you not with him turn your faces to the wall and weep sore And yet I tell you Hezekiah had done a great deal of Work for God during the time of his Reign unto this sickness He lost no time but fell hard to the Work of Reformation in the first moneth of the first year of his Reign And he did a great deal during his fourteen years before his sickness and he did it also in Truth and with a perfect heart But still what have you done if you were now as near the gates of the grave as here he was And to these Gates you must come at last and pass through them also to the highest Tribunal to answer to this Question What hast thou done How hast thou improved time occupied with thy Talent filled up thy Relations maintained good Works for necessary uses been active for the highest end Peradventure you will plead your small capacity and that you are but of mean degree an obscure person and ezercised in Low Employments and of weak parts c. Yea but still what saith Hezekiah The living the living he shall praise thee And are not you living Are you not alive For any Man or Woman living may praise the Lord or else Hezekiah saith not well But it is true what he saith for any Man living may do his his generation-work Is your capacity than such that you cannot praise the Lord what saith the Psalmist Praise ye the Lord who Kings of the Earth Yea they are in a capacity indeed Such as Hezekiah may do much that way they are great Men and have great opportunities But what followeth Kings of the Earth and all people Princes and all Judges of the Earth Both young Men and Maidens and old Men and Children Let them praise the Name of the Lord. Men and Maids old and young all may and all must attend the service none excepted And therefore plead not your mean capacity but serve your age according to your Talent For he that had but one Talent doth not say Lord I had but one and what can a Man do with one My fellow-servants had one five Talents the other two and they might well employ and improve them No he saith not thus He was convinced that one Talent might be improved to advantage as well as five and that every one is bound to be Trading for God with what he hath given him for saith the Text He gave to every Man according to his several ability So that all of them had an ability though several â— One had a five-fold ability another a two-fold another a single And he that had but a single capacity was called to an account for his unprofitableness and cast into outer darkness The meanest therefore among you hath some ability and woe be to him if he doth not improve it A young Man a Servant a poor Man a mean Man may do many things in tendency to God's Glory and the good of others whil'st he is living and the living the living he shall praise thee You that are stricken in years you have much to account for For you have lived lon and perhaps are now grown old but have you been old Traders Yes as to a worldly account Yea but there is another and a better Trade what have you done therein God will call you to a reckoning for your worldly Trade and especially for your Spiritual You have gained thus much in the world he will say but what redounds to my share of all that you have done This is the great Question Think ye Oh how many opportunities have you out-lived which will never have their Resurrection If therefore you should say as John Baptist's hearers what shall we do then I answer First Be humbled for your former neglects and mispence of time who in doing much have hitherto done nothing and judge your selves for your omissions before your Lord and Master calleth you to account For if you judge your selves you shall not be judged Bring forth fruit meeâ— for Repentance For though it is as impossiibe that your former individual opportunities should return as that you should grow young again yet God may please to minister new occasions to you upon your repentance whereby to bring forth fruit in old age It seems that Nicodemus was an old Man when he came to Christ by night For saith he Can a Man be born when he is old As much as to say As I am But when he is converted he thrives apace and comes to Christ at noon and owns him in the place of publick Judicature and is a mean to dissolve the Session And afterward he owns Christ crucified and is at much cost to embalm him when his Disciples deserted him The Old Man got the start of them all and of many others that set out before him So it is sometimes The first are last and the last first Now therefore bestir your selves and redeem lost time by improving what remaineth to the utmost and see what you can do with a little remnant of life and whether you cannot grow as fast as Old Nicodemus did Project improvments of life which is a kind of Saveall now that your light is near extinguishing Make up in affection what may be wanting in action If you cannot do much yet love much and you have cause enough to do so in that God hath given you to live so long who have done so little If our Servants should work no better for us than many have done for God we should soon turn them out of doors And therefore love the Lord the more and that will also provoke you to do the more Stir up others to work for God that what you cannot do by your own hands you may do by others For you shall have a share in their good actions who work by your incitement What good was done by the hands of thousands in the dayes of the reforming Kings of Judah is still imputed to the Reformers that set them on work as you may see in the Reign of Asa Jehosaphat Hezekiah and Josiah And though the persons imployed might act from Principles of Hypocrisie as some at least did in Josiah's Reformation Yet the works were done in sincerity as to the Reformers They were done in Hypocricy as to the Instruments in sincerity as to the principal Agent Your time therefore is but short and you cannot do much with your own hands see what you cad do by others as by your Wife Husband Children Relations Friends Neighbours and it shall be imputed unto them if they do it sincerely but to you howsoever if you did set them on work in the uprightness of your heart Pray for death-bed Grace Faith Hope Patience Peace of Conscience composedness of Spirit such a frame as is fit to glorifie God and edifie others at your last farewel to friends This is that which we should all pray for and it is
because he was a great Commander and Prince in his Country to which also he had been a Father having wrought great deliverances for the same However such a Father was the good King in my Text and he owns himself as such an one in the very entrance of his Reign when he was but 25 years old For saith he to the Priests and Levites exhorting them to their duty My sons be not now negligent for the Lord hath chosen you to stand before him to serve him and that you should minister unto him and burn Incense They were themselves Fathers for Hezekiah calls them God's Ministers and so they were Fathers to Hezekiah but as he was their King he was their Father and they his sons They his Spiritual Fathers he their Political and so he was not only Pater patriae but also Pater patrum not only the Father of his Countrey but the Father of his Fathers i. e. the Political Father of those who were his Fathers Ecclesiastically But here is no opportunity of speaking to such Fathers as these whose duty it is also to make known the Truth unto their Children as Hezekiah did as appears at large in his Reformation 2 Chron. 29th 30th and 31th Chapters There are Fathers in age gravity seniority viz. such as are well stricken in years Such are they 1 Tim. 5. 1. Rebuke not an Elder but entreat him as a Father the younger Men as brethren the elder Women as Mothers the younger as sisters The Elder here is not a Church-Officer as some perhaps may think For though it is Presbyteros in the Original yet the same word is applyed to Elder Women also in ver 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Elder Women or as if I should say The Presbyteresse◠So that the Apostle here speaketh only of the several degrees of Age in each Text Elder and Younger calling the Elder Men Fathers and the Elder Women Mothers and the younger Men and Women Brethren and Sisters And that this is the true meaning of the Apostle appears also Titus 2. 2 3. where the Elder here is called Aged there Now there is a duty also incumbent upon these as touching the transmission of the Truth to the generation to come Make it known therefore by your Examples Counsels Encouragements upon all occasions for you have heard much and seen much and known much and treasured up experiences and therefore certainly you should have much to say to such as are of the younger sort and your years gravity wisdom experiences will the better recommend the Truth unto them for there is an honour due to you also by vertue of the fifth Commandment Let me commend to you that Text of Scripture Oh God thou hast taught me from my youth and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works Now also when I am old and gray-headed Oh God forsake me not until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation and thy power to every one that is to come The Psalmist was now an old Man one of much experience being taught of God from his youth and as God taught him so he taught others For saith he Hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works Hitherto that is to old Age for now he was aged and gray-headed And had he not done well and was it not time now to dye Yes he had done very well but yet he is willing to live a little longer to do more and therefore saith he Forsake me not until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation and thy power to every one that is to come As if he should say I am willing yet to live a little longer to do more generation-work there is a care and zeal for posterity upon my heart there are young people ready to come after me and peradventure they will listen to the Counsel of an old experienced servant of God and upon this account I am willing to spend a few days more upon Earth to serve God and Posterity without which it were not worth while to live Think upon this Text of Scripture you that are old and gray-headed and improve the little remainder of your lives to serve the succeeding generation For you do not love Religion if you do not love that it should live when you are dead neither are they worthy of experiences who dig and hide them in the Earth When God had shewed his singular care and power in the preservation of his Church against her Enemies that attempted the ruine thereof saith he Walk about Zion go round about her tell the Towers thereof mark ye well her Bulwarks consider her Palaces that ye may tell it to the generations following So when God ariseth to build up Zion and appears in glory upon the prayers of his poor people This must be written for the generations to come that the people which shall be created may praise the Lord. Lastly There are such who though they are not called Fathers yet are called Elders viz. the Members of the Gospel-Churches And they are so called not in respect of age but of state in these Gospel-times wherein the Church is past her non-age and is now in an Elderly state requiring more Knowledge Wisdom Strength Seriousness Gravity and Solidity in the things of God How should such as these walk before others so as to answer the Character of Elders Let such take heed then of carrying it below their state It is not for Elders to behave themselves like Children I have thought many times of that description of the Gospel-Churches in the Revelations and how little it is answered this day by many that relate to such Societies Take heed then of scandals answer your State live up to your Priviledges shine in Holiness that you may adorn the Doctrine of God and our Saviour and commit and commend your State Examples and holy Lives unto the Generation to come that they may attain to the knowledge of the Truth by your walking in it and say These Truths and Ways of holy Walking were made known to me by the Gracious Grave and serious Lives of such as did relate unto the Churches of Christ The Exhortation hitherto hath been to do all the good we are able during our abode here below seeing death will put end to all our opportunities And I have propounded to you several Particulars wherein to be exercised this way Now before I proceed to any further Use of Exhortation Let me mind you of that which may conduce to the attendance of this Duty and that is an heart enlarged unto publick service For that which greatly hinders the prosecution of this work is the narrowness and straightness of the Spirits of Men whose concernments are commonly bounded within themselves Therefore you must endeavour to abound in love First To the glory of God For this was at work in Hezekiah's heart when he said The living the living he shall praise thee This was uppermost this was the first
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
THE PRIVILEDGE OF THE Saints on Earth BEYOND Those in HEAVEN In respect of Gifts and Graces exercised Duties and Services performed sufferings and Tryals undergone by them which the Glorified are not capable of BEING The Sum of a Discourse upon a part of Hezekiah Song of Thanksgiving after his Recovery from his Sickness To which is added A short Discourse of the Nature and 〈◊〉 of the Gospel-day reaching from the Destruction of the Old to the 〈…〉 of the New Jerusalem out of 〈…〉 By WILLIAM HOOKE Preacher of the Gospel LONDON Printed for John Wilkins and are to be sold at his Shop in Exchange-Alley next door to the Exchange-Coffee-House over against the Royal-Exchange 1673. Courteous Reader Thou art desired to correct with thy Pen these following Errata's PAge 9. Line 15. for imparted read imported P. 11. in the Margin r. Eph. 3. last P. 13. l. 6. f. hence r. here P. 16. l. 10. for Spiritual r. special P. 22. in the Margin r. Job 7. 2. P. 23. l. 10. for the r. this P. 35. l. 13. blot out yet P. 51. l. 28. r. bridled P. 53. in the Margin r. Luke 8. 48. Luke 7. 50. P. 65. l. 9. for the r. your P. 91. l. 23 24. for Argumentations r. Augmentations P. 92. l. 8. for for r. so P. 92. l. last for were not the r. were it not for the. P. 95. l. 20. f. from plain to Plain r. from Place to Place P. 101. l. 22 for lon r. long In the second Sermon in the Epistle for go r. therefore TO THE READER THe greatest and highest Honour of the reasonable Creature is to serve him who is the best Good and last End Herein do we communicate with Angels whose glory it is that they are Ministring Spirits always beholding the face of God our Father for this very purpose How diligent then should we be to lay hold on and to improve all opportunities of service seeing our time is so short our work so great and our salvation nearer than when we first believed The Son of God hath given us a glorious pattern herein I must work the work of him that hath sent me c. Christ Jesus our Master improved all opportunities went up and down doing good filling all places where he came with the favour of his Doctrine and Miracles because he knew his time was short and the recompence of reward at hand The serious thoughts hereof would exceedingly spur us to a holy diligence especially considering that Heaven is a place not of work but reward where the Saints will be divested of serving and honouring God in many of these ways wherein now through grace they are enabled to bring much glory to his Name Many Graces Duties Gifts have here their place while we are Viatores but shall have no room when we come to be Comprehensores And this is the design of the worthy Author in this little Tract viz. to set before thee the great opportunities thou hast of service to God while thou art on this side Heaven beyond what are to be enjoyed there Were this throughly weighed how would Holiness be promoted Saints thrive Families flourish Churches revive we should not so passionately desire death meerly to be rid of all sufferings but should prize life if with it Christ Jesus might be magnified It is glorious work that God calls his Saints to ' ere they get to Heaven Is not suffering for Christ glorious work is not the exercise of Faith Hope and Patience glorious work To do good and to communicate both to the bodily and spiritual necessities of Saints and others is not this glorious work In a word to propagate pure Religion undefiled to the generations to come is not this glorious work Why herein are the Saints on Earth priviledged beyond those in Heaven where there is no room for the exercise of these Graces and Duties Oh! who would not pray that he might live to do God service spin not out precious time unprofitably Pray that thou mayest be counted worthy of this calling which is indeed a high calling and fulfil all the good pleasure of his Goodness and the work of Faith Hope and Patience with power that the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and ye in him according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ Isaiah 38 18 19. For the Grave cannot praise thee Death cannot celebrate thee They that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth The living the living he shall praise thee as I do this day The Father to the Children shall make known thy Truth THe words are a part of Hezekiah's thanksgiving for his recovery from his sickness beginning at the ninth verse This good King was not simply afraid of Death as appeareth ver 3d. But First He had then no Son to succeed him in the Kingdom for Manasseh was not then born and he was sollicitous for a Successour and the fulfilling of God's Promise to David which we have four times expressed viz. 2 Sam. 7. 12 13 16. 1 King 8. 25. Psal 89. 28 29. 132. 12. In all which places we find this Promise to David that there should not fail a Man of his Seed to sit upon the Throne of Israel so that his Children took heed to their wayes to walk before the Lord in truth as David their Father had done Here was a Promise with a Condition And hence it is I suppose that Hezekiah in his Prayer vers 3d makes mention of his fulfilling that Condition viz. That David's Children must take heed to their way if they desired to sit upon his Throne that they walk before him as David had done For saith Hezekiah Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart have done that which is good in thy sight As much as to say Lord I hope thou wilt not cut me off and leave the Kingdom without an Heir of the Seed of David seeing thou did'st promise him that thou wouldest not provided that his Children took heed to their way that they walked before him as David did And through thy Grace I have so walked in my measure and therefore I hope thou wilt not take me away who have performed the Condition So that Hezekiah though a very good Man was afraid of Death yet not simply but lest the Kingdom should want an Heir of the Seed of David And this that I have said confirms the Opinion of those that say that Hezekiah was loth to dye because then he had no Heir though that was not all the reason For Secondly He was also loth to dye in God's displeasure so as a Child of God my do For God doth testifie his temporal displeasure many times against his own Children If his Children forsake my Law and walk not in my Judgments If they break my Statutes and keep not my Commandments Then will I
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
when you hear of a Church bereft of its Pastor pray to the chief Shepherd to supply the empty room with a meet successour As Moses said in another case Let the Lord the God of the Spirits of all flesh set a man over the Congregation which may go out before them and which may go in before them and which may lead them out and which may bring them in that the Congregation of the Lord be not as sheep which have no Shepherd Oh sirs There is a great service to be done for Christ by prayers during the opportunity of our intercession which dieth together with us What great things have been and still are done by prayers By these was the Church delivered out of Babylon and Peter out of Prison By these was Zion built By these is the Gospel upheld the enemies thereof brilded and liberty obtained c. And when God will do great and wonderful things he will gather his praying Saints together and pour out a mighty Spirit of prayer upon them Sixthly Comfort the feeble minded and support the weak Speak a word in due season to the weary For sometimes you shall meet with such as want it and who walk in darkness and see no light and are ready to complain like Heman Psal 88. at large In such cases Strengthen the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees and say to them that are of a fearful heart be strong fear not And this it seems was Jobs practice He strengthened the weak and his words upheld him that was falling And if they were in affliction the moving of his lips asswaged their grief For heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop but a good word maketh it glad And this savoureth sweetly of the Spirit of Christ who would not break the bruised Reed nor quench the smoaking Flax. The words are diminutive for the meaning is he would strengthen the bruised Reed and blow up the smoaking Flax. For he carries his Lambs in his bosom that is he tenders them and laies them near his heart As when the Church was in affliction and sick of love he stayes her with flagons and comforts her with Apples his left hand is under her head and his right hand embraceth her Not his right hand under her head and his left hand embraceth her for that is not next the heart of Christ He is our High Priest who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities hath compassion on us in just proportion He speaks to the heart of the trembling Haemorrhoiss when she fell down at his feet and saith unto her Daughter be of good comfort thy Faith hath made thee whole go in peace And he takes part with that brokenhearted sinner that sate behind him at his feet weeping and washing and wiping and kissing them and rebukes censorious Simon and saith to her Thy sins are forgiven thy Faith hath saved thee go in peace Oh the sweet Spirit of Christ Let the same mind then be in you which was in him And comfort them that are in trouble with the comforts wherewith you your selves have been comforted of God And be kindly affectioned one toward another in brotherly love And when the case requires it shew your self a son of Consolation Seventhly In Heaven you know are no necessities whereas here are many which will give occasion therefore to such service as Heaven hath no need of For here are poor Saints and the poor are always with us who sometimes want Food sometimes Clothing sometimes Lodging sometimes Money c. You then that are able must follow Job's example saith he I have not with-held the poor from their desire nor caused the eyes of the Widow to fail nor eaten my morsel alone but the Fatherless hath eaten of it also Neither have I seen any to perish for want of clothing or any poor without covering but his loynes have blessed me and he was warmed with the fleece of my sheep The stranger did not lodge in the street but I opened my door to the Traveller c. and the eyes of our Lord Jesus are much upon such good works as these for he beheld how the people cast their money into the Treasury Heaven affordeth no such objects of your Love and Compassion There are indeed many Beggers at Heavens Gates but never a Begger within Heavens doors And there are many Widows and Fatherless Children here but never a Widow nor Orphan there Brethren Be ye then merciful 〈◊〉 your Father in Heaven is merciful And blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy And it is that which will lengthen out your lives Mercy even to the bruit creatures shall prolong your dayes much more then to Men especially to the houshold of Faith Lazarus shall rise and have a new lease of his life to entertain Christ again And so shall Tabitha to make Coats and Garments for Widows again Life is well bestowed upon merciful ones And life is the time of acting this Grace for bowels are shut up in Heaven and no pity shall be shewed to the nearest perishing relations in the day of Christ Again Here you may entertain Jesus Christ in his Members and Ministers Here you may be fellow-helpers to the Truth and Gospel And what says John of that We ought therefore to receive such that we might be fellow-helpers to the Truth And saith the Apostle Be not forgetful to entertain strangers for thereby some have entertained Angels unawares We cannot entertain Angels in Heaven for they have their places there as well as we and there we are rather entertained by them Zech. 3. 7. but here it hath been done as by Abraham and Lot And though we cannot expect to entertain them as they did yet if we could what is that to the entertainment of Christ himself And if we entertain his Members at our houses or do any Office of Love for them we do it unto Jesus Christ Eighthly Let us be willing also if need be to suffer for Christ which is a service peculiar to this life But I say If need be because we are not to cast our selves upon suffering uncalled We must take up but not make a Cross But when the providence of God and his Word calleth us to witness for Christ to the loss of ought that is nearest and dearest to us let us remember that this is one of the services which termineth with our lives and cannot be performed in glory It hath indeed been our portion hitherto to escape those sufferings which many of our brethren have undergone But have we been sufferers in affection Have we been prepared for the Cross Or have we not been among the fearful And have we sympathized with our Brethren in their sufferings and have we accounted them happy that have endured yea and their sufferings honourable for the sake and in the quarrel
of such a Lord and Master Consider what I say For it is a very honourable thing to suffer for Christ his Gospel and Kingdom For the Spirit of God and of glory resteth upon all such And what are all the sufferings of this present time in comparison with the glory which shall be revealed in us But though we have escaped what others have undergone yet we know not what may be our portion as to suffering before we dye Perhaps there is the more behind God hath appointed the number of them that shall suffer for Christ And who knows what God hath appointed for him this way But what ever it be Heaven will put an end to it where are no sufferings but Crowns even incorruptible Crowns of glory You know what is said of them that came out of great tribulation they were clothed with white Robes and had palms in their hands Ninthly Exercise those fruits of the Spirit which are proper to this life You have heard of several as Faith Hope Patience love to Enemies and to Men out of Christ Sympathy common gifts for Edification Communication of Knowledge which is mediate in this life All these are the gifts of the Spirit on this side Heaven in the exercise whereof God is much glorified and others edified which is that which should be the scope and aime of us all Tenthly and lastly There is one thing more which we are exhorted to do in this world which cannot be done after death and it is a very great service and highly incumbent on us and I was willing to reserve it to the last place that it might the rather abide by us and 〈◊〉 this Endeavour to transmit pure Religion and undefiled to posterity by commending it to your Children The Fathers to the Children shall make known thy truth And we may run it through Fatherhood at large But Let me speak of Domestical Fathers that is Fathers of Families This is a great matter and is the special work of the godly in their generations How else shall that be made good which is written His Name that is Christ's shall endure for ever his Name shall be continued as long as the Sun Some render it His Name shall be continued as a son continueth his Father's name for the Original Jinnon or Janin cometh of Nin 〈◊〉 son As if one should say Filiabitur nomen ejus or sobolescet nomen ejus as Tremellius renders it That is Christ shall not only himself live for ever in his person but his Name also shall endure for ever and be derived to his Children who therefore shall prolong his days as Children mete out their Fathers mortality in bearing his name being called Christians and the sons of God and the Children of Christ And this shall be saith the Psalmist before the Sun that is as long as the Sun endureth Now God will use means to bring this to pass and what are those means one special one is this The Father to the Children shall make known thy Truth For how should the Name of Christ be childed from generation to generation as some render it if care be not taken by Parents to Child Christ's Name downwards to their Off-spring that his Name may be put upon their Children by being not only Christians by Baptism but by Regeneration And this is one of the great works and ends of our lives for Hezekiah here mentioneth First Praising of God and Secondly Making known the Truth to our Children which was a great Statute in Israel and obligeth us no less then them saith the Psalmist I will open my mouth in a Parable I will utter dark sayings of old which we have heard and known and our Fathers have told us We will not hide them from their Children shewing to the generations to come the praises of the Lord and his strength and his wonderful works that he hath done Here 1. Are such as are worthy of the name of Fathers viz. who transmit to posterity the Truths of God contained in the Scripture so as these here did as appears in the sequel of the Psalm And 2. Here is the only infallible sort of Tradition viz. that which delivereth to posterity what God first delivered to the Prophets Apostles and holy men of God and is now contained in the Scriptures 3. From these words we are taught that the godly in every age ought to have the same care to transmit the Word of Truth to their posterity as their Ancestors had to transfer it unto them and so to pay the debt which they owe to their godly Ancestors unto their succeeding Children for our Children are here called their Children vers 4th And if you descended not from such Parents immediately yet peradventure mediately you did However this here is your duty out of love to God to Truth and your Posterity Mark therefore what followeth in the same Psalm For God established a Testimony in Jacob and appointed a Law in Israel which he commanded our Fathers that they should make them known to their Children that the generation to come might know them even the Children which should be born who should arise and declare them unto their Children You see this transmitting of the Truth and true Religion to Posterity is God's love and Testimony because it testifieth and witnesseth for God and against us if we break it And this Law and Testimony we have several times in Moses So that the Law and Testimony is to transmit the Truth to Posterity For God did not deliver the Truth and true Religion to a person or people for the use of themselves alone but for the benefit of their Children also And he never loved the Truth truly who is careless whether it dye with himself or out-live him Let such Parents and Masters look to it who have been negligent in instructing their Children and Families The handing of Religion from Parents to Children from the Living to the next succeeding Age is a standing part of our Generation-work It is said of David That after he had served his generation he fell asleep And truly such as fall asleep before go to bed before they have done their work and that is the way to make them start as many do when they are newly setting themselves to sleep Oh sirs care and pains for the godly being of posterity is a great and necessary business I many times think of the care and endeavour of the nine Tribes and half lest their Children should lose their interest in the God of Israel To which end they built the Altar Ed as they tell the two Tribes and half in their Apology Say they The Lord God of Gods The Lord God of Gods he knoweth and Israel he shall know that we have not done it in rebellion to turn from following the Lord c. But we have done it rather for fear of this thing lest in time to come your Children
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