long by Faith with old Simeon imbrace the King of Saints in your arms singing his sweet and Swan-like Song Now lettest thou thine Handmaid O Lord depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy Salvation As for this Discourse of Jacobs wrestling I here present you withall as a Testimony of my Love and Obligation I hope you wil see your face in it as in a Glass not teaching you so much from mee how you may be Israel prevailing with God as to shew you how you have been as Jacob a Wrestler with God Accept of it my dear Aunt and farewell in the Lord in whom I subscribe Your most obliged Nephew Fra. Raworth From my Study at Shoreditch Janu. 20. 1654 Jacob wrestling with the Angel or a sacred Duel between God and Man Gen. 32.24 25 26 27 28 c. And Jacob was left alone and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day And when he saw that he prevailed not against him he touched the hollow of his Thigh And the hollow of Jacobs Thigh was out of joynt as he wrestled with him And he said Let me go for the day breaketh and he said I will not let thee go unless thou bless me And he said unto him What is thy name and he said Jacob and he said Thy name shall no more be called Jacob but Israel for as a Prince hast thou power with God and with men and hast prevailed c. HAving in the precedent Discourse treated of Jacobs Ladder I shall now by the assistance of the God of Jacob discourse somewhat of Jacobs wrestling Christians if ever you would have Jacobs Vision get Jacobs Faith In this Scripture we have an elegant description of a Monomachie or Duel fought between the Almighty and Jacob. And in it First We have the Combatants or Duellists Tenet in luctâ Jacobus hominem sed ille hâ—mo Deus erat Jacob and God who in Genesis is called a Man because he appeared in the shape of a man And in Hosea chap. 12.4 an Angel representing Christ the Messenger of the Covenant The Hebrews say this wrestler was Sammael Esaus evil Angel who now contends with Jacob for the Blessing but that this Angel was God appears considering that Jacob was blessed by him now it is the Prerogative of God to bless and not of Angels Secondly He saith Thou hast had Power with God and Jacob saith I have seen God face to face Thirdly Because this was the God of Bethel Gen. 35.7 Hos 12.4 What a prospect were this we have not here one man wrestling with another man we have not a MAN wrestling with an Angel onely but the Immortal God wrestling with a Mortal man Erat verbum cum Jacob Aliptes Inunctor ac Paedagogus humanae naturae Cl. Alex. All in the letter that were interested in this Quarrel were in the field together Jacob had no Second and the Angel needed none How inferior a Match was Jacob for the Angel how superior a Match was the Angel for Jacob will a man contend with God Job 13.8 Shall the Ax lift up it self against him that heweth therewith is there a woe pronounced against him that strives with his Maker and dare Jacob strive with his Maker Isa 45.9 how ungracious is it for the child to quarrel with the Father and doth it not seem dishonorable for the Father to quarrel with the Child but let Jacob remember That though it be presumption in him to challenge the Angel to fight yet it is but obedience in him to fight with when he is challenged by the Angel That Angel that knows how to gain glory by being conquered Eul ne Herculesquidem contra duos at hic Jacobus contra Deum hominem knows how to retain his glory by fighting with Jacob. That it was not so visible a disparagement for God to wrestle with man as it was for God for so Christ is to die for man Ephes 2 7. Secondly We have the field and the time of the Combate The place where they combated was beside the Foord Jabbock vers 22. at Peniel Hos 12.4 Jacob vers 24. was left alone not that Jacobs company had left him but that he for a time had left his company The words by some are rendred actively and not passively He remained alone behind not onely to see all his Houshold and Stuff safe over the Foord but also to retire to Prayer How sweetly did Jacob injoy the presence of God when he left the company of man Amat secessum ardens oratio Jacob I am perswaded was never less alone when at this time he was so alone It may be more truely said of Jacob than of any other man he speaks more with God than with men Christ loves to embrace his Spouse not in the open streets but in a Closet and the soul never hath sweeter views of glory than when it is q.d. out of the view of the world We have likewise the Time of the Duel the Night The Text tels us when the Duel ended but not when exactly it began Si vincat minimum summus laus vincere non est Atque decus minimo fiet ab hoste minus De precio victi prudet victoria victor Tantus erit victi gloria quanta fuit Acc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 xix.v. 9.12 it brake off at the breaking of the day vers 24. but how many hours of the night it lasted we cannot tell but so long it lasted till Jacob had the better of the Angel possibly it began at midnight It is no matter how far a man runs if he come not nigh the Garland nor how long the Soul wrestles with God so much if he wants Faith to get the victory The Angel seems not to wrestle fairly he should have given and he takes advantages of Jacob. For an Angel to fight with a man with a single man with a travelling and tired man was too much Jacob was rather fit to flie than to fight nay rather fit to sleep than either to fight or fly The night was made for man to rest in but when we cannot sleep Oh that we might entertain our waking in wrestling as Jacob did with God Thirdly We have the Duel it self wherein we have the ground of the Quarrel and the manner of the Fight First The ground of the Quarrel Jacob was afraid of Esau and he would have a Blessing he flies to God that he might not fly from Man Go would have left off but Jacob would not without Gods consent to bless him it seems that Jacob now was on the offensive and God on the defensive side Lord says Jacob thou art my Prisoner and before thou art released bless me God is taken captive by Prayer and become a prisoner to man and stands at his courtesie who says I will not let thee go unless thou bless me We say those that have the longest Sword may command Peace when they will Jacob
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 Remember that God may shew his Honor by another but he will never give his Honor to another Shall the Ax lift up it self against him that heweth therewith there is a jest indeed As Nebuchadnezzar said Is this not great Babylon that I have built for the glory of my Majesty more truely may the Lord say Is not there the stony heart that I have softened is not this dead and decayed England that my Arm hath revived for the glory of my free Grace and Power Moses led Israel out of Egypt but Joshua led Israel into Canaan The Lord changes Instruments at his pleasure and for his Glory This man saith God shall begin a work and that man shall perfect it this is the man we cry up and all others must not be named the same day with him now Essex then Waller ☞ Quod fluctus insurgunt potest navicula turbari sed quod Christus stat non potest mergi now Massey then Fairfax then Cromwel Hence it is that God often suffers Instruments to break and fall when we lean too much on them God will make us know before he hath done with us that he will neither do the work of peevish man nor go in mans crooked way Never fear let the Lord chuse his own weapons to fight his own battels As long as hee hath a Cause in the world hee can never want shoulders to maintain it Mans day is not the Lords day and Mans man though godly is not Gods man Till the Saints meet with a Pharaoh that God can neither conquer nor overcome with a red Sea that he can neither dry up nor divide with a wall that he can neither throw down nor climb over never distrust Secondly Limit not God to our time It is true we must give God no rest untill he perform his Promises that is we must be importunate in the means but we must in the mean time rest on God and leave him to his own time The Vision is for an appointed season and therefore we must wait for it The Seers often may lie but the Vision shall speak though it seem dumb and not lie The glass of Providence runs in the dark and it is a comfort for the Saints to beleeve it doth not stand still but as no man can number the Sands so no man can jog the glass to make it run faster or tell when it shall run out That Babylon in the Letter shall fall it is certain It hath been accompted difficult to tell the age it is impossible as most judge yet to tell the year and unlawful to search out the day or hour of her ruin If the Son of man knew not the day of the last Judgement as in the Gospel much less may the Sons of men presume to know the day of a particular though special Judgement as that of Babylon And Christ was well versed in Daniels numbers from whence collections chiefly are fetched for the time of Babylons downfal It is a good observation that Providence is the best interpreter of Prophecy Yet no question herein but we may imploy our Reason as well as our Faith She shall be set q.d. on fire and usually smoak goes before the flame there shall be signs of her ruin in the world and they are to be viewed Here we may guess but can hardly determine her day hastens and by many symptoms of Providence she lies upon her Death-bed and probably Six hundred sixty six as we say Eighty eight for One thousand five hundred eighty eight so by a Synecdoche Six hundred sixty six for One thousand six hundred sixty six may ring her Passing bell Many good Archers have been shooting but none as I know yet have hit the mark some have faln short and some may flie over The Lords furthest way about is often the nighest way home There are two famous Proverbs to this purpose with the Jews God will be seen in the Mount and when the tale of bricks is doubled Cum duplicantur lateres venie◠Moses Moses will come Nullum tempus occurrit regi is here a good maxim All time is a like to an eternal God what work God will not do to day he can do to morrow He often defers our expectation but never misses his own opportunity Christ suffers Lazarus to lie long in the Grave Si amatur quomodo infirmatur si infirmatur quomodo amatur and did not raise him so soon as he was buried though Christ loved him dearly whence we may observe That oftentimes those whom God loves most he seems to make least haste to help The Cause of Christ sometimes seems to sleep but never dies When wicked men have plaid their Game which possibly many think long God will shuffle the Cards together and tumble them under the Table Oh now or never now if ever say we The Saints might be united prophaneness might be suppressed Non quarto die pati permittetur qui scitur ultra non posse quam triduo tolerare 1 Cor. 10.10 and all burthens might be taken off Like children as it is well observed we love green fruit yet that breeds worms Wee love to have the Apple out of the fire before it be half rosted mercies before we are ripe for them but it is better to have Judgements in Mercy than Mercies in Judgement God had almost forfeited his Bond to the Israelites but he faithfully came before the Sun was down and paid his debt at the end of the four hundred and thirty years even the self same day they went according to his promise out of Egypt Quaedam non negantur sed ut congruo tempore dentur differuntur Exo. 12.41 And if says God Psal 89.35 I perform not my promise let my word never be taken more Saints consider Your Fathers Goodness makes the Promise his Faithfulness will perform it and his Wisdom alone will find out the fittest time Thirdly You that are Jacobs take heed of repining at Providence Stand still said Moses and see the salvation of God Exod. 14.13 The greatest work of man oftentimes is to stand still and see God to work There is a time for Joshua to fight in the field and a time for Moses to pray in the Mount O vitam miseram iam diu timere quam est illud ipsum quod timetur Orat. Att. Epist l. 10. when there is not an opportunity to fight down Babylon there is a time to pray her down Christians in turns of Providence have need not onely of zeal but of wisdom We must go when God calls but a man had need to have good ground to go on when he saith God calleth him out of his Calling While a Court sits there is a confused noyse but when the Judge takes the Bench. the Officers cry Peace Peace my friends the passions and opinions in this age make a din in the world every man must have something to say for its Government what proing and
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
Glory If God did not willingly suffer sin to be of necessity sin could not be The Lord fulfils his own good purposes by the wicked purposes of others man practiseth sin and God punisheth sin with sin so as God is neither to be blamed or man excused Deus non vult malum vult hoc ipsum fieri malum God hardâ—ned Pharaohs heart but says the Text Pharaoh first hardned his own heart When man hardens his own heart morally t is just with God to harden it judicially Let Pharaoh alone says God let him take his pleasure and pastime and when he hath hardned his heart by Malice I will harden it in Justice I will set a seal to his ruin They shall be given over to beleeve lâ—es 2 Thes 2.11 A dreadful woe against sinners in these daies of Gospel light as if the Lord should have said Sinners I have proffered you my Love I have proffered you my Sons blood I have proffered you the Truths of Salvation I have said this is my way De iis qui faciunt quae non vulâ— Deus facit ipse quae vult and it is your wisdom to walk in it now because you have refused to bear my yoke and to entertain the Gospel there shall come false Propheâ—s and say Heaven is but a fable and Hel-fire was but a politick invention to keep men in awe and you shall beleeve them There shall come some like Angels of light though they are Devils incarnate and they shall with a seeming Mortification cry down real Mortification and with a plausible converâ—ation preach down preaching and tell you that a strict life and repentance are out of date and required onely to scare men from their freedom and you shall beleeve all this Jer. 4 10. Rom. 11.8 God now sends us as the Jews of old a spirit of slumber And Because we will not be given up to Truâ—h God gives us over to Error It is one thing to have Error and it is another thing to be given over to Error which is not onely to have and hold but to be had and held of Error He that will be unâ—ust let him be unjust still As the Judge at Athens gave condemned Malefactors poisonous Hemlock to drink for punishment of their misdeeds so God as a just Judge punisheth our former barrenness and impenitency under the means of Grace with giving of hundreds over to the noysom Opinions and monstrous Blasphemies of this age It is well for Gods Jacobs that the God of Jacob stands at the top of the Ladder Tolle maliciam fratrum Josephi simul pâ—riâ—et dispensationem Dei or else the Gospel would no longer stand but fall God knows how to bring Glory out of all this Disgrace What more heinous act than the treachery of Judas and yet take away the treachery of Judas and you take away the Cross of Christ take away the Cross of Christ and you take away our Salvation Secondly The Ladder of Providence God is visible in all Afflictions Personal and publick First In Personal Afflictions and that 1 In Death Job 14.5 Thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass That hand that stirs up our feathers casteth us down on our Bed The Laws of Nature say to Death Death go to the wrinkled face to the dry bones to the dry Brests meddle not with this young Man touch not this beautiful woman But Death is in Commission from Providence and must observe its commands It is appointed for all men once to die that is once Gods Decrees for the mortality of man are not made at random but in particular and they are irreversible Zenacherib shall not be slain in the field nor by the Angel of the Lord which smote a great part of his Army but at home in his own City and in the Temple of his Idol and by the hands of his Sons that sprang from his loyns Sisera shall not die in an Army nor by the hands of a man a Bow shall not be bent nor a Sword drawn against him the Lord hath reserved him to a tent Tulisti Domine patrem quem ipse dederas non conâ—ristor quod recipisti ago gratias quod dedisti to a ten-penny-nail to be driven into his head by the hands of a feeble woman The Tyrants of the world have their names already in the immortal Bill of mortality and their days are determined by the fatal line of Providence So long shall Pharaoh oppress the Israelites and no longer So high shall Nimrod build his Babel and no higher So far shall Nero and his moral Successors prosper in their persecutions and no further Death knocks as often at the door of the young man as of the old there are as many young skuls as it is observed in Golgotha as old The Sithe of mortality mows down the Lillies of the Crowns as well as the grass of the field our last day stands the rest run â—stat sua cuique dies The bullets flye in the wars at the direction not of Chance but of Providence Providence says to the Cannon strike such an Officer such a Souldier wound him onely kill him outright Some men I confess are accessary to their ruin and as we say die before their time that is their time indeed which according to the visible face of Nature they might have lived but not before Gods time God hath the four keys of the Clouds the Womb the Heart and of Death hanging onely at his own girdle Mans spirit is the candle of the Lord Pro. 21.27 He puts out some candles as soon as they are lighted others when they are half wasted and he suffers others to consume by old age to a snuff Providence hath turned up a Glass for every man and man can neither stay the sands of his Glass a minute from running nor turn it up when it is once out When Gods servants have done their work Providence lets them go to bed Oh how sweet it is to behold Christ in every Cross and God on every Ladder 2 Providence is visible in Afflictions Saints are appointed to afflictions as a mark is appointed to be shot at by the Arrow on purpose 1 Thes 1.3 God shoots not at random but at a mark he does not draw his Bow at a venture as he who slew Ahab 1 King 22.34 or shoot at the whole host of mankind let the arrow light where it will but he singles out the particular person and sends every Arrow on a special Errand The wicked mans sight is bounded by second causes and he cannot see beyond the Horizon of the creatures We Jonah the fourth quarrel with the worm that smites the goard but see not how God sends the worm Such a man owed me a spight and now he is even with me as if God were a Cypher and either were nothing or did nothing Job saw God on this Ladder Job 1. who says not the Lord hath given and the Chaldeans have taken away
saying this way or that way God shall go in the Lord at length will both have his Will and the Wall of man The Seventh remarkable in this Ladder is Deus quiescens agit agens quiescit The Activity and negotiation of Providence The Angels stand not still on the Ladder but are alwaies in motion ascending or descending Many may say I have lost this day Man may lose his day of Grace but God can never lose his day of Glory Providence is as seldom without success as without action The Governors of Israel Psa 121.3 may sleep but the Governor of the Governors of Israel can never sleep Providence as the Apostle saith oft winkes at the sins of men but it never yet slumbered much less slept an hour since the Creation of the world If God should give over his watch over Israel but for a moment in that moment Israel would give up her hope Let the Saints remember Zech. 4. The eyes of the Lord run through the world The Egyptians in their Hieroglyphicks pourtrayed an Eye on a Scepter to signifie the vigilancy and regency of Providence A wise man saith the wisest of men Eccles 2.14 hath his eyes in his head but God is all eie and th t not only for vision but for motion God at this day hath an eye on France and an eye in England There are Zech. 3.9 Seven eyes in one stone And in the Revelation there are seven Spirits before the Throne By the Stone we are to understand Christ mystical The seven Eyes and seven Spirits are of one importance and signifie the several Influences the Wisdom Power Patience c. of Providence Providence hath the hands of Briareus and the eyes of Argus It is supposed by some that the seven Spirits bear allusion to the seven Chamberlains or royal Officers Ester 1. of the King of Persia God hath his Secretaries of State his chiâ—f Council as well as others Some Heathens phancied Providence as the Great King of Persia keeping himself in his Palace in Heaven from the view of his Subjects or as sitting aloft in a stately Tower onely beholding the passages of the world below But Providence is not idle but active 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath reference as Calvin observes not onely to the eye of God Multicum Epicuro verbis relinquunt Deos retollunt Cice. de nat Deorum l. 1. but also to the hand of God Providence doth not onely observe but order the world There are no Ciphers in Gods Arithmetick no rests in his Musick no pauses nor stops in Providence Away with the blasphemy of those that say Let God rule in Heaven and man rule on Earth David Psal 23. sweetly describes the active and pearly influence of this Ladder of Providence Thou Lord art my Shepheard thou preparest me a table thou annointest my head how humbly doth David Thou God! Thou Thou Thou Many men go out of Gods vineyard but Providence is never idle in the Lords vineyard God is always either a pruning or a ripening his Vine always either a cloathing or correcting his children Always a providing for them as a Sun or a protecting them as a Shield It is reputed a shame for a man to see by anothers eyes but it is our wisdom in this dark age to see by the Lords eyes Whose eyes run through the world Providence never stands still or goes backward it wearies man but is never it self weary The Sun posteth thousands of miles in a day and yet tires not Spiritual beings much more the being of Spirits are uncapable of tyring or delassation In the description of a circle in paper though the circle bee brought within one inch of finishing yet if the compass be removed a man can never make a perfect circle but must begin all again to find out the same center If the Lord should cease a moment from his works of Providence Sion would run to ruin and God would be put to the labor of working a new The Eighth remarkable in this Ladder is The gradation of Providence Here is a climax of Providences one step above another in the Ladder As first In a spiritual sense As in the natural birth there be many preparations but the birth is in a moment so in Grace there are many dispositions to Grace as sense of sin mourning and desires which yet I dare not call formally Grace though the former alwaies and the last mostly goe before Grace and by some to their ruin are taken or mistaken for Grace but Regeneration it self is in a moment Psal 84.7 The Saints go from strength to strength from one vertue to another There is an allusion to the Israelites journying yearly to the Temple they went from City to City before they came to Jerusalem or to Schools of learning where there is going from one form to another from one Science to another The martyr it seems numbred his steps one stile more and I am at my Fathers house that is at the top of Jacobs Ladder The Lord formerly in the wilderness carried and now carrys Sion from one Mile-post to another from one Stage to another Ebenezra Legimus de Angelorum ascensu descensu sed non de alis ascensusigitur hic nobis injungitur non volatus hitherto hath the Lord helped us So Ebenezra hitherto have we climbed by the Lords help Angels fetch long strides on the Ladder but Saints cannot fly but creep up to Heaven Rom. 5.3 So in a more publick sense Rome was not built in a day neither will Rome be pulled down in a day indeed in Rev. 18.17 it is said in one hour so great riches are come to nought but that is as the Husbandman chalks a line about a sere Tree which he intends to have for firing he fetches many a blow and yet the Tree stands still but at last one sound blow fell the Tree Providence hath fetcht many a blow at the Scarlet Whore but her climacterical day is at hand her critical day is at hand and then she shall fall fully finally fatally Providence hitherto hath mostly been but a lopping the branches but now the Axe is laid to the very root of Antichrist If any wonder why the ruin of Antichrist in the Letter goes on no faster I Answer The Devil and Pope must in some sense fall together for they have supported one anothers Cause now and then Providence fetcheth a blow at the Pope and seems as if he gave over the work because in the respite he is striking at the Devil So the downfal of the Spirit and Body of Antichrist keep pace together and therefore the work seems to be so long a doing There are various steps in one Ladder and we must neither appoint the Lord which way to walk nor what steps to fetch be not discouraged God works gradually and also he works certainly What course soever Providence steers he will not miss a point of his Divine Compass but at length
rowles down the hill faster if tumbled down especially if by a strong hand the hand of an Angel Rev. 18.21 God will make bare his arm which fears neither blows nor blood for it hath a bone in it whereas mans arm is but the arm of flesh and likewise he will overthrow her compleately Vide totum lauda totum God never rested in the Creation till he hath finished all know that God will be as perfect in the works of Providence as in the works of Creation Her ruin shall as certainly be effected as it is determined The Decrees of God know no futurity time to come is the tense of mans Grammer Babylon is fallen Babylon is fallen Sion is more than a Conqueror Rom. 8. Shee overcomes by Faith before shee comes into the field she conquers before she conquers The day of Antichrist is almost at an evening the glass of Babylon is well nigh run the number of her Months are even expired Let all the Physitians in the world apply their Plaisters and afford their Cordials it is in vain her disease is mortal and her blood is now cold in her veins If Providence have not Armys on Earth it will have Armies in Heaven against her there is no halt to be made or if there be an halt in our sense there is no retreat to be beaten one Alarm after another shall be given till she be taken Mended or ended is here an useless Proverb But may some say who shall do this Deus si non legat emet milites si non inveniat faciet viam the Kings of the Earth are yet her Liege Subjects generally and will Satan cast out Satan and the sight of Rome is infectious and some think opposing Babylon in this age is much like Sauls sending Messengers to take David who in the way fell a prophecying 1 Sam. 19.20 How many have gone up to oppose Babylon and have returned her brats It is not setting Rome on fire will burn down Babylon yet the Lord will use military means Antichrist reigns properly in the Understandings and Consciences of men and it is far easier to kill the body than wound the soul of Antichrist therefore God will destroy her especially How with what Artillery with what Ammunition Even by the Spirit of his mouth and the brightness of his comming 2 Thes 2.8 The darkness of Popery cannot abide the Gospel Sun-shine Antichrist hath plaid his part on the Stage the Vizards are now a pulling off and the Stage it self a pulling down Rev. 18.21 Must is as we say for the King now Christ is King and he must reign 1 Cor. 15.24 Caesar non patitur priorem nec Pompeius patrem When Darius would have shared his Kingdom with Alexander no said the Conqueror The Heavens cannot hold two Suns The Devil at length possibly when he sees the Kingdom of Christ in holiness to be cried up and his own Kingdom to be cried down will gladly divide and part stakes with Christ but Christ will be King over all or not King at all The Throne of the Gospel and the Spouses bed cannot endure a Competitor an Equal much less a Superior Babylon now in the dark may for a while play the Rex but Christ certainly the Sun shining more clearly will be King It is reported that Nero viewed the flames of Rome on his Tower through an Emerauld The Saints through Faith may take a delightsome prospect of the ruin of Babylon Let the Saints of the most high lift up their heads for ere many glasses of Providence are run out though the Sun shall be cloathed with sackcloth and the Moon turned into blood and the Stars fall from the Heavens yet their redemption draws nigh The Eighth Prospect from this Ladder is The large extent and duration of Christs Kingdom in the World 1 The large extent of his Kingdom The Kingdom of Christ now is not much larger than a while after the Apostles daies as Mr. Mede observes for the West Indians are under force and constraint The World says Brerewood may be divided into Thirty parts whereof Heathenism contains Nineteen Turcism Six and Christianity but Five So that yet Christ is far from being universal Lord and Soveraign or having a Name above all Names which not onely relateth to the excellency of his Name above other names and so Jesus Christ is a more glorious Name than Grand Seigneur or Augustus Caesar but also in respect of visible honor above other names hitherto who but the Beast The Titles and Arms of Kings and Emperors have carried the day Most Excellent Most Illustrious but hereafter who shall be like unto Christ The constant stile of Universality of all Kingdoms all Tongues and Nations imply that yet Christ hath not the compleat possession of what he hath purchased Psa 22.27 Isa 1. Mal. 1.11 It is desperate ambition for any man to call himself Rex Catholicus Universal King Christ and not any man but Christ rather and the Devil divide the whole World They say the Spanyard hath for his Armes the Sun rising and setting on his Shield but Christs glory must eclipse his glory Christ will then onely be Canonical and Catholick King First Christ shall be above all Kingdoms and then he shall put down all Kingdoms 1 Cor. 15.24 Some think what is done in England is done all the world over when we are but a spot of Christs Kingdom though I hope a Garden-spot the Gospel was calculated for a larger Meridian Rev. 19.16 he shall be King of Kings and Lord of Lords The seventh Angel sounded and there were great voyces in Heaven saying The Kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ Rev. 11.15 Now when had Christ this glory First It hath no relation to the Kingdom of his divine Nature for that he had coequally alwaies with the Father Secondly Neither hath it relation to the Purchase or Title simply that Christ had to these Kingdoms in his Ascension and Intercession when I confess he first had seizen of them But Thirdly It must have relation to the actual subjection of the Kingdoms of the world to Christ and his actual Exaltation above them for it is spoken Prophetically and for the time to come Now this shall be accomplished when the Prince of the Air is conquered and bound up and cast down to the earth Rev. 12.9 Now Satan rules principally and more visibly then Christ shall appear in the Clouds and he shall uncrown Satan and sit down in his Throne and then the Kingdom of Christ shall be more visible and observable in the world than the Kingdom of Satan Satan indeed was legally cast out of his Kingdom in the Resurrection of Christ Joh. 16.11 but he must also actually and more fully be cast out when Christ shall appear the second time for salvation As two Buckets in a Well while the one comes up the other goes down So as while Christ hath been down
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
that thou art Love Thy people see not so much Prophaneness in the world as the world sees passions amongst thy people We censure and condemn them for not agreeing with thy people while they see thy people agree not amongst themselves Ah Lord If charity were the onely badge of thy Disciples how few Disciples would our Lord and Master have in the world is this a time onely to pull down and not at all to build up to cast away stones and to divide and not to gather stones to raise thy Temple is the Providence of God resolved that no more Stories shall be built in his Sion till one stone be not left on another in Babylon are not our soars searched enough Deo nihil impossibile est nisi quod non vult that yet thou pluckest away the Plaisters thy poor people apply to their wounds Is thy Israel in the midst of the Red Sea and is Pharaoh at their heels ready to swallow them up and cannot Israel be perfectly delivered till the Sea be perfectly divided Hath Sion been travelling with Reformation these many years and even when thy people are ready to welcome it into the world and to name it Glorious must it enter into the womb again Is it our indiscreet importunity that hath hasted to bring it to the birth before the Lords time and day and therefore shall there be no strength given to bring forth Are the grounds of our fears not onely from thy secret or open Enemies but also from the vain conversations of the Professors of thy Name and indeed howl ready have we been to censure the persons and condemn the practises of others and to say there goes an Oppressor an Apostate an Hypocrite so as if there were none of those lusts in our hearts which are visibly reigning in others lives Will the Lord consume their Gold and Silver as well as the others Hay and Stubble pull down many of their works before he set up his own Or wil the Lord further suffer worms and no men to reason with him O Lord are we partly brought out of Egypt and shall we want the cloud of thy presence because that either we long to go backward or fear to go forward Must thy children begin to spell their A B C and go again to School to learn what Mortification and their first love mean before they take out further lessons of experience of Faith Wretched England How many sins do we make that our God did never call sins and how many Articles do our passions put into the Creed which thou didst never enjoyn to be beleeved for Salvation How have one form of thy people been trampling and triumphing over another whiles mostly they have been tithing Mint Annice and Cummin neglecting the Salvation of souls and the advancement of thy Sons Kingdom amongst us when will the Candle of the Almighty shine on the heads of thy people as of old when shall the name of thy Son be poured out as a precious oyntment that the Virgins again may love thee O Lord let us be thy Patients though thou woundest us Let us be under thy rod rather than we should be out of thy Covenant rather than we should sleep to death sound thy Trumpet beat thine Alarm if thou shouldest not administer physick to us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cle. Alex. our Disease were desperate Thrice happy will that storm be that shall drive us to our Harbor We will not appoint thee the Rod to lay on our backs onely we intreat that when thou purposest to strike first break our hearts before thou breakest our backs rather than we should not have thy presence let us with the three children go into a furnace thy Son let us with thy Disciples have a storm Rather then we should not be thy children whip us thy Servants beat us thy Spouse chide us thy Friends frown on us Ah Lord Those that lost their blood together cannot now shed tears together those that fought together in the field can scarce now pray together in a family Blessed God! If it be thy will sound a retreat speedily to these disorders Let some publick Enemy of thy Sons Kingdom abroad come upon the Stage that thy Saints may one and all engage together both their prayers and their persons against him that Sion may be terrible as as Army with Banners that the Brats of Babylon may come and worship before her feet Hinc Syncreâ—ismus Synchristianismus and know that thou hast loved her If the building of Sion may not go forward in this age Lord let it not go backward if with Solomon we may not build thy spiritual Temple let us at least lay up stuff for the building of it with David in the next generation If the Lord had never smiled on us we could better have born his frowns if we had not known what the presence of his Spirit Wisdom Glory had meant in England we could better have born his absence Our darkness is now the greater because that our light formerly was so great How dolorous is it to consider that we that have been brought up in Scarlet should imbrace Dunghils And that England that was the terror of the Lord to the Nations round about us should so much be a scorn unto them and a terror one to another You that are Gods Jacobs up and be doing surely we have little love to if we have not a sigh a tear or two for Sion If ever you would rejoyce in Sions deliverance pray for it Faith and Prayer are Sions Granadoes and truely make her the Thundering Legion onely take heed of counterfeiting these heavenly Ordnance and Artillery with the wicked Emperor these weapons are not artificial but infused Methinks I hear Faith and Prayer say Saints in England be patient and persevere in the holy and sincere profession of the Gospel though your God be long before he come yet he will certainly and comfortably come Endure reproaches hold on and hold out notwithstanding your doubts and difficulties your trials and temptations Though your way to Paradise be dirty yet the Tree of Life in the midst thereof the Rivers of divine pleasure and Gates of pearl will richly make amends for all Be beleeving in prayer and in this age especially If once with Jacob you prevail with God you need not fear all the world If any thing in the world can perswade the Lord to preserve a Nation it is Prayer Prayer hath often met God as Abigal did David and moved him to put up his Sword Pharaoh being plagued with Frogs got the man of God to pray for him and Exod. 8.13 The Lord did according to the word of Moses And the Lord obeyed the voyce of a man It is plain that Moses did according to the word of the Lord but it is strange that the Lord should do according to the word of Moses yet it is so If Moses will do according to the word of the Lord
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