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
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-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-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
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-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