their lives in not answering the end of them They are meer Earth-cumberers and such who have lived only to themselves Thirdly But which is worse some have lived to wicked purposes having spent their days in sin and been offensive both to God and Men who as last will come to dye like Jehoram without being desired And such another was Hezekiah's Father even that King Ahaz who when he died was buried like Jehoram and not brought into the Sepulchres of the Kings of Israel And such another was that persecutor Jehoiakim for whom they lamented not saying Ah Lord or ah his glory Oh! these are to be exploded out of the Land of the living For Men shall clap their hands at them and hiss them out of the world he never did good work while he lived and he shall have never a good word when he dieth So much for Reprehension This Point instructs us in matter of Humiliation What hath been said should humble even the very best of God's people in that they have done no more service for Jesus Christ in their Generation You have possibly done something for him but you might have done more You might have praised him more declared the Truth more to your Children you might have projected and designed more for the glory of God and the good of Posterity you might have devised liberal things lived more exemplarily been more zealous of good works more edifying in your conversation you might have adventured more for Christ and whereas you have gained two Talents for him you might have gained five Truly for my part I might have done more and it humbleth me that I have done so little I remember it is said of Doctor Vsher in the Narrative of his Life and Death that when he was a dying he was humbled for his omissions And indeed they are great sins and the judgment of Christ at his appearing will pass much upon good works on the one side and omissions of them on the other And therefore we had need to sit in judgment upon our selves for our omissions before we dye For it is not enough to do good sometimes but we should be rich in good works and prepared unto every good work always abounding in the work of the Lord giving a portion to seven and also to eight going about as Christ did doing good And he that is thus exercised is fit to live and fit to dye But let us be humbled this day for our neglects For have not our hearts sometimes checked us upon reviews of the loss of our opportunities to do such or such a good work Saith a gracious and tender heart when he is come from such a person or such a place or such a company or occasion Alas what have I omitted I might have put in such a word for Jesus Christ I might have reproved such a sin or given such or such counsel or stopt such a vain discourse or given such an example or moved for such a good work c. Alas who knows the errors of his life this way and therefore this consideration calls for deep Humiliation and self-judging at this time 3. Exhorted We are here Exhorted and the Point affords Exhortation several ways To do all the good you are able during your abode here below seeing death will put an end to all your opportunities If God enable you to speak a good word to his honour and to the edification of others when you lye a dying you are never like to do so much good again to Eternity When you take your leave of the world you take your leave of doing good And therefore you had need bestir your selves while your Bodies and Souls abide here together Whatsoever therefore thy hand findeth to do do it with thy might for there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom in the Grave whither thou goest And suppose you have done well hitherto like a good and faithful servant be not yet weary of well doing but up and be doing still and in due time you shall reap if you faint not What a deal of good had Hezekiah done before he fell into this sickness He destroyed the Monuments of Idolatry set up a notable Reformation brought back the Tribes of Israel to the Lord God of their Fathers And yet you see here he is willing to live longer to do more So Peter had done much good in his time you know he converted about three thousand Souls at the beginning of his Ministry he had a most happy hansel Acts 2d And yet he takes another opportunity and sped well And after this he passeth through all quarters and came at last to Lydda Saron and Joppa you know what good he did in the house of Cornelius c. At length he becomes old then he writes to the Saints For saith he I think it meet as long as I am in this Tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance knowing that shortly I must put off this my Tabernacle even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me Moreover I will endeavour that you may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance First saith he I am aware of death approaching Secondly I will therefore do all the good I am able both with my Tongue and Pen. Thirdly I will endeavour that the good I do may live when I am dead that you may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance Even thus we should endeavour to live in this world after our departure Survive your Funerals and out-live your deaths For it is not enough that we shall then live in Heaven but we should endeavour to be doing of that good while we live that may make us live on Earth even when we are dead And in this way the memory of the Just shall be blessed and the Righteous had in everlasting remembrance It is the Saints happiness to have Glory and Honour and Immortality in Heaven but it is much to the glory and honour of God for the Saints to be immortalized on Earth and to live in their good Examples good Counsels good Names and good Works when their Souls are shining in Heaven Particularly 1. Dilate and diffuse the praises of God and make his Name glorious to the utmost of your power And let this be often sounding in your ears The living the living he shall praise thee Speak much and live much to his praise Let the high praises of God be in your mouthes Ainsworth and the Dutch Interpreters render it Let the exaltations of God be in your throat and it suits with the Original as also with the Translation of the 70. The Exaltations i. e. the lifting up of God in his Name Attributes Precept Promises Threatnings Providences c. let them be in your throats i. e. exalt your voices in exalting
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
hand the glory of the Saints receives encrease as their labours and pains are fruitful as Divines say of Paul's glory One Heaven is too much for the best Saint that ever lived were not the reward of Grace and yet your Heaven shall multiply according to the fruit of your good doings which you left behind you And this will be instead of doing good in Heaven when the Saints leave that behind them which keeps fructifying after they have left this world Why what is that which they may thus leave behind them Their good Works and Words and Examples and holy Lives their Instructions Exhortations Counsels Encouragements their remarkable Actions and Sufferings for Christ By all which they act and speak even after death And there is no other way that I know whereby to do good when you are in Heaven And in this way shall the glorified Saints know in Heaven whether the good works which they left behind them do fructifie for they shall find and feel it in their enlarged Crowns further Augmentations and additional Glories And then they shall break out into new Songs of praise to God and the Lamb for helping them to sow their Seed on Earth which still fructifieth after they are gone to Heaven And in this way a Father may convert his Child or Children after his death as as I doubt not but many have done And then he heareth of it in Heaven two wayes 1. By his additional Glory 2. By the joyful Acclamations of the Angels for the conversion of a sinner Wherefore let us endeavour so to live here a little while that our good Works may live when we are dead and act when we are at rest and speak when we are gone down into silence and bring forth fruit unto holiness when we are in endless happiness and bring Souls to Heaven after us to tell us that our good Works and Words and Examples Instructions Exhortations Counsels sufferings Graces are yet all alive and well and like to yield a further Crop and Harvest of Joy and Honour to them that sowed them before their death Oh it is a blessed thing and the Wisdom of Saints to leave a stock of good Works behind them whereby to have a Trade going here on Earth which will afford them fresh Incomes of Glory whil'st they are already shining as the Sun in the the Kingdom of their Father And thus much for the first Use of Exhortation to do all the good we are able during our dwelling here on Earth 2d Branch of Exhortation Let the second Exhortation be to call upon you to value your Opportunities to make the best improvements of time whil'st you are in the Land of the living so as the World is often called For Hezekiah began now to consider the price of time who but lately was at the Gates of the Grave and deprived as he thought of the residue of his years that is which he might have lived according to the ordinary course of Nature Saith he Mine age is departed and removed from me as a Shepherds Tent That is which the Shepherd removeth from Plain to Plain according to his occasions as the matter shall require Now I am living here by and by my Body must lodge in the Tent of the cold Grave and my Soul return to God that gave it I have cut off like a Weaver my life he that is God will cut me off from the Thrum Ver. 12. I have cut off my life by my Sins and God hath cut it off by his righteous hand upon me Saith he I reckoned till morning Ver. 13. I shall be dead by the morning And now Hezekiah begins to prize time and cries The living the living he shall praise thee Thus when once the swift Shuttle of your life is come to a Thrum then you will see the value of Opportunity and cry The living the living c. and reckon till the morning and say There is but one day more between my life and Eternity And it may not be long ere that Morning or Evening cometh For little did Hezekiah a few dayes before think that he had been so near unto death being now but thirty nine years old and God having wrought so wonderfully for him in his late preservation from Senacharib For saith he Behold for peace I had great bitterness God lately destroyed the Host of the King of Assyria and gave me peace and I said I shall now now dye in my Nest and multiply my dayes as the Sand but I little thought of such a sickness to ensue my peace It seems he was surprized and so may you be if you look not well to it for God now gives fair warning of it They that will not prize Opportunity shall have an opportunity to prize it If they prize it not living they shall prize it dying Wherefore manage your seasons for the best ends while you have them and fill up your dayes with duty and be not so eager upon the World and the things thereof Opportunity is a golden Mattock to dig for Heavenly Treasure do not wear it out as many do in digging for Pibbls and at your latter end become a fool Beware therefore of idleness on the one side and cumbring your self with Worldly Occasions on the other but consider wherefore hath God given you life and time but to be serviceable in your day and to work for him in whom you live He did not give you time to play the Truant and design and labour to be rich and to grow great in the World and to arrive at such a Revenue and proportion of worldly Estate but he sent you into the World to do his work and to improve your Time and Talent for him And therefore when the World or the Flesh is putting such Employments upon you which will devour much time and divert you from the one thing necessary tell them That you must give an account of your time and you must not rob your Lord and Master of his hours which he sent you to improve in his service c. And certainly it is an undervaluing also of Heaven to think to go thither and to do little or nothing for God upon Earth though yet the recompence of reward is purely gracious or of meer Grace let our Labours for the Lord be never so many for what are all our Studies Works Sweat and blood and Spirits and Cost and Care and Time expended upon Christ in comparison with an exceeding Eternal weight of Glory Prize therefore and improve your times Here are several of you that are young or in your middle age or about Hezekiah's years Call your selves to an account and enquire of your own hearts what you have done Peradventure but little for God and what will turn to a comfortable account What then if God should now lay you as he did Hezekiah upon your sick Bed and threaten to cut off the Thrum of your lives Would
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
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
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
Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians and the second Epistle to Timothy and that to Philemon In all which are many excellent Points of divers kinds which greatly conduce to the Churches edification And better a thousand times that Paul had been kept 20 years out of Heaven than that the Church should have wanted these Epistles But is it not lawful then in any case to desire to dye Yes with subjection to God's will in case especially there are appearances that a Man's work is at an end For a Child of God may live so long that his faculties may be impaired his strength decayed his spirits spent and he may be full of pain too and so shut up that he can do little good And as Job saith A servant that hath wrought hard all the day and is weary earnestly desireth the shadow And so it is with a Child of God in this case The weary body naturally desireth the bed And sometimes God makes a clear discovery to some of his servants that their work is at an end Thus it was with Paul I am ready to be offered up and the time of my departure is at hand I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the Faith And it is with gracious Souls as with the Fruit of the Tree which when it is ripe drops naturally from it There is a Spiritual instinct inclining the Soul of a Believer Heaven-ward when the Fruit is ripe So that they come to their graves as a ripe Shock of Corn cometh in its season And a desire to dye in such a case is still the better when it proceedeth from a longing to be freed from sin and a desire to be with Christ Phil. 1. 23. Application If there are opportunities of service to be performed to God in this life which are not to be enjoyed after death and that the Saints may do that for God in the world which they cannot do in Heaven we are then 1. Informed That Heaven is the place of the Saints reward and not of their work When they dye they cease from their labours and their works do follow them They do not follow the Saints as if the Saints were there to follow their work but they follow them to be rewarded and crowned For their course is now finished their race is run and henceforth is laid up for them a Crown of Righteousness Heaven therefore is not their working-place but their resting-place they rest from their labours there is much to be received there but nothing to be done there but to live in the high praises of God and the Lamb to Eternity If our opportunities dye together with us then we are further informed That as there is no working in Heaven so there is no returning after death to work again in this world If a Man dye shall he live again No saith Hezekiah ver 11. I said in the cutting off of my days I shall go to the Gates of the Grave I shall nor see the Lord even the Lord in the Land of the living I shall behold Man no more with the inhabitants of the world That is I shall no more appear before the Lord in his Sanctuary to perform any more service there to him As if he should say I shall see the Lord in Heaven but I shall see him serve no more in the Land of the living which I desire to do For when Isaiah brought him the welcome tidings of his recovery one of first things that he saith to him is what is the sign that I shall go up to the House of the Lord For a King to go to the House of the Lord and to lead the way to the Worship of God was a very glorious service He looked upon it as a very great mercy to see and serve the Lord in the Land of the living but he thought he should see him so no more nor behold Man any more with the inhabitants of the world and therefore he should return no more Men have but one Soul and but one opportunity to act for the eternal salvation of it when they are dead the Eye that hath seen them shall see them no more and he that goeth down to the Grave shall come up no more And therefore it was not Samuel risen from the dead but the Devil that appeared and spake to Saul in the house of the Witch at Endor For the appearance ascended out of the Earth in the house of the Woman which was in the Tribe of Issachar whereas Samuel was buried at his house at Ramah which was in the Tribe of Benjamin Besides he was buried in his Grave-clothes whereas he is described rising in his Mantle And he was as all the Saints are after death at rest whereâ—s he that is there called Samuel saith to Saul Wherefore hast thou disquieted me to bring me up And it is not in the power of all the Devils in Hell to disquiet the Saints after death Other Reasons I might urge but these may suffice The dead return not again as David said of his Child when dead I shall go to him but he shall not return to me Opportunity is a part of time and hath nothing to do in Eternity Neither is there any regress or returning but by miracle from the Land of forgetfulness 2. Instructed in matter of Reproof To such as live long and do but little whereas we may reckon our lives by the good that we do in this world For as for lost time it cannot come into the account of our lives and it is a pitiful thing to be old only in time And all the good of many stricken in years will lie within a very little compass and to be an ancient Man or Woman of two or three years old sounds like a Contradiction So teach us saith Moses to number our dayes that we may apply our hearts to wisdom And surely this is one special way of numbring our days to know how long we have lived in serving our Generation and what time we have spent that way and he never applyed his Heart to Wisdom who hath not learned so to number his dayes There are but two lives that can be lived in this world viz. a Natural and a Spiritual and all live the first but few the second whereas it is our wisdom to live spiritually and so to live is to live First for the Generations that succeed us so as Hezekiah here desired to live Secondly To live for Eternity To live only a natural life is for Brutes and not for Men. And therefore you that are entred into years and have done but little are justly reprehended as having lived more like Fools than wise Men. Secondly What shall we say to such as have lived to no purpose at all All that they have done hath been to eat and drink and make a number And there are multitudes of these who have profaned
when you hear of a Church bereft of its Pastor pray to the chief Shepherd to supply the empty room with a meet successour As Moses said in another case Let the Lord the God of the Spirits of all flesh set a man over the Congregation which may go out before them and which may go in before them and which may lead them out and which may bring them in that the Congregation of the Lord be not as sheep which have no Shepherd Oh sirs There is a great service to be done for Christ by prayers during the opportunity of our intercession which dieth together with us What great things have been and still are done by prayers By these was the Church delivered out of Babylon and Peter out of Prison By these was Zion built By these is the Gospel upheld the enemies thereof brilded and liberty obtained c. And when God will do great and wonderful things he will gather his praying Saints together and pour out a mighty Spirit of prayer upon them Sixthly Comfort the feeble minded and support the weak Speak a word in due season to the weary For sometimes you shall meet with such as want it and who walk in darkness and see no light and are ready to complain like Heman Psal 88. at large In such cases Strengthen the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees and say to them that are of a fearful heart be strong fear not And this it seems was Jobs practice He strengthened the weak and his words upheld him that was falling And if they were in affliction the moving of his lips asswaged their grief For heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop but a good word maketh it glad And this savoureth sweetly of the Spirit of Christ who would not break the bruised Reed nor quench the smoaking Flax. The words are diminutive for the meaning is he would strengthen the bruised Reed and blow up the smoaking Flax. For he carries his Lambs in his bosom that is he tenders them and laies them near his heart As when the Church was in affliction and sick of love he stayes her with flagons and comforts her with Apples his left hand is under her head and his right hand embraceth her Not his right hand under her head and his left hand embraceth her for that is not next the heart of Christ He is our High Priest who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities hath compassion on us in just proportion He speaks to the heart of the trembling Haemorrhoiss when she fell down at his feet and saith unto her Daughter be of good comfort thy Faith hath made thee whole go in peace And he takes part with that brokenhearted sinner that sate behind him at his feet weeping and washing and wiping and kissing them and rebukes censorious Simon and saith to her Thy sins are forgiven thy Faith hath saved thee go in peace Oh the sweet Spirit of Christ Let the same mind then be in you which was in him And comfort them that are in trouble with the comforts wherewith you your selves have been comforted of God And be kindly affectioned one toward another in brotherly love And when the case requires it shew your self a son of Consolation Seventhly In Heaven you know are no necessities whereas here are many which will give occasion therefore to such service as Heaven hath no need of For here are poor Saints and the poor are always with us who sometimes want Food sometimes Clothing sometimes Lodging sometimes Money c. You then that are able must follow Job's example saith he I have not with-held the poor from their desire nor caused the eyes of the Widow to fail nor eaten my morsel alone but the Fatherless hath eaten of it also Neither have I seen any to perish for want of clothing or any poor without covering but his loynes have blessed me and he was warmed with the fleece of my sheep The stranger did not lodge in the street but I opened my door to the Traveller c. and the eyes of our Lord Jesus are much upon such good works as these for he beheld how the people cast their money into the Treasury Heaven affordeth no such objects of your Love and Compassion There are indeed many Beggers at Heavens Gates but never a Begger within Heavens doors And there are many Widows and Fatherless Children here but never a Widow nor Orphan there Brethren Be ye then merciful 〈◊〉 your Father in Heaven is merciful And blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy And it is that which will lengthen out your lives Mercy even to the bruit creatures shall prolong your dayes much more then to Men especially to the houshold of Faith Lazarus shall rise and have a new lease of his life to entertain Christ again And so shall Tabitha to make Coats and Garments for Widows again Life is well bestowed upon merciful ones And life is the time of acting this Grace for bowels are shut up in Heaven and no pity shall be shewed to the nearest perishing relations in the day of Christ Again Here you may entertain Jesus Christ in his Members and Ministers Here you may be fellow-helpers to the Truth and Gospel And what says John of that We ought therefore to receive such that we might be fellow-helpers to the Truth And saith the Apostle Be not forgetful to entertain strangers for thereby some have entertained Angels unawares We cannot entertain Angels in Heaven for they have their places there as well as we and there we are rather entertained by them Zech. 3. 7. but here it hath been done as by Abraham and Lot And though we cannot expect to entertain them as they did yet if we could what is that to the entertainment of Christ himself And if we entertain his Members at our houses or do any Office of Love for them we do it unto Jesus Christ Eighthly Let us be willing also if need be to suffer for Christ which is a service peculiar to this life But I say If need be because we are not to cast our selves upon suffering uncalled We must take up but not make a Cross But when the providence of God and his Word calleth us to witness for Christ to the loss of ought that is nearest and dearest to us let us remember that this is one of the services which termineth with our lives and cannot be performed in glory It hath indeed been our portion hitherto to escape those sufferings which many of our brethren have undergone But have we been sufferers in affection Have we been prepared for the Cross Or have we not been among the fearful And have we sympathized with our Brethren in their sufferings and have we accounted them happy that have endured yea and their sufferings honourable for the sake and in the quarrel