yet it is the onely Royalty and Prerogative of God so to offer Grace as that man shall neither prove a dissenter or stand Neuter for on the contrary the Devil may flatter but he cannot force man to sin He is but the father begetting the evil heart is the Mother conceiving and the Father can do nothing in this moral sense without the Mother It is remarkable in Scripture that ordinarily when there is mention made of mans sinning there is mention likewise made of the tentations of the Devil but there is seldom or rarely mention made of the good Angels moving men to holiness and the reason probably is God who is the effectual worker of Grace will have the glory of every gracious work himself I intend not the least to disparage the Ministry of the Gospel thus in exalting the Ministration of Angels for the Gospel-Ministry is more suitable if not in some sense more excellent Well may Angels be dry Nurses to preserve and watch and wait on and protect the children of God but to be Fathers to beget them to be wet Nurses to suckle them with the immortal seed and sincere milk of the word belongs to the Gospel ministry Yet the Angels suggest good thoughts The Sadduces imagined that thoughts were Angels I confess it is honorable for human nature to be filled with Divine and Angelical thoughts and it is comfortable to beleeve thoughts are suggested by Angels but we must in no wise think that thoughts are Angels 6 Angels descend the Ladder for the preservation of the Saints Eccl. 5.8 If thou seest the oppression of the poor and violent perverting of Judgement and Justice which things are yet to be seen felt and understood plain enough marvel not at the matter as though there were no Providence to Govern the World or Justice to punish disorders for he that is higher than the highest regardeth and there be higher than they Here be three degrees of comparison High Higher Highest and three degrees of Powers There are Kings highest on Earth there are Angels higher than Kings and there is God Father Son and Spirit higher than Angels to whom yet as Executioners of Gods Justice and Ministers of his Providence is committed the care of the Empires of the world and chiefly of the Church Dan. 4.17 Men are not Lords of the World nor of the Church of God Oppression cannot sit so high but Justice will sit above her If oppressors be above the reach of Man yet they are not above the reach of Angels yet if they were there is an higher than the highest and there are higher than they The Devil had learned so much Divinity our of the Psalmes Angeli custodiunt bonos non in praecipit is sed in vâ—is cum non habemus perfectionem Angeli non habeamus praesumtionem Diaboli Matth. 4.6 he spake not without book when he said He shall give his Angels charge over thee to carry thee in their Arms he could not away with the clause following in his waies The Angels are the Life-guard of Saints as Officers of State they attend on and journey with them they hold them in their Arms that they fall not and take them up in their Arms when they are down or as in a Family the greater children delight to carry the Sucklings in their Arms The Church Militant and Triumphant make but one Family and the Angels our Fathers eldest children delight to carry the weak Saints Saints in their minority in their Arms Gods Jacobs on their shoulders and they do not this at their liberty when they please or whether they will or no for they have a strict command for it he hath charged them yet let us not be secure It is a custom for Princes during their infancy to have Guardians to keep and rule for them till they come of age Angels are the Guardians the Protectors of Sion Gods children never go unattended Angeli descendunt à Deo referentes divina nobis ascendunt à nobis referentes nostra Deo Cajet iâ— loc but like great persons they are always in the midst of their Guard they possibly may be contemned and contemptible in the eyes of the world but the Angels of God scorn not to observe no not to serve them We may keep the Sun out of our houses but we cannot keep the Air much less these immaterial and immortal spirits They watch over us when we sleep they attend on us when we awake they are our Companions in Prison and in Exile No walls nor bolts can sever them from our sides Tyrants may forbid men but cannot forbid Angels from out Society That of Theodoret is famous That found so much sweetness on the wrack complained that his Persecutors increased his torment when they took him down for said he all the while I was on the wrack and you venting your malice against me methought there was a youngman in white an Angel stood by me which wiped off the sweat which comfort now I have lost Every Saint is in Joshua the High-Priests case with Satan on one hand and an Angel on the other without this our danger were greater than our defence and we could neither stand nor rise We sin too often and should catch more falls if these Guardians did not uphold us Aâ—geli ministrabant Christo non tanquam misericordes indigenti sed tanquam subditi omnis potenti 7 Angels descend the Ladder to provide for the Saints After Christ had fasted Matth. 4. The Angels ministred unto him questionless to nourish and refresh his outward man being wearyed with fasting some say brought him food they ministred to Christ not as the rich to the poor but as Servants to their Master While we continue within the Precincts of God we are under the protection of Angels Manna in Scripture is called Angels food not onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by way of excellency because it was rare and dainty food but Instrumentally because it was says a Critick ministred by the hands of Angels Rather than the Church shall starve God will send Angels to Market to cater for them Jacobs Ladder is the Stage the Angels are Sions footposts q d. that daily run from Heaven to Earth from Earth to Heaven back again They carry news to Heaven and bring intelligence from Heaven When Sion lyes under Burthens and Oppressions the Angels presently fly and ride post to Heaven and tell God the Father what his children stand in need of and will not depart or descend from the Palace of Heaven on the Ladder without supply and provision If the covetous man could when he was reproached abroad comfort himself in his Counting-house when he came home to see his many lovely Angels to smile on him how may Gods Jacobs refresh themselves in the midst of the scorns and scoffings of the World when they remember and review the Vision of the Angels 8 Angels descend armed to fight for Sion Good Magistrates are
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
serve the Church in general and the members in particular The Angels that are good of which I speak 1 Are beholders of the Affairs of the Church Ephes 3.10 That unto the Principalities in heavenly places might be made known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God The highest Angel in Heaven may go to School and learn of the lowest Saint on Earth For as the Angels teach the Church so the Church teacheth Angels The Disciple here in some sense is greater than the Master The visible Church is the Stage whereon Jesus Christ displaies the fruits of his Redemption 1 Pet. 1.12 And Angels are spectators of the free Grace and wisdom of the Gospel which things the Angels desire to look into Angelis maximè in publico coetu circumsistuntur pii ideo tabernaculi aulâ—a Cherubinis inâ—vâ— foris referta 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not onely to look on but to look into an allusion to the Cherubims which were so placed that they did look down on the Mercy Seat They stretch out their necks they stoop down and pry into the Mysteries of the Gospel It is an honor for the Preachers of the Gospel to hold a multitude of men by the ears but what an honor is it to hold the Angels q. d. by the ears to have those Divine Beings like Doves to flock to the windows to have an Auditory of Angels I dare say that how basely soever the Atheists and Worldlings of this age esteem of the Preachers of the Gospel many of their Congregations are fuller than their purses are of Angels An Evangelical Orator hath an Auditory of Angels 2 Angels are affected with the conversation of sinners and Saints as the Devils rejoyce in the Prophanness and Apostacy so the Angels rejoyce in the Conversion and Perseverance of men The regeneration of a Soul makes the Angels to sing and the Devils to roar Luk. 15.10 There is joy in the presence of Angels over every sinner that repents Angels may say as the angelical Apostle Doctor Angelicus to professors If you persevere you are the Crown and Glory of our Ministration but licentious professors are a grief to Angels not onely to Ministers that are Angels but to Angels that are Ministers 1 Cor. 11.10 When poor sinners run to Christ on earth the glorious Angels spiritually dance in heaven Lachrymae paenit entium sunt vinum Angelorum according to the old observation That the tears of repenting sinners are the wine of Angels As an Army that is broken and hath lost many Ranks and Files of Souldiers long to be recruited and to have their number filled up again So the Angels that stand are glad to see sinners list themselves under Christ to fill up in Heaven the void places of the fallen Angels As Turtle Doves cannot indure filthy stenches nor Bees smoak no more can the good Angels abide to converse with noysom and prophane sinners 3 Angels descend on the Ladder to comfort and support the Saints in times of tentation and trouble Luke 22.43 They strengthened Christ in his Agony and without controversie they exercise the same influence on the Body that they did to the Head in proportion The good Angels are ever removing our hindrances from good and our occasions of evill mitigating our tentations helping us against our enemies delivering us from dangers comforting us in sorrows furthering our good purposes they comforted deserted Hagar Gen. 21. Jacob fearing Gen. 32. Paul fainting Act. 27. the distressed women at the Sepulchre Mat. 28. The good Angels suffer with the Saints suffering rejoyce with them rejoycing incourage them contending and triumph with them crowned against Satan and over his evill Angels Where ever the love of God goes there their love goes they keep those whom God keeps and forsake them whom God forsakes The good Angels are not more terrible to evil men than the evill Angels are terrible to good men and the good Angels are not more terrible to evill men than they are comfortable to good men Angels are fellow-Souldiers with the Saints and fight under the same colours and hearten them in their conflict with Devils onely they march invisibly and upon the higher ground Though Jacob be asleep his Angels are awake 4 Angels descend the Ladder to instruct the Saints As the Angels learn by the Church so the Church learns by Angels God sent his Angel to teach Daniel the mystery of the visions Dan. 8.9 an Angel was sent to instruct John Revel 1.11 The Law was revealed and the Gospel foretold and proclamed by Angels Gal. 1.8 Luk. 1.31 I dare not say Angels are properly in the ministerial Function to preach salvation to the world much less have they power to change the heart Conversion is the joy but not the work of Angels They are called Heb. 1. Ministring spirits Preachers of the Hierarchy indeed Ministers of the Gospel Liturgie so the word signifies commissioned for the good of the heirs of salvation to promote their spiritual good doubtless as well as their temporal good A Saint exceeds an Angel in experimental but an Angel exceeds a Saint in natural Knowledge How sweet to consider in these times of temptation if God should suffer which he will not suffer the world to pull down the Gospel-Ministry by man yet they cannot assault much less overthrow Angelorum induistis nomen induite naturam the Ministry of Angels If Sion should be deprived of her Evangelical Teachers yet none can banish from her the Angels her Teachers 5 The Angels descend the Ladder to suggest holy and good thoughts unto us Notwithstanding it be peculiar to God to enlighten the mind and enliven the heart yet why may not God use the invisible ministry of Angels as wel as the visible ministry of man Or rather Secondly What hinders to deny but that as evil Angels have liberty to suggest evill so why may not good Angels have liberty to suggest good thoughts For first The Devil is said to put it into the heart of Judas to betray Christ Joh. 13. And to fill the heart of Ananias to lie to the Holy Spirit Secondly If Satan 2 Cor. 11.4 be called an Angel of light because he suggesteth good things for evil ends or evill things for good ends certainly then Angels of light good Angels as is observed suggest good Distinctio Angelorum inter assistente ministrantes est vana quod omnes sunt assistentes ministrantes imo ideo assistunt ut ministrent Heb. 1.14 Rivetus for good ends how else could Satan be their Ape Not that it is supposeable that good Angels can change the heart for though it be granted that they do stir up good affections by removing impediments and in driving away the evil spirits and wicked illusions by exciting and stirring up the phantasmes and presenting or representing good thoughts to the mind and lastly by moving the passions in the sensitive appetite inclining the Will to discharge her duty
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
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
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