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
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
doth rest in hope Not that their flesh doth hope but that resteth and their Souls hope for its rising again Accordingly it followeth That here in this life the Saints do exercise their patience which ceaseth in Heaven because our hope ceaseth there For patience is the servant of Hope 1 Thes 1. 3. called there the patience of hope For if we hope for that which we see not then do we with patience wait for it There is nothing in Heaven to put our patience to it It is true indeed what the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 13. last Now abideth Faith Hope and Charity these three but the greatest of these is Charity Because Charity i. e. Love never faileth ver 8. that is Heavens grace in a Spiritual manner But yet notwithstanding even Love it self hath a larger Object here in this world than in Heaven For there is a Love here which cannot be exercised there And that is To love our enemies which is the Command of the Gospel and a great Duty and was one of the last Acts of Christ upon the Cross Luke 23. 34. And the very last Act of Stephen the Protomartyr who was never like to act it more Act. 7. last Lord saith he lay not this sin to their charge Here in this life you may love all Unregenerate men and shew it in your desires and endeavours for their conversion Here also you may exercise a Love of sympathy with all both good and bad in their sufferings But in Heaven there is no room for this Love And as these gifts of Grace forementioned do greatly glorifie God but cease in Heaven so do Parts and common-Gifts also cease there For whether there be Prophesies they shall fail or whether there be Tongues they shall cease or whether there be knowledge that is imperfect mediate and the communication of it to others it shall vanish away And yet Prophesying is much to God's glory For He that Prophesieth speaketh unto men to Edification Exhortation Consolation And Tongues do also edifie So likewise for knowledge So that put all this together and there is much to be done here whereby God may be glorified and men edified and benefited which cannot be done in heaven And thus you see the Point made good in several Instances That there are opportunities of service to be performed to the Lord in this life which are not to be enjoyed after death Quest But if it be thus why have some of the Saints mentioned in Scripture desired to dye Answer Some of the Saints have done ill in so doing but others upon good ground First Some of them have not done well in desiring death for they have passionately desired it and to their own loss if God should have answered their desires herein For instance 1. Moses he was the meekest Man upon the Earth yet he seems to be in a passion when he said If thou deal thus with me kill me I pray thee out of hand Why was there no remedy but God must kill him and presently too if the burthen of the people lay a little longer upon him This was a passionate expression and desire of death And had he died there presently he had incurred a double loss to say no more in it 1. He had been cut short of the opportunity of doing that eminent service in conducting the people through the Wilderness For he lived 38 years longer and did much for God and his people during that time 2. If he had died then out of hand he had not dyed and been buried so honourably as he was afterwards upon Mount Nebo even by God's hand 2. And though Job was a patient Man yet he passionately desired death Oh! saith he that I might have my request and that God would grant me the thing that I long for Even that it would please God to destroy me that he would let loose his hand and cut me off Whereas God meant Job better than so viz. to turn his Captivity and to give him twice as much as he had lost and the full number of his former Children and so to double their number also shewing him that his first number was not last Moreover he shall yet live 140 years longer to serve and honour God in this world Again 3. Elijah was a Man subject to like passions as we are and being persecuted by Jezebel he requested for himself that he might dye and he said It is enough now O Lord take away my life for I am not better than my Fathers Whereas God intended better for him viz. that he should live yet longer and finish his Testimony against Ahab Jezebel and Ahaziah and then be carried triumphantly to Heaven in a fiery Chariot So 4. Jonah would needs dye in a fret Oh Lord saith he Take I beseech thee my life from me for it is better for me to dye than to live No Jonah was not in case to dye at present God would not take him at his word but he must live yet longer and repent Secondly As for some others of the Saints death hath been desired by them and not impatiently nor any way sinfully but very well and upon good ground You know 1. Just and devout Simeon when he had taken up Christ in his arms he blessed God and said Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace and the ground of this request lies in the words following according to thy Word His Prayer it seems was grounded upon a word from God For as God had told him that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ so he had promised him that then he should dye and so his Prayer was grounded upon a Promise 2. And as for Paul He desired to depart and to be with Christ which saith he is far better i. e. for me Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you And having this confidence I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of Faith So that 1. When he desired to dye he looked upon the benefit thereof abstractedly and absolutely but not comparatively 2. When he looked upon it on comparison with the benefits of life he was not so positive in the desire of death but having done great service and that too a long time for Jesus Christ for then he was Paul the aged Philem. ver 9. and being then in prison at Rome he hung for a time in Aequilibrio mid-way between two till at last the Scale turns to a desire to live further to serve Jesus Christ and his Church and people For though Paul was then in prison yet he did very much good there which had been lost had he then gone to Heaven For his bonds furthered the Gospel And they strengthned the Brethren and wrought upon several in Caesars Palace And there be converted Onesimus and there he wrote his Epistles to the
you not with him turn your faces to the wall and weep sore And yet I tell you Hezekiah had done a great deal of Work for God during the time of his Reign unto this sickness He lost no time but fell hard to the Work of Reformation in the first moneth of the first year of his Reign And he did a great deal during his fourteen years before his sickness and he did it also in Truth and with a perfect heart But still what have you done if you were now as near the gates of the grave as here he was And to these Gates you must come at last and pass through them also to the highest Tribunal to answer to this Question What hast thou done How hast thou improved time occupied with thy Talent filled up thy Relations maintained good Works for necessary uses been active for the highest end Peradventure you will plead your small capacity and that you are but of mean degree an obscure person and ezercised in Low Employments and of weak parts c. Yea but still what saith Hezekiah The living the living he shall praise thee And are not you living Are you not alive For any Man or Woman living may praise the Lord or else Hezekiah saith not well But it is true what he saith for any Man living may do his his generation-work Is your capacity than such that you cannot praise the Lord what saith the Psalmist Praise ye the Lord who Kings of the Earth Yea they are in a capacity indeed Such as Hezekiah may do much that way they are great Men and have great opportunities But what followeth Kings of the Earth and all people Princes and all Judges of the Earth Both young Men and Maidens and old Men and Children Let them praise the Name of the Lord. Men and Maids old and young all may and all must attend the service none excepted And therefore plead not your mean capacity but serve your age according to your Talent For he that had but one Talent doth not say Lord I had but one and what can a Man do with one My fellow-servants had one five Talents the other two and they might well employ and improve them No he saith not thus He was convinced that one Talent might be improved to advantage as well as five and that every one is bound to be Trading for God with what he hath given him for saith the Text He gave to every Man according to his several ability So that all of them had an ability though several â— One had a five-fold ability another a two-fold another a single And he that had but a single capacity was called to an account for his unprofitableness and cast into outer darkness The meanest therefore among you hath some ability and woe be to him if he doth not improve it A young Man a Servant a poor Man a mean Man may do many things in tendency to God's Glory and the good of others whil'st he is living and the living the living he shall praise thee You that are stricken in years you have much to account for For you have lived lon and perhaps are now grown old but have you been old Traders Yes as to a worldly account Yea but there is another and a better Trade what have you done therein God will call you to a reckoning for your worldly Trade and especially for your Spiritual You have gained thus much in the world he will say but what redounds to my share of all that you have done This is the great Question Think ye Oh how many opportunities have you out-lived which will never have their Resurrection If therefore you should say as John Baptist's hearers what shall we do then I answer First Be humbled for your former neglects and mispence of time who in doing much have hitherto done nothing and judge your selves for your omissions before your Lord and Master calleth you to account For if you judge your selves you shall not be judged Bring forth fruit meeâ— for Repentance For though it is as impossiibe that your former individual opportunities should return as that you should grow young again yet God may please to minister new occasions to you upon your repentance whereby to bring forth fruit in old age It seems that Nicodemus was an old Man when he came to Christ by night For saith he Can a Man be born when he is old As much as to say As I am But when he is converted he thrives apace and comes to Christ at noon and owns him in the place of publick Judicature and is a mean to dissolve the Session And afterward he owns Christ crucified and is at much cost to embalm him when his Disciples deserted him The Old Man got the start of them all and of many others that set out before him So it is sometimes The first are last and the last first Now therefore bestir your selves and redeem lost time by improving what remaineth to the utmost and see what you can do with a little remnant of life and whether you cannot grow as fast as Old Nicodemus did Project improvments of life which is a kind of Saveall now that your light is near extinguishing Make up in affection what may be wanting in action If you cannot do much yet love much and you have cause enough to do so in that God hath given you to live so long who have done so little If our Servants should work no better for us than many have done for God we should soon turn them out of doors And therefore love the Lord the more and that will also provoke you to do the more Stir up others to work for God that what you cannot do by your own hands you may do by others For you shall have a share in their good actions who work by your incitement What good was done by the hands of thousands in the dayes of the reforming Kings of Judah is still imputed to the Reformers that set them on work as you may see in the Reign of Asa Jehosaphat Hezekiah and Josiah And though the persons imployed might act from Principles of Hypocrisie as some at least did in Josiah's Reformation Yet the works were done in sincerity as to the Reformers They were done in Hypocricy as to the Instruments in sincerity as to the principal Agent Your time therefore is but short and you cannot do much with your own hands see what you cad do by others as by your Wife Husband Children Relations Friends Neighbours and it shall be imputed unto them if they do it sincerely but to you howsoever if you did set them on work in the uprightness of your heart Pray for death-bed Grace Faith Hope Patience Peace of Conscience composedness of Spirit such a frame as is fit to glorifie God and edifie others at your last farewel to friends This is that which we should all pray for and it is
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