facilitate the death of the Saints ready with their arms to receive the souls of Gods Jacobs En fratres quamrerum lamentanda mutatio fuâ—â—s divitis antecedit lugubris tu ba Servorum feretrum pauperis antecedit Angelorum psallentium multitudo Chrysol and carry them up the Ladder to Heaven Lazarus was carried not by one Angel but in the plural number by Angels At the funeral of a Prince or Emperor it is accounted an honor to help bear his Hearse to the Grave so the glorious Angels willingly condescend to carry the souls of the Saints to Heaven Many Angels carry one Lazarus as if they had been ambitious to carry him every Angel striving which should carry a limb This was greater state than the King of Egypts Chariot drawn by four Princes We are a delightfull and lightsome armful to the Angels while we live and at death they do the last and best office as we say for us Lazarus who living was licked by Dogs is now dead guarded by Angels thus they condescend to handle such filthy creatures as sin hath made us while they remember our necessity they do as it were forget their own honor Whereas some plead for topical Angels and personal Angels that is for the presidency of one Angel over a Country and over a particular man according to the conceit of the good and bad Genius I judge it more for a Saints honor and safety to have a Guard of Angels then a Guardian Angel To conclude Angell vocantur quod funguntur munere ordinario Arch-Angeli quod extra ordinario we have always with us invisible Friends and Enemies let the consideration of our Enemies keep us from security and the consideration of our Friends keep us from distrust Had wicked men their eyes open as Balaam once had they would at every turn see an Angel to stand in their way ready to resist what they go about as he did for this is one of those noble imployments of those noble Spirits to give a strong though invisible opposition to wicked Enterprizes True they appear not ordinarily what then no more do the evill Angels had we but spiritual eies we should see with Moses the invisible God and not that onely but with Jacob the invisible Angels Many a treacherous act have they hindred without the knowledge of the Traytor yea many are the dangers wee see and fear innumerable those we neither see nor fear from which Providence makes Angels instruments to deliver us Good Angels support the Ministers of God in the Throne and in the Pulpit As Jacob in the Vision said The Lord was in this place and I knew not of it So how often are the Angels with us and we do not consider it Angeli sunt media sed non mediatores though we see not Angels yet we must beleeve them we are not Jacobs not Christians if our faith be not as sure as our sense Wherefore let us honor Angels not adore them much less invocate them they are not the Ladder but go on the Ladder From the explication of Jacobs Ladder and having shewed the sufficiency of Providence take these Conclusions First Lean on Gods Ladder Trust his All-sufficiency for your selves and for the Church 1 In particular for your selves Quid haesitas super possessionibus caelum Dominum cum habeas When we see a child carping and caring for himself surely say we either this child hath no Father or his Father cares not for him either it is Fatherless or Loveless Cast your care on God Heb 13. Why for God cares for you What need you care and God care too Is God sufficient for the journeys end and shall we distrust him for the way Shall we trust man upon a peece of Parchment with two or three hands and seals and not the Lord who daily proves himself Debtor to us in volumes of love Distrust slanders God to his face Some are all for Faith I beleeve I beleeve but nobody is for Holiness and on the contrary some Christians are very careful against Prophaneness they will not part with a good Conscience for all the goods in the world and yet nourish doubtings and distrusts of Gods Love to them as if Unbeleef were no such great matter as if God would easily dispense with that The Lord saith he that provides not for his own Si Deus sic custodit superstua tua quomodo animam tuam is worse than an Infidel and shall man ever be able to write Infidel on Gods door How many say they trust God for their Souls and yet dare not trust God with their Bodies Whereas Nature hath often said God never sends mouths but he will also send meat and grace If God take away my food he will also take away my appetite How reasonable is it to trust God when we have so often tried him and yet how happy were many a man if he could but trust God as far he can see him God is not bound to give us necessarys and yet we are not content with abundance We cannot be merry without cates and delicates when Providence might make us to be without bread The Saints may be without many things but they want nothing if they should want any thing yet they want no good thing They may want the favor of man but shall not want the smiles of their Father Psal 34.10 How sweetly may a Beleever view the Heavens and say this is my Fathers Palace and say of the Sun Moon and Stars These are the lights that my Father hangs up and say of the Beasts of the Field and Fowles of the Air These my Father feeds and fills to maintain his Houshold Worthy Mr. Hern lying on his Death-bed his wife made much womanish lamentation what should hereafter become of her little ones Peace Sweet-heart said he That God who feedeth the Ravens will not starve the Herns Omnia famulantur famulanti Deo Meat and drink and the Gospel are good Chear said the Martyr Let them distrust that have not a God to live on said Luther Having food and rayment says the Apostle not dainties but food not Velvets but Rayment Let us therewith be content The young Ravens are fed of God Non licet de fortuna quaeri salvo Caesare Senec. Psa 147. being forsaken of their Dam for out of their dung ariseth a worm which creepeth into their mouths and feeds them Oh that we could depend on Providence for our subsistence if we could but find Faith to beleeve it God would find Means to effect it The Mariner never murmurs though his Cabbin be not gilded if it carry him but safe to his Port. When we have not strength to work we have liberty to lye down with Jacob at the foot of the Ladder and sleep Vides sed non invides Secondly Trust God and fear not man Wicked men Psal 129.6 sit as it were in a golden Chair on the ridge of
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
sheep Saint and Saint Formerly we had more fire than light but the Lord knows now we have more light than fire more Knowledge than Love Every man pretends to be of the houshold of Faith Si essemus inseparabiles essemus insuperabiles but few are of the Family of Love while we contend for an ounce of Truth we lose a pound of Love Not onely for the Prophaneness and Errors but for the Divisions of England there are great thoughts of heart How far are those from one another that yet I hope are nigh to God How many that once lay in one anothers Bosoms now can hardly indure to stand in one anothers sight those that are Members of the same Body do carry themselves as if they were of different worlds How sad is it to see that many that prayed formerly one with and one for another now should pray one against another How is it said Zanchy that those speaking of the Lutherans that profess to eat the very body of Christ that milde and meek Jesus should bee so bitter against the Members of the same body O that we should agree in so much and differ for so little as in some things we do Maxima pars studiorum est studium partium Oh that though we cannot conclude all our Controversies yet we could bury up all our Contentions how long shall the greatest part of our studies be the study of parts How shall I Beleeve and Our Father be reconciled How shall those that are of different Creeds be of one Pater Noster if the division of tongues hindred the building of Babel how shall not the division of hearts hinder the building of the New Jerusalem While we have been contending about the windows we have almost lost the foundation of the Church while we have controverted for the well-being In veste fit varietas non scissura we have even lost the being of Religion in England Many of our differences are petty as that between one that was for Martin and another that was for Luther as if two should quarrel who should first enter in at the gate of Venice when neither possibly may ever come thither But further now our differences are so great that unless the Lord prevent while we contend who shall go up against Babilon we are like to go back to Babel and while we think to pull down a litteral we shall set up unaware a spiritual Antichrist But the time is a coming when those that have but one Heaven shall have one heart when they that have but one work shall have but one shoulder Zech. 3.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys The falling out of lovers shall then indeed prove the renewing of love The Lyon shall ly down with the Lamb and a little childe shall lead them Isa 11.6 Not that ever there shall be a composition made between Christ and Belial for that quarrel is of Five thousand years standing and shall be maintained to the end of the world Even now amongst most of the Saints there is a shadow of this future concordance as when a King is coming to Town one crys he comes this way another crys he comes that way at this time at that time they all go out to meet him and though they differ about the particulars yet they all expect the coming of the King Quae conveniunt in aliquo tertio conveniunt inter se and resolve to entertain him As at Athens when a Governor was to be chosen in the several Votes of the City one cryed up this man another that man but the second man still was Themistocles for such a man and Themistocles So now one crys O I am for Presbytery another I am for Independency another I am for dipping and for Christ all amongst these that are faithful centre in Christ But how glorious will it be to see all Gods children of one mind Uniones oriuntur ex mari sed magis pendent è coelo which will be when the Father comes into the Family to hear it said at last as it was said at first see how the Christians love one another Fifthly From this Ladder we may forsee the increase of righteousness Many hitherto in the world that should have been the Peace are the Troublers of a Nation those that should be Shepheards are Wolves against Sion How do the publick Enemys of Sion make the tears of the poor their wine the groans of the needy their musick Vt rei innocentes pereant siaut nocentes judices that paint the walls of the House and pluck up the foundation that beautifie their Kingdoms with Peace but never think of building of them with Religion That turn Judgement into Wormwood by delay and Righteousness into Hemlock by severity When a man fails in his Estate we say he breaks there are many broken men some broken in their Credit others broken in their Consciences but there are others that do not onely break by carelesness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but are broken by cruelty It is a great sin to take away the cloaths from a poor man but a greater to flea off his skin but there are some that rend the flesh and chop the bones for the sweetness and marrow they think to find in them Si libet licet Mic 3.2 Job 19.20 Some rob under pretence of Law others rob in the open field and think that what is got by might is got by right according to the antient Problem Jus vis apices parvo discrimine distant Jus nunc mundus habet vim quia semper habet Great Thieves have formerly worn chains of gold while little Thieves have lain stockt in chains of iron Robbin Hood was called an honest Thief because he would never rob the poor but there are few such honest Thieves instead of taking off have laid on oppression and instead of breaking yoaks have broken backs Oppressors Gen. 10.8 are called Hunters the poor are their Game Oppressions their toyles and nets mighty Oppressors are mighty Hunters In Zephanies time Oppressors were called Wolves Justitia non datur nisi vendatur Zeph. 3.3 but then they were evening Wolves but now those that are Oppressors are day Wolves Oppressors under the light of the Gospel They eate my people saith God as bread Psal 14.4 These are Man-eaters nay worse for among the Man eaters the living eat the dead but among Oppressors the dead eat the living But Jacob from this Ladder may see the new Heavens and new Earth a building wherein righteousness shall dwel If new Heavens then certainly new Suns and new Stars in a political sense new Magistrates or if you will Justitia non venit nisi provenit Magistrates with new hearts Isa 5.17 If any deridingly ask with the Epicure When shall we see this Structure where are the Carpenters whence shall come the Timber Let such remember there is no work since the Creation of the World greater
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
love with Charity that he thought there was no other Word of God than this of Love But oh that Love were by many at least in their carriages accounted to be a Word of God I know there is a kind of unity amongst High-way-men or else their Trade of Robbery would fall And that love is often pretended against Faith and oftner against Holiness The Souldiers that were for the crucifying of Christ were not q.d. for the crucifying of his coat they tore his Body and yet kept his Coat whole but not out of love to Christ but out of love to themselves every one of them would fain have had it all The Souldiers had not Christ but they had his Coat and shall Christians have Christ and not his Coat the Body and the Garment must go together Never expect your Sacrifice of Prayer should be accepted til it be salted with Love Love knows no difference between party and party but owns all as fellow-members that are partakers of the influence of the Head Remember That the Father will not agree to answer the prayers of his children that disagree God will answer the prayers of one childe for another but not of one child against another If thou bring thy gift to the Altar and there remembrest that thy Brother hath ought against thee where by brother in the lowest kind you must not as some do understand men of the same Opinion but men of the same Faith in and same Communion with God Secondly It is not said if thou hast ought against thy Brother Mark that leave there thy gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy Brother and then come and offer thy gift This Precept is Religious and certainly the Practise is not Superstition To expect that God should answer our divided prayers is to put a jeer on Omnipotency and to charge the Almighty with inconsistency it puts an absurdity on God in making him to please man nay an impossibility to please all men The divisions of our prayers may possibly cause some Professors to suspect that God is divided Deus nequit facere quod nequit fieri to whom we pray and in time occasion the world to beleeve there is no God at all for God is but one and not divided The Lord at this time must frustrate q.d. in specie many prayers of some Christians as he will be true to the principles of his own Glory To speak with reverence God cannot grant all our Petitions and be God All the godly of all parties pretend the Kingdom of Christ and these Opinions as rigidly maintained are apparently inconsistent together What a temptation is it then to attempt unlawful means q.d. to force the Lord out of his way and all that man might not be proved false to his own interest and be cryed up and down for a lyar God forsooth shall not be God unless he will please man Multi benè cogitant sed malè precantur Et si volunt esse felices Deum orent ne quid illis ex his quae optantur eveniat Sen. L. Benef. c. 37. Oh! that the Lord would reconcile these divisions that are betwixt his own people However in the interim let every particular Jacob wrestle with God and ly quietly asleep at the bottom of the Ladder I shall conclude here with the advice of Divine Mr. S.R. on the woman of Canaan in 4 Rules First Go not before but follow God and Providence Prescription of such and such means to God and no other is to limit Omnipotency and to stint the holy one of Israel It is arrant Idolatry to limit God to means as well as to bow down to an Idol A Rams horn is as near of blood to cause the walls of Jerico to fall in Gods hand as Engins of war It is easier to see what is inflicted on us than to see who inflicteth it and we look no higher than the creature as if the world created it self so is this when we dream the creature moveth it self and is not moved by God Quietly submit to the Lords waies beleeving can ease us disputing cannot Secondly The book of Providence is full both Page and Margin God hath been adding to it sundry new Editions and like children we are in love with the golden Covering the Ribbons filleting and the pictures in the Frontispeece but understand little of the Argument of Providence Who is wise and will observe these things Degener animus est qui emendare mavult Deum quam se carpens Divina Providentiam alia illa esse velit magis quam se alium Sen. even he shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord Psa 107.43 God is worthy to be Chronicled there is a contexture of Decrees Actions Events in Providence from the creation to the conflagration of the world and not a thread shall ever be broken though this web be woven of threads of divers colours black and white comfortable and sad passages of Providence yet all make a fair order to God in the way and shall be beautiful to us in the end As many Herbs and various sorts of Flowers make up one pleasant and well-smelling Meadow many Roses Lillies and the like one sweet-smelling Garden so there is a sweetness and order in all Gods dispensations Thirdly Let your spirits be kept in aequilibrio in an indifferency in all casts of Providence and so you are above the cross 2 Sam. 15.25 26. David puts his soul on Gods two Ifs if he save it is good if he destroy it is good Make sure this general Christ is mine at this Anchor in this Harbor my vessel shall ride What ever wind blow in externals Christ dyed for me if I live its Christ if I dye its Christ if I ride with Princes on Horses its good if I go on foot with Servants it is good If Christ hide his face and frown it is Christ it is good if he overlade the soul with rays and beams of glory it is also Christ Faiths speculations to the worst and hardest in point of resolution is sweet Suppose the Devil and Hell form the Principles Faith can make a conclusion of God and Heaven Job puts on a conclusion of faith from bad premises What if God should kill me yet I le trust in him Job 13.15 What if God throw me into hell it were well resolved I would out of the pit of Devils cry Halelujah praise the Lord in his justice Fourthly Give not over praying though God seem to give over answering God hears often when he doth not answer and oft his not answering is an answer pray go on The Father will cause the child to say over again what he once heard him say because he delights to hear him speak I pray for victory to Gods people in this battel they lose the day yet I am heard and answered because I prayed for that victory not under the notion of Victory but as linked with Mercy to the Church and honor to Christ now God shews mercy and gains Glory in humbling them which is the formal object of my prayers Some Letters require no answer but are meer expressions of the desire of the friend the generall prayers of the Saints That God would gather in his Elect that Christ would come and marry the Bride and consummate the Nuptials do refer to a real answer when the King himself shall make his second appearance In the expectation of and patience for which appearance let the Saints beleeve and rejoyce for the Marriage of the Lamb is a coming and his wife hath made her self ready and to her is granted that she should be arrayed in fine linnen clean and white for the fine linnen is the righteousness righteousnesses gr of the Saints And blessed are they which are called to the marriage Supper of the Lamb. And behold he commeth quickly and his reward is with him therefore let the Spirit and the Bride or the Spirit in the Bride or the Bride in the Spirit say Come and let him that is a thirst come and whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely Even so come Lord Jesus Rev. 22.12 17 20. Possibly Jacobs Vow may follow FINIS ERRATA PAge 2. line 17. read the Lord open this vision to our eyes and open our eyes to see it p. 14. l. 17. r. shoulders p. 19. l 4. r. Elijah p 59. l. 2. r. is visible p. 36. l. 14. r. rather Heaven out of Hel p. 103. l. 25. nobodies p. 132. l. 1. r. between wolves and sheep p 146. m. r. parem p. 158. l. 6. r. were all to be conquered p. 161. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 163. r 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 186 m. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 213. m. r. pendet p. 219. m. r. irrita irritantur p. 221. m. r. Deo p. 135. m. r. luxatus luctatus p. 237. l. 6. r. not adverse p. 235. r. Distich r. Laudis Exultans p. 262 m. after non read dabit p. 296. l. 4. r. Ecclesia p. 302 l 11. for once labor read once more