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
of such a Lord and Master Consider what I say For it is a very honourable thing to suffer for Christ his Gospel and Kingdom For the Spirit of God and of glory resteth upon all such And what are all the sufferings of this present time in comparison with the glory which shall be revealed in us But though we have escaped what others have undergone yet we know not what may be our portion as to suffering before we dye Perhaps there is the more behind God hath appointed the number of them that shall suffer for Christ And who knows what God hath appointed for him this way But what ever it be Heaven will put an end to it where are no sufferings but Crowns even incorruptible Crowns of glory You know what is said of them that came out of great tribulation they were clothed with white Robes and had palms in their hands Ninthly Exercise those fruits of the Spirit which are proper to this life You have heard of several as Faith Hope Patience love to Enemies and to Men out of Christ Sympathy common gifts for Edification Communication of Knowledge which is mediate in this life All these are the gifts of the Spirit on this side Heaven in the exercise whereof God is much glorified and others edified which is that which should be the scope and aime of us all Tenthly and lastly There is one thing more which we are exhorted to do in this world which cannot be done after death and it is a very great service and highly incumbent on us and I was willing to reserve it to the last place that it might the rather abide by us and 〈◊〉 this Endeavour to transmit pure Religion and undefiled to posterity by commending it to your Children The Fathers to the Children shall make known thy truth And we may run it through Fatherhood at large But Let me speak of Domestical Fathers that is Fathers of Families This is a great matter and is the special work of the godly in their generations How else shall that be made good which is written His Name that is Christ's shall endure for ever his Name shall be continued as long as the Sun Some render it His Name shall be continued as a son continueth his Father's name for the Original Jinnon or Janin cometh of Nin 〈◊〉 son As if one should say Filiabitur nomen ejus or sobolescet nomen ejus as Tremellius renders it That is Christ shall not only himself live for ever in his person but his Name also shall endure for ever and be derived to his Children who therefore shall prolong his days as Children mete out their Fathers mortality in bearing his name being called Christians and the sons of God and the Children of Christ And this shall be saith the Psalmist before the Sun that is as long as the Sun endureth Now God will use means to bring this to pass and what are those means one special one is this The Father to the Children shall make known thy Truth For how should the Name of Christ be childed from generation to generation as some render it if care be not taken by Parents to Child Christ's Name downwards to their Off-spring that his Name may be put upon their Children by being not only Christians by Baptism but by Regeneration And this is one of the great works and ends of our lives for Hezekiah here mentioneth First Praising of God and Secondly Making known the Truth to our Children which was a great Statute in Israel and obligeth us no less then them saith the Psalmist I will open my mouth in a Parable I will utter dark sayings of old which we have heard and known and our Fathers have told us We will not hide them from their Children shewing to the generations to come the praises of the Lord and his strength and his wonderful works that he hath done Here 1. Are such as are worthy of the name of Fathers viz. who transmit to posterity the Truths of God contained in the Scripture so as these here did as appears in the sequel of the Psalm And 2. Here is the only infallible sort of Tradition viz. that which delivereth to posterity what God first delivered to the Prophets Apostles and holy men of God and is now contained in the Scriptures 3. From these words we are taught that the godly in every age ought to have the same care to transmit the Word of Truth to their posterity as their Ancestors had to transfer it unto them and so to pay the debt which they owe to their godly Ancestors unto their succeeding Children for our Children are here called their Children vers 4th And if you descended not from such Parents immediately yet peradventure mediately you did However this here is your duty out of love to God to Truth and your Posterity Mark therefore what followeth in the same Psalm For God established a Testimony in Jacob and appointed a Law in Israel which he commanded our Fathers that they should make them known to their Children that the generation to come might know them even the Children which should be born who should arise and declare them unto their Children You see this transmitting of the Truth and true Religion to Posterity is God's love and Testimony because it testifieth and witnesseth for God and against us if we break it And this Law and Testimony we have several times in Moses So that the Law and Testimony is to transmit the Truth to Posterity For God did not deliver the Truth and true Religion to a person or people for the use of themselves alone but for the benefit of their Children also And he never loved the Truth truly who is careless whether it dye with himself or out-live him Let such Parents and Masters look to it who have been negligent in instructing their Children and Families The handing of Religion from Parents to Children from the Living to the next succeeding Age is a standing part of our Generation-work It is said of David That after he had served his generation he fell asleep And truly such as fall asleep before go to bed before they have done their work and that is the way to make them start as many do when they are newly setting themselves to sleep Oh sirs care and pains for the godly being of posterity is a great and necessary business I many times think of the care and endeavour of the nine Tribes and half lest their Children should lose their interest in the God of Israel To which end they built the Altar Ed as they tell the two Tribes and half in their Apology Say they The Lord God of Gods The Lord God of Gods he knoweth and Israel he shall know that we have not done it in rebellion to turn from following the Lord c. But we have done it rather for fear of this thing lest in time to come your Children
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
be that we were born in a Time and Place of Light For great was the Darkness and little the Light about Six or Seven-score years past when England lay under the Darkness of Antichristian Ignorance since when it hath been turned from the Valley of the shadow of Death into a Valley of Vision This heighteneth the account of the Land we live in for the enjoyment of so great a mercy as no other Nation this day hath enjoyed the like especially as to the clearness of the Light that hath shined in it And though it will not be accompanied with outward peace yet it will not want inward if we keep close to the Light and live up to it in this our Day Fourthly This Day being thus intermixed with Light and Darkness Let us not wonder nor be offended that there are such varieties of Persuasions differing one from another and therefore all of them cannot be of the Light whatever is pretended by them that do profess unto them but the Light hath influence upon some of them and Darkness upon some other So that God's Heritage is unto him as a speckled Bird which the Birds fly round about against her But however let us not fly one against another lest we fly against our selves whiles we have our several feathers and colours in this one Bird but let us bear with one another as to particular Light and Darkness so long as we are all enlightened with the saving Knowledg of the Truth We ought not indeed to be Scepticks in Religion but every one to be perswaded in his own mind yet in some things peradventure thou art in the Light and I am in the Dark in others the Day perhaps shineth unto me and not to thee Let us yield to the Dispensation of the Day and keep the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace and if in any thing we are differently minded God shall reveal even this unto us Nevertheless whereunto we have already attained let us walk by the same rule let us mind the same thing For thus there are some in the Visible Church who are be-misted when others are enlightened and yet all agree in Fundamentals who ought to live in Unity and the Stronger to exercise Charity towards the Weaker that God who hath begun to enlighten them in other things will acquaint them in due time with those Truths whereof at present they are ignorant For it is God alone who revealeth the Light unto us And He that formeth the Light and createth Darkness may in some things make it Day to one man and night to another We are all who truly fear the Lord Children of the Light and of the Day and not of the Night nor of Darkness as to our states yet as to particular apprehensions in Truths of an inferiour nature it may be Day to one Night to another And thus it will be till the Evening cometh but then there shall be one heart and one way one Lord and his Name one Use 5. Lastly What hath been held forth administreth a word of Comfort That this Gospel-Day is known to the Lord from the Morning to the Evening of it He knoweth the Light and also the Darkness and who are in the one and who in the other and how far And therefore He knoweth what is done by the Children of the Night to introduce Darkness and to obscure the Day of the Gospel For the Day is his and the Night is his He formeth Light and Darkness and therefore he ordereth the Rulers of the Darkness of this world that no more either of Ignorance Error Heresie Superstition and Idolatry on the one side or of Tribulation Persecution and hostile Opposition to the Truth and Peace on the other shall prevaile further than He hath determined And whatsoever He hath appointed to be the portion of this Day as to the darkening of it yet it is our Comfort that the Day is known to the Lord and that He will have a care of it For he seeth the Darkness as well as the Light of the Day the darkness and the light are both alike to Him He hath seen the Day from the Morning of it to this moment and hath ordered and disposed of the darkeness of Ignorance Error Heresie and Idolatry and likewise of Affliction and Persecution in it in times of Pagan Arrian or Antichristian opposition And his care of this Day is no less towards the Evening of it nor his love to to it abilitie to see to it any less than in the Morning or Noon of it He that said I have seen I have seen the Affliction of my People which are in Egypt and have heard their cry by reason of their Task-masters for I know their sorrows knows all the Sorrows and Sufferings of his People in this Hour of the Gospel-day It was a very dark Night with Israel in Egypt when God spake these words to Moses for then was fulfilled in the Truth what was signified to Abraham in the Type when an horrour of great Darkness fell upon him And yet I have seen I have seen and I know saith the Lord in the midst of that horrid Darkness And therefore however the Day prove and Clouds and darkness arise as perhaps they may do marvel not at the matter for he that is higher than the highest regardeth Men and Devils may be high but God is higher yea higher than the highest which is a degree above the Superlative God hath a care of his Church and Gospel of such as Preach it and profess it only it is our duty to be humbled for the sins of Churches Ministers Professors which may otherwise the more darken and imbitter the Day that we are now entring into which calleth us to Prayer Humiliation Mourning and Reformation wherein if God assist us it shall be well in the end and though weeping may endure for a time yet joy cometh in the evening For it shall come to pass that at Evening-time it shall be Light FINIS Heb. 1 14. John 9. 4. Heb. 12. 2. 1 Pet. 4. 14. 2 Thes 1. 11 12. Psal 89. 30 31 32. 1 King 13 21 22. 2 King 18. 2. 2 Chron. 32. 25. Psal 6. 5. 2 Sam. 20. 3. Psal 30. 3. Psa 88. 10 11. Quest Answ Psal 118. 17. Quest Answ 2 Tim. 2. 2. Deut. 31. 19. Josh 2 last Chap. 2 Chr. 2. last Ch. Eph. 5. last Psal 102. 18. Phil. 2. 15. Mat. 12. 42. with 1 Cor. 6. 2. Phil. 3. 21 Melch. Adam in vit ejus Matth. 25. 35 36. Rev. 14. 3. John 12. 2 Acts 9. 39. Job 7. 9 10. 1 Cor. 13. 12. 2 Cor. 5. 7. Rom. 8. 24 Psal 16. 9. Rom. 8. 25 1 Cor. 13. last Ver. 8. Mat. 5. 44. Tit. 3. 2 3. 1 Cor. 13. 8. 1 Co. 14. 3. Ver. 5. Numb 11. 15. Deut. 34. Job 6. 8 9. 1 King 89. 4. Jonah 4. 3. Luke 2 29. Ver. 26. Phil. 1. 23 24. Phil. 1. 12. ver 13.
She spake indeed of more then an ordinary devoting him to the Lord viz. in the way of Nazariteship But yet she bound however to have given him back to the Lord in and by an ordinary way of dedication common to her self with all Parents who are bound to this duty by the Law of Nature and by many commands in the Word of God which I have already mentioned Train up therefore a Child or Catechize him in the way he should go So did David deal with Solomon as you have heard and so Lois with Eunice and Eunice with Timothy and so the godly Fathers in their generations It was as you have heard a Testimony and a Law in Israel And when you brought your Children to Baptism you did solemly engage unto this duty For the Covenant which gave your Children right to that Ordinance and which sealed it to them strongly obliged you to give them up to God in the use of all such means as he hath appointed And therefore you are a Covenant-breaker in the neglect of this duty which is the ruine both of many Children and Families as of Elie's in particular and yet Eli did reprove his sons but did not do his utmost And this is the reason why many Children of godly Parents prove lewd and vicious and their Families at last lose all power of godliness if they grow not loose and prophane For it is with Children as with the Flowers in your Gardens which without care and culture will soon degenerate Remember therefore your Covenant and attend the terms thereof which concern you in relation to your posterity And say I am not only naturally but also federally bound to use all means to train up my Children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and to serve the purpose of God as to their Eternal Salvation For do you think it enough that you breed them up to live in this world And is it enough that you provide Meat and Drink and Apparel Portions and Trades aud ways of livelihood for them Or that you give them civil Education and teach them how to carry themselves as men will you love their bodies and neglect their souls Do you know the price of your own souls and not of theirs too Or are not theirs as precious as yours Or is it all one to you where you spend your Eternity and whether you go to Heaven or Hell In the mean-while where is your Religion where your love of God and Godliness Where your Conscience as to your Covenant Or what care have you that Godliness may flourish in the next generation who take not the course that it may thrive in your own Family Take heed lest you prove to be an Hypocrite at last Oh remember the care of good Manoah when the Angel told him he should have a son But saith he How shall we order the Child and what shall we do do unto him And seeing you are a Covenanter with God and have given up your Children to him who hath accepted of them and sealed the Covenant to them you should now consider that they are his Children his Sons and Daughters as well as yours as he expresly calleth them And he puts them out to you to Board and Breeding and you must give an acount to him how you have bred them up for him And what will ye rob God of his Children and bestow them upon the world or sacrifice them to devoured and cause them to pass through the fire as God challengeth those Parents in the aforesaid place of Ezekiel I mean to be devoured of that roaring Lion and not to pass through the fire but to dwell with devouring fire and with everlasting burnings Doth not Nature teach Men to propagate their kind And doth not Grace teach them to propagate the Truth and true Religion without the first Mankind would perish without the second Religion would soon be extinguished or have you more care to uphold the World than to propagate the Gospel of Christ's Kingdom if so you are no better than a Man or Woman of this generation I perceive there are many Bills presented for prayers in behalf of ungodly Children It is well if their Parents have not been wanting in their duty towards them If they have not let them not despond as to the success of their endeavours I have lived to see the blessed fruits of pious Education and that though Children so Educated have gone astray for a while yet they have been graciously reduced at the last made their Parents joyful And I think it is not usual that a Father should be a true fearer of the Lord and one that conscionably dischargeth his duty towards his Children and yet all of them should prove ungodly and none of them be converted sooner or later but perish in the uncircumcision of their hearts Perhaps Parents may not always live to see it but it is well enough if their Children come to Heaven after them I have insisted the more upon this Point it being the great duty of my Text and of such concernment as to generation-service The Exhortation reacheth Ecclesiastick Fathers such as are the Ministers of the Gospel For such Fathers also to their Children shall make known the Truth And that is the reason why we make known those Truths to you viz. that we may discharge our duties to our Children that you may discharge the like to yours And every week and every Sabbath and every Sermon we preach can testifie that we are careful to make known the Truth unto you For we have kept back nothing that was profitable for you nor have shunned to declare unto you all the Counsel of God For as John saith to Gaius We have no greater joy than to hear that our Children walk in truth even in the Truth that we make known unto them And let all that fear the Lord bless his Name that in such a day as this is there are yet such Spiritual Fathers who know the Truth and labour to make it known to their Spiritual Children For the time may come that you may want them when the Truth which is now made known to you by us may be impugned by them that shall come after us There are also Scholastick Fathers who have the care of training up Children in Learning and these have their place as well as the former in the fifth Commandment And a great advantage is put into their hands to make known the Truth unto their Children as well as to inform their understandings in a way of Humane Learning And I know no Calling nor Relation excepting that of the Ministry that hath the like opportunity of making known the Truth unto posterity There are likewise Fathers Political For there is the Father in the Family the Father in the Church the Father in the School and the Father in the Common-wealth or Countrey And some think that Naaman's servants called him Father
Hezekiah saith here The living the living he shall praise thee as I do this day Yea but how many days did this continue For by and by he is praising himself Ye see the deceitfulness of the Heart of Man This by the way Only consider the uncertainty of the opportunity and how soon it may be at an end and that the dead cannot praise God nor they that go down into silence Now your Tongues may speak for God and so may your Lives and Examples too but shortly there will be nothing but silence Oh! be not silent before death for then you will be silent for ever Peradventure you have spoken too little already in order I mean to the work of your day Speak therefore and act to God's honour and the benefit of others whil'st you live or for ever hold your peace I have laid several particulars before you concerning the service of this life have you not been wanting in many of them And is not your day also far spent and are not the shadows of the evening stretched out make it up for the future as far as your remaining dayes will give you leave And to this end Consider the account you are to give when your opportunity is ended What saith the Apostle Every one of us shall give an account of himself to God And this is the very next thing after death It is appointed unto Men once to dye and after this the judgment Once to dye not twice for there is an Emphasis in that little word once as appeareth by the next verse So Christ was once offered c. And after this the judgment 1. Dye 2. But once 3. Men that is all Men. 4. Then to judgment and there is a statutum est upon all this four And the judgment will pass upon your managing your present opportunities For when the Lord cometh he cometh to reckon so when you go to the Lord you go to reckon viz. how you have praised him here among the living how you have endeavoured to further his Kingdom according to your capacity how you have lived exemplarily embraced and improved all opportunities to appear and speak for Christ how and for whom you have prayed how you have comforted the feeble minded and supported the weak supplyed the outward wants of the Saints according to your ability how you have stood for Christ in a suffering time how you have improved those Gifs of Grace which are proper to this Life how you have endeavoured to transmit pure Religion and undefiled to your Posterity by recommending it especially to your Children I tell you these are the great things and all of them are the Work of the Living and not of the Dead How far you have attended them hitherto you best know If you have been wanting you had need to make up in repentance what hath been lacking in duty and a great part of your repentance must be exercised in fruits worthy amendment of life For so soon as ever your Soul is quit of its earthly Tabernacle you must presently appear before God's Judgment-Seat Consider the greatness of the reward of good and faithful servants They shall have as much joy as their hearts can hold For they must enter into it seeing it cannot enter into them Neither the Sufferings nor the Duties and doings of this present time are worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us But our Eyes are too seldom upon the recompence of reward nor do we consider what God hath prepared for them that love him Whereas did we seek for Glory Honour Immortality we should continue patiently in well-doing But few that fear God have Faith enough to take in the exceeding eternal weight of Glory that is prepared for them If glorified Saints were to return to live again upon Earth they would double and treble their duties beyond what they did in former times For what do they think when they are entring into the joy of their Lord what All this Glory all this Joy an Heart full and a Heaven full and to Eternity also and that for so few imperfect services And must I now spend Eternity in the enjoyment of God and do none of those services any more for him which were proper and peculiar to my temporal life And must I be on the receiving hand as to all this Glory for ever and for ever Certainly if it were possible This would make the Saints repent in Heaven that they had done no more for Jesus Christ on Earth But if such thoughts were incident to glorified Saints they come too late when once they are in Heaven Now is your time to be working for that inestimable reward When therefore you come to God you must have a full perswasion not only of his Being but Bounty that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him as the Apostle speaks But remember that it must be diligently And be you never so diligent he will abundantly reward it And if Saints could but look into Heaven and see how 't is there before they come thither they would soon double their diligence and work their fingers to the stumps for Christ But many want Faith to believe so great a reward or to apply it to themselves as that which God will certainly bestow upon them after their work is ended Consider yet further That the good you do upon Earth may encrease when you are dead and as that encreaseth so shall your glory still be enlarged For though the least Glory above is unconceivable and the words there spoken unutterable yet there are aboundance of Argumentations in Heaven and the ywho at their first entrance wore but single Crowns after a while wear double ones For it is said God will give to every Man according to his wayes and according to he fruits of his doings So that if their former doings on Earth do fructifie after they are dead God will reward them according to the Fruit thereof For not only their works but the fruit of them also doth follow them And so do the evil works of wicked men follow them as Jeroboam's did for above three hundred years together after his death for that at last he felt a sevenfold Hell for what he did at first Upon this account it is conceived that Dives desired Abraham to send Lazarus to go and preach to his five brethren that they might avoid that place of torment why is there charity in Hell no it was not out of love to his brethren but to himself because he had corrupted them with his wicked life and left a bad example behind him which they followed therefore he desired that they might if not be saved for that I think a damned Soul cannot desire yet that they might not for his cause and example be brought into that place of torment because this would be the encrease of his torment too In like manner on the other