The three most eminent works of God, in and about his children, in the days of old, were his giving his people the law, and settling them in the land of Canaan: his recovering them from the Babylonish captivity; and, his promulgation of the gospel unto them. In these three works, he em- ployed three most eminent persons ; Moses in the first, Daniel in the second, and John Baptist in the third, and neither of them saw the work accomplished, wherein they were so eminently employed. Moses died the year before the people entered Canaan: Daniel, some few years before the foundation of the temple, and John Baptist in the first year of the baptism of our Saviour, when the gospel which he began to preach, was to be published in its beauty and glory. They had all but their appointed seasons, though their abilities were eminent: who like unto them? and their em- ployment excellent, what like it in the earth? Yet at their seasons, they must go their ways to rest, and lie down, ' till
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they stand in their lot at the end of the days.' The reasons of which are,
1. The general condition of their mortality doth require that it should be so : ' It is appointed to all men once to die ;' Heb. ix. 27. There is a stable law fixed concerning the sons of men, that is not upon the account of any usefulness here to be dispensed withal, * The number of our months are with God ; he hath fixed our bounds, which we shall not pass:' our days are as the days of an hireling, that have a certain, prefixed, and determinate end: their strength is not the strength of stones, neither is their flesh of brass, that they should endure for ever: See Job xiv. 10 — 12. This, I say, requires that there should be an appointed season for their employment, for it is so for their lives : and yet there is more in it than this : for in the course of five thousand years, God hath exempted tvy^o persons by his sovereignty from the condition of mortality, who walked with him in their genera- tions. So that the bounds fixed to them were not upon the account of their lives, but merely of the work they had in hand.
2. God doth it, that he may be the more eminently seen in the carrying on his own works, which in their season he commits to them. Should he leave his work always on one hand, it would seem at length to be the work of the instru- ment only. Though the people opposed Moses at the first, yet it is thought they would have worshipped him at the last : and therefore God buried him where his body could not be found. Yet indeed he had but the lot of most, who faithfully serve God in their generations: despised whilst they are present, idolized when they are gone. I do not know of any great work, that the Lord carried out the same persons to be the beginners and enders of. He gave ihem all their seasons, that his power and wisdom might the more evidently appear in carrying it from one hand to another.
3. God makes room as it were in his vineyard, for the bud- ding, flourishing, and fruit-bearing of other plants which he hath planted. Great employments call for great exercise of graces. Even in employments in and about providential things, there is the exercise of spiritual grace ; as much faith and prayer, as much communion with God, walking be- fore him, and wrestling with him, may be used in casting
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down of armies, as in setting up of churches : God exerciseth all the graces of his, in the work he calleth them out unto. He principles them by faith and fellowship with himself for their employment ; and therefore he gives each individual but his appointed season, that others in whose hearts he hath lodged the same spirit wherewith they are endued, may come forth, and shew the fruits th-ereof. Daniel lieth down in the dust, in rest and peace, and why so? The spirit of prophecy is poured out on Haggai and Zechariah, &c. they must also carry on this work, and ' bear my name be- fore my people.' Consider the use of this.
Use 1. Of exhortation unto all that are employed in the work of God, especially such as with eminent abilities are engaged in eminent employments, you have but your allotted season for your work : your day hath its close, its evening ; your night cometh, wherein none can work : 'The grave cannot praise the Lord; death cannot celebrate him ; it is the living, the living that are fitted for that work ;' Isa. xxxviii. 18, 19. It is true, men may allot you your season, and all in vain, but your times are in the hand of God ; that which he hath appointed out unto you shall stand ; be you never so excellent, never so useful, yet the days of your service ' are as the days of an hireling,' that will expire at the appointed season : be wise then to improve the time that is in your hands ; this is the praise of a man, the only praise whereof in this world he is partaker, that he doth the will of God, before he fall asleep ; that he faithfully serves his generation, until he be no more. For a dying man to wrestle with the rebukes of God, and the complaints of his own conscience, for meeting with the end of his days, before he hath attained the midst of his duty, is a sad condition. You have your season, and you have but your season, neither can you lie down in peace, until you have some persuasion that your work as well as your life is at an end ; whatever then you find to do, do it with all your strength, for there is neither wisdom nor power in the grave whither you are goiup- ; Eccles. ix. 10.