makes the Alcoran his Ladder the Jew makes the Temple of the Lord his Ladder the carnal Protestant makes his charâ—ty his Ladder and the Papist hath his Ladder also there is a Red Ladder by the blood of Christ but they will have a White Ladder by Marys obedience this they accompt the easier way mee thinks these men mistake Jacobs Ladder yet something like it is for they are in a dream as Jacob was these are all rotten Ladders and the climbers have rotten hearts Thirdly A Providentiall sense and thus I shall handle this Vision The Ladder signifies the Divine Providence and in this Ladder wee have many things observable First The variety of Providence in the many steps The Providence of God hath indeed but one end yet it hath divers waies to that one end every living creature hath four faces and four wings to signify the several appearances and swift execution of Providence Eze. 1.6 It is a difficult thing to take the picture of Providence at this time in the world it maketh and hath so many faces let our eyes be never so exact in observing and our hands ready in describing its waies The locks of the Spouse in the Canticles are black and curled black for their obscurity and curled for their various intricacy There are not so many several countenances of men as there are dispensations of God and it s as rare a thing to find dispensations as men of the same complexion In heaven God will appear to the Saints in one glorious form but now as it was said of an Emperor that every day he put on a new suit so it is the Lords honour to apparell himself in changeable robes the imbroidery of Providence is made up of divers colours Sion is not allwaies in one condition nor the soul allwaies in one posture sometimes Christ frowns and sometimes he smiles sometimes hee casteth down sometimes hee lifteth up sometimes the Church of God is in the wildernesse sometimes in Canaan sometimes on the raging sea sometimes in her harbour The Lord keeps his people from infection by leading them into divers aires black and bloody Providences set off the wisdome and faithfullnesse of our God the better Standing waters corrupt and breed noysome creatures but running waters are pure and preservative Every new day brings with it a new tentation and wee shall never be experienced Souldiers till we are tryed at all sorts of weapons Credend a plura sunt de Deo quam scienda We must not look on the scattered lines of Providence but tarry till God hath made a conclusion never say Providence scribles til you have seen the whole copy Princes letters wee say ought to bee read thrice Let us consider the waies of God and wee shall never censure them Secondly In this Ladder we have the seeming uncertainty of Providence The Ladder is partly above the Clouds and partly visible in the Air as the Spirit Joh. 3. blows where it listeth so God in his works worketh how he listeth It is observable that usually of old when God appeared in the Tabernacle a Cloud ushered in his presence All the world is in the light to God but God is in the dark to all the world Sometimes the Lord walks so plainly in his works that he that runs may read that the dim-sighted'st Christian may say this is the Lords walk and this is the Lords work at other times he wraps himself in a cloud Si vides ubi fides and overcasteth Syon with darkness that the poor children of God cannot tell where to find their Father that they can but guesse at his footsteps knowing not which way to march for their Leader hath hid himself Pompey the Great said when the scales weighed down on Caesars side that there was a mist on the eies of Providence but indeed the Sun shone clearly and the mist was on his eye that he could not see it I confess in this age it is easier to know what particular things in Providence God will pull down than what he will set up We often imagine there is a disorder in Gods works when if we mind it the disorder is in our imagination We know not how to beleeve and we phancy the Lord to be at a stand as not knowing what to do But we must take heed of charging the Lord to be out of his way when onely he is out of our sight Thirdly In this Ladder we have the seeming contradictions of Providence The Angels ascend and descend the Ladder One Providence seems to go one way and another Providence seems to go another way Sometime the Cloud in the wilderness seemed to carry Israel immediately to Canaan now for Canaan might Moses and Aaron say and on a sudden the Lord wheels about and Israel turns faces toward the Red Sea as if he intended they should never see Canaan more How plainly hath the Lord led England for some years toward a Reformation The Saints have encouragingly said one to another Certainly we are within two or three years journey of the New Jerusalem Have at the scarlet Whore of Babylon Now for the building of ruinate Sion But the Lord hath seemed to cry face about and follow me yet longer in the wilderness and some of the Saints conclude we are never like to go forward we shall return to our Leeks and Onyons The conversion of souls visibly goes backward and not forward About twelve years ago hundreds came out of the Devils Kingdom into the Kingdom of the Gospel but now many fly from the colours of the Gospell visibly Miremur non rimemur Providentiae reconditam viâ— and run into the Devils quarters again The Lord seems to seal up the hardness of mens hearts and to say to the womb of Grace Give forth no more let no more sinners be changed from darkness to light in England Well might Solomon Prov. 30.19 compare the Church to a ship in the midst of the Sea which as the Prophet speaks Now even mounts up to the Heavens and anon descends as it were to Hell God sees our works in our wills but we cannot many times spell out the Lords Will by his Works who can trace the Lord in his travel or find out the work or walk of the Almighty in the world The Texts of Providence are as difficult as the Texts of the Scriptures there are as high contests about Providence as about Predestination and it is as hard to reconcile the Works of God as to reconcile his Word though there is a real concordance and harmony in both Be not over righteous says the Preacher Eccles 7.16 Can a man be too righteous rather we think he should have said be not too prophane but as one Diamond cuts another so one Scripture opens another ver 15. I have seen a just man as just as Abel perish in his righteousnes and to lose his life because he would keep his conscience and on the contrary I have seen a
an end and the Glass of Antichrist almost run and certainly the King of Sion shall be as publique in his glory as ever he was in his shame his Deriders little considering that while they willingly add to his shame they really though unwilling add to his glory for as he was not crucified in a corner but at Jerusalem the eye and center of the world so he shall descend from Heaven in Majesty with shouts riding on the Clouds as in his Charriot attended by millions of Angels and Saints his royal Favorites all eies beholding of him and every knee bowing to him Jude 14 15. Woe be to the great ones of this world then when Pilat that sat on the Bench shall stand at the Bar and our Lord Jesus that once stood at the Bar shall sit on the Bench when we shall see not Persons but Causes heard the Judges being judged and the judged being Judges when Emperors and Kings shall be brought not in Chains of Gold about their necks but in Fetters of Iron about their heels When the Peers and Powers and Potentates of the World shall hold down their heads and hold up their hands and cry guilty When most of all the Mighty and all the almost All mighty of the Earth that have disrobed Christ of his Title and robbed him of his honor shall be led up and down this Court q.d. as Tamberlain led Bajaret in an iron Cage through Asia to be gazed on and howted at by all the Saints Psal 149.6 7 8 9. 1 Cor. â— 2 as the Prisoners of the Law and Prizes of Justice what then will become of all those Politicians that make Covenants in Conscience and break Covenants out of necessity That like children stand on the earth with their heads and boldly shake their heels towards Heaven That set up the Kingdom of Christ no faster than they can rear their own Kingdoms of all those that had rather themselves should reign in a corner than that our Lord and Master should rule in the whole World Never thinking how those Crowns that now sit light on their Heads will ere long lye heavy on their Consciences For God though he suspends the execution yet he hath not altered the method of his Justice on such offenders It is a maxim of the Law Right sometimes sleeps but it never dies The reconciling Sion and Babylon Pride Oppression the intollerable tolleration of all kinds of Religions Bribery and Intemperancy are now acted on another Stage by other persons but they are the same sins aliena scena eadem fabula if that Headship that flattering Prelates in former ages took from Jesus Christ be yet taken from Christ and given to men in the Nations if Christs Crown be pulled off his head no matter whose head it warm in the world Mal. 3.15 Mal. 4.1 And as for this Nation in special my prayers to the Lord are that Holiness may not onely have a tolleration but an Authority amongst us against Licenciousness both of Judgement and Conversation that the Rulers of England may not say The time is not come that the Lords house should be built but rather hear God say is it time for you O ye to dwell in your sciled houses and this house lie waste Hag. 1. That they would expeditiously do the work of this age Because to every purpose there is a time and judgement therefore the misery of man is great upon him Eccles 8. That our Officers may not onely be Peace but that our Exactors Righteousness that we may be made an eternal excellency and the joy of many Generations Isa 60. That saying in your hearts the Inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be our strength in the Lord of Hosts they may be like an Hearth of fire among the wood and like a Torch of fire in a sheaf devouring Sions enemies round about on the right hand and on the left Zech. 12. For shame therefore let Virgins arise and either get oyle or cast away their Lamps Security makes you uncapable both of seeing your reward or doing your work First Think not because you can properly be but once regenerated that you need but once to repent Converted David q d. must repent of his Adultery before he be saved Repentance is not onely as life to the dead but as salve to the wounded sinner Repentance is as the Vowels in the Alphabet which we have not onely need of to spell with while we are Babes but to read with all when we are men in Christ Mortification and Humility are not accidents or things by the by but of the very substance the very Materials and Pillars of the New Jerusalem The Gospell it self I suspect will ere long be but an old Almanack to them to whom Repentance and confessing of and mourning over sin is now upon what glorious pretences soever out of date Secondly Plead for Opinions as Opinions and for Graces as for Graces I fear those that plead for disputable Opinions as infallible Truths will ere long hold vital and indisputable Truths as conformity to the Gospel sincere Faith in and repentance towards Christ but as failable and fallible Opinions This is intollerable folly to see men slaves to Opinions and Masters over Graces if the Lord extinguish not this fond zeal the carnal world hence forward will take advantage to think that Religion lies onely in thinking and conceiving and in the next age conclude they are not to seek Religion in their Bibles but in the brains of men O Lord How many are true to false Principles and false to true Principles and will rather die Martyrs for Error than bow as Servants to Truth These are some of them that have been over wise in their own eyes and yet as the wiseman speaks have not known the way to the City that call this or that way Christ and not Christ the way that set up an Image in their own Opinions and censure all the world as Idolaters that will not do homage to it proclaiming subjection with Lutes and Cymbals of peace and though on the first entertainment of such Opinions men have had a calmness in their Consciences yet afterwards have found themselves burning in a Furnace of discontents and doubts as then remembring that neither this or that Opinion availed any thing to peace in Christ but a new creature Thirdly While you cry out against the old Superstition beware of being tainted with the new disease of this age not the plague of the guts but of the heart not the Rickets in the head but the pride of life alias Hypocrisie alias apparent Prophaneness Fly as far from Licentiousness as you do from the formality of Rome Woe be to the profession of Religion if your Profession should stand or fall to the verdict of the world Oh! let not those whom you must one day judge justly judge you now Some possibly may say The world are dogs and their mouths must be stopped Christ is a mystery our principles are above their
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
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
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
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
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
Gospel Surfet And might not the Lord justly take us down and make us know the worth of the Gospel by the want of it Since we have plaid with the light of Truth might he not make us feel the fire Might not God lay down his Basket and take up his Ax and because we are not fit for fruit and building make us fit fuel for burning Have not the Ambassadors of the everlasting Gospel had as hard lot in England as they had in Sodom Who cannot but admire that when England is as chaffy as Sodom that we ave not the same flames as Sodom had Is not this salvation that when wee have been weary of God that yet God is not weary of us That when we have refused to be a holy Nation that yet we are a Nation That when our sins are the sins of Sodom that our sufferings are not the sufferings of Sodom God hath lighted up a flaming Candle of Justice in Sodom the Lord grant that luke-warm England may yet see to read her salvation by it Mercy always swims in Justice but with us Justice seems to be drowned in Mercy 2 From this Ladder admire that we are not made an Egypt God lately turned our waters into blood our Sea was then a red Sea indeed What a mercy is it that English darkness is not a proverb as well as Egyptian darkness England of old was called Albion from the white Rocks and Scotland as some Criticks fancy signifies a Land of darkness But how quickly can the Lord turn Albion into Scotia England into Scotland and Scotland into England we are their neighbors already We have much liberty to bless God Oh that there we not so much liberty to blaspheme God! We have more liberty than either we have deserved or been thankful for There was a time when the Saints in England had Conscience without liberty we have now much liberty of Conscience the Lord grant the time may never come that we should have liberty without Conscience Liberty and nothing else but Licentiousness and Atheism We had once hearts to bless God but wanted opportunity Oh that now we have opportunities we did not want hearts As when a doubting Christian complained that he had no interest in God he was such a stranger to God a Preacher of the Gospel replied But what will you take for that interest though as you think little you have in God not a thousand worlds said the doubting Christian Saints in England what will you take for that liberty you have Now your eyes see your Teachers what if they were all shut up in corners now the doors of the Congregations q.d. are open what if it were past Sermon-time and past Repentance-time what if the silver bell of the Gospel should no more sound in England Oh that we had as much conscience of liberty as we have liberty of conscience That of Omnium Deorum among the Romans of Omnium Sanctorum amongst the Papists of Omnium Sectarum here in England are monstrous Every variation from unity is a step to nullity If ever England should come from one Religion to all and we are in the high way we shall quickly go from all Religion to none 3 From this Ladder admire that we are not made a Germany Instead of the sword of War you have the Scepter of Peace instead of Garments rowled in blood and the noyse of Arms you have the blood of Christ sprinkled on your Garments Oh trample it not under feet Instead of the roaring Cannons you have the sweet sound of Gospel-Ordinances God hath but shaken his rod over us while he hath broken their backs while we have been let blood he hath even let them bleed to death God bid David chuse which of the three plagues of War Famine Pestilence he would have but God puts it to our choyce which of those three plagues we will not have inflicted on us Though God hath sheathed up his sword yet he holds it still in his hand therefore fear What salvation is this that parents are not drinking the blood of their ch ldren to quench their thirst and eat the flesh of their children to satisfie their hunger 4 From hence admire that we are not made a Babylon Pray pray that the Bibles may be opened in Spain and yet bless God that there are not Pad-locks hung on them in England Pray mightily that Antichrist may fall abroad and forget not to bless God that though there be much of Rome in England that yet England is not Rome that none can go to Market that none can buy or sel without the mark of the Beast Revel 13.17 either in their right hands or on their foreheads It is the opinion of some good men that the Protestant Profession shall be over-spread with Antichristianism again and that then the Lord will extraordinarily awaken them from their sleep and actively engage them against Babylon But I wish though we have looked on Babylon that we may not so lust after Babylon Spiritual longings in this kind are dangerous but I hope God will prevent Sions miscarriage in the birth of Reformation The Lord grant if we go to Rome it may not be to dote on her but to destroy her There is an old Prophecy that Antichrist shall never overcome Paris nor Venice nor London Let us not be secure for if his Soul have entertainment here his Body will not tarry long after But some may say What Salvation hath the Lord wrought for us what fruit is there of all the blood shed in England is not our condition as bad as ever nay in some sense worse the Saints were united are they not now divided how many Professors are turned Apostates nay Persecutors and Prophane This is sad indeed and to be lamented yet as the Disciples did not wish the blood in Christs veins again though they were distressed by his death So I dare not say though in our Distractions and among the Blasphemies of this age Man hath lost his way that God hath lost his end This is the support That as God hath laid the Foundation so he will carry on the Building that as the Great Turk makes a Bridge of the Bodies of his Souldiers to scale the wals of a Garrison So the Lord knows how to make his glory to rise by the fall of ours and to give life to his Cause by the death of his followers Secondly From this Ladder we may take many sweet Prospects forward on what God will do more apparently for Sion in the world There are eight famous Prospects The first Prospect from Jacobs Ladder is Gods Jacobs may foresee the abundance of knowledge yet to be poured out Isa 36 26. Isa 52.8 Isa 11. Knowledge shall abound as waters do upon the Sea Knowledge is now but at a low Ebb in comparison of that high Tide that shal flow hereafter Knowledge shall abound as the Sea intensively and extensively it shall more increase and be more clear As
conquered as Jacob for all his heart was willing to conquer Jacob prevails over God before he prevails over man Let Naturalists recal what they express Before you do the greater do the less * Jacob Less than the least of all is here that can Prevail with God before he conquers man Secondly Jacob prevailed When not before but after he was lame as the Apostle saith so might Jacob say when I am weak then am I strong It is a true experience in the wrestling School of Christ when a man is strongest he is weakest and when he is weakest he is strongest Jacob here made the Angel fall when he was scarce able to stand and stood it out though his Joynts were out of joynt yet still he wrestles and the more lame he was the more reason he had to hold Oh happy loss of Jacob he lost a joynt and wone a Blessing he was blessed because he would rather halt than leave ere he was blessed You see prayer can do more than all the Witches in the world they can onely bridle the Devil but this bridles or bindes God Secondly Jacob prevails politically as well as powerfully he treats with the Angel and proffers to give him fair quarter Articles and Propositions pass between them Let me go who crys so Jacob or the Angel the Angel which the Lord so speaketh not as though he could not have departed without Jacobs leave but sheweth therein how much he esteemed of his Servant ascribing so much to his Prayers as though they had bound him Prayer is the Servant of God and be it spoken with reverence God is sometimes at the service of prayer command ye me concerning the works of my hands as if the Lord should say Prayer I am your Servant the prayer of the righteous avails much with God if it be fervent it holds Christ in the Galleries and the Angel on the ground and will not let go without a blessing As he that is a beleever hath all because he hath God that is all so he that is a Jacob can do all things in a sense because he hath conquered him that can do all things I and him that is all things Ligatum habent sancti Dominum ut non puniat nisi permiserint ipsi Exo. 32.10 No Grace hath done so much as Prayer for all Graces have had their power from Prayer in Christ wherefore prayer hath done as many exploits as all the Graces besides And that which is more than all this if more can be Prayer overcomes God not onely when he is well pleased as he was with Jacob when any child may deal with him but also when he was displeased as he was with the Israelites when no man could come near him when his wrath burned as fire when he thundered from Heaven and clove the rocks asunder when the Sea and Land was put into a trembling and shaking yet when Moses entred into the gap all this Omnipotent Power came to nothing God though never so angry was not able to enter on the breach but prayer got the victory over him Let me alone saith God to Moses Exo. 32.10 that I may consume this Nation Flectitur iratus voce rogante Deus and I will make of thee a mighty people God seems to hire Moses to be silent as if he should have said Moses leave off thy praying as the Chaldee hath it though Israel perish yet thou shalt prosper thou shalt not be a loser by it I le make of thee a mighty people Let me alone who would look for such a word from God to man Let me alone As yet Moses had said nothing before he opens his mouth God prevents his importunity as foreseeing that holy violence that the request of Moses would have offered to him Moses stood trembling before the Majesty of his Maker and yet hears him say Let me alone The Mercy of God hath as it were obliged his Power to the Faith of man and by Praye the hands of the Almighty are bound to the Peace when he hath a quarrel with his people the Servants prayers hinder the Lords power Servi preces Domini potentiam impediebant as one sweetly And if Moses will the Almighty though he may be angry with yet he cannot strike or do execution on Israel Prayer's like a vapor fum'd from th' earth that flies To th'gates of Heaven and never rots i' th' Skies If Faith and it be joyn'd it will obtain And melt into a first and latter rain If Faith forsake her and they part asunder It falls in Thunder-bolts at least in thunder Saints consider the power of Prayer God forbad Moses to pray and yet he obtained what he prayed for and diverted him from those Judgements he threatned If Moses prevailed against a command how cannot we but prevail when we have a promise if Moses prevailed when God bade him not to pray we shall certainly prevail when God bids us to pray Ask and ye shall have it is but ask and have Let me go says God here to Jacob one would think that should rather be the speech of Jacob to God Let me go is the Angel in earnest surely the Angel was as willing to bless as he was to combate with Jacob though God did not directly bid him strive yet he secretly insinuated that if he would hold fast he should have the blessing Like as a Father being angry makes as if he would go from his Son and saith to one Quid est servo dicere dimitte me nisi deprecandi ansum prabere standing by let me go meaning the contrary that he should not let him go but mediate for his Son Let me alone the Lord speaks as one in bed and very sleepy as if she should say do not trouble me I am desirous to take my rest so the Lord seems to say now Sion let me alone pray not for the conversion of souls pray no more for the administration of righteousness trouble me no more with your prayers he that is unclean let him be unclean still and he that is unjust let him be unjust still But O Lord Shall we indeed give over praying shall we cease petitioning no as Elijah in an holy sense said cry aloud so pray aloud to God the more willing God seems to take his rest the more willing indeed he is to be troubled and the greater silence he keeps the more importunate he is with us that we should be importunate to awaken him Let me go that is let me not go Let me alone that is let me not alone Or as if God should say Sinners will you let me alone can you be content to let your God go before he bless you Deus non dat Jacobo nisi petenti ne det non accipienti Let me go for the day breaks not as though the Angel was to go to the rest of the blessed company of Angels to sing their morning Hymne to God as the Hebrews imagine for
of a Jacobine He dwelleth in the secret of the most High they must conquer God before they conquer him they may strike at but they can never distress Sion till they q.d. strike thorow God Sion though she be not properly invulnerable yet she is invincible Qui Jacobum impetit Deum petit Wherefore now let Jacob wrestle again and reason with his God Humbly ask the Lord Whether he can see his Sion even a shipwracking Preces electorum sunt Deo coctoquia and yet not throw over a Plank to her his children a swouning and fainting under their temptations and not give them a Cordial his Spouse a dying and not once labor to visit her with Salvation Can the Shepheard be content to see the Wolves to worry his tender Flock and the Father love to behold his children to hate one another Dearest Lord is not thy Glory dearer to thee than it can be to thy Spouse and shall she be sollicitous and wilt thou seem not so to provide against thy dishonor Is the Crown of the Lord glistering enough on his head in the eyes of the Woâ—ld Hath our Jesus the purchase and full procurement of his blood Hast thou left thy compassions to as well as the infirmities of thy Body behind thee on earth Is our Joseph in Heaven where there are Barn-fulls of Glory and Provision enough and shall thy Brethren starve for want of Crums of Comfort from thy Table Are thine Affections altered with thy condition and doth the Lord trample under his feet his children while he is now in his glory whom he counted as the apple of his eye in the days of his sufferings Shall we give over praying for the opening the blinde eye and softning the hard heart Shall we fall asleep and urge thee no more Shall we pull our hands from thy Plow and our necks from thy Yoke will the Lord dispense with our lukewarmness and wink at our Apostacy Is it not thy grief to see thy Spirit so grieved to see such noysom weeds and errors to grow in thy Garden which thou so much regardest And so much backsliding after the profession of so much Reformation Shall wee see Sion bleed to death and never ask balm more Hath not the Lord said His Mountain shall be set on the top of all Mountains and that Jerusalem shall be made the joy of many Generations Is not this the hand of the Lord and his own broad Seal How long doth thy Charriot wheels stay Cui magis de Deo quam Deo credam Hath our Lord Jesus bled to death for his Saints and will he now suffer them to bleed to death Doth he love to see the face of his Church beautiful and will he never wipe off the tears of blood that yet are trickling down her cheeks Is the Lord angry at the Prayers of his people and is he not angry at the Blasphemies of his Enemies Art thou offended because we pray for Sion and wilt thou not be offended if we should not pray Is it not yet dark enough that yet the day doth not dawn because it is said at evening time it shall be light and at midnight there was a cry made Behold the Bridegroom commeth How many steps more will the Lord fetch before hee turn about and shew us his face Have we already the first fruits and shall we never have the Harvest Hath Sion often made Land and said now we are come to our Harbor and Rest and shall we be driven into the tempestuous Ocean again Is not our dross separated from our gold that yet we are not taken out of the Furnace Are we not yet holy enough that we are not delivered or are we not yet ripe enough in sin that we are not perfectly destroyed Will the Lord comfort us mourning or enliven us dying or raise us when buried and in our graves O Lord Though thou dishonorest thy people yet wilt thou disgrace the Throne of thy glory Will not the Adversary say Surely if God in love had begun thus to build he would have gone on to finish Though we are trampled under feet must thy Christ be trampled under feet Though his Body hath deserved to sit on Dunghils and lye in fetters of iron yet our Head hath merited to sit on a Throne and to have the liberty of his Spirit in the world Though our prayers are rejected yet wilt thou not fulfill thine own Promises we humbly confess thou hast a royal Prerogative to save and to destroy but O Lord art thou not bound in Covenant to set up thy Son and if thou makest not hast for his glory will not the world be ready to say the Lord is gone back of his word Is it onely Free Grace and Mercy and not also Justice and Righteousness for our God to justifie condemned sinners and to sanctifie prophane Conversations and to carry on the building of the New Jerusalem to its desired perfection Doth the Lord seem to cast us off to see whether we wil indeed cast him off or hide himself to see whether we will earnestly seek after him Preces fundimus coelum tundimus misericordiam extorquemus Because his smiles have not caused us to love him will he now frown on us to make us to fear him are the golden days of his spiritual presence gone and not to come as we hoped they were that we should rather put mourning on our backs than take Harps into our hands Because England hath been perfidious and perjurious to God will God now break his Covenant of Faithfulness with England Shall the unfaithâ—ulness of man make God unfaithful Did the Lord of old wait to be gracious and will he now wait till we are gracious Was the Lord wont to be found of those that sought him not and will he not be now found of those that seek him Wilt thou not pardon our Hypocrisie Pride Passions and Prophaneness till we repent and wilt thou not graciously give us an heart to repent of those evils Shall the new Heavens and new Earth never be built till we are fit Inhabitants And shall disconsolate Sion never be ransomed from her spiritual slaveries and distractions till they are worthy to be ransomed Is not the price of her Redemption already paid and will the Lord seem to require the debt again O Lord are we so far gone from thine house like Prodigals that either we want an heart to return or an hope if we return that our Father will accept of us Art not thou the God of Peace Is not thy Son the Son of Peace thy Spirit the Spirit of Peace thy Gospel the Gospel of Peace and shall not thy Children be Children of Peace is Christ in one of his followers against Christ in another is Christ divided Blessed Father how shall the world know we are thy Children if we have not thy Image thy Servants if we wear not thy Livery Will the World be convinced by our Divisions
that thou art Love Thy people see not so much Prophaneness in the world as the world sees passions amongst thy people We censure and condemn them for not agreeing with thy people while they see thy people agree not amongst themselves Ah Lord If charity were the onely badge of thy Disciples how few Disciples would our Lord and Master have in the world is this a time onely to pull down and not at all to build up to cast away stones and to divide and not to gather stones to raise thy Temple is the Providence of God resolved that no more Stories shall be built in his Sion till one stone be not left on another in Babylon are not our soars searched enough Deo nihil impossibile est nisi quod non vult that yet thou pluckest away the Plaisters thy poor people apply to their wounds Is thy Israel in the midst of the Red Sea and is Pharaoh at their heels ready to swallow them up and cannot Israel be perfectly delivered till the Sea be perfectly divided Hath Sion been travelling with Reformation these many years and even when thy people are ready to welcome it into the world and to name it Glorious must it enter into the womb again Is it our indiscreet importunity that hath hasted to bring it to the birth before the Lords time and day and therefore shall there be no strength given to bring forth Are the grounds of our fears not onely from thy secret or open Enemies but also from the vain conversations of the Professors of thy Name and indeed howl ready have we been to censure the persons and condemn the practises of others and to say there goes an Oppressor an Apostate an Hypocrite so as if there were none of those lusts in our hearts which are visibly reigning in others lives Will the Lord consume their Gold and Silver as well as the others Hay and Stubble pull down many of their works before he set up his own Or wil the Lord further suffer worms and no men to reason with him O Lord are we partly brought out of Egypt and shall we want the cloud of thy presence because that either we long to go backward or fear to go forward Must thy children begin to spell their A B C and go again to School to learn what Mortification and their first love mean before they take out further lessons of experience of Faith Wretched England How many sins do we make that our God did never call sins and how many Articles do our passions put into the Creed which thou didst never enjoyn to be beleeved for Salvation How have one form of thy people been trampling and triumphing over another whiles mostly they have been tithing Mint Annice and Cummin neglecting the Salvation of souls and the advancement of thy Sons Kingdom amongst us when will the Candle of the Almighty shine on the heads of thy people as of old when shall the name of thy Son be poured out as a precious oyntment that the Virgins again may love thee O Lord let us be thy Patients though thou woundest us Let us be under thy rod rather than we should be out of thy Covenant rather than we should sleep to death sound thy Trumpet beat thine Alarm if thou shouldest not administer physick to us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cle. Alex. our Disease were desperate Thrice happy will that storm be that shall drive us to our Harbor We will not appoint thee the Rod to lay on our backs onely we intreat that when thou purposest to strike first break our hearts before thou breakest our backs rather than we should not have thy presence let us with the three children go into a furnace thy Son let us with thy Disciples have a storm Rather then we should not be thy children whip us thy Servants beat us thy Spouse chide us thy Friends frown on us Ah Lord Those that lost their blood together cannot now shed tears together those that fought together in the field can scarce now pray together in a family Blessed God! If it be thy will sound a retreat speedily to these disorders Let some publick Enemy of thy Sons Kingdom abroad come upon the Stage that thy Saints may one and all engage together both their prayers and their persons against him that Sion may be terrible as as Army with Banners that the Brats of Babylon may come and worship before her feet Hinc Syncreâ—ismus Synchristianismus and know that thou hast loved her If the building of Sion may not go forward in this age Lord let it not go backward if with Solomon we may not build thy spiritual Temple let us at least lay up stuff for the building of it with David in the next generation If the Lord had never smiled on us we could better have born his frowns if we had not known what the presence of his Spirit Wisdom Glory had meant in England we could better have born his absence Our darkness is now the greater because that our light formerly was so great How dolorous is it to consider that we that have been brought up in Scarlet should imbrace Dunghils And that England that was the terror of the Lord to the Nations round about us should so much be a scorn unto them and a terror one to another You that are Gods Jacobs up and be doing surely we have little love to if we have not a sigh a tear or two for Sion If ever you would rejoyce in Sions deliverance pray for it Faith and Prayer are Sions Granadoes and truely make her the Thundering Legion onely take heed of counterfeiting these heavenly Ordnance and Artillery with the wicked Emperor these weapons are not artificial but infused Methinks I hear Faith and Prayer say Saints in England be patient and persevere in the holy and sincere profession of the Gospel though your God be long before he come yet he will certainly and comfortably come Endure reproaches hold on and hold out notwithstanding your doubts and difficulties your trials and temptations Though your way to Paradise be dirty yet the Tree of Life in the midst thereof the Rivers of divine pleasure and Gates of pearl will richly make amends for all Be beleeving in prayer and in this age especially If once with Jacob you prevail with God you need not fear all the world If any thing in the world can perswade the Lord to preserve a Nation it is Prayer Prayer hath often met God as Abigal did David and moved him to put up his Sword Pharaoh being plagued with Frogs got the man of God to pray for him and Exod. 8.13 The Lord did according to the word of Moses And the Lord obeyed the voyce of a man It is plain that Moses did according to the word of the Lord but it is strange that the Lord should do according to the word of Moses yet it is so If Moses will do according to the word of the Lord
the Lord will do according to the word of Moses If we keep his precepts he will fulfill our prayers God repenting once that he made man was resolved to destroy him from the face of the earth yet when Noah built an Altar and prayed to God the Lord Gen. 8. smelled a savor of Rest and said henceforth I wil not any more curse the earth for mans sake God was once so displeased with his people that he said flatly I tel you truly I will deliver you no more yet when they asked a Deliverer of him Judg. 10. His soul was grieved for their misery and he gave them Jephtha Therefore when God hath resolved on a Nations ruin he shuts his doors against Prayer The Prophet complains Lam. 3.8 He shutteth out my prayer q.d. God will not suffer his Favorite Prayer to speak with him It is a royal way for a Prince to correct the injuries of another Nation that is inferior to deny their Ambassadors audience Psa 80.4 How long will God be angry but with his people that is not all with the Prayers of his people God is oft pleased to be angry with prayer Jer. 15.1 Though Moses and Samuel stood before me and intreated for this people yet I le cast them out of my sight q d. You think to hinder me now as you were wont to do you will send out your old friend Prayer and if you cannot pray enough your selves you will procure aid from my friends Moses and Samuel but you shall not prevail I will destroy you the best means shall fail you therefore all means shall fail you To resort to other means after prayer is to fasten an Anchor with a twined thread which hath broken a Cable or to think to conquer an Enemy with a Bulrush when we could not with a Cannon In vain is God attempted by Power or sollicited by Prayer against his own mind And as God will not sometimes be intreated so he ought not at any time to be questioned But I hope the Lords door is yet to be opened to our knocking and his ears to our crying And because in this age so many prayers are frustrated be sure to pray that you may be heard I intend not a Common-place of Prayer Briefly First be sure to limit your prayers according to the Revealed Word Let us pray that Gods Will not that our Wils may be done as that Jacobine did Lord let my will be done and mine because thine We often ask and miss because we ask amiss Your Father oft gives that in anger which he would deny to give if he were pleased It s better to be without Quails than to surfet to have either a long delay or rather a full denial than an answer in wrath The contradictions by God put to the prayers of the Saints in this age is one of the greatest wonders of the age Our hearts are oft as the Spirit of God saith like crooked Bows and no wonder the Arrows we shoot are lost when many times we never aim at the mark We must take heed of praying backward with Jonah who rather than he would be accompted a false Prophet cared not so much for the salvation of Nineveh as for his own reputation Says he was not this my saying one would have thought that the salt Sea should have washed away those briny humours Take heed of the heady prayers of the Disciples Cause fire to come down from Heaven q.d. these are Rebels to thy interest we have preached the word of Life to them and they scoff at and scorn us for our labors surely O Lord if they were thine elected they would have beleeved ere now they have sinned against their own light and against the revelation of thy love they are finally impenitent Lord consume them But these were hot spirits and Christ cools them You know not of what spirits you are of Joh. 15.7 you have not the persons and therefore it is not convenient you should have the prayers of Elias Every one that rides in a fiery Chariot is not an Elias Non petitur in nomine salvatoris quicquid petitur contra rationem salutis Lastly Let us beware of sinister prayers not to write after that copy Lord when thou commest into thy Kingdom let one of my Sons fit on thy right hand another on thy left At the left hand of Christ Surely she did not know for what she prayed for none but Goats shall stand at Christs left hand The rule of our prayers is not what pleaseth our apprehensions but what is correspondent to and agreeable with the Revealed Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato III. de legibus p. 811. That which is glorious in the eyes of a man nay of a good man is often abominable in the eyes of God Pray for nothing but what God hath promised if ever you would have God to perform what you pray for It is better to beleeve that the will of God shall be fulfilled Deus non dando dat nobis nos non accipiendo à Deo accipimus than to behold our own wills fulfilled The Saints in this age justly condemn the former Generation for doing that which was never commanded and I beleeve the next Generation will as justly condemn the Saints in this age for beleeving some things which were never promised The Intercession of our Lord Jesus is a censer of gold and can we desire him to offer up our drossie prayers for Incense they are often filthy in our sight and how can they be sweet in his Fathers nostrils Many of Sions Petitions are now in the Lords accompt but waste paper and at the last day shall never be seen hung on the file in Heaven and indeed how can they speed when our consciences bearing witness they are neither worded by the Scriptures indited by the Spirit nor subscribed by a bleeding heart Eo modo sunt omnia petenda quo modo sunt promissa Aut praeter verbum petis aut non propter verbum petis Secondly Be sure to pray not only for love but in love It is true that Love is a stately Garment to be worn by the Lords children in their Mansion house of Glory but you must not put off this Garment till that day as the world doth Holiness Oh say they holiness is for Heaven Love and not Parts Love and not Praying Love and not the participation visibly of the body and blood of Jesus Christ Non debet esse simultas inter eos qui sunt simul is the badge of a Disciple of Christ By this shall all men know ye are my Disciples if yee love one another Joh. 13.35 Said he that was as much for Faith and more than any of his followers Christians Love is asleep I hope not in a dead sleep for shame awaken it Gardiners speak of an Herb Love lies a bleeding and if ever that Herb grew in Sions Garden it is now Oh revive it Hosius was so in