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<DATE>2007-01-19</DATE>
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<NAME>Alexis Jakobson</NAME>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>THE
PRIVILEDGE
OF THE
Saints on Earth,
BEYOND
Tho&s;e in HEAVEN,
In re&s;pect of Gifts and Graces ex|erci&s;ed,
Duties and Services perform|ed,
&s;ufferings and Tryals undergone by
them, which the Glorified are not ca|pable
of.</P>
<P>BEING
The Sum of a Di&s;cour&s;e upon a
part of <HI>Hezekiah,</HI> Song of
Thank&s;giving after his Recove|ry
from his Sickne&s;s.</P>
<P><HI>To which is added,</HI> A &s;hort Di&s;cour&s;e of the
Nature and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="tech" EXTENT="1 word"> of the Go&s;pel-day, reach|ing
from the De&s;truction of the Old, to the
<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="tech" EXTENT="1 span"> of the New <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> out of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="tech" EXTENT="1 span">.</P>
<P>By <HI>WILLIAM HOOKE,</HI>
Preacher of the Go&s;pel.</P>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI>
Printed for <HI>John Wilkins,</HI> and are to be &s;old at
his Shop in Exchange-Alley, next door to the
Exchange-Coffee-Hou&s;e, over again&s;t the
Royal-Exchange, 1673.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="errata">
<PB REF="2">
<OPENER><SALUTE>Courteous Reader,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>Thou art de&s;ired to correct with thy
Pen the&s;e following <HI>Errata's.</HI></P>
<P>PAge 9. Line 15. for imparted, read <HI>imported.</HI>
P. 11. in the Margin, r. <HI>Eph. 3. la&s;t.</HI> P. 13. l. 6.
f. hence, r. <HI>here.</HI> P. 16. l. 10. for Spiritual, r. <HI>&s;pecial.</HI>
P. 22. in the Margin, r. <HI>Job</HI> 7. 2. P. 23. l. 10. for
the, r. <HI>this.</HI> P. 35. l. 13. blot out <HI>yet.</HI> P. 51. l.
28. r. <HI>bridled.</HI> P. 53. in the Margin, r. <HI>Luke 8. 48.
Luke</HI> 7. 50. P. 65. l. 9. for the, r. <HI>your.</HI> P. 91. l. 23,
24. for Argumentations, r. <HI>Augmentations.</HI> P.
92. l. 8. for <HI>for,</HI> r. <HI>&s;o.</HI> P. 92. l. la&s;t, for were not the,
r. <HI>were it not for the.</HI> P. 95. l. 20. f. from plain to
Plain, r. <HI>from Place to Place.</HI> P. 101. l. 22, for
lon, r. long.</P>
<P>In the &s;econd Sermon in the Epi&s;tle, for <HI>go,</HI> r.
<HI>therefore.</HI></P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="to the reader">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>TO THE
READER.</HEAD>
<P>THe greate&s;t and highe&s;t
Honour of the rea&s;on|able
Creature is to &s;erve
him, who is the be&s;t
Good, and la&s;t End. Herein do
we communicate with Angels,
who&s;e glory it is that they are
<HI>Mini&s;tring Spirits,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 1 14.</NOTE> always behold|ing
the face of God our Fa|ther
for this very purpo&s;e. How
diligent then &s;hould we be to lay
hold on, and to improve all oppor|tunities
of &s;ervice, &s;eeing our time
is &s;o &s;hort, our work &s;o great, and
<PB REF="3">
our &s;alvation nearer than when we
fir&s;t believed? The Son of God
hath given us a glorious pattern
herein,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 9. 4.</NOTE> <HI>I mu&s;t work the work of
him that hath &s;ent me,</HI> &amp;c. Chri&s;t
Je&s;us our Ma&s;ter improved all op|portunities,
went up and down
doing good, filling all places where
he came with the favour of his Do|ctrine
and Miracles, becau&s;e he
knew his time was &s;hort, and the
recompence of reward at hand.
The &s;erious thoughts hereof would
exceedingly &s;pur us to a holy di|ligence,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 12. 2.</NOTE>
e&s;pecially con&s;idering
that Heaven is a place not of
work but reward, where the Saints
will be dive&s;ted of &s;erving and ho|nouring
God in many of the&s;e
ways, wherein now (through
grace) they are enabled to bring
much glory to his Name. Many
Graces, Duties, Gifts have here
their place, while we are <HI>Viatores,</HI>
but &s;hall have no room when we
come to be <HI>Comprehen&s;ores.</HI></P>
<P><PB REF="3">
And this is the de&s;ign of the
worthy Author in this little Tract:
<HI>viz.</HI> to &s;et before thee the great op|portunities
thou ha&s;t of &s;ervice to
God, while thou art on this &s;ide
Heaven, beyond what are to be
enjoyed there. Were this through|ly
weighed, how would Holine&s;s be
promoted, Saints thrive, Families
flouri&s;h, Churches revive? we
&s;hould not &s;o pa&s;&s;ionately de&s;ire
death meerly to be rid of all &s;uf|ferings,
but &s;hould prize life, if
with it Chri&s;t Je&s;us might be mag|nified.
It is glorious work that
God calls his Saints to 'ere they
get to Heaven. Is not &s;uffering for
Chri&s;t, glorious work? is not the
exerci&s;e of Faith,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 4. 14.</NOTE> Hope, and Pati|ence,
glorious work? To do good,
and to communicate both to the
bodily and &s;piritual nece&s;&s;ities of
Saints and others, is not this glo|rious
work? In a word, to propa|gate
pure Religion, &amp; undefiled, to
the generations to come, is not this
<PB REF="4">
glorious work? Why, herein are
the Saints on Earth priviledged
beyond tho&s;e in Heaven, where
there is no room for the exerci&s;e
of the&s;e Graces, and Duties.</P>
<P>Oh! who would not pray that
he might live to do God &s;ervice?
&s;pin not out precious time un|profitably.
Pray that thou may|e&s;t
be counted worthy of this
calling (which is indeed a high
calling) and fulfil all the good
plea&s;ure of his Goodne&s;s, and the
work of Faith, Hope, and Pati|ence,
with power, that the Name
of our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t may
be glorified in you, and ye in him,
according to the grace of our God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 The&s;. 1. 11, 12.</NOTE>
and the Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB N="1" REF="4">
<EPIGRAPH>
<BIBL>I&s;aiah 38 18, 19.</BIBL>
<Q><P>For the Grave cannot prai&s;e thee,
Death cannot celebrate thee: They
that go down into the pit, can|not
hope for thy truth.</P>
<P>The living, the living, he &s;hall prai&s;e
thee, as I do this day: The Fa|ther
to the Children &s;hall make
known thy Truth.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THe words are a part of
<HI>Hezekiah's</HI> thank&s;|giving
for his recovery
from his &s;ickne&s;s (be|ginning
at the ninth
<HI>ver&s;e.</HI>) This good
King was not &s;imply
afraid of Death, as appeareth, <HI>ver.</HI> 3d. But</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, He had then no Son to &s;ucceed <MILESTONE N="1">
him in the Kingdom, (for <HI>Mana&s;&s;eh</HI>
was not then born) and he was &s;ol|licitous
for a Succe&s;&s;our, and the fulfil|ling
<PB N="2" REF="5">
of God's Promi&s;e to <HI>David,</HI> which
we have four times expre&s;&s;ed, (<HI>viz.</HI>
2 Sam. 7. 12, 13, 16. 1 King. 8. 25.
P&s;al. 89. 28, 29. &amp; 132. 12. In all
which places we find this Promi&s;e to <HI>Da|vid,</HI>
that there &s;hould not fail a Man of
his Seed, to &s;it upon the Throne of <HI>I&s;|rael,</HI>
&s;o that his Children took heed to
their wayes, to walk before the Lord in
truth, as <HI>David</HI> their Father had done.
Here was a Promi&s;e with a Condition.
And hence it is, I &s;uppo&s;e, that <HI>Heze|kiah</HI>
in his Prayer (<HI>ver&s;.</HI> 3d) makes
mention of his fulfilling that Condition,
<HI>viz.</HI> That <HI>David's</HI> Children mu&s;t take
heed to their way, (if they de&s;ired to
&s;it upon his Throne) that they walk be|fore
him, as <HI>David</HI> had done. For, &s;aith
<HI>Hezekiah, Remember now, O Lord, I be|&s;eech
thee, how I have walked before thee
in truth, and with a perfect heart,</HI> &amp; have
done that which is good in thy &s;ight. As
much as to &s;ay, <Q>Lord! I hope thou wilt
not cut me off, and leave the Kingdom
without an Heir of the Seed of <HI>David,</HI>
&s;eeing thou did'&s;t promi&s;e him that
thou woulde&s;t not; provided that
his Children took heed to their way,
that they walked before him as <HI>David</HI>
did. And, through thy Grace, I have
<PB N="3" REF="5">
&s;o walked in my mea&s;ure, and there|fore,
I hope, thou wilt not take me
away, who have performed the Con|dition.</Q>
So that <HI>Hezekiah</HI> (though a
very good Man) was afraid of Death;
yet not &s;imply, but le&s;t the Kingdom
&s;hould want an Heir of the Seed of
<HI>David.</HI></P>
<P>And this that I have &s;aid confirms the
Opinion of tho&s;e that &s;ay, that <HI>Heze|kiah</HI>
was loth to dye, becau&s;e then he
had no Heir; though that was not all
the rea&s;on.</P>
<P>For, Secondly, He was al&s;o loth to <MILESTONE N="2">
dye in God's di&s;plea&s;ure, &s;o as a Child
of God my do. For God doth te&s;tifie
his temporal di&s;plea&s;ure many times a|gain&s;t
his own Children.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 89. 30, 31, 32.</NOTE> <HI>If his Children
for&s;ake my Law, and walk not in my
Judgments: If they break my Statutes,
and keep not my Commandments; Then
will I vi&s;it their tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions with the
Rod, and their iniquity with Stripes.</HI>
And he te&s;tifies it &s;ometimes in their
death, as he did in the death of the
Prophet that came out of <HI>Judah,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 King. 13&punc; 21, 22.</NOTE> and
Prophe&s;ied again&s;t the Altar it <HI>Bethel,</HI>
who was &s;lain by a Lion for his di&s;o|beying
the Word of the Lord.</P>
<P>And <HI>Hezekiah</HI> was afraid, that God
<PB N="4" REF="6">
had &s;ome controver&s;ie with him, and
he was loth to dye in God's di&s;plea&s;ure.
Peradventure, he was &s;omewhat lifted up
with his miraculous deliverance from the
Ho&s;t of <HI>Senacherib,</HI> mentioned in the for|mer
Chapter: For God did wonderful
things, as you know, to effect that
deliverance, and this &s;ickne&s;s was imme|diately
after the de&s;truction of <HI>Senache|rib's</HI>
Army; for that happened in the
39th year of <HI>Hezekiahs</HI> life, who lived
fifteen years after his recovery from his
&s;ickne&s;s, which two numbers make the
whole number of <HI>Hezekiah's</HI> years,
which were 54, 2 <HI>King.</HI> 18. 2.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 King. 18. 2.</NOTE> So that
this &s;ickne&s;s of his fell out pre&s;ently up|on
that great deliverance. And the
good Man was not &s;o thankful (per|haps)
as he &s;hould be, but &s;omewhat
elevated. For this was his weakne&s;s af|ter
his recovery.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Chron. 32. 25.</NOTE> His heart was lifted
up, and he rendred not again accord|ing
to the benefit done to him, for which
God was angry with him. What
the &s;in was, I will not po&s;itively deter|mine,
only I thus conjecture; but that
he apprehended God's di&s;plea&s;ure for
his &s;in, is evident from the words imme|diately
before my Text, &s;aith he, <HI>Thou
ha&s;t ca&s;t all my &s;ins behind thy back.</HI>
<PB N="5" REF="6">
Therefore, it &s;eems, his &s;ins lay before
the face of God, till his recovery, and
upon this account he was loth to dye.</P>
<P>Thirdly, He was loth to dye, as <MILESTONE N="3">
fearing what &s;hould become of his Re|formation.
For he knew what became
of <HI>Jeho&s;haphat's</HI> though he left a &s;on
behind him; and of <HI>Jehojadah's,</HI> though
he left a well-educated Nephew behind
him. Add hereunto, that he found
the Church in a very deplored conditi|on,
when he came to the Crown. And
as for his pre&s;ent Reformation, it had
not la&s;ted &s;o long as his Father's De|formation
and Idolatry; and his Refor|mation
had &s;carce taken root as yet;
therefore he was willing to live longer,
and not, as yet, to dye.</P>
<P>Fourthly, That which made him the
more unwilling, was the nature of his
Di&s;ea&s;e, which (by the Remedy, and
way of Cure, a lump of Figgs laid for
a Plai&s;ter upon the Boyl, <HI>Ver.</HI> 21.) I
&s;ay, which by the Cure, &s;eems to have
been the Pe&s;tilence: And he was not
willing to go to Heaven that way;
though good Men may dye of that Di&s;|ea&s;e,
and many times have done. But
yet a Child of God would, for &s;everal
Rea&s;ons, willingly decline that way of
dying, if it might &s;tand with the good
will and plea&s;ure of God.</P>
<P><PB N="6" REF="7">
Thus you &s;ee the Rea&s;ons why <HI>Heze|kiah</HI>
was loth to dye.</P>
<P>Now then being recovered, and ha|ving
a lea&s;e of his life for 15 years grant|ed
him, he writeth down his thank&s;gi|ving,
as much affected with God's mer|cy
towards him, <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 9, &amp;c.</P>
<P>In the Text read unto you, there is,</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="1"> 1. A Declaration of the &s;tate of the
Dead, as to the lo&s;s of all opportunities
ever to prai&s;e and magnifie God any
more, or to hope for his truth in this
world.</P>
<P>Secondly, An A&s;&s;ertion of the oppor|tunities
<MILESTONE N="2"> enjoyed by the living, thus to
prai&s;e God, and to make known his
Truth, that is, His Truth and Faithful|ne&s;s
in his Promi&s;es. For, I conceive,
<HI>Hezekiah</HI> hath here a &s;pecial re&s;pect to
the Truth and faithfulne&s;s of God in
his Promi&s;e made to <HI>David</HI> and his
Seed, in the foremtioned Texts of
Scripture.</P>
<P>And therefore it is very likely, that
<HI>Hezekiah</HI> made known this Truth and
Faithfulne&s;s of God to his &s;on <HI>Mana&s;&s;eh,</HI>
who was twelve years old when <HI>Heze|kiah</HI>
dyed. Though <HI>Mana&s;&s;eh</HI> (it
&s;eems) did little mind it, or made
any good u&s;e of it. That Point of
<PB N="7" REF="7">
Doctrine, which I &s;hall in&s;i&s;t upon, is
this, That</P>
<P>Doctrine.</P>
<P><HI>There are opportunities of &s;ervice to be
performed to God in this life, which are
not to be enjoyed after death.</HI></P>
<P>Or thus,</P>
<P><HI>The people of God may do that for him
in this World, which they cannot do in
Heaven.</HI></P>
<P><HI>David</HI> therefore makes an Argument
of it in his Prayer,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 6. 5.</NOTE> and &s;ad Complaint in
his Sickne&s;s: <HI>For,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>in death
there is no remembrance of thee;</HI> (not
but that the Saints in Heaven do remem|ber
God, (for they &s;ee him there) but
they cannot keep up his memorial any
longer among the living; he goes on)
<HI>In the Grave who &s;hall give thee thanks?</HI>
The like we have in the 30th <HI>P&s;alm,</HI> en|titled,
<HI>A Song at the Dedication of the
hou&s;e of David, viz.</HI> after his return (as
'tis conceived) from his victory over
<HI>Ab&s;alom,</HI> who had dreadfully defiled
<HI>David's</HI> hou&s;e with Ince&s;t, in abu&s;ing his
Fathers Concubines; which hou&s;e there|fore
<HI>David</HI> endeavours to purge and
clean&s;e in a &s;olemn holy manner at his
return,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 20. 3.</NOTE> and to dedicate it anew to God.
And in that P&s;alm he &s;heweth, how he
<PB N="8" REF="8">
cryed to the Lord in the day of his trou|ble,
when <HI>Ab&s;alom</HI> ro&s;e up again&s;t him, &amp;
when he was afraid of his life, and was
loth to dye by the hand of his &s;on;
&s;aith he,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 30. 3.</NOTE> <HI>What profit is there in my blood,
when I go down to the pit? &s;hall the du&s;t
prai&s;e thee? &s;hall it declare thy Truth?</HI>
And dark de&s;erted <HI>Heman</HI> makes u&s;e
of the &s;ame argument, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 88. 10, 11.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 88. 10, 11.</NOTE>
<HI>Wilt thou &s;hew wonders to the dead? and
&s;hall the dead ari&s;e and prai&s;e thee? Selah.
Shall thy loving kindne&s;s be declared in the
Grave? or thy faithfulne&s;s in de&s;truction?
Shall thy wonders be known in the dark?
and thy righteou&s;ne&s;s in the land of for|getfulne&s;s?</HI>
&s;aith he, Thy people may
make known thy wonders in this life,
but not in the Grave.</P>
<P>But then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Que&s;t.</NOTE> do not the Saints, when
they are dead prai&s;e the Lord?</P>
<P>Yes;<NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;w.</NOTE> But the P&s;almi&s;t &s;peaketh not of
that, but of prai&s;ing God, and decla|ring
his loving kindne&s;s, faithfulne&s;s,
and righteou&s;ne&s;s in the land of the li|ving.
And all their &s;ervice that way is
at an end, except by Miracle any be rai|&s;ed
from the dead, as <HI>Lazarus</HI> and <HI>Ta|bitha</HI>
were. So <HI>P&s;al. 115. 17. The dead
prai&s;e not the Lord, neither any that go
down into &s;ilence.</HI> And hence &s;aith
<PB N="9" REF="8">
<HI>David, I &s;hall not dye, but live, and de|clare
the works of the Lord,</HI> P&s;alm. 118.
17.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 118. 17.</NOTE> As much as to &s;ay, there is no de|claring
of them after death!</P>
<P>But what are tho&s;e &s;ervices that may
be done here,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Que&s;t.</NOTE> which cannot be done in
Heaven, that &s;o we may &s;ee the Point
in In&s;tances?</P>
<P>They are many;<NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;w.</NOTE> and let me begin
with the&s;e in my Text.</P>
<P><HI>The living, the living, he &s;hall prai&s;e <MILESTONE N="1">
thee. i. e.</HI> He &s;hall prai&s;e thee before the
Children of Men in the Land of the li|ving.
Now, this is a glorious &s;ervice,
containing as much as is imparted in the
fir&s;t Petition of the Rule of Prayer, <HI>i. e.
Hallowed be thy Name;</HI> which, though
it be a &s;ervice done in Heaven, yet in the
pre&s;ence of glorified Saints only, with|out
any propagation of prai&s;e 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 fir&s;t and highe&s;t Pe|tition
of all in our prayers, and there|fore
of greate&s;t concernment.</P>
<P>Secondly, There is another &s;ervice in <MILESTONE N="2">
my Text, which cannot be performed in
Heaven, and it is contained in the&s;e
<PB N="10" REF="9">
words, <HI>The Father to the Children &s;hall
make known thy Truth.</HI> And is not
this al&s;o a mo&s;t ble&s;&s;ed &s;ervice? for it
contains what is imported in the &s;econd
Petition in the Rule of Prayer, (<HI>viz.)
Thy Kingdom come.</HI> For this is one ex|cellent
way of advancing and enlarging
the Kingdom of God in this world,
(<HI>viz.</HI>) when Parents &s;hall make known
the Truth and Faithfulne&s;s of God to
their Children. To which purpo&s;e con|&s;ider,
<HI>P&s;al. 78. 2, 7. Deut.</HI> 4. 9. and
6. 6, 7. And this is the great &s;ervice
of the Saints upon Earth, both Mini&s;ters
and People.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 2. 2.</NOTE> <HI>The things</HI> (&s;aith <HI>Paul</HI> to
<HI>Timothy,</HI> 2 Epi&s;t. Ch. 2. Ver. 2.) <HI>That
thou ha&s;t heard of me among many witne&s;|&s;es,
the &s;ame commit thou to faithful men,
who &s;hall be able to teach others al&s;o.</HI> And
this is a &s;ervice, which cannot be
done in Heaven. For the dead Saints
cannot contribute ought to the enlarg|ing
of the Kingdom of Grace in this
World; and as for the Kingdom of
Glory, there are but two wayes of en|larging
that, which are by the depar|ture
of the Saints on Earth to Heaven,
and by the Re&s;urrection; in neither of
which doth God u&s;e the &s;ervice of the
glorified Saints at all.</P>
<P><PB N="11" REF="9">
The care therefore of the choice&s;t
Saints hath been, not only for the time
of their lives, but for the Generations
to come,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 31. 19.</NOTE> that they might know what
God had done.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jo&s;h. 2 la&s;t Chap.</NOTE> The time would fail
to tell of <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> and <HI>Jo&s;hua,</HI> and <HI>David,</HI>
and <HI>Paul,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Chr. 2. la&s;t. Ch.</NOTE> who&s;e Epi&s;tles clo&s;e with this
Doxology and hearty de&s;ire of glory to
be given to Chri&s;t in the Churches for
ever.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 5. la&s;t.</NOTE> The truth is, the whole Scrip|ture
is a Book of the Acts and Monu|ments
of the Lord's wonderful works in
gathering, and building, protecting, &s;a|ving,
and doing good to his Church, and
that for this end, that the Generations to
come might put their hope and tru&s;t in
God. And this was the unanimous de|&s;ign
of the Pen-men of holy Scripture.
<HI>This &s;hall be written for the generations
to come;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 102. 18.</NOTE> <HI>and the people which &s;hall be
created &s;hall prai&s;e the Lord.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Thirdly, Here in this world the Saints <MILESTONE N="3">
may live exemplarily,</HI> blamele&s;s and harm|le&s;s,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 2. 15.</NOTE>
as the &s;ons of God without rebuke
in the mid&s;t of a crooked and perver&s;e
generation. <HI>And this is a great &s;ervice
al&s;o; For</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t, Hereby &s;ome may come to be
converted, 1 <HI>Pet.</HI> 3. 1. and &s;o the
Kingdom of God is enlarged by this way
al&s;o. And</P>
<P><PB N="12" REF="10">
Secondly, Many hereby will be con|vinced,
and left without excu&s;e in that
great day. For this is one way where|by
the Sains &s;hall judg the world; they
&s;hall judg it <HI>exemp<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="tech" EXTENT="1 letter">arily,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 12. 42. <HI>with</HI> 1 Cor. 6. 2.</NOTE> and (in con|currence
with Chri&s;t) <HI>&s;ententiarilly:</HI>
Now (I &s;ay) this is a &s;ervice, which
cannot be done in Heaven; where, Fir&s;t,
There is no evil per&s;on: Nor Secondly,
Any need of examples for the glorified
Saints to walk by, who are all perfect,
and under the immediate and &s;ole Go|vernment
of the Spirit of God. There
is but one example in Heaven, and that
is the exemplary cau&s;e of the glorifica|tion
of our bodies,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 3. 21</NOTE> <HI>viz. The glorified bo|dy
of Chri&s;t.</HI> For in this life the Saints
conform to the grace of Chri&s;t actively,
and at the Re&s;urrection, they conform
to his glorified body pa&s;&s;ively, as to their
patern.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="4"> Here in this world the Saints have
opportunities of reproving Sin, con|futing
Errors, in&s;tructing the Ignorant,
warning the Unruly, comforting the
Feeble minded, praying for their Relati|ons
and Friends, &amp;c. Now there are no
&s;uch things in Heaven, where there is no
Sin, no Error, no Ignorance, no Unru|line&s;s,
none Afflicted, no praying for
<PB N="13" REF="10">
Relations.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Melch. A|dam in vit. ejus.</NOTE> I remember how dying Mr.
<HI>Rollock</HI> was much offended with a Kin&s;|man,
for de&s;iring his Prayers when he
&s;hould come to Heaven. God will have
but one Interce&s;&s;or there.</P>
<P>Hence they may do good to the bo|dies,<MILESTONE N="5">
of Men. For they may feed the
hungry,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 25. 35, 36.</NOTE> give drink to the thir&s;ty, lodge
the harbourle&s;s, clothe the naked, vi&s;it
the &s;ick and impri&s;oned; whereas in
Heaven there are no nece&s;&s;ities or wants.</P>
<P>Here the Saint, may &s;uffer for Chri&s;t &amp; <MILESTONE N="6">
give a te&s;timony to his Cau&s;e, and to the
Truth, by the lo&s;s of their Relations,
and Friends, of their Goods, Health,
Ea&s;e, Credit, Liberty, Hou&s;es, Lands,
Countries, Life, &amp;c. For, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are the
dead which dye in the Lord,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 14. 3.</NOTE> <HI>from hence|forth,
yea, &s;aith the Spirit, that they
may re&s;t from their labours, and their
works follow them.</HI> And this is &s;uch a
&s;ervice, as the very Angels are in no wi&s;e
capable of.</P>
<P>So that you &s;ee, there are many &s;ervi|ces
which the Saints may do here
for Chri&s;t, which they cannot do in
Heaven.</P>
<P>Indeed, if they could return to this
life again, they might do &s;uch works as
the&s;e. For when <HI>Lazarus</HI> was rai&s;ed
<PB N="14" REF="11">
from the dead, he entertained Chri&s;t a|gain.<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 12. 2</NOTE>
And when <HI>Tabitha</HI> was rai&s;ed
from the dead, it is very probable that
&s;he fell to her good Works and Alms-deeds
again, to her making of Coats and
Garments again for the poor, as &s;he had
been wont (<HI>Act.</HI> 9. 39.)<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 9. 39.</NOTE> But the&s;e are
rare examples of the returning of the
dead Saints to this world again.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 7. 9, 10.</NOTE> <HI>For as
the Cloud is con&s;umed, and vani&s;heth away:
&s;o he that goeth down to the grave, &s;hall
come up no more. He &s;hall return no more
to his hou&s;e, neither &s;hall his place
know him any more.</HI></P>
<P><MILESTONE N="7"> La&s;tly, There are &s;ome gifts of grace
which cannot be exerci&s;ed in Hea|ven.
For</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="1"> Fir&s;t, Here the Saints do believe,
whereas in Heaven Faith is turned into
Vi&s;ion.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 13. 12.</NOTE> Here they walk by Faith,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 5. 7.</NOTE> and
not by &s;ight, as they &s;hall do in Hea|ven.
And Faith is a gift of Grace,
whereby God is much glorified; for it
empties and humbles the Heart, and
carrieth it forth to Chri&s;t, and glorifies
God in all his Attributes. Whereas in
Heaven the Saints have all in hand, and
therefore they live by &s;ight, and not by
Faith. There is but one thing there to
come to them (to the compleating of
<PB N="15" REF="11">
their happine&s;s) and that is, <HI>the re&s;ur|rection
of the dead,</HI> in the Faith whereof
they live, but yet this Faith is of ano|ther
nature, than that which ju&s;tifieth
and &s;aveth in this life.</P>
<P>Secondly, It followeth hence, That <MILESTONE N="2">
here&punc; in this life the Saints do exerci&s;e
Hope, waiting for the good which is
held forth in the Promi&s;e, which their
Faith believeth they &s;hall have. Where|as
in Heaven, Hope is turned into
fruition and enjoyment.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8. 24</NOTE> <HI>For Hope</HI>
(that is, the thing hoped for) <HI>that is
&s;een, is not Hope: for what a man &s;eeth,
why doth he yet hope for?</HI> There is no
hope in Heaven (the Fathers to the Chil|dren
cannot <HI>hope</HI> for thy Truth, as <HI>He|zekiah</HI>
here &s;aith) except it be of the
Re&s;urrection,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 16. 9.</NOTE> whereof the Saints have
a mo&s;t joyful expectation. <HI>They are
glad, and rejoyce, in that their fle&s;h doth
re&s;t in hope.</HI> Not that their fle&s;h doth
hope, but that <HI>resteth,</HI> and their Souls
hope for its ri&s;ing again.</P>
<P>Accordingly it followeth, That here <MILESTONE N="3">
in this life the Saints do exerci&s;e their
patience, which cea&s;eth in Heaven, be|cau&s;e
our hope cea&s;eth there. For pa|tience
is the &s;ervant of Hope, (1 <HI>The&s;.</HI>
1. 3.) called there the <HI>patience of hope;
<PB N="16" REF="12">
For if,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8. 25</NOTE> <HI>we hope for that which we &s;ee not,
then do we with patience wait for it.</HI> There
is nothing in Heaven to put our patience
to it.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="4"> It is true indeed what the Apo&s;tle
&s;aith, 1 <HI>Cor. 13. la&s;t.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 13. la&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>Now abideth Faith,
Hope, and Charity, the&s;e three; but the
greate&s;t of the&s;e is Charity.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 8.</NOTE> <HI>Becau&s;e Cha|rity</HI>
(i. e. Love) <HI>never faileth;</HI> (ver. 8.)
that is Heavens grace in a Spiritual man|ner.
But yet, notwith&s;tanding, even
Love it &s;elf hath a larger Object here in
this world, than in Heaven. For there
is a Love here, which cannot be exerci&s;ed
there. And that is,</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="1"><HI>To love our enemies,</HI> which is the
Command of the Go&s;pel,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5. 44.</NOTE> and a great Du|ty,
and was one of the la&s;t Acts of
Chri&s;t upon the Cro&s;s, <HI>Luke</HI> 23. 34.
And the very la&s;t Act of <HI>Stephen</HI> the
Protomartyr, who was never like to act
it more, <HI>Act. 7. la&s;t.. Lord,</HI> &s;aith he,
<HI>lay not this &s;in to their charge.</HI></P>
<P><MILESTONE N="2"> Here in this life you may love all
Unregenerate men,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tit. 3. 2, 3.</NOTE> and &s;hew it in your
de&s;ires and endeavours for their con|ver&s;ion.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="3"> Here al&s;o you may exerci&s;e a Love of
&s;ympathy with all, both good and bad,
in their &s;ufferings. But in Heaven
<PB N="17" REF="12">
there is no room for this Love.</P>
<P>And as the&s;e gifts of Grace foremen|tioned <MILESTONE N="5">
do greatly glorifie God, but cea&s;e
in Heaven; &s;o do Parts and common-Gifts
al&s;o cea&s;e there.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 13. 8.</NOTE> <HI>For whether there
be Prophe&s;ies, they &s;hall fail; or, whether
there be Tongues, they &s;hall cea&s;e; or whe|ther
there be knowledge</HI> (that is imper|fect,
mediate, and the communication of
it to others) <HI>it &s;hall vani&s;h away.</HI> And
yet Prophe&s;ying is much to God's
glory.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Co. 14. 3.</NOTE> For, <HI>He that Prophe&s;ieth,
&s;peaketh unto men to Edification, Exhorta|tion,
Con&s;olation.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 5.</NOTE> <HI>And Tongues do al&s;o
edifie.</HI> So likewi&s;e for knowledge.</P>
<P>So that put all this together, and
there is much to be done here, whereby
God may be glorified, and men edified
and benefited, which cannot be done
in heaven.</P>
<P><HI>And thus you &s;ee the Point made good
in &s;everal In&s;tances,</HI> That there are oppor|tunities
of &s;ervice to be performed to the
Lord in this life, which are not to be en|joyed
after death.</P>
<P><HI>Que&s;t.</HI></P>
<P>But if it be thus; why have &s;ome of
the Saints mentioned in Scripture de&s;ired
to dye?</P>
<P><PB N="18" REF="13"><HI>An&s;wer.</HI></P>
<P>Some of the Saints have done
ill in &s;o doing, but others upon good
ground.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, Some of them have not done well
in de&s;iring death, for they have
pa&s;&s;ionately de&s;ired it, and to their own
lo&s;s, if God &s;hould have an&s;wered their
de&s;ires herein. For in&s;tance. 1. <HI>Mo|&s;es,</HI>
he was the meeke&s;t Man upon the
Earth, yet he &s;eems to be in a pa&s;&s;ion,
when he &s;aid, <HI>If thou deal thus with me,
kill me,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 11. 15.</NOTE> <HI>I pray thee, out of hand.</HI> Why?
was there no remedy, but God mu&s;t
kill him, and pre&s;ently too, if the bur|then
of the people lay a little longer up|on
him? This was a pa&s;&s;ionate expre&s;&s;ion
and de&s;ire of death. And had
he died there pre&s;ently, he had incurred
a double lo&s;s (to &s;ay no more in it)
1. He had been cut &s;hort of the oppor|tunity
of doing that eminent &s;ervice in
conducting the people through the Wil|derne&s;s.
For he lived 38 years longer, and
did much for God and his people during
that time. 2. If he had died then out of
hand, he had not dyed, and been buri|ed
&s;o honourably,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 34.</NOTE> as he was afterwards
upon Mount <HI>Nebo,</HI> even by God's hand.</P>
<P><PB N="19" REF="13">
2. And though <HI>Job</HI> was a patient
Man, yet he pa&s;&s;ionately de&s;ired death.
<HI>Oh!</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 6. 8, 9.</NOTE> &s;aith he, <HI>that I might have my
reque&s;t, and that God would grant me the
thing that I long for: Even that it would
plea&s;e God to de&s;troy me, that he would
let loo&s;e his hand, and cut me off.</HI>
Whereas God meant <HI>Job</HI> better than &s;o,
(<HI>viz.</HI>) to turn his Captivity, and to
give him twice as much as he had lo&s;t,
and the full number of his former Chil|dren,
and &s;o, to double their number
al&s;o; &s;hewing him, that his fir&s;t num|ber
was not la&s;t. Moreover, he &s;hall
yet live 140 years longer to &s;erve and
honour God in this world. Again,</P>
<P>3. <HI>Elijah</HI> was a Man &s;ubject to like
pa&s;&s;ions as we are, and being per&s;ecuted
by <HI>Jezebel, he reque&s;ted for him&s;elf</HI> that
he might dye,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 King. 89. 4.</NOTE> and he &s;aid, <HI>It is enough
now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am
not better than my Fathers.</HI> Whereas
God intended better for him, (<HI>viz.</HI>)
that he &s;hould live yet longer, and fini&s;h
his Te&s;timony again&s;t <HI>Ahab, Jezebel,</HI>
and <HI>Ahaziah,</HI> and then be carried tri|umphantly
to Heaven in a fiery Cha|riot.
So</P>
<P>4. <HI>Jonah</HI> would needs dye in a fret,
<HI>Oh Lord,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jonah 4. 3.</NOTE> &s;aith he, <HI>Take I be&s;eech thee,
<PB N="20" REF="14">
my life from me, for it is better for me to
dye, than to live.</HI> No, <HI>Jonah</HI> was not
in ca&s;e to dye at pre&s;ent, God would
not take him at his word, but he mu&s;t
live yet longer and repent.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="2"> Secondly, As for &s;ome others of the
Saints, death hath been de&s;ired by them,
and not impatiently, nor any way &s;inful|ly,
but very well, and upon good ground.
You know</P>
<P>1. Ju&s;t and devout <HI>Simeon,</HI> when
he had taken up Chri&s;t in his arms, he
ble&s;&s;ed God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 2, 29.</NOTE> and &s;aid, <HI>Lord now lette&s;t
thou thy &s;ervant depart in peace;</HI> and
the ground of this reque&s;t lies in the
words following&mdash;<HI>according to thy
Word.</HI> His Prayer, it &s;eems, was grounded
upon a word from God. For as God had
told him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 26.</NOTE> <HI>that he &s;hould not &s;ee death, be|fore
he had &s;een the Lord's Chri&s;t;</HI> &s;o he
had promi&s;ed him, that then he &s;hould
dye, and &s;o his Prayer was grounded
upon a Promi&s;e.</P>
<P>2. And as for <HI>Paul, He de&s;ired to
depart, and to be with Christ, which</HI>
(&s;aith he) <HI>is far better,</HI> i. e. for me.
<HI>Neverthele&s;s, to abide in the fle&s;h is more
needful for you. And having this confi|dence,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 1. 23, 24.</NOTE>
<HI>I know that I &s;hall abide and con|tinue
with you all, for your furtherance and
<PB N="21" REF="14">
joy of Faith.</HI> So that 1. When he de|&s;ired
to dye, he looked upon the benefit
thereof ab&s;tractedly, and ab&s;olutely, but
not comparatively. 2. When he look|ed
upon it on compari&s;on with the be|nefits
of life, he was not &s;o po&s;itive in the
de&s;ire of death, but having done great
&s;ervice, and, that too, a long time for
Je&s;us Chri&s;t (for then he was <HI>Paul the
aged,</HI> Philem. ver. 9.) and being then
in pri&s;on at <HI>Rome,</HI> he hung for a time in
<HI>Aequilibrio,</HI> mid-way between two, till
at la&s;t the Scale turns to a de&s;ire to live,
further to &s;erve Je&s;us Chri&s;t, and his
Church and people. For though <HI>Paul</HI>
was then in pri&s;on, yet he did very much
good there, which had been lo&s;t, had
he then gone to Heaven.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 1. 12.</NOTE> For his <HI>bonds
furthered the Go&s;pel.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">ver. 13.</NOTE> And they &s;trength|ned
the Brethren, and wrought upon
&s;everal <HI>in Cae&s;ars Palace.</HI> And there be
converted <HI>One&s;imus;</HI> and there he wrote
his Epi&s;tles to the <HI>Galatians, Ephe&s;ians,
Philippians, Colo&s;&s;ians,</HI> and the &s;econd
Epi&s;tle to <HI>Timothy</HI> and that to <HI>Phile|mon.</HI>
In all which are many excel|lent
Points of divers kinds, which great|ly
conduce to the Churches edification:
And better a thou&s;and times that <HI>Paul</HI>
had been kept 20 years out of Heaven,
<PB N="22" REF="15">
than that the Church &s;hould have
wanted the&s;e Epi&s;tles.</P>
<P>But is it not lawful then in any ca&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Que&s;t.</NOTE>
to de&s;ire to dye?</P>
<P>Yes;<NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;w.</NOTE> with &s;ubjection to God's will,
in ca&s;e e&s;pecially there are appearances
that a Man's work is at an end. For a
Child of God may live &s;o long, that his
faculties may be impaired, his &s;trength
decayed, his &s;pirits &s;pent, and he may
be full of pain too, and &s;o &s;hut up, that
he can do little good. And as <HI>Job</HI>
&s;aith,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 2. 2.</NOTE> <HI>A &s;ervant that hath wrought hard
all the day, and is weary, earne&s;tly de&s;i|reth
the &s;hadow.</HI> And &s;o it is with a
Child of God in this ca&s;e. The weary
body naturally de&s;ireth the bed. And
&s;ometimes God makes a clear di&s;covery to
&s;ome of his &s;ervants, that their work is
at an end.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 4. 6, 7.</NOTE> Thus it was with <HI>Paul, I am rea|dy
to be offered up, and the time of my de|parture
is at hand; I have fought a good
fight, I have fini&s;hed my cour&s;e, I have
kept the Faith.</HI> And it is with graci|ous
Souls; as with the Fruit of the Tree,
which when it is ripe, drops naturally
from it. There is a Spiritual in&s;tinct,
inclining the Soul of a Believer Heaven|ward,
when the Fruit is ripe: So that
they come to their graves, as a ripe Shock
<PB N="23" REF="15">
of Corn cometh in its &s;ea&s;on. And a
de&s;ire to dye in &s;uch a ca&s;e is &s;till the bet|ter,
when it proceedeth from a longing
to be freed from &s;in, and a de&s;ire to be
with Chri&s;t, <HI>Phil.</HI> 1. 23.</P>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>Application.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub"><HI>If there are opportunities of &s;ervice 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</HI>
1. Informed,</HEAD>
<P>That Heaven is the place of the Saints <MILESTONE N="1">
reward, and not of their work. When
they dye,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 14. 13.</NOTE> <HI>they cea&s;e from their labours,
and their works do follow them.</HI> 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.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 4. 7, 8.</NOTE> For their <HI>cour&s;e is now
fini&s;hed, their race is run, and henceforth
is laid up for them a Crown of Righteou&s;|ne&s;s.</HI>
Heaven therefore is not their work|ing-place,
but their re&s;ting-place;
they re&s;t from their labours; there is
much to be received there, but nothing
to be done there, but to live in the
<PB N="24" REF="16">
high prai&s;es of God and the Lamb to
Eternity.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="2"> If our opportunities dye together with
us, then we are further informed, That
(as there is no working in Heaven, &s;o)
there is no returning after death to work
again in this world.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 14. 14.</NOTE> <HI>If a Man dye, &s;hall
he live again?</HI> No, &s;aith <HI>Hezekiah</HI> (ver.
11.) <HI>I &s;aid in the cutting off of my days,
I &s;hall go to the Gates of the Grave; I
&s;hall nor &s;ee the Lord, even the Lord in
the Land of the living, I &s;hall behold
Man no more with the inhabitants of the
world.</HI> That is, I &s;hall no more ap|pear
before the Lord in his Sanctuary,
to perform any more &s;ervice there to
him.</P>
<P>As if he &s;hould &s;ay, I &s;hall &s;ee the Lord
in Heaven, but I &s;hall &s;ee him &amp; &s;erve
no more in the Land of the living, which
I de&s;ire to do. For when <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> brought
him the welcome tidings of his recovery,
one of fir&s;t things that he &s;aith to him is,
what is the &s;ign that I &s;hall go up to the
Hou&s;e of the Lord?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. la&s;t.</NOTE> For a King to go
to the Hou&s;e of the Lord, and to lead
the way to the Wor&s;hip of God, was a
very glorious &s;ervice. He looked upon
it as a very great mercy, to &s;ee and &s;erve
the Lord in the Land of the living; but
<PB N="25" REF="16">
he thought he &s;hould &s;ee him &s;o no more,
nor behold Man any more with the in|habitants
of the world; and therefore
he &s;hould return no more.</P>
<P><HI>Men have but one Soul, and but one op|portunity
to act for the eternal &s;alvation
of it;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 7. 8, 9, 10.</NOTE> <HI>when they are dead,</HI> the Eye that
hath &s;een them, &s;hall &s;ee them no more,
and he that goeth down to the Grave, &s;hall
come up no more.</P>
<P>And therefore it was not <HI>Samuel</HI> ri&s;en
from the dead,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam 28. Chap.</NOTE> but the Devil that ap|peared
and &s;pake to <HI>Saul</HI> in the hou&s;e of
the Witch at <HI>Endor.</HI> For the appear|ance
a&s;cended out of the Earth in the
hou&s;e of the Woman, which was in the
Tribe of <HI>I&s;&s;achar,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 25. 1.</NOTE> whereas <HI>Samuel</HI> was
buried at his hou&s;e at <HI>Ramah,</HI> which
was in the Tribe of <HI>Benjamin.</HI> Be&s;ides,
he was buried in his Grave-clothes,
whereas he is de&s;cribed ri&s;ing in his
Mantle. And he was (as all the
Saints are after death) at re&s;t; where<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="tech" EXTENT="1 letter">s
he that is there called <HI>Samuel</HI> &s;aith to
<HI>Saul,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 28. 15.</NOTE> <HI>Wherefore ha&s;t thou di&s;quieted me
to bring me up?</HI> And it is not in the
power of all the Devils in Hell to di&s;|quiet
the Saints after death. Other
Rea&s;ons I might urge, but the&s;e may
&s;uffice.</P>
<P><PB N="26" REF="17">
The dead return not again; as <HI>David</HI>
&s;aid of his Child,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 12. 23.</NOTE> when dead, <HI>I &s;hall go
to him, but he &s;hall not return to me.</HI> Op|portunity
is a part of time, and hath
nothing to do in Eternity. Neither is
there any regre&s;s or returning, but by
miracle from the Land of forgetful|ne&s;s.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>2. In&s;tructed in matter of
Reproof,</HEAD>
<P><MILESTONE N="1"> To &s;uch 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 lo&s;t time, it cannot come into the ac|count
of our lives; and it is a pitiful
thing to be old only in time: And all
the good of many &s;tricken in years will
lie within a very little compa&s;s; and to be
an ancient Man or Woman of two or
three years old, &s;ounds like a Contra|diction.</P>
<P><HI>So teach us</HI> (&s;aith <HI>Mo&s;es) to number
our dayes,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 90. 12</NOTE> <HI>that we may apply our hearts
to wi&s;dom.</HI> And &s;urely this is one &s;pe|cial
way of numbring our days; to
know how long we have lived in &s;er|ving
our Generation, and what time we
have &s;pent that way: and he never
applyed his Heart to Wi&s;dom, who
<PB N="27" REF="17">
hath not learned &s;o to number his
dayes.</P>
<P>There are but two lives, that can be
lived in this world, <HI>viz.</HI> a Natural, and
a Spiritual; and all live the fir&s;t, but
few the &s;econd: whereas it is our wi&s;|dom
to live &s;piritually; and &s;o to live,
is to live, Fir&s;t, for the Generati|ons
that &s;ucceed us, &s;o as <HI>Hezekiah</HI> here
de&s;ired to live. Secondly, To live for
Eternity. To live only a natural life;
is for Brutes, and not for Men.</P>
<P>And therefore you that are entred in|to
years, and have done but little, are
ju&s;tly reprehended, as having lived more
like Fools than wi&s;e Men.</P>
<P>Secondly, What &s;hall we &s;ay to <MILESTONE N="2">
&s;uch as have lived to no purpo&s;e at all?
All that they have done, hath been to
eat and drink, and make a number.
And there are multitudes of the&s;e, who
have profaned their lives, in not an|&s;wering
the end of them. They are meer
Earth-cumberers, and &s;uch who have li|ved
only to them&s;elves.</P>
<P>Thirdly, But (which is wor&s;e) &s;ome <MILESTONE N="3">
have lived to wicked purpo&s;es, having
&s;pent their days in &s;in, and been offen|&s;ive
both to God and Men, who as la&s;t
will come to dye like <HI>Jehoram,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Chr. 21. la&s;t.</NOTE> without
<PB N="28" REF="18">
being de&s;ired.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Chr. 28. la&s;t.</NOTE> And &s;uch another was
<HI>Hezekiah's</HI> Father, even that King <HI>A|haz,</HI>
who when he died, was buried
like <HI>Jehoram,</HI> and not brought into the
Sepulchres of the Kings of <HI>I&s;rael.</HI> And
&s;uch another was that per&s;ecutor <HI>Jehoia|kim,</HI>
for whom they lamented not, &s;ay|ing,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 22. 18, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="tech" EXTENT="2 letters">.</NOTE>
<HI>Ah Lord, or ah his glory.</HI> Oh!
the&s;e are to be exploded out of the Land
of the living;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job. 27. la&s;t</NOTE> <HI>For Men &s;hall clap their
hands at them, and hi&s;s them out of the
world;</HI> he never did good work while,
he lived, and he &s;hall have never a
good word when he dieth. So much for
Reprehen&s;ion.</P>
<P>This Point in&s;tructs us in matter of
Humiliation. What hath been &s;aid,
&s;hould humble even the very be&s;t of
God's people, in that they have done no
more &s;ervice for Je&s;us Chri&s;t in their Ge|neration.
You have (po&s;&s;ibly) done &s;ome|thing
for him, but you might have done
more: You might have prai&s;ed him
more, declared the Truth more to your
Children; you might have projected
and de&s;igned more for the glory of God,
and the good of Po&s;terity; you might
have devi&s;ed liberal things, &amp; lived more
exemplarily, been more zealous of good
works, more edifying in your conver&s;a|tion;
<PB N="29" REF="18">
you might have adventured more
for Chri&s;t; and whereas you have gain|ed
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 &s;o little. I re|member
it is &s;aid of Doctor <HI>&V;&s;her</HI> in the
Narrative of his Life and Death, that
when he was a dying, he was humbled
for his omi&s;&s;ions. And indeed they are
great &s;ins, and the judgment of Chri&s;t,
at his appearing, will pa&s;s much upon
good works on the one &s;ide,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 25. 35&mdash;end.</NOTE> and omi&s;|&s;ions
of them on the other. And there|fore
we had need to &s;it in judgment up|on
our &s;elves for our omi&s;&s;ions before we
dye. For it is not enough to do good
&s;ometimes, but we &s;hould be rich in good
works,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim 6. 18. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="tech" EXTENT="1 letter">. 1</NOTE> and prepared unto every good
work, always abounding in the work
of the Lord,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 2. 21.</NOTE> giving a portion to &s;even,
and al&s;o to eight,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15. 58.</NOTE> going about as Chri&s;t
did, doing good. And he that is thus
exerci&s;ed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccl. 11. 1.</NOTE> is fit to live, and fit to
dye.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 10. 38.</NOTE></P>
<P>But let us be humbled this day for our
neglects. For have not our hearts &s;ome|times
checked us, upon reviews of
the lo&s;s of our opportunities to do &s;uch
or &s;uch a good work? Saith a gracious
<PB N="30" REF="19">
and tender heart, when he is come from
&s;uch a per&s;on, or &s;uch a place, or &s;uch a
company, or occa&s;ion; <Q>Alas! what
have I omitted? I might have put in
&s;uch a word for Je&s;us Chri&s;t, I might
have reproved &s;uch a &s;in, or gi|ven
&s;uch or &s;uch coun&s;el, or &s;topt
&s;uch a vain di&s;cour&s;e, or given &s;uch an
example, or moved for &s;uch a good
work, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></Q></P>
<P>Alas! who knows the errors of his
life this way? and therefore this con&s;i|deration
calls for deep Humiliation, and
&s;elf-judging at this time.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>3. Exhorted.</HEAD>
<P>We are here Exhorted, and the
Point affords Exhortation &s;everal ways.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="1"> To do all the good you are able, du|ring
your abode here below, &s;eeing
death will put an end to all your oppor|tunities.
If God enable you to &s;peak a
good word to his honour, and to the
edification of others, when you lye a dy|ing,
you are never like to do &s;o 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 be&s;tir your &s;elves, while
<PB N="31" REF="19">
your Bodies and Souls abide here toge|ther.</P>
<P>What&s;oever therefore thy hand findeth
to do,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 9. 10.</NOTE> do it with thy might; for there is
no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor
wi&s;dom in the Grave whither thou goe&s;t.</P>
<P>And &s;uppo&s;e you have done well hi|therto,
like a good and faithful &s;ervant,
<HI>be not yet weary of well doing,</HI> but
up and be doing &s;till,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 6. 9.</NOTE> and <HI>in due time
you &s;hall reap, if you faint not.</HI> What a
deal of good had <HI>Hezekiah</HI> done, before
he fell into this &s;ickne&s;s? He de&s;troyed
the Monuments of Idolatry,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 King. 16. 3, 4, 5.</NOTE> &s;et up a no|table
Reformation,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Chron. 29, 30, and 31 Chap|ters.</NOTE> brought back the
Tribes of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> to the Lord God of their
Fathers. And yet you &s;ee here, he is
willing to live longer to do more. So
<HI>Peter</HI> had done much good in his time;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 2d.</NOTE>
you know he converted about three
thou&s;and Souls at the beginning of his
Mini&s;try,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 3d, v.&mdash;44.</NOTE> he had a mo&s;t happy han&s;el,
<HI>Acts 2d.</HI> And yet he takes another op|portunity,
and &s;ped well. And after
this, he pa&s;&s;eth through all quarters, and
came at la&s;t to <HI>Lydda,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 9th.</NOTE> &amp; <HI>Saron,</HI> and <HI>Jop|pa,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 10th.</NOTE>
&amp; you know what good he did in the
hou&s;e of <HI>Cornelius,</HI> &amp;c. At length he be|comes
old,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 1. 13, 14, 15.</NOTE> &amp; then he writes to the Saints;
<HI>For,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>I think it meet, as long as
<PB N="32" REF="20">
I am in this Tabernacle, to &s;tir you up,
by putting you in remembrance, knowing
that &s;hortly I mu&s;t put off this my Taber|nacle,
even as our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t hath
&s;hewed me. Moreover, I will endeavour
that you may be able after my decea&s;e, to
have the&s;e things always in remembrance.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t, &s;aith he, I am aware of death
approaching.</P>
<P>Secondly, I will therefore do all the
good I am able, both with my Tongue
and Pen.</P>
<P>Thirdly, I will endeavour that the
good I do may live when I am dead; <HI>that
you may be able after my decea&s;e to have
the&s;e things always in remembrance.</HI></P>
<P>Even thus we &s;hould endeavour to live
in this world after our departure. Sur|vive
your Funerals, and out-live your
deaths. For it is not enough that we
&s;hall then live in Heaven, but we &s;hould
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 Ju&s;t &s;hall be
ble&s;&s;ed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 10. 7.</NOTE> and the Righteous had in ever|la&s;ting
remembrance.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 112. 6.</NOTE> It is the Saints
happine&s;s to have Glory, and Honour,
and Immortality in Heaven; but it is
much to the glory and honour of God
<PB N="33" REF="20">
for the Saints to be immortalized on
Earth, and to live in their good Exam|ples,
good Coun&s;els, good Names, and
good Works, when their Souls are
&s;hining in Heaven. Particularly,</P>
<P>1. Dilate and diffu&s;e the prai&s;es of
God, and make his Name glorious to
the utmo&s;t of your power. And let
this be often &s;ounding in your ears. <HI>The
living,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 149. 6.</NOTE> <HI>the living he &s;hall prai&s;e thee.</HI> Speak
much, and live much to his prai&s;e. <HI>Let
the high prai&s;es of God be in your mouthes.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign"> Hebr.</NOTE>
<HI>Ain&s;worth,</HI> and the <HI>Dutch</HI> Interpreters
render it, <HI>Let the exaltations of God be
in your throat,</HI> and it &s;uits with the
Original,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">. Sept.</NOTE> as al&s;o with the Tran&s;lation
of the 70.</P>
<P>The Exaltations, <HI>i. e.</HI> the lifting up of
God in his Name, Attributes, Precept,
Promi&s;es, Threatnings, Providences, &amp;c.
let them be in your throats, <HI>i. e.</HI> exalt
your voices in exalting the&s;e prai&s;es, <HI>cry
with the throat,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 58. 1.</NOTE> and lift up your voices
like Trumpets. And this argues, that
God's prai&s;es comes from your hearts,
when they are thus &s;ounded, as it were
from your throats. And this work ex|alteth
you, and that as high as the Hea|vens,
for it is the very &s;ervice of Hea|ven,
only it is a greater &s;ervice, &s;eeing
<PB N="34" REF="21">
the Proclamation of God's prai&s;es upon
Earth, tends to the propagation of them,
&s;o as it is not in Heaven.</P>
<P>And truly, he that is good at this,
is good indeed. He is no Hypocritie;
for he is a &s;elf-denying man, and one
that loves God far above him&s;elf, one
that lives in God, and delights in him,
and gives him the highe&s;t place in his
heart. Do what you can therefore this
way, and it will redound to a &s;ingular
evidence of your &s;incerity.</P>
<P>2. Endeavour al&s;o the Propagation
of Chri&s;t's Kingdom; pray for it, and
according to your capacity promove
it.</P>
<P>You may remember what is written,
<HI>P&s;al.</HI> 72. 15.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 72. 15</NOTE> where it is &s;aid of <HI>Solomon</HI>
in the Type, and of Chri&s;t in the Truth,
<HI>He &s;hall live, and to him &s;hall be given
of the Gold of Sheba, Prayer al&s;o &s;hall be
made for him, and daily &s;hall he be prai|&s;ed.</HI>
Why? mu&s;t we pray for Je&s;us
Chri&s;t? yes, by all means. Of all that
we pray for, we mu&s;t be &s;ure to pray for
Je&s;us Chri&s;t, but not con&s;idered per&s;o|nally,
but My&s;tically. You know how
the people, and the children prayed for
Chri&s;t, when they cryed, &s;aying, <HI>Ho|&s;ann&aacute;
to the Son of David;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 21. 9.</NOTE> <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed is he
<PB N="35" REF="21">
that cometh in the Name of the Lord;
Ho&s;anna in the highe&s;t.</HI> The words are
taken out of the 11th <HI>P&s;al. ver.</HI> 25, 26.
They cryed, &s;aying, <HI>Ho&s;anna,</HI> that is,
<HI>Save, I be&s;eech thee.</HI> It is as much as,
<HI>God &s;ave the King, &s;end now pro&s;perity.</HI>
It is meant e&s;pecially of Chri&s;t as King,
Chri&s;t and his Kingdom. And we ne|ver
&s;ay, <HI>Thy Kingdom come,</HI> but thus
we pray for Chri&s;t, who prayeth for us
every day, or el&s;e we &s;hould be in a ve|ry
&s;ad ca&s;e.</P>
<P>And truly, if the Kingdom of Chri&s;t
be within us, we &s;hall be very &s;ollicitous
and active for the Kingdom of Chri&s;t
without us, which Kingdom of his this day
is in a very low condition, as to the pro|fe&s;&s;ed
power and purity of the Go&s;pel.
And yet if we can do little or nothing
el&s;e, yet we may pray for the King|dom
of Chri&s;t. Let us therefore lay
the &s;tate thereof to heart this day. How
often do the Saints under the Old Te&s;ta|ment,
pray for the Kingdom of our Lord
Je&s;us under the New?<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 67. 1, 2.</NOTE> &s;ay they, <HI>God
be merciful to us, and ble&s;s us, and cau&s;e
his face to &s;hine upon us; That thy way
may be known upon Earth, thy &s;aving
health among all Nations,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P>Mark ye, That &s;ingular ble&s;&s;ing,
<PB N="36" REF="22">
which God commanded <HI>Aaron</HI> and his
Sons to pronounce upon the people of <HI>I&s;|rael,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 6. 24. 25.</NOTE>
<HI>The Lord ble&s;s thee, and keep thee;
The Lord make his face to &s;hine upon thee,
and be gracious unto thee.</HI> The godly in
<HI>David's</HI> time turned it into prayer for
the enlarging of the Kingdom of our
Lord Je&s;us under the Go&s;pel, account|ing
it a great ble&s;&s;ing to them&s;elves, to
have it enlarged by the acce&s;&s;ion of the
<HI>Gentiles;</HI> though (yet) it was
to be accompli&s;hed in the rejecti|on
of the <HI>Jews;</HI> but it is (as if we
&s;hould &s;ay) Let God do what he
plea&s;eth with a Nation, &s;o that his
Go&s;pel may be propagated, and his
Kingdom enlarged in the World. If
God's way may be known upon Earth,
and his &s;aving health among all other
Nations, We &s;hould account that the
Lord is merciful to us, aud ble&s;&s;eth us,
and cau&s;eth his face to &s;hine upon us;
We &s;hould love the Kingdom of
Chri&s;t above all the Kingdoms in the
World,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 2, 2.</NOTE> and <HI>That it &s;hall come to pa&s;s in
the la&s;t dayes, that the Mountain of the
Lords hou&s;e &s;hall be e&s;tabli&s;hed upon the
top of the Mountains, and exalted above
the Hills, and that all Nations &s;hall flow
unto it.</HI> You know what great <HI>hea|vine&s;s
<PB N="37" REF="22">
and continual &s;orrow of heart</HI> Paul
had for his Brethren the Jews,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 9. 2, 3.</NOTE> <HI>and kin&s;|men
according to the fle&s;h;</HI> and yet he
<HI>magnified his Office,</HI> in that he was the
<HI>Apo&s;tle of the Gentiles.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 11. 13.</NOTE> That is, he
accounted it to be a glorious Office to be
a Preacher to the <HI>Gentiles.</HI> So that, Le<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="tech" EXTENT="1 letter">
the Kingdom of the Lord Je&s;us come,
what&s;oever become of any Kingdom, or
of all the Kingdoms under Heaven.</P>
<P><HI>Thirdly, Live exemplarily, that your <MILESTONE N="3">
paterns may &s;urvive you, and live when
you are dead.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil, 3. 17.</NOTE> <HI>Thus</HI> Paul <HI>lived,</HI> Bre|thren,
<HI>&s;aith he,</HI> be followers together of
me, and mark them which walk &s;o, as
ye have us for an en&s;ample. <HI>And he de|nied
him&s;elf, to make him&s;elf an ex|ample
to others.</HI> You know, <HI>&s;aith he,</HI>
how ye ought to follow us (viz. <HI>in order|ly
walking in your particular Callings</HI>)
for we behaved not our &s;elves di&s;orderly
among you,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 The&s;. 3. 7, 8, 9.</NOTE> neither did we eat any mans
bread for nought; but wrought with la|bour
and travel night and day, that we
might not be chargeable to any of you.
Not becau&s;e we have not power (<HI>that is,
night to be maintained at your charge</HI>)
but to make our &s;elves an en&s;ample unto
you,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 9, 4.&mdash;16. with 11. 1.</NOTE> to follow us. <HI>And thus al&s;o he did
unto the</HI> Corinthians. <HI>For thus did
<PB N="38" REF="23">
Chri&s;t deny him&s;elf to give us an ex|ample,</HI>
Joh. 13. 14, 15. If I then your
Lord and Ma&s;ter have wa&s;hed your feet,
ye ought al&s;o to wa&s;h one another's feet. For
I have given you an example, that ye
&s;hould do as I have done to you. <HI>Con&s;i|der
al&s;o,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 8. 9.</NOTE> 2 Cor. 8. 9. For ye know the
Grace of our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, that
though he was rich, yet for your &s;akes he
became poor, that ye through his poverty
might be rich. <HI>And when</HI> Paul <HI>took
his leave of the Elders of</HI> Ephe&s;us, <HI>who
were never like to &s;ee his face more, he
leaves his example with them;</HI> I have,
(<HI>&s;aith he</HI>) coveted no mans Silver, or
Gold, or Apparel; Yea, you your &s;elves
know, that the&s;e hands have mini&s;tred
unto my nece&s;&s;ities, and to them that were
with me;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 20. 33, 34, 35.</NOTE> I have &s;hewed you all things,
how that &s;o labouring, ye ought to &s;up|port
the weak.&mdash;<HI>The like did</HI> Samuel.
<HI>Thus al&s;o</HI> David <HI>left his example behind
him,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 12. 2, 3.</NOTE> <HI>for God &s;et him up for a patern to
all &s;ucceeding Kings in</HI> I&s;rael, <HI>who&s;e
Life and Reign God therefore mea&s;ureth
by their care to follow him, as you may
read frequently in the Books of the</HI> Kings
<HI>and</HI> Chronicles. <HI>For of &s;uch &amp; &s;uch Kings it
is &s;aid, They walked in the ways of</HI> Da|vid;
<HI>and of others, that they did not
<PB N="39" REF="23">
&s;o walk. Examples are very prevalent</HI>
in utramque partem, <HI>either one way or
t'other, either for good or evil.</HI></P>
<P>And therefore &s;o walk according to
God, that others may follow you, &s;ee|ing
your example will live while&s;t you
live, yea, and when you are dead too.
For it will be &s;aid, &s;uch a one lived
thus, and walked thus, and thus he be|haved
him&s;elf in his family, and thus in
his fellow&s;hip with the Saints, and thus
in his dealings with his neighbours, and
with all men; and thus he carried it
under his tryals and oppo&s;itions in an
evil day, and this and that was the
Rule he walked by. For he was a wi&s;e
Man, or &s;he was a wi&s;e Woman, and
very con&s;ciencious, and tender-hearted,
and &s;incere, and active, and &s;tirring,
and zealous for Je&s;us Chri&s;t, and fearful
to give the lea&s;t offence, and ready to
every good work, and pitiful to the
poor Saints, his Heart, and Pur&s;e, and
Hou&s;e were open for Je&s;us Chri&s;t. And
he was a ju&s;t and peaceable Man, and
one that could govern his Spirit, and
Tongue, and that could keep down his
pa&s;&s;ions, and one that was a mortified
per&s;on, dead to the world, and the
things thereof, &amp;c. Now, what a ble&s;&s;ed
<PB N="40" REF="24">
example is this?<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 8. 23.</NOTE> and what a glorious
report? what an edifying patern, and
for the glory of God, and our Lord Je|&s;us
Chri&s;t? Yea, this example will preach
your funeral Sermon, (you need no
other to do it) and it will keep you
alive when you are dead, and im|mortalize
you upon Earth, make you
of ble&s;&s;ed memory indeed, and to be
had with the righteous in everla&s;ting re|membrance;
when the names of others
&s;hall be written in the Earth, which will
&s;oon be obliterated, and quite blotted
out; and when it &s;hall be &s;aid of them
as of <HI>Hezekiah's</HI> Father, by way of re|proach,
<HI>This is that King Ahaz.</HI> And
&s;uch a good example many have left
behind them, and we are ever and anon
&s;peaking of &s;uch as the&s;e are, who&s;e
names are as a precious Oyntment, and
which were embalmed when they dyed,
with the Graces, Vertues, and good
Works of their Lives, that &s;till they &s;end
forth a &s;weet &s;avour to &s;urviving po&s;teri|ty.
And thus was that good Womans
name embalmed, who poured out a ve|ry
precious Oyntment on the Head of
Chri&s;t again&s;t his burial. <HI>Verily,</HI> &s;aith
Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26. 13</NOTE> <HI>where&s;oever this Go&s;pel &s;hall be
preached in the whole world, there &s;hall
<PB N="41" REF="24">
al&s;o this, that this Woman hath done, be
told for a memorial of her.</HI> So that this
good Woman is &s;till alive in her memory,
and &s;he <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="tech" EXTENT="1 word"> thus lived the&s;e 1600 years
and more, and &s;hall never dye &s;o long as
the world &s;tandeth.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts. 36.</NOTE> And &s;uch another
was <HI>Tabitha.</HI> And the like I may &s;ay
of many more, who&s;e names are record|ed
in holy Writ, who obtained a good
report,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 11. 2, 4.</NOTE> and though they are now dead,
yet &s;till they both &s;peak, and are &s;po|ken
of.</P>
<P>Brethren, will ye think upon the&s;e
things; And will ye now &s;tudy &amp; endea|vour
to live exemplarily, and to live lives
for po&s;terity, and &s;o to live converting
lives, and convincing, and edifying
lives; yea, and to live the lives of &s;uch,
as mu&s;t be the world's Judges? And
will it not be greatly to the glory of our
Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, and to your Eternal
Con&s;olation, to hear of your lives and
examples in that great day of Chri&s;t's
appearance, when your examples &s;hall
have their re&s;urrection as well as your
bodies, when Chri&s;t &s;hall produce your
paterns before all the world, and con|vince
and judge the ungodly world by
them? As if he &s;hould &s;ay to tho&s;e on
his left hand, who lived in your dayes,
<PB N="42" REF="25">
and &s;aw your examples; <Q>Loe, do you
&s;ee the&s;e Men and Women on my right
hand, who lived thus and thus in your
&s;ight, and gave you a ble&s;&s;e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="tech" EXTENT="1 letter"> example,
which either you cen&s;ured, or were
unwilling to follow; they lived and
conver&s;ed in direct oppo&s;ition to you;
they lived &s;o and &s;o, when you did
thus and thus: Therefore they &s;hall
be your Judges.</Q></P>
<P>Methinks I cannot &s;peak enough of
this Subject, which is of very great mo|ment,
<HI>viz.</HI> the tran&s;mi&s;&s;ion and recom|mendation
of paterns to po&s;terity, as
one grieved, that I can &s;ee no more of
it, but rather &s;uch a common and ordi|nary
kind of walking, as hath little
or nothing of &s;ingularity in it.</P>
<P>Alas! How few, that profe&s;s the
fear of God this day, are writing of
Copies for po&s;terity to walk by? And
where is &s;ingularity of life to be &s;een?
Yea, how many are there among the Pro|fe&s;&s;ors
of the Go&s;pel, by who&s;e failings we
may learn more than by their Vertues?
and this I &s;peak to my grief;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="tech" EXTENT="2 letters">t. 5. 16.</NOTE> Oh, <HI>let
your light &s;o &s;hine before Men, that they
may &s;ee your good works, and glorifie
your Father which is in Heaven.</HI> Je&s;us
Chri&s;t there &s;peaks of the light of
<PB N="43" REF="25">
good works and good examples, which
are vi&s;ible to &s;tanders-by, and &s;uch as
do occa&s;ion them to glorifie our Hea|venly
Father.</P>
<P>And know thus much al&s;o, That
Men live much by example, either on
the one &s;ide or other. And where good
examples are given, God expecteth that
others &s;hould follow them, and that not
only the examples of the living, but of
the<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Such are often re|co<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="tech" EXTENT="4 letters">d|ed, <HI>Heb.</HI> 12. 1.</NOTE> dead al&s;o, For what &s;aith the A|po&s;tle?
<HI>Remember them which have
the rule over you, who have &s;poken un|to
you the Word of God, who&s;e Faith fol|low,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jam. 5. 10.</NOTE>
<HI>con&s;idering the end of their conver|&s;ation.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 13. 7.</NOTE>
The Apo&s;tle there &s;peaketh of
&s;uch as had been their Guides, but were
now dead;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> for the words in the Origi|nal
are <HI>not, remember them: that have the
rule over you,</HI> but, <HI>remember your Ru|lers,
i. e.</HI> Mini&s;ters of the Go&s;pel, who
are now with the Lord. And he ex|horts
the <HI>Hebrews</HI> not to forget their
Faith, and holy lives, who had no other
end in their conver&s;ations and good ex|amples,
but God's Glory, and the Sal|vation
of them that beheld them.</P>
<P>But I mu&s;t pa&s;s from this Particular,
though &s;omewhat loth to leave it, and
&s;hould much rejoyce, if what I have &s;aid
<PB N="44" REF="26">
of it, may take place in all your hearts
and lives.</P>
<P>Live exemplarily, that your paterns
may outlive you, and edifie others when
you are dead. And this is a work
which cannot be done in Heaven. And
take heed of &s;candals and vi&s;ible infirmi|ties,
which edifie beholders to ruine.
For there is a &s;inful mi&s;chievous edificati|on,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 8. 10.</NOTE>
of which the Apo&s;tle &s;peaketh, 1 <HI>Cor.
8. 10. For if any Man &s;ee thee, which
ha&s;t knowledge, &s;it at meat in the Idols
Temple: Shall not the Con&s;cience of him
which is weak be emboldened to eat tho&s;e
things which are offered to Idols?</HI> The
word rendred,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> <HI>Emboldened,</HI> is Edified in
the Original. You may &s;o live in your
Examples, that you may edifie and teach
beholders to &s;in in following them, as
<HI>Jeroboam</HI> the &s;on of <HI>Nebat</HI> did, who
made <HI>I&s;rael</HI> to &s;in. And many that pro|fe&s;s
to the Go&s;pel, do &s;o live and walk,
the Con&s;ideration whereof is very &s;ad
and mi&s;erable. O beware of giving &s;uch
examples, for they will dimini&s;h your
glory in Heaven, if you &s;hall be &s;o hap|py,
at lea&s;t, as to arrive there. But &s;o
much for this 3d Particular.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="4"> Embrace and improve all opportuni|ties
of appearing and &s;peaking for Chri&s;t
<PB N="45" REF="26">
(another &s;ervice peculiar to the Saints on
Earth, who cannot &s;peak a word for
Chri&s;t in Heaven.) And many &s;uch
&s;ea&s;ons are providentially admini&s;tred to
us, <HI>viz.</HI> &s;ometimes of reproving &s;in,
both in &s;uch as fear God, and &s;uch as fear
him not. In the Scriptures you find the
Saints reproving one another;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 32. 21.</NOTE> <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> re|proveth
<HI>Aaron,</HI> and <HI>Nathan David,</HI> and
<HI>Hanani A&s;a,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 12.</NOTE> &amp; his &s;on <HI>Jehu Jeho&s;haphat,</HI>
and <HI>Paul Peter,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Chron. 16.&mdash;19. 2</NOTE> and one private Bro|ther
another.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 2. 11.</NOTE> And how often al&s;o do
the Saints in Scripture reprove the wick|ed
and ungodly?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lev. 19. 17.</NOTE> I need not give you
In&s;tances for that.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 18. 15</NOTE> It is not enough <HI>that
we have no fellow&s;hip with the unfruitful
works of darkne&s;s,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 5. 11.</NOTE> <HI>but we mu&s;t al&s;o re|prove
them.</HI> We mu&s;t appear for Chri&s;t,
his Truth, his Rules, and Glory; or
where is our love to him? Sometimes
you &s;hall hear cur&s;ing, and &s;wearing in
your pre&s;ence, &s;ometimes reproaching,
&s;landering, flithine&s;s, fooli&s;h talking, and
&s;inful je&s;ting; &s;ometimes you &s;hall &s;ee
Covetou&s;ne&s;s, Pride, Pa&s;&s;ion, Anger,
and uncomely Language, and &s;ometimes
inordinate affections, and &s;omtimes gro&s;s
omi&s;&s;ions of duty either to God or Man.
Here now are opportunities of doing a &s;er|vice
for Chri&s;t, and of appearing and
<PB N="46" REF="27">
witne&s;&s;ing for him, &s;o as you cannot do
hereafter in glory. In &s;uch ca&s;es there|fore
con&s;ider your duty, and what the
Lord requireth of you, who will take
it very ill, if you have never a Tongue
for him. And do not &s;ay, I am loth,
or I am afraid to &s;peak, and it will be
ill taken, or I &s;hall do no good by te&s;tify|ing,
or I &s;hall be accounted a bu&s;ie-body;
but attend your duty, and leave the e|vent
to God; only beg Wi&s;dom, which
is profitable to direct: And however a
Reproof take, or &s;peed, yet you have
done a better &s;ervice for Chri&s;t, than any
Saint in Heaven can do. I know, in|deed,
that &s;uch te&s;timonies for Chri&s;t
are &s;oldom well taken, but that ari&s;eth
from the pride of Man, and however,
that mu&s;t not hinder your duty, for I
am &s;ure, that the with-holding &s;uch
te&s;timonies, when you are called to give
them, is very ill taken by Chri&s;t; and if
he take them well, let proud &s;pirits
take them as ill as they plea&s;e.</P>
<P>The like I may &s;ay as to the oppo&s;ing
of Error and Here&s;ies, according to your
capacities, and of informing and in|&s;tructing
the ignorant, when a &s;ea&s;on is
offered, and of warning the unruly, &amp;c.
And you know not, but you may do
<PB N="47" REF="27">
much good in &s;uch ca&s;es, and your
work may live when you are dead;
however your rewerd is with the Lord,
for whom you have performed this &s;er|vice.</P>
<P>There are other good and gracious <MILESTONE N="5">
Offices to be di&s;charged, which cea&s;e
when you are dead. I did briefly men|tion
&s;ome of them in the Doctrinal part.
Let me now exhort you to attend them
al&s;o; As to pray one for another, which
Duty ends with our Lives. For (as I
have &s;aid) God will have but one Inter|terce&s;&s;or
in Heaven, but here he requi|reth
many.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 2. 1.</NOTE> Here we may, yea mu&s;t
be trading one with another,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jam 5.. 16.</NOTE> <HI>viz.</HI> Pray|ers
for Prayers, Mini&s;ters with people,
and people with their Mini&s;ters, and one
Saint with another: Not but that we
mu&s;t pray for others al&s;o.</P>
<P>Oh! what a trade did <HI>Paul</HI> drive
this way? I have &s;ometimes thought,
what a Catalogue of Churches and Saints
he had to commend to God in his daily
prayers. How many Churches did he
u&s;ually pray for? &s;aith he to the Church
at <HI>Rome,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 1. 9.</NOTE> <HI>God is my witne&s;s, that with|out
cea&s;ing I make mention of you always
in my prayers.</HI> The like for the Church
at <HI>Ephe&s;us,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 1. 16.</NOTE> &s;aith he, <HI>I cea&s;e not to give
<PB N="48" REF="28">
give thanks for you, making mention of
you in my prayers.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 1. 3.</NOTE> So for the Church at
<HI>Philippi,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 1. 3, 4.</NOTE> &s;aith he, <HI>I remember you always
in every prayer of mine for you all, making
reque&s;t with joy.</HI> And thus too, he &s;aith,
he prayed for the Church at <HI>Colo&s;&s;us.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;. 1. 2, 3.</NOTE>
The very &s;ame for the Church at <HI>The&s;&s;a|lonica,
We give thanks to God always for
you all, making mention of you in our
prayers, remembring without cea&s;ing,
your work of Faith, labour of Love, and
patience of Hope in our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t</HI>&mdash;
And doubtle&s;s, had he written Epi&s;tles
to all other Churches, we &s;hould have
heard of his prayers for them. Neither
did he pray only for Churches, but al&s;o
for &s;everal Saints in particular; For he
&s;aith,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 1. 3.</NOTE> that he prayed for <HI>Timothy night
and day;</HI> that is, Morning and Even|ing,
the whole put for the part. And
as for <HI>Philemon,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Philem. v. 4</NOTE> he &s;aith, <HI>That he made
mention of him always in his prayers.</HI>
What a Catalogue then had <HI>Paul</HI> of
Churches and Saints to recommend to
God in his daily prayers? For it is ve|ry
likely, that he prayed for many
more, than we find in his Epi&s;tles.</P>
<P>And as he prayed for the Churches,
&s;o he de&s;ireth to be remembred in their
prayers. For, as I &s;aid, he drove a holy
<PB N="49" REF="28">
trade this way. He begs the prayers of
the Church at <HI>Rome,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 15. 30, 31.</NOTE> in the very Lan|guage
of a Begger for an Alms. <HI>Now I
be&s;eech you, Brethren, for the Lord Je&s;us
Chri&s;t's &s;ake, and for the love of the Spirit,
that ye &s;trive together with me, in your
prayers to God for me,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 5. 18, 19.</NOTE> <HI>that I may be de|livered.</HI>
&mdash;So of the Church at <HI>Ephe&s;us</HI>
and of the <HI>Philippians,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 1. 1<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="tech" EXTENT="1 letter"></NOTE> and of the <HI>Colo&s;&s;i|ans,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 4. 3.</NOTE>
and of the <HI>The&s;&s;alonians,</HI> and of
the <HI>Hebrews;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;. 5. 25.</NOTE> (for the greate&s;t Apo&s;tle had
need of the prayers of the meane&s;t Chri|&s;tian)
only he begs no prayers of the
Church at <HI>Corinth,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 13. 18.</NOTE> in his fir&s;t Epi&s;tle
to them, as looking upon them under
many and great offences, for which he
there reproves them: Nor of the Chur|ches
of <HI>Galatia,</HI> whom he look't upon
as greatly back&s;liden from the Faith:
And he would not trade with broken
men. But here you &s;ee, I have given
you a notable example for your imitati|on
in this Point. Pray therefore for one
another, and trade together as you &s;hall
&s;ee occa&s;ion. Yea, you mu&s;t pray
&s;ometimes for &s;uch as never de&s;ired it.
So likewi&s;e, if you do hear of the affli|cted
condition of &s;uch and &s;uch of the
Saints, &s;uppo&s;e in great poverty, or in
pri&s;on upon the account of Chri&s;t, and a
<PB N="50" REF="29">
good Con&s;cience, or in &s;ome great di|&s;tre&s;s
otherwi&s;e, or under &s;ickne&s;s, and
in danger of death, look upon your
&s;elves as obliged to put up one Prayer for
them.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 13. 3.</NOTE> You know what the Apo&s;tle
&s;aith, <HI>Remember them that are in bonds,
as bound with them, and them which &s;uf|fer
adver&s;ity, as being your &s;elves al&s;o in
the body. Remember</HI> them; How? To
&s;ympathize with them, to pray for
them, and (to your power) to help
and relieve them.</P>
<P>And think it not enough, that you pray
for Saints, but perform the like &s;ervice
for &s;inners al&s;o; for your prayers may
contribute much to their conver&s;ion, as
Chri&s;t's prayer, <HI>Luke</HI> 23. 34. did to
the conver&s;ion of many that were his e|nemies,
<HI>Acts</HI> 2. and <HI>Stephens</HI> prayer
(probably) was heard in the conver&s;i|on
of <HI>Paul.</HI></P>
<P>And be &s;ure to pray for Children, and
Childrens Children, that they may live
in the &s;ight of God, and bear up his
Name in their generations.</P>
<P><HI>Neither re&s;t in particular per&s;ons,
but pray al&s;o for the Churches of Chri&s;t
this day, in whom he is &s;o much con|cerned,
as exerci&s;ing his &s;pecial Govern|ment
in and over them. Pray therefore
<PB N="51" REF="29">
for their peace and purity, and progre&s;s in</HI>
holine&s;s,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 9. 31.</NOTE> and that they may be edified, and
walking in the fear of the Lord,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 122. 6.</NOTE> and com|fort
of the Holy Ghost, be multiplyed. <HI>And
this is to</HI> pray for the peace of Jeru&s;alem.
<HI>And when you hear of a Church bereft
of its Pa&s;tor, pray to the chief Shepherd,
to &s;upply the empty room with a meet
&s;ucce&s;&s;our:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 27. 16, 17.</NOTE> <HI>As</HI> Mo&s;es <HI>&s;aid in another
ca&s;e,</HI> Let the Lord, the God of the Spi|rits
of all fle&s;h, &s;et a man over the Con|gregation,
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 &s;heep which have no
Shepherd.</P>
<P>Oh &s;irs! There is a great &s;ervice to be
done for Chri&s;t by prayers, during
the opportunity of our interce&s;&s;ion,
which dieth together with us. What
great things have been, and &s;till are
done by prayers? By the&s;e was the
Church delivered out <HI>of Babylon,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 29. 12, 13.</NOTE> and
<HI>Peter out of Pri&s;on.</HI> By the&s;e was <HI>Zi|on
built.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 12. 5&mdash;</NOTE> By the&s;e is the Go&s;pel up|held,
the enemies thereof brilded, and
liberty obtained,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 102. 16, 17.</NOTE> &amp;c. And when God
will do great and wonderful things,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 50. 5.</NOTE> he
will gather his praying Saints together,
<PB N="52" REF="30">
and pour out a mighty Spirit of prayer
upon them.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="6"><HI>Sixthly,</HI> Comfort the feeble minded,
and &s;upport the weak. Speak a word in
due &s;ea&s;on to the weary.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;. 5. 14.</NOTE> <HI>For &s;ometimes
you &s;hall meet with &s;uch as want it, and
who walk in darkne&s;s and &s;ee no light,
and are ready to complain like</HI> Heman,
<HI>P&s;al. 88. at large. In &s;uch ca&s;es,</HI>
Strengthen the weak hands,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 35. 3, 4.</NOTE> and confirm
the feeble knees, and &s;ay to them that are
of a fearful heart, be &s;trong, fear not. <HI>And
this (it &s;eems) was</HI> Jobs <HI>practice.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 4. 3, 4.</NOTE> He
&s;trengthened the weak, and his words up|held
him that was falling.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 12. 4 25.</NOTE> <HI>And if they
were in affliction,</HI> the moving of his lips
a&s;&s;waged their grief. <HI>For,</HI> heavine&s;s in the
heart of man maketh it &s;toop,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 50 4.</NOTE> but a good
word maketh it glad. <HI>And this &s;avour|eth
&s;weetly of the Spirit of Chri&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 12. 12</NOTE> who
would not break the brui&s;ed Reed, nor
quench the &s;moaking Flax. <HI>The words
are diminutive, for the meaning is, he
would &s;trengthen the brui&s;ed Reed, and
blow up the &s;moaking Flax. For he
carries his Lambs in his bo&s;om, that
is, he tenders them, and laies them near
his heart.</HI></P>
<P><HI>As when the Church was in affliction,
and</HI> &s;ick of love,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Song 2. 5, 7</NOTE> he &s;tayes her with fla|gons
<PB N="53" REF="30">
and comforts her with Apples; his
left hand is under her head, and his
right hand embraceth her. <HI>Not his
right hand under her head, and his left
hand embraceth her;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 4. 15. with 5. 2.</NOTE> <HI>for that is not next
the heart of Chri&s;t. He is our</HI> High
Prie&s;t, who is touched with the feeling
of our infirmities, &amp; hath compa&s;&s;ion on us
in ju&s;t proportion. <HI>He &s;peaks to the
heart of the trembling</HI> Haemorrhoi&s;s, <HI>when
&s;he fell down at his feet,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke. 740.</NOTE> <HI>and &s;aith un|to
her,</HI> Daughter be of good comfort, thy
Faith hath made thee whole,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 7. 40</NOTE> go in peace.
<HI>And he takes part with that brokenheart|ed
&s;inner that &s;ate behind him at his feet,
weeping, and wa&s;hing, and wiping,
and ki&s;&s;ing them, and rebukes cen&s;ori|ous</HI>
Simon; <HI>and &s;aith to her,</HI> Thy &s;ins
are forgiven, thy Faith hath &s;aved thee,
go in peace. <HI>Oh the &s;weet Spirit of
Chri&s;t!</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 2. 5.</NOTE> Let the &s;ame mind then be in
you which was in him.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 1. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="tech" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> <HI>And</HI> comfort them
that are in trouble, with the comforts
wherewith you your &s;elves have been com|forted
of God;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 12. 10.</NOTE> And be kindly affectioned
one toward another in brotherly love. <HI>And
when the ca&s;e requires it, &s;hew your
&s;elf a &s;on of Con&s;olation.</HI></P>
<P><PB N="54" REF="31">
<MILESTONE N="7"> Seventhly, In Heaven (you know)
are no nece&s;&s;ities, whereas here are ma|ny,
which will give occa&s;ion therefore to
&s;uch &s;ervice as Heaven hath no need
of. For here are poor Saints, and the
poor are always with us, who &s;ome|times
want Food, &s;ometimes Clothing,
&s;ometimes Lodging, &s;ometimes Money,
&amp;c. You then that are able mu&s;t fol|low
<HI>Job's</HI> example;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 31. 16,&mdash;21.</NOTE> &s;aith he, <HI>I have not
with-held the poor from their de&s;ire, nor
cau&s;ed the eyes of the Widow to fail, nor
eaten my mor&s;el alone, but the Father|le&s;s
hath eaten of it al&s;o. Neither have
I &s;een any to peri&s;h for want of clothing,
or any poor without covering, but his
loynes have ble&s;&s;ed me, and he was warm|ed
with the fleece of my &s;heep. The &s;tran|ger
did not lodge in the &s;treet, but I open|ed
my door to the Traveller,</HI> &amp;c. and the
eyes of our Lord Je&s;us are much upon
&s;uch good works as the&s;e;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 25. 35</NOTE> for he <HI>beheld how
the people cast their money into the Trea&s;u|ry.</HI>
Heaven affordeth no &s;uch objects
of your Love and Compa&s;&s;ion.</P>
<P>There are indeed many Beggers at
Heavens Gates, but never a Begger
within Heavens doors. And there are
many Widows and Fatherle&s;s Children
here, but never a Widow nor Orphan
there.</P>
<P><PB N="55" REF="31">
Brethren,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 6. 36.</NOTE> <HI>Be ye then merciful, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="tech" EXTENT="1 word">
your Father in Heaven is merciful.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5. 7.</NOTE> And
<HI>ble&s;&s;ed are the merciful, for they &s;hall ob|tain
mercy.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 22. 7.</NOTE> And it is that which will
lengthen out your lives. Mercy, even
to the bruit, creatures, &s;hall prolong your
dayes, much more then to Men, e&s;peci|ally
to <HI>the hou&s;hold of Faith.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 6. 10.</NOTE> <HI>Lazarus</HI>
&s;hall ri&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 12. 2.</NOTE> and have a new lea&s;e of his life
to entertain Chri&s;t again. And &s;o &s;hall
<HI>Tabitha</HI> to make Coats and Garments
for Widows again.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 9.</NOTE> Life is well be|&s;towed
upon merciful ones. And life
is the time of acting this Grace, for bow|els
are &s;hut up in Heaven, and no pity
&s;hall be &s;hewed to the neare&s;t peri&s;hing
relations in the day of Chri&s;t. Again,
Here you may entertain Je&s;us Chri&s;t in
his Members, and Mini&s;ters. Here you
may be fellow-helpers to the Truth and
Go&s;pel.<NOTE PLACE="marg">3 Joh. v. 8.</NOTE> And what &s;ays <HI>John</HI> of that? <HI>We
ought therefore to receive &s;uch, that we
might be fellow-helpers to the Truth.</HI></P>
<P>And,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 13. 2&punc;</NOTE> &s;aith the Apo&s;tle, <HI>Be not forgetful
to entertain &s;trangers, for thereby &s;ome
have entertained Angels unawares.</HI> We
cannot entertain Angels in Heaven, (for
they have their places there as well as we,
and there we are rather entertained by
them, <HI>Zech.</HI> 3. 7.) but here it hath
<PB N="56" REF="32">
been done, as by <HI>Abraham</HI> and <HI>Lot.</HI>
And though we cannot expect to enter|tain
them as they did, yet, (if we
could) what is that to the entertain|ment
of Chri&s;t him&s;elf?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 24. 40</NOTE> And if we en|tertain
his Members at our hou&s;es, or
do any Office of Love for them, we do
it unto Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="8"> Eighthly, Let us be willing al&s;o (if
need be) to &s;uffer for Chri&s;t, which is
a &s;ervice peculiar to this life. But I &s;ay,
<HI>If need be,</HI> becau&s;e we are not to ca&s;t our
&s;elves upon &s;uffering, uncalled. We
mu&s;t take up, but not make a Cro&s;s.
But when the providence of God, and
his Word calleth us to witne&s;s for Chri&s;t
to the lo&s;s of ought that is neare&s;t and
deare&s;t to us, let us remember, that this
is one of the &s;ervices, which termineth
with our lives, and cannot be performed
in glory. It hath indeed been our por|tion
hitherto to e&s;cape tho&s;e &s;ufferings,
which many of our brethren have under|gone.
But have we been &s;ufferers in af|fection?
Have we been prepared for the
Cro&s;s? Or, have we not been among
the fearful? And have we &s;ympathized
with our Brethren in their &s;ufferings?
and have we accounted them happy that
have endured, yea, and their &s;ufferings
<PB N="56" REF="32">
honourable for the &s;ake, and in the
quarrel of &s;uch a Lord and Ma&s;ter?
Con&s;ider what I &s;ay: For it is a very
honourable thing to &s;uffer for Chri&s;t, his
Go&s;pel,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 4. 14.</NOTE> and Kingdom. <HI>For the Spirit of
God, and of glory re&s;teth upon all &s;uch.</HI>
And what are <HI>all the &s;ufferings of this
pre&s;ent time,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8. 18.</NOTE> <HI>in compari&s;on with the glo|ry
which &s;hall be revealed in us?</HI> But
though we have e&s;caped what others
have undergone, yet we know not
what may be our portion, as to &s;uffer|ing
before we dye. Perhaps there is the
more behind.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 6. 11.</NOTE> God hath appointed the
number of them that &s;hall &s;uffer for
Chri&s;t. 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 &s;ufferings but
Crowns, even incorruptible Crowns of
glory. You know what is &s;aid of them
<HI>that came out of great tribulation,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 7. 9.</NOTE> <HI>they
were clothed with white Robes, and had
palms in their hands.</HI></P>
<P>Ninthly, Exerci&s;e tho&s;e fruits of the <MILESTONE N="9">
Spirit, which are proper to this life.
You have heard of &s;everal, as Faith,
Hope, Patience, love to Enemies, and
to Men out of Chri&s;t, Sympathy,
common gifts for Edification, Commu|nication
<PB N="58" REF="33">
of Knowledge, which is medi|ate
in this life.</P>
<P>All the&s;e are the gifts of the Spirit on
this &s;ide Heaven, in the exerci&s;e where|of
God is much glorified, and others
edified, which is that which &s;hould
be the &s;cope and aime of us all.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="10"> Tenthly, and la&s;tly, 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 &s;er|vice,
and highly incumbent on us, and I
was willing to re&s;erve it to the la&s;t place,
that it might the rather abide by us; and
<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="tech" EXTENT="1 word"> this, Endeavour to tran&s;mit pure
Religion and undefiled to po&s;terity, by
commending it to your Children. <HI>The
Fathers to the Children &s;hall make known
thy truth.</HI> And we may run it through
Fatherhood at large. But</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="1"> Let me &s;peak of Dome&s;tical Fathers,
that is, Fathers of Families. This is a
great matter, and is the &s;pecial work of
the godly in their generations. How
el&s;e &s;hall that be made good, which is
written,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 72. 17</NOTE> <HI>His Name</HI> (that is, Chri&s;t's)
<HI>&s;hall endure for ever, his Name &s;hall be con|tinued
as long as the Sun.</HI> Some render it,
<HI>His Name &s;hall be continued as a &s;on con|tinueth
his Father's name,</HI> for the Ori|ginal
<PB N="59" REF="33">
<HI>Jinnon,</HI> or <HI>Janin</HI> cometh of <HI>Nin, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="tech" EXTENT="1 word">
&s;on.</HI> As if one &s;hould &s;ay, <HI>Filiabitur
nomen ejus,</HI> or <HI>&s;obole&s;cet nomen ejus,</HI> as
<HI>Tremellius</HI> renders it; That is, Chri&s;t
&s;hall not only him&s;elf live for ever in his
per&s;on, but his Name al&s;o &s;hall
endure for ever, and be derived to his
Children,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 53. 10.</NOTE> who therefore &s;hall <HI>prolong his
days,</HI> (as Children mete out their Fa|thers
mortality) in bearing his name,
being called <HI>Chri&s;tians,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 11. 26</NOTE> and <HI>the &s;ons of
God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 2. 13.</NOTE> and <HI>the Children of Chri&s;t.</HI> And
this &s;hall be (&s;aith the P&s;almi&s;t) before
the Sun, that is, as long as the Sun en|dureth.</P>
<P>Now God will u&s;e means to bring this
to pa&s;s, and what are tho&s;e means? one
&s;pecial one is this, <HI>The Father to the
Children &s;hall make known thy Truth.</HI> For
how &s;hould the Name of Chri&s;t be
<HI>childed</HI> from generation to generation, (as
&s;ome render it) if care be not taken by
Parents to <HI>Child</HI> Chri&s;t's Name down|wards
to their Off-&s;pring; that his Name
may be put upon their Children, by be|ing
not only Chri&s;tians by Bapti&s;m,
but by Regeneration. And this is one
of the great works and ends of our lives;
for <HI>Hezekiah,</HI> here mentioneth, Fir&s;t,
Prai&s;ing of God, and Secondly, Making
<PB N="60" REF="34">
known the Truth to our Children;
which was a great Statute in <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> and
obligeth us no le&s;s then them: &s;aith the
P&s;almi&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 78. 2, 3, 4.</NOTE> <HI>I will open my mouth in a Pa|rable,
I will utter dark &s;ayings of old,
which we have heard and known, and our
Fathers have told us: We will not hide
them from their Children, &s;hewing to the
generations to come, the prai&s;es of the
Lord, and his &s;trength, and his wonder|ful
works that he hath done.</HI> Here</P>
<P>1. Are &s;uch as are worthy of the name
of Fathers, <HI>viz.</HI> who tran&s;mit to po&s;te|rity
the Truths of God contained in the
Scripture, &s;o as the&s;e here did, as ap|pears
in the &s;equel of the P&s;alm. And</P>
<P>2. Here is the only infallible &s;ort of
Tradition, <HI>viz.</HI> that which delivereth
to po&s;terity, what God fir&s;t delivered
to the Prophets, Apo&s;tles, and holy men
of God, and is now contained in the
Scriptures.</P>
<P>3. From the&s;e words we are taught,
that the godly in every age ought to have
the &s;ame care to tran&s;mit the Word of
Truth to their po&s;terity, as their Ance|&s;tors
had to transfer it unto them; and
&s;o to pay the debt which they owe to
their godly Ance&s;tors, unto their &s;uc|ceeding
Children: for our Children are
<PB N="61" REF="34">
here called their Children, <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 4th.
And if you de&s;cended not from &s;uch Pa|rents
immediately, yet (peradventure)
mediately you did. However, this here
is your duty, out of love to God, to
Truth, and your Po&s;terity. Mark
therefore what followeth in the &s;ame
P&s;alm.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 5, 6.</NOTE> <HI>For God e&s;tabli&s;hed a Te&s;timony
in Jacob, and appointed a Law in I&s;rael,
which he commanded our Fathers, that
they &s;hould make them known to their Chil|dren,
that the generation to come might
know them, even the Children which
&s;hould be born, who &s;hould ari&s;e and de|clare
them unto their Children.</HI> You &s;ee
this tran&s;mitting of the Truth and true
Religion to Po&s;terity, is God's love and
Te&s;timony, becau&s;e it te&s;tifieth and wit|ne&s;&s;eth
for God, and again&s;t us, if we
break it. And this Law and Te&s;timony
we have &s;everal times in <HI>Mo&s;es.</HI> So that
the Law and Te&s;timony is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 12. 26, 27&mdash;13. 14.</NOTE> to tran&s;mit
the Truth to Po&s;terity. For God did
not deliver the Truth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 4. 9.&mdash;6. 9.</NOTE> and true Religi|on
to a per&s;on or people for the u&s;e of
them&s;elves alone,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jo&s;h. 4. 6, 7.</NOTE> but for the benefit of
their Children al&s;o: And he never lo|ved
the Truth truly, who is carele&s;s,
whether it dye with him&s;elf, or out-live
him.</P>
<P><PB N="62" REF="35">
Let &s;uch Parents and Ma&s;ters look to
it, who have been negligent in in&s;truct|ing
their Children and Families. The
handing of Religion from Parents to
Children, &amp; from the Living to the next
&s;ucceeding Age, is a &s;tanding part of our
Generation-work. It is &s;aid of <HI>David,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 13. 36</NOTE>
<HI>That after he had &s;erved his generation,
he fell a&s;leep.</HI> And truly, &s;uch as fall
a&s;leep before, go to bed before they have
done their work, and that is the way to
make them &s;tart, as many do, when they
are newly &s;etting them&s;elves to &s;leep.</P>
<P><HI>Oh &s;irs! care and pains for the godly
being of po&s;terity, is a great and nece&s;&s;a|ry
bu&s;ine&s;s. I many times think of the
care and endeavour of the nine Tribes
and half,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jo&s;h. 22. 22&mdash;30.</NOTE> <HI>le&s;t their Children &s;hould
lo&s;e their intere&s;t in the God of</HI> I&s;rael.
<HI>To which end they built the Altar</HI> Ed,
<HI>as they tell the two Tribes and half in
their Apology. Say they,</HI> The Lord, God of
Gods, The Lord, God of Gods he knoweth,
and I&s;rael he &s;hall know that we have not
done it in rebellion, to turn from follow|ing
the Lord, &amp;c. But we have done it
rather for fear of this thing, le&s;t in time
to come your Children might &s;peak unto
our Children, <HI>&s;aying,</HI> What have you to
<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="tech" EXTENT="1 word"> with the Lord God of I&s;rael? For the
<PB N="63" REF="35">
Lord hath made Jordan a border between
us and you; ye Children of Reuben,
and Children of Gad, ye have not part in
the Lord: So &s;hall your Children make our
Children cea&s;e from fearing the Lord:
Therefore we &s;aid, Let us now prepare to
build us an Altar, not for burnt-offering,
nor for Sacrifice, but that it may be a
witne&s;s between us and you, and our ge|nerations
after us, that we might do the
&s;ervice of the Lord before him with our
Burnt-offerings &amp; our Sacrifices, and with
our Peace-offerings, that your Children
might not &s;ay to our Children in time to
come, ye have no part in the Lord, &amp;c.
<HI>Here you &s;ee the care and endeavour of
the two Tribes and half for the pre&s;er|vation
of the true Religion, and way of
God's Wor&s;hip among their po&s;terity,
which is the Point that I am now pre&s;|&s;ing.
I be&s;eech you lay it to heart; for
I fear that many are guilty in this mat|ter,
and that po&s;terity is like to be little
beholding to them. Admit of a few
Expo&s;tulations, and con&s;ider,</HI></P>
<P>What will your Children and Ser|vants <MILESTONE N="1">
&s;ay, when they come to &s;ucceed
you, and peradventure dye at la&s;t in
ther<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="tech" EXTENT="2 letters"> &s;ins?</P>
<P><Q>Lord, our Parents and Ma&s;ters did
<PB N="64" REF="36">
not make known the Truth to us;
they did not Catechize and In&s;truct
us; they did not deliver to us the
form of &s;ound words, nor any brief
&s;um of the Articles of Faith, and true
Religion; but we lived and dyed in
ignorance, for they had no care of
our Souls; and if others dealt thus
with their Children and Servants. Re|ligion
it &s;elf might have peri&s;hed, as
we have done.</Q> Now would not this
be mo&s;t mi&s;erable? And are you wil|ling
to be thus indited by your Chil|dren
and Servants in that great
day.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="2"> Doth not <HI>Hezekiah</HI> here &s;ay, <HI>The
Father to the Children &s;hall make known
thy Truth?</HI> And is it not expre&s;t as a du|ty,
and a great one too? And doth not
<HI>Hezekiah</HI> look upon this as one of the
great works to be attended in this
World, without which it is not worth
while to live? <HI>Hezekiah</HI> indeed had no
&s;on at this time, but he re&s;olveth here,
that if God &s;hall give him one, he will
make known the Truth and Faithful|ne&s;s
of God to him; for he looks upon
it as his duty, when he &s;aith, <HI>The Fa|ther
to the Children &s;hall make known thy
Truth.</HI> And what is the rea&s;on, that
<PB N="65" REF="36">
many are &s;o ignorant this day, but becau&s;e
they wanted Family-in&s;truction from
Parents and Ma&s;ters? For it is not
enough, that &s;uch do live under the
preaching of the Go&s;pel, if they want
in&s;truction in the Families wherein they
have lived; the want whereof makes
the Mini&s;ters Plow to go &s;o heavily.
Oh let not the Children and Servants
ri&s;e up in judgment again&s;t you, and
charge their ignorance and damna|tion
upon the neglect of your duty to|wards
them.</P>
<P>Thirdly, Con&s;ider with whom God <MILESTONE N="3">
hath betru&s;ted the Go&s;pel and true Re|ligion.</P>
<P>1. He puts his Mini&s;ters in tru&s;t with
it.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;. 2. 4</NOTE> For, &s;aith the Apo&s;tle, <HI>We are al|lowed
of God to be put in tru&s;t with the
Go&s;pel.</HI> And it is a great tru&s;t, and
we mu&s;t be faithful in the di&s;charge of it;
and you mu&s;t not be offended if we deal
plainly with you.</P>
<P>2. He betru&s;teth all his people with
his Go&s;pel and pure Religion, expecting
their di&s;charge of this tru&s;t by their ut|mo&s;t
endeavors to tran&s;mit it to po&s;terity,
as you heard but even now from that
Text, <HI>P&s;alm 78. 3,&mdash;7.</HI> For he doth
not, as I &s;aid, put the tru&s;t into your
<PB N="66" REF="37">
hands for your &s;elves only, that you
&s;hould make u&s;e of it during your lives,
and then dye, and let others that &s;hall
come after you &s;hift for them&s;elves; for
this were to be cruel, like the <HI>O&s;triches</HI>
in the Wilderne&s;s, who leave their Eggs
in the Earth, and warm them in the du&s;t,
forgetting that the Foot may cru&s;h them,
and the wild Bea&s;t break them; but he
expecteth and requireth your faithful|ne&s;s,
and utmo&s;t care and labour to re|commend
the &s;ame Religion to your Chil|dren
and Servants that live with you.
And what &s;aith <HI>Solomon? My Father
taught me,</HI> and &s;aid thus and thus to
me, <HI>Prov.</HI> 4. 4. And my Mother al&s;o
taught me, and &s;he &s;aid &s;o and &s;o to me,
<HI>Prov.</HI> 31.&mdash;But how have you taught
tho&s;e that are under your care? and
what have you &s;aid to them? And
where is the Altar <HI>Ed,</HI> that you have built
for them, as a witne&s;s and memorial of
the true Religion and Wor&s;hip of God,
which you have commended to them?
No marvel that Religion decayeth in ma|ny
Families, when their Governours
have wrapt up their Religion in a Nap|kin,
and profe&s;&s;ed only for them&s;elves,
and not for them that &s;hould come after
them. You that are guilty in this part,
<PB N="67" REF="37">
will have a &s;ad reckoning to make, when
you &s;hall be called to give an account of
your di&s;charge of that tru&s;t, which is
commended to you, and have never an
<HI>Ed</HI> to witne&s;s your care of conveying
the Truth to the generation to come.
Know therefore, that it is your duty, ac|cording
to this tru&s;t committed to you,
to turn and wind your Religion for
God's Glory &amp; the advantage of po&s;teri|ty;
which, if you neglect, take beed you
be not numbred among the wicked, and
&s;lothful &s;ervants, and have your porti|on
with them.</P>
<P>Con&s;ider the common care of Parents <MILESTONE N="4">
to bequeath their Hou&s;es,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 17. 14</NOTE> Lands,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 49. 12</NOTE> and
Goods to &s;uch as are to &s;ucceed them.
<HI>They leave their &s;ub&s;tance to their Babes,</HI>
&s;aith the P&s;almi&s;t. <HI>And the inward
thought is, that their hou&s;es &s;hall conti|nue
for ever, and their dwelling places to
all generations, and they call their
Lands after their own names.</HI> That is,
they are thoughtful for the upholding of
their Families, and the continuing of
their names from one generation to ano|ther.
But as for the Go&s;pel, which
they profe&s;s, and the Religion which
they own, they have little or no care at
all. They leave their Earthly &s;ub&s;tance
<PB N="68" REF="38">
to their Children, but that which is the
mo&s;t &s;ub&s;tantial thing of all, they leave
it not to them; and they leave their
names to their Children, but the Name
of God and Chri&s;t they leave not, nor
have they any care, that Chri&s;t's Name
be named upon them, by endea|vouring
to make them Chri&s;tians indeed,
according to their duty,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 45. <HI>ult.</HI></NOTE> as the P&s;almi&s;t
&s;aith, <HI>I will make thy Name to be remem|bred
in all generations.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 72. 17</NOTE> They care not
that his Name &s;hould be <HI>childed</HI> from
generation to generation. Truly it were
ju&s;t with God, that their names &s;hould
be blotted out from under Heaven, who
love their own names better than
Chri&s;t's.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="5"> Con&s;ider the Covenant that pious Pa|rents
are entred into with God.
For when God &s;aith,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 17. 7.</NOTE> <HI>I will be thy God,
and the God of thy Seed;</HI> He expecteth
and requireth, that Parents do not on|ly
give up them&s;elves, but their Seed al|&s;o
unto God. As <HI>Hannah</HI> &s;aid in her
prayer,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 1. 11.</NOTE> <HI>If thou wilt give unto thine
Handmaid a Man-child, I will give
him unto the Lord all the days of his life:</HI>
She &s;pake indeed of more then an ordi|nary
devoting him to the Lord, <HI>viz.</HI> in
the way of <HI>Nazarite&s;hip:</HI> But yet &s;he
<PB N="69" REF="38">
bound however, to have given him
back to the Lord, in and by an ordina|ry
way of dedication, common to her
&s;elf 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.
<HI>Train up</HI> therefore <HI>a Child</HI> (or Catechize
him) <HI>in the way he &s;hould go.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 22 6.</NOTE> So did
<HI>David</HI> deal with <HI>Solomon,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 1. 5.</NOTE> as you have
heard,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 44. 1.&mdash;78. 3.&mdash;</NOTE> and &s;o <HI>Lois with Eunice,</HI> and <HI>Eu|nice
with Timothy,</HI> and &s;o the godly
Fathers in their generations. It was as
you have heard, a Te&s;timony and a
Law in <HI>I&s;rael.</HI> And when you brought
your Children to Bapti&s;m, you did &s;o|lemly
engage unto this duty. For the
Covenant which gave your Children
right to that Ordinance, and which
&s;ealed it to them, &s;trongly obliged you
to give them up to God in the u&s;e of all
&s;uch means as he hath appointed.</P>
<P>And therefore you are a Covenant-breaker
in the neglect of this duty,
which is the ruine both of many Chil|dren
and Families,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 2. 23. with 3. 13.</NOTE> as of <HI>Elie's</HI> in parti|cular,
and yet <HI>Eli</HI> did reprove his &s;ons,
but did not do his utmo&s;t. And this is
the rea&s;on why many Children of godly
Parents prove lewd and vicious, and
<PB N="70" REF="39">
their Families at la&s;t, lo&s;e all power of
godline&s;s, if they grow not loo&s;e and
prophane. For it is with Children, as
with the Flowers in your Gardens,
which without care and culture will &s;oon
degenerate. Remember therefore your
Covenant, and attend the terms there|of,
which concern you in relation to
your po&s;terity. And &s;ay, I am not
only naturally, but al&s;o federally bound
to u&s;e all means to train up my Children
in the nurture and admonition of the
Lord, and to &s;erve the purpo&s;e of God
as to their Eternal Salvation.</P>
<P>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 Edu|cation,
and teach them how to carry
them&s;elves as men? will you love their
bodies, and neglect their &s;ouls? Do you
know the price of your own &s;ouls, and
not of theirs too? Or, are not theirs as
precious as yours? Or, is it all one to
you where you &s;pend your Eternity,
and whether you go to Heaven or Hell?
In the mean-while, where is your Re|ligion?
where your love of God, and
<PB N="71" REF="39">
Godline&s;s? Where your Con&s;cience as to
your Covenant? Or, what care have you,
that Godline&s;s may flouri&s;h in the next
generation, who take not the cour&s;e that
it may thrive in your own Family? Take
heed le&s;t you prove to be an Hypocrite
at la&s;t. Oh, remember the care of good
<HI>Manoah,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Judg. 13. 12.</NOTE> when the Angel told him, he
&s;hould have a &s;on; <HI>But,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>How
&s;hall we order the Child? and what &s;hall
we do do unto him?</HI></P>
<P>And &s;eeing you are a Covenanter with
God, and have given up your Chil|dren
to him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 16. 20, 21.</NOTE> who hath accepted of them,
and &s;ealed the Covenant to them; you
&s;hould now con&s;ider, that they <HI>are his
Children,</HI> his Sons and Daughters, as
well as yours, as he expre&s;ly calleth
them. And he puts them out to you to
Board and Breeding, and you mu&s;t give
an acount to him, how you have bred
them up for him.</P>
<P>And what? will ye rob God of his
Children, and be&s;tow them upon the
world, or &s;acrifice them to devou|red,
and cau&s;e them to pa&s;s through the
fire, as God challengeth tho&s;e Parents
in the afore&s;aid place of <HI>Ezekiel.</HI> I mean
to be devoured of that roaring Lion,
and (not to pa&s;s through the fire, but)
<PB N="72" REF="40">
to dwell with devouring fire, and with
everla&s;ting 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 fir&s;t, Mankind would peri&s;h; with|out
the &s;econd, Religion would &s;oon be
extingui&s;hed: or, have you more care
to uphold the World, than to propagate
the Go&s;pel of Chri&s;t's Kingdom? if &s;o,
you are no better than a Man or Woman
of this generation.</P>
<P>I perceive, there are many Bills pre|&s;ented
for prayers in behalf of ungodly
Children. It is well, if their Parents
have not been wanting in their duty to|wards
them. If they have not, let them
not de&s;pond as to the &s;ucce&s;s of their en|deavours.
I have lived to &s;ee the ble&s;&s;ed
fruits of pious Education, and that
though Children &s;o Educated have gone
a&s;tray for a while, yet they have been gra|ciou&s;ly
reduced at the la&s;t, &amp; made their
Parents joyful. And I think, it is not
u&s;ual, that a Father &s;hould be a true
fearer of the Lord, and one that con&s;ci|onably
di&s;chargeth his duty towards his
Children, and yet all of them &s;hould
prove ungodly, and none of them be
converted &s;ooner or later, but peri&s;h
<PB N="73" REF="40">
in the uncircumci&s;ion of their hearts.
Perhaps Parents may not always live to
&s;ee it, but it is well enough if their
Children come to Heaven after them.</P>
<P>I have in&s;i&s;ted the more upon this
Point, it being the great duty of my
Text, and of &s;uch concernment as to
generation-&s;ervice.</P>
<P>The Exhortation reacheth Eccle&s;ia&s;tick <MILESTONE N="2">
Fathers,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 4. 15.</NOTE> &s;uch as are the Mini&s;ters of the
Go&s;pel.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 4. 19.</NOTE> For &s;uch Fathers al&s;o to their Chil|dren
&s;hall make known the Truth. And
that is the rea&s;on why we make known
tho&s;e Truths to you, <HI>viz.</HI> that we may
di&s;charge our duties to our Children,
that you may di&s;charge the like to yours.
And every week, and every Sabbath,
and every Sermon we preach can te&s;tifie,
that we are careful to make known the
Truth unto you.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 20. 27&punc;</NOTE> <HI>For we have kept
back nothing that was profitable for you,
nor have &s;hunned to declare unto you all
the Coun&s;el of God.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">3 John v. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="tech" EXTENT="1 letter"></NOTE> For as <HI>John</HI> &s;aith
to <HI>Gaius, We have no greater joy, than
to hear that our Children walk in truth,</HI>
even in the Truth that we make known
unto them. And let all that fear the
Lord, ble&s;s his Name, that in &s;uch a
day as this is, there are yet &s;uch Spiri|tual
Fathers, who know the Truth, and
<PB N="74" REF="41">
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 &s;hall
come after us.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="3"> There are al&s;o Schola&s;tick Fathers,
who have the care of training up Chil|dren
in Learning, and the&s;e have their
place as well as the former in the fifth
Commandment. And a great advan|tage
is put into their hands to make
known the Truth unto their Children, as
well as to inform their under&s;tandings
in a way of Humane Learning. And I
know no Calling, nor Relation, except|ing
that of the Mini&s;try, that hath the
like opportunity of making known the
Truth unto po&s;terity.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="4"> There are likewi&s;e 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 Com|mon-wealth,
or Countrey. And &s;ome
think, that <HI>Naaman's</HI> &s;ervants called
him <HI>Father,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Kings 5. 1. with v. 13.</NOTE> becau&s;e he was a great Com|mander
and Prince in his Country, to
which al&s;o he had been a Father, having
wrought great deliverances for the &s;ame.
However, &s;uch a Father <HI>was</HI> the good
<PB N="75" REF="41">
King in my Text, and he owns him&s;elf
as &s;uch an one in the very entrance of his
Reign, when he was but 25 years old:
For &s;aith he to the Prie&s;ts and Levites
(exhorting them to their duty) <HI>My
&s;ons,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Chron. 29. 11.</NOTE> <HI>be not now negligent, for the
Lord hath cho&s;en you to &s;tand before him,
to &s;erve him, and that you &s;hould mini|&s;ter
unto him, and burn Incen&s;e.</HI> They
were (them&s;elves) <HI>Fathers,</HI> for <HI>Heze|kiah</HI>
calls them God's Mini&s;ters, and
&s;o they were Fathers to <HI>Hezekiah;</HI> but
as he was their King, he was their <HI>Fa|ther,</HI>
and they his &s;ons. They his Spi|ritual
<HI>Fathers,</HI> he their Political, and
&s;o, he was not only <HI>Pater patriae,</HI> but
al&s;o <HI>Pater patrum,</HI> not only the Father
of his Countrey, but the Father of his
Fathers, <HI>i. e.</HI> the Political Father
of tho&s;e who were his Fathers Eccle&s;i|a&s;tically.
But here is no oppor|tunity
of &s;peaking to &s;uch Fathers
as the&s;e, who&s;e duty it is al&s;o to make
known the Truth unto their Children,
as <HI>Hezekiah</HI> did, as appears at large in his
Reformation, 2 <HI>Chron.</HI> 29th, 30th, and
31th <HI>Chapters.</HI></P>
<P>There are Fathers in age, gravity, &amp; &s;e|niority,<MILESTONE N="5">
<HI>viz.</HI> &s;uch as are well &s;tricken in
years. Such are they, 1 <HI>Tim. 5. 1. Rebuke
<PB N="76" REF="42">
not an Elder,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 5. 1.</NOTE> <HI>but entreat him as a Father,
the younger Men as brethren, the elder Wo|men
as Mothers, the younger as &s;isters.</HI> The
<HI>Elder</HI> here is not a Church-Officer, as
&s;ome (perhaps) may think. For
though it is <HI>Presbyteros</HI> in the Original,
yet the &s;ame word is applyed to Elder
Women al&s;o, in <HI>ver.</HI> 2. <GAP DESC="foreign">,
the Elder Women, or (as if
I &s;hould &s;ay) The <HI>Presbytere&s;se<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="tech" EXTENT="1 letter">.</HI> So
that the Apo&s;tle here &s;peaketh only
of the &s;everal degrees of Age in each Text,
Elder and Younger, calling the Elder
Men <HI>Fathers,</HI> and the Elder Women
<HI>Mothers,</HI> and the younger Men and
Women, <HI>Brethren and Si&s;ters.</HI> And
that this is the true meaning of the
Apo&s;tle, appears al&s;o, <HI>Titus,</HI> 2. 2, 3.
where the Elder here, is called Aged
there.</P>
<P>Now there is a duty al&s;o incumbent
upon the&s;e, as touching the tran&s;mi&s;&s;i|on
of the Truth to the generation to
come. Make it known therefore by
your Examples, Coun&s;els, Encourage|ments
upon all occa&s;ions; for you have
heard much, and &s;een much, and
known much, and trea&s;ured up experi|ences,
and therefore certainly, you
&s;hould have much to &s;ay to &s;uch as are
<PB N="77" REF="42">
of the younger &s;ort, and your years,
gravity, wi&s;dom, experiences will the
better recommend the Truth unto them;
for there is an honour due to you al&s;o,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>See</HI> Lev. 19&punc; 32.</NOTE>
by vertue of the fifth Commandment.</P>
<P>Let me commend to you that Text
of Scripture,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 71. 17&punc; 38.</NOTE> <HI>Oh God, thou ha&s;t taught
me from my youth, and hitherto have I
declared thy wondrous works; Now al&s;o
when I am old, and gray-headed, Oh
God, for&s;ake me not, until I have &s;hew|ed
thy &s;trength unto this generation, and
thy power to every one that is to come.</HI>
The P&s;almi&s;t was now an old Man, one
of much experience, being taught of
God from his youth; and as God
taught him, &s;o he taught others:
For &s;aith he, <HI>Hitherto have I de|clared
thy wondrous works; Hitherto,</HI>
that is, to old Age, for now he was aged,
and gray-headed. And had he not
done well? and was it not time now to
dye? Yes, he had done very well, but
yet he is willing to live a little longer,
to do more, and therefore (&s;aith he)
<HI>For&s;ake me not, until I have &s;hewed thy
&s;trength unto this generation, and thy
power to every one that is to come.</HI> As if
he &s;hould &s;ay, I am willing yet to live
a little longer to do more generation-work,
<PB N="78" REF="43">
there is a care and zeal for po&s;te|rity
upon my heart, there are young
people ready to come after me, and per|adventure
they will li&s;ten to the Coun|&s;el
of an old experienced &s;ervant of God;
and upon this account I am willing to
&s;pend a few days more upon Earth, to
&s;erve God and Po&s;terity, without which
it were not worth while to live.</P>
<P>Think upon this Text of Scripture,
you that are old and gray-headed, and
improve the little remainder of your
lives to &s;erve the &s;ucceeding generation.
For you do not love Religion, if you do
not love that it &s;hould live when you are
dead; neither are they worthy of expe|riences,
who dig and hide them in the
Earth. When God had &s;hewed his
&s;ingular care and power in the pre&s;erva|tion
of his Church again&s;t her Enemies
that attempted the ruine thereof, &s;aith
he,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;3l. 48. 12, 13.</NOTE> <HI>Walk about Zion, go round about
her, tell the Towers thereof, mark ye well
her Bulwarks, con&s;ider her Palaces, that
ye may tell it to the generations following.</HI> So
when God ari&s;eth to build up <HI>Zion,</HI> and
appears in glory upon the prayers of his
poor people, <HI>This mu&s;t be written for the
generations to come,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 102. 16, 17.</NOTE> <HI>that the people which
&s;hall be created may prai&s;e the Lord.</HI></P>
<P><PB N="79" REF="43">
La&s;tly, There are &s;uch, who though
they are not called <HI>Fathers,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 4. 4.</NOTE> yet are
called <HI>Elders, viz.</HI> the Members of the
Go&s;pel-Churches. And they are &s;o
called, not in re&s;pect of age, but of &s;tate
in the&s;e Go&s;pel-times, wherein the
Church is pa&s;t her non-age, and is now
in an Elderly &s;tate, requiring more
Knowledge, Wi&s;dom, Strength, Seri|ou&s;ne&s;s,
Gravity, and Solidity in the
things of God. How &s;hould &s;uch, as
the&s;e walk before others, &s;o as to an&s;wer
the Character of Elders? Let &s;uch take
heed then of carrying it below their
&s;tate. It is not for Elders to behave them|&s;elves
like Children. I have thought
many times of that de&s;cription of the
Go&s;pel-Churches in the <HI>Revelations,</HI> and
how little it is an&s;wered this day by ma|ny
that relate to &s;uch Societies. Take
heed then of &s;candals, an&s;wer your
State, live up to your Priviledges, &s;hine
in Holine&s;s, that you may adorn the Do|ctrine
of God and our Saviour, and com|mit
and commend your State, Examples,
and holy Lives unto the Generation to
come, that they may attain to the
knowledge of the Truth, by your
walking in it; and &s;ay, The&s;e Truths
and Ways of holy Walking were
<PB N="80" REF="44">
made known to me by the Gracious,
Grave, and &s;erious Lives of <HI>&s;uch as did
relate unto the Churches of Chri&s;t.</HI></P>
<P>The Exhortation hitherto hath been to
do all the good we are able, during our
abode here below, &s;eeing death will put
end to all our opportunities. And I have
propounded to you &s;everal Particulars
wherein to be exerci&s;ed this way.</P>
<P>Now before I proceed to any further
U&s;e of Exhortation, Let me mind you
of that which may conduce to the atten|dance
of this Duty, and that is, an heart
enlarged unto publick &s;ervice. For that
which greatly hinders the pro&s;ecution
of this work, is the narrowne&s;s and
&s;traightne&s;s of the Spirits of Men, who&s;e
concernments are commonly bounded
within them&s;elves. Therefore you mu&s;t
endeavour to abound in love.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="1"><HI>Fir&s;t,</HI> To the glory of God. For
this was at work in <HI>Hezekiah's</HI> heart,
when he &s;aid, <HI>The living, the living, he
&s;hall prai&s;e thee.</HI> This was uppermo&s;t,
this was the fir&s;t thing that was in his
Eye, in his de&s;ire of prolongation of life.
For indeed, it is the chief good of Man,
whom God made for him&s;elf, and who
therefore is to have this end continually
<PB N="81" REF="44">
in his aim,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 11. 36.</NOTE> and to be often thinking,
What &s;hall I do to glorifie God? <HI>For of
him, and through him, and to him are all
things, to him be glory for ever, Amen.</HI>
And all is lo&s;t that ends not in him that
is <HI>Omega,</HI> to whom you may well afford
this honour, when you con&s;ider that
he is <HI>Alpha.</HI> He that is the fir&s;t, mu&s;t
be the la&s;t. Take heed then of a narrow
&s;elfi&s;h Spirit, which never looks &s;o far as
to this end; and that makes many &s;o
unactive for God, and his Glory. You
mu&s;t therefore believe more, and love
more, and then you will act to this end
more, &amp;c.</P>
<P><HI>Secondly,</HI> Your love to the glory of <MILESTONE N="2">
God mu&s;t extend to the Generations to
come. You mu&s;t not therefore limit it
to the pre&s;ent Generation, and never
be concerned that God may be glori|fied
in future Ages, even to the Worlds
end: But your de&s;ires herein mu&s;t
reach to the very end of the World. For
note the words of the Apo&s;tles <HI>Paul,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 3. 21.</NOTE> <HI>To
God be glory in the Church by Chri&s;t Je&s;us,
throughout all ages, world without end,
Amen.</HI> His love to God's glory ran
through all Ages even to Eternity. And
&s;o &s;hould your love do, or el&s;e you do
not &s;incerely love it; neither indeed can
<PB N="82" REF="45">
you love that his Glory be upheld du|ring
your own time, and not love
the continuance of it to the Worlds
end.</P>
<P>And &s;uch was the love of the Saints in
the Scriptures,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 79. la&s;t.</NOTE> to the prai&s;e and glory of
God; &s;ay they, <HI>We will &s;hew forth thy
prai&s;e to all generations.</HI> And there|fore,</P>
<P>1. They de&s;ired the continuance
thereof to the Worlds end.</P>
<P>2. They would al&s;o endeavour it.
<HI>With my mouth,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al 89. 1.</NOTE> &s;aith the P&s;almi&s;t, <HI>will
I make known thy faithfulne&s;s to all ge|nerations:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;. 102. 18.</NOTE>
And this hath been their
care &s;till, That the <HI>people which &s;hall be
created may prai&s;e the Lord.</HI> Thus you
mu&s;t love God's Glory both Inten&s;ive|ly,
and Exten&s;ively.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="2"> As you mu&s;t love the Glory of God, &amp;
that it may be extended to future Ages;
&s;o likewi&s;e you mu&s;t love his Kingdom,
or el&s;e you will never attend this great
work unto which you have been exhort|ed.
God's Kingdom, Power, and Glo|ry
mu&s;t go together in your pray|ers.</P>
<P>And this was much upon <HI>Hezekiah's</HI>
heart, when he &s;aid, <HI>The Father to the
Children &s;hall make known thy Truth.</HI> For
<PB N="83" REF="45">
he doth not &s;ay, I will make known thy
Truth to my Children, though he pur|po&s;ed
&s;o to do, but <HI>the Father,</HI> that is,
every Father that feareth God, not on|ly
in my time, but in the generations
to come. Thus mu&s;t your love be ex|tended
to the Kingdom of God, and,
<HI>Thy Kingdom come,</HI> mu&s;t be always
in your de&s;ires and endeavours. <HI>Come;</HI>
how long? even to the end of the world,
and never cea&s;e coming, till Chri&s;t
him&s;elf come. Now if this be upon
your heart, and if you love that Chri&s;t
&s;hould reign in the world, you will do
your utmo&s;t to promote it, in your ca|pacity,
in attending to the &s;everal Parti|culars
propounded.</P>
<P>As you love God's Glory and King|dom,<MILESTONE N="3">
&s;o mu&s;t you love his Go&s;pel. For
it is the <HI>Word of the Kingdom;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 13. 19</NOTE> That is,
The Word whereby God's Kingdom is
erected, enlarged, governed, perfected.
It is that in which, and by which our
Lord Je&s;us doth reign in the world, <HI>viz.</HI>
as to his Spiritual Kingdom therein, of
which I now &s;peak e&s;pecially. And
you &s;ee in my Text, <HI>Hezekiah's</HI> love
to the Truth, and to the making
of it known from Generation to Gene|ration;
whereas the Go&s;pel is the
<PB N="84" REF="46">
Truth, <GAP DESC="foreign">, the Truth with an
excellency,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 1. 13.</NOTE> called therefore,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 1. 5.</NOTE> <HI>The Word of
Truth,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jam. 1. 18.</NOTE> and <HI>The Word of the Truth of
the Go&s;pel:</HI> The Truth made known not
by the Light of Nature, but by Revela|tion;
a my&s;terious Truth, and there|fore
a great Truth, that we u&s;e
to &s;ay, As true as the Go&s;pel. Now if
you love this Truth, (as you have
cau&s;e enough &s;o to do) you will do any
thing that may tend to the publication
and propagation of it, by your praiers,
pains, pur&s;es, Coun&s;els, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></P>
<P><MILESTONE N="4"><HI>Fourthly,</HI> As you mu&s;t love God's
Glory, Kingdom, and Go&s;pel, &s;o you
mu&s;t love Souls. <HI>The Father to the Chil|dren
&s;hall make known thy Truth.</HI>
Therefore the Father mu&s;t love the
Souls of po&s;terity, and have a zeal for
the &s;alvation of them that &s;hall &s;ucceed.
And this will quicken your endeavours
to the &s;ervice of your Age, when you
&s;hall look upon the Souls of &s;ucce&s;&s;ours
as of equal value with your own,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 30. 13, 15.</NOTE> &s;ee|ing
the ran&s;om given for all Souls is the
&s;ame.</P>
<P>And it is a ble&s;&s;ed thing to be a lover of
&s;ouls: it makes a man like unto Je&s;us Chri&s;t,
who&s;e love to Souls &s;hines in his own
blood,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tit. 3. 4.</NOTE> wherein <HI>the kindne&s;s and love
<PB N="85" REF="46">
God our Saviour towards Man appeareth.</HI>
His kindne&s;s and <HI>Philanthropy, i. e.</HI> love
towards Man. For God and our Saviour
are great lovers of Men; &s;o &s;hould we be.
And <HI>Chri&s;t's delights were with the &s;ons
of Men from eternity.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 8. 31.</NOTE> We &s;hould not
therefore terminate our love in Men's bo|dies;
we &s;hould love the Jewel far a|bove
the Cabinet, and be frequently
looking upon Mens Souls.</P>
<P>1. In compari&s;on with our own, and</P>
<P>2. In the Blood of the Son of
God; and</P>
<P>3. In relation to Eternity; e&s;pecial|ly
the Souls of &s;uch as are near to us.
And the enlargement of our affections
this way will amplifie our endeavours.
In Heaven we &s;hall love Souls that are
&s;aved, but here we mu&s;t love Souls that
they may be &s;aved; A work which deter|mineth
in Glory.</P>
<P>Now all this requireth a publick Spi|rit,
and an heart carried far beyond our
&s;elves. For a narrow Spirit acteth with|in
a narrow compa&s;s, and is limited to
private concernments&punc; And that is the
rea&s;on why there is &s;o little Generation-&s;ervice
performed. <HI>All Men &s;eek their
own,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 2. 21.</NOTE> <HI>and not the things which are Je|&s;us
Chri&s;ts.</HI> Whereas our care &s;hould
<PB N="86" REF="47">
extend far beyond our own &s;alvation;
and love to God's Glory, future Ages,
Chri&s;t's Kingdom, Go&s;pel, and precious
Souls, &s;hould all have a large room in
our hearts and affections.</P>
<P>Thus you have had a great deal of
work &s;et before you, which will dye to|gether
with you. And to quicken you
to it,</P>
<P>Con&s;ider,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Con&s;id. 1.</NOTE> That you know not how
&s;oon you may leave this world:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 27. 2.</NOTE> As
<HI>I&s;aac</HI> &s;aid to <HI>E&s;au, I am old, and know
not the day of my death,</HI> and yet he lived
43 years after that. Few men in Scrip|ture
knew the day of their death, &s;o as
<HI>Hezekiah</HI> here did, to who&s;e life 15
years were added, and he re&s;olveth to
&s;pend them for God's Glory, and the
good of Po&s;terity. So do you as for the
remainder of your days, which may not
be a quarter &s;o many as his.</P>
<P>Only have a care to perform better
than he did.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Caution. 2 Chron. 32. 25.</NOTE> For when he was recover|ed,
<HI>he rendred not again according to the
benefit done unto him.</HI> Why? what was
the matter? <HI>His heart was lifted up.
Hezekiah</HI> &s;aith here, <HI>The living, the li|ving
he &s;hall prai&s;e thee, as I do this day;</HI>
Yea, but how many days did this con|tinue:
For by and by he is prai&s;ing
<PB N="87" REF="47">
him&s;elf. Ye &s;ee the deceitfulne&s;s
of the Heart of Man. This by the
way.</P>
<P>Only con&s;ider the uncertainty of the
opportunity, and how &s;oon it may be
at an end, and that the dead cannot
prai&s;e God, nor they that go down into
&s;ilence.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 11&punc; 5. 17.</NOTE> Now your Tongues may &s;peak
for God, and &s;o may your Lives, and
Examples too; but &s;hortly there will be
nothing but &s;ilence.</P>
<P>Oh! be not &s;ilent before death, for
then you will be &s;ilent for ever. Per|adventure
you have &s;poken 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'&s;t you live, or for ever
hold your peace.</P>
<P>I have laid &s;everal particulars before
you, concerning the &s;ervice of this life;
&amp; have you not been wanting in many of
them? And is not your day al&s;o far &s;pent?
and are not the &s;hadows of the evening
&s;tretched out? make it up for the fu|ture,
as far as your remaining dayes
will give you leave. And to this
end&punc;</P>
<P>Con&s;ider the account you are to give <MILESTONE N="2">
when your opportunity is ended. What
<PB N="88" REF="48">
&s;aith the Apo&s;tle?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 14. 12</NOTE> <HI>Every one of us &s;hall
give an account of him&s;elf to God.</HI> And
this is the very next thing after death&punc;
<HI>It is appointed unto Men once to dye,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 9. 27.</NOTE> <HI>and
after this the judgment. Once to dye,</HI>
not twice; for there is an Empha&s;is in
that little word,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 28.</NOTE> <HI>once,</HI> as appeareth by
the next ver&s;e, <HI>So Chri&s;t was once of|fered,</HI>
&amp;c. And after this the judg|ment.
1. Dye. 2. But once. 3. Men,
that is, all Men. 4. Then to judg|ment;
and there is a <HI>&s;tatutum e&s;t</HI> upon
all this four. And the judgment will
pa&s;s upon your managing your pre&s;ent
opportunities.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 25, 19</NOTE> For when the Lord
cometh, he cometh to reckon; &s;o when
you go to the Lord, you go to reckon, <HI>viz.</HI>
how you have prai&s;ed him here among
the living, how you have endeavoured
to further his Kingdom, according to
your capacity, how you have lived ex|emplarily,
embraced and improved all
opportunities to appear and &s;peak for
Chri&s;t; how, and for whom you have
prayed, how you have comforted the
feeble minded, and &s;upported the weak,
&s;upplyed the outward wants of the Saints
according to your ability, how you have
&s;tood for Chri&s;t in a &s;uffering time, how
you have improved tho&s;e Gifs of Grace
<PB N="89" REF="48">
which are proper to this Life, how you
have endeavoured to tran&s;mit pure Re|ligion
and undefiled to your Po&s;te|rity,
by recommending it e&s;pecially to
your Children.</P>
<P>I tell you the&s;e 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 hither|to,
you be&s;t 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 repent|ance
mu&s;t be exerci&s;ed in fruits worthy
amendment of life. For &s;o &s;oon as ever
your Soul is quit of its earthly Taber|nacle,
you mu&s;t pre&s;ently appear before
God's Judgment-Seat.</P>
<P>Con&s;ider the greatne&s;s of the reward <MILESTONE N="3">
of good and faithful &s;ervants. They
&s;hall have as much joy as their hearts
can hold.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 25. 2<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="tech" EXTENT="1 letter"></NOTE> For they mu&s;t <HI>enter into it,</HI>
&s;eeing it cannot enter into them. Nei|ther
the Sufferings, nor the Duties and
doings of this pre&s;ent time are wor|thy
to be compared with the glory
which &s;hall be revealed in us. But our
Eyes are too &s;eldom upon the recom|pence
of reward, nor do we con&s;ider
what God hath prepared for them that
<PB N="90" REF="49">
love him: Whereas, did we &s;eek for
Glory, Honour, Immortality, we &s;hould
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 glo|rified
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 Glo|ry,
all this Joy, an Heart full, and a
Heaven full, and to Eternity al&s;o, and
that for &s;o few imperfect &s;ervices? And
mu&s;t I now &s;pend Eternity in the enjoy|ment
of God, and do none of tho&s;e &s;er|vices
any more for him, which were
proper and peculiar to my temporal life?
And mu&s;t I be on the receiving hand as
to all this Glory for ever and for ever?
Certainly, if it were po&s;&s;ible, This
would make the Saints repent in Heaven,
that they had done no more for Je&s;us
Chri&s;t on Earth. But if &s;uch thoughts
were incident to glorified Saints, they
come too late, when once they are in
Heaven: Now is your time to be work|ing
for that ine&s;timable reward. When
therefore you come to God, you mu&s;t
<PB N="91" REF="49">
have a full per&s;wa&s;ion, not only of his
Being,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 11. 6.</NOTE> but Bounty, that he is a reward|er
of them that diligently &s;eek him, as
the Apo&s;tle &s;peaks. But remember that
it mu&s;t be <HI>diligently.</HI> And be you never
&s;o diligent, he will abundantly reward
it. And if Saints could but look into
Heaven, and &s;ee how 'tis there, before
they come thither, they would &s;oon
double their diligence, and work their
fingers to the &s;tumps for Chri&s;t. But
many want Faith to believe &s;o great a re|ward,
or to apply it to them&s;elves, as
that which God will certainly be&s;tow
upon them after their work is end|ed.</P>
<P>Con&s;ider yet further, That the good <MILESTONE N="4">
you do upon Earth may encrea&s;e when
you are dead; and as that encrea&s;eth,
&s;o &s;hall your glory &s;till be enlarged. For
though the lea&s;t Glory above is uncon|ceivable,
and the words there &s;poken <HI>un|utterable,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Cor. 12. 4.</NOTE>
yet there are aboundance of Ar|gumentations
in Heaven, and the ywho
at their fir&s;t entrance, wore but &s;ingle
Crowns,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 17. 10.</NOTE> after a while wear double ones.
For it is &s;aid, <HI>God will give to every
Man according to his wayes, and accord|ing
to he fruits of his doings.</HI> So that, if
their former doings on Earth do fructifie
<PB N="92" REF="50">
after they are dead, God will reward
them according to the Fruit thereof.
For not only <HI>their works,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 14. 13</NOTE> but <HI>the fruit</HI>
of them al&s;o doth follow them. And &s;o
do the evil works of wicked men follow
them, as <HI>Jeroboam's</HI> did for above three
hundred years together after his death;
for that at la&s;t he felt a &s;evenfold Hell
for what he did at fir&s;t. Upon this ac|count
it is conceived, that <HI>Dives</HI> de&s;ired
<HI>Abraham</HI> to &s;end <HI>Lazarus</HI> 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 him|&s;elf,
becau&s;e he had corrupted them
with his wicked life, and left a bad ex|ample
behind him, which they follow|ed,
therefore he de&s;ired, that they might
(if not be &s;aved, for that I think a dam|ned
Soul cannot de&s;ire, yet that) they
might not for his cau&s;e and example be
brought into that place of torment, be|cau&s;e
this would be the encrea&s;e of his
torment too. In like manner on the
other hand, the glory of the Saints re|ceives
encrea&s;e as their labours and pains
are fruitful, as Divines &s;ay of <HI>Paul's</HI> glo|ry.
One Heaven is too much for the
be&s;t Saint that ever lived, were not the
<PB N="93" REF="50">
reward of Grace, and yet your Heaven
&s;hall multiply according to the fruit of
your good doings which you left behind
you.</P>
<P>And this will be in&s;tead of doing
good in Heaven, when the Saints leave
that behind them, which keeps fructi|fying
after they have left this world.</P>
<P>Why?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Que&s;t.</NOTE> what is that which they may
thus leave behind them?</P>
<P>Their good Works and Words,<NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;w.</NOTE> and
Examples, and holy Lives, their In&s;tru|ctions,
Exhortations, Coun&s;els, Encou|ragements,
their remarkable Actions
and Sufferings for Chri&s;t. By all which
they act and &s;peak <HI>even after death.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 11. 4.</NOTE>
And there is no other way that I know
whereby to do good when you are in
Heaven. And in this way &s;hall the
glorified Saints know in Heaven, whe|ther
the good works which they left be|hind
them do fructifie, for they &s;hall
find and feel it in their enlarged Crowns,
further Augmentations, and additional
Glories. And then they &s;hall break
out into new Songs of prai&s;e to God and
the Lamb, for helping them to &s;ow their
Seed on Earth, which &s;till fructifi|eth
after they are gone to Heaven. And
in this way a Father may convert his
<PB N="94" REF="51">
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.</P>
<P>1. By his additional Glory.</P>
<P>2. By the joyful Acclamations of
the Angels for the conver&s;ion of a
&s;inner.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk, 15. 10</NOTE></P>
<P>Wherefore let us endeavour &s;o to live
here a little while, that our good
Works may live when we are dead, and
act when we are at re&s;t, and &s;peak
when we are gone down into &s;ilence, and
bring forth fruit unto holine&s;s, when
we are in endle&s;s happine&s;s; and bring
Souls to Heaven after us to tell us that
our good Works, and Words, and Ex|amples,
In&s;tructions, Exhortations,
Coun&s;els, &s;ufferings, Graces, are yet all
alive and well, and like to yield a fur|ther
Crop and Harve&s;t of Joy and Ho|nour
to them that &s;owed them before
their death. Oh, it is a ble&s;&s;ed thing,
and the Wi&s;dom of Saints to leave a
&s;tock of good Works behind them,
whereby to have a Trade going here
on Earth, which will afford them fre&s;h
Incomes of Glory, whil'&s;t they are alrea|dy
&s;hining as the Sun in the the King|dom
of their Father.</P>
<P><PB N="95" REF="51">
And thus much for the fir&s;t U&s;e of
Exhortation, to do all the good we are
able, during our dwelling here on
Earth.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>2d Branch of Exhortation.</HEAD>
<P>Let the &s;econd Exhortation be to call <MILESTONE N="2">
upon you to value your Opportunities,
&amp; to make the be&s;t improvements of time
whil'&s;t you are in the Land of the li|ving,
&s;o as the World is often called.
For <HI>Hezekiah</HI> began now to con&s;ider
the price of time,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 10.</NOTE> who but lately was at
the <HI>Gates of the Grave, and deprived</HI>
(as he thought) <HI>of the re&s;idue
of his years,</HI> that is, which he might have
lived according to the ordinary cour&s;e
of Nature. Saith he, <HI>Mine age is de|parted,
and removed from me as a Shep|herds
Tent,</HI> That is, which the Shep|herd
removeth from Plain to Plain, ac|cording
to his occa&s;ions, as the matter
&s;hall require.</P>
<P>Now I am living here,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign"> &agrave; penicula|mento, quod Tex|tor in ex|trema tela relinquit.</NOTE> by and by
my Body mu&s;t lodge in the Tent of
the cold Grave, and my Soul re|turn
to God that gave it. <HI>I have cut
off like a Weaver my life, he</HI> (that
is, God) <HI>will cut me off from the
<PB N="96" REF="52">
Thrum,</HI> 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,
<HI>I reckoned till morning,</HI> Ver. 13. I &s;hall
be dead by the morning. And now <HI>He|zekiah</HI>
begins to prize time, and cries,
<HI>The living, the living he &s;hall prai&s;e thee.</HI>
Thus when once the &s;wift Shuttle of your
life is come to a Thrum, then you will
&s;ee the value of Opportunity, and cry,
<HI>The living, the living,</HI> &amp;c. and reckon
till the morning, and &s;ay, 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 <HI>Hezekiah</HI> a few dayes before
think that he had been &s;o near unto
death, being now but thirty nine years
old, and God having wrought &s;o won|derfully
for him in his late pre&s;ervation
from <HI>Senacharib:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 17.</NOTE> For &s;aith he, <HI>Behold,
for peace I had great bitterne&s;s.</HI> God
lately de&s;troyed the Ho&s;t of the King of
<HI>A&s;&s;yria,</HI> and gave me peace, and I &s;aid,
I &s;hall now now dye in my Ne&s;t, and
multiply my dayes as the Sand, but
I little thought of &s;uch a &s;ickne&s;s to en|&s;ue
my peace.</P>
<P>It &s;eems he was &s;urprized; and &s;o
may you be, if you look not well to it,
<PB N="97" REF="52">
for God now gives fair warning of it.
They that will not prize Opportunity,
&s;hall have an opportunity to prize it: If
they prize it not living, they &s;hall prize
it dying. Wherefore manage your
&s;ea&s;ons for the be&s;t ends while you have
them, and fill up your dayes with duty,
and be not &s;o eager upon the World,
and the things thereof. Opportunity
is a golden Mattock to dig for Heavenly
Trea&s;ure; do not wear it out, as many
do, in digging for Pibbls, and at your
latter end become a fool.</P>
<P>Beware therefore of idlene&s;s on the
one &s;ide, and cumbring your &s;elf with
Worldly Occa&s;ions on the other;
but con&s;ider, wherefore hath God given
you life and time, but to be &s;erviceable
in your day, and to work for him in
whom you live. He did not give you
time to play the Truant, and de&s;ign
and labour to be rich, and to grow
great in the World, and to arrive at
&s;uch a Revenue, and proportion of
worldly E&s;tate; but he &s;ent you into
the World to do his work, and to
improve your Time and Talent for
him.</P>
<P>And therefore, when the World, or
the Fle&s;h is putting &s;uch Employments
<PB N="98" REF="53">
upon you, which will devour much
time, and divert you from the one thing
nece&s;&s;ary, tell them; That you mu&s;t
give an account of your time, and you
mu&s;t not rob your Lord and Ma&s;ter of
his hours, which he &s;ent you to im|prove
in his &s;ervice, &amp;c.</P>
<P>And certainly it is an undervaluing
al&s;o 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 &s;o many; for what are all our
Studies, Works, Sweat, and blood, and
Spirits, and Co&s;t; and Care, and Time
expended upon Chri&s;t, in compari&s;on
with an exceeding Eternal weight
of Glory? Prize therefore and improve
your times.</P>
<P>Here are &s;everal of you that are
young,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Parti|cularly.</NOTE> or in your middle age, or about
<HI>Hezekiah's</HI> years. Call your &s;elves to
an account, and enquire of your own
hearts what you have done: Peradven|ture
but little for God, and what will
turn to a comfortable account. What
then, if God &s;hould now lay you (as
he did <HI>Hezekiah</HI>) upon your &s;ick Bed,
and threaten to cut off the Thrum of
<PB N="99" REF="53">
your lives? Would you not with him
turn your faces to the wall, and weep
&s;ore? And yet I tell you, <HI>Hezekiah</HI> had
done a great deal of Work for God, du|ring
the time of his Reign unto this &s;ick|ne&s;s.
He lo&s;t no time, but fell hard to the
Work of Reformation in the fir&s;t moneth
of the fir&s;t year of his Reign.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Ch. 29. 3.</NOTE> And he
did a great deal during his fourteen years
before his &s;ickne&s;s,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 38. 3.</NOTE> and he did it al&s;o <HI>in
Truth, and with a perfect heart.</HI></P>
<P>But &s;till, what have you done, if you
were now as near the gates of the grave, as
here he was? And to the&s;e Gates you
mu&s;t come at la&s;t, and pa&s;s through them
al&s;o to the highe&s;t Tribunal, to an&s;wer
to this Que&s;tion, <HI>What ha&s;t thou done?</HI>
How ha&s;t thou improved time, occu|pied
with thy Talent, filled up thy Re|lations,
maintained good Works for
nece&s;&s;ary u&s;es, been active for the highe&s;t
end?</P>
<P>Peradventure you will plead your
&s;mall capacity,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ob&s;erv.</NOTE> and that you are but
of mean degree, an ob&s;cure per&s;on, and
ezerci&s;ed in Low Employments, and of
weak parts, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Yea,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sol.</NOTE> but &s;till what &s;aith <HI>Hezekiah?
The living, the living he &s;hall prai&s;e thee.</HI>
<PB N="100" REF="54">
And are not you living? Are you not
alive? For any Man or Woman living
may prai&s;e the Lord, or el&s;e <HI>Hezekiah</HI>
&s;aith not well; But it is true what he
&s;aith, for any Man living may do his
his generation-work. Is your capacity
than &s;uch, that you cannot prai&s;e the
Lord?<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 148. 11, 12.</NOTE> what &s;aith the P&s;almi&s;t? <HI>Prai&s;e
ye the Lord;</HI> who? <HI>Kings of the Earth.</HI>
Yea, they are in a capacity indeed. Such
as <HI>Hezekiah</HI> may do much that way,
they are great Men, and have great op|portunities.
But what followeth?
<HI>Kings of the Earth, and all people:
Princes and all Judges of the Earth. Both
young Men and Maidens, and old Men
and Children. Let them prai&s;e the Name
of the Lord.</HI> Men and Maids, old
and young, all may; and all mu&s;t at|tend
the &s;ervice, none excepted.</P>
<P>And therefore plead not your mean
capacity,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 25.</NOTE> but &s;erve your age according
to your Talent. For he that had but
one Talent, doth not &s;ay, Lord, I had
but one, and what can a Man do with
one? My fellow-&s;ervants had, one five
Talents, the other two, and they might
well employ and improve them.
No, he &s;aith not thus; He was convinced
that one Talent might be improved to
<PB N="101" REF="54">
advantage as well as five, and that eve|ry
one is bound to be Trading for God
with what he hath given him; for, &s;aith
the Text,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 15.</NOTE> <HI>He gave to every Man according
to his &s;everal ability.</HI> So that all of
them had an ability, though &s;everal <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="tech" EXTENT="1 letter">
One had a five-fold ability, another a
two-fold, another a &s;ingle. And he
that had but a &s;ingle capacity, was called
to an account for his unprofitablene&s;s, and
ca&s;t into outer darkne&s;s. The meane&s;t
therefore among you hath &s;ome ability,
and woe be to him, if he doth not im|prove
it. A young Man, a Servant, a
poor Man, a mean Man, may do many
things in tendency to God's Glory, and
the good of others, whil'&s;t he is living,
<HI>and the living, the living, he &s;hall prai&s;e
thee.</HI></P>
<P>You that are &s;tricken in years,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2ly.</NOTE> you
have much to account for. For you have
lived lon, and perhaps are now grown
old, but have you been old Traders?
Yes, as to a worldly account: Yea, but
there is another, and a better Trade, &amp;
what have you done therein? God will
call you to a reckoning for your world|ly
Trade, and e&s;pecially for your Spi|ritual.
You have gained thus much in
the world, he will &s;ay, but what
<PB N="102" REF="55">
redounds to my &s;hare of all that you
have done? This is the great Que&s;tion.
Think ye; Oh how many opportuni|ties
have you out-lived, which will ne|ver
have their Re&s;urrection: If
therefore you &s;hould &s;ay as <HI>John</HI> Bap|ti&s;t's
hearers, what &s;hall we do then? I
an&s;wer,</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="1"> Fir&s;t, Be humbled for your former
neglects, and mi&s;pence of time, who in
doing much, have hitherto done nothing;
and judge your &s;elves for your omi&s;&s;i|ons,
before your Lord and Ma&s;ter calleth
you to account.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 11. 31.</NOTE> <HI>For if you judge your
&s;elves, you &s;hall not be judged.</HI></P>
<P><MILESTONE N="2"> Bring forth fruit mee<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="tech" EXTENT="1 letter"> for Repentance.
For though it is as impo&s;&s;iibe, that your
former individual opportunities &s;hould
return, as that you &s;hould grow young
again, yet God may plea&s;e to mini&s;ter
new occa&s;ions to you upon your repent|ance,
whereby to bring forth fruit in
old age. It &s;eems, that <HI>Nicodemus</HI> was
an old Man when he came to Chri&s;t by
night;<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 3d.</NOTE> For, &s;aith he, <HI>Can a Man be
born when he is old?</HI> As much as to &s;ay,
<HI>As I am.</HI> But when he is converted, he
thrives apace, and comes to Chri&s;t at
noon, and owns him in the place of
publick Judicature, and is a
<PB N="103" REF="55">
mean to di&s;&s;olve the Se&s;&s;ion.<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 7. 50.</NOTE> And after|ward
he owns Chri&s;t crucified, and is at
much co&s;t to embalm him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">&mdash;19. 39.</NOTE> when his
Di&s;ciples de&s;erted him. The Old Man
got the &s;tart of them all, and of many
others that &s;et out before him.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 19. 30</NOTE> So it
is &s;ometimes, <HI>The fir&s;t are la&s;t, and
the la&s;t fir&s;t.</HI></P>
<P>Now therefore be&s;tir your &s;elves, and
redeem lo&s;t time by improving what re|maineth
to the utmo&s;t, and &s;ee what
you can do with a little remnant of life,
and whether you cannot grow as fa&s;t as
Old <HI>Nicodemus</HI> did. Project improv|ments
of life, which is a kind of <HI>Save|all,</HI>
now that your light is near ex|tingui&s;hing.</P>
<P>Make up in affection what may be <MILESTONE N="3">
wanting in action. If you cannot do
much, yet love much. and you have
cau&s;e enough to do &s;o, in that God hath
given you to live &s;o long, who have
done &s;o little. If our Servants &s;hould
work no better for us, than many have
done for God, we &s;hould &s;oon turn them
out of doors. And therefore love the
Lord the more, and that will al&s;o pro|voke
you to do the more.</P>
<P><PB N="104" REF="56">
<MILESTONE N="4"> Stir up others to work for God, that
what you cannot do by your own
hands, you may do by others. For you
&s;hall have a &s;hare in their good actions,
who work by your incitement. What
good was done by the hands of thou|&s;ands
in the dayes of the reforming
Kings of <HI>Judah,</HI> is &s;till imputed to the
Reformers that &s;et them on work, as you
may &s;ee in the Reign of <HI>A&s;a, Jeho&s;aphat,
Hezekiah,</HI> and <HI>Jo&s;iah.</HI> And though
the per&s;ons imployed might act from
Principles of Hypocri&s;ie,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 3. 10.</NOTE> as &s;ome
(at lea&s;t) did in <HI>Jo&s;iah's</HI> Reformation;
Yet the works were done in &s;incerity, as
to the Reformers: They were done in
Hypocricy as to the In&s;truments, in &s;in|cerity
as to the principal Agent.</P>
<P>Your time therefore is but &s;hort, and
you cannot do much with your own
hands, &s;ee what you cad do by others,
as by your Wife, Husband, Children,
Relations, Friends, Neighbours, and it
&s;hall be imputed unto them, if they do
it &s;incerely, but to you how&s;oever, if
you did &s;et them on work in the up|rightne&s;s
of your heart.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="5"> Pray for death-bed Grace, Faith,
Hope, Patience, Peace of Con&s;cience,
compo&s;edne&s;s of Spirit, &amp; &s;uch a frame as
<PB N="105" REF="56">
is fit to glorifie God, and edifie others
at your la&s;t farewel to friends. This is
that which we &s;hould all pray for, and
it is that which God is plea&s;ed to grant
to &s;ome, and it is a great mercy where it
is vouch&s;afed, for it is not &s;o eminently
granted unto all that fear the Lord.
Had <HI>Hezekiah</HI> now dyed, his Di&s;tem|per
was &s;o violent, that he could not
have dyed &s;o comfortably,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 13, 14</NOTE> <HI>I reckoned till
morning, that as a Lion, &s;o he will break
all my bones: From day even to night,
wilt thou make an end of me. Like a
Crane, or a &s;wallow, &s;o did I chatter; I
did mourn as a Dove: Mine eyes fail
with looking upward: Oh Lord, I am
oppre&s;&s;ed, undertake for me.</HI> But they
that have done but little for the Lord,
and are not now like to do much, had
need to pray more, e&s;pecially, that thus
they may fini&s;h their cour&s;e.</P>
<P>And if God grant you this mercy, you
may perhaps do as much good dying,
as ever you did living. The few words
of the penitent Thief have done good
to thou&s;ands, though he was a Man that
never did good, but much evil, till he
was converted upon the Cro&s;s. And
thus much for the Exhortation to
value Opportunities,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 23. 40, 41, 42.</NOTE> and to make
<PB N="106" REF="57">
the be&s;t improvement of time while it
la&s;teth.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>3d &V;&s;e of Exhortation.</HEAD>
<P><MILESTONE N="3"> If there are opportunities of performing
&s;ervice to God in this world, which are
not to be enjoyed after death, and that
the Saints do that for God here, which
they cannot do in Heaven; Then, be
not too eager in your de&s;ires to dye. It
was <HI>Jobs</HI> weakne&s;s, though indeed he
was then in great di&s;tre&s;s and mi&s;ery.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 3. 21.</NOTE>
<HI>He longed for death, and digged for it
more th&acirc;n for hid Trea&s;ures.</HI> We mu&s;t
not be too forward to dig our own
Graves: We may prepare them, as <HI>Jo|&s;eph</HI>
of <HI>Arimathea</HI> did, and al&s;o we
mu&s;t prepare for them; but let us not
dig them impatiently, or impor|tunately.</P>
<P>Life is a great mercy, yea, and length
of dayes. It is annexed to the obe|dience
of the fifth Commandment.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;. 91. <HI>la&s;t.</HI></NOTE> <HI>With
long life will I &s;atisfie him, and &s;hew him
my &s;alvation.</HI> Why? will not a Child
of God be &s;atisfied without length of
dayes? Yes, he is &s;atisfied to dye when
God plea&s;eth. If God will take him
away &s;ooner or later, he he is &s;atisfied.
<PB N="107" REF="57">
It is &s;aid of <HI>Abraham, I&s;aac, David,</HI> and
<HI>Job,</HI> that they dyed full of dayes. And
it was true, both pa&s;&s;ively, in that they
were old Men; and actively, in that
they were well &s;atisfied to live &s;o long.
And therefore <HI>Job</HI> left off digging for
death, long before he dyed. Peradven|ture
you have your exerci&s;es both out|ward
and inward, and withall you
have good hopes of a ble&s;&s;ed &s;tate in a bet|ter
world; and now you long for death,
and would fain be gone. Take heed, it is
time enough to go to a glorious Eternity,
and when you are there, you will never
&s;ay, you came not thither &s;oon enough.
Here is, more &s;ervice for you to do:
Do not love your Reward beyond your
Work. A lazy &s;ervant will be often
li&s;tening to the Clock, or looking upon the
Sun, and longing for the Evening, not
minding &s;o much his Work as his
Wages.</P>
<P>It is &s;aid <HI>of Jehojada al&s;o,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Chr. 24. 15.</NOTE> <HI>that he was
full of dayes, when he dyed, being one
hundred and thirty years old.</HI> He was
full of days pa&s;&s;ively, and full actively,
he was &s;atisfied with this great length of
dayes, and very well contented and
thankful to live &s;o long. He was deep in
years (I &s;uppo&s;e about, if not above,
<PB N="108" REF="58">
an hundred years old) when his Ne|phew
<HI>Joa&s;h</HI> came to the Crown.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Chr. 24. 3, 4.&mdash;</NOTE> For he
lived to &s;ee <HI>Joa&s;h</HI> married, and after
that the Temple repaired. And he died
not long before <HI>Joa&s;h,</HI> who reigned but
forty years. But few men lived &s;o long
in tho&s;e dayes, and yet he did a great
deal of good &s;ervice unto the la&s;t. And
when he died, they buried him in the
City of <HI>David</HI> among the Kings, becau&s;e
he had done good in <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> both to|wards
God, and towards his hou&s;e.
And the mo&s;t of it was done in his
old Age.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>4th U&s;e of Exhortation.</HEAD>
<P><MILESTONE N="4"> If the people of God can do more &s;er|vice
for him on Earth than in Heaven;
Be exhorted to prize their lives pray for
them, and improve them. If <HI>Hezekiah</HI>
here had died of his &s;ickne&s;s, the peo|ple
of God would &s;oon have mi&s;&s;ed
him, as when (at la&s;t) he died, they
did, for you know what came af|ter.
Con&s;ider what a deal of good cea|&s;eth
with the li<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="tech" EXTENT="1 letter">e of a good Man: It is
true, his Works live, but his working
is dead. Mini&s;ters &s;hall preach no
more; Church-Officers rule no more,
<PB N="109" REF="58">
di&s;pen&s;e no more; Benefactors lay out
them&s;elves no more; publick Spirits act
no more. True; their Examples, Say|ings,
Writings, Memorie, Fruits of
their former Works may &s;urvive: But
their per&s;ons, per&s;onal actings, delight|ful
pre&s;ence, &s;weet fellow&s;hip, whole|&s;ome
Coun&s;els, and ready helpfulne&s;s
are dead and gone. Whereas the&s;e are
great mercies, and many will &s;ay &s;o when
they are gone, who made but little of
them while they had them. You know
how the Elders of <HI>Ephe&s;us,</HI> and the Bre|thren
at <HI>Miletus</HI> wept at <HI>Paul's</HI> parting,
&s;orrowing mo&s;t of all, that they &s;hould
&s;ee his face no more; and yet after that he
lived many years, and wrote an Ex|cellent
Epi&s;tle to the Church at <HI>Ephe&s;us.</HI>
Oh, how would they have wept, had
he then dyed at <HI>Miletus!</HI> But few pre|cious
ones are prized enough till dead,
and perhaps not then neither.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 25. 1.</NOTE> The <HI>I&s;|raelites</HI>
did not &s;ufficiently value <HI>Sa|muel</HI>
when he grew old, but when they
had ta&s;ted what <HI>Saul</HI> was, and that <HI>Sa|muel</HI>
al&s;o was taken away by death,
then they all lamented him. Yea, and
<HI>Saul</HI> him&s;elf al&s;o wanted him, who
little regarded him whil'&s;t living.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 28. 11.</NOTE> <HI>Bring
me up Samuel,</HI> &s;aith he to the Witch at
<PB N="110" REF="59">
<HI>Endor.</HI> He that before would not go
to <HI>Samuel,</HI> will now go to the Devil for
him. <HI>Bring me up Samuel;</HI> Yes, Rake
him by all means out of his Grave:
And, oh, that <HI>Saul</HI> could but once more
&s;peak with <HI>Samuel!</HI></P>
<P>How few are they who have a ju&s;t
valuation of the&s;e living mercies, or
that duly lay to heart the lo&s;s of them?<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 57. 1.</NOTE>
For it is our duty al&s;o to bewail the
death of &s;uch,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 8. 2.</NOTE> as when the Church lo&s;t
<HI>Stephen, devout Men carried him to his
burial; and made great lamentation over
him.</HI> Oh know the price of living
Saints, e&s;pecially the mo&s;t u&s;eful
ones.</P>
<P>You that are Children, and have
godly Parents, who have made known
the Truth to you, take heed you think
not they have lived too long; but know
that it is your mercy, if they dye full
of years, and come to their Graves in
a full age, like as a &s;hock of Corn cometh
in its &s;ea&s;on. Improve their lives, and
lament their deaths. <HI>Sarah</HI> was an
hundred twenty and &s;even years old
when &s;he dyed, and yet <HI>I&s;aac</HI> lamented
the lo&s;s of her for the &s;pace of three
years, and nothing could comfort him,
but his marriage with a dear <HI>Rebekah.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 24.</NOTE>
<PB N="111" REF="59">
I be&s;eech you love and honour your
godly Parents, beg their continuance
with you, and your profiting by them,
and be very obedient to the fir&s;t Com|mandment
with a Promi&s;e. <HI>Joa&s;h</HI> had
that benefit by his old Uncle <HI>Jehojada,</HI>
who was in&s;tead of a Father to him,
that it went well with him and his
Kingdom whiles he lived, but mi&s;erably
with both afterwards. Many Chil|dren
have lo&s;t them&s;elves together with
their Parents.</P>
<P>Con&s;ider what I &s;ay. And then you
that have &s;uch Mini&s;ters of Je&s;us Chri&s;t,
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 con&s;equences of their
removal.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>5th U&s;e of Exhortation.</HEAD>
<P>La&s;tly, Seeing there is more &s;er|vice <MILESTONE N="5">
to be done on Earth than in Hea|ven;
how &s;hould this exalt Chri&s;t Je&s;us
in our hearts, and enlarge them in love
to him, who as he wrought &s;o much
for us on Earth, &s;o &s;till is he at work
for us in Heaven? He, He is the great
Worker in the highe&s;t World. You
<PB N="112" REF="60">
know what he &s;aith in his prayer to his
Father,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh&punc; 17. 4.</NOTE> <HI>I have glorified thee on Earth, I
have fini&s;hed, the work which thou gave&s;t
me to do.</HI> Yea, but we are to under|&s;tand
it of his Work upon Earth, for his
Work in Heaven is not as yet fini&s;hed,
nor will before the end of the world.</P>
<P>Alas! we can do little for Chri&s;t in
Earth, and le&s;s in Heaven. Yet Je&s;us
Chri&s;t, whether in Earth or Heaven, is
&s;till 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 thi|ther
is he gone to take and keep po&s;&s;e&s;&s;i|on,
and to prepare places for us. There
he executeth his Mediatory-Office, con|tinually
appears and makes interce&s;&s;ion
for us, &s;heds abroad his Spirit, gives
Commi&s;&s;ion 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 &s;ubdues their Enemies.
All the Work of Heaven lies upon
Chri&s;t's hands; and it is well it doth,
o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="tech" EXTENT="1 letter"> what would become of us on Earth!</P>
<P>And as this &s;hould rai&s;e our E&s;teem
an<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="tech" EXTENT="1 letter"> Love of Chri&s;t, &s;o &s;hould it quick|en
<PB N="113" REF="60">
us the more to work for him on Earth,
&s;eeing he is &s;till at work for us in Hea|ven.
He wrought above thirty years
for us here on Earth, but in Heaven a|bove
&s;ixteen hundred, and thus he will
continue his work to the end of the
world.</P>
<P>To him therefore be glory, and ho|nour,
for ever and ever. <HI>Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="61">
<PB REF="61">
<P>A &s;hort Di&s;cour&s;e
OF THE
NATURE
AND
EXTENT
OF THE
Go&s;pel-Day,
Reaching from the De&s;truction of
the <HI>OLD,</HI> to the erection
of the <HI>NEW</HI>
JERUSALEM:</P>
<BIBL>Zach. 14. 6, 7.</BIBL>
<Q><P>And it &s;hall come to pa&s;s in that day,
that the Light &s;hall not be clear, nor dark.</P>
<P>But it &s;hall be one day, which &s;hall be known to the
Lord, not day nor night; but it &s;hall come to pa&s;s,
that at evening time it &s;hall be light.</P></Q>
<P>By <HI>W. H.</HI></P>
<P><HI>London,</HI> Printed for <HI>John Wilkins,</HI> and are to be &s;old
at his &s;hop in Exchange-Alley, next door to the Ex|change-Coffee-Hou&s;e,
over again&s;t the
Royal-Exchange, 1673.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="to the reader">
<PB REF="62">
<PB REF="62">
<HEAD>COURTEOUS
READER.</HEAD>
<P>_THou ha&s;t added a
brief Treati&s;e of
the nature of the
Go&s;pel-Day in
its Ri&s;e, Pro|gre&s;s,
and Perfe|ction.
The Morning of which
Day (beginning in the Apo&s;tles
times) had much darkne&s;s ming|led
with a little light. You know
what &s;tiff and earne&s;t contenti|ons
there were for the <HI>Jewi&s;h</HI>
Rites and Ceremonies; yea,
the very Articles of Faith called
in que&s;tion, the Spirit of Anti-chri&s;t
<PB REF="63">
working even then in the E|vangelical
Churches, which in after
Ages grew to a greater height
in the exaltation of the Man of
Sin. But &s;till the Light and Pu|rity
of the Go&s;pel prevailed,
though &s;ometimes the darkne&s;s
was &s;uch, as to threaten an ut|ter
extirpation: God rai&s;ing
up &s;ome faithful Witne&s;&s;es in
all Ages to hold forth, and vin|dicate
the Light again&s;t all that
oppo&s;ition made again&s;t it. The
Truth had its Champions even
then, when the whole World
wondred after the Bea&s;t. And
from them to us it is continued
by an uninterrupted &s;ucce&s;&s;ion,
being &s;till of a growing and en|crea&s;ing
Nature like the <HI>path of the
Ju&s;t &s;hining more unto the perfect
day.</HI> What cau&s;e have we to
ble&s;s God that we &s;ee the Truth
and Go&s;pel going on conquer|ing
and to conquer all Errour
<PB REF="63">
and Oppo&s;ition? Well, the night
is far &s;pent, and the day is at
hand, and go, let us ca&s;t off the
Works of Darkne&s;s, and put on
the Armour of Light, and &s;o much
the more as we &s;ee the Day break|ing,
when Shadows &s;hall flee a|way,
&amp; Light &s;hall over&s;pread the
face of the whole Earth. Peace,
Truth, Holine&s;s, and Comfort
&s;hall then abound. In the mean
time it is no wonder if Light and
Darkne&s;s conflict together. Light
of Peace with Trouble, of Truth
with Errour; and go, let us not
be &s;ecure, God may &s;oon bring
a Cloud over our Peace and Li|berty.
And let us al&s;o who are
of the day be &s;ober, bearing with
and forbearing one another, for|a&s;much
as yet we know but in
part, and &s;ee through a Gla&s;s
darkly; but when the Evening
of this Go&s;pel-Day cometh, the
Lord &s;hall be one, and his Name
one; <HI>Zech.</HI> 14. 7, 9.) one
<PB REF="64">
heart and one way, <HI>Jer.</HI> 32. 39. In
the Faith and Hope hereof, Let all
the Children of <HI>Zion</HI> rejoyce, and
endeavour to be a People prepa|red
for the Lord.</P>
<P>Reader, I &s;hall detain thee no
longer from this u&s;eful and &s;ea|&s;onable
Di&s;cour&s;e. The ble&s;&s;ing
of God go with it, and make it
fruitful, &s;o prayes</P>
<CLOSER><DATE>Jan. 18^t^h
1673-4.</DATE>
<SIGNED>Thy Servant
in the Go&s;pel.
H. J.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB N="121" REF="64">
<EPIGRAPH>
<BIBL>ZECH. 14. 6, 7.</BIBL>
<Q><P>And it &s;hall come to pa&s;s in that
day, that the light &s;hall not
be clear nor dark.</P>
<P>But it &s;hall be one day, which
&s;hall be known to the Lord,
not day nor night; but it &s;hall
come to pa&s;s that at evening
time it &s;hall be light.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>THis Chapter begins with the
revenge of God upon <HI>Judah</HI>
and <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> for their cruci|fying
the Lord of glory (<HI>Ch.</HI>
13. 7.) of which vengeance Chri&s;t him|&s;elf
<HI>foretold,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 24.</NOTE> and he calls them <HI>days of
vengeance,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 21. 22.</NOTE> where he amply fieth what the
Prophet here &s;peaketh briefly.</P>
<P>Yet God threatneth to be avenged on
<PB N="122" REF="65">
the Nations that dealt thus with <HI>Jeru&s;a|lem</HI>
and the <HI>Jews.</HI> They &s;hould have
no thanks for this their &s;ervice, as minding
only the fulfilling of their own wills,
and not Gods; (<HI>Ver.</HI> 3.) But though
<HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> &s;hould be overthrown, and
the Temple burnt, and the Temple-Wor&s;hip
aboli&s;hed; yet the Lord would
have a care of his Church, and make
way for the conver&s;ion of the <HI>Gentiles,</HI>
and expo&s;e the Truth and Way of his
Wor&s;hip to the open view of the <HI>Jews</HI>
and <HI>Gentiles</HI> from Ea&s;t to We&s;t.</P>
<P>For the Truth and Way of God's
Wor&s;hip, and of Salvation was pent up
before Chri&s;t's coming, in the narrow
confines of <HI>Judea,</HI> and ob&s;cured al&s;o,
and darkned with &s;hadows and Ce|remonies,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 25. 2.</NOTE>
as <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> (the Seat of
God's Wor&s;hip) was with Hills. But
now all &s;hould be laid open before all
the world, from <HI>Ea&s;t</HI> to <HI>We&s;t.</HI> And
this here is &s;ignified by an Allegory of
the cleaving of Mount <HI>Olivet</HI> (one fa|mous
Hill being put for the re&s;t) in the
mid'&s;t towards the <HI>Ea&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 4.</NOTE> and towards
the <HI>We&s;t,</HI> whereby the City of God
(which is the Church) &s;hould no lon|ger
be ob&s;cured, but patent, all Sha|dows
and Ceremonies, and Partition-walls
<PB N="123" REF="65">
being removed. This, I &s;uppo&s;e
is the purport of <HI>Ver&s;.</HI> 4.</P>
<P>After this followeth a very great Com|motion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;. 5.</NOTE>
compared to that great Earth|quake
in King <HI>Uzziah's</HI> dayes, which
made Men to flee for their lives. But
it is to be under&s;tood Spiritually (<HI>viz.</HI>)
of Chri&s;t's voice in the Go&s;pel,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 12. 26.</NOTE> &s;haking,
not the Earth only, but al&s;o Hea|ven;
whereby a great change is made
even in the Church, by the &s;haking and
removing of the Ceremonial-way of
Wor&s;hip, and the Partition-wall, and
cau&s;ing both <HI>Jew</HI> and <HI>Gentile</HI> (as ma|ny
as would be &s;aved) to flee to the
Go&s;pel, and Go&s;pel-way of Wor&s;hip,
and Chri&s;t therein, from the wrath that
is to come: This, I conceive is the mean|ing
of <HI>Ver.</HI> 5.</P>
<P>Only, whereas it is &s;aid, <HI>And the
Lord my God &s;hall come, and all the Saints
with thee;</HI> This may be meant, Fir&s;tly,
Of the coming of our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t
to &s;et up his Go&s;pel-Kingdom, whither his
Elect &s;hould be gathered unto him their
Head: But la&s;tly, and chiefly of Chri&s;t's
&s;econd coming, whereof <HI>Paul</HI> makes men|tion,
&s;peaking of the coming of our
Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t with all his Saints.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;. 3. la&s;t.</NOTE> For
this Chapter leads us &s;o far, that no|thing
<PB N="124" REF="66">
remaineth but this la&s;t and great
coming of Chri&s;t, unto which the Pro|phet
cannot forbear to look, and he
looketh at it with much Faith and
Joy.</P>
<P>1. In that he applyeth the Lord God
to him&s;elf. <HI>The Lord my God &s;hall
come.</HI></P>
<P>2. In that he turneth his &s;peech unto
him. <HI>And all the Saints with thee.</HI></P>
<P>Briefly as for the Chapter, it begins
with the de&s;truction of the Old <HI>Jeru|&s;alem,</HI>
and endeth with the erection of
the New.</P>
<P>And whereas there is a Day &s;poken of,
&s;o and &s;o de&s;cribed as in my Text, It is
the day or the time, that lyeth between
the&s;e two <HI>Jeru&s;alems,</HI> Old and New. It
is not a Natural or Artificial day, for
&s;uch a day cannot &s;uite with the &s;cope
of this Prophecy; Nor was there ever
any &s;uch day, wherein it was lighter
in the Evening than in all the day before.
And therefore by <HI>Day</HI> here, we mu&s;t ne|ce&s;&s;arily
under&s;tand a large tract of time,
for &s;o Day is many times taken in the
Scripture, particularly the time of the Go|&s;pel
is called the <HI>Day of Salvation.</HI> And
it is called <HI>that Day,</HI> &s;ixteen times in this
and the two preceding Chapters,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Cor. 6. 2.</NOTE> which
<PB N="125" REF="66">
treat of the la&s;t times, wherein &s;uch work
is to be done, as will take up many hun|dred
years, as you may &s;ee if you con&s;ult
the Chapters at lea&s;ure.</P>
<P>And you &s;ee here when this day be|gan,
(<HI>viz.</HI>) when the Go&s;pel was fir&s;t
publi&s;hed, <HI>viz.</HI> about the time of the de|&s;truction
of the Old <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> or &s;ome|what
before it, and continueth to the &s;et|ting
up of the New.</P>
<P>Let me then put all the de&s;cription of
this day together into one Point, and
it is this.</P>
<P>Doctrine.</P>
<P><HI>The Go&s;pel-times, unto the conver&s;ion of
the Jews, are one day intermixed with
Light and Darkne&s;s, known to God, in
the evening whereof it &s;hall be light.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t, The Day here is plainly meant of <MILESTONE N="1">
the times of the Go&s;pel, till the dayes of
the new <HI>Jeru&s;alem.</HI> For you find this
Day again, <HI>Ver&s;.</HI> 8. and again, <HI>Ver&s;.</HI> 9. &amp;
&s;o, till you are led to the conver&s;ion of
the <HI>Jews,</HI> and the New <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> Ver.
10, 11. to the end.</P>
<P>Secondly, This day is one day. 1. A <MILESTONE N="2">
Day. 2. One.</P>
<P><PB N="126" REF="67">
A Day. And that for the&s;e Rea|&s;ons.</P>
<P>1. In that it hath light in it all along.
For Chri&s;t and the Go&s;pel run through it.
And the&s;e carry light with them where
ever they come. It is true, there is a
mixture of darkne&s;s in it, yet it is not
called night; but, becau&s;e it hath light
in it, therefore is called <HI>Day;</HI> for the bet|ter
part carries the denomination.</P>
<P>2. It is a Day in compari&s;on with the
dark times under the Law, e&s;pecially the
times immediately preceding the com|ing
of Chri&s;t, when be&s;ides the &s;ha|dows
of Ceremonies, there was great
darkne&s;s of ignorance.</P>
<P>3. It is &s;uch a Day, as is di&s;tingui&s;hed
with remarkable periods, (<HI>viz.</HI>) of
Seals, Trumpets, Vials, even as the Na|tural
day is with hours, and di&s;tinct di|vi&s;ions.
This we &s;ee at large in <HI>Johns</HI>
Revelation.</P>
<P>4. It is a Day, in that it hath in it a
ble&s;&s;ed opportunity of working, <HI>Luke
19. 42. Joh. 9. 4. &amp;</HI> 12. 35.</P>
<P>5. A Day, in that it hath a Morning,
and an Evening. The Morning began
with the ri&s;ing of the Sun of Righteou&s;|ne&s;s,
when the day-&s;pring from on high
did vi&s;it us, and the people that &s;at in
<PB N="127" REF="67">
darkne&s;s &s;aw great light. And the Even|ing
lies in my Text, immediately be|fore
the Jews conver&s;ion. Thus it is a
Day.</P>
<P>It is <HI>One day,</HI> i. e. one and the &s;ame
from Morning to Evening. And 'tis &s;o
upon two accounts.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, In that every part of the day <MILESTONE N="1">
is mixt with light and darkne&s;s, though
not equally mixt, for &s;ometimes it is
more light, &s;ometimes more dark, but
more or le&s;s light and dark always. And
&s;o the day is one and the &s;ame for con|&s;tancy
of light and darkne&s;s, though
not for the equality of both.</P>
<P>Secondly, One and the &s;ame, and <MILESTONE N="2">
like to it &s;elf, becau&s;e there is in it but
one and the &s;ame Covenant, and way of
Admini&s;tration according to what God
hath promi&s;ed, &s;aying, <HI>Yet once more I
&s;hake not the Earth only,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 12. 26, 27.</NOTE> <HI>but al&s;o Hea|ven.
And this word, Yet once more, &s;ignify|eth
the removing of tho&s;e things that are
made that tho&s;e things which cannot be
&s;haken may remain.</HI> The Legal Admi|ni&s;tration
was &s;haken and removed at
the coming of this day, but the Evange|lical
&s;hall remain to the very end of it.
And hence it is, that the Church &s;till
appears in all the Periods of this day,
<PB N="128" REF="68">
under the &s;ame form to the very la&s;t,
<HI>viz.</HI> of four living Creatures and twenty
four Elders.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 4. 4. 11. 16. 14. 3. 19. 4.</NOTE> And thus it is <HI>unus idem|que
dies,</HI> One and the &s;ame day from
fir&s;t to la&s;t. This is the <HI>Second</HI> Branch
of the point, 'tis One day.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="3"><HI>Thirdly,</HI> It is &s;uch a Day as is inter|mixed
with Light and Darkne&s;s, &s;o that
it is neither Day nor Night, <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 7. But
why then is it called a Day in the &s;ame
<HI>Ver&s;e?</HI> The meaning therefore is, that
it is neither perfect Day, nor perfect
Night; but yet &s;uch, as may well be
called a Day for the rea&s;ons afore&s;aid,
onely with intermixtures of Light and
Darkne&s;s.</P>
<P>But what is the Light,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Qu.</NOTE> and what the
Darkne&s;s?</P>
<P>The Light is the light of Truth:<NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;w. 1.</NOTE> for
the&s;e two go together;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 43. 3.</NOTE> <HI>Send out thy
Light and thy Truth.</HI> And the Dark|ne&s;s
is the darkne&s;s of Ignorance, Error,
Here&s;y, Idolatry, and Super&s;tition. And
&s;uch a mixture there hath been in this
Day, and will be to the very Evening
of it.</P>
<P>The cleare&s;t part of this Day was in
the Morning thereof, when the Apo|&s;tles
lived; yet even then there was a
mixture of this Darkne&s;s. The Churches
<PB N="129" REF="68">
in <HI>Galatia</HI> were infected with the leaven
of fal&s;e Teachers, mingling Law and
Go&s;pel in the point of Ju&s;tification.
And &s;ome in the Church at <HI>Corinth</HI>
denied the Re&s;urrection of the Dead;
and others held that it was already
pa&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 2. 17.</NOTE> (as <HI>Hymeneus</HI> and <HI>Philetus</HI>) and
their word did eat like a Gangrene. And
&s;ome &s;uch there were that turned the
Grace of God into La&s;civiou&s;ne&s;, <HI>&amp;c.</HI>
Both <HI>Peter</HI> and <HI>Jude</HI> give us a &s;ad cha|racter
of them. And in <HI>John</HI>'s time,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 John 2. 18, 19</NOTE> there were many Antichri&s;ts and Apo|&s;tates
from the Faith, and many fal&s;e
Prophets were then gone out into the
World, who denied that Chri&s;t was
come in the Fle&s;h. And Pride and
Ambition began then to appear in <HI>Dio|trephes.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Joh. 4. 1, 2.</NOTE>
And fal&s;e Apo&s;tles we meet
with &s;everal times;<NOTE PLACE="marg">3 Joh. 10.</NOTE> and with <HI>Balaamites</HI>
and <HI>Nicolaitans</HI> in the Church at <HI>Per|gamus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 2.</NOTE> and the woman <HI>Jezebel,</HI> a fal&s;e
Prophete&s;s, and a Seducer in the Church
at <HI>Thyatira.</HI></P>
<P>You &s;ee the Morning of this Day,
red and lowring, pre&s;aging foul wea|ther
throughout the remainder of it.
In the times &s;ucceeding the Apo&s;tles,
aro&s;e the <HI>Simonians, Menandrians, Car|pocratians,
Cerinthians, Ebionites, Mar|cionites,
<PB N="130" REF="69">
Apollinarians,</HI> &amp;c. which did
&s;omewhat darken the Primitive Day,
wherein yet there was a comfortable mix|ture
of Light held forth by <HI>Ireneus,
Lactantius, Tertullian, Ju&s;tin Martyr,
Cyprian,</HI> and others. Afterward aro&s;e
the <HI>Arrians,</HI> (who denied the God-head
of Chri&s;t) greatly ob&s;curing the Day,
but were oppo&s;ed by <HI>Athana&s;ius, Hi|lary,</HI>
and &s;everal others, and condemned
by the <HI>Nicene</HI> Council. Not long after,
the Here&s;y of <HI>Macedonius</HI> (who denied
the Per&s;onality of the Holy Gho&s;t) was
condemned by a Council at <HI>Con&s;tanti|nople;</HI>
And &s;o was the Here&s;y of <HI>Ne&s;to|rius,</HI>
(who held that Chri&s;t had two
Per&s;ons, as well as two Natures) op|po&s;ed
and condemned by a Council at
<HI>Ephe&s;us,</HI> not long after the &s;ame time.
Oppo&s;ite to this Here&s;y was that of the
<HI>Eutychians,</HI> who held Chri&s;t to have
but one Nature; confounding his Na|tures,
as the <HI>Ne&s;torians</HI> had divided his
Per&s;on. For thus we find mo&s;t of the
Primitive Here&s;ies to be about the Na|tures
and Per&s;on of Chri&s;t, the great
Light of the World, which the Prince
of Darkne&s;s endeavoured to extingui&s;h,
that &s;o he might turn this Day into
<PB N="131" REF="69">
Night. But &s;till you will find that
there was Light in oppo&s;ition to his
Darkne&s;s. And when afterwards the
Devil &s;tirred up <HI>Pelagius</HI> to a&s;&s;ert the
Freedome of Mans Will, God rai&s;eth
up <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> to oppo&s;e him.</P>
<P>Onely what &s;hall we &s;ay about the
clo&s;e of the <HI>Sixth Century,</HI> when the
bottomle&s;s Pit was opened, out of which
there aro&s;e a &s;moak,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 9. 2.</NOTE> as the &s;moak of a
great Furnace, in&s;omuch that the
Sun and Air were darkened by rea&s;on
of the Smoak. Where now was the
Light? and where was the One Day in
my Text? Yea, and as the <HI>Centuries</HI>
encrea&s;ed, &s;o did the Darkne&s;s, by a
continual &s;ucce&s;&s;ion and <HI>&s;eries</HI> of Errors
and Here&s;ies, for many Hundreds of
years together. And you know what
dark Lights the <HI>Schoolmen</HI> were in their
Generations, who did rather ob&s;cure
than illu&s;trate <HI>Theology.</HI></P>
<P>The&s;e things are true; And a man
had need of a great deal of knowledg in
Church-Hi&s;tory, and the <HI>Centuriators,</HI>
to give particular &s;atisfaction in this
point, and it would al&s;o require a large
Di&s;cour&s;e.</P>
<P>I &s;hall therefore give you &s;ome general
<PB N="132" REF="70">
grounds of Proof, that &s;till the Light
did run through the darke&s;t Times.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="1"><HI>Fir&s;t,</HI> Chri&s;t promi&s;ed that the gates
of Hell &s;hould never prevail again&s;t his
Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 16. 18 28. <HI>la&s;t.</HI></NOTE> and that he would be with it
to the end of the World.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="2"><HI>Secondly,</HI> It is held by &s;everal Learn|ed
and <HI>Orthodox,</HI> That the <HI>Seven</HI>
Churches of <HI>A&s;ia</HI> had their Antitypes,
one after another, throughout the
day of the Go&s;pel in my Text. And
then, &s;urely there was alwaies Light
in the Candle&s;ticks.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="3"><HI>Thirdly,</HI> When Chri&s;t began to &s;hew
<HI>John</HI> things to come, the Fir&s;t thing
that he &s;hewed him, was God &s;itting
upon his Throne, with the Church
round about Him, and &s;o de&s;cribed, as
you know, <HI>Revel.</HI> 4. For in &s;hewing
<HI>John</HI> things to come, at &s;o great and va&s;t
a Pro&s;pect, God mu&s;t needs &s;hew him
great and dreadful things, as. He did
under the Seals, Trumpets, and Vials.
And therefore at the very entrance of
this Di&s;covery, God &s;ecureth to <HI>John</HI>
the &s;afe condition of the Church in all
times, and let<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="tech" EXTENT="1 letter"> him &s;ee that his Eye was
&s;till upon that, as &s;tanding round about
his Throne encompa&s;&s;ed with ten thou|&s;and
times ten thou&s;and of Angels, that
<PB N="133" REF="70">
&s;o what &s;ights &s;oever <HI>John</HI> &s;hould after|wards
&s;ee, he might be a&s;&s;ured, that
the Church was &s;afe enough. For God
is before, and his Angels behind the
Church. And hence it is that ever and
anon the Church puts up her head in
&s;uch and &s;uch <HI>periodical</HI> times, and
daies of danger and darkne&s;s in the
Revelations.</P>
<P><HI>Fourthly,</HI> When God intended great <MILESTONE N="4">
Mutations in the World, He made pro|vi&s;ion
for his Church and People; &s;o
that the four Angels mu&s;t not hurt the
Earth, nor the Sea, nor the Trees, till
the Servants of God were &s;ealed in their
Foreheads;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 7. 1, 2<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="tech" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> and the number of the &s;ealed
was 144000.</P>
<P>And when the <HI>four</HI> fir&s;t Trumpets
&s;ounded, though there followed al|waies
a &s;ore judgment,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 7.</NOTE> yet &s;till a third
part e&s;caped under every one of them;
And with this agreeth that of <HI>Zechary,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Zech. 13. 8.</NOTE>
<HI>Two parts &s;hall be cut off and die, but
the third part &s;hall be left therein.</HI></P>
<P>And when again the <HI>fifth</HI> Trumpet
&s;ounded, and the mouth of the bottom|le&s;s
Pit was opened,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev 9. 4.</NOTE> out of which a
dreadful &s;moak a&s;cended, and Locu&s;ts
out of the &s;moak, they had not power
to hurt the gra&s;s of the Earth, nor any
<PB N="134" REF="71">
green thing, nor any tree, but onely
tho&s;e men, which had not the Seal of
God in their foreheads, <HI>Rev.</HI> 9. 4</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="5"><HI>Fifthly,</HI> If we come to the <HI>Sixth</HI>
Trumpet, which began to &s;ound about
the Year 1300. when the <HI>Ottoman</HI>
Power aro&s;e, which yet continueth to
this day; it was a very dark and di&s;mal
time, yet not void of Light. For the
<HI>Walden&s;es</HI> and their Followers were up
long before that time, and <HI>Wickliffe</HI>
aro&s;e &s;omewhat about the &s;ame, and
(as I take it) <HI>Bernard.</HI> Afterwards
<HI>John Hu&s;s</HI> and <HI>Hierome</HI> of <HI>Prague.</HI> But
&s;eeing the time was &s;o doleful, and that
it might well be admired, what was be|come
of the Church, and where the
Light was to be &s;een; our Lord Je&s;us
Chri&s;t cometh down from Heaven, in
the form of a mighty Angel, clothed
with a Cloud, and a Rainbow upon his
Head, and his Face &s;hining as it were
the Sun. For this was in the dark times
of the <HI>Sixth</HI> Trumpet, when although
Chri&s;t was much clouded to the World,
and little of him &s;een, yet the Sun did
&s;hine through the Cloud, even in tho&s;e
times; for he was mindful of his Co|venant,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 10. 1, 2.</NOTE>
&s;ignified by the Rainbow. And
moreover Chri&s;t had in his Hand a little
<PB N="135" REF="71">
Book open; &s;o that there was &s;ome
Light &s;hining in tho&s;e very dark times.</P>
<P><HI>Sixthly,</HI> When Antichri&s;t was at
his greate&s;t height, a little before the
Light &s;o brake forth, that &s;ome Refor|mation
began, our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t,
the Lamb of God, appeareth &s;tanding
on Mount <HI>Zion,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 14. 1.</NOTE> and with him an <HI>Hun|dred</HI>
and <HI>forty four</HI> Thou&s;and, having
his Fathers name written on their Fore|heads:
&s;hewing us, That Chri&s;t had
his Church in the times of the greate&s;t
Apo&s;ta&s;ie, and that there was not
wanting Light in Darkne&s;s. The &s;ealed
Number (<HI>Rev.</HI> 7) ran through (about)
a <HI>thou&s;and</HI> years, and at la&s;t lifted up
their heads upon Mount <HI>Zion.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Seventhly,</HI> Suppo&s;e the ri&s;e of Anti|chri&s;t <MILESTONE N="7">
&s;hould commence (as it is appre|hended)
between the <HI>fourth</HI> and <HI>fifth</HI>
Centuries, you know the ri&s;e of the <HI>two
Witne&s;&s;es contemporates therewith; af|ter</HI>
which they continue their prophe|&s;ying,
during <HI>One thou&s;and, two huu|dred</HI>
and <HI>&s;ixty</HI> Daies, a day put for a
year. And &s;o too, upon this account,
the darke&s;t Daies did not want the
Light of the ble&s;&s;ed and everla&s;ting Go|&s;pel;
yea, &s;o much Light, as to uphold
the denomination of a Day.</P>
<P><PB N="136" REF="72">
But &s;ince the <HI>Second</HI> &s;pring of the
Go&s;pel, ari&s;ing from the Light intro|duced
by <HI>Luther, Melanchton,</HI> and the
<HI>German Theologues,</HI> it is vi&s;ible to the
eyes of Adver&s;aries, how the Darkne&s;s
hath declined, and the Light &s;hined
more and more to this very day. And
thus it will be light and dark, light as
to Truth, and dark as to Ignorance,
Error, Here&s;y, Idolatry, and Super|&s;tition
more or le&s;s unto the very Evening
of the Day.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="2"><HI>Secondly,</HI> In this day there is a mix|ture
of Light and Darkne&s;s in another
re&s;pect, <HI>viz.</HI> Trouble mingled with
Tranquillity, and Per&s;ecution with Li|berty.
You know the &s;ad times under
the Seals, by the rage of the <HI>Roman</HI>
power again&s;t Chri&s;tianity. Yet &s;ome
liberty was now and then enjoyed, and
&s;ilence in Heaven for half an Hour.
You have heard al&s;o of the <HI>Arrian</HI>
Per&s;ecution under <HI>Con&s;tantius, Julian</HI>
and <HI>Valens,</HI> yet all liberty was not de|&s;troyed.
For though Per&s;ecution and
Liberty in their height are incon&s;i&s;tent,
as light and darkne&s;s, the one in its
height expels the other, yet there was
an interchange by the &s;ucce&s;&s;ion of one
to the other &s;ometims, if not an inter|mixture
<PB N="137" REF="72">
of both as to a moderate de|gree.
For though Per&s;ecution and
Liberty have not &s;tood together in one
and the &s;ame time and place in their
height, yet as for the light of the Go&s;|pel,
and Truth thereof, that hath &s;ome|times
&s;hined in &s;howres of Per&s;ecution,
like as we have now and then &s;een the
Sun to &s;hine, and the Rain to fall at
one and the &s;ame time.</P>
<P>And thus you &s;ee how the Day of the
Go&s;pel hath all along hitherto been in|termixed
and interchanged with light
and darkne&s;s. The light of Truth and
the darkne&s;s of Errour, the light of Li|berty,
and the darkne&s;s of Per&s;ecution.
And thus much for the third Particular
of the Point in hand.</P>
<P><HI>Fourthly,</HI> This one day thus inter|mixed,<MILESTONE N="4">
is known to God. In &s;ome
re&s;pects it is known to us, and hath
been known to others before us, (<HI>viz.</HI>)
that there is &s;uch a day, and thus inter|mixed
as afore&s;aid. But it is known to
God, &s;o as it is not known to us.</P>
<P><HI>Fir&s;t,</HI> It is known to him as the Effi|cient <MILESTONE N="1">
of it. As it is &s;aid of the Natu|ral
day,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 74. 16</NOTE> <HI>The day is his, the night al&s;o
is his, he hath prepared the light of the
Sun.</HI> And again, <HI>I form the Light,
<PB N="138" REF="73">
and create Darkne&s;s;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iia. 45. 7.</NOTE> <HI>I make Peace, and
create Evil; I the Lord do all the&s;e
things.</HI> Thus it is with this Go&s;pel-day;
The Lord is the Former of it, who
hath determined the times before ap|pointed.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="2"><HI>Secondly,</HI> This day is known to God,
as being wholly in his power to order all
things in it after the Coun&s;el of his own
will. He knew the end from the be|ginning,
and what lyeth in the Womb
of this day, from the Morning to the
Evening of it. He knew what light, and
what darkne&s;s there would be in every
period of the day, whereas we know not
what a day may bring forth; and little
did we think a year ago what Light of
Liberty we &s;hould now enjoy, nor do
we know what darkne&s;s of trouble and
confu&s;ion may ari&s;e again ere long. We
look &s;ometimes, for good, and lo, evil
cometh, and we wait for Light, and
there cometh darkne&s;s. For it is not for
us to know the times and &s;ea&s;ons,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job. 30. 26</NOTE> which
the Father hath put in his own power.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts. 1. 7.</NOTE>
We cannot make a Divine Almanack,
and define what day (in this great day)
it &s;hall be calm, &amp; what day tempe&s;tuous,
what day it &s;hall &s;hine, and what day
rain. We know not the Ordinances of
<PB N="139" REF="73">
Heaven, nor can we &s;et their Dominion
in the Earth; we cannot lift up our voices
to the Clouds, that abundance of Waters
may cover us; neither do do we know
the way where the Light dwelleth, and
as for Darkne&s;s we know not the place
thereof. Known unto God are all
things.</P>
<P><HI>Thirdly,</HI> This day is known to God,<MILESTONE N="3">
in the Hebrew Phra&s;e of <HI>knowing,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eju&s; modi|e&s;t quem curabit &amp; con&s;erva|bit Deus.</NOTE> which
includeth al&s;o the affections. And
therefore this day is &s;o known of the
Lord,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jun. Trem.</NOTE> that it is regarded and cared for
by him. His Eyes are upon it, that
nothing falls out in it, but by his &s;pecial
Providence. And though darkne&s;s hath
&s;ometimes increa&s;ed, and far prevailed
in this day, yet the Light was never ex|tingui&s;hed,
nor ever &s;hall: He hath &s;till
pre&s;erved a Lamp, as he did in the
Kingdom of <HI>David,</HI> at the lowe&s;t ebb
thereof. About one hundred and fifty
years ago, when darkne&s;s lay upon the
face of the Earth, pre&s;ently God com|manded
light to &s;hine out of darkne&s;s,
which hath continued and encrea&s;ed un|to
this very day.</P>
<P><HI>Fourthly,</HI> This day is known unto <MILESTONE N="4">
God, in re&s;pect of the termination of it,
which we know not. For what great
<PB N="140" REF="74">
mi&s;takes have there been, about the time
of Antichri&s;t's ruine, and the calling
of the <HI>Jews?</HI></P>
<P>We know in the general, that this
Day &s;hall have an Evening, and that in
the Evening it &s;hall be light: But when
this Evening &s;hall be, we know not; we
cannot take the Light and the Darkne&s;s
at the bound thereof. But God doth
perfectly know the Epocha of the reign
of the Bea&s;t, and his Number, 666. And
thus this day is known to the Lord, and
to the Lord only.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="5"><HI>Fifthly,</HI> In the evening of this day it
&s;hall be light.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="1"><HI>Fir&s;t</HI> then, What is this Evening? It
is the darke&s;t part of this Day, through|out
which there was &s;till more or le&s;s
Darkne&s;s intermixed with Light, as you
have heard, but now at the Evening-time
there &s;hall be more darkne&s;s than
in any of the preceding parts of the Day:
How el&s;e were it an Evening?</P>
<P>But how can it be,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Obj.</NOTE> that the Even|ing
&s;hould be &s;o dark, and yet that at
Evening-time it &s;hould be light?</P>
<P><PB N="141" REF="74">
1. In &s;ome re&s;pects it &s;hall be the
darke&s;t part of the Day,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sol. 1.</NOTE> for it will be
a time of very &s;ore Troubles, Wars,
and rumors of Wars, and great Com|motions.
For I cannot tell where to
fix this Evening, but under the <HI>Sixth</HI>
Vial, which &s;hal be poured out upon the
great River <HI>Euphrates,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 16. 12</NOTE> <HI>That the waters
thereof may be dried up, and the way of
the Kings of the Ea&s;t prepared:</HI> In
which words is held forth (as our be&s;t
Interpreters hold) the conver&s;ion of the
Jews.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Revel. 16. 13, 14.</NOTE> At what time <HI>The three unclean
Spirits, like Frogs, &s;hall go out of the
mouth of the Dragon, and out of the mouth
of the Bea&s;t, &amp; out of the mouth of the fal&s;e
Prophet, which are the &s;pirits of De|vils,
working Miracles, and going forth
to the Kings of the Earth, and of the
whole World, to gather them to the bat|tel
of the great Day of God Almighty.</HI>
And that mu&s;t needs be a very &s;ad E|vening,
e&s;pecially in re&s;pect of trouble,
great oppo&s;itions and commotions. For
there &s;hall be as terrible Signs and Pre|&s;ages
fore-running the erection of the
<HI>New-Jeru&s;alem,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 21. 9, 10, 11.</NOTE> as there were before
the De&s;truction of the <HI>Old. Hinc illae
Tenebrae.</HI> But how then &s;hall it be light
at this Evening time.</P>
<P><PB N="142" REF="75">
<HI>Secondly,</HI> In &s;ome re&s;pect therefore,
it &s;hall be the mo&s;t light&s;om part of the
Day hitherto. And indeed it will be the
light of the Evening, that will very much
occa&s;ion the Darkne&s;s of it: I mean the
Light of the Truth, that &s;hall then &s;hine
forth, &s;hall darken the Kingdom of the
Bea&s;t, and cau&s;e his Followers to gnaw
their very Tongues for pain.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 16. 10</NOTE> For that
is under the <HI>Fifth</HI> Vial; and if the
Kingdom be full of Darkne&s;s, it mu&s;t
needs be that Chri&s;t's Kingdom will
then be full of Light. For the Wit|ne&s;&s;es
will be <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="tech" EXTENT="1 letter">i&s;en long before the ef|fu&s;ion
of the <HI>Fifth</HI> and <HI>Sixth</HI> Vials, and
Antichri&s;t be greatly con&s;umed with
the breath of Chri&s;ts mouth, <HI>viz.</HI> in the
Preaching of the Go&s;pel. And there|fore
in this re&s;pect, it mu&s;t needs be a
light&s;ome Evening, and a time of greater
Light than ever &s;hined &s;ince the daies of
the Apo&s;tles.</P>
<P>Thus you &s;ee what a time the Evening
&s;hall be.</P>
<P>But &s;hall this Evening then determine
this Day,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Que&s;t.</NOTE> &s;o that the Conver&s;ion of the
Jews &s;hall become another Day?</P>
<P>No;<NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;w.</NOTE> But as this Day is one and the
&s;ame, and con&s;tant to it &s;elf, as we have
heard, &s;o &s;hall the Day of the Jews Con|ver&s;ion,
<PB N="143" REF="75">
and the time following be one
and the &s;ame day with this. But how?
Not in re&s;pect of Light and Darkne&s;s
intermixed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 11. 26.</NOTE> &s;o as in the Day before the
Evening, but in re&s;pect of one and the
&s;ame Covenant,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 3. 11.</NOTE> and way of Holy Ad|mini&s;tration
&s;till continued:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 12. 28</NOTE> For the
Ordinances now u&s;ed &s;hall be continued
to the coming of Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>For it is ob&s;ervable;</P>
<P><HI>Fir&s;t,</HI> That this dark Time is not
called, <HI>The Evening;</HI> but the <HI>Evening-time,
Quo tempore adve&s;pera&s;cere, &amp;
Nox e&s;&s;e &s;olet:</HI> At what time it begins
to be Evening; or, to look like an
Evening, and the Sun &s;eems to be &s;et|ting.
And therefore</P>
<P><HI>Se<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="tech" EXTENT="2 letters">ndly,</HI> Though it is called <HI>an</HI><MILESTONE N="2">
<HI>Evening-time,</HI> yet there is no Night &s;aid
to follow it. <HI>Sol occubuit, Nox nulla
&s;ecuta e&s;t.</HI> It is &s;uch an Evening, where|in
the Sun &s;etteth, and no Night &s;uc|ceedeth.
It is true, One would little
expect light in the Evening, e&s;pecially
more light than in the Day before. But
&s;uch an Evening-time is this, after which
&s;hineth the greate&s;t Light that ever was
&s;een &s;ince the daies of Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>You &s;ee then what this Evening is.</P>
<P><PB N="144" REF="76">
<MILESTONE N="2"><HI>Secondly;</HI> What is that Light, that
&s;hall &s;hine &s;o gloriou&s;ly at the Evening-time,
e&s;pecially at the end of it?</P>
<P>An&s;w. <HI>It is the &s;ame in kind and qua|lity
with that which &s;hined before this
Evening-time, only it differeth in de|grees.
For now the Light &s;hall excel,
and that &s;hall be fulfilled which was
&s;poken by the Prophet;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;ai. 60. 1, 2, 4.</NOTE> Ari&s;e, and
&s;hine, for thy Light is come, and the
Glory of the Lord is ri&s;en upon thee, <HI>&amp;c.
Now (as I may &s;ay) the light of the
Moon &s;hall be as the light of the Sun;
and the light of the Sun &s;hall be &s;even|fold,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;ai. 60. 19, 20.</NOTE>
<HI>as the light of &s;even Daies: Yea,</HI>
The Sun &s;hall be no more thy light by day,
neither for brightne&s;s &s;hall the Moon give
light unto thee: but the Lord &s;hall be un|to
thee an everla&s;ting Light, and thy
God thy glory. The Sun &s;hall no more go
down, neither the Moon withdraw it
&s;elf, for the Lord &s;hall be thine everla|&s;ting
light.</P>
<P>But wherein &s;hall this Light con&s;i&s;t?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Que&s;t.</NOTE></P>
<P><HI>Fir&s;t;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;w.</NOTE> There &s;hall be a great effu&s;ion
of the Spirit of God in tho&s;e times,
whereof a Pledge was given in the
Morning of this Go&s;pel-day. <HI>It &s;hall
come to pa&s;s in the la&s;t daies, that I will
<PB N="145" REF="76">
pour out my Spirit upon all Fle&s;h.</HI> And
the like we find in the words following
my Text; <HI>And it &s;hall be in that Day,
that living Waters &s;hall go out from Jeru|&s;alem,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Zech. 14. 8.</NOTE> &amp;c. And hereby is meant the
Spirit of God with his Gifts and Graces,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 4. 14. 3. 38, 39.</NOTE>
compared to living Waters.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 47. 1-6.</NOTE> And the&s;e
I take to be the &s;ame with <HI>Ezekiel</HI>'s wa|ters,
which ro&s;e at la&s;t to a very great
depth.</P>
<P><HI>Secondly,</HI> Hence it followeth, That <MILESTONE N="2">
there will be a very great light of
Knowledg in this Day, &s;o that there
&s;hall not be &s;o much need, as now there
is, for one to teach another; &s;aying,
<HI>Know the Lord,</HI> for they &s;hall all know
him from the lea&s;t to the greate&s;t. And
that &s;hall be the time e&s;pecially,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;ai. 11. 5</NOTE> when
<HI>The Earth &s;hall be full of the knowledg of
God, as the Waters cover the Sea.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Thirdly,</HI> This Light of Knowledg <MILESTONE N="3">
&s;hall have a great influence into the
Hearts and Lives of Men, who &s;hall
&s;hine eminently in Holine&s;s; in&s;omuch
that the in&s;cription upon the Fore-head
of the High-Prie&s;t &s;hall then be put up|on
the bells of the Hor&s;es, and the very
Pots in <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> and <HI>Judah</HI> &s;hall be
<HI>Holine&s;s to the Lord;</HI> Even Carters,
Cooks, and Kitchin-Maids &s;hall then
<PB N="146" REF="77">
&s;hine in purity of life, and there &s;hall
be no more the <HI>Canaanite</HI> in the Hou&s;e of
the Lord of Ho&s;ts.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zech. 14. 20, 21.</NOTE></P>
<P><MILESTONE N="4"><HI>Fourthly,</HI> That Day &s;hall &s;hine with
the Light of Peace, Tranquillity, and
Joy, for the&s;e go together, <HI>E&s;th.</HI> 8. 16.
Swords &s;hall then be turned into Plough-&s;hares,
and Spears into Pruning-hooks;
<HI>Nation &s;hall not lift up &s;word again&s;t Na|tion,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mic. 4. 3.</NOTE>
<HI>neither &s;hall they learn War any
more.</HI></P>
<P><MILESTONE N="5"><HI>Fifthly,</HI> In that Day there &s;hall be
the Light of Comfort; for this will fol|low
nece&s;&s;arily from all the former; and
the Con&s;olation will be both External
and Internal, <HI>viz.</HI> When the Spirit of
God, the Comforter, &s;hall be poured
out &s;o plentifully, and when the Spirit
&s;hall have his Day, as the Father and
the Son had theirs. And when Know|ledge,
Holine&s;s, and Peace &s;hall abound
on the Earth; when <HI>Turk</HI> and <HI>Pope,</HI>
and all that oppo&s;e the Kingdom of
Chri&s;t &s;hall be de&s;troyed, and Satan
bound and confined to the bottomle&s;s
Pit, during the <HI>Thou&s;and</HI> years. I &s;ay,
This mu&s;t needs be a very comfortable
time. Great then &s;hall be the peace of
<HI>Zions</HI> Children, when God &s;hall make
her an eternal Excellency, and a joy
<PB N="147" REF="77">
of many Generations, when violence
&s;hall no more be heard in her Land,
wa&s;ting and de&s;truction within her
Borders; but men &s;hall call her Walls,
<HI>Salvation;</HI> and her Gates, <HI>Prai&s;e;</HI> and
when they &s;hall come and &s;ing in the
height of <HI>Zion,</HI> and &s;hall flow together
to the goodne&s;s of the Lord, who &s;hall
turn the former Mourning of his Peo|ple
into Joy, and comfort them, and
cau&s;e them to rejoice from their
&s;orrow, For they &s;hall come to <HI>Zion</HI>
with Songs, and everla&s;ting Joy upon
their Heads, they &s;hall obtain joy and
gladne&s;s, and &s;orrow and &s;ighing &s;hall
flee away.</P>
<P>And thus you &s;ee the Light that &s;hall
be at the Evening-time, and the Do|ctrine
cleared in the &s;everal parts of it;
the <HI>U&s;es</HI> whereof now follow.</P>
<DIV2 TYPE="application">
<HEAD>U&s;es.</HEAD>
<P><HI>Fir&s;t.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1.</NOTE> What hath been here &s;aid an|&s;wereth
that Challenge of the <HI>Papi&s;ts;
Where was your Church before the Dayes
of</HI> Luther? We an&s;wer, <HI>Where the
Light was.</HI> For though great Dark|ne&s;s
was introduced by Antichri&s;t for
many years before the breaking out of
<PB N="148" REF="78">
the Light in the daies of <HI>Luther,</HI> yet
there hath been alwaies a mixture of
Light in the ob&s;cure&s;t times, and there
the true Church hath been. There have
been Witne&s;&s;es to the Truth ever &s;ince
the ri&s;e of the <HI>Man of Sin,</HI> and their
te&s;timony witne&s;&s;eth to the true Churh,
di&s;tinct from Antichri&s;t, in that it wit|ne&s;&s;eth
to the Light where the true
Church hath alwaies dwelt, which
Church &s;till profe&s;&s;ed again&s;t the Addi|tions
and Impo&s;itions of the <HI>Man of Sin,</HI>
hating and abominating his Idolatrous
Corruptions and Super&s;titious Inventi|ons,
and held to the Faith and Truth of
the Go&s;pel. And as this Church, like
the Light, did &s;till bear witne&s;s to it
&s;elf: So did the continual oppo&s;ition
made again&s;t the Light and Truth pro|fe&s;&s;ed,
bear witne&s;s to the &s;ame. And
therefore we remit the <HI>Papi&s;ts</HI> to their
own oppo&s;itions and per&s;ecutions, for
an An&s;wer to their Challenge. Yea,
and this true Church hath been vi&s;ible at
all times to them that are of the Light.
(For what can men in darkne&s;s &s;ee?)
The Day, you hear, hath been one all
along, and therefore the Sun did never
&s;et in it, and the Light hath &s;till been,
<HI>Index &s;ui &amp; tenebrarum,</HI> A di&s;coverer
<PB N="149" REF="78">
both of it &s;elf and of darkne&s;s. All
things that are reproved (or di&s;covered)
are made manife&s;t by the Light: For
what&s;oever doth make manife&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 5. 13.</NOTE> is Light.
And therefore the true Church hath
alwaies &s;een both her &s;elf and the fal&s;e
Church; but the fal&s;e (wanting Light)
could never &s;ee the true.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="application">
<HEAD>&V;&s;e 2.</HEAD>
<P>The Doctrine may &s;erve to &s;hew us
the parallel between the Day of the
Go&s;pel,<NOTE PLACE="marg">U&s;e 2.</NOTE> aud the Day of them that do
profe&s;s it, which is al&s;o intermixed with
Light and Darkne&s;s, &s;o that it is neither
Day nor Night. For,</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, <HI>There is Knowledg mingled
with Ignorance, and Truth with Er|rour,
even in the be&s;t of God's Chil|dren,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 13. 9, 10-12.</NOTE>
who know but in part, and pro|phe&s;ie
in part, till that which is perfect,
<HI>in another world,</HI> is come. For now
we &s;ee through a gla&s;s darkly, but then
face to face; now we know in part, but
then &s;hall we know, even as we are
known. <HI>Thus it is, and thus it will be,
till our Sun is &s;et, and then it will be
perfect light.</HI></P>
<P>2. There is al&s;o Trouble mingled
<PB N="150" REF="79">
with Tranquillity,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 6. 8, 9, 10.</NOTE> Adver&s;ity with Pro|&s;perity,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;ai. 50. 10.</NOTE>
Light of inward Peace and
Comfort with inward Doubts and
Darkne&s;s, whiles we live here below.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="application">
<HEAD>&V;&s;e 3.</HEAD>
<P>We are &s;hewed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">U&s;e 3.</NOTE> That the darke&s;t
time of the Go&s;pel-Day is yet to come.
For that time is to be expected in the
Evening, which is the darke&s;t part of
all the Day. Only this Darkne&s;s will
not be (as I conceive) in re&s;pect of the
withdrawing of the Light of Truth,
but of the Light of Peace and Tranquil|lity:
For at the Evening of this Day,
Men &s;hall look unto the Earth, and be|hold
Trouble, and Darkne&s;s, and Dim|ne&s;s
of Angui&s;h. And this will im|mediatly
precede the Conver&s;ion of the
Jews, through the oppo&s;ition of <HI>Turk</HI>
and <HI>Pope.</HI></P>
<P>For this will be the time when the
Kings of the Earth, and of the whole
world &s;hall be gathered together to the
battle of the great Day of God Almigh|ty.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joel 3. 10.</NOTE>
At what time Men &s;hall <HI>beat their
Plough-&s;hares into Swords, and their
Pruni<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="tech" EXTENT="2 letters"> hooks into Spears.</HI></P>
<P><PB N="151" REF="79">
But though that will be the darke&s;t
part of the Day, yet we mu&s;t ex|pect
gloomy times till then, though
with intermixed beams of Light, where|in
God will &s;till be &s;etting this over again&s;t
that, to the end that Men &s;hould find
nothing after him. And thus God
will Chequer out the Go&s;pel-day, till that
be fulfilled which is &s;poken by the Pro|phet
<HI>I&s;aiah,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 60. 1.</NOTE> <HI>Ari&s;e, &s;hine, for thy Light
is come, and the glory of the Lord is
ri&s;en upon thee.</HI> And &s;eeing the day
&s;hortneth, and the &s;hadows of the
Evening begin to be &s;tretched out, let
us expect no more Dayes of Tranquillity
and Peace, but Wars, and rumours of
Wars, Nation lifting up Sword again&s;t
Nation, and learning of War, the con|fu&s;ed
noi&s;e of Battle, and Garments rol|led
in blood; For the Man upon the
red Hor&s;e is gone forth, to whom pow|er
is given to take Peace from the Earth;
and nearer the Evening &s;till the darker.
That which concerns us, is to be in a
Po&s;ture of Humiliation and Prepared|ne&s;s,
for the reception of the&s;e dark
Di&s;pen&s;ations. Here is the Faith and
Patience of the Saints.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="application">
<PB N="152" REF="80">
<HEAD>U&s;e 4.</HEAD>
<P>Let what hath been &s;aid be for Exhor|tation.<NOTE PLACE="marg">U&s;e 4.</NOTE></P>
<P><MILESTONE N="1"> Fir&s;t, <HI>To pray for the Conver&s;ion of
God's ancient people, the Seed of</HI> Abra|ham,
I&s;aac, <HI>and</HI> Jacob, <HI>for who&s;e &s;akes
they are beloved. Till when, the Day
&s;hall not be clear nor dark, but then</HI> the
Sun &s;hall no more go down, nor the Moon
withdraw it &s;elf,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 60. 19, 20.</NOTE> but the Lord &s;hall be an
everlasting Light, &amp; the dayes of mourn|ing
be ended.<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 62. 6, 7.</NOTE> <HI>Therefore</HI> hold not your peace
day nor night, ye that are the Lord's Re|membrancers,
keep not &s;ilence, and give
him no re&s;t, till he e&s;tabli&s;h, and till he
make Jeru&s;alem a prai&s;e in the Earth.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="2"><HI>Secondly,</HI> Though you want the
Light of Peace, be thankful and im|prove
the Light of Truth. For it is a
mercy that we have this part of the Light,
though we want the other; and of the
two, it it is far the better, &s;eeing we
&s;hould part with Peace for Truth, but
not with Truth for Peace.</P>
<P>The Text &s;aith, <HI>It &s;hall come to pa&s;s
in that day, that the Light &s;hall not be
clear nor dark;</HI> or (as after the Origi|nal)
<HI>not be precious nor thickne&s;s,</HI> which
<PB N="153" REF="80">
&s;heweth us, that the Light of Truth is
precious, and though that of Peace is
&s;o likewi&s;e, yet not of equal value;
for Chri&s;t came not to &s;end Peace on the
Earth, but the Sword, by the publica|tion
of the Truth; which was of &s;o
great e&s;teem with Him, that He bore
witne&s;s to it to the Death, even when
He witne&s;&s;ed a good Confe&s;&s;ion before
<HI>Pontius Pilate</HI> concerning the truth of his
Kingly Power and Government, which
the Apo&s;tle adjureth us to attend, as of
great moment, though <HI>Pilate</HI> &s;lighted it,
&s;aying, <HI>What is Truth?</HI> For he did
not propound that que&s;tion for &s;ati&s;|faction,
in that he &s;tayed not for an
an&s;wer, but &s;hewed thereby, that he
looked upon truth, and particularly
that truth, concerning the Kingly Po|wer
and Government of Chri&s;t, as a
pittiful Cau&s;e whereon to hazard the
Life of Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>Oh! The Truth there confe&s;&s;ed by
Chri&s;t, is a precious Truth, a very great
Truth, and the Foundation of many
Truths, which Chri&s;t &s;ealed with his
Blood, which therefore we are adjured
in the &s;ight of God, who quickeneth all
things, and before Je&s;us Chri&s;t, who
before <HI>Pontius Pilate</HI> witne&s;&s;ed a good
<PB N="154" REF="81">
Confe&s;&s;ion, to keep without &s;pot, unre|bukeable
until the appearing of the Lord
Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>Let us then love the Truth, and this
Truth, and improve it.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="3"><HI>Thirdly,</HI> Seeing the Go&s;pel-day is not
equally light&s;ome in all the periods of it;
how thankful &s;hould we be, that we
were born in a Time and Place of Light?
For great was the Darkne&s;s, and little
the Light, about <HI>Six</HI> or <HI>Seven-&s;core</HI>
years pa&s;t, when <HI>England</HI> lay under
the Darkne&s;s of <HI>Antichri&s;tian</HI> Ignorance;
&s;ince when, it hath been turned from
the Valley of the &s;hadow of Death, in|to
a Valley of Vi&s;ion. This heighten|eth
the account of the Land we live in,
for the enjoyment of &s;o great a mercy,
as no other Nation this day hath en|joyed
the like, e&s;pecially as to the clear|ne&s;s
of the Light that hath &s;hined in it.
And though it will not be accompanied
with outward peace, yet it will not
want inward, if we keep clo&s;e to the
Light, and live up to it in this our
Day.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="4"><HI>Fourthly,</HI> This Day being thus inter|mixed
with Light and Darkne&s;s; Let
<PB N="155" REF="81">
us not wonder, nor be offended, that
there are &s;uch varieties of Per&s;ua&s;ions,
differing one from another, and there|fore
all of them cannot be of the Light,
whatever is pretended by them that do
profe&s;s unto them; but the Light hath
influence upon &s;ome of them, and Dark|ne&s;s
upon &s;ome other. So that God's
Heritage is unto him as a &s;peckled Bird,
which the Birds fly round about again&s;t
her: But however let us not fly one
again&s;t another, le&s;t we fly again&s;t our
&s;elves, whiles we have our &s;everal fea|thers
and colours in this one Bird; but
let us bear with one another as to par|ticular
Light and Darkne&s;s, &s;o long as
we are all enlightened with the &s;aving
Knowledg of the Truth.</P>
<P>We ought not indeed to be <HI>Scepticks</HI>
in Religion, but every one to be per|&s;waded
in his own mind, yet in &s;ome
things peradventure thou art in the
Light, and I am in the Dark; in o|thers,
the Day perhaps &s;hineth unto
me, and not to thee. Let us yield to
the Di&s;pen&s;ation of the Day, and keep
the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of
Peace; and if in any thing we are dif|ferently
minded, <HI>God &s;hall reveal even
this unto us: Neverthele&s;s, whereunto
<PB N="156" REF="82">
we have already attained,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 3. 15, 16.</NOTE> <HI>let us walk by
the &s;ame rule, let us mind the &s;ame thing.</HI>
For thus there are &s;ome in the Vi&s;ible
Church, who are be-mi&s;ted, when o|thers
are enlightened, and yet all agree
in Fundamentals, who ought to live in
Unity, and the Stronger to exerci&s;e
Charity towards the Weaker; that
God, who hath begun to enlighten them
in other things, will acquaint them in
due time with tho&s;e Truths, whereof at
pre&s;ent they are ignorant: For it is
God alone who revealeth the Light unto
us. And He that formeth the Light,
and createth Darkne&s;s, may in &s;ome
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 Darkne&s;s, as to our
&s;tates, yet as to particular apprehen&s;ions
in Truths of an inferiour nature, it may
be Day to one &amp; Night to another. And
thus it will be till the Evening cometh,
but then there &s;hall be one heart,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zech. 14. 9.</NOTE> and
one way, <HI>one Lord, and his Name one.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="application">
<HEAD>U&s;e 5.</HEAD>
<P>La&s;tly,<NOTE PLACE="marg">U&s;e 5.</NOTE> What hath been held forth,
<PB N="157" REF="82">
admini&s;treth a word of Comfort, <HI>That
this Go&s;pel-Day is known to the Lord,
from the Morning to the Evening of it.</HI>
He knoweth the Light and al&s;o the
Darkne&s;s, 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
Darkne&s;s, and to ob&s;cure the Day of
the Go&s;pel. For the Day is his, and
the Night is his, He formeth Light and
Darkne&s;s, and therefore he ordereth
the Rulers of the Darkne&s;s of this
world, that no more either of Igno|rance,
Error, Here&s;ie, Super&s;tition,
and Idolatry on the one &s;ide; or of Tri|bulation,
Per&s;ecution, and ho&s;tile Op|po&s;ition
to the Truth and Peace on the
other, &s;hall prevaile further than He
hath determined. And what&s;oever 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 &s;eeth the Darkne&s;s as
well as the Light of the Day, the dark|ne&s;s
and the light are both alike to Him.
He hath &s;een the Day from the Morn|ing
of it to this moment, and hath or|dered
and di&s;po&s;ed of the darkene&s;s of
<PB N="158" REF="83">
Ignorance, Error, Here&s;ie, and Ido|latry,
and likewi&s;e of Affliction and
Per&s;ecution in it, in times of Pagan,
<HI>Arrian,</HI> or Antichri&s;tian oppo&s;ition.
And his care of this Day is no le&s;s to|wards
the Evening of it, nor his love to
to it, &amp; abilitie to &s;ee to it, any le&s;s than
in the Morning, or Noon of it. He that
&s;aid, <HI>I have &s;een I have &s;een the Af|fliction
of my People which are in Egypt,
and have heard their cry, by rea&s;on of
their Task-ma&s;ters; for I know their &s;or|rows;</HI>
knows all the Sorrows and Suf|ferings
of his People in this Hour of the
Go&s;pel-day. It was a very dark Night
with <HI>I&s;rael</HI> in <HI>Egypt,</HI> when God &s;pake
the&s;e words to <HI>Mo&s;es;</HI> for then was ful|filled
in the Truth, what was &s;ignified
to <HI>Abraham</HI> in the Type, when an hor|rour
of great Darkne&s;s fell upon him.
And yet,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 15. 12</NOTE> I have &s;een, I have &s;een, and
I know, &s;aith the Lord, in the mid&s;t of
that horrid Darkne&s;s.</P>
<P>And therefore however the Day
prove, and Clouds and darkne&s;s ari&s;e,
as perhaps they may do, marvel not at
the matter, for he that is higher than
the highe&s;t regardeth. Men and Devils
may be high, but God is higher, yea,
higher than the highe&s;t, which is a de|gree
<PB N="159" REF="83">
above the Superlative. God hath a
care of his Church and Go&s;pel, &amp; of &s;uch
as Preach it, and profe&s;s it, only it is our
duty to be humbled for the &s;ins of Chur|ches,
Mini&s;ters, Profe&s;&s;ors, which may
otherwi&s;e the more darken and imbitter
the Day that we are now entring into,
which calleth us to Prayer, Humiliati|on,
Mourning, and Reformation, where|in
if God a&s;&s;i&s;t us, it &s;hall be well in
the end; <HI>and though weeping may en|dure
for a time, yet joy cometh in the even|ing.
For it &s;hall come to pa&s;s, that at
Evening-time it &s;hall be Light.</HI></P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</GROUP>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
