his crying to God Moses egit vocis silentium ut corde clamaret no not a word Hezekiah chatters like a Crane and mourns as a Dove Isa 38.14 Yet God hears sense though he cannot speak sense words are but like smoak Faith is the fire and though smoak is a sign of fire yet often there is least smoak where there is most fire Christ receives sighs in his Censor for Prayers Though others mock at groans yet he that made them knows what they mean The Spirit first makes the sigh as an Intercessor and then as God hears it He is within praying and without hearing a dumb beggar gets an Almes at Christs gate even by making signs when his tongue cannot plead for him and the rather because he is dumb The Lord regards not the Grammar of prayers how men word it in prayer nor the Arithmetick of prayers how often they pray nor the Rhetorick of Prayers how finely they pray Cum Spiritus Jacobi suspirat Spiritus Dei inspirat nor the Musick of prayers what sweetness of tone men have in prayer but the Divinity of prayer Christians the Spirit of God makes intercession in us with sighs and groans which cannot be uttered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for their greatness that as there is joy unspeakable so there is sorrow unutterable rather for their littleness their feebleness and faintness yet God hears them when we scarce feel them he knows the meaning of those groans which never as yet knew their own meaning and understands the sense of those sighs Oratio licet tacens est Deus clamor which never understood themselves But may the soul say If my groans are unutterable are they not then unaudible can they be heard when they are not uttered Oh! consider that as God can hear without an ear so thou mayst speak without a tongue And on the contrary What a sweet thing is it for a broken heart to shed tears in the bosom and drop tears on the Bible when it is a reading in private to weep and read and read and weep again not to be able to see letters for tears Mary Magdalen was famous for tears and Christ was never so near her as when she could not see him for weeping When we wrestle with God we must mingle more Faith with our Prayers we must pray more beleevingly we must mingle more fire with our Prayers we must pray more fervently we must as Jacob mingle more water with our prayers pray more humbly and weepingly Though we read not of his weeping plainly in the History Plerumque hoc negotium plus gemitibus quam serâ—â—nibus plus fletu quam affatu geritur yet we do in the Prophecie probably Hosea some may think had that carriage by relation or Revelation Prayers and Patience are the Armor Prayers and Tears are the weapons of a Christian If we would conquer as Jacob did we must weep or sigh as Jacob did As musick on the water sounds more harmoniously than on the land so prayers joyned with tears with God Sinners wrestle with God for the pardon of their sins and as they never obtain it without a bleeding heart so seldom can they read it with dry eyes Jacobs Faith is implyed For Prayer without Faith is as a Gun discharged without a bullet that may make a great noyse but doth little execution Jacobs reasoning was Jacobs wrestling with God in prayer Deliver me saith he from the hand of my brother Esau there is the ground of his engagement v. 11. which he maintains with ten strong charges or assaults one after another The first Charge Jacob gives the Angel is He urges God from the Covenant made with his fore-fathers O God of my Father Abraham and God of my Father Isaak q.d. remember those Names with whom thou didst make solemn Covenants for the Protection of them and their posterity will the Lord forget his Favorites and friends but if the Lord will not yeeld at one assault Si Deus semper exaudiret omnes non jam ex voluntate libera sed ex quadam velut â—ecessitate facere videretur he shall have another Jacob comes not to God as if he came to fetch fire a spurt and away like a Messenger which is gone before he have his answer Jacob is resolved to have no other answer but to be answered Therefore he gives a Second charge from Gods special command to undertake the journey Lord says Jacob thou saydst to me return q.d. am I returning on my own head or on thy counsel and art thou not concerned to bring me out of that trouble that thy command hath brought me into have I O Lord obeyed thy command and will not God perform his Promise brave Jacob He says not Prayers as children say Grace or as men like children say a Pater Noster if God will hear them so it is they never troubled God before and they will never trouble him after in all their lives Jacob fights rather for the Blessing than for the Victory and he will rather dye at the Angels feet than give over fighting till the Angel give out fighting and give in a blessing I had rather says Jacob die a Conqueror than live a Coward And therefore gives a third Charge in putting God in mind of his promise Thou toldest me O Lord thou wouldst deal well with me will the Lord say and unsay if the Lord had not promised to be with me I had resolved not to have adventured on this journey wherefore O Lord if thy promise stand I cannot fall Fight still Jacob crys the Lord still I crys Jacob and will never be still till thou bless me If my petition were unlawful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 xl eth I would never have presented it but if it be lawful why should I desist it I had as good never have contended crys Jacob if I should be contented without conquering I love not to quarrel The first stroak begins the battel but the last onely wins it which Jacob knows and therefore is resolved to have the last word of and give the last blow to the Angel Victorious Jacob And Fourthly Assaults and reasons from his unworthiness I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies or according to the Hebrew I am less than all though I am bold to urge thy Covenant yet I am ready to acknowledge my undesert Lord thou art indeed my Debtor but by thy Promise made to me not by any performance of mine to thee Humble Jacob The Angels mercy is all his merit Faith is always humble and though it be most confident in Gods word yet it is most distrustful of its own desert Thou art a Dog says Christ to the Canaanite and doth childrens bread use to be flung to Dogs Truth Lord says she I am a Dog and though I may not sit at Table with the children yet I may lie under the Table and eat the crums with the Dogs If I be a
yet it is the onely Royalty and Prerogative of God so to offer Grace as that man shall neither prove a dissenter or stand Neuter for on the contrary the Devil may flatter but he cannot force man to sin He is but the father begetting the evil heart is the Mother conceiving and the Father can do nothing in this moral sense without the Mother It is remarkable in Scripture that ordinarily when there is mention made of mans sinning there is mention likewise made of the tentations of the Devil but there is seldom or rarely mention made of the good Angels moving men to holiness and the reason probably is God who is the effectual worker of Grace will have the glory of every gracious work himself I intend not the least to disparage the Ministry of the Gospel thus in exalting the Ministration of Angels for the Gospel-Ministry is more suitable if not in some sense more excellent Well may Angels be dry Nurses to preserve and watch and wait on and protect the children of God but to be Fathers to beget them to be wet Nurses to suckle them with the immortal seed and sincere milk of the word belongs to the Gospel ministry Yet the Angels suggest good thoughts The Sadduces imagined that thoughts were Angels I confess it is honorable for human nature to be filled with Divine and Angelical thoughts and it is comfortable to beleeve thoughts are suggested by Angels but we must in no wise think that thoughts are Angels 6 Angels descend the Ladder for the preservation of the Saints Eccl. 5.8 If thou seest the oppression of the poor and violent perverting of Judgement and Justice which things are yet to be seen felt and understood plain enough marvel not at the matter as though there were no Providence to Govern the World or Justice to punish disorders for he that is higher than the highest regardeth and there be higher than they Here be three degrees of comparison High Higher Highest and three degrees of Powers There are Kings highest on Earth there are Angels higher than Kings and there is God Father Son and Spirit higher than Angels to whom yet as Executioners of Gods Justice and Ministers of his Providence is committed the care of the Empires of the world and chiefly of the Church Dan. 4.17 Men are not Lords of the World nor of the Church of God Oppression cannot sit so high but Justice will sit above her If oppressors be above the reach of Man yet they are not above the reach of Angels yet if they were there is an higher than the highest and there are higher than they The Devil had learned so much Divinity our of the Psalmes Angeli custodiunt bonos non in praecipit is sed in vâ—is cum non habemus perfectionem Angeli non habeamus praesumtionem Diaboli Matth. 4.6 he spake not without book when he said He shall give his Angels charge over thee to carry thee in their Arms he could not away with the clause following in his waies The Angels are the Life-guard of Saints as Officers of State they attend on and journey with them they hold them in their Arms that they fall not and take them up in their Arms when they are down or as in a Family the greater children delight to carry the Sucklings in their Arms The Church Militant and Triumphant make but one Family and the Angels our Fathers eldest children delight to carry the weak Saints Saints in their minority in their Arms Gods Jacobs on their shoulders and they do not this at their liberty when they please or whether they will or no for they have a strict command for it he hath charged them yet let us not be secure It is a custom for Princes during their infancy to have Guardians to keep and rule for them till they come of age Angels are the Guardians the Protectors of Sion Gods children never go unattended Angeli descendunt à Deo referentes divina nobis ascendunt à nobis referentes nostra Deo Cajet iâ— loc but like great persons they are always in the midst of their Guard they possibly may be contemned and contemptible in the eyes of the world but the Angels of God scorn not to observe no not to serve them We may keep the Sun out of our houses but we cannot keep the Air much less these immaterial and immortal spirits They watch over us when we sleep they attend on us when we awake they are our Companions in Prison and in Exile No walls nor bolts can sever them from our sides Tyrants may forbid men but cannot forbid Angels from out Society That of Theodoret is famous That found so much sweetness on the wrack complained that his Persecutors increased his torment when they took him down for said he all the while I was on the wrack and you venting your malice against me methought there was a youngman in white an Angel stood by me which wiped off the sweat which comfort now I have lost Every Saint is in Joshua the High-Priests case with Satan on one hand and an Angel on the other without this our danger were greater than our defence and we could neither stand nor rise We sin too often and should catch more falls if these Guardians did not uphold us Aâ—geli ministrabant Christo non tanquam misericordes indigenti sed tanquam subditi omnis potenti 7 Angels descend the Ladder to provide for the Saints After Christ had fasted Matth. 4. The Angels ministred unto him questionless to nourish and refresh his outward man being wearyed with fasting some say brought him food they ministred to Christ not as the rich to the poor but as Servants to their Master While we continue within the Precincts of God we are under the protection of Angels Manna in Scripture is called Angels food not onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by way of excellency because it was rare and dainty food but Instrumentally because it was says a Critick ministred by the hands of Angels Rather than the Church shall starve God will send Angels to Market to cater for them Jacobs Ladder is the Stage the Angels are Sions footposts q d. that daily run from Heaven to Earth from Earth to Heaven back again They carry news to Heaven and bring intelligence from Heaven When Sion lyes under Burthens and Oppressions the Angels presently fly and ride post to Heaven and tell God the Father what his children stand in need of and will not depart or descend from the Palace of Heaven on the Ladder without supply and provision If the covetous man could when he was reproached abroad comfort himself in his Counting-house when he came home to see his many lovely Angels to smile on him how may Gods Jacobs refresh themselves in the midst of the scorns and scoffings of the World when they remember and review the Vision of the Angels 8 Angels descend armed to fight for Sion Good Magistrates are
the Lord hath inriched me and the Devil hath robbed me but as if he never heard mention made either of the Devil or the Chaldeans The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away Hee is not angry with Chance and Fortune and falls not out with Stars and Constellations David saw God on this Ladder Psal 44.12 13 14. like a good child he fathers the rod on God his Father Thou hast cast off Thou hast cast down when Gods rod was on his back he puts his hand on his mouth and his mouth in the dust Luther saw God on this Ladder when he observed though the Christs-cross be no letter yet he learned more by it than all the Letters of the Alphabet and that God never sent him on any special Errant or business but he first sent his mind by some special affliction And Alfred saw God on this Ladder who alwayes prayed that God would bestow some tryal on him to keep down his love to the World and draw up his love to Heaven Lorinus reports of Grashoppers formerly in England which depopulated England that on one wing they had written Ira in black letters upon the other Dei in golden The Saints are afflicted that is anger but by their God that is golden Hear the rod saith God and who hath appointed it Is that proper language buts its one thing to feel the rod and another thing to hear it God preaches to man a Lesson not only by his Word but by his Rod and as the Word must be felt before it can be heard so the Rod must be heard before it can be felt to purpose Repent provâ—de for Eternity now do it or it may be you may never is the dialect of the rod as well as the word God appoints this man a cup of consolation and that man a cup of sorrow and he appoints how many drops shall be in their cups and all the world cannot put in a drop beyond the Lords measure Afflictions are a rod Schela crucis Schola lucis quae nocent docent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but they have honey at the end of them How sweet is it while the rod softens the heart and the hony opens the eyes Afflictions are called darkness in Scripture but they have enlightned the eyes of many who else might have walked in everlasting darkness How many may read legibly their sins in their punishments and need enquire for the cause of no other physitian God lays some sick in their own beds of wantonness and so hangs them at their own doores Lord says one Christian lying like Jacob at the foot of the Ladder I am thy vine and let me rather bleed than wither I am thy Apple-tree let me rather be lopt to grow than cut up to burn Lord says another frown on me rather than not to look on me let the Lord take me into h s hands and correct me rather than that I should have nothing to do with God or he should have nothing to do with me How many souls have occasion to say If the Lord had not plowed me with Afflictions and dunged me with Reproaches what barren ground had I been how had I wandred if the Lord had not sent his dogs to fetch me to his Fold I had certainly been cast away if I had not been cast down How had I surfeited on Pleasures and Friends if the Lord had not called me from the Banquet Adversity hath whipt many a Soul to Heaven which otherwise Prosperity had coached to Hell How glorious is it to see God in Riches in Friends in Honor in Persecutions in Crosses in Sicknesses God casteth down and my God lifteth up The Lord often writes angry Epistles to his children yet observe still at the bottom of the Letter he subscribes Your loving Father Hippocrates called the Pestilence the divine disease 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as we call the spots thereof Gods mark the Falling-sickness of old was called morbus sacer because it was the immediate hand of God O Lord may every Soul say It matters not what my condition be So it but lead or whip me home to thee Secondly Providence is visible in publick Afflictions and Affairs of the world 1 In the publick troubles and distractions of Nations I create light and I form darkness Isa 45.7 Sin is mans creature and Afflictions are Gods creatures every Affliction bears the image of its Maker and God is not ashamed of his own handy-work Sinful man is the meritorious but Providence is the efficient cause of Evils Man is the cause of moral evils God of penal evils in the City Amos 3 6. Afflictions are Gods Thunder and Lightning Famine and Pestilence are the Kings evils onely caused and cured by God the Lords dreadful Ambassadors to a Nation they have their message to deliver and they will have audience Let God but fire our fields and blast our Corn as Absolom did by Joab we come presently Wars and Judgements are Gods Troops he is their Generalissimo they move according to his Orders he sounds his Trumpet and beats his Drum and all the Plagues and Punishments of Providence are in Arms when God saith charge they charge when retreat they retreat O Sword of the Lord how long before you are quiet here was a cry to the Sword but the Sword of the Lord answered you must speak to the General himself I am at his command Jer. 47.6 Not many years since we cryed out Oh the Sufferings and Alarms and Field-fights when will you cease in England but they never ceased till God bid them cease It is the honor of a King to discharge the first peece of Ordnance against the Enemy The Lord I am sure had the honor of beating the first Alarm and sounding the first Retreat in England Man may speak of Peace in but God onely can speak Peace to a Nation In Revel 6.10 they cry How long Lord they knew God had the time in his hand and he onely could tell how long They cryed not to the Tyrants how long will yee persecute how long will yee oppress the Saints But to the Lord How long before thou come to revenge Oh say many if it had not been for such and such men wee had never had wars and if it had not been for their ends and designs we had had an end of our Troubles ere now as if Providence were but a stander by or a looker on while men playd their Games or acted their parts But Jacob sees that Assur is the rod of Gods anger and that when his children are purified the rod shall be thrown into the fire and burned Sees that when God hath scoured his Plate he will throw the wisp on the dunghill that when he hath built his house the scaffold shall be pulled down England would be as full of Judgements as it is of Sin if men were the Makers and Masters of Judgements Men alone though never so wise or powerful cannot make either staves
saying this way or that way God shall go in the Lord at length will both have his Will and the Wall of man The Seventh remarkable in this Ladder is Deus quiescens agit agens quiescit The Activity and negotiation of Providence The Angels stand not still on the Ladder but are alwaies in motion ascending or descending Many may say I have lost this day Man may lose his day of Grace but God can never lose his day of Glory Providence is as seldom without success as without action The Governors of Israel Psa 121.3 may sleep but the Governor of the Governors of Israel can never sleep Providence as the Apostle saith oft winkes at the sins of men but it never yet slumbered much less slept an hour since the Creation of the world If God should give over his watch over Israel but for a moment in that moment Israel would give up her hope Let the Saints remember Zech. 4. The eyes of the Lord run through the world The Egyptians in their Hieroglyphicks pourtrayed an Eye on a Scepter to signifie the vigilancy and regency of Providence A wise man saith the wisest of men Eccles 2.14 hath his eyes in his head but God is all eie and th t not only for vision but for motion God at this day hath an eye on France and an eye in England There are Zech. 3.9 Seven eyes in one stone And in the Revelation there are seven Spirits before the Throne By the Stone we are to understand Christ mystical The seven Eyes and seven Spirits are of one importance and signifie the several Influences the Wisdom Power Patience c. of Providence Providence hath the hands of Briareus and the eyes of Argus It is supposed by some that the seven Spirits bear allusion to the seven Chamberlains or royal Officers Ester 1. of the King of Persia God hath his Secretaries of State his chiâ—f Council as well as others Some Heathens phancied Providence as the Great King of Persia keeping himself in his Palace in Heaven from the view of his Subjects or as sitting aloft in a stately Tower onely beholding the passages of the world below But Providence is not idle but active 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath reference as Calvin observes not onely to the eye of God Multicum Epicuro verbis relinquunt Deos retollunt Cice. de nat Deorum l. 1. but also to the hand of God Providence doth not onely observe but order the world There are no Ciphers in Gods Arithmetick no rests in his Musick no pauses nor stops in Providence Away with the blasphemy of those that say Let God rule in Heaven and man rule on Earth David Psal 23. sweetly describes the active and pearly influence of this Ladder of Providence Thou Lord art my Shepheard thou preparest me a table thou annointest my head how humbly doth David Thou God! Thou Thou Thou Many men go out of Gods vineyard but Providence is never idle in the Lords vineyard God is always either a pruning or a ripening his Vine always either a cloathing or correcting his children Always a providing for them as a Sun or a protecting them as a Shield It is reputed a shame for a man to see by anothers eyes but it is our wisdom in this dark age to see by the Lords eyes Whose eyes run through the world Providence never stands still or goes backward it wearies man but is never it self weary The Sun posteth thousands of miles in a day and yet tires not Spiritual beings much more the being of Spirits are uncapable of tyring or delassation In the description of a circle in paper though the circle bee brought within one inch of finishing yet if the compass be removed a man can never make a perfect circle but must begin all again to find out the same center If the Lord should cease a moment from his works of Providence Sion would run to ruin and God would be put to the labor of working a new The Eighth remarkable in this Ladder is The gradation of Providence Here is a climax of Providences one step above another in the Ladder As first In a spiritual sense As in the natural birth there be many preparations but the birth is in a moment so in Grace there are many dispositions to Grace as sense of sin mourning and desires which yet I dare not call formally Grace though the former alwaies and the last mostly goe before Grace and by some to their ruin are taken or mistaken for Grace but Regeneration it self is in a moment Psal 84.7 The Saints go from strength to strength from one vertue to another There is an allusion to the Israelites journying yearly to the Temple they went from City to City before they came to Jerusalem or to Schools of learning where there is going from one form to another from one Science to another The martyr it seems numbred his steps one stile more and I am at my Fathers house that is at the top of Jacobs Ladder The Lord formerly in the wilderness carried and now carrys Sion from one Mile-post to another from one Stage to another Ebenezra Legimus de Angelorum ascensu descensu sed non de alis ascensusigitur hic nobis injungitur non volatus hitherto hath the Lord helped us So Ebenezra hitherto have we climbed by the Lords help Angels fetch long strides on the Ladder but Saints cannot fly but creep up to Heaven Rom. 5.3 So in a more publick sense Rome was not built in a day neither will Rome be pulled down in a day indeed in Rev. 18.17 it is said in one hour so great riches are come to nought but that is as the Husbandman chalks a line about a sere Tree which he intends to have for firing he fetches many a blow and yet the Tree stands still but at last one sound blow fell the Tree Providence hath fetcht many a blow at the Scarlet Whore but her climacterical day is at hand her critical day is at hand and then she shall fall fully finally fatally Providence hitherto hath mostly been but a lopping the branches but now the Axe is laid to the very root of Antichrist If any wonder why the ruin of Antichrist in the Letter goes on no faster I Answer The Devil and Pope must in some sense fall together for they have supported one anothers Cause now and then Providence fetcheth a blow at the Pope and seems as if he gave over the work because in the respite he is striking at the Devil So the downfal of the Spirit and Body of Antichrist keep pace together and therefore the work seems to be so long a doing There are various steps in one Ladder and we must neither appoint the Lord which way to walk nor what steps to fetch be not discouraged God works gradually and also he works certainly What course soever Providence steers he will not miss a point of his Divine Compass but at length
Deus nos omnes immediatè irradiet impleat Spiritu suo sine opera Mediatoris For Christ at the last is solemnly to make a surrender of the Kingdom to God and the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to God the Father when he hath put down all Authority Power and Rule both Civil and Ecclesiastical both Angelical and Diabolical Which to say is meant of the Kingdom of the God-head is blasphemy for the Kingdom of the Son in that sense is coeternal and coessential with the Fathers Wherefore it must be meant of the Vicarious Personal or Oeconomical Kingdom of the Mediator When the difference between God and the Creature is compleatly made up and God and the Creature made one what formal need will there be of a Mediator for we cannot make a Mediator of one nor of those that are made one It is an Apostolical maxim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. 3.20 Not that either our Lord Jesus shall depose his humane Nature and so the Hypostatical Union cease or that he shall ever have the glory of his Head-ship over his body eclipsed but onely that Christ mystical entirely be subject and so from God receive immediate and direct beams of Glory It is true The Kingdom of Christ is everlasting but that doth not hinder the supposition for that is salved by his victory over all the Kingdoms in the world and in its not being subverted by any Forein Power whatsoever and thus his Kingdom is everlasting in opposition to the Four Monarchies Dan 7. which succeeding one another and at length were all conquered by our Lord Jesus And Secondly his Kingdom is everlasting as the Gospel of his Kingdom is everlasting Rev. 14.6 which is to be understood not formally but vertually and the Saints shall by vertue of that purchase possess everlasting glory Secondly The relation of his Headship in Heaven doth not oppose for though he shall remain Head of his Body to all eternity yet in a different manner than he is Head now His Headship in the Church Triumphant is rather for precedency than Principality rather for priority and dignity than for guidance and government And this must be confessed that the relation between the Head and the Members in heaven shall still be relatio disquiparantiae non aequiparantiae Thirdly Neither doth this resignation of the Kingdom as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 redound to the disparagement of the Mediator no more than the first designation or donation of this Kingdom to Christ was diminution to the glory of God and the Father The Lord Jesus shall suffer no loss of Glory but onely undergo a change of State As suppose a Captain General Commissioned by a Prince with the accommodation of Armies to subdue a Colony of Rebels the Rebels are defeated the Captain General returns home from that field and forein Service surrenders his commission to his Prince he is honored further by his Master for his noble Service he is applauded by the Souldiers for his valor and prowess and ever after by way of honor is called Captain yet we cannot say he is Captain in act His Colours are lodged his Sword is sheathed both the Captain and the Souldiers are under the immediate presidency of the Prince but in a different degree of favor and glory So the Saints shall make it their business in Heaven to extol the Lord and the Lamb to sing Halelujah's and Hosanna's for ever All Honor and Dignity be to our dear Mediator who redeemed us when we were captives washed and cleansed us with his blood comforted our souls by his Spirit that while others were apostatized we by his grace were kept to this great Salvation The consideration of Redemption-work shal be the Theam of Praises for the redeemed throughout all ages And I heard the voyce of many Angels round about the Throne and the beasts in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the living Creatures and the Elders and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands Saying with a loud voyce worthy is the Lamb that is slain to receive Power and Riches and Wisdom and Strength and Honor and Glory and Blessing c. Revel 5.11 12. there will be no more need as I apprehend of Christs Kingly Office than of his Priestly or Prophetical Office Glorified Saints are in the highest Form of Divine knowledge and have no need of Intercession for they are above fears and falls above fear of falling in the way or away and all their lusts are conquered of old by Christs Scepter they are in their harbor and therefore out of all storms they have their Crown shining on their heads and have no stumbling-blocks more in their race the Devil then shall never be seen to devour nor heard to roar farewel hardness of heart perplexities of conscience fear of grieving the precious Spirit any more Jacob is ascended to the top of the Ladder and never needs more to fear his feet or hands should slip in climbing and therefore it is said he shall reign 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 untill he shall have put down all his Enemies Fourthly Neither is it necessary there should be an immediate power from Christ as Mediator to preserve and persevere the Saints in glory For everlasting glory is the purchase of his death as well as glory And Secondly Though their glory is not natural yet the first seizure of glory is confirmation in glory Glory and eternall glory differing not in kind possibly not in real degree There being properly no posterius in Heaven or succession of hours Heaven is an eternal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thirdly The immediate presence of God is a a sufficient ground of their preservation Fourthly Why is the mediation of Christ made eternal à parte post by any rather than eternal à parte ante or rather thus why may not the merit of our Redeemer be as effectual after the solemn resignation of his mediation as it was to the Jews before ever actually he entred his Throne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Regnando id jam acquisivit quod aeternum est regnum ergo aeternum merito habere dici potest quod attinet ad regnandi actum Christus regno sese abdicaturus est quod vero ad regnum attinet regni ejus nullus erit finis Fifthly Whereas it is objected why may not the Kingdom of the Mediator actually in glory be consistent with the government of God as well as now the Kingdom of God is consistent with the Government of the Mediator To this I could answer Our enquiry is not de re possibili vel impossibili in the first place but de re vera vel falsa But Secondly If we speak of the Government of the Mediator as God it is true and if I mistake not some Commentators mean so That as the Father rules as well as the Son now so then the Son shall rule as well as the Father for though he surrender the
world but none are able to rear it the King himself will bring it with him Not many know how to set up Christ in their Consciences Many know how rather to pull down Antichrist than to set up Christ And too many know how rather to set up themselves than the Kingdom of Christ in the world Governors must reform if the Providences of God speak truth in explaining the Promises it is high time and Governors must be reformed But I am yet perswaded that some of Nebuchadnezzars Image will stand in all Nations till it have an immediate blow from Heaven Dan. 2.34 Though men do trample under foot the Toes of Clay and break the Legs of Iron and smite on the Belly of Brass yet I am perswaded they will more or less either imbrace the Silver Arms or wear the Golden Head and the Gold the best Government of this old world is part of the Image as well as the Clay Israel was Gods people and though they pulled down the brazen Serpent yet they helped to set up the golden Calf but when we once come to Canaan we shall neither bow down to the Image of brass nor low after the Calf of gold In the mean time Sion is to travel with Prayers and Tears and all regular and righteous endeavors toward a perfect Reformation but I do not yet beleeve that ever we shall see that Man-child untill the appearance of Christ doth Midwive it into the world Omnis Christi anus est crucianus If it should be objected How can the expectation of such glory consist with the Prophecies in Scripture of the tribulations and errors in the last daies I answer 1 Tim. 3.1 In the latter times some shall depart from the Faith and shall speak lies in hypocrisie Sceptici in intellectu Epicurei in affectu c. 2 Tim. 3.1 In the last daies shall come perillous times men shall be lovers of themselves covetous proud unholy Traytors heady lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God I answer By the last daies in the Prophets and Apostles we are to understand the days of the Gospel the time of the messiah from his first to his second comming indifferently and have not all these symptoms of Apostacy been already in the world nay in the primitive times Secondly If by the last days we sometime understand the daies a little while or immediately preceding the second comming of Christ in person the comming of such prophanenesses are no argument against the comfortable appearance of Christ but are made in Scripture fore-runners not formally of his Kingdom ☜ and how seasonably will the Physician appear when the world will be so diseased how sweetly and refreshingly will the light of the Sun of Righteousness be at such a midnight Zech. 14 7. 2 Pet. 2.14 Christ though he brings day with him comes at midnight Matth. 25.6 And if by the latter daies we are to understand as we may the last daies are not the last daies and the last of daies in the world did ever men love others less and themselves more Judas his plague was his bowels gushed out But O Lord our curse is we have no bowels of love at all Is not this a covetous age Many have rich Arras to hang the walls of their Chambers with and have not Canvas to cloath a naked member of Christ withall how many Lazaruses are daily laid at our doors and how few have money in their purses to relieve nay not compassion or hony in their hearts to pitty them what iron hearts have we in this golden and in this gilded age 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 golden I mean not in a moral but natural sense as for the love of God whereas we should be lovers of God more than lovers of pleasure we are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God nay lovers of pleasure and not lovers of God unless that by our God we mean our pleasure And as for the rest of the gang of Vices I shall say no more but that we need not go up and down with a Candle and Lanthorn to find proud unholy heady Traytors in the world How long Lord how long ere thou appearest the Judge of thine Enemies the Father of thy Children and the King of thy Subjects Come Lord Jesus come quickly and blessed are all they that love his appearance his appearance in his Spirit in his Cause and in his Person In this prospect of what God will do in the world take these three or four Cautions 1 Limit not God to your means Some indeed have power to help Sion but no heart some have an heart but no power others have power in their hands but no hearts to help Sion Powers Armies cannot work without God but God can work without them Gods work cannot be done by the mighty for ordinarily it is opposed by the Mighty the mighty Pharisee derides Christ the mighty Pilat condemns Christ for the most part all the mighty in the world are against the Almighty of the world What say Monarchs that are prophane If Christ come to reign over us what will become of our honors Say the unrighteous Judges what will become of our Fees and the lazy Shepheards what will become of our Livings Remember Creaturae potius sunt media deferentia quam operantia if all men were willing for God yet the best of men are but men at the most the most of men or all men are but men at the best Men are but Vials and they have no more of Vertue in them than Providence infuseth not a drop more All the Tribute that God requires is to attribute all to him and he is resolved on the glory of all Means are not used by God because they are effectual but means are therefore effectual because God useth them A straw in the hands of Omnipotency proves a Spear and a Spear without an Omnipotent influence turns in a mans hand to a Straw It is not improbable that the nigher Christ comes to his Throne the meaner the instruments of his advancement may be ☞ Who art thou O Mountain before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain There are many Mountains against Sion visible and invisible Mountains but Jacob the worm shall thresh Mountains Parturiunt montes generatur ridiculus mus strange as we say a Cat may look on a King so a worm may crawle on a Mountain one Mountain is able to crush a million of Worms but if Sion be trampled on in Christs day she will turn again and one worm shall thresh a million of Mountains Providence can turn Mountains into Mole-hils and the proud politick Hills of the World into Hell God doth such things by such inconsiderable means That no flesh might glory in his presence 1 Cor. 1.31 If any creature will glory as if the Apostle had said let it glory behind the Lords back which it cannot do God will face down all the glory and glorying of the
conning The Lord now takes the Chair and craves audience God hath long seen what man can do oh that men would hearken to what God can say Foolish man hath been speaking great words this is the way for our establishment or none no that 's the way says another But the wise God will speak great things what God will speak will be worth the hearing and it is manners to give God leave to speak in his Providences Men love to hear themselves speak and to see themselves act though neither be to any purpose They say there is a sweet musick in the Sphears of the Heavens Sure I am though Providences seem cross and to clash yet there is a sweet order among and melody in them but that we cannot perceive them because our eies and ears are filled with the noyse and news of the world Jicere miserè non potest qui spem in Deum jacit Man goes about often to mend one rent and makes two Every one will be trying conclusions on the body of poor Sion but as he said Many Phisicians have killed the King So I may say many Empericks have almost destroyed Sion Most are getting great Lands and Livings but how few possess their souls in patience Oh that we could in this stormy age enter into our Chambers let God bolt the door and rock the Cradle and we shall sleep sweetly The Attributes and Promises of God are our Chambers I have heard of an Emperor that when he was disturbed with passion was wont to lock himself in his Closet and never to come out till his spirit was composed Disturbances in our minds are quickly raised like evill spirits but hardly quelled There are two difficult but needfull dutys in this dirty and distracting age To sweep our own doors and to shut our doors about us Oh that we could look to our Duty Ego in hac fabula partes meas peragaâ—n viderit de exitu ipse choragus Christus Eras Epi. and leave the event to God! If we did look to our Tackling the Pilot would look to the Helm God hath a greater venture of glory in the Churches welfare than man can have onely let the Jonahses be cast over-board and then let the Mariners fear no storm Be still and know that I am God If you will not beleeve you shall not be established was good Divinity of old Remember Untill the World can shake God off the top of the Ladder the Jacobs of God shall not be disturbed in their rest at the bottom And that as there is a necessity to yeeld to Gods will because it cannot be resisted so there is great equity therein because it cannot be bettered The Bed was Earth the raised Pillow stones Whereon poor Jacob rests his head his bones Heaven was his Canopy the shades of night Were his drawn Curtains to exclude the light Poor state for Jacobs Heir it seems to me His Cattle found as soft a Bed as he Yet God appeared there 's his joy his Crown God is not always seen in Beds of Down Oh! if that God shall please to make my Bed I care not where I rest my bones and head With thee my wants can never prove extream With Jacobs Pillow give me Jacobs Dream Fourthly and lastly While others climb in the world climb you Jacobs Ladder and there are three artificial wayes in a spiritual sense for climbing The first way is with Jacob to lye flat at the foot of the Ladder God usually cast his Prophets into asleep and then revealed his Oracles to them Non nisi iu culmine humilitatis constituitur cognitio veritatis Bern. in loc Jacob was a plain man and he saw God says the Text mark it he saw God in his goods in his Wives these goods the Lords gave me he saw God in Esau and yet there was as little of God in Esau as could be I saw thy face as the face of God he saw his Father in his Brother They say Astrologers when they would take a view of the Planets and Orbes of the Heavens they lay themselves flat on their backs that nothing may hinder their contemplation lay your selves flat on your backs and you cannot chuse but have a sight of Heaven Onely they that are like Jacob see the Ladder as Jacob did Gospel simplicity hath the sweetest view of Gospel Mysteries Jacob had many Visions before but did not see it at last he dreamed and behold a Ladder Secondly Descend if you would ascend Jacobs Ladder A Paradox you will say but the truth is he that exalts himself God will debase he that lifts himself up goes further from God and he that humbles himself comes nigher to God The Apostle Phil. 3.20 ascends gloriously Our conversation is in Heaven we are men of another will men of another world But how came the Apostle so high He had it seems been climbing a wrong Ladder before in Pharisaism Circumcised the eighth day an Hebrew of the Hebrews he reckons seven steps but comes down from them all to meet with Christ vers 7. Those things that were gain to me I account loss for Christ Christ for my mony says Paul there he descends And Rom. 7. we have the Apostle descending again O wretched man that I am I an Apostle Descende in infernum vivens ne descendas moriens I a Professor none so proud none so prophane as Paul he goes even to Hell gates Who shall deliver me but presently he ascends and mounts up as it were on the top of Jacobs Ladder Blessed be God through Jesus Christ who hath given us the victory So David What am I or my Fathers house my sins are continually before me and immediately like a ransomed prisoner sings and warbles out in the Psalms Praise the Lord all that is within me praise the Lord. Some say that when the Apostle Act. 9. was cast down and lay in blindness for a time that then he had the sight of Heaven 2 Cor. 12 1â— Oh how high is God in an humble heart and how high is an humble man in the the Lords thoughts They say water ascends no higher than it descends and surely In experience to many souls the gate of Hell is the nighest way to the Palace of Heaven Pride goes before destruction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the humble the Lord wil teach prefer Self-abasement is the next step to Joy and Assurance We can sooner see Stars in the water than water in the Stars Many descend by ascending but the best way is to ascend by descending The best way to see the glory of the Lord is to fall down before God on our faces We can never see our own glory and Gods glory together The best way to improve some talents is to lay them up Moses had more glory by his veil than by his face Thirdly Stand not still on Gods Ladder Not to go forward is to go backward better never to have begun to climb than
dog I am thy dog though thou frownest on me yet feed me though by thy power thou mayst kick me yet by my relation thou must k ep me Lord I am not a child I confess yet I am one of thy houshold because a Dog Oh! that though we are called children we might have this one property of a dog with this woman to hold fast as she did Yet Jacob gives not out But Deus non dat Jacobo nisi petenti ne det non accipienti Fifthly Reasons and stands upon his experience he had of God vers 10. Thou hast shewed mercy and truth unto thy servant and with my staff I passed over Jordan and am become two bands while Jacob seeks for a further blessing he remembers former blessings Lord thou wast with me to bring me to this abundance and wilt thou suffer my Brother to bâ—ast all am I increased onely to make him abound Ah Lord How many of thy Saints think they are not children because they are not men in Christ and though they have more worth than thousands a year in unfained Faith yet they walk so mournfully as if they were not worth a farthing nor had not a dram of experience but should die as beggars How many Hypocrites lye in saying they have that of God in them they have not and how many Saints lye though they think not of it denying to have that of God in them which they have and speak as if they had received nothing as if with Jacob they had never come over Jordan or received the least Divine favor But Jacob is a subtle Beggar and he gives thanks for what he hath and thinks that the ready way to get more from God Whom he assaults with a Sixt Argument taken from his relation to God Lord says Jacob I am thy servant as if he should say is the Lord a Father and will he not care for his children when they cry is the Lord my Master and shall Jacob be put out of service when he most needs relief Lord I am thine says David what then David what then why Lord then save me So Jacob cries here I am thy servant I am thine though but a servant Jacob seems to be a bold Beggar yet not praying as Beggars cant Jacob had learned that modesty in such cases pleases not God Thus Jacob says as Elisha to Elijah to God I will not leave thee he doth not onely spread his petition before the Lord and there leave it but strengthens it with all the Arguments he could pleading upon pleading as if God were most at ease when hee gave him no rest And therefore Seventhly Lord consider my fear from Esau Hath the Lord given the blessing and will he not maintain the same indeed Esau is my Brother yet he is thine Enemy If there be nothing in me for which thou shouldst keep me yet there is something in him for which thou mayst not suffer him to devour me Lord says Jacob Thy friends are my freinds and are not mine Enemies thy Enemies Thus Jacob earnestly pleads a League offensive and defensive made with God bringing his Omnipotency into the Ingagement as knowing that if he joyn with God that Esau cannot hurt him unless first he strike through the loyns of his God Deus nobiscum Cum Jacobo tardius dat Deus benedictionem suam commendat non negat was the watch-word of some of the Romans and our word is Immanuel that is by Interpretation God with us And indeed if we be of Immanuel Coledge of the Society of Jesus God Man if God be for us we need not care who is against us Jacob fears no hurt if he can get that God on his side that is above all Gods and that Power to be with him that is above all Power and therefore plucks up his spirits and gives Eighthly Another Charge urging God with the greatness of the peril O Lord says he Esau will come and slay the Mother with the Children that is he will have no mercy according to the Hebrew way of expression he will destroy root and branch that is all If thou givest me up to his hands he hath no fear of thee and how then will he pity me And yet Jacob hath not done But Ninethly Reinforces the former promise more violently Lord thou didst not onely say thou wouldst deal well with me but also that in doing good thou wouldst do me good Thou wilt surely do me good will the Lord deny his own Promise And lastly Jacob resolves for the blessing and though he hath done as it were praying yet he hath not done doing As if Jacob to your apprehension did throw down his Petition and take up his Sword and says to the Angel if one will not the other will Methinks I see the Royal blood of Faith to sparkle in Jacobs face and hear him thus resolving Well as long as I have an Ey I le weep as long as I have a Mouth I le cry as long as I have an Arm I le fight and wrestle I will either fairly conquer or be conquered I will not let thee go unless thou bless me that 's once crys Jacob. I will not Jacob God cannot to speak with reverence resist Jacobs will not onely he that doth the will of God can have his will of God Phylosophy go play with your nullum violentum perpetuum nothing is permanent which is violent Qui timidè rogat docet negare the more a man fasts sometimes the more we say he may So here Jacob the more he wrestles the more he may Oh that with Jacob we could thus put the Promises in suit by our prayers and as the Martyr said burthen God with them the bolder we make with God the better welcome Jacob will not loose the Blessing for want of bâ—gging Fourthly Wee have the issue of the Duell First The Angel seemed to win ground and to â—hump Jacob under his feet He touched the hallow of his thigh and the hallow of Jacobs thigh was out of joynt as he wrestled with him Sanatur vulnus sed manet eicatrix of his right thigh probably wherein lay the greatest strength the bone for a time was put out of the place and driven out of the joynt and though it was quickly put in again as some think yet did it leave pain and weakness behind it How now Jacob wrestle with God yet Jacob wrestles with one leg though he halt with the other As one swallowed down his Teeth knocked out and another covered his Forehead with a Lawrel broken by their Adversaries that they might not see and so not insult over their blows and wounds So Jacob wrestled as if he had not halted Now the Lord did offer this prejudice to Jacob that he might not go away vaporing because halting as Paul was pricked with a thorn in the flesh that he might not be puffed up with pride in his spirit 2 Cor. 12. As Jacob did feel the
according to the Greek pronunciation Phanouel Jacob tels us the meaning because I have seen God face to face that is not in a dream but waking not that Jacob saw the essence of God for that is invisible but he saw him more clearly than ever he did before Jacob saw God face to face Moses spake with God mouth to mouth that is they saw and spoke with God as one friend to another As before when Jacob had the Vision of the Ladder he called out of thankfulness the place Bethel so now he calleth this place Peniel that his posterity by that name might call to remembrance this heavenly Vision in that place shewed to their Father Jacob Where-ever the Saints prevail with God there is Peniel Sometimes they may call the Congregation Peniel there they hear the voyce of God their Closets Peniel there they see the face of God Oh how comfortable is it to reflect on the times and places of Gods appearances to his people For Caleb and Joshua to look back on the Red Sea and to say There we were Israel for Israel to look back on Ai and to say there was Peniel How sweet to consider there was the place where God softened my Conscience there was the Bethel where God revealed his love to me The second Circumstance is the observation of the Jews They eat not of the sinew that shrunk which is upon the hollow of the Thigh which custom was not taken up out of any Superstition which that simple age was given to but of a reverent remembrance of this Providence which befell Jacob according to the Pedagogie and Rudiments of that time who can shew in the Bible where the Lord blamed this custom But may some doubting Christians say what is all this to us This was Jacobs Victory and as there was never such a Victory before so there is like never to be such a Victory hereafter We have not the person of Jacob we are not Jacobs and how then shall we prevail with God as he did To which I answer This story of Jacobs wrestling is not incredible but a daily experience Jacob hath been wrestling with and prevailing over God these three thousand years Jacob also prayed for us and we prayed in Jacob before we were born his Vow was our Vow and his Victory was our Victory If I might have assurance of this may a Christian say I should be a Conqueor even while I think I am conquered and made when often in mine own sense I am undone Whose hand and seal is that what ever was writ afore time was writ for our instruction and comfort But rather whose language is that Hos 12.4 Jacob found God in Bethel and there the Angel spake with us with us Hosea notwithstanding many centuries of years passed from the death of Jacob to the birth of Hosea yet the Prophet speaks as if he had been alive when the Patriarch was alive as if he wept when Jacob wept and prevailed when hee prevailed And there he spake with us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All the Saints are the Of-spring of Father Jacob and he contained them not onely exemplarily but also virtually in his Faith as the root doth the several branches according to the Hebrew Proverb That those things which God wrote to the Fathers are as copies to the Children And I remember somewhere I have read that of old Praying Christians were termed Jacobines those that have the nature may well have the name of Jacob. Those that would be Israels to prevail with God must first be Jacobs for prayer unto God How often hath God found his people in prayer lamenting and left them rejoycing despairing and left them triumphing How oft have they come out of their Closets crying with Luther Vicimus vicimus and on better ground than the confident did saying Now let Satan do his worst Oh! that we were so willing to prevail with God as God is willing to be prevailed on by us How doth our Father desire to be desired and wrestle with his Jacobines till they wrestle with him Neither hath he his will unless we have ours Hath God forgotten to be gracious Psal 77. No If he forget any of his he hath forgot his old wont Whoever can nominate one Jacob that ever came with a lawful suit and received a repulse Deus non negat se petenti quod sponte se obtulit non petenti Aug. God sent a challenge of old to Israel Amos 4 Prepare to meet thy God as if the Lord had said you have often challenged me I now challenge you Israel meet me in the field gird on your Swords bring forth your Artillery plead your cause I say you are a rebellious people not Israel but Jacob not Jacob but Esau try who is righteous I or you if you can prove you are not a proud hypocritical people I le never challenge you more thus God seems ironically to jeer them what you contend with the Almighty you dwell with everlasting burnings But I rather judge the sense thus q.d. Israel you have often provoked me I now accept of your provocation I now take the field to vindicate my Glory yet I am not so angry but I may be appeased come saith the Lord with sackcloath on your backs with ropes about your necks acknowledge your unworthiness come with tears in your eyes supplications in your mouthes sacrifices in your hands give me the glory of my Justice meet your God with righteousness and repentance and I will spare you How often doth the Lord as it were cast his Glove to his Jacobs and challenge them to enter the Lists with him Quid Deus non filiis petentibus cum hoc ipsum dedit ut filii ipsi essent None taketh hold of me crys the Lord none will wrestle with me none will pray to me Go saith the Lord into your Closets to morrow there you and I will wrestle together you say you want peace of Conscience a bleeding heart sense of my love now meet me there if you dare muster up your Faith produce the Promises pray and plead weep and wrestle with me prevail with me and you have prevailed over all But alas may a gracious heart say how shall I prevail I have neither knowledge how to contend nor strength if I contend to conquer the Lord. Oh! look not on your weakness but on Gods strength The Lord deals with Saints as some potent people have done to their adversaries lends them Arms and Armor Powder and Shot to fight against himself Cannot you pray says God come I le teach you to pray take unto you words and say unto me Lord take away iniquity and receive us graciously and we will render unto thee the calves of our lips Say Father pardon my sins and I will love thee speak peace to my distressed Conscience and I will praise thee Methinks I hear the Lord say Sinners though you cannot pray with your tongues yet have you not
hearts to pray withall though you want words it is no matter if you have tears though you cannot speak yet cannot you sigh nor groan Though with the Disciples you cannot say Our Father nor with Thomas My Lord yet with the Prodigal cannot you say Father cannot you cry Lord It is no matter for babling a word is enough to the wise and more than enough to a friend especially such a friend as your God is Coimus in Congregationem ut ad Deum quasi manufacta precationibus ambiamus orantes haec vis gratia Dei est grata Deo Tert. Cannot you fight says the Lord come I le give you Armor do you want an Helmet here is Salvation do you wish oh that I had a Sword here take the Spirit If you want a Brest-plate here take Righteousness It may be says the Lord when you come to my door En quam negare nollet qui sibi etiam neganti qualiter extorqueretur ostendit Chrysost I may be as it were a sleep and you may be ready to think I have not heard when the Lord called and now the Lord will not hear when I call It may be if I come not at your first call you will presently conclude that I will not come at all But saith the Lord Sinners be not discouraged if I come not at your call I le come at your knock bring my Sons name with you if I come not at your knock I le come when you bounce at my door of Grace Oh how willing is God that we should hit the mark when hee teacheth us how to shoot and how willing to answer our prayers when that God whom we pray to indites our Petitions Oh Lord how desirous art thou we should prevail when thou tellest us how we should wrestle Aut in respondendo quam facit moram qui in dictandis precibus vota supplicum sit praevenit idem God wrestles with man by tentations and man wrestles with God by prayers Where is the spirit of prayer generally we had rather sleep than wrestle with Jacob. O said the lazy Husbandman stretching himself on his bed at noon day in the Summer-time that this were working So now says the worldly Politician when he is framing his plots for preferment O that this were the setting up of the Kingdom of Christ O says the Apostate Professor that spends his time in the Ale-house or in gaming O that this were repenting and recovering a good Conscience So crys the lazy Christian folding his arms like Solomons Sluggard in his bed yet a little slumber yet a little sleep O that this were wrestling or praying with God and gaining the blessing Sed hoc est opus pulveris non pulvinaris I would wrestle if I had strength say some Saints Never complain for want of power if you have a will by strength that is our strength shall no man prevail the Lord teaches our hands to war and our fingers to fight he that bids us come into the field resolves to give us strength to fight and to give us the day we are not so impotent but Christ is as powerfull The Spirit of God helpeth our infirmities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even as the Nurse helpeth the child holding it by the sleeve Quomodo non exauditur Spiritus à Patre cum exaudit cum Patre or as the Staff upholds an old man that else cannot stand or as the Father seeing the child lifting at a great weight too heavy for him runs to assist him clasping hands about the burthen with him We have no strength but what is given us and if the Lord withdraw the influence of his Grace either we fight not or we are foiled Christ conquered by dying and we conquer by yeelding Prayer prevails with God not as it is our act but as it is the Lords institution God looks on Prayer as his image he knows his children by their crying and when they cry he presently runs to help them As Q. E. gave Sir W. R. a Ring as a pledge of her favor and bid him send that token to her when ever he was in distress and she would relieve him so the Lord tels us we shall see him if he hear of us It is true Jacob prevailed over God but it was with God That God that called Jacob to fight gave him weapons to foil himself He that fought against Jacob fought also in Jacob it was not Jacob prevailed over the Angel but the Angel in Jacob that prevailed over the Angel he fought not against God without God he that provoked him to fight instructed him how to resist at the same time both contending against him and for him as being both Opponent and Defendant assaulting him with the one hand and assisting him with the other supplying him with more strength in resisting than expressing strength in opposing him how sweet to consider The Angel contends with Jacob with his left hand and contends for Jacob with his right hand otherwise who dares enter the Lists with the Almighty by whose breath man is consumed by whose looks the Mountains are melted at whose nod at whose voyce the whole Creation trembles We must distinguish between natural strength and strength conferred by Grace by the former Jacob had been conquered by this he overcame If the Angel that strove with him had not strove for him he had been so far from gaining the name of Israel that he had lost the name of Jacob. Wherefore beleevers fall to wrestling but if you measure your success by your own power you are vanquished before you fight he that would overcome must neither look on his own arm nor on the arm of his Adversary but the mouth of that God that hath promised and can perform The Match is too unequal with the Devil much more with God We are like Grass-hoppers to those Gyants when we compare our selves with them how can we but despair but when we compare our selves with God how can we despair He that brings Jacob into the field gives him the victory The example of Abrahams contending with the Lord in prayer is notable also and shews what a friend at Court prayer is when otherwise man dare not look the Lord in the face Prayer is the Asylum the last refuge we have to fly to Deus qui certamini praeerat vires etiam ad vincendum praestat De la Hay in loc and if Justice beat us out of that Hold we are conquered That which was an argument of the Athenians weakness they fought with King Philip onely with words and writings is our Fort Royal and an argument of our strength Litieris verbisque solis valemus There are Four Duels that every Jacob is to fight in the world besides that wherein he contends with God and unless he be first a Prevailer with God he cannot be a Conqueror in the rest There is an inferior Duel with man not so much with sinful man as with the
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
the Lord will do according to the word of Moses If we keep his precepts he will fulfill our prayers God repenting once that he made man was resolved to destroy him from the face of the earth yet when Noah built an Altar and prayed to God the Lord Gen. 8. smelled a savor of Rest and said henceforth I wil not any more curse the earth for mans sake God was once so displeased with his people that he said flatly I tel you truly I will deliver you no more yet when they asked a Deliverer of him Judg. 10. His soul was grieved for their misery and he gave them Jephtha Therefore when God hath resolved on a Nations ruin he shuts his doors against Prayer The Prophet complains Lam. 3.8 He shutteth out my prayer q.d. God will not suffer his Favorite Prayer to speak with him It is a royal way for a Prince to correct the injuries of another Nation that is inferior to deny their Ambassadors audience Psa 80.4 How long will God be angry but with his people that is not all with the Prayers of his people God is oft pleased to be angry with prayer Jer. 15.1 Though Moses and Samuel stood before me and intreated for this people yet I le cast them out of my sight q d. You think to hinder me now as you were wont to do you will send out your old friend Prayer and if you cannot pray enough your selves you will procure aid from my friends Moses and Samuel but you shall not prevail I will destroy you the best means shall fail you therefore all means shall fail you To resort to other means after prayer is to fasten an Anchor with a twined thread which hath broken a Cable or to think to conquer an Enemy with a Bulrush when we could not with a Cannon In vain is God attempted by Power or sollicited by Prayer against his own mind And as God will not sometimes be intreated so he ought not at any time to be questioned But I hope the Lords door is yet to be opened to our knocking and his ears to our crying And because in this age so many prayers are frustrated be sure to pray that you may be heard I intend not a Common-place of Prayer Briefly First be sure to limit your prayers according to the Revealed Word Let us pray that Gods Will not that our Wils may be done as that Jacobine did Lord let my will be done and mine because thine We often ask and miss because we ask amiss Your Father oft gives that in anger which he would deny to give if he were pleased It s better to be without Quails than to surfet to have either a long delay or rather a full denial than an answer in wrath The contradictions by God put to the prayers of the Saints in this age is one of the greatest wonders of the age Our hearts are oft as the Spirit of God saith like crooked Bows and no wonder the Arrows we shoot are lost when many times we never aim at the mark We must take heed of praying backward with Jonah who rather than he would be accompted a false Prophet cared not so much for the salvation of Nineveh as for his own reputation Says he was not this my saying one would have thought that the salt Sea should have washed away those briny humours Take heed of the heady prayers of the Disciples Cause fire to come down from Heaven q.d. these are Rebels to thy interest we have preached the word of Life to them and they scoff at and scorn us for our labors surely O Lord if they were thine elected they would have beleeved ere now they have sinned against their own light and against the revelation of thy love they are finally impenitent Lord consume them But these were hot spirits and Christ cools them You know not of what spirits you are of Joh. 15.7 you have not the persons and therefore it is not convenient you should have the prayers of Elias Every one that rides in a fiery Chariot is not an Elias Non petitur in nomine salvatoris quicquid petitur contra rationem salutis Lastly Let us beware of sinister prayers not to write after that copy Lord when thou commest into thy Kingdom let one of my Sons fit on thy right hand another on thy left At the left hand of Christ Surely she did not know for what she prayed for none but Goats shall stand at Christs left hand The rule of our prayers is not what pleaseth our apprehensions but what is correspondent to and agreeable with the Revealed Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato III. de legibus p. 811. That which is glorious in the eyes of a man nay of a good man is often abominable in the eyes of God Pray for nothing but what God hath promised if ever you would have God to perform what you pray for It is better to beleeve that the will of God shall be fulfilled Deus non dando dat nobis nos non accipiendo à Deo accipimus than to behold our own wills fulfilled The Saints in this age justly condemn the former Generation for doing that which was never commanded and I beleeve the next Generation will as justly condemn the Saints in this age for beleeving some things which were never promised The Intercession of our Lord Jesus is a censer of gold and can we desire him to offer up our drossie prayers for Incense they are often filthy in our sight and how can they be sweet in his Fathers nostrils Many of Sions Petitions are now in the Lords accompt but waste paper and at the last day shall never be seen hung on the file in Heaven and indeed how can they speed when our consciences bearing witness they are neither worded by the Scriptures indited by the Spirit nor subscribed by a bleeding heart Eo modo sunt omnia petenda quo modo sunt promissa Aut praeter verbum petis aut non propter verbum petis Secondly Be sure to pray not only for love but in love It is true that Love is a stately Garment to be worn by the Lords children in their Mansion house of Glory but you must not put off this Garment till that day as the world doth Holiness Oh say they holiness is for Heaven Love and not Parts Love and not Praying Love and not the participation visibly of the body and blood of Jesus Christ Non debet esse simultas inter eos qui sunt simul is the badge of a Disciple of Christ By this shall all men know ye are my Disciples if yee love one another Joh. 13.35 Said he that was as much for Faith and more than any of his followers Christians Love is asleep I hope not in a dead sleep for shame awaken it Gardiners speak of an Herb Love lies a bleeding and if ever that Herb grew in Sions Garden it is now Oh revive it Hosius was so in