Gospel Surfet And might not the Lord justly take us down and make us know the worth of the Gospel by the want of it Since we have plaid with the light of Truth might he not make us feel the fire Might not God lay down his Basket and take up his Ax and because we are not fit for fruit and building make us fit fuel for burning Have not the Ambassadors of the everlasting Gospel had as hard lot in England as they had in Sodom Who cannot but admire that when England is as chaffy as Sodom that we ave not the same flames as Sodom had Is not this salvation that when wee have been weary of God that yet God is not weary of us That when we have refused to be a holy Nation that yet we are a Nation That when our sins are the sins of Sodom that our sufferings are not the sufferings of Sodom God hath lighted up a flaming Candle of Justice in Sodom the Lord grant that luke-warm England may yet see to read her salvation by it Mercy always swims in Justice but with us Justice seems to be drowned in Mercy 2 From this Ladder admire that we are not made an Egypt God lately turned our waters into blood our Sea was then a red Sea indeed What a mercy is it that English darkness is not a proverb as well as Egyptian darkness England of old was called Albion from the white Rocks and Scotland as some Criticks fancy signifies a Land of darkness But how quickly can the Lord turn Albion into Scotia England into Scotland and Scotland into England we are their neighbors already We have much liberty to bless God Oh that there we not so much liberty to blaspheme God! We have more liberty than either we have deserved or been thankful for There was a time when the Saints in England had Conscience without liberty we have now much liberty of Conscience the Lord grant the time may never come that we should have liberty without Conscience Liberty and nothing else but Licentiousness and Atheism We had once hearts to bless God but wanted opportunity Oh that now we have opportunities we did not want hearts As when a doubting Christian complained that he had no interest in God he was such a stranger to God a Preacher of the Gospel replied But what will you take for that interest though as you think little you have in God not a thousand worlds said the doubting Christian Saints in England what will you take for that liberty you have Now your eyes see your Teachers what if they were all shut up in corners now the doors of the Congregations q.d. are open what if it were past Sermon-time and past Repentance-time what if the silver bell of the Gospel should no more sound in England Oh that we had as much conscience of liberty as we have liberty of conscience That of Omnium Deorum among the Romans of Omnium Sanctorum amongst the Papists of Omnium Sectarum here in England are monstrous Every variation from unity is a step to nullity If ever England should come from one Religion to all and we are in the high way we shall quickly go from all Religion to none 3 From this Ladder admire that we are not made a Germany Instead of the sword of War you have the Scepter of Peace instead of Garments rowled in blood and the noyse of Arms you have the blood of Christ sprinkled on your Garments Oh trample it not under feet Instead of the roaring Cannons you have the sweet sound of Gospel-Ordinances God hath but shaken his rod over us while he hath broken their backs while we have been let blood he hath even let them bleed to death God bid David chuse which of the three plagues of War Famine Pestilence he would have but God puts it to our choyce which of those three plagues we will not have inflicted on us Though God hath sheathed up his sword yet he holds it still in his hand therefore fear What salvation is this that parents are not drinking the blood of their ch ldren to quench their thirst and eat the flesh of their children to satisfie their hunger 4 From hence admire that we are not made a Babylon Pray pray that the Bibles may be opened in Spain and yet bless God that there are not Pad-locks hung on them in England Pray mightily that Antichrist may fall abroad and forget not to bless God that though there be much of Rome in England that yet England is not Rome that none can go to Market that none can buy or sel without the mark of the Beast Revel 13.17 either in their right hands or on their foreheads It is the opinion of some good men that the Protestant Profession shall be over-spread with Antichristianism again and that then the Lord will extraordinarily awaken them from their sleep and actively engage them against Babylon But I wish though we have looked on Babylon that we may not so lust after Babylon Spiritual longings in this kind are dangerous but I hope God will prevent Sions miscarriage in the birth of Reformation The Lord grant if we go to Rome it may not be to dote on her but to destroy her There is an old Prophecy that Antichrist shall never overcome Paris nor Venice nor London Let us not be secure for if his Soul have entertainment here his Body will not tarry long after But some may say What Salvation hath the Lord wrought for us what fruit is there of all the blood shed in England is not our condition as bad as ever nay in some sense worse the Saints were united are they not now divided how many Professors are turned Apostates nay Persecutors and Prophane This is sad indeed and to be lamented yet as the Disciples did not wish the blood in Christs veins again though they were distressed by his death So I dare not say though in our Distractions and among the Blasphemies of this age Man hath lost his way that God hath lost his end This is the support That as God hath laid the Foundation so he will carry on the Building that as the Great Turk makes a Bridge of the Bodies of his Souldiers to scale the wals of a Garrison So the Lord knows how to make his glory to rise by the fall of ours and to give life to his Cause by the death of his followers Secondly From this Ladder we may take many sweet Prospects forward on what God will do more apparently for Sion in the world There are eight famous Prospects The first Prospect from Jacobs Ladder is Gods Jacobs may foresee the abundance of knowledge yet to be poured out Isa 36 26. Isa 52.8 Isa 11. Knowledge shall abound as waters do upon the Sea Knowledge is now but at a low Ebb in comparison of that high Tide that shal flow hereafter Knowledge shall abound as the Sea intensively and extensively it shall more increase and be more clear As
shall separate us from the love of Christ Tribulation Distress Famine or Sword will they no I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able let them do their worst to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Athletae sumus legitimè certandum est ante ad bravium contenditur postea ad coronam gravis aestus solis sed speciosa tolerantia ibi colligitur pulvis ubi palma proponitur nemo nitidus coronatur pulverulentum decet victoria Ambr. The second place you may read in 1 Cor. 15. the latter end as the Apostle saith pray always so I say wrestle always never let us give over wrestling against pride till we get humility never give over wrestling against hardness of heart till we get tenderness There is a Fourth Combate of Sion against the world against Antichrist of which you may read a famous description Rev. 19.12 13 14 15 16. before I speak of the power of Prayer against the publick enemies of the Gospel I shall briefly because of such an opportunity speak of the vanity and madness of Duels or single Combates between man and man It was an old custom that men for tryal of their Titles or to purge themselves of some defamations would hire their Champions to try it out at swords point and a continued practice for men to challenge one another into the field and that upon slight or small occasions they being afraid to be accompted Cowards with men and therefore are proudly bold with and daring to God The Romans and Albans did set out each of them three Champions that by their adventure the general cause of both Nations should be swaied which of them should have Dominion over the other and which of them should be in subjection The first challenge of Duel wee find saith D.H. in his contemplations came out of the mouth of an Vncircumcised Philistim yet was that in open war and tended to the saving of many lives by adventuring one or two This Duel between David and Goliah was doubtless Occisor lethaliter peccat occisus aeternaliter perit B. ad milit Temp. c. 2. by a singular instinct of God to glorifie his power and to make David a type of Christ more famous and whosoever imitateth nay surpasseth him in Challenge to private Duel in the attempt partaketh of his uncircumcision though he should overcome and of his manner of punishment if in such private Combates he cast away his life There are three arguments against this practice among swaggering Gallants 1 From the consideration of the Law of God or of God for such a trial is to go from the ordinary lawful way and to take a way that is unlawful and so to do evil but we must not do the least evil of sin to avoid the greatest evil of punishment The onely lawful way for conviction in doubtful cases being either from the confession of the Delinquent himself or the testimony of Witnesses for things hidden and unknown are to be left to him that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the searcher of hearts Many times these Quarrels proceed only from revenge now it is the Prerogative of God to revenge vengeance is mine We cannot challenge men but we must challenge God who justly challengeth to himself both to take vengeance and to give success 1 Joh. 3. 12 15. No murderer as Cain hath eternal life Cain was the Devils Patriarch and yet though he be dead I wish he did not live in his Heirs and Executors 2 From the consideration of the Devil He is called a murderer from the beginning yea as soon as the Devil as a Devil had a beginning he was a Murderer Quam multi sunt qui clavum ejus sanguine rubentem Abelis ut rem sacram adhac circumferunt venerantur Buch. This roaring Lyon delights in blood and is the Instigator to these Monomachies and thus at his pleasure taketh two at once in his net the Murtherer by his sin of murther and the Murthered by his sin of hatred wherein he dyed It is here as in a Cock-pit for as there the Master of the Cock-pit or one that hath Cocks sets two Cocks a fighting on purpose to make him sport and when he hath suffered them to fight to the death of one or both of them he Sups with their bodies So the Devil abets such cruel Conflicts that he may feast himself with the souls of the Combatants in his Parlor in hell They write of Phydias that he painted the image of Minerva and his own image so cunningly together that none could deface or mar the image of Minerva but he must likewise deface and mar the image of Phydias neither could any mar the image of Phydias but he must also mar the image of Minerva So the Lord hath so cunningly and curiously interwoven or joyned his image in man that whosoever mars his image defaceth the man and whosoever kills the man defaceth his image Thirdly From the consideration of the Combatants of their folly and guilt These sin not onely against God in presuming on their strength but also against their Brethren in seeking their destruction and against themselves by a voluntary thrusting themselves into danger without any necessity at all And it may be very unequal he that is worthy to be condemned being strongest or most expert in the use of his weapon and the innocent weakest and most inexpert Further If thou art stain thy self thou dyest a murderer and if thou prevail thou livest a murderer but whether thou live or dye conquer or be conquered it is not good to be a Murderer And lastly It is found for the most part by experience that the Challengers are worsted as appears in the case of Abner and Joab Asahel and Abner Abishai and Ishbibenob Sibbechai and Saph 2 Sam. 23.5 c. Insaniunt planè illi qui ut generosi nomen retineant homicidae cognomen non reformidant qui ut falsae infamiae suspitionem fugiant in ipsum in Gehennae barathrum insiliunt Daven in Col. c. 3. v. 13. Christians prevail with the Almighty and you are in some sense Almighty for so saith the Apostle I can do all things but through Christ that strengthens me How admirably doth the clay-Creature by faith prevail with the great Potter Former of all things Prayer is Sions Messenger Preces Christum licet festinantem remorantur Mat. 20.32 and Post and flies up to Heaven in a moment brings supplies for the Church it marcheth through all the Armies in Europe and over all the quarters of hell without let or molestation and scorns to be retarded by Guards or hindred by examination My cry says the Prophet came before God even into his ears Hab. 2.1 The push of Moses prayers did more than all the Pikes of Israel Prayer is
destroy them I that he will But whence was it that he did not destroy them Ezek. 29.4 The Lord put an hook on his Nostrils and a bridle on his Jaws The Dark Lanthorn of Faux is famous the Match was ready to give fire to have blown up all Uno actis tactis but God wet the Powder The dark side of the Lanthorn was to man the light side toward God Afflictions are Gods blood-letting and by them he not onely cures but prevents diseases David had gone astray if he had not stumbled As distracted a Nation as England is we had perished if we had not even perished It was a good mans contemplation on this Ladder Lord thou hast pardoned those sins I have committed and those sins which by thy Grace I have not committed How many Souls had never gone into Heaven if God had not carried them by the gates of Hell How many sinners had been undone indeed if they had not been undone in their own sense Let Gods Jacobs lie at the foot of the Ladder and admire what hardness of heart hath God prevented what an hard heart hath God softened how miserable in sin had I been if God had not had mercy on me and how miserable notwithstanding all my sense of his love and power over my corruptions should I be if yet God should not have mercy on me God is not onely to be admired for bringing good out of evill but for preventing evil and doing good Great God! no sooner born but we begin Babels accurs'd Foundation by our sin Our thoughts our words our deeds are ever yeelding The sad Materials of our sinful building Should not thy Grace prevent it it would even Rise and rise up untill it reacht to Heaven Lord ere our building shall begin to show Confound our language and our building too And so in a publique sense when the overthrow of Religion is determined at mans Council-Table it is not determined at Gods Council-Table mens designs are not so deep but the Lords designs are deeper And though Satans enterprises are in the Dark to us yet they are in the light to God God often blows up and undermines the malice of men for his Children who sometimes neither feel nor hear the blow O Lord how often are we delivered from visible dangers but how oftner from invisible dangers Remember for ever that the Devil and Men may often level their Ordnance against Sion but they shall never do Execution till God say Give fire Deus justè patitur quod nos non justè agimus 2 In this Ladder there is a permitting Providence The Devils are kept in chains as Jude speaks In chains not onely of Justice but also of Providence that they can neither torment the Body or torment the Soul without commission or permission from God God did not allow yet he suffered the treachery of Judas and the cruelty of Pilat toward Christ Act. 2.23 The Apostle chargeth Christs death on them and yet brings in the fore-knowledge and counsel of God The Father delivered the Son the Son delivered himself out of love Judas delivered Christ for money the Jews crucified Christ out of malice so that in the same tradition God is to be magnified and man condemned because in the same thing which they did the cause was not the same for which they did it God permits weeds in his Garden and tares in his Field Why may some say doth not God prevent the sprouting and growing of such blasphemies and errors as range up and down and rage in England How says unbelief can the Lord be tender of his Flowers his Saints and Truths and yet be content to see such thorns and weeds to grow about them Remember That God is not bound to do all he can and how could God be Almighty if he did all hee could and that when the Wheat is ripe as Luther speaks the Husband-man will burn the Tares If a man should find fault with the shadowing of a picture in a Table it would be answered Let not the Cobler go beyond his Last for the dimming sets off the bright and the art of the Painter could not be perceived without diversity of colours A Father holds a Lyon in chains Rugiat Leo quantum vult tantum non fugiat Ovis Christi the child trembles for fear lest the Lyon should devour him but the Father suffers the child to tremble but will not suffer the Lyon to devour the Saints in England are afraid for the Lyon of Hell roars indeed our sins have both lengthened his chain and opened his month but let them consider the Lyon is not so powerful but their Father is as pittiful and that God that suffers the Lyon to roar will not suffer the Lyon to tear Satan though politick cannot slip his collar though powerful cannot break his prison The Devill hath men to be his prisoners but the Devil himself is Gods prisoner Providence binds Satan over to the Peace to his quiet behavior Christ hath the keys of Hell at his girdle Hell is under his conquest and therefore under his command Rev. 20.2 an allusion to Conquerors who having taken a Fort the keyes are presently surrendred to them Diabolus contra sanctos tempestatem movet sedipse naufragium patitur This Ladder of Providence reaches as far as Hell and extends to the utmost line of the Devils Kingdom Satan cannot enkindle one fire in Sion if Providence did not suffer him to go up and down to gather sticks The whole Creation Men and Devils though they are not all under the protection yet they are within the Precincts of Providence and let us not murmur at Gods permissive Providence but consider God judgeth it more for his glory to bring good out of evil than not to suffer evil to be at all and God would never suffer evill to be if he could not bring good out of it The Almighty doth not approve of all he permits and therefore let none undertake to reprove him for what he permits there being nothing that is permitted which shall not in the end prove for Sions comfort and his glory For either thy command or thy permission Lay hands on all they are the right and left The first puts on with speed and expedition The other curbs sins stealing-pace and thest Nothing escapes them both all must appear And be dispos'd and drest and tun'd by thee Who sweetly temperst all If we could hear The skil and art what musick would it be Plures sunt gratiae privativae quam positivae 3 In this Ladder there is a restraining Providence Thus far shall the Designs of men and Devils go and no further That 's the authoritative Dialect of the Almighty God will shake the World Nahum 3. as a Fig-tree men shall neither have leaves to cover their nakedness nor fruit to satisfie their hunger the Lord can make the Saints in beleeving not to care as we say a fig for the
Glory If God did not willingly suffer sin to be of necessity sin could not be The Lord fulfils his own good purposes by the wicked purposes of others man practiseth sin and God punisheth sin with sin so as God is neither to be blamed or man excused Deus non vult malum vult hoc ipsum fieri malum God hardâ—ned Pharaohs heart but says the Text Pharaoh first hardned his own heart When man hardens his own heart morally t is just with God to harden it judicially Let Pharaoh alone says God let him take his pleasure and pastime and when he hath hardned his heart by Malice I will harden it in Justice I will set a seal to his ruin They shall be given over to beleeve lâ—es 2 Thes 2.11 A dreadful woe against sinners in these daies of Gospel light as if the Lord should have said Sinners I have proffered you my Love I have proffered you my Sons blood I have proffered you the Truths of Salvation I have said this is my way De iis qui faciunt quae non vulâ— Deus facit ipse quae vult and it is your wisdom to walk in it now because you have refused to bear my yoke and to entertain the Gospel there shall come false Propheâ—s and say Heaven is but a fable and Hel-fire was but a politick invention to keep men in awe and you shall beleeve them There shall come some like Angels of light though they are Devils incarnate and they shall with a seeming Mortification cry down real Mortification and with a plausible converâ—ation preach down preaching and tell you that a strict life and repentance are out of date and required onely to scare men from their freedom and you shall beleeve all this Jer. 4 10. Rom. 11.8 God now sends us as the Jews of old a spirit of slumber And Because we will not be given up to Truâ—h God gives us over to Error It is one thing to have Error and it is another thing to be given over to Error which is not onely to have and hold but to be had and held of Error He that will be unâ—ust let him be unjust still As the Judge at Athens gave condemned Malefactors poisonous Hemlock to drink for punishment of their misdeeds so God as a just Judge punisheth our former barrenness and impenitency under the means of Grace with giving of hundreds over to the noysom Opinions and monstrous Blasphemies of this age It is well for Gods Jacobs that the God of Jacob stands at the top of the Ladder Tolle maliciam fratrum Josephi simul pâ—riâ—et dispensationem Dei or else the Gospel would no longer stand but fall God knows how to bring Glory out of all this Disgrace What more heinous act than the treachery of Judas and yet take away the treachery of Judas and you take away the Cross of Christ take away the Cross of Christ and you take away our Salvation Secondly The Ladder of Providence God is visible in all Afflictions Personal and publick First In Personal Afflictions and that 1 In Death Job 14.5 Thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass That hand that stirs up our feathers casteth us down on our Bed The Laws of Nature say to Death Death go to the wrinkled face to the dry bones to the dry Brests meddle not with this young Man touch not this beautiful woman But Death is in Commission from Providence and must observe its commands It is appointed for all men once to die that is once Gods Decrees for the mortality of man are not made at random but in particular and they are irreversible Zenacherib shall not be slain in the field nor by the Angel of the Lord which smote a great part of his Army but at home in his own City and in the Temple of his Idol and by the hands of his Sons that sprang from his loyns Sisera shall not die in an Army nor by the hands of a man a Bow shall not be bent nor a Sword drawn against him the Lord hath reserved him to a tent Tulisti Domine patrem quem ipse dederas non conâ—ristor quod recipisti ago gratias quod dedisti to a ten-penny-nail to be driven into his head by the hands of a feeble woman The Tyrants of the world have their names already in the immortal Bill of mortality and their days are determined by the fatal line of Providence So long shall Pharaoh oppress the Israelites and no longer So high shall Nimrod build his Babel and no higher So far shall Nero and his moral Successors prosper in their persecutions and no further Death knocks as often at the door of the young man as of the old there are as many young skuls as it is observed in Golgotha as old The Sithe of mortality mows down the Lillies of the Crowns as well as the grass of the field our last day stands the rest run â—stat sua cuique dies The bullets flye in the wars at the direction not of Chance but of Providence Providence says to the Cannon strike such an Officer such a Souldier wound him onely kill him outright Some men I confess are accessary to their ruin and as we say die before their time that is their time indeed which according to the visible face of Nature they might have lived but not before Gods time God hath the four keys of the Clouds the Womb the Heart and of Death hanging onely at his own girdle Mans spirit is the candle of the Lord Pro. 21.27 He puts out some candles as soon as they are lighted others when they are half wasted and he suffers others to consume by old age to a snuff Providence hath turned up a Glass for every man and man can neither stay the sands of his Glass a minute from running nor turn it up when it is once out When Gods servants have done their work Providence lets them go to bed Oh how sweet it is to behold Christ in every Cross and God on every Ladder 2 Providence is visible in Afflictions Saints are appointed to afflictions as a mark is appointed to be shot at by the Arrow on purpose 1 Thes 1.3 God shoots not at random but at a mark he does not draw his Bow at a venture as he who slew Ahab 1 King 22.34 or shoot at the whole host of mankind let the arrow light where it will but he singles out the particular person and sends every Arrow on a special Errand The wicked mans sight is bounded by second causes and he cannot see beyond the Horizon of the creatures We Jonah the fourth quarrel with the worm that smites the goard but see not how God sends the worm Such a man owed me a spight and now he is even with me as if God were a Cypher and either were nothing or did nothing Job saw God on this Ladder Job 1. who says not the Lord hath given and the Chaldeans have taken away
they not onely in the morning but constantly praise God this is spoken according to the manner or custom of men having now taken the form and shape of a man as though he had haste to other business and leaving Jacob to his affairs as also because the Angel would not have this vision descried and discerned by others seeing it specially was intended for a private conflict in the night without spectators none must be witnesses of it but Jacob neither must Jacob himself know fully with whom he wrestled and that Jacob might not be too curious in gazing on that shape wherein the Angel appeared Lastly Some apprehend the Angel to speak like a greater grave man as if he had done something below his honor as to contend with his child and did not care to have it known to the rest of the servants as if the Angel had been ashamed and being foiled by his inferior should have said be gone never let man see that thou hast conquered God the day breaks and will discover it The Hebrews bring Jacob in their tradition as strictly examining the Angel as suspecting that he with whom he wrestled had been a Night-walker and had intended either to have robbed or murdered him What doth this man mean says Jacob to desire to be gone because the day breaks is he an honest travailer and yet fears the Sun should discover him why did he not desire to be gone before now are his deeds evill that he fears the light But this is spoken without warrant though not without wit Let thee go says Jacob no I could have been without the blessing if I had never fought and I am resolved not to fight so long for nothing Let me go Jacob now sings victoria Pugna suum finem cum rogat bostis habet and by this request is the more inflamed to fight it out Let me go Jacob why so the quarrel belike is ended Put up thy Weapons Jacob leave the Field Harke Jacob the Almighty crys I yeeld Though thou art Israel yet do not boast The Blessing 's got but yet thy joynt is lost No more wrestling it seems when the day breaks As our Lord and Master saith work while you have the day for the night comes and no man can work So he saith on the contrary Sinners work wrestle with God fight with the world while the night lasteth The day-break of Eternity is a comming and you shall wrestle and fight no more Pharaoh pursued Israel to the red Sea and there he left them the Devil and Sin and the World may follow and haunt the soul to Heaven gates but there they shall trouble it no more fears and frightings are for the night of this world but joy and triumph are for the morning of glory Terra est exercitium hominis coelum corona Ambr. Saints here is your Sea to be tossed on there is your harbor here is your warfare your place to fight in there is your crown Who would not have Jacob's hard lodging to have had his hearty dream Now you are troubled because you are in the dark now your questions are which is my nighest way to Heaven what is the fittest company to travel withall how shall I avoide Theeves and Robbers or conquer them if I meet them how shall I know that the Lord is my Father that Christ is my Husband that the Spirit is my guide the Devil hath cast me down how shall I rise the World hath wounded my peace where shall I get balm my Ignorance is invincible my Conscience is feared my Conversation is licentious I shall never be more than a conqueror through Christ I shall one day fall by the hands of Saul of pride and lust I shall never see the Lord give me the victory over sin let me pray never so powerfully let me profess never so long Ah Christians never use that word Never thou hast almost done fighting almost done wrestling almost done weeping almost done bleeding Those Egyptian Temptations you see now you shall see dead on the Sea shoar of eternity the day is a dawning and the shadows shall fly away and you shall never be foiled by the world more never cry out against your hard heart more David shall no more pray Lord take not thy Holy Spirit from me nor Paul who shall deliver me from this body of death nor the Disciples Lead us not into temptation Such complaints then shall be out of date and such questions put out of question and doubts out of doubt Farewel Phisick was Chaucers Motto and farewel Diseases farewel Afflictions farewel Sin nay farewel Repentance too is a dying Saints Motto Jacob here halts but there he shall not wrestle Jacob then hath done both his limping and his fighting arise and shine for the light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen on thee Nihil crus sentit in nervo cum animus est in coelo Tertul. ad Mar yr Isa 60. Jacob then lets God go when the day breaks his thigh then shall no more be put out of joynt As we have the Angels Proposition Let me go so we have Jacobs Answer negatively I will not let thee go that is certain unless thou bless me But will Jacob let the Angel go then The meaning is not as if Jacob did not care for the Angel when he had his blessing but onely that Jacob would not let him go at that time without the blessing God always tarries with his blessing Unless thou bless me that is say some unless thou acknowledge me thy superior in this Duel that I am thy better but honor is in the person honoring not in the person honored Others think Jacob onely desired that the Angel would go from him in peace But thirdly I apprehend that Jacob perceiving his adversary to be a Divine person acknowledgeth him his Superior and desireth that in his departure he would bless him for the less is blessed of the greater and he blessed him not that the imposition of the new name was the benediction here spoken of but the Lord did expresly bless Jacob probably in that forme and manner wherein he blessed Abraham In thy seed shall all the Nations of the earth be blessed confirming likewise the former blessings given him Gen. 27.28 and 28.34 and comforting him against the hurt of his Thigh ver 25. God so shewing himself the smiter and the healer Hos 6.1 Thus the Angel confesseth he was conquered as by the blessing he gave according to Jacobs demand So secondly by the imposition of a new name which is solemnly represented First by a question what is thy name Secondly Which question the Angel puts forth not as ignorant of Jacobs name but from hence to take a fresh advantage to give him a more glorious name God appeared to Jacob twice before this and asked not his name before now That Jacob saith one might take occasion to return to him with the same question not doubting but
of a Jacobine He dwelleth in the secret of the most High they must conquer God before they conquer him they may strike at but they can never distress Sion till they q.d. strike thorow God Sion though she be not properly invulnerable yet she is invincible Qui Jacobum impetit Deum petit Wherefore now let Jacob wrestle again and reason with his God Humbly ask the Lord Whether he can see his Sion even a shipwracking Preces electorum sunt Deo coctoquia and yet not throw over a Plank to her his children a swouning and fainting under their temptations and not give them a Cordial his Spouse a dying and not once labor to visit her with Salvation Can the Shepheard be content to see the Wolves to worry his tender Flock and the Father love to behold his children to hate one another Dearest Lord is not thy Glory dearer to thee than it can be to thy Spouse and shall she be sollicitous and wilt thou seem not so to provide against thy dishonor Is the Crown of the Lord glistering enough on his head in the eyes of the Woâ—ld Hath our Jesus the purchase and full procurement of his blood Hast thou left thy compassions to as well as the infirmities of thy Body behind thee on earth Is our Joseph in Heaven where there are Barn-fulls of Glory and Provision enough and shall thy Brethren starve for want of Crums of Comfort from thy Table Are thine Affections altered with thy condition and doth the Lord trample under his feet his children while he is now in his glory whom he counted as the apple of his eye in the days of his sufferings Shall we give over praying for the opening the blinde eye and softning the hard heart Shall we fall asleep and urge thee no more Shall we pull our hands from thy Plow and our necks from thy Yoke will the Lord dispense with our lukewarmness and wink at our Apostacy Is it not thy grief to see thy Spirit so grieved to see such noysom weeds and errors to grow in thy Garden which thou so much regardest And so much backsliding after the profession of so much Reformation Shall wee see Sion bleed to death and never ask balm more Hath not the Lord said His Mountain shall be set on the top of all Mountains and that Jerusalem shall be made the joy of many Generations Is not this the hand of the Lord and his own broad Seal How long doth thy Charriot wheels stay Cui magis de Deo quam Deo credam Hath our Lord Jesus bled to death for his Saints and will he now suffer them to bleed to death Doth he love to see the face of his Church beautiful and will he never wipe off the tears of blood that yet are trickling down her cheeks Is the Lord angry at the Prayers of his people and is he not angry at the Blasphemies of his Enemies Art thou offended because we pray for Sion and wilt thou not be offended if we should not pray Is it not yet dark enough that yet the day doth not dawn because it is said at evening time it shall be light and at midnight there was a cry made Behold the Bridegroom commeth How many steps more will the Lord fetch before hee turn about and shew us his face Have we already the first fruits and shall we never have the Harvest Hath Sion often made Land and said now we are come to our Harbor and Rest and shall we be driven into the tempestuous Ocean again Is not our dross separated from our gold that yet we are not taken out of the Furnace Are we not yet holy enough that we are not delivered or are we not yet ripe enough in sin that we are not perfectly destroyed Will the Lord comfort us mourning or enliven us dying or raise us when buried and in our graves O Lord Though thou dishonorest thy people yet wilt thou disgrace the Throne of thy glory Will not the Adversary say Surely if God in love had begun thus to build he would have gone on to finish Though we are trampled under feet must thy Christ be trampled under feet Though his Body hath deserved to sit on Dunghils and lye in fetters of iron yet our Head hath merited to sit on a Throne and to have the liberty of his Spirit in the world Though our prayers are rejected yet wilt thou not fulfill thine own Promises we humbly confess thou hast a royal Prerogative to save and to destroy but O Lord art thou not bound in Covenant to set up thy Son and if thou makest not hast for his glory will not the world be ready to say the Lord is gone back of his word Is it onely Free Grace and Mercy and not also Justice and Righteousness for our God to justifie condemned sinners and to sanctifie prophane Conversations and to carry on the building of the New Jerusalem to its desired perfection Doth the Lord seem to cast us off to see whether we wil indeed cast him off or hide himself to see whether we will earnestly seek after him Preces fundimus coelum tundimus misericordiam extorquemus Because his smiles have not caused us to love him will he now frown on us to make us to fear him are the golden days of his spiritual presence gone and not to come as we hoped they were that we should rather put mourning on our backs than take Harps into our hands Because England hath been perfidious and perjurious to God will God now break his Covenant of Faithfulness with England Shall the unfaithâ—ulness of man make God unfaithful Did the Lord of old wait to be gracious and will he now wait till we are gracious Was the Lord wont to be found of those that sought him not and will he not be now found of those that seek him Wilt thou not pardon our Hypocrisie Pride Passions and Prophaneness till we repent and wilt thou not graciously give us an heart to repent of those evils Shall the new Heavens and new Earth never be built till we are fit Inhabitants And shall disconsolate Sion never be ransomed from her spiritual slaveries and distractions till they are worthy to be ransomed Is not the price of her Redemption already paid and will the Lord seem to require the debt again O Lord are we so far gone from thine house like Prodigals that either we want an heart to return or an hope if we return that our Father will accept of us Art not thou the God of Peace Is not thy Son the Son of Peace thy Spirit the Spirit of Peace thy Gospel the Gospel of Peace and shall not thy Children be Children of Peace is Christ in one of his followers against Christ in another is Christ divided Blessed Father how shall the world know we are thy Children if we have not thy Image thy Servants if we wear not thy Livery Will the World be convinced by our Divisions
me the first rudiments of Christianity not so much how to spell the Name of God or Christ as how to spel out the Name of God in Christ. What cause have I to bless the Lord that you instructed mee how to beleeve before I was tempted to doubt you knew that I came so full of poison into the world and therefore you could not too soon administer physick to expel it you looked on Original sin as like a common fire in a Town in my soul and you searched not so much how it came as how to quench it you did not prevent but prepare a way for the workings of the Spirit How happy was I that you did not with some judge it prejudicial to the guidance of the Spirit to be indoctrinated in a form of Divine Knowledge I remember I have read somewhere that Luther when he heard how that little children prayed against the Turk said In the name of the Lord let them go on for as they want the knowledge of men so they want the malice of men and God may hear them I must acknowledge I lived long in the world before I knew what it was to die to the world and many years had the profession of Religion before I was acquainted with the experience yet I bless God even then when I had not Saving Grace for my own Salvation that I had any Restraining Grace for the good of others How did you pray for me when I was not able to pray for my self your heart was tender when mine was hard my prayers now are to the Lord that though I yet carry a body of sin about me and in my own sense have been often a sinking that yet you would praise God with me that a Nephew of so many prayers hath not perished indeed Your condition now calls for my counsel but I will not undertake to teach my Teacher onely humbly telling you what once with delight you taught me out of that School of Wisdom Pro. 3.11 Despise not the chastening of the Lord neither be weary of his correction What though you have been cast down will you conclude that you are cast away when your God hath on purpose cast you down that he might not cast you away You know that Gods fish thrive best in salt waters that the Walnut-tree is most fruitful when it is most beaten that David was never so tender as when he was hunted as a Partridge and Jonah never so watchful as when he was alive in his Sepulchre in the Whales belly It is true you are Husbandless but yet not Fatherless my once dear Uncle is now singing out the praises of the Lamb in the new Jerusalem the singleness and sincerity of his Light Love and Life did tell his acquaintance he was a Traveller thither now you dare not mourn because he rejoyceth and can you mourn while he rejoyceth Oh! that you would rather consider what a comfort you once had than what a comfort you now want rather to meditate of your going to him than grievingly to think of his going from you My dear Aunt let me use that phrase that was spoken to a friend on such an occasion You know well that you have need of his joy but he hath no need of your tears Your Husband was also your Brother and if that maxim be true that the union of Grace is stronger than the union of Nature then I am perswaded you mourn not so much for the loss of an Husband as of a Brother in Christ yet though the stream be cut off you have the Fountain I would speak more of this but I shall forbear lest while I go about quite to extinguish I should unawares revive the grief chew not this Pill but swallow it whole and it will not prove so bitter I beleeve you are more perplexed with the publick evils of Sion But in this you may consider the Lord wounds that he may not kill and overcasteth the face of his Church with a cloud that the Sun of Righteousness may at length shine out the more clearly and that those storms and waves are happy that shall drive the Ark nigher to her Harbor It is certain All things shall work together for their good that love God It is your happiness your comfort lies not in the lives of others but in your own experience that while others tack about after every wind of Doctrine you still steer your course according to the compass of the Scriptures that while some think it zeal to fall in love with every fond opinion that presents it self on the Stage of the world that you have chosen your Love and love your choyce in the Practice of Piety mortification and conformity unto God That while others talk much of God that your study is rather how to speak with God himself than of God to others That while they love to gaze on the Infirmities of others onely that you love rather to weep over your own sins in your Closset than to cry out against the sins of others in the Market place but herein you know you are not justified and I trust you would much rejoyce that you had something more you might account nothing for Christ Go on dear Aunt Put on the whole Armor of God that when you have withstood you may stand and when you have stood it out on earth you may sit down in a Throne in Glory Perseverance is the Crown of Grace and Heaven is the Crown of Perseverance You could not mourn as the Martyr said for the absence of the Bridegroom if you did not belong to the Bridegrooms Chamber Ride on in Faith though the way may be the dirtier the nigher you come to your journeys end The Sun shines most amiably towards its descent eye not the stream through which you wade but the firm Land to which you go Look not on your Race so much as on your Crown your storms and Tempests Doubts and Fears as your Port and Harbor Here is your Seed-time hereafter is your Harvest Here is your Hell of Difficulties and Desertion hereafter is your Heaven of Light and Peace You shall not alwaies climb with the Angel but one day stand on the top of the Ladder with the Lord You shall not alwayes wrestle with Jacob the Day will ere long break and then farewel hardness of Heart and temptations to Despaire and mourning for Sin and doubting of Gods Love for ever When you shall lodge in the Arms of your Physician then no more complaint of your wounds When you shall walk in white with a Crown on your head in Heaven you shall not want the gracious company of an Husband as a fellow Member of Christ to comfort or as a Preacher to instruct you There are no tears falling down the Spouses Cheeks in glory Comfort your self with these things that while you wait with Hannah for the Consolation of Israel you may at length when death shall knock at your door which cannot probably be
long by Faith with old Simeon imbrace the King of Saints in your arms singing his sweet and Swan-like Song Now lettest thou thine Handmaid O Lord depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy Salvation As for this Discourse of Jacobs wrestling I here present you withall as a Testimony of my Love and Obligation I hope you wil see your face in it as in a Glass not teaching you so much from mee how you may be Israel prevailing with God as to shew you how you have been as Jacob a Wrestler with God Accept of it my dear Aunt and farewell in the Lord in whom I subscribe Your most obliged Nephew Fra. Raworth From my Study at Shoreditch Janu. 20. 1654 Jacob wrestling with the Angel or a sacred Duel between God and Man Gen. 32.24 25 26 27 28 c. And Jacob was left alone and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day And when he saw that he prevailed not against him he touched the hollow of his Thigh And the hollow of Jacobs Thigh was out of joynt as he wrestled with him And he said Let me go for the day breaketh and he said I will not let thee go unless thou bless me And he said unto him What is thy name and he said Jacob and he said Thy name shall no more be called Jacob but Israel for as a Prince hast thou power with God and with men and hast prevailed c. HAving in the precedent Discourse treated of Jacobs Ladder I shall now by the assistance of the God of Jacob discourse somewhat of Jacobs wrestling Christians if ever you would have Jacobs Vision get Jacobs Faith In this Scripture we have an elegant description of a Monomachie or Duel fought between the Almighty and Jacob. And in it First We have the Combatants or Duellists Tenet in luctâ Jacobus hominem sed ille hâ—mo Deus erat Jacob and God who in Genesis is called a Man because he appeared in the shape of a man And in Hosea chap. 12.4 an Angel representing Christ the Messenger of the Covenant The Hebrews say this wrestler was Sammael Esaus evil Angel who now contends with Jacob for the Blessing but that this Angel was God appears considering that Jacob was blessed by him now it is the Prerogative of God to bless and not of Angels Secondly He saith Thou hast had Power with God and Jacob saith I have seen God face to face Thirdly Because this was the God of Bethel Gen. 35.7 Hos 12.4 What a prospect were this we have not here one man wrestling with another man we have not a MAN wrestling with an Angel onely but the Immortal God wrestling with a Mortal man Erat verbum cum Jacob Aliptes Inunctor ac Paedagogus humanae naturae Cl. Alex. All in the letter that were interested in this Quarrel were in the field together Jacob had no Second and the Angel needed none How inferior a Match was Jacob for the Angel how superior a Match was the Angel for Jacob will a man contend with God Job 13.8 Shall the Ax lift up it self against him that heweth therewith is there a woe pronounced against him that strives with his Maker and dare Jacob strive with his Maker Isa 45.9 how ungracious is it for the child to quarrel with the Father and doth it not seem dishonorable for the Father to quarrel with the Child but let Jacob remember That though it be presumption in him to challenge the Angel to fight yet it is but obedience in him to fight with when he is challenged by the Angel That Angel that knows how to gain glory by being conquered Eul ne Herculesquidem contra duos at hic Jacobus contra Deum hominem knows how to retain his glory by fighting with Jacob. That it was not so visible a disparagement for God to wrestle with man as it was for God for so Christ is to die for man Ephes 2 7. Secondly We have the field and the time of the Combate The place where they combated was beside the Foord Jabbock vers 22. at Peniel Hos 12.4 Jacob vers 24. was left alone not that Jacobs company had left him but that he for a time had left his company The words by some are rendred actively and not passively He remained alone behind not onely to see all his Houshold and Stuff safe over the Foord but also to retire to Prayer How sweetly did Jacob injoy the presence of God when he left the company of man Amat secessum ardens oratio Jacob I am perswaded was never less alone when at this time he was so alone It may be more truely said of Jacob than of any other man he speaks more with God than with men Christ loves to embrace his Spouse not in the open streets but in a Closet and the soul never hath sweeter views of glory than when it is q.d. out of the view of the world We have likewise the Time of the Duel the Night The Text tels us when the Duel ended but not when exactly it began Si vincat minimum summus laus vincere non est Atque decus minimo fiet ab hoste minus De precio victi prudet victoria victor Tantus erit victi gloria quanta fuit Acc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 xix.v. 9.12 it brake off at the breaking of the day vers 24. but how many hours of the night it lasted we cannot tell but so long it lasted till Jacob had the better of the Angel possibly it began at midnight It is no matter how far a man runs if he come not nigh the Garland nor how long the Soul wrestles with God so much if he wants Faith to get the victory The Angel seems not to wrestle fairly he should have given and he takes advantages of Jacob. For an Angel to fight with a man with a single man with a travelling and tired man was too much Jacob was rather fit to flie than to fight nay rather fit to sleep than either to fight or fly The night was made for man to rest in but when we cannot sleep Oh that we might entertain our waking in wrestling as Jacob did with God Thirdly We have the Duel it self wherein we have the ground of the Quarrel and the manner of the Fight First The ground of the Quarrel Jacob was afraid of Esau and he would have a Blessing he flies to God that he might not fly from Man Go would have left off but Jacob would not without Gods consent to bless him it seems that Jacob now was on the offensive and God on the defensive side Lord says Jacob thou art my Prisoner and before thou art released bless me God is taken captive by Prayer and become a prisoner to man and stands at his courtesie who says I will not let thee go unless thou bless me We say those that have the longest Sword may command Peace when they will Jacob