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
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
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
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
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
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-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.