The Privilege of the Saints on Earth, Application 4 – Application 5
Uſe 4.
Let what hath been ſaid be for Exhortation.Uſe 4.
Firſt, To pray for the Converſion of God's ancient people, the Seed of Abraham, Iſaac, and Jacob, for whoſe ſakes they are beloved. Till when, the Day ſhall not be clear nor dark, but then the Sun ſhall no more go down, nor the Moon withdraw it ſelf,Iſa. 60. 19, 20. but the Lord ſhall be an everlasting Light, & the dayes of mourning be ended.Iſa. 62. 6, 7. Therefore hold not your peace day nor night, ye that are the Lord's Remembrancers, keep not ſilence, and give him no reſt, till he eſtabliſh, and till he make Jeruſalem a praiſe in the Earth.
Secondly, Though you want the Light of Peace, be thankful and improve 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, ſeeing we ſhould part with Peace for Truth, but not with Truth for Peace.
The Text ſaith, It ſhall come to paſs in that day, that the Light ſhall not be clear nor dark; or (as after the Original) not be precious nor thickneſs, which ſheweth us, that the Light of Truth is precious, and though that of Peace is ſo likewiſe, yet not of equal value; for Chriſt came not to ſend Peace on the Earth, but the Sword, by the publication of the Truth; which was of ſo great eſteem with Him, that He bore witneſs to it to the Death, even when He witneſſed a good Confeſſion before Pontius Pilate concerning the truth of his Kingly Power and Government, which the Apoſtle adjureth us to attend, as of great moment, though Pilate ſlighted it, ſaying, What is Truth? For he did not propound that queſtion for ſatiſfaction, in that he ſtayed not for an anſwer, but ſhewed thereby, that he looked upon truth, and particularly that truth, concerning the Kingly Power and Government of Chriſt, as a pittiful Cauſe whereon to hazard the Life of Chriſt.
Oh! The Truth there confeſſed by Chriſt, is a precious Truth, a very great Truth, and the Foundation of many Truths, which Chriſt ſealed with his Blood, which therefore we are adjured in the ſight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Jeſus Chriſt, who before Pontius Pilate witneſſed a good Confeſſion, to keep without ſpot, unrebukeable until the appearing of the Lord Jeſus Chriſt.
Let us then love the Truth, and this Truth, and improve it.
Thirdly, Seeing the Goſpel-day is not equally lightſome in all the periods of it; how thankful ſhould we be, that we were born in a Time and Place of Light? For great was the Darkneſs, and little the Light, about Six or Seven-ſcore years paſt, when England lay under the Darkneſs of Antichriſtian Ignorance; ſince when, it hath been turned from the Valley of the ſhadow of Death, into a Valley of Viſion. This heighteneth the account of the Land we live in, for the enjoyment of ſo great a mercy, as no other Nation this day hath enjoyed the like, eſpecially as to the clearneſs of the Light that hath ſhined in it. And though it will not be accompanied with outward peace, yet it will not want inward, if we keep cloſe to the Light, and live up to it in this our Day.
Fourthly, This Day being thus intermixed with Light and Darkneſs; Let us not wonder, nor be offended, that there are ſuch varieties of Perſuaſions, differing one from another, and therefore all of them cannot be of the Light, whatever is pretended by them that do profeſs unto them; but the Light hath influence upon ſome of them, and Darkneſs upon ſome other. So that God's Heritage is unto him as a ſpeckled Bird, which the Birds fly round about againſt her: But however let us not fly one againſt another, leſt we fly againſt our ſelves, whiles we have our ſeveral feathers and colours in this one Bird; but let us bear with one another as to particular Light and Darkneſs, ſo long as we are all enlightened with the ſaving Knowledg of the Truth.
We ought not indeed to be Scepticks in Religion, but every one to be perſwaded in his own mind, yet in ſome things peradventure thou art in the Light, and I am in the Dark; in others, the Day perhaps ſhineth unto me, and not to thee. Let us yield to the Diſpenſation of the Day, and keep the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace; and if in any thing we are differently minded, God ſhall reveal even this unto us: Nevertheleſs, whereunto we have already attained, Phil. 3. 15, 16.let us walk by the ſame rule, let us mind the ſame thing. For thus there are ſome in the Viſible Church, who are be-miſted, when others are enlightened, and yet all agree in Fundamentals, who ought to live in Unity, and the Stronger to exerciſe Charity towards the Weaker; that God, who hath begun to enlighten them in other things, will acquaint them in due time with thoſe Truths, whereof at preſent they are ignorant: For it is God alone who revealeth the Light unto us. And He that formeth the Light, and createth Darkneſs, may in ſome things make it Day to one man, and night to another. We are all (who truly fear the Lord) Children of the Light, and of the Day, and not of the Night, nor of Darkneſs, as to our ſtates, yet as to particular apprehenſions in Truths of an inferiour nature, it may be Day to one & Night to another. And thus it will be till the Evening cometh, but then there ſhall be one heart,Zech. 14. 9. and one way, one Lord, and his Name one.
Uſe 5.
Laſtly,Uſe 5. What hath been held forth, adminiſtreth a word of Comfort, That this Goſpel-Day is known to the Lord, from the Morning to the Evening of it. He knoweth the Light and alſo the Darkneſs, and who are in the one, and who in the other, and how far. And therefore He knoweth what is done by the Children of the Night to introduce Darkneſs, and to obſcure the Day of the Goſpel. For the Day is his, and the Night is his, He formeth Light and Darkneſs, and therefore he ordereth the Rulers of the Darkneſs of this world, that no more either of Ignorance, Error, Hereſie, Superſtition, and Idolatry on the one ſide; or of Tribulation, Perſecution, and hoſtile Oppoſition to the Truth and Peace on the other, ſhall prevaile further than He hath determined. And whatſoever He hath appointed to be the portion of this Day, as to the darkening of it, yet it is our Comfort, that the Day is known to the Lord, and that He will have a care of it. For he ſeeth the Darkneſs as well as the Light of the Day, the darkneſs and the light are both alike to Him. He hath ſeen the Day from the Morning of it to this moment, and hath ordered and diſpoſed of the darkeneſs of Ignorance, Error, Hereſie, and Idolatry, and likewiſe of Affliction and Perſecution in it, in times of Pagan, Arrian, or Antichriſtian oppoſition. And his care of this Day is no leſs towards the Evening of it, nor his love to to it, & abilitie to ſee to it, any leſs than in the Morning, or Noon of it. He that ſaid, I have ſeen I have ſeen the Affliction of my People which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry, by reaſon of their Task-maſters; for I know their ſorrows; knows all the Sorrows and Sufferings of his People in this Hour of the Goſpel-day. It was a very dark Night with Iſrael in Egypt, when God ſpake theſe words to Moſes; for then was fulfilled in the Truth, what was ſignified to Abraham in the Type, when an horrour of great Darkneſs fell upon him. And yet,Gen. 15. 12 I have ſeen, I have ſeen, and I know, ſaith the Lord, in the midſt of that horrid Darkneſs.
And therefore however the Day prove, and Clouds and darkneſs ariſe, as perhaps they may do, marvel not at the matter, for he that is higher than the higheſt regardeth. Men and Devils may be high, but God is higher, yea, higher than the higheſt, which is a degree above the Superlative. God hath a care of his Church and Goſpel, & of ſuch as Preach it, and profeſs it, only it is our duty to be humbled for the ſins of Churches, Miniſters, Profeſſors, which may otherwiſe the more darken and imbitter the Day that we are now entring into, which calleth us to Prayer, Humiliation, Mourning, and Reformation, wherein if God aſſiſt us, it ſhall be well in the end; and though weeping may endure for a time, yet joy cometh in the evening. For it ſhall come to paſs, that at Evening-time it ſhall be Light.
FINIS.
End of the text · William Hooke, The Privilege of the Saints on Earth (1673)