and that could keep down his passions and one that was a mortified person dead to the world and the things thereof c. Now what a blessed example is this and what a glorious report what an edifying patern and for the glory of God and our Lord Jesus Christ Yea this example will preach your funeral Sermon you need no other to do it and it will keep you alive when you are dead and immortalize you upon Earth make you of blessed memory indeed and to be had with the righteous in everlasting remembrance when the names of others shall be written in the Earth which will soon be obliterated and quite blotted out and when it shall be said of them as of Hezekiah's Father by way of reproach This is that King Ahaz And such a good example many have left behind them and we are ever and anon speaking of such as these are whose names are as a precious Oyntment and which were embalmed when they dyed with the Graces Vertues and good Works of their Lives that still they send forth a sweet savour to surviving posterity And thus was that good Womans name embalmed who poured out a very precious Oyntment on the Head of Christ against his burial Verily saith Christ wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached in the whole world there shall also this that this Woman hath done be told for a memorial of her So that this good Woman is still alive in her memory and she 〈◊〉 thus lived these 1600 years and more and shall never dye so long as the world standeth And such another was Tabitha And the like I may say of many more whose names are recorded in holy Writ who obtained a good report and though they are now dead yet still they both speak and are spoken of Brethren will ye think upon these things And will ye now study endeavour to live exemplarily and to live lives for posterity and so to live converting lives and convincing and edifying lives yea and to live the lives of such as must be the world's Judges And will it not be greatly to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ and to your Eternal Consolation to hear of your lives and examples in that great day of Christ's appearance when your examples shall have their resurrection as well as your bodies when Christ shall produce your paterns before all the world and convince and judge the ungodly world by them As if he should say to those on his left hand who lived in your dayes and saw your examples Loe do you see these Men and Women on my right hand who lived thus and thus in your sight and gave you a blesse◠example which either you censured or were unwilling to follow they lived and conversed in direct opposition to you they lived so and so when you did thus and thus Therefore they shall be your Judges Methinks I cannot speak enough of this Subject which is of very great moment viz. the transmission and recommendation of paterns to posterity as one grieved that I can see no more of it but rather such a common and ordinary kind of walking as hath little or nothing of singularity in it Alas How few that profess the fear of God this day are writing of Copies for posterity to walk by And where is singularity of life to be seen Yea how many are there among the Professors of the Gospel by whose failings we may learn more than by their Vertues and this I speak to my grief Oh let your light so shine before Men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven Jesus Christ there speaks of the light of good works and good examples which are visible to standers-by and such as do occasion them to glorifie our Heavenly Father And know thus much also That Men live much by example either on the one side or other And where good examples are given God expecteth that others should follow them and that not only the examples of the living but of the dead also For what saith the Apostle Remember them which have the rule over you who have spoken unto you the Word of God whose Faith follow considering the end of their conversation The Apostle there speaketh of such as had been their Guides but were now dead for the words in the Original are not remember them that have the rule over you but remember your Rulers i. e. Ministers of the Gospel who are now with the Lord. And he exhorts the Hebrews not to forget their Faith and holy lives who had no other end in their conversations and good examples but God's Glory and the Salvation of them that beheld them But I must pass from this Particular though somewhat loth to leave it and should much rejoyce if what I have said of it may take place in all your hearts and lives Live exemplarily that your paterns may outlive you and edifie others when you are dead And this is a work which cannot be done in Heaven And take heed of scandals and visible infirmities which edifie beholders to ruine For there is a sinful mischievous edification of which the Apostle speaketh 1 Cor. 8. 10. For if any Man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in the Idols Temple Shall not the Conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to Idols The word rendred Emboldened is Edified in the Original You may so live in your Examples that you may edifie and teach beholders to sin in following them as Jeroboam the son of Nebat did who made Israel to sin And many that profess to the Gospel do so live and walk the Consideration whereof is very sad and miserable O beware of giving such examples for they will diminish your glory in Heaven if you shall be so happy at least as to arrive there But so much for this 3d Particular Embrace and improve all opportunities of appearing and speaking for Christ another service peculiar to the Saints on Earth who cannot speak a word for Christ in Heaven And many such seasons are providentially administred to us viz. sometimes of reproving sin both in such as fear God and such as fear him not In the Scriptures you find the Saints reproving one another Moses reproveth Aaron and Nathan David and Hanani Asa his son Jehu Jehoshaphat and Paul Peter and one private
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
instead of a Father to him that it went well with him and his Kingdom whiles he lived but miserably with both afterwards Many Children have lost themselves together with their Parents Consider what I say And then you that have such Ministers of Jesus Christ as labour in the Word and Doctrine and watch for your Souls prize them pray for them and improve them for you know not the consequences of their removal 5th Use of Exhortation Lastly Seeing there is more service to be done on Earth than in Heaven how should this exalt Christ Jesus in our hearts and enlarge them in love to him who as he wrought so much for us on Earth so still is he at work for us in Heaven He He is the great Worker in the highest World You know what he saith in his prayer to his Father I have glorified thee on Earth I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do Yea but we are to understand it of his Work upon Earth for his Work in Heaven is not as yet finished nor will before the end of the world Alas we can do little for Christ in Earth and less in Heaven Yet Jesus Christ whether in Earth or Heaven is still at work for us It is not with him as with us Heaven takes the work out of our hands but it puts it into his For thither is he gone to take and keep possession and to prepare places for us There he executeth his Mediatory-Office continually appears and makes intercession for us sheds abroad his Spirit gives Commission to the Angels and Gifts unto Men calleth and gathereth in his Elect ones enableth us to work on Earth governs the World upholds his Church and subdues their Enemies All the Work of Heaven lies upon Christ's hands and it is well it doth oâ— what would become of us on Earth And as this should raise our Esteem anâ— Love of Christ so should it quicken us the more to work for him on Earth seeing he is still at work for us in Heaven He wrought above thirty years for us here on Earth but in Heaven above sixteen hundred and thus he will continue his work to the end of the world To him therefore be glory and honour for ever and ever Amen A short Discourse OF THE NATURE AND EXTENT OF THE gospel-Gospel-Day Reaching from the Destruction of the OLD to the erection of the NEW JERUSALEM Zach. 14. 6 7. And it shall come to pass in that day that the Light shall not be clear nor dark But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord not day nor night but it shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light By W. H. 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 hast added a brief Treatise of the nature of the Gospel-Day in its Rise Progress and Perfection The Morning of which Day beginning in the Apostles times had much darkness mingled with a little light You know what stiff and earnest contentions there were for the Jewish Rites and Ceremonies yea the very Articles of Faith called in question the Spirit of Anti-christ working even then in the Evangelical Churches which in after Ages grew to a greater height in the exaltation of the Man of Sin But still the Light and Purity of the Gospel prevailed though sometimes the darkness was such as to threaten an utter extirpation God raising up some faithful Witnesses in all Ages to hold forth and vindicate the Light against all that opposition made against it The Truth had its Champions even then when the whole World wondred after the Beast And from them to us it is continued by an uninterrupted succession being still of a growing and encreasing Nature like the path of the Just shining more unto the perfect day What cause have we to bless God that we see the Truth and Gospel going on conquering and to conquer all Errour and Opposition Well the night is far spent and the day is at hand and go let us cast off the Works of Darkness and put on the Armour of Light and so much the more as we see the Day breaking when Shadows shall flee away Light shall overspread the face of the whole Earth Peace Truth Holiness and Comfort shall then abound In the mean time it is no wonder if Light and Darkness conflict together Light of Peace with Trouble of Truth with Errour and go let us not be secure God may soon bring a Cloud over our Peace and Liberty And let us also who are of the day be sober bearing with and forbearing one another forasmuch as yet we know but in part and see through a Glass darkly but when the Evening of this gospel-Gospel-Day cometh the Lord shall be one and his Name one Zech. 14. 7 9. one heart and one way Jer. 32. 39. In the Faith and Hope hereof Let all the Children of Zion rejoyce and endeavour to be a People prepared for the Lord. Reader I shall detain thee no longer from this useful and seasonable Discourse The blessing of God go with it and make it fruitful so prayes Jan. 18 th 1673-4 Thy Servant in the Gospel H. J. ZECH. 14. 6 7. And it shall come to pass in that day that the light shall not be clear nor dark But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord not day nor night but it shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light THis Chapter begins with the revenge of God upon Judah and Jerusalem for their crucifying the Lord of glory Ch. 13. 7. of which vengeance Christ himself foretold and he calls them days of vengeance where he amply fieth what the Prophet here speaketh briefly Yet God threatneth to be avenged on the Nations that dealt thus with Jerusalem and the Jews They should have no thanks for this their service as minding only the fulfilling of their own wills and not Gods Ver. 3. But though Jerusalem should be overthrown and the Temple burnt and the Temple-Worship abolished yet the Lord would have a care of his Church and make way for the conversion of the Gentiles and expose the Truth and Way of his Worship to the open view of the Jews and Gentiles from East to West For the Truth and Way of God's Worship and of Salvation was pent up before Christ's coming in the narrow confines of Judea and obscured also and darkned with shadows and Ceremonies as Jerusalem the Seat of God's Worship was with Hills But now all should be laid open before all the world from East to West And this here is signified by an Allegory of the cleaving of Mount Olivet one famous Hill being put for the rest in the mid'st towards the East and towards the West whereby the City of God which is the Church should no longer be obscured but patent
years and at last lifted up their heads upon Mount Zion Seventhly Suppose the rise of Antichrist should commence as it is apprehended between the fourth and fifth Centuries you know the rise of the two Witnesses contemporates therewith after which they continue their prophesying during One thousand two huudred and sixty Daies a day put for a year And so too upon this account the darkest Daies did not want the Light of the blessed and everlasting Gospel yea so much Light as to uphold the denomination of a Day But since the Second spring of the Gospel arising from the Light introduced by Luther Melanchton and the German Theologues it is visible to the eyes of Adversaries how the Darkness hath declined and the Light shined more and more to this very day And thus it will be light and dark light as to Truth and dark as to Ignorance Error Heresy Idolatry and Superstition more or less unto the very Evening of the Day Secondly In this day there is a mixture of Light and Darkness in another respect viz. Trouble mingled with Tranquillity and Persecution with Liberty You know the sad times under the Seals by the rage of the Roman power against Christianity Yet some liberty was now and then enjoyed and silence in Heaven for half an Hour You have heard also of the Arrian Persecution under Constantius Julian and Valens yet all liberty was not destroyed For though Persecution and Liberty in their height are inconsistent as light and darkness the one in its height expels the other yet there was an interchange by the succession of one to the other sometims if not an intermixture of both as to a moderate degree For though Persecution and Liberty have not stood together in one and the same time and place in their height yet as for the light of the Gospel and Truth thereof that hath sometimes shined in showres of Persecution like as we have now and then seen the Sun to shine and the Rain to fall at one and the same time And thus you see how the Day of the Gospel hath all along hitherto been intermixed and interchanged with light and darkness The light of Truth and the darkness of Errour the light of Liberty and the darkness of Persecution And thus much for the third Particular of the Point in hand Fourthly This one day thus intermixed is known to God In some respects it is known to us and hath been known to others before us viz. that there is such a day and thus intermixed as aforesaid But it is known to God so as it is not known to us First It is known to him as the Efficient of it As it is said of the Natural day The day is his the night also is his he hath prepared the light of the Sun And again I form the Light and create Darkness I make Peace and create Evil I the Lord do all these things Thus it is with this gospel-Gospel-day The Lord is the Former of it who hath determined the times before appointed Secondly This day is known to God as being wholly in his power to order all things in it after the Counsel of his own will He knew the end from the beginning and what lyeth in the Womb of this day from the Morning to the Evening of it He knew what light and what darkness there would be in every period of the day whereas we know not what a day may bring forth and little did we think a year ago what Light of Liberty we should now enjoy nor do we know what darkness of trouble and confusion may arise again ere long We look sometimes for good and lo evil cometh and we wait for Light and there cometh darkness For it is not for us to know the times and seasons which the Father hath put in his own power We cannot make a Divine Almanack and define what day in this great day it shall be calm what day tempestuous what day it shall shine and what day rain We know not the Ordinances of Heaven nor can we set their Dominion in the Earth we cannot lift up our voices to the Clouds that abundance of Waters may cover us neither do do we know the way where the Light dwelleth and as for Darkness we know not the place thereof Known unto God are all things Thirdly This day is known to God in the Hebrew Phrase of knowing which includeth also the affections And therefore this day is so known of the Lord that it is regarded and cared for by him His Eyes are upon it that nothing falls out in it but by his special Providence And though darkness hath sometimes increased and far prevailed in this day yet the Light was never extinguished nor ever shall He hath still preserved a Lamp as he did in the Kingdom of David at the lowest ebb thereof About one hundred and fifty years ago when darkness lay upon the face of the Earth presently God commanded light to shine out of darkness which hath continued and encreased unto this very day Fourthly This day is known unto God in respect of the termination of it which we know not For what great mistakes have there been about the time of Antichrist's ruine and the calling of the Jews We know in the general that this Day shall have an Evening and that in the Evening it shall be light But when this Evening shall be we know not we cannot take the Light and the Darkness at the bound thereof But God doth perfectly know the Epocha of the reign of the Beast and his Number 666. And thus this day is known to the Lord and to the Lord only Fifthly In the evening of this day it shall be light First then What is this Evening It is the darkest part of this Day throughout which there was still more or less Darkness intermixed with Light as you have heard but now at the Evening-time there shall be more darkness than in any of the preceding parts of the Day How else were it an Evening But how can it be that the Evening should be so dark and yet that at Evening-time it should be light 1. In some respects it shall be the darkest part of the Day for it will be a time of very sore Troubles Wars and rumors of Wars and great Commotions For I cannot tell where to fix this Evening but under the Sixth Vial which shal be poured out upon the great River Euphrates That the waters thereof may be dried up and the way of the Kings of the East prepared In which words is held forth as our best Interpreters hold the conversion of the Jews At what time The three unclean Spirits like Frogs shall go out of the mouth of the Dragon and out of the mouth of the Beast out of the mouth of the false Prophet which are the spirits of Devils working Miracles and going forth to the Kings of the Earth and of the whole
World to gather them to the battel of the great Day of God Almighty And that must needs be a very sad Evening especially in respect of trouble great oppositions and commotions For there shall be as terrible Signs and Presages fore-running the erection of the New-Jerusalem as there were before the Destruction of the Old Hinc illae Tenebrae But how then shall it be light at this Evening time Secondly In some respect therefore it shall be the most lightsom part of the Day hitherto And indeed it will be the light of the Evening that will very much occasion the Darkness of it I mean the Light of the Truth that shall then shine forth shall darken the Kingdom of the Beast and cause his Followers to gnaw their very Tongues for pain For that is under the Fifth Vial and if the Kingdom be full of Darkness it must needs be that Christ's Kingdom will then be full of Light For the Witnesses will be â—isen long before the effusion of the Fifth and Sixth Vials and Antichrist be greatly consumed with the breath of Christs mouth viz. in the Preaching of the Gospel And therefore in this respect it must needs be a lightsome Evening and a time of greater Light than ever shined since the daies of the Apostles Thus you see what a time the Evening shall be But shall this Evening then determine this Day so that the Conversion of the Jews shall become another Day No But as this Day is one and the same and constant to it self as we have heard so shall the Day of the Jews Conversion and the time following be one and the same day with this But how Not in respect of Light and Darkness intermixed so as in the Day before the Evening but in respect of one and the same Covenant and way of Holy Administration still continued For the Ordinances now used shall be continued to the coming of Christ For it is observable First That this dark Time is not called The Evening but the Evening-time Quo tempore advesperascere Nox esse solet At what time it begins to be Evening or to look like an Evening and the Sun seems to be setting And therefore Seâ—â—ndly Though it is called an Evening-time yet there is no Night said to follow it Sol occubuit Nox nulla secuta est It is such an Evening wherein the Sun setteth and no Night succeedeth It is true One would little expect light in the Evening especially more light than in the Day before But such an Evening-time is this after which shineth the greatest Light that ever was seen since the daies of Jesus Christ You see then what this Evening is Secondly What is that Light that shall shine so gloriously at the Evening-time especially at the end of it Answ It is the same in kind and quality with that which shined before this Evening-time only it differeth in degrees For now the Light shall excel and that shall be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet Arise and shine for thy Light is come and the Glory of the Lord is risen upon thee c. Now as I may say the light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun and the light of the Sun shall be seven-fold as the light of seven Daies Yea The Sun shall be no more thy light by day neither for brightness shall the Moon give light unto thee but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting Light and thy God thy glory The Sun shall no more go down neither the Moon withdraw it self for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light But wherein shall this Light consist First There shall be a great effusion of the Spirit of God in those times whereof a Pledge was given in the Morning of this Gospel-day It shall come to pass in the last daies that I will pour out my Spirit upon all Flesh And the like we find in the words following my Text And it shall be in that Day that living Waters shall go out from Jerusalem c. And hereby is meant the Spirit of God with his Gifts and Graces compared to living Waters And these I take to be the same with Ezekiel's waters which rose at last to a very great depth Secondly Hence it followeth That there will be a very great light of Knowledg in this Day so that there shall not be so much need as now there is for one to teach another saying Know the Lord for they shall all know him from the least to the greatest And that shall be the time especially when The Earth shall be full of the knowledg of God as the Waters cover the Sea Thirdly This Light of Knowledg shall have a great influence into the Hearts and Lives of Men who shall shine eminently in Holiness insomuch that the inscription upon the Fore-head of the High-Priest shall then be put upon the bells of the Horses and the very Pots in Jerusalem and Judah shall be Holiness to the Lord Even Carters Cooks and Kitchin-Maids shall then shine in purity of life and there shall be no more the Canaanite in the House of the Lord of Hosts Fourthly That Day shall shine with the Light of Peace Tranquillity and Joy for these go together Esth 8. 16. Swords shall then be turned into Plough-shares and Spears into Pruning-hooks Nation shall not lift up sword against Nation neither shall they learn War any more Fifthly In that Day there shall be the Light of Comfort for this will follow necessarily from all the former and the Consolation will be both External and Internal viz. When the Spirit of God the Comforter shall be poured out so plentifully and when the Spirit shall have his Day as the Father and the Son had theirs And when Knowledge Holiness and Peace shall abound on the Earth when Turk and Pope and all that oppose the Kingdom of Christ shall be destroyed and Satan bound and confined to the bottomless Pit during the Thousand years I say This must needs be a very comfortable time Great then shall be the peace of Zions Children when God shall make her an eternal Excellency and a joy of many Generations when violence shall no more be heard in her Land wasting and destruction within her Borders but men shall call her Walls Salvation and her Gates Praise and when they shall come and sing in the height of Zion and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord who shall turn the former Mourning of his People into Joy and comfort them and cause them to rejoice from their sorrow For they shall come to Zion with Songs and everlasting Joy upon their Heads they shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away And thus you see the Light that shall be at the Evening-time and the Doctrine cleared in the several parts of it the Uses whereof now follow Uses First What hath
been here said answereth that Challenge of the Papists Where was your Church before the Dayes of Luther We answer Where the Light was For though great Darkness was introduced by Antichrist for many years before the breaking out of the Light in the daies of Luther yet there hath been alwaies a mixture of Light in the obscurest times and there the true Church hath been There have been Witnesses to the Truth ever since the rise of the Man of Sin and their testimony witnesseth to the true Churh distinct from Antichrist in that it witnesseth to the Light where the true Church hath alwaies dwelt which Church still professed against the Additions and Impositions of the Man of Sin hating and abominating his Idolatrous Corruptions and Superstitious Inventions and held to the Faith and Truth of the Gospel And as this Church like the Light did still bear witness to it self So did the continual opposition made against the Light and Truth professed bear witness to the same And therefore we remit the Papists to their own oppositions and persecutions for an Answer to their Challenge Yea and this true Church hath been visible at all times to them that are of the Light For what can men in darkness see The Day you hear hath been one all along and therefore the Sun did never set in it and the Light hath still been Index sui tenebrarum A discoverer both of it self and of darkness All things that are reproved or discovered are made manifest by the Light For whatsoever doth make manifest is Light And therefore the true Church hath alwaies seen both her self and the false Church but the false wanting Light could never see the true Vse 2. The Doctrine may serve to shew us the parallel between the Day of the Gospel aud the Day of them that do profess it which is also intermixed with Light and Darkness so that it is neither Day nor Night For First There is Knowledg mingled with Ignorance and Truth with Errour even in the best of God's Children who know but in part and prophesie in part till that which is perfect in another world is come For now we see through a glass darkly but then face to face now we know in part but then shall we know even as we are known Thus it is and thus it will be till our Sun is set and then it will be perfect light 2. There is also Trouble mingled with Tranquillity Adversity with Prosperity Light of inward Peace and Comfort with inward Doubts and Darkness whiles we live here below Vse 3. We are shewed That the darkest time of the Gospel-Day is yet to come For that time is to be expected in the Evening which is the darkest part of all the Day Only this Darkness will not be as I conceive in respect of the withdrawing of the Light of Truth but of the Light of Peace and Tranquillity For at the Evening of this Day Men shall look unto the Earth and behold Trouble and Darkness and Dimness of Anguish And this will immediatly precede the Conversion of the Jews through the opposition of Turk and Pope For this will be the time when the Kings of the Earth and of the whole world shall be gathered together to the battle of the great Day of God Almighty At what time Men shall beat their Plough-shares into Swords and their Pruniâ—â— hooks into Spears But though that will be the darkest part of the Day yet we must expect gloomy times till then though with intermixed beams of Light wherein God will still be setting this over against that to the end that Men should find nothing after him And thus God will Chequer out the gospel-Gospel-day till that be fulfilled which is spoken by the Prophet Isaiah Arise shine for thy Light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee And seeing the day shortneth and the shadows of the Evening begin to be stretched out let us expect no more Dayes of Tranquillity and Peace but Wars and rumours of Wars Nation lifting up Sword against Nation and learning of War the confused noise of Battle and Garments rolled in blood For the Man upon the red Horse is gone forth to whom power is given to take Peace from the Earth and nearer the Evening still the darker That which concerns us is to be in a Posture of Humiliation and Preparedness for the reception of these dark Dispensations Here is the Faith and Patience of the Saints Use 4. Let what hath been said be for Exhortation First To pray for the Conversion of God's ancient people the Seed of Abraham Isaac and Jacob for whose sakes they are beloved Till when the Day shall not be clear nor dark but then the Sun shall no more go down nor the Moon withdraw it self but the Lord shall be an everlasting Light the dayes of mourning be ended Therefore hold not your peace day nor night ye that are the Lord's Remembrancers keep not silence and give him no rest till he establish and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the Earth Secondly Though you want the Light of Peace be thankful and improve the Light of Truth For it is a mercy that we have this part of the Light though we want the other and of the two it it is far the better seeing we should part with Peace for Truth but not with Truth for Peace The Text saith It shall come to pass in that day that the Light shall not be clear nor dark or as after the Original not be precious nor thickness which sheweth us that the Light of Truth is precious and though that of Peace is so likewise yet not of equal value for Christ came not to send Peace on the Earth but the Sword by the publication of the Truth which was of so great esteem with Him that He bore witness to it to the Death even when He witnessed a good Confession before Pontius Pilate concerning the truth of his Kingly Power and Government which the Apostle adjureth us to attend as of great moment though Pilate slighted it saying What is Truth For he did not propound that question for satisfaction in that he stayed not for an answer but shewed thereby that he looked upon truth and particularly that truth concerning the Kingly Power and Government of Christ as a pittiful Cause whereon to hazard the Life of Christ Oh! The Truth there confessed by Christ is a precious Truth a very great Truth and the Foundation of many Truths which Christ sealed with his Blood which therefore we are adjured in the sight of God who quickeneth all things and before Jesus Christ who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good Confession to keep without spot unrebukeable until the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ Let us then love the Truth and this Truth and improve it Thirdly Seeing the Gospel-day is not equally lightsome in all the periods of it how thankful should we
be that we were born in a Time and Place of Light For great was the Darkness and little the Light about Six or Seven-score years past when England lay under the Darkness of Antichristian Ignorance since when it hath been turned from the Valley of the shadow of Death into a Valley of Vision This heighteneth the account of the Land we live in for the enjoyment of so great a mercy as no other Nation this day hath enjoyed the like especially as to the clearness of the Light that hath shined in it And though it will not be accompanied with outward peace yet it will not want inward if we keep close to the Light and live up to it in this our Day Fourthly This Day being thus intermixed with Light and Darkness Let us not wonder nor be offended that there are such varieties of Persuasions differing one from another and therefore all of them cannot be of the Light whatever is pretended by them that do profess unto them but the Light hath influence upon some of them and Darkness upon some other So that God's Heritage is unto him as a speckled Bird which the Birds fly round about against her But however let us not fly one against another lest we fly against our selves whiles we have our several feathers and colours in this one Bird but let us bear with one another as to particular Light and Darkness so long as we are all enlightened with the saving Knowledg of the Truth We ought not indeed to be Scepticks in Religion but every one to be perswaded in his own mind yet in some things peradventure thou art in the Light and I am in the Dark in others the Day perhaps shineth unto me and not to thee Let us yield to the Dispensation of the Day and keep the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace and if in any thing we are differently minded God shall reveal even this unto us Nevertheless whereunto we have already attained let us walk by the same rule let us mind the same thing For thus there are some in the Visible Church who are be-misted when others are enlightened and yet all agree in Fundamentals who ought to live in Unity and the Stronger to exercise Charity towards the Weaker that God who hath begun to enlighten them in other things will acquaint them in due time with those Truths whereof at present they are ignorant For it is God alone who revealeth the Light unto us And He that formeth the Light and createth Darkness may in some things make it Day to one man and night to another We are all who truly fear the Lord Children of the Light and of the Day and not of the Night nor of Darkness as to our states yet as to particular apprehensions in Truths of an inferiour nature it may be Day to one Night to another And thus it will be till the Evening cometh but then there shall be one heart and one way one Lord and his Name one Use 5. Lastly What hath been held forth administreth a word of Comfort That this gospel-Gospel-Day is known to the Lord from the Morning to the Evening of it He knoweth the Light and also the Darkness and who are in the one and who in the other and how far And therefore He knoweth what is done by the Children of the Night to introduce Darkness and to obscure the Day of the Gospel For the Day is his and the Night is his He formeth Light and Darkness and therefore he ordereth the Rulers of the Darkness of this world that no more either of Ignorance Error Heresie Superstition and Idolatry on the one side or of Tribulation Persecution and hostile Opposition to the Truth and Peace on the other shall prevaile further than He hath determined And whatsoever He hath appointed to be the portion of this Day as to the darkening of it yet it is our Comfort that the Day is known to the Lord and that He will have a care of it For he seeth the Darkness as well as the Light of the Day the darkness and the light are both alike to Him He hath seen the Day from the Morning of it to this moment and hath ordered and disposed of the darkeness of Ignorance Error Heresie and Idolatry and likewise of Affliction and Persecution in it in times of Pagan Arrian or Antichristian opposition And his care of this Day is no less towards the Evening of it nor his love to to it abilitie to see to it any less than in the Morning or Noon of it He that said I have seen I have seen the Affliction of my People which are in Egypt and have heard their cry by reason of their Task-masters for I know their sorrows knows all the Sorrows and Sufferings of his People in this Hour of the Gospel-day It was a very dark Night with Israel in Egypt when God spake these words to Moses for then was fulfilled in the Truth what was signified to Abraham in the Type when an horrour of great Darkness fell upon him And yet I have seen I have seen and I know saith the Lord in the midst of that horrid Darkness And therefore however the Day prove and Clouds and darkness arise as perhaps they may do marvel not at the matter for he that is higher than the highest regardeth Men and Devils may be high but God is higher yea higher than the highest which is a degree above the Superlative God hath a care of his Church and Gospel of such as Preach it and profess it only it is our duty to be humbled for the sins of Churches Ministers Professors which may otherwise the more darken and imbitter the Day that we are now entring into which calleth us to Prayer Humiliation Mourning and Reformation wherein if God assist us it shall be well in the end and though weeping may endure for a time yet joy cometh in the evening For it shall come to pass that at Evening-time it shall be Light FINIS Heb. 1 14. John 9. 4. Heb. 12. 2. 1 Pet. 4. 14. 2 Thes 1. 11 12. Psal 89. 30 31 32. 1 King 13 21 22. 2 King 18. 2. 2 Chron. 32. 25. Psal 6. 5. 2 Sam. 20. 3. Psal 30. 3. Psa 88. 10 11. Quest Answ Psal 118. 17. Quest Answ 2 Tim. 2. 2. Deut. 31. 19. Josh 2 last Chap. 2 Chr. 2. last Ch. Eph. 5. last Psal 102. 18. Phil. 2. 15. Mat. 12. 42. with 1 Cor. 6. 2. Phil. 3. 21 Melch. Adam in vit ejus Matth. 25. 35 36. Rev. 14. 3. John 12. 2 Acts 9. 39. Job 7. 9 10. 1 Cor. 13. 12. 2 Cor. 5. 7. Rom. 8. 24 Psal 16. 9. Rom. 8. 25 1 Cor. 13. last Ver. 8. Mat. 5. 44. Tit. 3. 2 3. 1 Cor. 13. 8. 1 Co. 14. 3. Ver. 5. Numb 11. 15. Deut. 34. Job 6. 8 9. 1 King 89. 4. Jonah 4. 3. Luke 2 29. Ver. 26. Phil. 1. 23 24. Phil. 1. 12. ver 13.
might speak unto our Children saying What have you to 〈◊〉 with the Lord God of Israel For the Lord hath made Jordan a border between us and you ye Children of Reuben and Children of Gad ye have not part in the Lord So shall your Children make our Children cease from fearing the Lord Therefore we said Let us now prepare to build us an Altar not for burnt-offering nor for Sacrifice but that it may be a witness between us and you and our generations after us that we might do the service of the Lord before him with our Burnt-offerings our Sacrifices and with our Peace-offerings that your Children might not say to our Children in time to come ye have no part in the Lord c. Here you see the care and endeavour of the two Tribes and half for the preservation of the true Religion and way of God's Worship among their posterity which is the Point that I am now pressing I beseech you lay it to heart for I fear that many are guilty in this matter and that posterity is like to be little beholding to them Admit of a few Expostulations and consider What will your Children and Servants say when they come to succeed you and peradventure dye at last in therâ—â— sins Lord our Parents and Masters did not make known the Truth to us they did not Catechize and Instruct us they did not deliver to us the form of sound words nor any brief sum of the Articles of Faith and true Religion but we lived and dyed in ignorance for they had no care of our Souls and if others dealt thus with their Children and Servants Religion it self might have perished as we have done Now would not this be most miserable And are you willing to be thus indited by your Children and Servants in that great day Doth not Hezekiah here say The Father to the Children shall make known thy Truth And is it not exprest as a duty and a great one too And doth not Hezekiah look upon this as one of the great works to be attended in this World without which it is not worth while to live Hezekiah indeed had no son at this time but he resolveth here that if God shall give him one he will make known the Truth and Faithfulness of God to him for he looks upon it as his duty when he saith The Father to the Children shall make known thy Truth And what is the reason that many are so ignorant this day but because they wanted Family-instruction from Parents and Masters For it is not enough that such do live under the preaching of the Gospel if they want instruction in the Families wherein they have lived the want whereof makes the Ministers Plow to go so heavily Oh let not the Children and Servants rise up in judgment against you and charge their ignorance and damnation upon the neglect of your duty towards them Thirdly Consider with whom God hath betrusted the Gospel and true Religion 1. He puts his Ministers in trust with it For saith the Apostle We are allowed of God to be put in trust with the Gospel And it is a great trust and we must be faithful in the discharge of it and you must not be offended if we deal plainly with you 2. He betrusteth all his people with his Gospel and pure Religion expecting their discharge of this trust by their utmost endeavors to transmit it to posterity as you heard but even now from that Text Psalm 78. 3 7. For he doth not as I said put the trust into your hands for your selves only that you should make use of it during your lives and then dye and let others that shall come after you shift for themselves for this were to be cruel like the Ostriches in the Wilderness who leave their Eggs in the Earth and warm them in the dust forgetting that the Foot may crush them and the wild Beast break them but he expecteth and requireth your faithfulness and utmost care and labour to recommend the same Religion to your Children and Servants that live with you And what saith Solomon My Father taught me and said thus and thus to me Prov. 4. 4. And my Mother also taught me and she said so and so to me Prov. 31. But how have you taught those that are under your care and what have you said to them And where is the Altar Ed that you have built for them as a witness and memorial of the true Religion and Worship of God which you have commended to them No marvel that Religion decayeth in many Families when their Governours have wrapt up their Religion in a Napkin and professed only for themselves and not for them that should come after them You that are guilty in this part will have a sad reckoning to make when you shall be called to give an account of your discharge of that trust which is commended to you and have never an Ed to witness your care of conveying the Truth to the generation to come Know therefore that it is your duty according to this trust committed to you to turn and wind your Religion for God's Glory the advantage of posterity which if you neglect take beed you be not numbred among the wicked and slothful servants and have your portion with them Consider the common care of Parents to bequeath their Houses Lands and Goods to such as are to succeed them They leave their substance to their Babes saith the Psalmist And the inward thought is that their houses shall continue for ever and their dwelling places to all generations and they call their Lands after their own names That is they are thoughtful for the upholding of their Families and the continuing of their names from one generation to another But as for the Gospel which they profess and the Religion which they own they have little or no care at all They leave their Earthly substance to their Children but that which is the most substantial thing of all they leave it not to them and they leave their names to their Children but the Name of God and Christ they leave not nor have they any care that Christ's Name be named upon them by endeavouring to make them Christians indeed according to their duty as the Psalmist saith I will make thy Name to be remembred in all generations They care not that his Name should be childed from generation to generation Truly it were just with God that their names should be blotted out from under Heaven who love their own names better than Christ's Consider the Covenant that pious Parents are entred into with God For when God saith I will be thy God and the God of thy Seed He expecteth and requireth that Parents do not only give up themselves but their Seed also unto God As Hannah said in her prayer If thou wilt give unto thine Handmaid a Man-child I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life
She spake indeed of more then an ordinary devoting him to the Lord viz. in the way of Nazariteship But yet she bound however to have given him back to the Lord in and by an ordinary way of dedication common to her self with all Parents who are bound to this duty by the Law of Nature and by many commands in the Word of God which I have already mentioned Train up therefore a Child or Catechize him in the way he should go So did David deal with Solomon as you have heard and so Lois with Eunice and Eunice with Timothy and so the godly Fathers in their generations It was as you have heard a Testimony and a Law in Israel And when you brought your Children to Baptism you did solemly engage unto this duty For the Covenant which gave your Children right to that Ordinance and which sealed it to them strongly obliged you to give them up to God in the use of all such means as he hath appointed And therefore you are a Covenant-breaker in the neglect of this duty which is the ruine both of many Children and Families as of Elie's in particular and yet Eli did reprove his sons but did not do his utmost And this is the reason why many Children of godly Parents prove lewd and vicious and their Families at last lose all power of godliness if they grow not loose and prophane For it is with Children as with the Flowers in your Gardens which without care and culture will soon degenerate Remember therefore your Covenant and attend the terms thereof which concern you in relation to your posterity And say I am not only naturally but also federally bound to use all means to train up my Children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and to serve the purpose of God as to their Eternal Salvation For do you think it enough that you breed them up to live in this world And is it enough that you provide Meat and Drink and Apparel Portions and Trades aud ways of livelihood for them Or that you give them civil Education and teach them how to carry themselves as men will you love their bodies and neglect their souls Do you know the price of your own souls and not of theirs too Or are not theirs as precious as yours Or is it all one to you where you spend your Eternity and whether you go to Heaven or Hell In the mean-while where is your Religion where your love of God and Godliness Where your Conscience as to your Covenant Or what care have you that Godliness may flourish in the next generation who take not the course that it may thrive in your own Family Take heed lest you prove to be an Hypocrite at last Oh remember the care of good Manoah when the Angel told him he should have a son But saith he How shall we order the Child and what shall we do do unto him And seeing you are a Covenanter with God and have given up your Children to him who hath accepted of them and sealed the Covenant to them you should now consider that they are his Children his Sons and Daughters as well as yours as he expresly calleth them And he puts them out to you to Board and Breeding and you must give an acount to him how you have bred them up for him And what will ye rob God of his Children and bestow them upon the world or sacrifice them to devoured and cause them to pass through the fire as God challengeth those Parents in the aforesaid place of Ezekiel I mean to be devoured of that roaring Lion and not to pass through the fire but to dwell with devouring fire and with everlasting burnings Doth not Nature teach Men to propagate their kind And doth not Grace teach them to propagate the Truth and true Religion without the first Mankind would perish without the second Religion would soon be extinguished or have you more care to uphold the World than to propagate the Gospel of Christ's Kingdom if so you are no better than a Man or Woman of this generation I perceive there are many Bills presented for prayers in behalf of ungodly Children It is well if their Parents have not been wanting in their duty towards them If they have not let them not despond as to the success of their endeavours I have lived to see the blessed fruits of pious Education and that though Children so Educated have gone astray for a while yet they have been graciously reduced at the last made their Parents joyful And I think it is not usual that a Father should be a true fearer of the Lord and one that conscionably dischargeth his duty towards his Children and yet all of them should prove ungodly and none of them be converted sooner or later but perish in the uncircumcision of their hearts Perhaps Parents may not always live to see it but it is well enough if their Children come to Heaven after them I have insisted the more upon this Point it being the great duty of my Text and of such concernment as to generation-service The Exhortation reacheth Ecclesiastick Fathers such as are the Ministers of the Gospel For such Fathers also to their Children shall make known the Truth And that is the reason why we make known those Truths to you viz. that we may discharge our duties to our Children that you may discharge the like to yours And every week and every Sabbath and every Sermon we preach can testifie that we are careful to make known the Truth unto you For we have kept back nothing that was profitable for you nor have shunned to declare unto you all the Counsel of God For as John saith to Gaius We have no greater joy than to hear that our Children walk in truth even in the Truth that we make known unto them And let all that fear the Lord bless his Name that in such a day as this is there are yet such Spiritual Fathers who know the Truth and labour to make it known to their Spiritual Children For the time may come that you may want them when the Truth which is now made known to you by us may be impugned by them that shall come after us There are also Scholastick Fathers who have the care of training up Children in Learning and these have their place as well as the former in the fifth Commandment And a great advantage is put into their hands to make known the Truth unto their Children as well as to inform their understandings in a way of Humane Learning And I know no Calling nor Relation excepting that of the Ministry that hath the like opportunity of making known the Truth unto posterity There are likewise Fathers Political For there is the Father in the Family the Father in the Church the Father in the School and the Father in the Common-wealth or Countrey And some think that Naaman's servants called him Father