of a Jacobine He dwelleth in the secret of the most High they must conquer God before they conquer him they may strike at but they can never distress Sion till they q.d. strike thorow God Sion though she be not properly invulnerable yet she is invincible Qui Jacobum impetit Deum petit Wherefore now let Jacob wrestle again and reason with his God Humbly ask the Lord Whether he can see his Sion even a shipwracking Preces electorum sunt Deo coctoquia and yet not throw over a Plank to her his children a swouning and fainting under their temptations and not give them a Cordial his Spouse a dying and not once labor to visit her with Salvation Can the Shepheard be content to see the Wolves to worry his tender Flock and the Father love to behold his children to hate one another Dearest Lord is not thy Glory dearer to thee than it can be to thy Spouse and shall she be sollicitous and wilt thou seem not so to provide against thy dishonor Is the Crown of the Lord glistering enough on his head in the eyes of the Woâ—ld Hath our Jesus the purchase and full procurement of his blood Hast thou left thy compassions to as well as the infirmities of thy Body behind thee on earth Is our Joseph in Heaven where there are Barn-fulls of Glory and Provision enough and shall thy Brethren starve for want of Crums of Comfort from thy Table Are thine Affections altered with thy condition and doth the Lord trample under his feet his children while he is now in his glory whom he counted as the apple of his eye in the days of his sufferings Shall we give over praying for the opening the blinde eye and softning the hard heart Shall we fall asleep and urge thee no more Shall we pull our hands from thy Plow and our necks from thy Yoke will the Lord dispense with our lukewarmness and wink at our Apostacy Is it not thy grief to see thy Spirit so grieved to see such noysom weeds and errors to grow in thy Garden which thou so much regardest And so much backsliding after the profession of so much Reformation Shall wee see Sion bleed to death and never ask balm more Hath not the Lord said His Mountain shall be set on the top of all Mountains and that Jerusalem shall be made the joy of many Generations Is not this the hand of the Lord and his own broad Seal How long doth thy Charriot wheels stay Cui magis de Deo quam Deo credam Hath our Lord Jesus bled to death for his Saints and will he now suffer them to bleed to death Doth he love to see the face of his Church beautiful and will he never wipe off the tears of blood that yet are trickling down her cheeks Is the Lord angry at the Prayers of his people and is he not angry at the Blasphemies of his Enemies Art thou offended because we pray for Sion and wilt thou not be offended if we should not pray Is it not yet dark enough that yet the day doth not dawn because it is said at evening time it shall be light and at midnight there was a cry made Behold the Bridegroom commeth How many steps more will the Lord fetch before hee turn about and shew us his face Have we already the first fruits and shall we never have the Harvest Hath Sion often made Land and said now we are come to our Harbor and Rest and shall we be driven into the tempestuous Ocean again Is not our dross separated from our gold that yet we are not taken out of the Furnace Are we not yet holy enough that we are not delivered or are we not yet ripe enough in sin that we are not perfectly destroyed Will the Lord comfort us mourning or enliven us dying or raise us when buried and in our graves O Lord Though thou dishonorest thy people yet wilt thou disgrace the Throne of thy glory Will not the Adversary say Surely if God in love had begun thus to build he would have gone on to finish Though we are trampled under feet must thy Christ be trampled under feet Though his Body hath deserved to sit on Dunghils and lye in fetters of iron yet our Head hath merited to sit on a Throne and to have the liberty of his Spirit in the world Though our prayers are rejected yet wilt thou not fulfill thine own Promises we humbly confess thou hast a royal Prerogative to save and to destroy but O Lord art thou not bound in Covenant to set up thy Son and if thou makest not hast for his glory will not the world be ready to say the Lord is gone back of his word Is it onely Free Grace and Mercy and not also Justice and Righteousness for our God to justifie condemned sinners and to sanctifie prophane Conversations and to carry on the building of the New Jerusalem to its desired perfection Doth the Lord seem to cast us off to see whether we wil indeed cast him off or hide himself to see whether we will earnestly seek after him Preces fundimus coelum tundimus misericordiam extorquemus Because his smiles have not caused us to love him will he now frown on us to make us to fear him are the golden days of his spiritual presence gone and not to come as we hoped they were that we should rather put mourning on our backs than take Harps into our hands Because England hath been perfidious and perjurious to God will God now break his Covenant of Faithfulness with England Shall the unfaithâ—ulness of man make God unfaithful Did the Lord of old wait to be gracious and will he now wait till we are gracious Was the Lord wont to be found of those that sought him not and will he not be now found of those that seek him Wilt thou not pardon our Hypocrisie Pride Passions and Prophaneness till we repent and wilt thou not graciously give us an heart to repent of those evils Shall the new Heavens and new Earth never be built till we are fit Inhabitants And shall disconsolate Sion never be ransomed from her spiritual slaveries and distractions till they are worthy to be ransomed Is not the price of her Redemption already paid and will the Lord seem to require the debt again O Lord are we so far gone from thine house like Prodigals that either we want an heart to return or an hope if we return that our Father will accept of us Art not thou the God of Peace Is not thy Son the Son of Peace thy Spirit the Spirit of Peace thy Gospel the Gospel of Peace and shall not thy Children be Children of Peace is Christ in one of his followers against Christ in another is Christ divided Blessed Father how shall the world know we are thy Children if we have not thy Image thy Servants if we wear not thy Livery Will the World be convinced by our Divisions
the Lord will do according to the word of Moses If we keep his precepts he will fulfill our prayers God repenting once that he made man was resolved to destroy him from the face of the earth yet when Noah built an Altar and prayed to God the Lord Gen. 8. smelled a savor of Rest and said henceforth I wil not any more curse the earth for mans sake God was once so displeased with his people that he said flatly I tel you truly I will deliver you no more yet when they asked a Deliverer of him Judg. 10. His soul was grieved for their misery and he gave them Jephtha Therefore when God hath resolved on a Nations ruin he shuts his doors against Prayer The Prophet complains Lam. 3.8 He shutteth out my prayer q.d. God will not suffer his Favorite Prayer to speak with him It is a royal way for a Prince to correct the injuries of another Nation that is inferior to deny their Ambassadors audience Psa 80.4 How long will God be angry but with his people that is not all with the Prayers of his people God is oft pleased to be angry with prayer Jer. 15.1 Though Moses and Samuel stood before me and intreated for this people yet I le cast them out of my sight q d. You think to hinder me now as you were wont to do you will send out your old friend Prayer and if you cannot pray enough your selves you will procure aid from my friends Moses and Samuel but you shall not prevail I will destroy you the best means shall fail you therefore all means shall fail you To resort to other means after prayer is to fasten an Anchor with a twined thread which hath broken a Cable or to think to conquer an Enemy with a Bulrush when we could not with a Cannon In vain is God attempted by Power or sollicited by Prayer against his own mind And as God will not sometimes be intreated so he ought not at any time to be questioned But I hope the Lords door is yet to be opened to our knocking and his ears to our crying And because in this age so many prayers are frustrated be sure to pray that you may be heard I intend not a Common-place of Prayer Briefly First be sure to limit your prayers according to the Revealed Word Let us pray that Gods Will not that our Wils may be done as that Jacobine did Lord let my will be done and mine because thine We often ask and miss because we ask amiss Your Father oft gives that in anger which he would deny to give if he were pleased It s better to be without Quails than to surfet to have either a long delay or rather a full denial than an answer in wrath The contradictions by God put to the prayers of the Saints in this age is one of the greatest wonders of the age Our hearts are oft as the Spirit of God saith like crooked Bows and no wonder the Arrows we shoot are lost when many times we never aim at the mark We must take heed of praying backward with Jonah who rather than he would be accompted a false Prophet cared not so much for the salvation of Nineveh as for his own reputation Says he was not this my saying one would have thought that the salt Sea should have washed away those briny humours Take heed of the heady prayers of the Disciples Cause fire to come down from Heaven q.d. these are Rebels to thy interest we have preached the word of Life to them and they scoff at and scorn us for our labors surely O Lord if they were thine elected they would have beleeved ere now they have sinned against their own light and against the revelation of thy love they are finally impenitent Lord consume them But these were hot spirits and Christ cools them You know not of what spirits you are of Joh. 15.7 you have not the persons and therefore it is not convenient you should have the prayers of Elias Every one that rides in a fiery Chariot is not an Elias Non petitur in nomine salvatoris quicquid petitur contra rationem salutis Lastly Let us beware of sinister prayers not to write after that copy Lord when thou commest into thy Kingdom let one of my Sons fit on thy right hand another on thy left At the left hand of Christ Surely she did not know for what she prayed for none but Goats shall stand at Christs left hand The rule of our prayers is not what pleaseth our apprehensions but what is correspondent to and agreeable with the Revealed Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato III. de legibus p. 811. That which is glorious in the eyes of a man nay of a good man is often abominable in the eyes of God Pray for nothing but what God hath promised if ever you would have God to perform what you pray for It is better to beleeve that the will of God shall be fulfilled Deus non dando dat nobis nos non accipiendo à Deo accipimus than to behold our own wills fulfilled The Saints in this age justly condemn the former Generation for doing that which was never commanded and I beleeve the next Generation will as justly condemn the Saints in this age for beleeving some things which were never promised The Intercession of our Lord Jesus is a censer of gold and can we desire him to offer up our drossie prayers for Incense they are often filthy in our sight and how can they be sweet in his Fathers nostrils Many of Sions Petitions are now in the Lords accompt but waste paper and at the last day shall never be seen hung on the file in Heaven and indeed how can they speed when our consciences bearing witness they are neither worded by the Scriptures indited by the Spirit nor subscribed by a bleeding heart Eo modo sunt omnia petenda quo modo sunt promissa Aut praeter verbum petis aut non propter verbum petis Secondly Be sure to pray not only for love but in love It is true that Love is a stately Garment to be worn by the Lords children in their Mansion house of Glory but you must not put off this Garment till that day as the world doth Holiness Oh say they holiness is for Heaven Love and not Parts Love and not Praying Love and not the participation visibly of the body and blood of Jesus Christ Non debet esse simultas inter eos qui sunt simul is the badge of a Disciple of Christ By this shall all men know ye are my Disciples if yee love one another Joh. 13.35 Said he that was as much for Faith and more than any of his followers Christians Love is asleep I hope not in a dead sleep for shame awaken it Gardiners speak of an Herb Love lies a bleeding and if ever that Herb grew in Sions Garden it is now Oh revive it Hosius was so in
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
Towers or Powers of the World against Christ The Egyptians like ravenous Wolves would fain have been worrying the Lambs of God when they came out of their bondage but the Lord held them in and they did neither rend their Fleeces nor suck their blood The Lord according to the Proverb here truely held the Woolf by the ears The Saints Zech. 2.8 are the apple of Gods eye now we know the eye is the tendrest part of the Body and the apple is the tendrest part of the eye It is remarkable how the eye is secured by a trinity of Providences by Tunicles that sweat annoy it not by the Eie-lids that the dust hurt it not by the Eie-brows that it may be kept from blows or stroaks There was care on care Providence on Providence Tunicle on Tunicle for Sions good Oh that the glory of the Lord were as tender to us as our Salvation is both tender to and tendred by the Lord It is prettily observable Gen. 11.4 In the building of Babel Go to say the Babylonians go to saith God Divinum consilium dum devitatur impletur humanum consilium dum reluctatur comprehenditur Let us build a Tower say they let us go down and see it saith God That we may get a name say they that we may scatter them says God Thus God words it with them and confutes their folly from point to point I beleeve there are such Babels a building in the world and I am perswaded the Lord wil shortly come down and see them The pride of man shall flow to such a Tide and then it shal Ebb Errors and Blasphemies shall even lay the neck of the Gospel on the block but shall not cut it off Let the Devils raise storms and bluster with their winds round about the house of God Job 1. Let the men of the World bow down their backs and set to their shoulders they shall never overthrow it They shall neither prove themselves Sampsons nor the Saints Philistims Sion like a bottle may be dipt but it shall never be drowned God will never suffer such an Enemy to invade Sion that either he could not keep out or will not conquer Satan may be the Executioner but God is the Judge and the Executioner cannot lay on a stroak more than the Judge appoints Fierce Lyons roaring for their Prey and then Daniel thrown in and Daniel yet remains Alive there was a Lyon in the Den Was Daniels friend or Daniel had been slain Among a thousand Lyons I 'de not fear Had I but onely Daniels Lyon there 4 In this Ladder there is an ordering Providence The Ladder of Providence extends from Heaven to Hell Let men climb never so high and dig never so low Policy goes not so far but Providence goes further If the Lord suffers a poyson he knows how to bring a cordial out of it The Devil can turn cordials into poysons God can turn poysons into cordials nay make poysons cordials He suffers his Children to burn their finger in the candle to keep them from burning their whole body in the fire He like a Nurse suffers his children to reel and fall that they may cry for his arm to hold them up and learn to walk by his strength and under his Elbow There is nothing so firm Deus saepe facit opus non suum ut faciat opus suum but Providence sustains it nothing so small but he regards it nothing so evil but he can overcome it nothing so vile which serves not for his glory nothing so wrongful which executes not his Justice nothing so enemy-like which fights not for him nothing so much against him but hits the mark at which he aims It was a gâ—od speech if well understood of a good man once That he was as much beholding to God for his Infirmities as for his Graces If Peter had not fallen Lapsus Petri sit omnium Petra he had fallen The Saints sometimes fall that when they rise they may stand the faster David cut off Goliahs head with Goliahs sword Our Lord Jesus hath often beat the Devil in his own Kingdom and with his own weapons Many have shot with the Devil in his own bow as Eve Gen. 3. by disputing with him but never any except Christ ever out shot the Devill in his own Bow As appears in two famous Instances The first of the first Adam Gen. 3. The Devil was a fallen Angel and he envied that Man should stand Adam was the Representative of all mankind If Adam had stood we had stood now also says the Devil all the world falls before me if I can but make Adam fall he makes the on-set gives the bait Adam swallows it and is poysoned the Devil laughs as we say in his sleeve exults as if all the world was his Adam is arraigned by God the Devil is a ready witness against him but before the sentence was pronounced the sin is pardoned the Messiah puts in bail The seed of the woman shall break the serpents head â—rodest peccavisse nocet peccare though the serpent bit the womans heel but the serpent had but one head and the woman had two heels I cannot tell which most to admire the disease or the remedy Christ is the glory of the Church the King of Saints Sure I am we had never heard of Free Grace if man had not fallen The second Instance is of the second Adem Diabolus dum irruit ruit dum quaerit hominem incidit in salvatorem The Devil sets on the Captain of our Salvation Oh thinks the Devil if I can but destroy the Shepheard the Sheep are mine Judas betrays his Master the Jews crucifie their King Christ is laid in the grave Satan danceth and triumphs as if he had got the victory But Satan stay the bels Thou hast won the Field but Christ hath won the Day Christ ascends from the Grave marcheth through the Devils Kingdom and receives a Crown from the Father Christi fel nostri mel as Victor over Men and Devils who could neither prevent his Resurrection nor Reign Oh the wisdom of Providence If Christ had not been bâ—und we had not been freed if he had not died we had died for ever This was Satans Master-peece and yet it was his overthrow Providence brings the wheel over all designs against Sion Prov. â—0 26 Satan was the first fool though not the onely fool in the world Providence is usually exercised in contraries Opposita juxta se posita magis clucescunt It is the Divine method to humble that he may exalt to kill that he may make alive to bring light out of darkness and Hell out of Heaven We wonder oft why God suffers those to reign who make Christ to suffer and will not suffer Christ to reign little considering that the Lord oft makes the Earth to help the woman and loves to strike strait stroaks with crooked sticks He makes wicked men though they
than the Creation of the World and therefore the Lord speaks of New Heavens to intimate the possibility of their accomplishment from the consideration of the old Creation Cannot I says God create a new world as well as I did the old In the first of Isay vers 27. God will send Judges as at the first which promise is not performed in any external form of Government but in the administration of Righteousness and Justice and the work of this Generation ☞ is not to pull down Governments but to pull down Tyranny whether in Judges or in Kings For the Government of one man is in se no more inconsistent with the Government of Christ than the Government of a plurality of men the sweet flower of Justice may grow in a Crown as well as on a Scepter of State in a Kingdom as well as in a Commonwealth All civil Forms of Government are equally of God Rom. 13.1 And though Kings have been Enemies to Sion and setters up of Antichrist yet there are promises that Kings shall be nursing Fathers to Sion and Kings shall help to destroy Antichrist Rev. 17.16 which promises are yet in the greatest measure to be performed now at last Sol Justitiae qui quondam erat in signo Leonis nunc est in signo Virginis erit in signo Librae Whether Judges be as at the first let the world judge There shall be such Governors as Sampson was as Jephtha and Deborah were Zech. 12.5 Psal 16.17 For my part let all the Kings in Europe keep their Crowns so they kick not Christs Crown off his head Let Emperors yet hold their Scepters in their hands so they hold not up their hands against Christs Scepter Otherwise I pray and beleeve that the time may and will come when those that have not affection in their hearts to do Sion good shall not have power in their hands to do Sion hurt Rev. 19. Sixthly From this Ladder we may see a more full advancement of an Evangelical Ministery How many hitherto have been bred up at Gamaliels feet that never yet with Mary sat at Christs feet That sit in Moses his Chair that have little in them or nothing of Moses but his Chair Non Doctores sed Seductores non Pastores sed Impostores Arts and Sciences are the gifts of God and how honorable is it when Scholars lay their Crowns down before the feet of the Lamb and many speak against them because they have them not they cannot abide to be condemned for ignorant of the learned and therefore they are ambitious to be commended by the ignorant for learned Lord How few Preachers feel what they speak and then speak what they feel How few speak to the heart because so few speak from the heart but from the teeth outward how many seek a Lordly living and a lazy life Many are Swine for prophaneness but more are Serpentine Preachers that subtlely with their gilded poyson kill souls discouraging the godly and encouraging the wicked Like Sign-posts shewing others the way to Heaven and not stirring thither a foot themselves Doth God call for a reasonable Sacrifice and holy beast and will he accept of an unreasonable unholy Sacrificer Would the Lord have the vessels of the Sanctuary holy and the Garments holy and he on whose vesture should be written Holiness to the Lord unholy God will have those that shall have not onely a mission from the Church but a Commission from himself Loyterers must be sent out Christum habent in codice sed non in corde and Laborers must be sent into the Vineyard and the Spirit will also be sent into the Laborers God will never suffer those dead Amasaes to lie in the way of the souls of men to hinder them from coming to Christ God is not bound to maintain those Lamps with the oyl of maintenance whose preaching is not maintained by the oyl of the Spirit Men hitherto have heaped to themselves Teachers according to their hearts Multo minus nocet ignavus fur quam segnis minister and so itching ears have had tickling Preachers men that have been often at Placentia but never at Verona But the Lord will send Pastors according to his own heart that shall not preach to gratifie Opinions but to save Souls Jer. 3.15 Though Christ can ride on an Ass to Jerusalem yet the time is a coming that the Lord will have no need of them The Snuffers of the Temple must be pure gold Chrysostomi etiam Polycarpi Non Aposcopi sed Episcopi or else their Clergy cannot save them Exod. 37.23 If we cannot abide dead Idols in the windows God much less will abide dumb Idols in the Pulpit The Ministers of the last age shall stand in the Sun and preach the Everlasting Gospel they shall be Brightmans indeed They shall be Load-stones in their conversations but Adamants in their principles they shall thunder in the Pulpit and lighten in their lives They shall pitty them who are not able to pitty themselves shed tears over them for whom Christ shed his blood They shall be indued with an Eagles Eye a Ladies hand and a Lyons heart as Physicians of Souls Indeed some knowing men in their own eyes never think the Sun will shine clearly till the Stars Rev. 1. ult are pulled down I speak onely in the behalf of those that are Evangelical Preachers in their Doctrine and Angelical Preachers in their lives but first our Lord and Master hath secured the use of the Ministery till the perfection of all things Mat. 28. Eph. 4. And secondly I hope those that are true Stars will stoop themselves when our Lord Jesus the true Sun of Righteousness shall appear in the glory of his person or personal glory Seventhly From this Ladder we may foresee the ruin of Babylon Babylon hath three times a time of ascending a time of triumphing in and a time of descending the Throne Now the Tide of the Sea of Rome is falling and she is well nigh in the last descension Providence hath arraigned and condemned the Scarlet Whore she is at present naked and ere long she shall be burnt for an Whore She shall have fire for fire and blood for blood The Lord is gathering Faggots I mean his Instruments in all Nations and will certainly and suddenly set fire to the Papal glory and all her Lovers shall not be able to quench it Rev. 18. She shall be as visible in her shame as ever she was in her glory God will not take mans advantage for her ruin her overthrow shall be fair God will not as the General said pilfer the Victory The pangs of a travelling woman shall overtake her God will wipe pitty from his heart and will not be interceded for a Reprieve his work shall not prove abortive It shall be more truely the Lords veni vici than Queen Elizabeth coming against her and overcoming her She shall fall as a mil-stone that of it self
Deus nos omnes immediatè irradiet impleat Spiritu suo sine opera Mediatoris For Christ at the last is solemnly to make a surrender of the Kingdom to God and the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to God the Father when he hath put down all Authority Power and Rule both Civil and Ecclesiastical both Angelical and Diabolical Which to say is meant of the Kingdom of the God-head is blasphemy for the Kingdom of the Son in that sense is coeternal and coessential with the Fathers Wherefore it must be meant of the Vicarious Personal or Oeconomical Kingdom of the Mediator When the difference between God and the Creature is compleatly made up and God and the Creature made one what formal need will there be of a Mediator for we cannot make a Mediator of one nor of those that are made one It is an Apostolical maxim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. 3.20 Not that either our Lord Jesus shall depose his humane Nature and so the Hypostatical Union cease or that he shall ever have the glory of his Head-ship over his body eclipsed but onely that Christ mystical entirely be subject and so from God receive immediate and direct beams of Glory It is true The Kingdom of Christ is everlasting but that doth not hinder the supposition for that is salved by his victory over all the Kingdoms in the world and in its not being subverted by any Forein Power whatsoever and thus his Kingdom is everlasting in opposition to the Four Monarchies Dan 7. which succeeding one another and at length were all conquered by our Lord Jesus And Secondly his Kingdom is everlasting as the Gospel of his Kingdom is everlasting Rev. 14.6 which is to be understood not formally but vertually and the Saints shall by vertue of that purchase possess everlasting glory Secondly The relation of his Headship in Heaven doth not oppose for though he shall remain Head of his Body to all eternity yet in a different manner than he is Head now His Headship in the Church Triumphant is rather for precedency than Principality rather for priority and dignity than for guidance and government And this must be confessed that the relation between the Head and the Members in heaven shall still be relatio disquiparantiae non aequiparantiae Thirdly Neither doth this resignation of the Kingdom as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 redound to the disparagement of the Mediator no more than the first designation or donation of this Kingdom to Christ was diminution to the glory of God and the Father The Lord Jesus shall suffer no loss of Glory but onely undergo a change of State As suppose a Captain General Commissioned by a Prince with the accommodation of Armies to subdue a Colony of Rebels the Rebels are defeated the Captain General returns home from that field and forein Service surrenders his commission to his Prince he is honored further by his Master for his noble Service he is applauded by the Souldiers for his valor and prowess and ever after by way of honor is called Captain yet we cannot say he is Captain in act His Colours are lodged his Sword is sheathed both the Captain and the Souldiers are under the immediate presidency of the Prince but in a different degree of favor and glory So the Saints shall make it their business in Heaven to extol the Lord and the Lamb to sing Halelujah's and Hosanna's for ever All Honor and Dignity be to our dear Mediator who redeemed us when we were captives washed and cleansed us with his blood comforted our souls by his Spirit that while others were apostatized we by his grace were kept to this great Salvation The consideration of Redemption-work shal be the Theam of Praises for the redeemed throughout all ages And I heard the voyce of many Angels round about the Throne and the beasts in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the living Creatures and the Elders and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands Saying with a loud voyce worthy is the Lamb that is slain to receive Power and Riches and Wisdom and Strength and Honor and Glory and Blessing c. Revel 5.11 12. there will be no more need as I apprehend of Christs Kingly Office than of his Priestly or Prophetical Office Glorified Saints are in the highest Form of Divine knowledge and have no need of Intercession for they are above fears and falls above fear of falling in the way or away and all their lusts are conquered of old by Christs Scepter they are in their harbor and therefore out of all storms they have their Crown shining on their heads and have no stumbling-blocks more in their race the Devil then shall never be seen to devour nor heard to roar farewel hardness of heart perplexities of conscience fear of grieving the precious Spirit any more Jacob is ascended to the top of the Ladder and never needs more to fear his feet or hands should slip in climbing and therefore it is said he shall reign 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 untill he shall have put down all his Enemies Fourthly Neither is it necessary there should be an immediate power from Christ as Mediator to preserve and persevere the Saints in glory For everlasting glory is the purchase of his death as well as glory And Secondly Though their glory is not natural yet the first seizure of glory is confirmation in glory Glory and eternall glory differing not in kind possibly not in real degree There being properly no posterius in Heaven or succession of hours Heaven is an eternal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thirdly The immediate presence of God is a a sufficient ground of their preservation Fourthly Why is the mediation of Christ made eternal à parte post by any rather than eternal à parte ante or rather thus why may not the merit of our Redeemer be as effectual after the solemn resignation of his mediation as it was to the Jews before ever actually he entred his Throne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Regnando id jam acquisivit quod aeternum est regnum ergo aeternum merito habere dici potest quod attinet ad regnandi actum Christus regno sese abdicaturus est quod vero ad regnum attinet regni ejus nullus erit finis Fifthly Whereas it is objected why may not the Kingdom of the Mediator actually in glory be consistent with the government of God as well as now the Kingdom of God is consistent with the Government of the Mediator To this I could answer Our enquiry is not de re possibili vel impossibili in the first place but de re vera vel falsa But Secondly If we speak of the Government of the Mediator as God it is true and if I mistake not some Commentators mean so That as the Father rules as well as the Son now so then the Son shall rule as well as the Father for though he surrender the
Jacobs Ladder OR THE Protectorship of SION LAID ON The Shoulders of the Almighty In a Description of the sufficiency of Providence Suitable in these times of Tentation WITH JACOBS WRESTLING By Francis Raworth of Shoreditch Watchman what of the night the Watchman said the morning commeth and also the night if ye will enquire inquire ye return come Isa 21.11 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tâ—ismeg l. de Provid London Printed by R. I. for L. Chapman and are to be sold at his shop at the Crown in Popes head-Alley 1655. To the Professors of the glorious Gospel My Friends IF ever there were an hour of tentation it is surely at this day when so few follow Christ when so many stand still and most go backward When those that once would not have been hired to neglect a duty now think it their duty not to pray at all When those that have tasted much sweetness in Gospel-Truths should now cry out as those ingrateful Israelites of old what have we nothing but this Manna that have suffered much reproach for Christ should at present in their lives be a reproach to Christ that formerly avoided the appearance of evil and now condemn those as ignorant of their liberty who are afraid of prophaneness that those that seemed to mortifie the flesh should now after all their Profession and visible repentance even deny the resurrection of the flesh Our Nazarites were purer than the Snow whiter than Milk in their Profession for their heavenly zeal more ruddy than Rubies and as for their Conversations they were not only Saphires but polished Saphires the very carved workmanship to us of the Spirit shining and sparkling in every angle and corner of their lives with Wisdom Patience Holiness and Sincerity But O Lord How is their visage blacker than a coal How do those that of old were brought up in Scarlet and did wear Christ like the Courtiers of Heaven in their conversations imbrace the stinking Dunghills of the Pleasures and Profits of this world thy Professors that were even marked out for thy Glory among men and concerning whom not long since it was familiarly said There goes a Saint there walks an Heir of salvation now are not known in the streets that there is little difference between a Professor and an Apostate between a Professor and a prophane man nay between a Professor and a persecutor It is in this age too remarkable that some Professors of the Gospel are the great if not the greatest hindrances of the profession of the Gospel How plainly doth the Providence of God comment on that Text The first shall be last and the last shall be first What loud alarms by the falls of those that once seemed to stand doth God make in your ears that stand to take heed lest you fall In the seventh of Matthew the foolish build as well as the wise the difference lay not in their Buildings but in their Foundations the one built on the Sands the other on the Rock The house of the foolish builder might possibly glister as gloriously when the Sun shone as the house of the wise builder and have as many Stories and as great Window-lights but all that glisters is not gold though all that is gold doth glister It is not he that professeth but he that possesseth Christ is happy not he that is a gided but he that is a golden Christian in this brazen and iron age The lord is a coming not so much with a pair of Scales to weigh as with a Touchstone to trie the truth and sincerity of your Graces Jerusalem is a lighting with candles Providence will light up candles in France in Holland in Denmark and though now it seem midnight with us yet ere many glasses of Providence are run out I am perswaded it will be Candlemas day in England Now most care not to be living Saints so they may but be imbalmed with a name to live and covered over as a dead corps with Roses and Lillies and Flowers of a Profession care not to have Religion at their fingers ends ad unguem to be indeed Christians or Christians indeed so they may but have Religion at their tongues end and talk of the Spirit the Gospel the new Jerusalem But how shortly will many that want the Power and Life wish they had not the Form and vizard of Grace and cease to appear to be what they really are not the paint of Profession will neither indure the water or the Sun How monstrous is it that our Tongues should be bigger than our hands For these twelve years our Lord Jesus hath been burying the Designs of his more publique Adversaries under ground now God is coming to Jerusalem to purge his gold to prune his Vine Professors look within you and look about you Ah Lord what blushing will there ere long be in England when thou wilt wash off the paint of our profession and that thy followers shall wear their hearts in their faces How much better will a dram of grace be than a talent of gifts when as the greater our lights and Links of Knowledge are the more unawares we discover our darkness If we cannot endure the Spirit going up and down with a Candle and Lanthorn to search our hearts how can we abide the day of Christs coming and stand when that Sun of Righteousness shall appear for he is like Refiners fire and like Fullers soape Justice Humility Mortification Repentance though now they be but poor and low things with man yet when the Judge shall take the Bench more visibly how high will they be with God Sincerity though it be a silent Grace at this time and dwels in obscurity ere long I hope will carry the day and bear away the bell Though we sin at a greater rate yet we cannot sin at so cheap a rate as our Fore-fathers it were better that God did forthwith lay down his Basket and take up his Ax than that we should be further unfruitfull better that God should remove his Candlestick which he can do without breaking it and say to us sinners if you will play play in the dark if you will break Vows and Covenants break them in the dark c. than suffer us to sin against Gospel-light For his silence increases our guilt The Almighty is more displeased with sin than ever his hand is as just to revenge and his eies are q d. wider to espie it There are some that having assurance that Christ reigns in their Consciences desire the inlargement of his Kingdom long to see the Crown of Glory shine on his head and his Subjects to multiply in the world And notwithstanding the many false Pretenders to that Noble Interest yet there are some Followers of the Lamb indeed that follow him not for his Fleece but for his blood who having past the work of Regeneration humbly and patiently deâ—ire to do the work of their Generation and probably the reckoning of Sion is wel nigh at
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
cognizance they are not competent Judges of our conversations I answer We must then endeavor to silence them as much in our lives as they condemn us with their lips otherwise pretence of assurance and participation of the Divine creature will make them abhor profession as a meer design and say Lo there is so much difference between that Religion that is in our Bibles and that which is in your Conversations that we profess either you are not Evangelical or this is not Gospel Take heed of putting out the eyes of Conscience and then to make apology for your blindness Conscience is Gods Vice-gerent but it is not our Law-giver Conscience is out guide but the Word is our way and there is no excuse in following our Guide out of our way Fourthly Call not that poyson which is your Milk and strike not those Breasts which once you stroaked say not the preaching down of sin is the preaching up of the Law Trample not those Ambassadors under your feet who have rejoyced to carry your souls in their arms to Christ have not low thoughts of them that have low thoughts of themselves and high thoughts of Christ that care not though they be accounted nothing who yet are something in your eyes that Christ who is little esteemed in the world may be All in All. But if the Bridemen be despised oh that the Bridegroom might the more be honored Oh that that love which is denied to the Servants might abundantly be given to their Master I confess it were better for some to have an hundred a year to be silent they so instead of preaching Christ crucified crucifie Christ in preaching they so wound and kill Religion in the Pulpit where they should give it life While you endeavor their downfall forget not to pray for their conversion Paul was a Saul Let not therefore your vertue be only in speaking against the Vices of others It is an easie matter to trample on those that are on the ground already Fifthly Take heed of the Corinthian disease I am for Paul no I am for Apollo no I am for Christ as if we might not love Christ and Paul and Apollo too In the primitive times they as in the Acts kept together in singleness of heart and there was no controversie at all amongst them one copy adds but oh that those now that have but one Head had but one heart It is sad to consider how that the nigher any come to an agreement in matters of Religion and yet differ in some things that the greater should be their difference as there is a greater difference between the Protestant and Papist than between the Protestant and the Jew was it not so in Germany is it not so in England between those that are called Independents and Presbyterians Oh that we did consider that though Paul and Peter be in Heaven yet that there are neither Paulians nor Petrians in Heaven that Christ is not a Calvenist in the Calvinists or a Lutheran in the Lutherans but in those that are Christians amongst both All in All. God must scourge this folly from us his children are a wrangling and we may expect that either he should separate or correct us O Lord if mans Apostate were thy Apostate and mans Heretick thy Heretick and mans Reprobate always thy Reprobate Election to Eternal life would prove but a Fable and all the world would be damned We are so censorious of others often and that but in things disputable possibly in many things indifferent as if Heaven and Hell did hang at our Girdles as if those were in a damnable estate whom our passions condemn and those onely saved indeed that have our good opinion or word The yoke of Christ which he said was easie may it justly be made heavier by the Governors of the Church nay by private partial Christians in after ages The Apostles profess They revealed to the Church the whole Counsel of God keeping back nothing needful for our Salvation what tyranny is it then to impose any new certainly doubtful matters on the Faith of Christians especially as some Popelings daily do under that Cananding form He that beleeves not shall be damned In the Apostles time or a little after as is judged There were twelve Articles of the Creed but now we have more Creeds than they had Articles so many men so many minds nay so many opinions which yet are far from the life of Christ so many Faiths and though our Lord Jesus saith he that beleeves in him shall be saved we now cannot be saved but by beleeving more and as the world continues so we increase in our Beleef and upon this giddy accompt poor ignorant destracted sinners know not when they shall beleeve enough to salvation But when our Redeemer shall appear he will not prefer one Opinion and reject another so much as prefer all the upright and reject all the Hypocrites he being not the Lord of Opinions but of Souls not one sheep that hath his mark shall be left out of his Fold nor one Child that bears his image shall either be kept or thrust out of his Family now they are Faith and Love Singleness and sincerity of heart Sixthly Remember that the Ordinances of Christ are not his Grave wherein he lies but the Throne whereon he sits as King of his Church That you shall never be above Ordinances untill you are above tentations and that they lose not their Authority because sometimes we miss their Influence and that they are appointed not onely to bring men into but also to bring men up in Christ The Bible is not the Word of God because it is imprinted in the hearts of men but because it was written by the inspiration and finger of God These are Breasts though sometimes we cannot suck or milk out consolation from them for otherwise every time we have new affections there should be a new Gospell and in the end there should be as many distinct Bibles as there are new Experiences in the world It is true they are the Conduit-Pipes and we have no comfort from them unless Christ convey his blood through them Yet shall they be nothing in respect of Gods Authority because they quoad hic nunc do nothing upon us The Ordinances are dead creatures onely to those that are dead in their Consciences and are not alive in Christ The Ordinances cannot work without the Spirit and the Spirit ordinarily will not work without the Ordinances Wherefore Christians prefer not the Letter before the Spirit neither oppose the Spirit to the Letter as the manner of some is lest in the end you prove neither for the Letter nor the Spirit but the Flesh As ever you would be comforted by take heed of scoffing at the Spirit Quench not the Spirit in your selves grieve it not in others Seventhly Let us take heed of Lukewarmness Let us not spend that time in examining the Lamps of others while we neglect to get oyl
set up Kings but not by me but I knew not of it Honorandus genitor sed praeponendus Creator as if the Lord had said they never asked my advice they would not be Headless but in this they were heedless for though in some sense they ran on Gods Errand yet they as we say went on their own heads for Hos 13.11 God gave them a King though in his anger The Gods on Earth must be obeyed but in nothing that crosses obedience to the God of Heaven and Earth And this distinction must be added that what honor is done to wicked Magistrates is to be done to God himself not to Man not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the person but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the vizard that God hath put on him as the Heathen Emblem was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An Ass laden with the Image of the goddess Isis and the people falling down and worshiping but with this inscription Not to the Ass but to the Goddess All Civil Power is of God is a Truth in these apostate as well as it was a Truth in the primitive times and though it be another hour of the day then was when the Apostles lived yet the same Sun shines still If that Maxim be cancelled as if there were some Civil Powers in being that are not of God let the Hand be produced that cancelled it and the Annus Domini the year of the Lord when it was done All Government is from God originally yet by designation it is laid on the shoulders of the Messiah Matth. 28. and though the Providence of God hath already and will yet righteously justle many Rulers out of their Authorities yet it is the onely Prerogative of our Lord Jesus to put down all Authority and Rule 1 Cor. 15. It lies not in the power of the children of God to repeal the Constitutions of their Father Governments were onely founded by God in essence and shall onely be dissolved by God in person by God-man Ejusdem est instituere destituere ligare solvere Yet let Powers remember that God is not bound to maintain them in their Kingdoms if their design be to cast Christ out of his Kingdom and that God will in due time make the Scepters of all such Persecutors and Oppressors to shake in their hands and their Crowns to tumble off their heads and justly bring them to the dunghill that unjustly keep Christ from his Throne Those that will not entertain Christ as their King shall whether they will or no submit to him as their Conqueror Thirdly This Ladder of Providence extends to is visible in the ruins periods of Kingdoms and Commonwealths Dan. 2. Dan. 4.32 Some think Kingdoms arise to a certain greatness by the uncertain course of the world and then decline and decay being not able longer to maintain their glory But as we say of Marriages so I may say of Kingdoms they are made in Heaven before they are made on Earth and dissolved in Heaven before they are dissolved on Earth The unchangeable God in Heaven hath an hand in all the changes on Earth The Epicure ascribes the periods of Kingdoms to Fortune the Stoick to destiny the Platonist and Pythagorist to number Aristotle to Asymmetry and disproportion of members Copernicus to the motion of the Center of the Excentrick Circle Cardanus and most of the Astrologers to Stars and Planets But these wise men of the world never yet observed with Jacob God on the top of the Ladder who maketh Kingdoms Ludibria Fortunae mocking-stocks of Fortune who tosseth Kingdoms like a Tennis Ball and hurleth whole Countries into ruin When a General of an Army after much success grew proud and boastingly said In this Fortune had no hand he never prospered after What man in the world can say and in this Honor in this Preferment Providence had no hand men may gather sticks but it is Providence sets on fire Providence is the first Founder and Dissolver of Kingdoms Man deserves and God inflicts ruin The Sixth remarkable in this Ladder is The unchangeableness of Providence You may see in this Vision of Jacob the Ladder to stand firm neither moved nor removed The Laws of the Medes and Persians Dan. 6.8 are unchangeable right or wrong they stand I will not say so of the Divine Decrees yet they are unchangeable and like himself Gods eternal purposes are unalterable He sets not his love on sinners to day and takes it off to morrow Divine love is neither fickle nor fantastical The threatnings of the revealed Word are unchangeable hath God said that no unbeleever shall be saved that is irrevocable and be it to the peril of that man that dies in unbeleef So in Providence The Sun runs round and round the Dyal the pin notwithstanding stands immoveable Many are the imaginations of our hearts but says the wise man the Counsel of the Lord shall stand that is certain whatever fall Proud man in this age shall neither put God out of his way nor off from his end Man must bow to God the Ladder will not bow to man In the Primitive times the persecuting Emperors would have hewn down the Lords Ladder In the Marian days I mean in Queen Maries days they would have burned down the Lords Ladder In Eighty eight they would have blown up the Lords Ladder and Politicians in the world would in their Policies with their shoulders throw down the Lords Ladder But though the wind and storms blow too and fro and round about yet the Ladder stands where it did and Christ is in the Road-way to his Kingdom Shall the Rock Job 18.4 be removed out of his place for thee Job says Bildad for shame give over Gods Projects are rockie and men in opposing God do but blow a feather against a Rock Shall God alter the method of Providence for man Shall the Lord write a new model of governing the world to humor man Shall it be said of an Heathen that it was as possible to turn the Sun out of his Ecliptick line as to put him out of the course of righteousness and shall Providence comply with unconstant man A man may easily break his brains in studying the Providences of God and that man will certainly break his head that will knock heads with God In Providence there are shallows wherein the Lamb may wade and Seas wherein Elephants may swim and it is a thousand times easier to lose our way than to find Gods way to drown our selves than to sound the depth of Providence It is impossible to sail against the wind and dangerous to swim against the stream of Scriptures and Providence as in external things it breaks over and bears down all before it The stile of man is I will if God will but as the Name of God is I Am that I Am So the stile of God is I will do what I will Let proud man wrestle and wrangle never so long with God in
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
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
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
visibly the Devil hath been up in the world so the rise of Christ shall be the fall and downfal of Satan 2 From hence we may see the perpetuity of this Kingdom We are not now to expect a Kingdom de novo but the progress and prosperity of Christs Kingdom already in being for the Kingdom of Christ takes date from his Resurrection and Intercession Psa 2.6 I have set my King an the holy hill of Sion and all power in Heaven and Earth was given to him Matth. 28. So that Christ hath been in hâ—s Throne not as a private person but as a King these sixteen hundred years and hath acted as a King not onely over the Consciences of Beleevers but also in giving Laws for to govern his Church by And it is supposed by some lastly That Kings even now reign by Christ as King of Kings as well as Christians are ruled by Jesus the King of Saints Further Dan. 2.44 In the daies of the four Monarchies that is before they were all expired the God of Heaven sets up a Kingdom Gradus gradus non variant speciem not when they are all expired though this Kingdom shall stand when they shall lie by the wals The difference then between his reigning now and hereafter as at present I apprehend is not specifical but gradual now Christ reigns as it were in a corner and then he shall reign over the whole world His Kingdom then though it shall be in yet it will not be of the world the meaning of which is not onely that his Kingdom shall not be of a wicked complexion void of Injustice and Oppression but also not of a worldly constitution Saints shall have heavenly not golden carnal Thrones for their Thrones shall be in Heaven in Heaven upon Earth in a word they shall neither have worldly troubles nor worldly joys We read of two different States of Christs Kingdom but never of two different Kingdoms of Christ on Earth as he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God Man The Stone and the Mountain in Daniel the second comprehend in a Synopsis the whole Sphear of the Dominions of Christ intensively extensively and protensively all the Kingdom which he hitherto hath had now hath or ever shall have in this world The Stone which at first lay but in a corner was kicked up and down by Persecutors and rowled since by Providence from one Nation to another gathering greatness like a ball of snow and will be so still till it swels and grows into a Mountain filling the whole Earth The Stone in order of time being long before the Mountain for it hath been growing these Sixteen hundred years already and yet is nothing nigh arrived to its stature and glory The Stone then is of the same nature with the Mountain though not of the same magnitude I understand not yet how the Stone which was cut out when our Lord Jesus first entred on his Throne and the Mountain which must fill the Earth in his more glorious Coronation differ in specie wherefore if they differ as of necessity they do it must be chiefly in degree For to deny that Christ hath not ruled yet visibly in the world is to affirm that because the sun in a summers day is not in its meridian it doth not shine at all Lastly This Kingdom of Christ shall stand for ever Which implies first That it shall not be destroyed by any forein power of Men or Devils Secondly That it shall not be left to another people Christ shall not have a Successor either by an Heir or by a Conqueror Dan. 2.44 Other Kingdoms are transient Kingdoms handed from one man to another but the Kingdom of Christ is a durable a permanent Kingdom The Babylonish Kingdom first appeared in the world The Babylonians delivered over their Kingdom to the Persians the Persians delivered up their Kingdom to the Grecians the Grcians delivered up their Kingdom to the Romans the Roman Power must surrender and Christ our Lord must enter the Stage of the world and his Kingdom shall be everlasting that is no other Kingdom shall succeed him His Kingdom shall be the greatest and the last Virgil speaks of Rome the Lady of the World Imperium sine fine but that Empires glass shall run out and have an end These Promises being not already fulfilled are yet to be fulfilled and that in this world hath Christ now a name visibly above every name doth he actually rule over all the Kingdoms of the world And Secondly we must understand this glorious and universal Kingdom of Christ of which the Scriptures so much speak not to be in the Heavens but on the Earth The weak Christian is desired to overlook what follows as not penned to puzzle Babes but to exercise the understanding Whether the Kingdom of Christ as Mediator shall not at length give place to the Essential Kingdom of the God-head is disputable I shall not positively affirm but rather propose it as probable to the Intelligent and humbly leave the determination of this Quaere to the experience of the Saints in glory Thus since our first Apostacy all our communion with God is by the mediation of Christ we by our fall are but as dry stubble and dare not think of immediate converse with God for as the Apostle saith he is a consuming fire now whether when the formal and proper end of the mediation of Christ is accomplished which will be not onely in the satisfaction of the Law the conquest legally of the Devil ad extra but in the perfect evacuation of the guilt and filth of sin even as to its moral inherency in the Saints we shal not have immediate communion with God being presented at the last day spotless by Christ as in the state of innocency and that more gloriously That God 1 Cor. 15.28 may be all in all that God not Personally 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but Essentially 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Divine being Father Son and Spirit may be all in all that is communicate himself to the glorified Church without the intervention of Ordinances and Creatures and also to our purpose without the proper and immediate exercise of the Kingly Office of the Mediator Quae res simil Illustretur Finge plures esse globos ex pellucida materiâ eo situ ut sint inter se paralleli finge etiam animo alium quendam esse globum interjectum inter istos globos corpus solis ita ut radii solares ad reliquos globos nisi per eum solum nequaquam pertingant eodem plane modo Deus nunc se hominibus communicat mediatè nempe per Christum at finge tandem ita accidisse ut sol omnes istos globos irradiet non amplius per primum illum qui medius interjectus erat sed immediatè ita ut rectà radii solares ad unumquemque eorum pertingant nullo interposito medio sic plane videtur futurum esse aliquando ut
Kingdom to the Father yet so as that God that is the Son also with the Spirit may be all in all Thirdly None dare say That as God now rules by the Mediator so then the Mediator shall rule by God for the Mediator as such is subordinate to God and to say the Mediator may rule as well as God is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is a necessity as to us that God rule us by a Mediator in the Church Militant but it is no way inconsistent either with the wisdom or glory of God to communicate himself immediately to the Church Triumphant Lastly Christ gives up the Kingdom not onely not as God but not absolutely considered as Mediator Christus ut Deus nos cum illo subjectos habet sed ut Sacerdos nobiscum illi subjectus est Aug. for Christ even now as Mediator is subject to God really For though Christ reigns yet so still as that God reigns by Christ though there be an immediate exercise of the Mediators Kingdom in the world yet God keeps in the Essential Throne of his glory But then further he shall be subject relatively and respectively as to his Church or Body now Christ rules his Church as Mediator and not as God onely and the very Mediator is King in actu over Sion but then this administration shall cease and the Head with the Body or Christ as part of his Church or Christ mystical shall be subject to God and thus he is not at present but shall be hereafter the Mediator being yet in the Throne but there is a time a comming 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when he shall give up the Kingdom to wit that Kingdom which God gave over to him and cease to reign as Mediator and it is observable that for Christ to surrender up the Kingdom and be subject to God are of all one importance vers 28. By the surrender of the Kingdom therefore we cannot understand such or such an administration of the Kingdom and not the Kingdom it self for all that Kingdom he receives he surrenders And secondly Christ must so surrender as he must be subject the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must go together And I am much pleased with the Apostles sweet Criticism that as now Christ Col. 3. is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all and in all So God hereafter shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all in all the Messiah hath two times especially the time of his sorrows and the time of glory In the sixth of John vers 15. they had royal blood in their veins and they would force Jesus to be a King surely that they might have preferment under him but Christ departed and flew from the Crown few men would have done as Christ did Satis pro imperio quisquis est says the Comick Men will wade up to the chin in blood for a Kingdom and stretch fair and far for a Crown it shines so amiably in their eyes Says the Devil if Jesus will but accept of the Title and Place of a King he will be so taken up with the Affairs and Offices of the world that he will not have such liberty to look after the conversion of souls the Revenues of the Devils Crown would have come in the more by such a worldly Negotiation but there is a day a coming when Jesus will not fly from a Crown nor refuse a Scepter his glory shall be as eminent as ever was his shame The Daughters of Sion shall go forth and Crown King Jesus in the day of his solemn Espousals and such a day shall be the gladness of his heart Jesus hath born all the wrath of the world and he is able in a spiritual visible sense to bear all the glory of the world on his shoulders Can. 3.11 The children of Judah and of Israel shall be gathered together at a place of their general Randezvouz and by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Election by lifting up their hands and voyces appoint themselves one head and they shall one and all as we say come up out of the Land for great and glorious shall be the day of Jezreel Jesus Christ is a righteous King and he hath a right to his Kingdom It is utterly impossible that ever he should prove either an Vsurper or a Tyrant He thinks it no robbery to be equal with God then certainly it is no robbery for him to be preheminent above men Phil. 2.6 It is no robbery for King Jesus to pull Saint Peter out of his Chair and there in Majesty to rule the Nations with a Rod of iron if he please No robbery for him to melt all the Crowns in Europe to make a Diadem of glory for his own Temples If any think they have gone deeper in a purchase for the Government of the world than our Lord Jesus let them stand up if they dare and lay their claim let them now speak or ever after hold their peace In the expectation therefore of these things let the Saints rejoyce Vniversal Redemption will then prove a Truth when all yoaks shall be taken off the necks and all burthens off the backs of the children of God It is observable that the substance of all the Revelation is contained in these two words Hosanna and Halelujah God bless us and we bless God hitherto we have been a singing Hosanna but Halelujah is a coming Praise and Honor and Glory to the Lamb that sits on the Throne If any object That any of the above-mentioned Promises concern the Jews I answer True but not the Jews onely and though Promises are not to be confounded and applied to one people if they should onely belong to another yet it will be found according to the Promises that the glory of the Jews will be the glory of the Gentiles and though now we are divided yet then we shall be one fold Rom. 11.12 What God hath joyned together let no man separate To conclude The Saints must pray for and endeavor to promote the more glorious part of this Kingdom of which we speak in which there shall be neither such covetousness nor complaint But all endeavors will fall short of setting of it up on Earth till our Lord Jesus the King shall come down from Heaven in the Clouds We shall never have such a Kingdom untill we have such a King The Feet of the Saints shall not all be out of their Fetters till the King of Saints comes into his Throne Dan. 7.13 27. Princes will never so rule in Judgement till this King shall reign in Righteousness Is 32.1 The New Jerusalem will be Gods Creature The Stone is cut out without hands there may be something of the heart of the Saints in this glorious Structure but it shall neither be the work of their Head nor Hands This model of Government is beyond the invention of Saints as it is beyond the beleef of man Many shall welcome it in the
world but none are able to rear it the King himself will bring it with him Not many know how to set up Christ in their Consciences Many know how rather to pull down Antichrist than to set up Christ And too many know how rather to set up themselves than the Kingdom of Christ in the world Governors must reform if the Providences of God speak truth in explaining the Promises it is high time and Governors must be reformed But I am yet perswaded that some of Nebuchadnezzars Image will stand in all Nations till it have an immediate blow from Heaven Dan. 2.34 Though men do trample under foot the Toes of Clay and break the Legs of Iron and smite on the Belly of Brass yet I am perswaded they will more or less either imbrace the Silver Arms or wear the Golden Head and the Gold the best Government of this old world is part of the Image as well as the Clay Israel was Gods people and though they pulled down the brazen Serpent yet they helped to set up the golden Calf but when we once come to Canaan we shall neither bow down to the Image of brass nor low after the Calf of gold In the mean time Sion is to travel with Prayers and Tears and all regular and righteous endeavors toward a perfect Reformation but I do not yet beleeve that ever we shall see that Man-child untill the appearance of Christ doth Midwive it into the world Omnis Christi anus est crucianus If it should be objected How can the expectation of such glory consist with the Prophecies in Scripture of the tribulations and errors in the last daies I answer 1 Tim. 3.1 In the latter times some shall depart from the Faith and shall speak lies in hypocrisie Sceptici in intellectu Epicurei in affectu c. 2 Tim. 3.1 In the last daies shall come perillous times men shall be lovers of themselves covetous proud unholy Traytors heady lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God I answer By the last daies in the Prophets and Apostles we are to understand the days of the Gospel the time of the messiah from his first to his second comming indifferently and have not all these symptoms of Apostacy been already in the world nay in the primitive times Secondly If by the last days we sometime understand the daies a little while or immediately preceding the second comming of Christ in person the comming of such prophanenesses are no argument against the comfortable appearance of Christ but are made in Scripture fore-runners not formally of his Kingdom ☜ and how seasonably will the Physician appear when the world will be so diseased how sweetly and refreshingly will the light of the Sun of Righteousness be at such a midnight Zech. 14 7. 2 Pet. 2.14 Christ though he brings day with him comes at midnight Matth. 25.6 And if by the latter daies we are to understand as we may the last daies are not the last daies and the last of daies in the world did ever men love others less and themselves more Judas his plague was his bowels gushed out But O Lord our curse is we have no bowels of love at all Is not this a covetous age Many have rich Arras to hang the walls of their Chambers with and have not Canvas to cloath a naked member of Christ withall how many Lazaruses are daily laid at our doors and how few have money in their purses to relieve nay not compassion or hony in their hearts to pitty them what iron hearts have we in this golden and in this gilded age 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 golden I mean not in a moral but natural sense as for the love of God whereas we should be lovers of God more than lovers of pleasure we are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God nay lovers of pleasure and not lovers of God unless that by our God we mean our pleasure And as for the rest of the gang of Vices I shall say no more but that we need not go up and down with a Candle and Lanthorn to find proud unholy heady Traytors in the world How long Lord how long ere thou appearest the Judge of thine Enemies the Father of thy Children and the King of thy Subjects Come Lord Jesus come quickly and blessed are all they that love his appearance his appearance in his Spirit in his Cause and in his Person In this prospect of what God will do in the world take these three or four Cautions 1 Limit not God to your means Some indeed have power to help Sion but no heart some have an heart but no power others have power in their hands but no hearts to help Sion Powers Armies cannot work without God but God can work without them Gods work cannot be done by the mighty for ordinarily it is opposed by the Mighty the mighty Pharisee derides Christ the mighty Pilat condemns Christ for the most part all the mighty in the world are against the Almighty of the world What say Monarchs that are prophane If Christ come to reign over us what will become of our honors Say the unrighteous Judges what will become of our Fees and the lazy Shepheards what will become of our Livings Remember Creaturae potius sunt media deferentia quam operantia if all men were willing for God yet the best of men are but men at the most the most of men or all men are but men at the best Men are but Vials and they have no more of Vertue in them than Providence infuseth not a drop more All the Tribute that God requires is to attribute all to him and he is resolved on the glory of all Means are not used by God because they are effectual but means are therefore effectual because God useth them A straw in the hands of Omnipotency proves a Spear and a Spear without an Omnipotent influence turns in a mans hand to a Straw It is not improbable that the nigher Christ comes to his Throne the meaner the instruments of his advancement may be ☞ Who art thou O Mountain before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain There are many Mountains against Sion visible and invisible Mountains but Jacob the worm shall thresh Mountains Parturiunt montes generatur ridiculus mus strange as we say a Cat may look on a King so a worm may crawle on a Mountain one Mountain is able to crush a million of Worms but if Sion be trampled on in Christs day she will turn again and one worm shall thresh a million of Mountains Providence can turn Mountains into Mole-hils and the proud politick Hills of the World into Hell God doth such things by such inconsiderable means That no flesh might glory in his presence 1 Cor. 1.31 If any creature will glory as if the Apostle had said let it glory behind the Lords back which it cannot do God will face down all the glory and glorying of the
here is resolved to make his own terms for he hath the vantage-ground of the Angel he hath the Angel at his mercy I will not let thee go unless thou bless me It is not belike now as God will but as man will Jacob prays to God and then God prays to Jacob or rather prays Jacob. Let man be a Suter to God and God will be a Suter to man The Saints are Gods Favorites and they may have any thing of him It is a greater trouble sometimes to God not to be asked than to give Molestius est Deo nihil peti quam dare Oh the power of Prayer Pray not for this people says God as if God were afraid of Prayer The Prayer of Gods Jacobs are of such power that God is fain and forced to forbid them to pray because he would not grant lest he should be overcome This Christ sheweth when he resembles his Father to the deaf Judge and his Petitioner to the impotent woman which cryed to him and made him hearken to her as if sâ—e had compelled him Luk. 18. Prayer is compared to Sampsons hair for as all the strength of Sampson lay in his hair In hoc quod oculi Domini super justos sunt effectus aspâ—cientis ostenditur in hoc autem quod aures D. sunt in precibus justorum exaudientis largitas demonstratur non tantum audientia D. sed quasi obedientia designetur Salv. in Psa 34. so all our strength lies in our Prayers in Christ our Head The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are in their crys Psa 34. Whereby is signified that God doth not onely give an audience to prayer but that he is at the command of prayer that he yeelds it q.d. a kind of obedience Oh! How potent is Jacobs prayer with the Omnipotent How mighty with the Almighty Let Prayer be onely mighty with God it is enough that Prayer is as it were Almighty with man Secondly We have the nature or manner of the Combate It was both corporeal and spiritual First It was outward or corporeal Jacob was real flesh and blood and the Angel appeared in the form of flesh and blood This wrestling was not spiritual onely because of what the Apostle said Ephes 6.12 We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against Principalities and Powers neither secondly was it in a dream as the Rabby dreams as if Jacobs Thigh had been hurt not by wrestling but by travelling But the continuance of Jacobs wrestling till the morning the real and sensible hurt of his Thigh the imposition of a new name the testimony of the Prophet Hos 12.4 shew that his wrestling was real The Angel would try a fall with Jacob and Jacob se defendendo would try a fall with the Angel Hoesit pede pes densusque viro vir ut Poeta Jacob plaid q.d. at hug with the Angel Methinks I see them to lay Arm on Arm to set Shoulder to Shoulder put Foot to Foot they fought hand to hand as one man fights with another Epalaien says the Septuagint Ekulieto say Symmachus and Aquila Jeabak says the Hebrew a peculiar word not used as I know of but in this history they did raise the dust about one another with their feet if possible to hinder each others circumspection by it as the notation of the word is or according to the custom of wrestlers of old who contended naked anoynting themselves that they might be the more active and nimble cast dust or sand one upon another In arenam descendere operam oleum perdere apalestros ineruditus Prov. that so they might take surer hold one of another Some say from Abak the Angel and Jacob did tug and turn each other till they sweat at it that a vapor or exhalation did arise from the struggling of their Bodies which is common both to runners and wrestlers they did not beat the Air as the Apostle hath it elegantly they did not wrestle in jeast but they strove to bring under each others body contending for victory as for life We may not think that this was muta lucta blows without words though in Combates there is more need of blows than words yet this wrestling of Jacob was not onely no not principally corporeal but secondly spiritual Jacob contended as well by the strength of his Faith as by the force of his body Tears and Prayers were the Embassadors of Jacobs heart to treat and the weapons of his hands to contend with the Angel Proprium erat Athletarum pugilum clamor gemitus quo se in luctâ confirmarent Pincd So saith Hosea He wept and made supplication who wept the Angel or Jacob the Conqueror or the conquered If the Angel wept which seems most agreeable to sense for humane passions and actions are attributed to Angels in Scripture then it was because he was conquered if Jacob wept as the usual interpretation is which I here follow then it was either violently by the distorting or unjoynting of his Thigh which might provoke tears or naturally even for vexation that he could not yet prevail and also morally he shed tears of blood in his heart he assaulted the Angel with Arguments that he might prevail Jacobus vincit invincibilem non praeliaudo sed precando Jacob wrestled by Tears and prevailed by Prayers he not onely prayed but cried his weeping was a loud cry and though he had spoken never a word yet every tear had a voyce in it Jacob had more hold and power of the Angel with his tears than with his hands Perque sinus lachrymae flumiais instat eunt he holds fast and crys out If I fall the Angel shall fall too Right Jacob still he had formerly cheated his Brother and now he would supplant the Angel in a nobler sense might Jacob here be said to fight not against flesh and blood but against Principalities and Powers such as Jacobs Antagonists was such were his weapons both spiritual We may say of Jacob Nunquam lachrymae inita redduntur imperio sed magis irretantur Seu. as was said of Hezekiah I have heard sayes the Lord thy prayers and tears a a strange speech I have heard thy Prayers that we understand well enough but I have heard thy Tears have tears tongues or can tears speak that they may be heard I dare adventure to say that the thunder that cleaves the clouds makes not such a ratling sound and roaring noise in the ears of man as the tears of the true Jacobs do in the ears of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God like a tender Mother picks out the necessities of his children by their tears and doth as wel if not better understand their mind by their weeping than by their words Many have fervently uttered their will to God that have spoken never a word Why cryest thou to me says God to Moses Ex. 14. I read of Gods crying to Moses but not of Moses
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
love with Charity that he thought there was no other Word of God than this of Love But oh that Love were by many at least in their carriages accounted to be a Word of God I know there is a kind of unity amongst High-way-men or else their Trade of Robbery would fall And that love is often pretended against Faith and oftner against Holiness The Souldiers that were for the crucifying of Christ were not q.d. for the crucifying of his coat they tore his Body and yet kept his Coat whole but not out of love to Christ but out of love to themselves every one of them would fain have had it all The Souldiers had not Christ but they had his Coat and shall Christians have Christ and not his Coat the Body and the Garment must go together Never expect your Sacrifice of Prayer should be accepted til it be salted with Love Love knows no difference between party and party but owns all as fellow-members that are partakers of the influence of the Head Remember That the Father will not agree to answer the prayers of his children that disagree God will answer the prayers of one childe for another but not of one child against another If thou bring thy gift to the Altar and there remembrest that thy Brother hath ought against thee where by brother in the lowest kind you must not as some do understand men of the same Opinion but men of the same Faith in and same Communion with God Secondly It is not said if thou hast ought against thy Brother Mark that leave there thy gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy Brother and then come and offer thy gift This Precept is Religious and certainly the Practise is not Superstition To expect that God should answer our divided prayers is to put a jeer on Omnipotency and to charge the Almighty with inconsistency it puts an absurdity on God in making him to please man nay an impossibility to please all men The divisions of our prayers may possibly cause some Professors to suspect that God is divided Deus nequit facere quod nequit fieri to whom we pray and in time occasion the world to beleeve there is no God at all for God is but one and not divided The Lord at this time must frustrate q.d. in specie many prayers of some Christians as he will be true to the principles of his own Glory To speak with reverence God cannot grant all our Petitions and be God All the godly of all parties pretend the Kingdom of Christ and these Opinions as rigidly maintained are apparently inconsistent together What a temptation is it then to attempt unlawful means q.d. to force the Lord out of his way and all that man might not be proved false to his own interest and be cryed up and down for a lyar God forsooth shall not be God unless he will please man Multi benè cogitant sed malè precantur Et si volunt esse felices Deum orent ne quid illis ex his quae optantur eveniat Sen. L. Benef. c. 37. Oh! that the Lord would reconcile these divisions that are betwixt his own people However in the interim let every particular Jacob wrestle with God and ly quietly asleep at the bottom of the Ladder I shall conclude here with the advice of Divine Mr. S.R. on the woman of Canaan in 4 Rules First Go not before but follow God and Providence Prescription of such and such means to God and no other is to limit Omnipotency and to stint the holy one of Israel It is arrant Idolatry to limit God to means as well as to bow down to an Idol A Rams horn is as near of blood to cause the walls of Jerico to fall in Gods hand as Engins of war It is easier to see what is inflicted on us than to see who inflicteth it and we look no higher than the creature as if the world created it self so is this when we dream the creature moveth it self and is not moved by God Quietly submit to the Lords waies beleeving can ease us disputing cannot Secondly The book of Providence is full both Page and Margin God hath been adding to it sundry new Editions and like children we are in love with the golden Covering the Ribbons filleting and the pictures in the Frontispeece but understand little of the Argument of Providence Who is wise and will observe these things Degener animus est qui emendare mavult Deum quam se carpens Divina Providentiam alia illa esse velit magis quam se alium Sen. even he shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord Psa 107.43 God is worthy to be Chronicled there is a contexture of Decrees Actions Events in Providence from the creation to the conflagration of the world and not a thread shall ever be broken though this web be woven of threads of divers colours black and white comfortable and sad passages of Providence yet all make a fair order to God in the way and shall be beautiful to us in the end As many Herbs and various sorts of Flowers make up one pleasant and well-smelling Meadow many Roses Lillies and the like one sweet-smelling Garden so there is a sweetness and order in all Gods dispensations Thirdly Let your spirits be kept in aequilibrio in an indifferency in all casts of Providence and so you are above the cross 2 Sam. 15.25 26. David puts his soul on Gods two Ifs if he save it is good if he destroy it is good Make sure this general Christ is mine at this Anchor in this Harbor my vessel shall ride What ever wind blow in externals Christ dyed for me if I live its Christ if I dye its Christ if I ride with Princes on Horses its good if I go on foot with Servants it is good If Christ hide his face and frown it is Christ it is good if he overlade the soul with rays and beams of glory it is also Christ Faiths speculations to the worst and hardest in point of resolution is sweet Suppose the Devil and Hell form the Principles Faith can make a conclusion of God and Heaven Job puts on a conclusion of faith from bad premises What if God should kill me yet I le trust in him Job 13.15 What if God throw me into hell it were well resolved I would out of the pit of Devils cry Halelujah praise the Lord in his justice Fourthly Give not over praying though God seem to give over answering God hears often when he doth not answer and oft his not answering is an answer pray go on The Father will cause the child to say over again what he once heard him say because he delights to hear him speak I pray for victory to Gods people in this battel they lose the day yet I am heard and answered because I prayed for that victory not under the notion of Victory but as linked with Mercy to the Church and honor to Christ now God shews mercy and gains Glory in humbling them which is the formal object of my prayers Some Letters require no answer but are meer expressions of the desire of the friend the generall prayers of the Saints That God would gather in his Elect that Christ would come and marry the Bride and consummate the Nuptials do refer to a real answer when the King himself shall make his second appearance In the expectation of and patience for which appearance let the Saints beleeve and rejoyce for the Marriage of the Lamb is a coming and his wife hath made her self ready and to her is granted that she should be arrayed in fine linnen clean and white for the fine linnen is the righteousness righteousnesses gr of the Saints And blessed are they which are called to the marriage Supper of the Lamb. And behold he commeth quickly and his reward is with him therefore let the Spirit and the Bride or the Spirit in the Bride or the Bride in the Spirit say Come and let him that is a thirst come and whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely Even so come Lord Jesus Rev. 22.12 17 20. Possibly Jacobs Vow may follow FINIS ERRATA PAge 2. line 17. read the Lord open this vision to our eyes and open our eyes to see it p. 14. l. 17. r. shoulders p. 19. l 4. r. Elijah p 59. l. 2. r. is visible p. 36. l. 14. r. rather Heaven out of Hel p. 103. l. 25. nobodies p. 132. l. 1. r. between wolves and sheep p 146. m. r. parem p. 158. l. 6. r. were all to be conquered p. 161. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 163. r 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 186 m. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 213. m. r. pendet p. 219. m. r. irrita irritantur p. 221. m. r. Deo p. 135. m. r. luxatus luctatus p. 237. l. 6. r. not adverse p. 235. r. Distich r. Laudis Exultans p. 262 m. after non read dabit p. 296. l. 4. r. Ecclesia p. 302 l 11. for once labor read once more