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
thing that was in his Eye in his desire of prolongation of life For indeed it is the chief good of Man whom God made for himself and who therefore is to have this end continually in his aim and to be often thinking What shall I do to glorifie God For of him and through him and to him are all things to him be glory for ever Amen And all is lost that ends not in him that is Omega to whom you may well afford this honour when you consider that he is Alpha. He that is the first must be the last Take heed then of a narrow selfish Spirit which never looks so far as to this end and that makes many so unactive for God and his Glory You must therefore believe more and love more and then you will act to this end more c. Secondly Your love to the glory of God must extend to the Generations to come You must not therefore limit it to the present Generation and never be concerned that God may be glorified in future Ages even to the Worlds end But your desires herein must reach to the very end of the World For note the words of the Apostles Paul To God be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages world without end Amen His love to God's glory ran through all Ages even to Eternity And so should your love do or else you do not sincerely love it neither indeed can you love that his Glory be upheld during your own time and not love the continuance of it to the Worlds end And such was the love of the Saints in the Scriptures to the praise and glory of God say they We will shew forth thy praise to all generations And therefore 1. They desired the continuance thereof to the Worlds end 2. They would also endeavour it With my mouth saith the Psalmist will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations And this hath been their care still That the people which shall be created may praise the Lord. Thus you must love God's Glory both Intensively and Extensively As you must love the Glory of God that it may be extended to future Ages so likewise you must love his Kingdom or else you will never attend this great work unto which you have been exhorted God's Kingdom Power and Glory must go together in your prayers And this was much upon Hezekiah's heart when he said The Father to the Children shall make known thy Truth For he doth not say I will make known thy Truth to my Children though he purposed so to do but the Father that is every Father that feareth God not only in my time but in the generations to come Thus must your love be extended to the Kingdom of God and Thy Kingdom come must be always in your desires and endeavours Come how long even to the end of the world and never cease coming till Christ himself come Now if this be upon your heart and if you love that Christ should reign in the world you will do your utmost to promote it in your capacity in attending to the several Particulars propounded As you love God's Glory and Kingdom so must you love his Gospel For it is the Word of the Kingdom That is The Word whereby God's Kingdom is erected enlarged governed perfected It is that in which and by which our Lord Jesus doth reign in the world viz. as to his Spiritual Kingdom therein of which I now speak especially And you see in my Text Hezekiah's love to the Truth and to the making of it known from Generation to Generation whereas the Gospel is the Truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Truth with an excellency called therefore The Word of Truth and The Word of the Truth of the Gospel The Truth made known not by the Light of Nature but by Revelation a mysterious Truth and therefore a great Truth that we use to say As true as the Gospel Now if you love this Truth as you have cause enough so to do you will do any thing that may tend to the publication and propagation of it by your praiers pains purses Counsels c. Fourthly As you must love God's Glory Kingdom and Gospel so you must love Souls The Father to the Children shall make known thy Truth Therefore the Father must love the Souls of posterity and have a zeal for the salvation of them that shall succeed And this will quicken your endeavours to the service of your Age when you shall look upon the Souls of successours as of equal value with your own seeing the ransom given for all Souls is the same And it is a blessed thing to be a lover of souls it makes a man like unto Jesus Christ whose love to Souls shines in his own blood wherein the kindness and love God our Saviour towards Man appeareth His kindness and Philanthropy i. e. love towards Man For God and our Saviour are great lovers of Men so should we be And Christ's delights were with the sons of Men from eternity We should not therefore terminate our love in Men's bodies we should love the Jewel far above the Cabinet and be frequently looking upon Mens Souls 1. In comparison with our own and 2. In the Blood of the Son of God and 3. In relation to Eternity especially the Souls of such as are near to us And the enlargement of our affections this way will amplifie our endeavours In Heaven we shall love Souls that are saved but here we must love Souls that they may be saved A work which determineth in Glory Now all this requireth a publick Spirit and an heart carried far beyond our selves For a narrow Spirit acteth within a narrow compass and is limited to private concernments And that is the reason why there is so little Generation-service performed All Men seek their own and not the things which are Jesus Christs Whereas our care should extend far beyond our own salvation and love to God's Glory future Ages Christ's Kingdom Gospel and precious Souls should all have a large room in our hearts and affections Thus you have had a great deal of work set before you which will dye together with you And to quicken you to it Consider That you know not how soon you may leave this world As Isaac said to Esau I am old and know not the day of my death and yet he lived 43 years after that Few men in Scripture knew the day of their death so as Hezekiah here did to whose life 15 years were added and he resolveth to spend them for God's Glory and the good of Posterity So do you as for the remainder of your days which may not be a quarter so many as his Only have a care to perform better than he did For when he was recovered he rendred not again according to the benefit done unto him Why what was the matter His heart was lifted up
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
might speak unto our Children saying What have you to 〈◊〉 with the Lord God of Israel For the Lord hath made Jordan a border between us and you ye Children of Reuben and Children of Gad ye have not part in the Lord So shall your Children make our Children cease from fearing the Lord Therefore we said Let us now prepare to build us an Altar not for burnt-offering nor for Sacrifice but that it may be a witness between us and you and our generations after us that we might do the service of the Lord before him with our Burnt-offerings our Sacrifices and with our Peace-offerings that your Children might not say to our Children in time to come ye have no part in the Lord c. Here you see the care and endeavour of the two Tribes and half for the preservation of the true Religion and way of God's Worship among their posterity which is the Point that I am now pressing I beseech you lay it to heart for I fear that many are guilty in this matter and that posterity is like to be little beholding to them Admit of a few Expostulations and consider What will your Children and Servants say when they come to succeed you and peradventure dye at last in therâ—â— sins Lord our Parents and Masters did not make known the Truth to us they did not Catechize and Instruct us they did not deliver to us the form of sound words nor any brief sum of the Articles of Faith and true Religion but we lived and dyed in ignorance for they had no care of our Souls and if others dealt thus with their Children and Servants Religion it self might have perished as we have done Now would not this be most miserable And are you willing to be thus indited by your Children and Servants in that great day Doth not Hezekiah here say The Father to the Children shall make known thy Truth And is it not exprest as a duty and a great one too And doth not Hezekiah look upon this as one of the great works to be attended in this World without which it is not worth while to live Hezekiah indeed had no son at this time but he resolveth here that if God shall give him one he will make known the Truth and Faithfulness of God to him for he looks upon it as his duty when he saith The Father to the Children shall make known thy Truth And what is the reason that many are so ignorant this day but because they wanted Family-instruction from Parents and Masters For it is not enough that such do live under the preaching of the Gospel if they want instruction in the Families wherein they have lived the want whereof makes the Ministers Plow to go so heavily Oh let not the Children and Servants rise up in judgment against you and charge their ignorance and damnation upon the neglect of your duty towards them Thirdly Consider with whom God hath betrusted the Gospel and true Religion 1. He puts his Ministers in trust with it For saith the Apostle We are allowed of God to be put in trust with the Gospel And it is a great trust and we must be faithful in the discharge of it and you must not be offended if we deal plainly with you 2. He betrusteth all his people with his Gospel and pure Religion expecting their discharge of this trust by their utmost endeavors to transmit it to posterity as you heard but even now from that Text Psalm 78. 3 7. For he doth not as I said put the trust into your hands for your selves only that you should make use of it during your lives and then dye and let others that shall come after you shift for themselves for this were to be cruel like the Ostriches in the Wilderness who leave their Eggs in the Earth and warm them in the dust forgetting that the Foot may crush them and the wild Beast break them but he expecteth and requireth your faithfulness and utmost care and labour to recommend the same Religion to your Children and Servants that live with you And what saith Solomon My Father taught me and said thus and thus to me Prov. 4. 4. And my Mother also taught me and she said so and so to me Prov. 31. But how have you taught those that are under your care and what have you said to them And where is the Altar Ed that you have built for them as a witness and memorial of the true Religion and Worship of God which you have commended to them No marvel that Religion decayeth in many Families when their Governours have wrapt up their Religion in a Napkin and professed only for themselves and not for them that should come after them You that are guilty in this part will have a sad reckoning to make when you shall be called to give an account of your discharge of that trust which is commended to you and have never an Ed to witness your care of conveying the Truth to the generation to come Know therefore that it is your duty according to this trust committed to you to turn and wind your Religion for God's Glory the advantage of posterity which if you neglect take beed you be not numbred among the wicked and slothful servants and have your portion with them Consider the common care of Parents to bequeath their Houses Lands and Goods to such as are to succeed them They leave their substance to their Babes saith the Psalmist And the inward thought is that their houses shall continue for ever and their dwelling places to all generations and they call their Lands after their own names That is they are thoughtful for the upholding of their Families and the continuing of their names from one generation to another But as for the Gospel which they profess and the Religion which they own they have little or no care at all They leave their Earthly substance to their Children but that which is the most substantial thing of all they leave it not to them and they leave their names to their Children but the Name of God and Christ they leave not nor have they any care that Christ's Name be named upon them by endeavouring to make them Christians indeed according to their duty as the Psalmist saith I will make thy Name to be remembred in all generations They care not that his Name should be childed from generation to generation Truly it were just with God that their names should be blotted out from under Heaven who love their own names better than Christ's Consider the Covenant that pious Parents are entred into with God For when God saith I will be thy God and the God of thy Seed He expecteth and requireth that Parents do not only give up themselves but their Seed also unto God As Hannah said in her prayer If thou wilt give unto thine Handmaid a Man-child I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life