thing that was in his Eye in his desire of prolongation of life For indeed it is the chief good of Man whom God made for himself and who therefore is to have this end continually in his aim and to be often thinking What shall I do to glorifie God For of him and through him and to him are all things to him be glory for ever Amen And all is lost that ends not in him that is Omega to whom you may well afford this honour when you consider that he is Alpha. He that is the first must be the last Take heed then of a narrow selfish Spirit which never looks so far as to this end and that makes many so unactive for God and his Glory You must therefore believe more and love more and then you will act to this end more c. Secondly Your love to the glory of God must extend to the Generations to come You must not therefore limit it to the present Generation and never be concerned that God may be glorified in future Ages even to the Worlds end But your desires herein must reach to the very end of the World For note the words of the Apostles Paul To God be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages world without end Amen His love to God's glory ran through all Ages even to Eternity And so should your love do or else you do not sincerely love it neither indeed can you love that his Glory be upheld during your own time and not love the continuance of it to the Worlds end And such was the love of the Saints in the Scriptures to the praise and glory of God say they We will shew forth thy praise to all generations And therefore 1. They desired the continuance thereof to the Worlds end 2. They would also endeavour it With my mouth saith the Psalmist will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations And this hath been their care still That the people which shall be created may praise the Lord. Thus you must love God's Glory both Intensively and Extensively As you must love the Glory of God that it may be extended to future Ages so likewise you must love his Kingdom or else you will never attend this great work unto which you have been exhorted God's Kingdom Power and Glory must go together in your prayers And this was much upon Hezekiah's heart when he said The Father to the Children shall make known thy Truth For he doth not say I will make known thy Truth to my Children though he purposed so to do but the Father that is every Father that feareth God not only in my time but in the generations to come Thus must your love be extended to the Kingdom of God and Thy Kingdom come must be always in your desires and endeavours Come how long even to the end of the world and never cease coming till Christ himself come Now if this be upon your heart and if you love that Christ should reign in the world you will do your utmost to promote it in your capacity in attending to the several Particulars propounded As you love God's Glory and Kingdom so must you love his Gospel For it is the Word of the Kingdom That is The Word whereby God's Kingdom is erected enlarged governed perfected It is that in which and by which our Lord Jesus doth reign in the world viz. as to his Spiritual Kingdom therein of which I now speak especially And you see in my Text Hezekiah's love to the Truth and to the making of it known from Generation to Generation whereas the Gospel is the Truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Truth with an excellency called therefore The Word of Truth and The Word of the Truth of the Gospel The Truth made known not by the Light of Nature but by Revelation a mysterious Truth and therefore a great Truth that we use to say As true as the Gospel Now if you love this Truth as you have cause enough so to do you will do any thing that may tend to the publication and propagation of it by your praiers pains purses Counsels c. Fourthly As you must love God's Glory Kingdom and Gospel so you must love Souls The Father to the Children shall make known thy Truth Therefore the Father must love the Souls of posterity and have a zeal for the salvation of them that shall succeed And this will quicken your endeavours to the service of your Age when you shall look upon the Souls of successours as of equal value with your own seeing the ransom given for all Souls is the same And it is a blessed thing to be a lover of souls it makes a man like unto Jesus Christ whose love to Souls shines in his own blood wherein the kindness and love God our Saviour towards Man appeareth His kindness and Philanthropy i. e. love towards Man For God and our Saviour are great lovers of Men so should we be And Christ's delights were with the sons of Men from eternity We should not therefore terminate our love in Men's bodies we should love the Jewel far above the Cabinet and be frequently looking upon Mens Souls 1. In comparison with our own and 2. In the Blood of the Son of God and 3. In relation to Eternity especially the Souls of such as are near to us And the enlargement of our affections this way will amplifie our endeavours In Heaven we shall love Souls that are saved but here we must love Souls that they may be saved A work which determineth in Glory Now all this requireth a publick Spirit and an heart carried far beyond our selves For a narrow Spirit acteth within a narrow compass and is limited to private concernments And that is the reason why there is so little Generation-service performed All Men seek their own and not the things which are Jesus Christs Whereas our care should extend far beyond our own salvation and love to God's Glory future Ages Christ's Kingdom Gospel and precious Souls should all have a large room in our hearts and affections Thus you have had a great deal of work set before you which will dye together with you And to quicken you to it Consider That you know not how soon you may leave this world As Isaac said to Esau I am old and know not the day of my death and yet he lived 43 years after that Few men in Scripture knew the day of their death so as Hezekiah here did to whose life 15 years were added and he resolveth to spend them for God's Glory and the good of Posterity So do you as for the remainder of your days which may not be a quarter so many as his Only have a care to perform better than he did For when he was recovered he rendred not again according to the benefit done unto him Why what was the matter His heart was lifted up
these praises cry with the throat and lift up your voices like Trumpets And this argues that God's praises comes from your hearts when they are thus sounded as it were from your throats And this work exalteth you and that as high as the Heavens for it is the very service of Heaven only it is a greater service seeing the Proclamation of God's praises upon Earth tends to the propagation of them so as it is not in Heaven And truly he that is good at this is good indeed He is no Hypocritie for he is a self-denying man and one that loves God far above himself one that lives in God and delights in him and gives him the highest place in his heart Do what you can therefore this way and it will redound to a singular evidence of your sincerity 2. Endeavour also the Propagation of Christ's Kingdom pray for it and according to your capacity promove it You may remember what is written Psal 72. 15. where it is said of Solomon in the Type and of Christ in the Truth He shall live and to him shall be given of the Gold of Sheba Prayer also shall be made for him and daily shall he be praised Why must we pray for Jesus Christ yes by all means Of all that we pray for we must be sure to pray for Jesus Christ but not considered personally but Mystically You know how the people and the children prayed for Christ when they cryed saying Hosanná to the Son of David Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord Hosanna in the highest The words are taken out of the 11th Psal ver 25 26. They cryed saying Hosanna that is Save I beseech thee It is as much as God save the King send now prosperity It is meant especially of Christ as King Christ and his Kingdom And we never say Thy Kingdom come but thus we pray for Christ who prayeth for us every day or else we should be in a very sad case And truly if the Kingdom of Christ be within us we shall be very sollicitous and active for the Kingdom of Christ without us which Kingdom of his this day is in a very low condition as to the professed power and purity of the Gospel And yet if we can do little or nothing else yet we may pray for the Kingdom of Christ Let us therefore lay the state thereof to heart this day How often do the Saints under the Old Testament pray for the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus under the New say they God be merciful to us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us That thy way may be known upon Earth thy saving health among all Nations c. Mark ye That singular blessing which God commanded Aaron and his Sons to pronounce upon the people of Israel The Lord bless thee and keep thee The Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee The godly in David's time turned it into prayer for the enlarging of the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus under the Gospel accounting it a great blessing to themselves to have it enlarged by the accession of the Gentiles though yet it was to be accomplished in the rejection of the Jews but it is as if we should say Let God do what he pleaseth with a Nation so that his Gospel may be propagated and his Kingdom enlarged in the World If God's way may be known upon Earth and his saving health among all other Nations We should account that the Lord is merciful to us aud blesseth us and causeth his face to shine upon us We should love the Kingdom of Christ above all the Kingdoms in the World and That it shall come to pass in the last dayes that the Mountain of the Lords house shall be established upon the top of the Mountains and exalted above the Hills and that all Nations shall flow unto it You know what great heaviness and continual sorrow of heart Paul had for his Brethren the Jews and kinsmen according to the flesh and yet he magnified his Office in that he was the Apostle of the Gentiles That is he accounted it to be a glorious Office to be a Preacher to the Gentiles So that Le◠the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus come whatsoever become of any Kingdom or of all the Kingdoms under Heaven Thirdly Live exemplarily that your paterns may survive you and live when you are dead Thus Paul lived Brethren saith he be followers together of me and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample And he denied himself to make himself an example to others You know saith he how ye ought to follow us viz. in orderly walking in your particular Callings for we behaved not our selves disorderly among you neither did we eat any mans bread for nought but wrought with labour and travel night and day that we might not be chargeable to any of you Not because we have not power that is night to be maintained at your charge but to make our selves an ensample unto you to follow us And thus also he did unto the Corinthians For thus did Christ deny himself to give us an example Joh. 13. 14 15. If I then your Lord and Master have washed your feet ye ought also to wash one another's feet For I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you Consider also 2 Cor. 8. 9. For ye know the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might be rich And when Paul took his leave of the Elders of Ephesus who were never like to see his face more he leaves his example with them I have saith he coveted no mans Silver or Gold or Apparel Yea you your selves know that these hands have ministred unto my necessities and to them that were with me I have shewed you all things how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak The like did Samuel Thus also David left his example behind him for God set him up for a patern to all succeeding Kings in Israel whose Life and Reign God therefore measureth by their care to follow him as you may read frequently in the Books of the Kings and Chronicles For of such such Kings it is said They walked in the ways of David and of others that they did not so walk Examples are very prevalent in utramque partem either one way or t'other either for good or evil And therefore so walk according to God that others may follow you seeing your example will live whilest you live yea and when you are dead too For it will be said such a one lived thus and walked thus and thus he behaved himself in his family and thus in his fellowship with the Saints and thus in his dealings with his neighbours and with all men and thus he carried it under
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
all Shadows and Ceremonies and Partition-walls being removed This I suppose is the purport of Vers 4. After this followeth a very great Commotion compared to that great Earthquake in King Uzziah's dayes which made Men to flee for their lives But it is to be understood Spiritually viz. of Christ's voice in the Gospel shaking not the Earth only but also Heaven whereby a great change is made even in the Church by the shaking and removing of the Ceremonial-way of Worship and the Partition-wall and causing both Jew and Gentile as many as would be saved to flee to the Gospel and Gospel-way of Worship and Christ therein from the wrath that is to come This I conceive is the meaning of Ver. 5. Only whereas it is said And the Lord my God shall come and all the Saints with thee This may be meant Firstly Of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to set up his gospel-Gospel-Kingdom whither his Elect should be gathered unto him their Head But lastly and chiefly of Christ's second coming whereof Paul makes mention speaking of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his Saints For this Chapter leads us so far that nothing remaineth but this last and great coming of Christ unto which the Prophet cannot forbear to look and he looketh at it with much Faith and Joy 1. In that he applyeth the Lord God to himself The Lord my God shall come 2. In that he turneth his speech unto him And all the Saints with thee Briefly as for the Chapter it begins with the destruction of the Old Jerusalem and endeth with the erection of the New And whereas there is a Day spoken of so and so described as in my Text It is the day or the time that lyeth between these two Jerusalems Old and New It is not a Natural or Artificial day for such a day cannot suite with the scope of this Prophecy Nor was there ever any such day wherein it was lighter in the Evening than in all the day before And therefore by Day here we must necessarily understand a large tract of time for so Day is many times taken in the Scripture particularly the time of the Gospel is called the Day of Salvation And it is called that Day sixteen times in this and the two preceding Chapters which treat of the last times wherein such work is to be done as will take up many hundred years as you may see if you consult the Chapters at leasure And you see here when this day began viz. when the Gospel was first published viz. about the time of the destruction of the Old Jerusalem or somewhat before it and continueth to the setting up of the New Let me then put all the description of this day together into one Point and it is this Doctrine The Gospel-times unto the conversion of the Jews are one day intermixed with Light and Darkness known to God in the evening whereof it shall be light First The Day here is plainly meant of the times of the Gospel till the dayes of the new Jerusalem For you find this Day again Vers 8. and again Vers 9. so till you are led to the conversion of the Jews and the New Jerusalem Ver. 10 11. to the end Secondly This day is one day 1. A Day 2. One A Day And that for these Reasons 1. In that it hath light in it all along For Christ and the Gospel run through it And these carry light with them where ever they come It is true there is a mixture of darkness in it yet it is not called night but because it hath light in it therefore is called Day for the better part carries the denomination 2. It is a Day in comparison with the dark times under the Law especially the times immediately preceding the coming of Christ when besides the shadows of Ceremonies there was great darkness of ignorance 3. It is such a Day as is distinguished with remarkable periods viz. of Seals Trumpets Vials even as the Natural day is with hours and distinct divisions This we see at large in Johns Revelation 4. It is a Day in that it hath in it a blessed opportunity of working Luke 19. 42. Joh. 9. 4. 12. 35. 5. A Day in that it hath a Morning and an Evening The Morning began with the rising of the Sun of Righteousness when the day-spring from on high did visit us and the people that sat in darkness saw great light And the Evening lies in my Text immediately before the Jews conversion Thus it is a Day It is One day i. e. one and the same from Morning to Evening And 't is so upon two accounts First In that every part of the day is mixt with light and darkness though not equally mixt for sometimes it is more light sometimes more dark but more or less light and dark always And so the day is one and the same for constancy of light and darkness though not for the equality of both Secondly One and the same and like to it self because there is in it but one and the same Covenant and way of Administration according to what God hath promised saying Yet once more I shake not the Earth only but also Heaven And this word Yet once more signifyeth the removing of those things that are made that those things which cannot be shaken may remain The Legal Administration was shaken and removed at the coming of this day but the Evangelical shall remain to the very end of it And hence it is that the Church still appears in all the Periods of this day under the same form to the very last viz. of four living Creatures and twenty four Elders And thus it is unus idemque dies One and the same day from first to last This is the Second Branch of the point 't is One day Thirdly It is such a Day as is intermixed with Light and Darkness so that it is neither Day nor Night vers 7. But why then is it called a Day in the same Verse The meaning therefore is that it is neither perfect Day nor perfect Night but yet such as may well be called a Day for the reasons aforesaid onely with intermixtures of Light and Darkness But what is the Light and what the Darkness The Light is the light of Truth for these two go together Send out thy Light and thy Truth And the Darkness is the darkness of Ignorance Error Heresy Idolatry and Superstition And such a mixture there hath been in this Day and will be to the very Evening of it The clearest part of this Day was in the Morning thereof when the Apostles lived yet even then there was a mixture of this Darkness The Churches in Galatia were infected with the leaven of false Teachers mingling Law and Gospel in the point of Justification And some in the Church at Corinth denied the Resurrection of the Dead and others held that it was already past