into our own Vessels Christians look about you you live in an infectious Air therefore take cordials where ever he hath a poyson have you an Antidote take down the antidote of Humility against the poyson of Pride of Sincerity against Hypocrisie of Zeal against Apostacy It is easier to keep sin out of the conscience than to cast it out when in The Devil is a fiery Serpent and if he can but get in his head he will get in his whole body and if he do not yet the sting is in his head How many virgin Professors have lost their spiritual chastity in an hour that they have been procuring many years and that dear peace of Conscience in a moment that they have not imbraced again till eternity But alas while we should give cordials to others we faint our selves we should awaken others and we sleep our selves we should uphold others and we fall our selves we should help to revive others and we are dead Many that have time to reprove and advise others have not hearts many that have hearts have not time their own hearts are so out of frame and tune Like dying men we take hold of one another and we love to perish in company But Christians Arise and prepare for the coming of your Master for as it is certain so it will be sudden If it were the last hour in Pauls time sure now it is the last minute of that last hour Oh Lord never was the Judge nigher to come and never less preparation for his coming Christians have we not Closets to mourn in or rather do not we want hearts to mourn with all Hath Christ cast his Cloak of love over you and said live and will you not pitty those that yet lie as it were dead in their blood if you have any Knowledge advise any Faith pray any Zeal endeavor any Wisdom soberly wait for the coming of the Lord draws nigh How can Christ wipe tears from our eyes if we never wept for his absence or come to answer our prayers if we never pray for his coming Awake awake the night is far spent arise the Day star is risen in the world we have slept too long already Endeavor that when the Father comes he may not find you like Prodigals out of his house that when the Captain of your Salvation comes he may not find you in the Trenches of the Devil or of the World a Lying a Swearing a beating your fellow Brethren for even to these monstrous sins our natures are inclineable Pray Pray That when the Judge comes who is even at the door that you may not have your Accounts to be cast up when they are to be given up Judge your selves that you may not be judged The noise and news of the Bridegrooms approach is at hand Awake arise go ye out to meet him If these following Discourses may any way advantage you in your spiritual Watch against the Devil they are yours read them in love apply them to experience let them not swim in your heads but sink into your hearts And in your prayers to the Throne of Grace let him have a room who subscribes himself in our Lord Jesus A Friend to Sion FRA. RAWORTH LEt Angels now descend from thee O Lord and with this Ladder flee Abroad and in their glorious arms Guard and safeguard it from all harms That Jacobs Sleep and Dream may those awake Who without Jacobs Dream his Sleep yet take JACOBS LADDER OR The Protectorship of SYON GEN. 28.12 And Jacob dreamed and behold a Ladder set upon the earth and the top of it reached to heaven and behold the angells of God ascending and descending on it and behold the Lord stood above it THere is a threefold sense of this Vision literall allegorical and providentiall First literall The History of Jacob consists of three generall parts First Jacobs going to Padan Aran. Secondly his stay there Thirdly his return from thence In his going to Padan Aran the motives which induced him to go thither are recorded which were to take a wife of his own kindred and that hee might withdraw himself from the fury of his enraged brother Secondly the accidents that fell out by the providence of God in his journey and these were the Vision of the ladder his consecration of Bethel and his vow all contained in this chapter my purpose is only to paraphrase and apply the Vision of Jacobs Ladder The Lord open this Vision to our eies to see it and open our eies to see it Four things might perplex Jacob in this journey That he should leave his Country that hee should forsake his friends that hee might fall into poverty lastly solitarinesse and want of company wherefore the Lord seasonably appears to Jacob in this Vision though thou leavest thy country yet be content I will not leave thee and as for thy friends be not troubled I am thy friend can you mend your self Jacob and for shame fear not poverty if the word of thy God may be taken east and west shall be at thy command Let Jacob say certainly I shall never see God want and wherefore should I be dismayed seeing the Lord saith I will never see Jacob want and let not Jacob fear to be alone for Angells shall travell with him and that which is security enough Jacob shal have in company not only the Angells of God but the God of Angells The Ladder is the journey of Jacob the Angells ascending and descending his royal attendants going to returning with him frō Padan Aran the Lord stands on the top of the Ladder as guiding and governing all Jacob I am perswaded never had a sweeter nights lodging than at this time when the stones were his pillow and the Heavens his canopy when Providence made his bed and Angells rockt the cradle How pleasant is it to consider Angells guard Jacob God guards the Angells and God guards Jacob with Angells what ground then hath Jacob to fear either men or Devills to disturb him when hee hath a guard of God and of his Angells Secondly an Allegorical sense and so Christ is this Ladder John I. ult by his Divine nature he reached to Heaven by his humane to the earth his incarnation being a commerce between Divinity and humanity the steps of this Ladder are either the genealogy of Christ or the successive works of his redemption John the tenth Hee that climbs up or thinks to climb up any other way to heaven than by this Ladder is a thief for John the 14. hee is the only way for satisfaction for justification for sanctification the only way from God to man and from Man to God every poor sinner hath liberty to ascend these stairs Tolle scalas Aetii tu solus Coelum introibis and the righteous Pharisee shall never enter the star-chamber of heaven at a backdore Every man by nature sees the necessity of some Ladder or other to climb up to salvation by the Mahumetan
serve the Church in general and the members in particular The Angels that are good of which I speak 1 Are beholders of the Affairs of the Church Ephes 3.10 That unto the Principalities in heavenly places might be made known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God The highest Angel in Heaven may go to School and learn of the lowest Saint on Earth For as the Angels teach the Church so the Church teacheth Angels The Disciple here in some sense is greater than the Master The visible Church is the Stage whereon Jesus Christ displaies the fruits of his Redemption 1 Pet. 1.12 And Angels are spectators of the free Grace and wisdom of the Gospel which things the Angels desire to look into Angelis maximè in publico coetu circumsistuntur pii ideo tabernaculi aulâ—a Cherubinis inâ—vâ— foris referta 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not onely to look on but to look into an allusion to the Cherubims which were so placed that they did look down on the Mercy Seat They stretch out their necks they stoop down and pry into the Mysteries of the Gospel It is an honor for the Preachers of the Gospel to hold a multitude of men by the ears but what an honor is it to hold the Angels q. d. by the ears to have those Divine Beings like Doves to flock to the windows to have an Auditory of Angels I dare say that how basely soever the Atheists and Worldlings of this age esteem of the Preachers of the Gospel many of their Congregations are fuller than their purses are of Angels An Evangelical Orator hath an Auditory of Angels 2 Angels are affected with the conversation of sinners and Saints as the Devils rejoyce in the Prophanness and Apostacy so the Angels rejoyce in the Conversion and Perseverance of men The regeneration of a Soul makes the Angels to sing and the Devils to roar Luk. 15.10 There is joy in the presence of Angels over every sinner that repents Angels may say as the angelical Apostle Doctor Angelicus to professors If you persevere you are the Crown and Glory of our Ministration but licentious professors are a grief to Angels not onely to Ministers that are Angels but to Angels that are Ministers 1 Cor. 11.10 When poor sinners run to Christ on earth the glorious Angels spiritually dance in heaven Lachrymae paenit entium sunt vinum Angelorum according to the old observation That the tears of repenting sinners are the wine of Angels As an Army that is broken and hath lost many Ranks and Files of Souldiers long to be recruited and to have their number filled up again So the Angels that stand are glad to see sinners list themselves under Christ to fill up in Heaven the void places of the fallen Angels As Turtle Doves cannot indure filthy stenches nor Bees smoak no more can the good Angels abide to converse with noysom and prophane sinners 3 Angels descend on the Ladder to comfort and support the Saints in times of tentation and trouble Luke 22.43 They strengthened Christ in his Agony and without controversie they exercise the same influence on the Body that they did to the Head in proportion The good Angels are ever removing our hindrances from good and our occasions of evill mitigating our tentations helping us against our enemies delivering us from dangers comforting us in sorrows furthering our good purposes they comforted deserted Hagar Gen. 21. Jacob fearing Gen. 32. Paul fainting Act. 27. the distressed women at the Sepulchre Mat. 28. The good Angels suffer with the Saints suffering rejoyce with them rejoycing incourage them contending and triumph with them crowned against Satan and over his evill Angels Where ever the love of God goes there their love goes they keep those whom God keeps and forsake them whom God forsakes The good Angels are not more terrible to evil men than the evill Angels are terrible to good men and the good Angels are not more terrible to evill men than they are comfortable to good men Angels are fellow-Souldiers with the Saints and fight under the same colours and hearten them in their conflict with Devils onely they march invisibly and upon the higher ground Though Jacob be asleep his Angels are awake 4 Angels descend the Ladder to instruct the Saints As the Angels learn by the Church so the Church learns by Angels God sent his Angel to teach Daniel the mystery of the visions Dan. 8.9 an Angel was sent to instruct John Revel 1.11 The Law was revealed and the Gospel foretold and proclamed by Angels Gal. 1.8 Luk. 1.31 I dare not say Angels are properly in the ministerial Function to preach salvation to the world much less have they power to change the heart Conversion is the joy but not the work of Angels They are called Heb. 1. Ministring spirits Preachers of the Hierarchy indeed Ministers of the Gospel Liturgie so the word signifies commissioned for the good of the heirs of salvation to promote their spiritual good doubtless as well as their temporal good A Saint exceeds an Angel in experimental but an Angel exceeds a Saint in natural Knowledge How sweet to consider in these times of temptation if God should suffer which he will not suffer the world to pull down the Gospel-Ministry by man yet they cannot assault much less overthrow Angelorum induistis nomen induite naturam the Ministry of Angels If Sion should be deprived of her Evangelical Teachers yet none can banish from her the Angels her Teachers 5 The Angels descend the Ladder to suggest holy and good thoughts unto us Notwithstanding it be peculiar to God to enlighten the mind and enliven the heart yet why may not God use the invisible ministry of Angels as wel as the visible ministry of man Or rather Secondly What hinders to deny but that as evil Angels have liberty to suggest evill so why may not good Angels have liberty to suggest good thoughts For first The Devil is said to put it into the heart of Judas to betray Christ Joh. 13. And to fill the heart of Ananias to lie to the Holy Spirit Secondly If Satan 2 Cor. 11.4 be called an Angel of light because he suggesteth good things for evil ends or evill things for good ends certainly then Angels of light good Angels as is observed suggest good Distinctio Angelorum inter assistente ministrantes est vana quod omnes sunt assistentes ministrantes imo ideo assistunt ut ministrent Heb. 1.14 Rivetus for good ends how else could Satan be their Ape Not that it is supposeable that good Angels can change the heart for though it be granted that they do stir up good affections by removing impediments and in driving away the evil spirits and wicked illusions by exciting and stirring up the phantasmes and presenting or representing good thoughts to the mind and lastly by moving the passions in the sensitive appetite inclining the Will to discharge her duty
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
visible Protectors and good Angels are invisible Protectors of Sion under God The King of Glory can never want forces for he hath a Militia of Angels thousands and ten thousands of Angels are his Chariots to ride in These heavenly Hosts are the horse-men and Chariots of Israel It is desperate to provoke a General marching in the head of a puissant and numerous Army The Angels observe their Rank and File they wait but for the word Nec boni Angeli nisi quantum Deus jubet nec mali Angeli injusta faciunt nisi quantum justè ipse permittit Aug. de Trinit l 3. c. 8. and they immediately take wing either for the comfort of Sion or confusion of her Enemies God sent one Brigade of Angels to help Elisha 2 King 6.17 another Brigade to aide Lot against the Sodomites one Squadron to help Jacob against Esau another to help Hezekiah against Zenacherib Gen. 32.24 Isa 37.36 Gods heavenly Forces quarter up and down about all the afflicted Churches in the World An Army of Angels Gen 32.2 was sent to convoy Jacob and therefore he called the place Mahanaim that is two Hosts or Camps either because the Angels appeared in two Bands and so made as it were a guard for Jacob to pass between them or because the great Angelical and Royal Army quartered and marched with Jacobs little Army and so two confederate Armies appeared in the field together so say Rivet and Caryl Our strongest Militia is either of Angels that are Spirits or of Angelical Spirits Psal 88.17 Angels Ezek 1. have the face of a Man to signifie their knowledge Wings to signifie their swiftness they cannot pass from one place to another in a moment because all motion is from one term to another term by a middle Angelus est nomen officii no◠naturae ex eo quod est spiritus est ex eo quod agit Angelus est Idem in Psa 111 yet Psal 10.4 they are compared to a flame of fire The Cherubims have wings on their feet which is strange they cannot foot it fast enough and therefore must speed their Race with flight Thirdly They represent an Ox to signifie their obedience to God Hence we pray Let thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven that is freely as the Angels obey God without reluctancy And fourthly they are compared to a Lyon for their strength One Angel killed an hundred fourscore and five thousand in one night 2 King 19.35 One Angel wants neither hands nor weapons to rout and ruin an whole Army The good Angels stopped the Lyons mouths when Daniel was shut up in the Den restrained by Gods allowance the force of the fire when the three children were cast into the furnace The Angel of the Lord encamps about Sion Psal 34.7 That is the Angels for he speaks of an Host and the Criticks observe that in the Hebrew one is put for a multitude as the inhabitant for the inhabitants 2 Chron. 11.4 Quail for Quails Psa 105.33 40. When Christ is set forth by the name of an Angel it is in Scripture with some additions as the Angel of the Covenant and when you read of the Angel of the Lord it is meant of Christ unless there be some contradictions of that interpretation in the context as is apprehended Angels are Sions Centinels at home and File-leaders abroad As there are good men against evill so there are for Sion Angels against Angels Rev. 12.7 The Ethiopians supposed that Angels attended on Judicatories and therefore were accustomed to leave twelve Chairs empty in the Judgement place which they say were the Seats of Angels When Sion is in distress Faith and Prayer is able to press the Angels and to bring them into the batlet but they are Voluntiers not Mercenaries The Stars fought against Sisera that is say some the Angels in the Stars as in their War-Chariots as if the Angels according to the odd old proverb of Intelligences did inform the Stars but they are heavenly wide as one saith In the first of Zechary vers 8. the Mirtle trees in the bottom signifie the low estate of the Church or the Church in a low estate The divers coloured Horses were Angels appointed for divers Offices says Junius the red Horses for Judgement the white for Mercy the speckled for mixt actions being sent out at once to help Sion Non tribuere Angelis audeo quod forte non possunt nec debeo derogare quod possunt and oppose her Enemies An Angel smote bloody Herod two Angels defeated Zenacheribs Host and Angels by name if not by nature saith Mr. Caryl poure out the seven Vials of Gods wrath in the Revelation In Luke they are called the Host of Heaven These Armies are all of one mind no difference of Colours though possibly different Orders yet no difference in their Orders They on the Ladder ascend and descend they give place one to another there is no justling between them The Rabbies suppose on what ground I am careless of inquiring four Angels to be the Presidents of the four quarters of the World Michael of the East Raphael of the West Gabriel of the North and Uriel of the South The Barbarians had once taken Constantinople but that in the night season they were frighted by the appearance of armed Angels Socrat. l. 6. c. 6. Wherefore as Alexander the Great slept soundly though the enemy was at hand and being asked the reason of such security replied that Antipater his Captain was awake so may the Saints sleep in peace in these stormy times because they have Dan. 4. Guirin vigilantes the watchful ones about them Solomon Cant. 3.7 had sixty valiant men all with swords to defend him for fear of the night but the Saints are incompassed with Guards of Angels and as Elisha said 2 King 6. to his fearful Servant there are more with us than against us we need not regard the Malicia of Devils for we have the Militia of Angels This is spoken in subordination to Gods presence who useth them not as Princes that need their Guards but for the glory of his Majesty and for the support of our weakness but to testifie his great love to us in imploying such honorable creatures for our service and to maintain amity and correspondency between Saints and Angels untill they both walk arm in arm in Heaven 9 Angels attend on the Saints at their deaths Angels are the Protectors of Sion while they live and their Porters when they die They are as careful of the Saints as Nurses of their Babes God puts his children when they are born out to them to tender and tutor and at their death they bring them home to him again Lazarus Luk. 16. was carried by Angels into Abrahams bosom It is probable the Devils attend on dying men if possibly to tempt them to despair the less time they have to reign the more they rage and therefore good Angels attend too to
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
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
rowles down the hill faster if tumbled down especially if by a strong hand the hand of an Angel Rev. 18.21 God will make bare his arm which fears neither blows nor blood for it hath a bone in it whereas mans arm is but the arm of flesh and likewise he will overthrow her compleately Vide totum lauda totum God never rested in the Creation till he hath finished all know that God will be as perfect in the works of Providence as in the works of Creation Her ruin shall as certainly be effected as it is determined The Decrees of God know no futurity time to come is the tense of mans Grammer Babylon is fallen Babylon is fallen Sion is more than a Conqueror Rom. 8. Shee overcomes by Faith before shee comes into the field she conquers before she conquers The day of Antichrist is almost at an evening the glass of Babylon is well nigh run the number of her Months are even expired Let all the Physitians in the world apply their Plaisters and afford their Cordials it is in vain her disease is mortal and her blood is now cold in her veins If Providence have not Armys on Earth it will have Armies in Heaven against her there is no halt to be made or if there be an halt in our sense there is no retreat to be beaten one Alarm after another shall be given till she be taken Mended or ended is here an useless Proverb But may some say who shall do this Deus si non legat emet milites si non inveniat faciet viam the Kings of the Earth are yet her Liege Subjects generally and will Satan cast out Satan and the sight of Rome is infectious and some think opposing Babylon in this age is much like Sauls sending Messengers to take David who in the way fell a prophecying 1 Sam. 19.20 How many have gone up to oppose Babylon and have returned her brats It is not setting Rome on fire will burn down Babylon yet the Lord will use military means Antichrist reigns properly in the Understandings and Consciences of men and it is far easier to kill the body than wound the soul of Antichrist therefore God will destroy her especially How with what Artillery with what Ammunition Even by the Spirit of his mouth and the brightness of his comming 2 Thes 2.8 The darkness of Popery cannot abide the Gospel Sun-shine Antichrist hath plaid his part on the Stage the Vizards are now a pulling off and the Stage it self a pulling down Rev. 18.21 Must is as we say for the King now Christ is King and he must reign 1 Cor. 15.24 Caesar non patitur priorem nec Pompeius patrem When Darius would have shared his Kingdom with Alexander no said the Conqueror The Heavens cannot hold two Suns The Devil at length possibly when he sees the Kingdom of Christ in holiness to be cried up and his own Kingdom to be cried down will gladly divide and part stakes with Christ but Christ will be King over all or not King at all The Throne of the Gospel and the Spouses bed cannot endure a Competitor an Equal much less a Superior Babylon now in the dark may for a while play the Rex but Christ certainly the Sun shining more clearly will be King It is reported that Nero viewed the flames of Rome on his Tower through an Emerauld The Saints through Faith may take a delightsome prospect of the ruin of Babylon Let the Saints of the most high lift up their heads for ere many glasses of Providence are run out though the Sun shall be cloathed with sackcloth and the Moon turned into blood and the Stars fall from the Heavens yet their redemption draws nigh The Eighth Prospect from this Ladder is The large extent and duration of Christs Kingdom in the World 1 The large extent of his Kingdom The Kingdom of Christ now is not much larger than a while after the Apostles daies as Mr. Mede observes for the West Indians are under force and constraint The World says Brerewood may be divided into Thirty parts whereof Heathenism contains Nineteen Turcism Six and Christianity but Five So that yet Christ is far from being universal Lord and Soveraign or having a Name above all Names which not onely relateth to the excellency of his Name above other names and so Jesus Christ is a more glorious Name than Grand Seigneur or Augustus Caesar but also in respect of visible honor above other names hitherto who but the Beast The Titles and Arms of Kings and Emperors have carried the day Most Excellent Most Illustrious but hereafter who shall be like unto Christ The constant stile of Universality of all Kingdoms all Tongues and Nations imply that yet Christ hath not the compleat possession of what he hath purchased Psa 22.27 Isa 1. Mal. 1.11 It is desperate ambition for any man to call himself Rex Catholicus Universal King Christ and not any man but Christ rather and the Devil divide the whole World They say the Spanyard hath for his Armes the Sun rising and setting on his Shield but Christs glory must eclipse his glory Christ will then onely be Canonical and Catholick King First Christ shall be above all Kingdoms and then he shall put down all Kingdoms 1 Cor. 15.24 Some think what is done in England is done all the world over when we are but a spot of Christs Kingdom though I hope a Garden-spot the Gospel was calculated for a larger Meridian Rev. 19.16 he shall be King of Kings and Lord of Lords The seventh Angel sounded and there were great voyces in Heaven saying The Kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ Rev. 11.15 Now when had Christ this glory First It hath no relation to the Kingdom of his divine Nature for that he had coequally alwaies with the Father Secondly Neither hath it relation to the Purchase or Title simply that Christ had to these Kingdoms in his Ascension and Intercession when I confess he first had seizen of them But Thirdly It must have relation to the actual subjection of the Kingdoms of the world to Christ and his actual Exaltation above them for it is spoken Prophetically and for the time to come Now this shall be accomplished when the Prince of the Air is conquered and bound up and cast down to the earth Rev. 12.9 Now Satan rules principally and more visibly then Christ shall appear in the Clouds and he shall uncrown Satan and sit down in his Throne and then the Kingdom of Christ shall be more visible and observable in the world than the Kingdom of Satan Satan indeed was legally cast out of his Kingdom in the Resurrection of Christ Joh. 16.11 but he must also actually and more fully be cast out when Christ shall appear the second time for salvation As two Buckets in a Well while the one comes up the other goes down So as while Christ hath been down
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
Sions Orator and Ambassador to plead and prevail with God Prayer puts challenges on God and dares him q. d. to a denial Why hast thou made us to erre from thy waies and hardened our hearts from thy fear Es 63.17 chides the Lord I cry O my God in the day time and thou hearest not Psa 22.2 It puts Queries to God and will have them all answered How long wilt thou forget me for ever Psa 13.1 How are the bowels of our God turned within him at the weeping and tears of his crying Church Jer. 31.20 Prayer awakens and jogs the Almighty when he seems to sleep Why sleepest thou O Lord Psal 44.13 When the wheels of Providence stand still q. d. prayer oyles them and puts them into motion It engaged God to divide the Red Sea and to break open the prison doors for Peter and Paul Oratio hominis est res omnipotentissima Luth. Hyperb. Oratio est telum quo vulneratur cor Dei Ambr. in Cant. Prayer like the wind getting into the bowels of the earth will make Earth-quakes in the Territories of Babylon and like a Pioneer undermine and blow up all the designs and Babels in the world Prayer will make all the Devils in Hell and enemies to Sion on earth to strike sail for it hath q. d. Omnipotency it self under its lee Edesia totum mundum sanguine oratione convertit Luther It were better to have all the Spears Bows and Ordnance in the world against us than to have an Army of Prayers or to have prayer in arms against us Armes and Armies and Armor cannot pull down Antichrist without Faith and Prayer Oratio quast quaedam persona ad Deum intrat Aug. but faithful Prayer can pull down Antichrist without them Generals cannot fight with lame and sick Souldiers but the prayers of lame sick men have done more in war for the interest of Christ than an Host of an Hundred thousand men Saints fear not to lose the day when Christ shall take the field While Moses held up his hand Israel prevailed While Sion cannot lift up a Spear against Amalek yet it is sufficient if they can but lift up their hand the victory is theirs Prayer can put a reeling and tottering on the Kings Courts Prelats Pilates of Babylon and like white Gunpowder can destroy Babylon and make no noyse Prayer can yoak all the Swords in Europe against the Scarlet whore and her Paramors and though she hitherto hath been grinding the faces of Sion yet to bring Grice q. d. to the Lords Mill the poorest Boy or Girle if he be but a Jacobine can do more to lift the King of Saints into the Throne than all the Powers and Potentates on this side Eternity can do to keep him out of his Throne Prayer cannot be conquered untill Christ with whom it is potent and great be conquered Prayer sets Christ in the front of the Battel against Hell and saith Devil beat Christ and you beat me take Omnipotency captive and I am your Prisoner Prayer hastens the nuptials of the Bride to the Lamb and though now Hypocrisie Unbeleef c. forbid the Banes yet the Match goes on and they cannot hinder the Marriage Our Father and thy Kingdom come are the strongest weapons in the world they thunder and lighten in Satans Regions and his followers cannot but both hear their report and feel their power Prayer will pull down that in an hour of the Devils Kingdom which he hath been building for several ages Preces sunt bombardae instrumenta bellica Christianorum It will ere long enkindle those fires in the world that neither can ever be extinguished or repaired Prayer though it made not the world yet it shall unmake it and set up a new Heaven and a new Earth A Saint may not fear the Devil though he meet him in the dark if he be armed with Faith and Prayer He that hath God on his side need not care whom he meets in the face Prayer is Sions scaling Ladder It is true an Angel brought Peter out of Prison Act. 12. but prayer first stirred the wheel in heaven vers 5. Prayer was made without ceasing to God for Peter by the Church I have heard of a young-man that had bargained with the Devil upon some condition and he should have his soul the Indentures were drawn in his blood but God disposed the heart of Luther and other Servants of the Lord to pray together for him and while they were earnest with God for the deliverance of the prisoner of Satan Satan was so netled and stung with their zeal that he was forced to come flying by the window and threw in the Indenture amongst them as much as if he had said I cannot stand before the power of Faith and Prayer Prayer we see is not onely a charm to bind but a whip also to torment this Leviathan Athanasius by his prayers hindred the proceedings of the Devil in the Churches Enemies they took off his Charriot wheels that he could drive his plot no further When Devils and men conspire and consent against Sion prayer under Christ hath the Prerogative yet of a negative voyce The keyes q.d. of Heaven and Hell hang at the girdle of Faith and Prayer O admirabilem piarum precum vim quibus coelestia cedant hostes terret manus illa quae victoriae suae trophaea in ipsis coeli orbibus figit Buch. Du bartus prettily brings in David answering Goliah his Challenge Goliah Come ten come twenty nay come all of you And in your aid let your great God come too David The odds is mine Villain I scorn thy boasts I have for aid the Almighty Lord of Hosts Rev. 19.6 I heard as it were the voyce of a great multitude and as the voyce of mighty thunderings saying Alleluja for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth This is the Hosannah Rabbah as the Jews call it It is reported that the old Brittons marching under the conduct of one Germanus who came over from France to subdue the Pelagian heresie did obtain a victory against the Saxons which victory because of their singing Hallelujahs in the Battel they afterwards termed Victoria Hallelujatica the Halleluja victory This Victory will ere long be sung again over Sions enemies When God shall open a door to burn the flesh of the Scarlet Whore there will be a famous occasion to cry out as some Souldiers did some years since Now for the fruit of Prayer The witnesses have a flame at their lips fire proceeds out of their mouths which devoures their enemies Rev. 11.5 which many interpret to be their prayers In hoc incendio uruntur Daemones The Enemy ly and level their designs against Israel but Prayer dismounts them and turns their Artillery against their own breasts How confident in God may his Jacobs be till the Devil and the malignant World can throw Christ down from his Throne theâ— cannot cast Sion out of the world It is the Prophets character
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
of comfort or rods of afflictions God saith in Scripture he will give peace If all the Angels in Heaven should have said so we should soon have replied as Corah and his company to Moses and Aaron Numb 16. Yee take too much on you It is observed that God in Scripture is called a man of War and yet nothing so much discovers him to be a God as war 2 This Ladder of Providence reacheth the publick Honors and Governments of the World God 1 Sam. 2.8.9 raiseth the poor from the dust and lifts up the Beggar from the dunghill though too often they forget the ground from whence they came and the hand that lifted them up Promotion Psal 75.6 comes neither from the East nor West nor South That is from the Power and Policy of men Euthymius thinks there is an allusion to the Southsayers who promised good success according to the Stars of Nativity as if a man be born under Jupiter he should be honorable if under Mercury he should be witty no saith God Promotion comes neither from this or that Star from this or that quarter of the Heavens but from the Lord. It was accounted by a great man mentioned in our Chronicles a greater honor to make Kings than to be a King himself The Lord is a King and Kingdoms are his donatives and he Crowns and Uncrowns at his pleasure Nebuchadnezzar was cast down on purpose that he might see that God set him up Dan. 4.17 Kingdoms are not bound to Princes in chains of Adamant as one said his was Kings are faster bound to their Kingdoms than their Kingdoms are bound to them All Kingdoms on earth are Regna transcuntia moveables going and coming at Gods order from one man to another The Earth is the Lords and all the Kingdoms of the Earth are but Copy-holds belonging to his Kingdom as the Capital Mannor and Hold from him The Heathen well fancied a golden chain to reach from the divine Chair in Heaven to all the Crowns in the world Here we must shun two main Rocks against which the judgements of men are apt to split 1 What if some have exchanged a Prison for a Throne and Fetters of iron for chains of gold What if it hath been observed in the Journal of Providence Eccles 10.7 That Servants have been seen on horses and Princes walking as servants on the earth Subjects to prove Kings Tota ratio facti saepe pendet à ratione facientis and Kings to prove scarce Subjects Take heed of Atheism say not these things are fortuitous or unjust in God these are the chances q. d. and changes of Providence whose ways are sometimes secret but never unrighteous All Nations were made of one blood all blood is of one colour and if men take their descent from Adam they all stand on even ground When meanness is exalted do not bate The place its honor for the persons sake The Shrine is that which thou dost venerate And not the beast that bears it on his back I care not though the Cloth of State should be Not of rich Arras but of mean Tapestry 2 What if some rise on this Ladder of Providence as many have done and leave a good conscience at the bottom The Devil is visible in the best Governor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui conatur excipere conatur decipere and something of God invisible in the worst Governor on earth All the waies and kinds of Government are from God though the means and manner of getting those Governments are not always from God Magistracy is a civil Ordinance of God and so in it self good now the well or ill management of that Power is consequent to and not constitutive of the Power so that though Magistrates are bound to do well they may possibly do ill through their own corruption yet the Power is as much of God when they do ill as when they do well for though oft they want a Will to do good yet they have no Commission nor Power from God to do evill Good Magistrates are the garment in which God apparrels himself and he that shoots at the Cloaths cannot say he means not the man The objection of the Devils Power is inconsiderable because his power is not civil but moral and in it self evil and we are commanded to submit to the Civil Magistrate though evil but never to the Devil nor to pray for his Government that under it we may lead a quiet and godly life 1 Pet. 2.13 1 Tim. 2.2 Ephes 6 12. Every Power Rom. 13.1 is of God speaking of worldly Powers for there was not then a Christian Magistracy in the world point blank The power of Nero was from God Secundum merita subditorum Deus disponit corda praepositorum as well as that of Constantine The Apostle argues from the Author of that Authority It is certain all Higher Powers are from the Highest Power Let Subjects remember that Magistrates are Gods with Men and let Magistrates remember they are but Men with God I said ye are Gods there is their Coronation But ye shall dye like men there is there Funeral The Name and Title of God is never in Scripture as I know attributed to any one single or individual person but with a certain limitation as God said to Moses I have made thee a god thou art a made god in my place thou art a god to Pharaoh What if Governors as there have been such should as the Proverb is more mind the beautifying their own houses than the building of Italy If when they put on a publick Gown they should not put off a private person that they should obtain their Crowns as Alexander the sixth did by giving his soul to the Devil and afterwards may prove Nebuchadnezzars the Lamentation of their Generations as the word signifies That when their single words should be as good as Oaths that they should play with Oaths as children do with Rattles What if when they enter into Office they should put Conscience out of Office That they should buy places of Judicature and sell Justice and that not at a cheap rate because they bought dear What if they should be men not compounded of flesh and blood as other men are but as it is said of Richard the Third made up all of blood If they lastly should not write their Laws in Milk with Edward the Sixt but as Draco in Blood Yet every Prince is the Minister of Providence and if men were wise for their good if a good Prince for their temporal good if a bad Prince Si bonus nutritâ—r tuus sin malus tentator tuus for their eternal good by their temporal evil If it be questioned whether Inferiors ought to honor Superiors that are evil I answer yes for the wickedness of man cannot make void Gods Ordinance no more than mans unbeleef can frustrate Gods promise We must honor Magistrates that are evill but not in evill Hos 8.4 They have
notwithstanding all winds and waves of men and Devils the Church shal arrive at her harbor The Ninth remarkable in Jacobs Ladder is The security of Providence and that both mediately and immediately 1 Immediately God sits on the top of the Ladder not Angels nor men One Translation renders it Deus stat ut vindex sedet ut â—judex God leans on the Ladder but the Ladder rather leans on God than God on the Ladder The Chalde The glory of the Lord stands on the Ladder Oh say some if we had but such Judges as Sampson as Gideon were these words are bad though proceeding from good men if proceeding from distrust and are all one as if they should desire not that God but man stood on the top of the Ladder Remember God is better than a thousand Gideons than a thousand Sampsons The best of men as experience hath taught are but men at the best and all men are but men at the most It is well for Sion that God stands on the top He doth not reside in his Palace but comes to the door and Porch visibly to his people ready to receive the Petitions of his Jacobs by out-stretched armes Revel 4.3 God is presented there as sitting on a Throne as a King in his Chair of State curâ securâ to note how easily he rules the world The eye of God in Scripture is said to be against a Nation and that is able to discountenance any design God blew on Pharaoh and his Host and when breath comes out of Gods mouth then breath goes out of mans nostrils and he dies He is said to turn his hand on his Enemies and indeed with the turning of an hand he turns man into Hell Quod Deus loquitui ridâ—ns tu lege lugens And lastly Psal 2. the Lord is said to laugh at wicked men and woe be to those men at whose fooleries the Lords laughs Arise Lord says David and let thine enemies be scattered There needs no more the very arising of God is the downfall of the ungodly There is nothing God doth by man or means but he can do without man or means Can God destroy Babylon with Armies then God can destroy Babylon without Armies Armies cannot destoy Antichrist without God but God can if he please destroy Babylon without Armies What a sweet order is in Divine Providence Jacob lies at the foot of the Ladder the Angels go up and down the Ladder and the Lord gloriously stands on the top of the Ladder 2 Mediately Providence secures his Church by Angels For in the Ladder you have mention of Gods standing and the Angels motion on the Ladder Though God did not create the world by Angels as some phancie from Elohim barah yet he Governs the world Melius est nescire fine crimine quam scire cum discrimine and especially his Church by Angels Angels ascended and Angels descended one Jacob but many Angels there were as we say questionless a number of Angels though we are at as great a loss to find out the number of Angels on this Ladder as in the world Now to let pass the curious and vain enquiry of the Schoolmen about the nature number order of Angels I shall onely discourse of Angels according to the revealed word with just consequence in order to their influence on or about Sion Of which Discourse I wish you as much profit in reading as I have had in the penning of it by the assistance of the Lord. Angels are conversant about the Church in relation to the Head and Members First In relation to the Head our Lord Jesus I confess I beleeve not that Christ is the Redeemer of Angels they were never Captives and how can they be ransomed they never were obnoxious to guilt and so are not capable of a pardon yet that Jesus that raised up man that was fallen caused that the Angels should not fall Qui urtique redemptio solvens illum servans istum delivering man out of and defending Angels from captivity and so in some sense may be said to be redemption to both curing man and keeping Angels Angels had not stood and man had never risen being fallen from his standing but for Christ He reconciled man to Angels and Angels to men and by vertue of his mediation he is the Redeemer of man but the Governor of Angels God gathered together in one all things in Christ in Heaven and on Earth Ephes 1.10 Hence Angels in Scripture express their homage to Christ as their Lord Exod. 26.30 The veil of the Tabernacle which covered the most holy which signifies the incarnation of Christ was made of broidered work with Cherubims which shadowed out the service of Angels to the Mediator Hence Matth. 16.27 they are called not onely the Angels of God for man but the Angels of God man It is observable in that space of time which was from his Incarnation to his Ascension they served him ten times 1 They carried the message of his miraculous Conception to the Virgin Ad Evam malus Angelus accessit bomo separaretur à Deo ad Mariam bonus Angelus venit ut in ea Deus uniretur homini Fulge 2 They advertised Joseph whom the ignorance of this Mystery had perplexed 3 They published his birth unto the Shepheards 4 They gave order to carry him into Egypt to avoid the fury of Herod 5 They had care to cause him to be brought back into Judea after the death of the Tyrant 6 They accompanied him and ministred to him after his temptation in the wilderness 7 They comforted him in his Agony in the Garden 8 They roled back the stone from the door of the Sepulchre wherein he had been inclosed 9 They declared his Resurrection 10 They instructed his Disciples who looked up after him ascending into Heaven that one day he would return Filius Dei caput Angelorum est non redemtionis sed creationis Wollebii Epitome Never did the Angels serve any person so often nor in so great a number of occurrences nor in so high charges nor through such diversity of means as they served the Son of God Christ had not a guard of men as the Kings and the Nobles of the World have but a Guard of Nobles and Princes and not onely of Princes but of Principalities and Powers Some Psal 91.11 say the Angels keep not Christ but Christ keeps Angels and that that promise of keeping thee in all thy ways belongs to Christ Mystical or Christ in his members not to Christ personal or thus that Angels ministred to Christ but did not keep Christ But this we are sure of Joh. 1. ult The Angels ascended and descended on the Son of Man not that they minister to Christ alone but that they for his sake and honor do minister to and are carefull for the whole Body of the Elect. Wherefore Secondly The Angels attend on Sion on the Saints First While in the world they
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
cutting of Throats than now we have cutting of Purses Which deserves consideration with some male-contents who while they seek to establish the old Government may unawares run into confusion and blood and at length have no Government at all Without Magistracy robbery would be a Law and men like Dogs would try all right as is noted by their teeth How excellent were it Ut imbecillis scala eum qui ascendit Dejicit sic superbiae scala eum qui eam ascendit Nilus in loc while others are hugging the world for the Saints to be trampling on the world How few are there that climb this Ladder of honor but they leave a good Conscience at the bottom That man that will be great by any means must needs leave off to be good by all means But alas it is not a Velvet pantofle can remove the Gout nor a golden Diadem the head-ach nor a purple robe the Cholick How many deal with Religion as a Mason deals with a Laddder Religio peperit divitias filia devoravit matrem when he hath work to do to climb oh then he hugs imbraceth the Ladder carrys it in his arms and on his shoulders but when he hath done climbing presently the Ladder is hung on the wall or thrown into a corner So many set the Ass on Christ and not Christ on the Ass making Religion a stalking-horse for preferment and when men have got their ends by religion then there is an end of their Religion Mundus est cadaver perentes eum sunt canes How many that were poor enough in the world have grown rich in the profession of poor Jesus and have followed the chase onely with Jonathan till they have met with hony It is damage for a man to win the whole world and lose his Soul but what a poor bargain make they that lose their souls and win not the thousandth part of the world That Scholar paid a great price that made this Contract with the Devil Give me learning and I le give you my soul The ambitious Pope made but a foolish Bargain that sold his Salvation and bought his Damnation for the Popedom How far is two or three hundred a year below the worth of a Soul and yet how many such Chapmen are there in the world But let ambitious men consider The Stairs of Honor are steep the standing slippery and the regress a downfall Praepositioni quot accidunt Unum Quid Caesus tantum Quot casus Duo Qui Accusativus Ablativus Haec enim Pilatum oportet timere accusari à crimine auferri à Regimine ignominiose cadere Clem. Oct. Secondly Climb above the world from this glorious Ladder of Contemplation you may have many glorious sights upward and downward forward and backward 1 You may have a sight upward and downward As our Lord and Master said strive so I may say climb You have a long journey to go before you come to heaven little time to go it in and less time than strength Wherefore pass the world as through a Fair stand not gazing on every Pedlars shop or silly gue gaw till you come to your home These are not the Jerusalem said the Traveller concerning Lyons and Paris though they were beautiful Cities Faelix cui invisibilium scientia fit scala ad invisibilia cognoscenda cui scientia fit scala ascensionis non ruina dejectionis Victor Riches and Honors are not Heaven Heaven is of another colour and complexion Be Star-gazers in a spiritual sense climb to the top of Jacobs Ladder How little would the world seem to us if the great God were not little in us who ever took a prospect of Heaven and did not fall in love with it and who ever loved Heaven that never took a prospect of it Either Heaven will take us off from viewing the World or the World will take us off from viewing Heaven The World would seem no such peece of glory if the Glory that shines on the top of the Ladder were but unfolded to us They say Naples is a City to be seen onely on Holy-days because of its beauty and formosity Heaven is a Non-such that day is a high day indeed when the soul sets Heaven an holy heart is onely fit to see that holy place If those that live under the Line have all the influences of Heaven and see as they say the motions of the Stars and Orbes how more glorious is it to be above them and to see the Stars and Orbes to move below us Jacobs Ladder is as sweet a repast as Moses his Pisgah Zacheus his Sycamore-tree and Peters Mount We miss many a brave shew of Providence for want of climbing It is glorious to think of Glory but more glorious to possess Glory Some Mountains in the World are above the Clouds and Storms and Winds what a glorious thing is it to contemplate Eternity and every day with Enoch to fetch a turn or two in the Royal Exchange of Glory to be above the passions and persecutions of this lower world to look downward and behold the eclipses of Honors and Crowns to be cloathed with the beams of the Sun of righteousness and to have the world out of our heart and under our feet There are no storms of Passions no thunders of Wars no winds of Temptations no proing and conning about Opinions not one party for Luther and another for Calvin no clashing and clamoring about Presbytery Independency and Anabaptism no dissenting brethren in Heaven When the Apostle Paul had a window opened in Heaven 2 Cor. 12.4 and heard such unspeakable things he had nothing but Heaven in his mouth Deus res creatas ad modum scalae adoptavit ut per eam sui amantibus ascensum ad se extruxit Basil and Christ Jesus ever after whom he names many hundred times in his Epistles Like as children when they have been in a famous City their eyes and thoughts are so filled with the rich Shops rare Buildings that their tongues always run on them and run over with them and have nothing else to speak of If one thought so highly of the study of Astronomy because it was occupied about the Sphears and Stars and celestial Bodies that he pronounced the first Authors happy How happy are those souls that are busied in the contemplation of God himself Jacobs Ladder of Piety is better than Jacobs Staff of Astronomy Second Prospect from this Ladder we may look backward and forward and notwithstanding all our unworthiness and unthankfulness see what God hath done for England and will do for Sion First We may look backward and admire four things 1 That we are not made a Sodom If the preaching of the Gospel lift a Nation up to Heaven then certainly England is not upon the Earth Matth. 11.23 The sin of Sodom was fulness of bread Their sin was not plenty of bread but emptiness of obedience England I fear is guilty of a
a Dwarf standing on the shoulders of a tall man sees further than the tall man on whose shoulders he stands So I am perswaded in some things that the men of knowledge in this age will be but children in understanding in the next Jer. 31.34 They shall not teach one another saying know the Lord. Then farewell preaching No the Saints shall need to be built up but they shall not so much need to be taught the Principles of Religion saying Exprimere non valet experimento opus est Cathedram in coelo habet qui corda docet Know the Lord What is God the new nature shall teach them that which is not the impression of Man but of God They shall say Our Father and I Beleeve by roat It is observable that under the Law the Girdle was about the Loyns Ezek 23.15 But in Gospel times it is about the Paps Rev. 1. â—3 to signifie how knowledge shall rise h gher in the last ages of the world than in former ages Young men shall see visions and old men shall dream dreams The old world did but dream the knowledge of the Jews is more dark but in Gospel-daies there shall be Visions a clearer knowledge and Revelation of the mind of God Antichrist hath brought a cloud into the Temple and the Gospel Sun-shine must expel it Providence is picking quarrels with the painted windows of Antichrist and the Lord will set up clear glass windows that shall not keep out the light Not that we are to expect new Truths but new Vnderstandings not the printing of a new Gospel ☜ or making any more additions but new eye-sight and the downfal of old error How is it possible that amongst us any should plead for Revelations when we have the revealed Word Revelations were more suitable to the days of the Law we have a compleat copy of the Lords mind for the Government of his Church in the Word but it is as with man the older he grows the more inclinable he is to dreams Mundus senescens patitur phantasiam the old world begins to doat and we are ready to neglect our watch in this dreaming age Second Prospect from this Ladder we may foresee the encrease of holiness Now many can profess and be drunk profess and swear and lie now men are more careful for new Lights than new Lives new Notions Gnostici simal Borboritae than new Motions of the Spirit Care more to have a Library of Divinity in their brains than a Catechism of Divinity in their hearts Have the light of the Sun for Knowledge whereas they have not the heat of a candle for Holiness like the Toad that has a precious pearl in the Head but poyson in the Bowels or like the Lapwing that hath a Coronet on her head but always feeds on dunghils But there is a time a coming when men shall more visibly honor God All the pots in the Lords house shall be holy and holiness shall be wrote on the bels of the horses Zech. ult Counterfeit holiness vanisheth the more real holiness appears At Rome there was a Pantheon or Temple for all gods but the Heathen would not suffer Jehovah to be worshipped there for he is a jealous God and if he had been honored then down with Mars and Jupiter The Kingdom of Christ shall prosper I wish none have Kingly thoughts of that Kingdom the Kingdom of Christ and holiness and humility and Mortification It is not the throwing down of prophane Ministers and oppressing Magistrates onely will be this Kingdom for they may be thrown down and yet Christ never be set up the new Creature Self-denial will after all this be necessary for otherwise we should have rather Plato's Common-wealth or Tully's Offices than Christs Kingdom Moral Prophaneness indeed lays the Gospel on the dunghill but Moral Holiness simply will never set Christ in his Throne There shall be an high-way and it shall be called the way of holiness and no unclean thing shall pass therein Isa 53. If any demand how this can be I answer no disease is incurable to an omnipotent Physician Third Prospect from this Ladder we may see Hypocrisie defeated and many Apostates recovered Now many desire rather to appear than to be holy they account the form necessary but the power of Religion burthensom Now many like Rowers in a Boat look one way and row another Now many have no greater ends by Religion than in the end to be great in Religion But Providence is a pulling off the vizard and making the hearts of men to appear in their faces Many shal not only not dance in a net unseen of heaven but not in a net unseen of men Their folly shall be made known to all men God will light up candles in Jerusalem and enkindle a fire in Sion and Hypocrisie shall not indure either the light or heat and God will also make professors like Moses Act. 7.22 Not onely mighty in words Crassiani non Christiani that are no bodies in deeds but also mighty in word and in deeds like Aarons rod not onely to bring forth blossoms of profession but Almonds fruits of holiness Like the High Priest not onely to have Bels but Pomegranates not onely to bear away the bell for knowledge but to give a sweet scent of the Spirit in their conversations Many poor sinners of late have left their Fathers house and because of their guilty consciences would for the present if they could run out of their Fathers eye as well as his house and who shall return the Prodigal to his Father Hagar to her Mistris Jonah to his God again how do many Professors fly like spiritual malefactors from one form to another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and disguize themselves with Opinions and all to avoid the Hue and Cry of Conscience that God is raising and if it were possible to tear the Records of the Gospel in peeces and burn down the Tribunal Bar they have run into such arrearages in sin Now who shall set up the broken Professor or awaken the sleepy Virgin Though Might and Power cannot do it yet an Almighty Power can do it Zech. 4.6 The remnant of Jacob shall be as a dew from the Lord as the showres on the grass that wait not for the Sons of men Mic. 5.7 It is true says God Gardeners dig and delve and water their ground and so have herbs but I le turn the Wilderness into a Pool I le work without work-men sinners shall not be watered by man but by God with the dew of Heaven When the day dawns the dew fals thick on the ground and till the Lords powre dawn all the world cannot make dew nor thaw the hearts of men Fourth Prospect from this Ladder hence we may see the reconciliation of Divisions Now Ephraim is against Manasseh and Manasseh against Ephraim and both against Judah now divisions are not onely between Wolves and Wolves but between sheep and
not to climb to the top Many run that never obtain the prize Many shoot but few hit the mark Gaze not on the Lords Ladder mind your journey to Heaven these are giddy and dizzy times If ever you would not be falling Stars be not Planets not wandring Stars not one in a thousand that is a wandring Star but a thousand to one he proves a falling Star Neither come down Gods Ladder with Demas nor fall off Gods Ladder with Judas in a moral sense or spiritual rather be Angels ascending not descending the falling sickness is much abroad we fall not forward but backward as Ely did and many break their necks The Lord grant you may not be blazing stars for they are portentous nor fallen Angels How soon as the Apostle said are we removed into another Gospel How sad to consider the last year visibly an Angel and this year a Devil yesterdaies Professor is to daies Ranter The Well is deep said the Samaritan and there is need of a Bucket So the Ladder is high and the ascent is great we need Faith Faith and Love are the two hands by which you must climb take good hold Patience and Perseverance your feet Think not to climb with your hands full of dust beware of Covetousness Dream not on Gods Ladder if you would dream come down to the foot of the Ladder you no sooner begin to sleep but you begin to fall Those that stand high had need to stand fast for there is more fear of their falling and danger if they fall Eutichus was asleep Act. 20.9 in an upper Loft and he fell down dead David was high on this Ladder but when he committed folly with Bathsheba he almost brake his neck and so Peter a glorious Professor when he denied his Master Many Graces run in the Race but only Perseverance obtains the Crown Despise not Providences yet be ruled onely by the Word Observe but serve not the time Providence by many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I confess is made a stalking horse to all designs and most lay more on its back than it doth willingly bear Providence and Conscience are the greatest Martyrs this day in the world The sufficiency of Providence is no warrant for us to neglect our Callings or the use of means God feeds us but eating God cloaths us but by our industry for though man lives not by bread alone Necessitas decretorum â—â—ei non tollit libertatem in creaturis rationalibus nec contingentiam in causis secundis Wollebii Epit. but by every word that proceeds out of Gods mouth yet that mouth that blesseth the bread bids us to labor for it so our labor is to be joyned with the Providence of God and yet nothing is to be attributed to our labor but all to Divine Providence neither is Providence an Apology for the use of unlawfull means We are not to walk accâ—rding to the secret but revealed Will of God He that useth lawful means to bring about an unjust end puts God into the Devils service but he that useth an unlawful means to bring about a just end puts the Devil into Gods service though indeed no man sins without Gods Providence yet no man sins without his own proper inclination Man is guilty in practicing but God is not guilty in permitting evil And yet God as he is gracious in his Word so he is glorious in his Providence In the agreement of which I shall conclude It is the greatest folly in the world to follow the dark cloud of Providence without the pillar of fire of the Scriptures It is ignorance the least that can be spoken of it to follow Providence without a Scripture arrant Atheism to follow Providence against Scripture No things can be Orthodox or sound in the Volumes of Providence that are erratas in the Volumes of Scriptures Those that undervalue the Authority of the revealed Word it is to be feared they either have or will manifest they have no other Old Testament but Lucian and no other New but Machiavil Methinks His works are like rich Tapistry Vnfolded all unto a Jacobs eye Our Fathers Image hangeth in this story Embroydered all with Power Wisdom Glory But Providence is neither the first figure In Gods Arithmetick nor yet a cipher They represent the mind of God above In golden Characters but not his love They do not prove a Cause good for to bee Yet make a Cause if good shine gloriously Scriptures declare the Lords approving Will Events his peremptory Will fulfill His Word shews us what he would have us crave His works shew what he would have us to have The royall and unchanged Word 's our Text Whereunto as a Commentary annext Gods Providences be These glosses are But that 's the Copy and Original fair There is a God these Works do plainly tell And out of them Reason his Name may spell Yet read them curiously you cannot smel In them the Rose of Sharon that 's Gospel Indicted by the Spirit from on high Engraven in the Scriptures not the Skie The Sun and Stars do not make a dumb show yet by them A God but not a Father we may know How many Vows in perils do we make And yet from Providence excuses take Against Performances How many now See Jacobs Ladder but forget his Vow To conclude Let Jacob now awake and preach and pray And sleep no longer for hee clearly may Without a Dream see by the Gospel light The Ladder which before he saw by night Let 's draw the Curtains shadows fly away Visions and Dreams be gone 't is break of day FINIS MONOMAXIA JACOB wrestling with the ANGEL OR A sacred Duel fought between God and Man at Peniel with the issue of the Combate Represented as a lively example of Faith and Prayer to all the Israel of God By J.R. of Shoreditch Ask of me things to come concerning my Sons and concerning the work of my hands command ye me Isa 45.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isid Pel. l. 4. Ep. 27. London Printed for L. Chapman at the Crown in Popes-head-Alley 1655. To his endeared Aunt Mris Dorothie Marsh Widow Living at Dover Endeared Aunt I Have much desired an opportunity to express my thankfulness to you for those real Kindnesses you have so long and often expressed to me and though it lay not in my Power to requite yet I would not want Affection to acknowledge your love It is an old observation that they that do a good turn must instantly forget it and they that receive it must constantly remember it you have done the former as for my self I will not deny but my memory hath long been asleep but I would now onely testifie by this publique remembrance of my duty that it is not dead The Lord made you an instrument though not of my natural yet of my spiritual birth you gave me not suck indeed from the Brest but you fed me with the sincere milk of the Word you first taught
me the first rudiments of Christianity not so much how to spell the Name of God or Christ as how to spel out the Name of God in Christ. What cause have I to bless the Lord that you instructed mee how to beleeve before I was tempted to doubt you knew that I came so full of poison into the world and therefore you could not too soon administer physick to expel it you looked on Original sin as like a common fire in a Town in my soul and you searched not so much how it came as how to quench it you did not prevent but prepare a way for the workings of the Spirit How happy was I that you did not with some judge it prejudicial to the guidance of the Spirit to be indoctrinated in a form of Divine Knowledge I remember I have read somewhere that Luther when he heard how that little children prayed against the Turk said In the name of the Lord let them go on for as they want the knowledge of men so they want the malice of men and God may hear them I must acknowledge I lived long in the world before I knew what it was to die to the world and many years had the profession of Religion before I was acquainted with the experience yet I bless God even then when I had not Saving Grace for my own Salvation that I had any Restraining Grace for the good of others How did you pray for me when I was not able to pray for my self your heart was tender when mine was hard my prayers now are to the Lord that though I yet carry a body of sin about me and in my own sense have been often a sinking that yet you would praise God with me that a Nephew of so many prayers hath not perished indeed Your condition now calls for my counsel but I will not undertake to teach my Teacher onely humbly telling you what once with delight you taught me out of that School of Wisdom Pro. 3.11 Despise not the chastening of the Lord neither be weary of his correction What though you have been cast down will you conclude that you are cast away when your God hath on purpose cast you down that he might not cast you away You know that Gods fish thrive best in salt waters that the Walnut-tree is most fruitful when it is most beaten that David was never so tender as when he was hunted as a Partridge and Jonah never so watchful as when he was alive in his Sepulchre in the Whales belly It is true you are Husbandless but yet not Fatherless my once dear Uncle is now singing out the praises of the Lamb in the new Jerusalem the singleness and sincerity of his Light Love and Life did tell his acquaintance he was a Traveller thither now you dare not mourn because he rejoyceth and can you mourn while he rejoyceth Oh! that you would rather consider what a comfort you once had than what a comfort you now want rather to meditate of your going to him than grievingly to think of his going from you My dear Aunt let me use that phrase that was spoken to a friend on such an occasion You know well that you have need of his joy but he hath no need of your tears Your Husband was also your Brother and if that maxim be true that the union of Grace is stronger than the union of Nature then I am perswaded you mourn not so much for the loss of an Husband as of a Brother in Christ yet though the stream be cut off you have the Fountain I would speak more of this but I shall forbear lest while I go about quite to extinguish I should unawares revive the grief chew not this Pill but swallow it whole and it will not prove so bitter I beleeve you are more perplexed with the publick evils of Sion But in this you may consider the Lord wounds that he may not kill and overcasteth the face of his Church with a cloud that the Sun of Righteousness may at length shine out the more clearly and that those storms and waves are happy that shall drive the Ark nigher to her Harbor It is certain All things shall work together for their good that love God It is your happiness your comfort lies not in the lives of others but in your own experience that while others tack about after every wind of Doctrine you still steer your course according to the compass of the Scriptures that while some think it zeal to fall in love with every fond opinion that presents it self on the Stage of the world that you have chosen your Love and love your choyce in the Practice of Piety mortification and conformity unto God That while others talk much of God that your study is rather how to speak with God himself than of God to others That while they love to gaze on the Infirmities of others onely that you love rather to weep over your own sins in your Closset than to cry out against the sins of others in the Market place but herein you know you are not justified and I trust you would much rejoyce that you had something more you might account nothing for Christ Go on dear Aunt Put on the whole Armor of God that when you have withstood you may stand and when you have stood it out on earth you may sit down in a Throne in Glory Perseverance is the Crown of Grace and Heaven is the Crown of Perseverance You could not mourn as the Martyr said for the absence of the Bridegroom if you did not belong to the Bridegrooms Chamber Ride on in Faith though the way may be the dirtier the nigher you come to your journeys end The Sun shines most amiably towards its descent eye not the stream through which you wade but the firm Land to which you go Look not on your Race so much as on your Crown your storms and Tempests Doubts and Fears as your Port and Harbor Here is your Seed-time hereafter is your Harvest Here is your Hell of Difficulties and Desertion hereafter is your Heaven of Light and Peace You shall not alwaies climb with the Angel but one day stand on the top of the Ladder with the Lord You shall not alwayes wrestle with Jacob the Day will ere long break and then farewel hardness of Heart and temptations to Despaire and mourning for Sin and doubting of Gods Love for ever When you shall lodge in the Arms of your Physician then no more complaint of your wounds When you shall walk in white with a Crown on your head in Heaven you shall not want the gracious company of an Husband as a fellow Member of Christ to comfort or as a Preacher to instruct you There are no tears falling down the Spouses Cheeks in glory Comfort your self with these things that while you wait with Hannah for the Consolation of Israel you may at length when death shall knock at your door which cannot probably be