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
visit their transgressions with the Rod and their iniquity with Stripes And he testifies it sometimes in their death as he did in the death of the Prophet that came out of Judah and Prophesied against the Altar it Bethel who was slain by a Lion for his disobeying the Word of the Lord. And Hezekiah was afraid that God had some controversie with him and he was loth to dye in God's displeasure Peradventure he was somewhat lifted up with his miraculous deliverance from the Host of Senacherib mentioned in the former Chapter For God did wonderful things as you know to effect that deliverance and this sickness was immediately after the destruction of Senacherib's Army for that happened in the 39th year of Hezekiahs life who lived fifteen years after his recovery from his sickness which two numbers make the whole number of Hezekiah's years which were 54 2 King 18. 2. So that this sickness of his fell out presently upon that great deliverance And the good Man was not so thankful perhaps as he should be but somewhat elevated For this was his weakness after his recovery His heart was lifted up and he rendred not again according to the benefit done to him for which God was angry with him What the sin was I will not positively determine only I thus conjecture but that he apprehended God's displeasure for his sin is evident from the words immediately before my Text saith he Thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back Therefore it seems his sins lay before the face of God till his recovery and upon this account he was loth to dye Thirdly He was loth to dye as fearing what should become of his Reformation For he knew what became of Jehoshaphat's though he left a son behind him and of Jehojadah's though he left a well-educated Nephew behind him Add hereunto that he found the Church in a very deplored condition when he came to the Crown And as for his present Reformation it had not lasted so long as his Father's Deformation and Idolatry and his Reformation had scarce taken root as yet therefore he was willing to live longer and not as yet to dye Fourthly That which made him the more unwilling was the nature of his Disease which by the Remedy and way of Cure a lump of Figgs laid for a Plaister upon the Boyl Ver. 21. I say which by the Cure seems to have been the Pestilence And he was not willing to go to Heaven that way though good Men may dye of that Disease and many times have done But yet a Child of God would for several Reasons willingly decline that way of dying if it might stand with the good will and pleasure of God Thus you see the Reasons why Hezekiah was loth to dye Now then being recovered and having a lease of his life for 15 years granted him he writeth down his thanksgiving as much affected with God's mercy towards him vers 9 c. In the Text read unto you there is 1. A Declaration of the state of the Dead as to the loss of all opportunities ever to praise and magnifie God any more or to hope for his truth in this world Secondly An Assertion of the opportunities enjoyed by the living thus to praise God and to make known his Truth that is His Truth and Faithfulness in his Promises For I conceive Hezekiah hath here a special respect to the Truth and faithfulness of God in his Promise made to David and his Seed in the foremtioned Texts of Scripture And therefore it is very likely that Hezekiah made known this Truth and Faithfulness of God to his son Manasseh who was twelve years old when Hezekiah dyed Though Manasseh it seems did little mind it or made any good use of it That Point of Doctrine which I shall insist upon is this That Doctrine There are opportunities of service to be performed to God in this life which are not to be enjoyed after death Or thus The people of God may do that for him in this World which they cannot do in Heaven David therefore makes an Argument of it in his Prayer and sad Complaint in his Sickness For saith he in death there is no remembrance of thee not but that the Saints in Heaven do remember God for they see him there but they cannot keep up his memorial any longer among the living he goes on In the Grave who shall give thee thanks The like we have in the 30th Psalm entitled A Song at the Dedication of the house of David viz. after his return as 't is conceived from his victory over Absalom who had dreadfully defiled David's house with Incest in abusing his Fathers Concubines which house therefore David endeavours to purge and cleanse in a solemn holy manner at his return and to dedicate it anew to God And in that Psalm he sheweth how he cryed to the Lord in the day of his trouble when Absalom rose up against him when he was afraid of his life and was loth to dye by the hand of his son saith he What profit is there in my blood when I go down to the pit shall the dust praise thee shall it declare thy Truth And dark deserted Heman makes use of the same argument Psal 88. 10 11. Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead and shall the dead arise and praise thee Selah Shall thy loving kindness be declared in the Grave or thy faithfulness in destruction Shall thy wonders be known in the dark and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness saith he Thy people may make known thy wonders in this life but not in the Grave But then do not the Saints when they are dead praise the Lord Yes But the Psalmist speaketh not of that but of praising God and declaring his loving kindness faithfulness and righteousness in the land of the living And all their service that way is at an end except by Miracle any be raised from the dead as Lazarus and Tabitha were So Psal 115. 17. The dead praise not the Lord neither any that go down into silence And hence saith David I shall not dye but live and declare the works of the Lord Psalm 118. 17. As much as to say there is no declaring of them after death But what are those services that may be done here which cannot be done in Heaven that so we may see the Point in Instances They are many and let me begin with these in my Text. The living the living he shall praise thee i. e. He shall praise thee before the Children of Men in the Land of the living Now this is a glorious service containing as much as is imparted in the first Petition of the Rule of Prayer i. e. Hallowed be thy Name which though it be a service done in Heaven yet in the presence of glorified Saints only without any propagation of praise to the Name of God for that is the priviledge of the Saints
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
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
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
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
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.