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and with a plausible converâ—ation preach down preaching and tell you that a strict life and repentance are out of date and required onely to scare men from their freedom and you shall beleeve all this Jer. 4 10.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
world Remember that God may shew his Honor by another but he will never give his Honor to another Shall the Ax lift up it self against him that heweth therewith there is a jest indeed As Nebuchadnezzar said Is this not great Babylon that I have built for the glory of my Majesty more truely may the Lord say Is not there the stony heart that I have softened is not this dead and decayed England that my Arm hath revived for the glory of my free Grace and Power Moses led Israel out of Egypt but Joshua led Israel into Canaan The Lord changes Instruments at his pleasure and for his Glory This man saith God shall begin a work and that man shall perfect it this is the man we cry up and all others must not be named the same day with him now Essex then Waller ☞ Quod fluctus insurgunt potest navicula turbari sed quod Christus stat non potest mergi now Massey then Fairfax then Cromwel Hence it is that God often suffers Instruments to break and fall when we lean too much on them God will make us know before he hath done with us that he will neither do the work of peevish man nor go in mans crooked way Never fear let the Lord chuse his own weapons to fight his own battels As long as hee hath a Cause in the world hee can never want shoulders to maintain it Mans day is not the Lords day and Mans man though godly is not Gods man Till the Saints meet with a Pharaoh that God can neither conquer nor overcome with a red Sea that he can neither dry up nor divide with a wall that he can neither throw down nor climb over never distrust Secondly Limit not God to our time It is true we must give God no rest untill he perform his Promises that is we must be importunate in the means but we must in the mean time rest on God and leave him to his own time The Vision is for an appointed season and therefore we must wait for it The Seers often may lie but the Vision shall speak though it seem dumb and not lie The glass of Providence runs in the dark and it is a comfort for the Saints to beleeve it doth not stand still but as no man can number the Sands so no man can jog the glass to make it run faster or tell when it shall run out That Babylon in the Letter shall fall it is certain It hath been accompted difficult to tell the age it is impossible as most judge yet to tell the year and unlawful to search out the day or hour of her ruin If the Son of man knew not the day of the last Judgement as in the Gospel much less may the Sons of men presume to know the day of a particular though special Judgement as that of Babylon And Christ was well versed in Daniels numbers from whence collections chiefly are fetched for the time of Babylons downfal It is a good observation that Providence is the best interpreter of Prophecy Yet no question herein but we may imploy our Reason as well as our Faith She shall be set q.d. on fire and usually smoak goes before the flame there shall be signs of her ruin in the world and they are to be viewed Here we may guess but can hardly determine her day hastens and by many symptoms of Providence she lies upon her Death-bed and probably Six hundred sixty six as we say Eighty eight for One thousand five hundred eighty eight so by a Synecdoche Six hundred sixty six for One thousand six hundred sixty six may ring her Passing bell Many good Archers have been shooting but none as I know yet have hit the mark some have faln short and some may flie over The Lords furthest way about is often the nighest way home There are two famous Proverbs to this purpose with the Jews God will be seen in the Mount and when the tale of bricks is doubled Cum duplicantur lateres venie◠Moses Moses will come Nullum tempus occurrit regi is here a good maxim All time is a like to an eternal God what work God will not do to day he can do to morrow He often defers our expectation but never misses his own opportunity Christ suffers Lazarus to lie long in the Grave Si amatur quomodo infirmatur si infirmatur quomodo amatur and did not raise him so soon as he was buried though Christ loved him dearly whence we may observe That oftentimes those whom God loves most he seems to make least haste to help The Cause of Christ sometimes seems to sleep but never dies When wicked men have plaid their Game which possibly many think long God will shuffle the Cards together and tumble them under the Table Oh now or never now if ever say we The Saints might be united prophaneness might be suppressed Non quarto die pati permittetur qui scitur ultra non posse quam triduo tolerare 1 Cor. 10.10 and all burthens might be taken off Like children as it is well observed we love green fruit yet that breeds worms Wee love to have the Apple out of the fire before it be half rosted mercies before we are ripe for them but it is better to have Judgements in Mercy than Mercies in Judgement God had almost forfeited his Bond to the Israelites but he faithfully came before the Sun was down and paid his debt at the end of the four hundred and thirty years even the self same day they went according to his promise out of Egypt Quaedam non negantur sed ut congruo tempore dentur differuntur Exo. 12.41 And if says God Psal 89.35 I perform not my promise let my word never be taken more Saints consider Your Fathers Goodness makes the Promise his Faithfulness will perform it and his Wisdom alone will find out the fittest time Thirdly You that are Jacobs take heed of repining at Providence Stand still said Moses and see the salvation of God Exod. 14.13 The greatest work of man oftentimes is to stand still and see God to work There is a time for Joshua to fight in the field and a time for Moses to pray in the Mount O vitam miseram iam diu timere quam est illud ipsum quod timetur Orat. Att. Epist l. 10. when there is not an opportunity to fight down Babylon there is a time to pray her down Christians in turns of Providence have need not onely of zeal but of wisdom We must go when God calls but a man had need to have good ground to go on when he saith God calleth him out of his Calling While a Court sits there is a confused noyse but when the Judge takes the Bench. the Officers cry Peace Peace my friends the passions and opinions in this age make a din in the world every man must have something to say for its Government what proing and
wicked man as wicked as Cain to prolong his life and to have the world at command but yet carp not at providence let the Lord be down before you think to lift him up enter not into the Chair to offer knowledge to God about his Works There is no reason that the Lord should give man a reason of all his ways he often wils a change but never changeth his will God may retreat in his Providences as to us and undo all he hath been doing in England these fifteen years and make Sion put on her mourning apparel and yet not be either unconstant or unfaithful though I hope better things For it is observeable that Providence in the main is never Excentrical and in the main is never Retrograde The Lord oft looks backward but never goes backward He led Israel forty years about in the wilderness and yet never carried them back to Egypt Abraham is promised a Son and a numerous off-spring but as if Providence had forgot it self to us Abraham is commanded to offer up Isaack and whereas he might have objected Lord thou art wont to call for Oxen to be sacrificed and dost thou require me to sacrifice my son Thy word saith I must not kill Certum est quia impossibile est and thy mouth saith I must kill and Lord thou hast promised to multiply my seed and now thou callest for my Isaack How can the branches grow if the stock be cut down and yet Abraham obeyed winking and putting his hand into the Lords hand following him though Providence as it were crossed the Promise We now have as the Prophet speaks a wheel in a wheel So I trust ere God hath done with England we shall have as the Rabbi speaks a miracle in a miracle Fourthly In this Ladder we have The independency of Providence The Ladder we see is onely reared and supported by God it is not a crooked Ladder but stands upright toward Heaven It Leans not on the mountains of men nor Palaces of Kings Many quarrel and find fault with the Ladder of Providence but this Ladder shall never fall down before man or to man The Prophet undertakes the challenge Isa 40.15 Who hath been the Counseller of God or hath taught the Almighty The wise King of Aragon was so foolish as to think he could have made the Creation better if he had been of Gods Counsel and some men think there are Erratae's in the volume of Providence by their murmurings and would fain be a correcting the Lords Copy and amending the Lines of his Government in the world methinks false-hearted man is like flattering Absolom who would insinuate to the people neglects in his Fathers Government There is no man deputed of the King to do Justice and that he was able to guide Israel in a better order But John the 15. The Church is compared to a Vine and God will have it lean on himself and not to be supported by the poles and policy of men It is observed that the weakest women have often the strongest children and that the Lord hangs the heaviest weights on the smallest wyars The stone in Daniel is cut out of the mountains without hands The Gospel and Sion are neither framed nor forged by man both are the handy-works of God as there was no concurrence of mans power to the generation of Christ personal so there is no concurrence of the wisdom of man to the generation of Christ mystical Cicero fell in with Caesar when Pompey was defeated and it is no dishonor for man routed in his way to fall down to God Man must lean on God but God will never lean on man man must go to God God will never come to man If the mountain will not come to Mahumet Mahumet will go to the Mountain said that bold Impostor when he could not work a miracle which he promised to his followers Oecolampadius had a good cause as they said but he wanted Souldiers to bear it up but let Sion remember that her cause is not so good but the strength of her Protector is as great to maintain it Quod est causa causae est causa causati There is nothing that God doth by the creature but he can do without the creature rather than Sion shall fall the God of Sion will not stand on miracles Fifthly In this Ladder we have the extent of Providence The Ladder is set upon the earth and the top of it reached to Heaven Providence extends 1 To all senseless and irrational creatures both in their Preservation and Government First Virtus est maxima pertingere quam remotissimae In their Preservation The Epicures confine God to the Palace of Heaven as if it were below his Majesty to take notice of the lower world The Stoicks limit him to the middle Region But the Lord deals not like a Carpenter or Artizan who have done all their work when a house is built and a Clock put together There is as much need of a Divine wisdom to preserve as there was of a Divine power to make the world There is a necessity not onely of a privative influx from God that is not onely that he does not destroy his creatures but of a positive influence to maintain the creatures in being Job 6.9 If the Lord take away his hand Job would fall not onely to the ground but also to his first principles of nothing Mithridates a General knew all the names of all the Souldiers in his Army The Heavens are the Lords Hosts and they in all their rancks and orbes are known and kept by the Lord of Hosts Cincinnatus his honor was at the same time to hold the Plow and the Helm of State The Lord made as well the least worm on earth as the most glorious Angel in Heaven Deus nec laborat in maximis nec fastidit in minimis and it costeth the Lord as many words to make a worm as to make an Angel for all was done with a word It is no disgrace for the Lord to walk up and down by his Providence and over-look all his creatures the baseness of any creature no more defiles God than a dunghil vapor infects the Sun beams The lesser a clock is as if it can lie under the wings of a Fly the greater is the skill of the Clock-maker The Smith was commended for beating iron into chains and nets that they could hardly see them being thinner than the smallest thread or the web of a Spider God is great in the greatest creatures and he is great in the smallest creatures It is to be feared that those that at present question Providence Deus est in culice in pulice Saeculum est speculum upon the same accounts may ere long deny the Creation A King is confined to his proper Ubi and Palace and he orders things in his Dominions by Deputies and Viceroys but the Lord can no more be absent from his creatures than
that he would give him some peculiar name whereby he may the better remember and honor him What is thy name Thou art such a fellow says the Angel as I never before met withall Methinks I see the Lord dubbing Jacob Knight of the Praying Order kneel down Jacob and rise up Israel for as a Prince hast thou prevailed with God thou art a conqueror if ever any were and thou shalt prevail with men as formerly thou hast with Laban so now with Esau though he seems to out-match thee in number and power of people Thou hast conquered God and thou shalt conquer man therefore thou shalt conquer man because thou hast conquered God Jacobus ëst plurimarum palmarum homo Jacob was a man of many prayers and now a man of many victories Many Saints as David Peter c. have wrestled well but here is Jacob hath out-wrestled them all Thou art Israel Of old they were wont to say How gracious is Alexander with Hephestion who was his Favorite but not how gracious is the Angel with Jacob but how gracious is Jacob with the Angel Israel is a more famous warrior than Hannibal not onely because he fought with God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but because he knew not onely how to get but to keep the victory for as he wrestled till he conquered so he triumphed till he was blessed Jacob was a wrestler in the womb and a conqueror in the world Jacob got the victory and politickly clipt her wings that she should not flee from him Henceforward no more Alexander the Great Charlemain or William the Conqueror but Jacob the Great but Jacob the Conqueror He is properly Right Honorable and of him properly may we say his Excellency who with this Patriarch is rightly honorable and as he did excells with God Thy name shall no more be called Jacob but Israel the change of names in the godly is an argument of favor with God and of honor with men and a provocation for them whose names are changed to change from bad to good from good to better No more Jacob that is onely Jacob but also Israel as when the Lord saith Ier. 7.22 that he required not sacrifices of the people that is onely outward sacrifices for by the name of Israel Jacobs posterity was rather honored than himself he did not leave his old name Jacob his posterity being called rather the children of Israel than of Jacob and familiarly Israelites not Jacobites Nomen quo tu Israel appellaris Dei cogniti argumentum est ut amplius incredulitatem tuam patefaciat cur igitur gestas cognomen quod personae probro sit factis appellationem tuam impugnas calumnia nomen tuum afficis Basil Seleuc. Orat. 19. As the Apostle had not the name of Simon abrogated but only the name of Peter added as the more honorable title So the Patriarch lost not the name of Jacob but gained the name of Israel He is called Israel in opposition to Jacob which signifies subtlety and importeth weakness Gen. 25.26 For the name Jacob he had from prevailing over man but the name Israel from prevailing over God so the Lod intimates here as if he should have said Thou shalt not henceforward be termed Jacob as if thou hadst got the blessing by stealth and fraud from man but Israel for thou hast fought hand to hand thou hast with puissance and power and in the field got the victory over God No more a Supplanter but a Conqueror And it is observed that usually when there is mention made of the infirmities of the Church in Scripture she is called Jacob but when of her prosperous and prevailing estate she is called Israel Isa 41.14 Gal. 6.16 but Israel that is Gods valiant or valiant with God not a man seeing God as if it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor one right with directed by God as if it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from Jashar Ishrael but Israel that is thou hast prevailed with God from Sara to rule as the Lord himself gives the Etymon The Septuagint reads it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou hast had strength with God The Chalde Thou art a Prince before the Lord and with men Israel was so called because he prevailed with God Oh that either our Names were according to our Natures or our Natures according to our Names How many are called John that are void of the Grace of God Timotheus that fear not God Theophilus that love not God Samuel that obey not God as their names signifie Nomen inane crimen immane It were well that either our Names or our manners were changed How many have nothing of God in them but in their names that are called by the names of God that never call on the name of God is thy name Peter oh endeavor to be a pillar in the Church of God Paul oh endeavor to be a Paul little in thine own eyes Ne portes sanctum nomen ad poenam tuam We have likewise a demand on Jacobs part to the Angel tell me I pray thee thy name belike he thought he might be as bold with the Angel as the Angel was with him He desired to know the Angels name probably either out of honor for usually we are earnest to know the names of great Personages Nec Dei nomen quaeras Deus nomen est Minu Felix so Manoah asked what is the name of the Angel of the Lord that he might do honor to him Judg. 13.17 or because he would hereafter call upon him again when in trouble hoping the Angel would on such an occasion be as ready to aid and assist him as now he did And we have here likewise the Angels reply ver 29. Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name q. d. who made thee and I so familiar the Angel would serve his necessity but not his curiosity insinuating to him likewise that his name which is himself is greater than could of him then be comprehended and hereupon the Latine text and the Septuagint add 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is wonderful which words are supplied out of Judg. 13.18 and further the time was not yet come whereby the Lord would make himself known by his Name Jehovah as unto Moses Ezod 6.3 and therefore Jacob should content himself with that revelation the Lord shewed to him Why askest thou which is not so much an interrogation as manner of speaking by a prohibition ask not after my name So some but where God has not a tongue to speak we must not have an ear to hear and where God hath not an ear we must not have a tongue It was not more curiously done in Jacob to ask the Angels name than it was in him who took on him confidently to tell the causes why the Angel did conceale it There are two circumstances more in this story The first is Jacobs nameing the place where he had this Combate he called it Peniel or Penuel according to the Hebrew
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