they Govern the Flesh draws one way the Spirit draws another here is no reconciliation of differences or taking up the quarrel by Arbitration the Flesh gives no quarter to the Spirit nor the Spirit to the Flesh the Quarrel is to last till Death puls down the Stage either kill or be killed No man can serve these two Masters the Flesh and the Spirit he that hath served the Flesh may list himself under and serve the Spirit but at the same time no man can war for the Flesh and for the Spirit these are two contrary Principles two contrary States and they can never match together though they always meet together in the regenerate Every age hath its peculiar temptation Fleshly lusts assail a man most in his Youth in his middle age Ambition and vain glory in his old age covetousness though the Soul kill one Souldier of the flesh yet another Souldier takes the field The Flesh like Hagar will dwel with Grace with Sarah till death beat it out of doors the flesh is an ill Inmate that will not out till the house fall on the head of it Vnum Duellum necessarium quod nobis semper gerendum est Deus ipse duos adversarios commisit inter se Vet. videl hominem novum carnem et spiritum hoc non unius horae aut mensis aut anni sed totius vitae est non coronabitur hic nisi qui legitimè certaverit Mart. Clas IV. Loc. com l. XIIX Fifthly We have the Effect of the Duel That ye cannot do what you would Sometimes we stand sometimes we fall sometimes we go forward sometimes backward sometimes we foil sometimes we are foiled even as it was between the two Houses of Saul and David so it is between these two Land-Lords the Flesh and the Spirit when the House of Saul grows stronger then the house of David grows weaker and when the house of David grows stronger the house of Saul and sin grows weaker as in a Well while one Bucket comes up the other Bucket goes down so in the Regenerate as the Flesh decays the Spirit gathers strength the full Bucket always ascends and the empty descends The Apostle was entred this Conflict Universa hominum vita palaestra est ut vivere non videatur qui se in virtutum palaestra non exercei Bas Rom. 7.15 What I do I allow not as if he had said I am proud but I would be humble I am carnal my love is carnal my joy is too much carnal but I would be spiritual I fall in my race to heaven but saith Paul I dare not stand in my falling I dare not justifie my falling And what I would that do I not ah says the Apostle I would never dishonor my God but I do dishonor him I would not grieve the Spirit but I do grieve it I would always have my heart where my treasure is I would always have my conversation and my carriage in Heaven but I am sometimes as worldly as others as sensual as others But it is not I but sin that is in me Here we have Paul against Saul nay Paul against Paul these are contradictions to Flesh and Blood The second Duel is between the Soul and the Devil And you have a famous example of this Warfare Ephes 6.11 12 13 14.15 c. where you have the Combatants ver 12. We the Spiritual man and the Powers of the Air and Principalities Secondly We have the Field and that is in the World or in Heavenly places in the Conscience as well as in the Air. Thirdly We have the Nature of the fight it is by wrestling we wrestle against negatively Not against flesh and blood positively But against spiritual wickednesses and the Rulers of darkness of this world as far as the Air extends so far doth Satans Kingdom extend the Devill hath the hill of us It is observable here that God gives his adversary the Devil his Titles they have their Dignities they are called not onely Powers but Principalities Fourthly We have the Weapons the Devil hath his weapons fiery Darts violent Temptations furious and filthy Suggestions temptations to sins on the right hand temptations to sins on the left temptations to Pride temptations to Prophaneness temptations to Presumption temptations to Despair Sometimes he appears as an Angel of darkness sometimes as an Angel of light but always a Devil and worse when as an Angel of light than when as an Angel of darkness Satan et si semel videatur verax millies est mendax semper fallax This enemy is numerous powerful a Lyon Politick a Fox Secondly on a Beleevers side there are weapons that are offensive The Sword of the Spirit Prayer and Supplication which is not mentioned as a peece of Armor but as that which assisteth and manageth all beleeve and pray wait and pray c. 2. Defensive Here is the Girdle of Truth for the Loyns Sincerity against Lust the Brest-plate of Righteousness Holiness to secure the Heart against Prophaneness the Shooes of Peace for the feet peace of Conscience against doubts the Shield of Faith against Despair the Helmet of Salvation the hope of Eternal life Thus the Apostle presents a Christian armed Cap-a-pe from the Crown of the head to the soal of the foot And it is observable here is Armor for the Breast Armor for the Head c. but no Armor for the Back surely to shew in this fight there is no place to fly if we run we are overcome Christians are wrestlers and Warriors or Souldiers now we know they wrestled naked and fought armed how can a man be naked and cloathed together the Apostle will answer we must not intangle our selves with the affairs of the world so we are naked we must take this Panoplia put on the whole Armor of God so we are cloathed The Devil methinks enters the Lists or Ring as a Challenger and throws q. d. over his glove his temptation and dares any to take him up he ranges and walks round and round who dares meet me in the field or look me in the face so the Apostle presents him as walking up and down like a roaring Lyon seeking whom he may devoure Like Goliah he views the Camp of Israel and sends a Challenge to the Champions of God come Diabolus circumeit non quarens quem mordeat sed quem devoret Alap says this Goliah who will incounter with me I le give his flesh to the Fowles of the Air come says this Rabsheka who will contend against me how many thousands have I slain by my might and my power Meet me says the Devil to David meet me said the Devil to Peter you beleeve you repent you obtain a pardon you might says the Devil have hoped for Salvation ten or twenty years ago your strength to serve God is now gone your heart is hardened your glass is run your door is shut now who shall be able to conquer this Adversary and repel
the Lord will do according to the word of Moses If we keep his precepts he will fulfill our prayers God repenting once that he made man was resolved to destroy him from the face of the earth yet when Noah built an Altar and prayed to God the Lord Gen. 8. smelled a savor of Rest and said henceforth I wil not any more curse the earth for mans sake God was once so displeased with his people that he said flatly I tel you truly I will deliver you no more yet when they asked a Deliverer of him Judg. 10. His soul was grieved for their misery and he gave them Jephtha Therefore when God hath resolved on a Nations ruin he shuts his doors against Prayer The Prophet complains Lam. 3.8 He shutteth out my prayer q.d. God will not suffer his Favorite Prayer to speak with him It is a royal way for a Prince to correct the injuries of another Nation that is inferior to deny their Ambassadors audience Psa 80.4 How long will God be angry but with his people that is not all with the Prayers of his people God is oft pleased to be angry with prayer Jer. 15.1 Though Moses and Samuel stood before me and intreated for this people yet I le cast them out of my sight q d. You think to hinder me now as you were wont to do you will send out your old friend Prayer and if you cannot pray enough your selves you will procure aid from my friends Moses and Samuel but you shall not prevail I will destroy you the best means shall fail you therefore all means shall fail you To resort to other means after prayer is to fasten an Anchor with a twined thread which hath broken a Cable or to think to conquer an Enemy with a Bulrush when we could not with a Cannon In vain is God attempted by Power or sollicited by Prayer against his own mind And as God will not sometimes be intreated so he ought not at any time to be questioned But I hope the Lords door is yet to be opened to our knocking and his ears to our crying And because in this age so many prayers are frustrated be sure to pray that you may be heard I intend not a Common-place of Prayer Briefly First be sure to limit your prayers according to the Revealed Word Let us pray that Gods Will not that our Wils may be done as that Jacobine did Lord let my will be done and mine because thine We often ask and miss because we ask amiss Your Father oft gives that in anger which he would deny to give if he were pleased It s better to be without Quails than to surfet to have either a long delay or rather a full denial than an answer in wrath The contradictions by God put to the prayers of the Saints in this age is one of the greatest wonders of the age Our hearts are oft as the Spirit of God saith like crooked Bows and no wonder the Arrows we shoot are lost when many times we never aim at the mark We must take heed of praying backward with Jonah who rather than he would be accompted a false Prophet cared not so much for the salvation of Nineveh as for his own reputation Says he was not this my saying one would have thought that the salt Sea should have washed away those briny humours Take heed of the heady prayers of the Disciples Cause fire to come down from Heaven q.d. these are Rebels to thy interest we have preached the word of Life to them and they scoff at and scorn us for our labors surely O Lord if they were thine elected they would have beleeved ere now they have sinned against their own light and against the revelation of thy love they are finally impenitent Lord consume them But these were hot spirits and Christ cools them You know not of what spirits you are of Joh. 15.7 you have not the persons and therefore it is not convenient you should have the prayers of Elias Every one that rides in a fiery Chariot is not an Elias Non petitur in nomine salvatoris quicquid petitur contra rationem salutis Lastly Let us beware of sinister prayers not to write after that copy Lord when thou commest into thy Kingdom let one of my Sons fit on thy right hand another on thy left At the left hand of Christ Surely she did not know for what she prayed for none but Goats shall stand at Christs left hand The rule of our prayers is not what pleaseth our apprehensions but what is correspondent to and agreeable with the Revealed Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato III. de legibus p. 811. That which is glorious in the eyes of a man nay of a good man is often abominable in the eyes of God Pray for nothing but what God hath promised if ever you would have God to perform what you pray for It is better to beleeve that the will of God shall be fulfilled Deus non dando dat nobis nos non accipiendo à Deo accipimus than to behold our own wills fulfilled The Saints in this age justly condemn the former Generation for doing that which was never commanded and I beleeve the next Generation will as justly condemn the Saints in this age for beleeving some things which were never promised The Intercession of our Lord Jesus is a censer of gold and can we desire him to offer up our drossie prayers for Incense they are often filthy in our sight and how can they be sweet in his Fathers nostrils Many of Sions Petitions are now in the Lords accompt but waste paper and at the last day shall never be seen hung on the file in Heaven and indeed how can they speed when our consciences bearing witness they are neither worded by the Scriptures indited by the Spirit nor subscribed by a bleeding heart Eo modo sunt omnia petenda quo modo sunt promissa Aut praeter verbum petis aut non propter verbum petis Secondly Be sure to pray not only for love but in love It is true that Love is a stately Garment to be worn by the Lords children in their Mansion house of Glory but you must not put off this Garment till that day as the world doth Holiness Oh say they holiness is for Heaven Love and not Parts Love and not Praying Love and not the participation visibly of the body and blood of Jesus Christ Non debet esse simultas inter eos qui sunt simul is the badge of a Disciple of Christ By this shall all men know ye are my Disciples if yee love one another Joh. 13.35 Said he that was as much for Faith and more than any of his followers Christians Love is asleep I hope not in a dead sleep for shame awaken it Gardiners speak of an Herb Love lies a bleeding and if ever that Herb grew in Sions Garden it is now Oh revive it Hosius was so in
they not onely in the morning but constantly praise God this is spoken according to the manner or custom of men having now taken the form and shape of a man as though he had haste to other business and leaving Jacob to his affairs as also because the Angel would not have this vision descried and discerned by others seeing it specially was intended for a private conflict in the night without spectators none must be witnesses of it but Jacob neither must Jacob himself know fully with whom he wrestled and that Jacob might not be too curious in gazing on that shape wherein the Angel appeared Lastly Some apprehend the Angel to speak like a greater grave man as if he had done something below his honor as to contend with his child and did not care to have it known to the rest of the servants as if the Angel had been ashamed and being foiled by his inferior should have said be gone never let man see that thou hast conquered God the day breaks and will discover it The Hebrews bring Jacob in their tradition as strictly examining the Angel as suspecting that he with whom he wrestled had been a Night-walker and had intended either to have robbed or murdered him What doth this man mean says Jacob to desire to be gone because the day breaks is he an honest travailer and yet fears the Sun should discover him why did he not desire to be gone before now are his deeds evill that he fears the light But this is spoken without warrant though not without wit Let thee go says Jacob no I could have been without the blessing if I had never fought and I am resolved not to fight so long for nothing Let me go Jacob now sings victoria Pugna suum finem cum rogat bostis habet and by this request is the more inflamed to fight it out Let me go Jacob why so the quarrel belike is ended Put up thy Weapons Jacob leave the Field Harke Jacob the Almighty crys I yeeld Though thou art Israel yet do not boast The Blessing 's got but yet thy joynt is lost No more wrestling it seems when the day breaks As our Lord and Master saith work while you have the day for the night comes and no man can work So he saith on the contrary Sinners work wrestle with God fight with the world while the night lasteth The day-break of Eternity is a comming and you shall wrestle and fight no more Pharaoh pursued Israel to the red Sea and there he left them the Devil and Sin and the World may follow and haunt the soul to Heaven gates but there they shall trouble it no more fears and frightings are for the night of this world but joy and triumph are for the morning of glory Terra est exercitium hominis coelum corona Ambr. Saints here is your Sea to be tossed on there is your harbor here is your warfare your place to fight in there is your crown Who would not have Jacob's hard lodging to have had his hearty dream Now you are troubled because you are in the dark now your questions are which is my nighest way to Heaven what is the fittest company to travel withall how shall I avoide Theeves and Robbers or conquer them if I meet them how shall I know that the Lord is my Father that Christ is my Husband that the Spirit is my guide the Devil hath cast me down how shall I rise the World hath wounded my peace where shall I get balm my Ignorance is invincible my Conscience is feared my Conversation is licentious I shall never be more than a conqueror through Christ I shall one day fall by the hands of Saul of pride and lust I shall never see the Lord give me the victory over sin let me pray never so powerfully let me profess never so long Ah Christians never use that word Never thou hast almost done fighting almost done wrestling almost done weeping almost done bleeding Those Egyptian Temptations you see now you shall see dead on the Sea shoar of eternity the day is a dawning and the shadows shall fly away and you shall never be foiled by the world more never cry out against your hard heart more David shall no more pray Lord take not thy Holy Spirit from me nor Paul who shall deliver me from this body of death nor the Disciples Lead us not into temptation Such complaints then shall be out of date and such questions put out of question and doubts out of doubt Farewel Phisick was Chaucers Motto and farewel Diseases farewel Afflictions farewel Sin nay farewel Repentance too is a dying Saints Motto Jacob here halts but there he shall not wrestle Jacob then hath done both his limping and his fighting arise and shine for the light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen on thee Nihil crus sentit in nervo cum animus est in coelo Tertul. ad Mar yr Isa 60. Jacob then lets God go when the day breaks his thigh then shall no more be put out of joynt As we have the Angels Proposition Let me go so we have Jacobs Answer negatively I will not let thee go that is certain unless thou bless me But will Jacob let the Angel go then The meaning is not as if Jacob did not care for the Angel when he had his blessing but onely that Jacob would not let him go at that time without the blessing God always tarries with his blessing Unless thou bless me that is say some unless thou acknowledge me thy superior in this Duel that I am thy better but honor is in the person honoring not in the person honored Others think Jacob onely desired that the Angel would go from him in peace But thirdly I apprehend that Jacob perceiving his adversary to be a Divine person acknowledgeth him his Superior and desireth that in his departure he would bless him for the less is blessed of the greater and he blessed him not that the imposition of the new name was the benediction here spoken of but the Lord did expresly bless Jacob probably in that forme and manner wherein he blessed Abraham In thy seed shall all the Nations of the earth be blessed confirming likewise the former blessings given him Gen. 27.28 and 28.34 and comforting him against the hurt of his Thigh ver 25. God so shewing himself the smiter and the healer Hos 6.1 Thus the Angel confesseth he was conquered as by the blessing he gave according to Jacobs demand So secondly by the imposition of a new name which is solemnly represented First by a question what is thy name Secondly Which question the Angel puts forth not as ignorant of Jacobs name but from hence to take a fresh advantage to give him a more glorious name God appeared to Jacob twice before this and asked not his name before now That Jacob saith one might take occasion to return to him with the same question not doubting but
of a Jacobine He dwelleth in the secret of the most High they must conquer God before they conquer him they may strike at but they can never distress Sion till they q.d. strike thorow God Sion though she be not properly invulnerable yet she is invincible Qui Jacobum impetit Deum petit Wherefore now let Jacob wrestle again and reason with his God Humbly ask the Lord Whether he can see his Sion even a shipwracking Preces electorum sunt Deo coctoquia and yet not throw over a Plank to her his children a swouning and fainting under their temptations and not give them a Cordial his Spouse a dying and not once labor to visit her with Salvation Can the Shepheard be content to see the Wolves to worry his tender Flock and the Father love to behold his children to hate one another Dearest Lord is not thy Glory dearer to thee than it can be to thy Spouse and shall she be sollicitous and wilt thou seem not so to provide against thy dishonor Is the Crown of the Lord glistering enough on his head in the eyes of the Woâ—ld Hath our Jesus the purchase and full procurement of his blood Hast thou left thy compassions to as well as the infirmities of thy Body behind thee on earth Is our Joseph in Heaven where there are Barn-fulls of Glory and Provision enough and shall thy Brethren starve for want of Crums of Comfort from thy Table Are thine Affections altered with thy condition and doth the Lord trample under his feet his children while he is now in his glory whom he counted as the apple of his eye in the days of his sufferings Shall we give over praying for the opening the blinde eye and softning the hard heart Shall we fall asleep and urge thee no more Shall we pull our hands from thy Plow and our necks from thy Yoke will the Lord dispense with our lukewarmness and wink at our Apostacy Is it not thy grief to see thy Spirit so grieved to see such noysom weeds and errors to grow in thy Garden which thou so much regardest And so much backsliding after the profession of so much Reformation Shall wee see Sion bleed to death and never ask balm more Hath not the Lord said His Mountain shall be set on the top of all Mountains and that Jerusalem shall be made the joy of many Generations Is not this the hand of the Lord and his own broad Seal How long doth thy Charriot wheels stay Cui magis de Deo quam Deo credam Hath our Lord Jesus bled to death for his Saints and will he now suffer them to bleed to death Doth he love to see the face of his Church beautiful and will he never wipe off the tears of blood that yet are trickling down her cheeks Is the Lord angry at the Prayers of his people and is he not angry at the Blasphemies of his Enemies Art thou offended because we pray for Sion and wilt thou not be offended if we should not pray Is it not yet dark enough that yet the day doth not dawn because it is said at evening time it shall be light and at midnight there was a cry made Behold the Bridegroom commeth How many steps more will the Lord fetch before hee turn about and shew us his face Have we already the first fruits and shall we never have the Harvest Hath Sion often made Land and said now we are come to our Harbor and Rest and shall we be driven into the tempestuous Ocean again Is not our dross separated from our gold that yet we are not taken out of the Furnace Are we not yet holy enough that we are not delivered or are we not yet ripe enough in sin that we are not perfectly destroyed Will the Lord comfort us mourning or enliven us dying or raise us when buried and in our graves O Lord Though thou dishonorest thy people yet wilt thou disgrace the Throne of thy glory Will not the Adversary say Surely if God in love had begun thus to build he would have gone on to finish Though we are trampled under feet must thy Christ be trampled under feet Though his Body hath deserved to sit on Dunghils and lye in fetters of iron yet our Head hath merited to sit on a Throne and to have the liberty of his Spirit in the world Though our prayers are rejected yet wilt thou not fulfill thine own Promises we humbly confess thou hast a royal Prerogative to save and to destroy but O Lord art thou not bound in Covenant to set up thy Son and if thou makest not hast for his glory will not the world be ready to say the Lord is gone back of his word Is it onely Free Grace and Mercy and not also Justice and Righteousness for our God to justifie condemned sinners and to sanctifie prophane Conversations and to carry on the building of the New Jerusalem to its desired perfection Doth the Lord seem to cast us off to see whether we wil indeed cast him off or hide himself to see whether we will earnestly seek after him Preces fundimus coelum tundimus misericordiam extorquemus Because his smiles have not caused us to love him will he now frown on us to make us to fear him are the golden days of his spiritual presence gone and not to come as we hoped they were that we should rather put mourning on our backs than take Harps into our hands Because England hath been perfidious and perjurious to God will God now break his Covenant of Faithfulness with England Shall the unfaithâ—ulness of man make God unfaithful Did the Lord of old wait to be gracious and will he now wait till we are gracious Was the Lord wont to be found of those that sought him not and will he not be now found of those that seek him Wilt thou not pardon our Hypocrisie Pride Passions and Prophaneness till we repent and wilt thou not graciously give us an heart to repent of those evils Shall the new Heavens and new Earth never be built till we are fit Inhabitants And shall disconsolate Sion never be ransomed from her spiritual slaveries and distractions till they are worthy to be ransomed Is not the price of her Redemption already paid and will the Lord seem to require the debt again O Lord are we so far gone from thine house like Prodigals that either we want an heart to return or an hope if we return that our Father will accept of us Art not thou the God of Peace Is not thy Son the Son of Peace thy Spirit the Spirit of Peace thy Gospel the Gospel of Peace and shall not thy Children be Children of Peace is Christ in one of his followers against Christ in another is Christ divided Blessed Father how shall the world know we are thy Children if we have not thy Image thy Servants if we wear not thy Livery Will the World be convinced by our Divisions
Jacobs Ladder OR THE Protectorship of SION LAID ON The Shoulders of the Almighty In a Description of the sufficiency of Providence Suitable in these times of Tentation WITH JACOBS WRESTLING By Francis Raworth of Shoreditch Watchman what of the night the Watchman said the morning commeth and also the night if ye will enquire inquire ye return come Isa 21.11 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tâ—ismeg l. de Provid London Printed by R. I. for L. Chapman and are to be sold at his shop at the Crown in Popes head-Alley 1655. To the Professors of the glorious Gospel My Friends IF ever there were an hour of tentation it is surely at this day when so few follow Christ when so many stand still and most go backward When those that once would not have been hired to neglect a duty now think it their duty not to pray at all When those that have tasted much sweetness in Gospel-Truths should now cry out as those ingrateful Israelites of old what have we nothing but this Manna that have suffered much reproach for Christ should at present in their lives be a reproach to Christ that formerly avoided the appearance of evil and now condemn those as ignorant of their liberty who are afraid of prophaneness that those that seemed to mortifie the flesh should now after all their Profession and visible repentance even deny the resurrection of the flesh Our Nazarites were purer than the Snow whiter than Milk in their Profession for their heavenly zeal more ruddy than Rubies and as for their Conversations they were not only Saphires but polished Saphires the very carved workmanship to us of the Spirit shining and sparkling in every angle and corner of their lives with Wisdom Patience Holiness and Sincerity But O Lord How is their visage blacker than a coal How do those that of old were brought up in Scarlet and did wear Christ like the Courtiers of Heaven in their conversations imbrace the stinking Dunghills of the Pleasures and Profits of this world thy Professors that were even marked out for thy Glory among men and concerning whom not long since it was familiarly said There goes a Saint there walks an Heir of salvation now are not known in the streets that there is little difference between a Professor and an Apostate between a Professor and a prophane man nay between a Professor and a persecutor It is in this age too remarkable that some Professors of the Gospel are the great if not the greatest hindrances of the profession of the Gospel How plainly doth the Providence of God comment on that Text The first shall be last and the last shall be first What loud alarms by the falls of those that once seemed to stand doth God make in your ears that stand to take heed lest you fall In the seventh of Matthew the foolish build as well as the wise the difference lay not in their Buildings but in their Foundations the one built on the Sands the other on the Rock The house of the foolish builder might possibly glister as gloriously when the Sun shone as the house of the wise builder and have as many Stories and as great Window-lights but all that glisters is not gold though all that is gold doth glister It is not he that professeth but he that possesseth Christ is happy not he that is a gided but he that is a golden Christian in this brazen and iron age The lord is a coming not so much with a pair of Scales to weigh as with a Touchstone to trie the truth and sincerity of your Graces Jerusalem is a lighting with candles Providence will light up candles in France in Holland in Denmark and though now it seem midnight with us yet ere many glasses of Providence are run out I am perswaded it will be Candlemas day in England Now most care not to be living Saints so they may but be imbalmed with a name to live and covered over as a dead corps with Roses and Lillies and Flowers of a Profession care not to have Religion at their fingers ends ad unguem to be indeed Christians or Christians indeed so they may but have Religion at their tongues end and talk of the Spirit the Gospel the new Jerusalem But how shortly will many that want the Power and Life wish they had not the Form and vizard of Grace and cease to appear to be what they really are not the paint of Profession will neither indure the water or the Sun How monstrous is it that our Tongues should be bigger than our hands For these twelve years our Lord Jesus hath been burying the Designs of his more publique Adversaries under ground now God is coming to Jerusalem to purge his gold to prune his Vine Professors look within you and look about you Ah Lord what blushing will there ere long be in England when thou wilt wash off the paint of our profession and that thy followers shall wear their hearts in their faces How much better will a dram of grace be than a talent of gifts when as the greater our lights and Links of Knowledge are the more unawares we discover our darkness If we cannot endure the Spirit going up and down with a Candle and Lanthorn to search our hearts how can we abide the day of Christs coming and stand when that Sun of Righteousness shall appear for he is like Refiners fire and like Fullers soape Justice Humility Mortification Repentance though now they be but poor and low things with man yet when the Judge shall take the Bench more visibly how high will they be with God Sincerity though it be a silent Grace at this time and dwels in obscurity ere long I hope will carry the day and bear away the bell Though we sin at a greater rate yet we cannot sin at so cheap a rate as our Fore-fathers it were better that God did forthwith lay down his Basket and take up his Ax than that we should be further unfruitfull better that God should remove his Candlestick which he can do without breaking it and say to us sinners if you will play play in the dark if you will break Vows and Covenants break them in the dark c. than suffer us to sin against Gospel-light For his silence increases our guilt The Almighty is more displeased with sin than ever his hand is as just to revenge and his eies are q d. wider to espie it There are some that having assurance that Christ reigns in their Consciences desire the inlargement of his Kingdom long to see the Crown of Glory shine on his head and his Subjects to multiply in the world And notwithstanding the many false Pretenders to that Noble Interest yet there are some Followers of the Lamb indeed that follow him not for his Fleece but for his blood who having past the work of Regeneration humbly and patiently deâ—ire to do the work of their Generation and probably the reckoning of Sion is wel nigh at
cease to be their Creator nay than cease to be Psal 147.9 According to the old observation God is present in Heaven by his Glory in his Church by his Spirit in Hell by his Justice in earth by his Providence though it be not full for God is every where in his Essence If any from Gen. 2.3 object That God rested from all his work The answer is He rested from his works of Creation not of Providence or from creating any new kind of creatures for otherwise Providence is a continual creation Joh. 5.17 My Father worketh hitherto and I work The Rabbies have a saying There is not a plant on Earth but it hath a star in Heaven and the flowers you see below on earth are begotten by the flowers of light the Stars you see in heaven God is in smal things great not smal in any His even prayse can neither rise nor fall He is in all things one in each thing many For he is infinite in one and all The least Creature hath something of God in it and the best Creature something of nothing Secondly In their Government In God as the Apostle saith we have our being we are his Creatures in him we live by him all things are preserved in him we move all things are at his beck and command Every Creature as it hath a being from God as its Maker so it hath an order from God as its Governor and that order is warlike Ut in aqua solem sic Deum in operibus contemplamur whereby all Creatures are mustered and trained and serve under the colours of the Almighty Look into Egypt and you find a Band of Frog march into Pharaohs Bed-Chamber Look on Herod and God sets his Vermin on him and all the Kings Guard cannot Master the Lice God hath Hornets for the Hivites and 23 Mice fo◠the Philistims I Sam. 6. Rats for th◠Prelate and a Fly for the Pope When God hath service to do he ca◠never want an Army to do it all th◠Creatures stand ready prest to receive th◠word of Command If he bids the◠go they go if he bids them come the◠come God fed the Prophet by Ravens I know not which most to admire whether preservation without food or for by such messengers were greatest those ravenous creatures which took food from others brought it to Elisha The Philosopher says Deus sic singula curat quasi universa sic universa quasi singula God is the first Agent that is true but not all God leaves not the world to be governed by Fortune after he made the World God is the first Agent as the first mover which sets all the inferior Sphears in motion and so continues them It is the custom of the Jews to let the Book of Hester fall on the ground before they read in it because they say there is no name of God in that book But every Creature hath a letter of Gods Name in it and therefore not to be trampled on All the World is Gods work in Folio the History of the Almighty Here the Acts of our Father are to be seen and read of all the Heavens declare his glory they are the Regii Professores the Divinity Readers of God to the World The World 's a School where in a general Story God always reads dumb Lectures of his Glory The World 's a Book in Folio printed all With Gods great works in Letters Capital Each Creature is a Page each Effect A fair character void of all defect But as young Truants toying in the Schools Instead of learning learn to play the Fools We gaze but on the Babies the cover The gawdy flow'rs and edges gilded over Secondly Providence extends toward all rational and intellectual Creatures Men and Angels good and bad generally and specially of which last I shall discourse as it is exercised for the good of Sion 1 This Ladder of Providence is exercised on man for good The answer of the tongue Prov. 16.1 is from the Lord we cannot speak a good word without the influence of God much less can we do a good work I dare not say that the Graces as Faith Hope flow formally from God yet certainly they flow efficiently from God that is though it be not God that beleeves but man yet man would not beleeve without God It is the Tree that brings forth fruit yet the Tree would not bring forth fruit were it not for the light of the Sun and the dew of Heaven It is certain that man may repent when he will but it is the Lord must give him that will to repent A man must needs repent when he will for repentance is seated in the Will of man for man cannot repent without his Will but not in the power of man It is a truth man cannot repent because he will not repent and also Requiritur opera hominis sed operatio Dei that man will not repent because he cannot The conversion of the Soul is supposed to be as considerable a work if not a greater than the Creation for in the Creation God had no Adversary The Light did not say I will not be created the Earth did not say I will not be formed but in the new Creation sinners labor to prevent the conception of Grace take down antidotes against Salvation and study how to defeat the Spirit of God and make its works abortive Deus amavit nos non existentes imo resistentes God when he comes finds the house not onely empty of Grace but filled with Lusts and the strong man up in armes not a rasa tabula a milk white Paper but he finds the Devil to have been scribling and the World to have been scribling Angels may knock at the door of a sinners heart but God onely can open it The Body is not so much at the command of the Soul as the Soul is at the command of God Without me Joh. 14. ye can do nothing The Lord opened the heart of Lydia Gratiam non à nobis praesumpsimus sed à Deo sumpsimus Mans heart is Gods Lock and not mans wisdom but the Spirit of the Lord is the Key that must unlock it Not that Providence offers violence to natural principles it works necessarily but not coactively It is a true Rule those things which are contingent in respect of second causes are necessary in respect of the First by a necessity of immutability not of compulsion How many Lyons in this age hath our God made to lie down with Lambs How many Lyons has he effectually turned into Lambs It is Gods Prerogative to make and it is the royal flower of his Crown to mend the heart under the prayses of Nature lurk the enemies of Grace Secondly This Ladder of Providence reacheth as fr as wicked men and Devills And that four ways 1 In this Ladder there is a preventing Providence Pharaoh Exod. 14. resolves on Israels ruin he will
be as Chaff yet to cover his Wheat and though they be as Straw to bear up his Ears If Paul had not been such a Persecutor Paul had not been such a Professor Josephs Brethâ—en aimed at his ruin but God Gen. ult aimed at his advancement All things work together for Sions good Rom. 8.28 Before Sion is built here lies a peece of Timber there lies the Brick and there lies the Morter all things seem to be in a confusion but tarry till the Lord hath done and you will see no dâ—sorder but order no confusion but beauty All things you see not onely work but work together the word in the Greek is compounded Look not onely on Gods way but on his end what God hath joyned together let no man separate The child could blame his Father when he sees him tread the grapes the Father he thinks will mash and mar all but when he comes to years of discretion he knows that the best way to keep the Grapes from withering is to turn them into wine Let man use what means he will against the Church God hath still the security of the end If his Wisdom prevent not disorders his Power can order disorders Men may bend their Bows and shoot their Arrows against God but all in vain for it is impossible that ever this glorious Archer should once shoot over or short the Archer and the Mark being one and the same Man too often puts darkness for light but the Lord onely can and will bring light out of darkness Thirdly This Ladder is conversant about all evils and actions all evil actions personally and publickly 1 This Ladder of Providence reaches as far as sin Providence by which generally I understand the execution of Gods Decrees in time sometimes possibly the Decrees of God and God decreeing is conversant about sin four waies Scivit non sanxit praedixit non praescripsit 1 Providence foresees sin The Lord fore-saw the treachery of Judas and yet simply did not fore-ordain it and yet the prevision of God is infallible Did not Judas may some say then sin necessarily I Answer God fore-saw he would sin as he fore-saw but God fore-saw that he would sin freely therefore in that sense he sinned freely Because we sin therefore our sin is fore-known not therefore we sin because it is fore-known God foretold the infidelity of the Jews to Christ he foresaw their sins not his own The Jews committed a sin which God compelled them not to who is displeased with sin but onely foretold that they would do it because nothing is hid from his fore-knowledge Fore-knowledge in God is as Memory in us Memory presenteth us with things that are past so Prescience presents to God things that are to come Now as Memory is not the cause why things past were done so Gods Prescience is not the cause why future things shall be done God fore-sees and fore-ordains those things that are good but onely foresees but fore-ordains not those that are evill 2 Providence extends further Non fit praeter quod fit contra Dei voluntatem In withdrawing the Influence of Grace Psal 105.25 Deut. 2.30 Rom. 14.22 23. Deut. 29.4 God gave them not an heart to understand now when Providence withdraws its aid the creature falls necessarily and yet freely The Sun is not the cause of darkness for it does not positively infect the Air with darkness but onely removes its Beams So when the Spirit of God who blows where he listeth and is arbitrary in its influence withdraws its influence of light and life the Soul is presently possessed with darkness and sin or as the staff falls to the ground not because it is thrown down by the hand but because it s forsaken by the hand God is the Author of mans condemnation for as a Judge he punisheth transgressions against his Law Multi ne laberentur detenti nulli ut laberentur impulsi but he is not the Author of mans corruption The Nurse lends not her hand the Child presently fals now the cause of falling is not the hand of the Nurse but impotency and weakness in the Child God throweth down none but raiseth up many faln he healeth many woundeth none The principle of our falling James 1.13 is in our selves but the principle of our standing is in God 3 Providence extends further In moving the natural Faculties of man He preserves in man what he hath given to man both Nature which is the principle of natural Actions and the Will which is the principle of voluntary Actions Vulneramur in naturalibus spoliamur spiritualibus by his power determining their motions and freely inclining them to any indeterminate actions Wherefore one and the same Action may be both good and bad according to the difference of principles good in the kind as from God and common Nature but evil in particular as from the inbred Corruption of man for the immediate cause of every sin is the Will of the sinner In every sinful action there are two things the act and the defect God is the Author of the act but not of the defect As in the striking an untuned Harp the fingering is from us but the jarring is from the Instrument In God we move without the aide of Providence Cain could not have stretched out his arm but to turn so good a gift of God to so ill a purpose as to kill his Brother that was the proper sin of Cain God may remove impediments of sinning he may propose objects in themselves indifferent as threatnings preaching of the Law Rom. 7.8 and how easily doth man fall when God goes from him and Temptations come to him 4 Providence extends further about sin God wills that sin be God wills not the nature yet he wills the being of evill To affirm that God is the Author of sin impairs the Justice and Goodness of God for he can no more be the Author of sin than one contrary is the Author of another than light is of darkness or good of evilâ— It is not the God of the world but the God of this world is the Author of sin and to affirm that God onely permits sin seems to impair the Government and Providence of God Deo sciente sinente fit peccatum non utique nolens sinit sed volens for God doth not suffer sin to be without his will Permissio est quoddam genus voluntatis Judas hath a Will to betray his Master I will not says God stop his design but I will draw a preservative for mans salvation out of that poyson The world shall know that out of the unnaturalest Treason that ever the Sun beheld I can work the most glorious effect God found the will of Judas earnestly running to sin he run of himself God staid not behind but ran with him but to another end Judas and God run as it were in the same Race Judas to satisfie his Lust God to declare his
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
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
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
hearts to pray withall though you want words it is no matter if you have tears though you cannot speak yet cannot you sigh nor groan Though with the Disciples you cannot say Our Father nor with Thomas My Lord yet with the Prodigal cannot you say Father cannot you cry Lord It is no matter for babling a word is enough to the wise and more than enough to a friend especially such a friend as your God is Coimus in Congregationem ut ad Deum quasi manufacta precationibus ambiamus orantes haec vis gratia Dei est grata Deo Tert. Cannot you fight says the Lord come I le give you Armor do you want an Helmet here is Salvation do you wish oh that I had a Sword here take the Spirit If you want a Brest-plate here take Righteousness It may be says the Lord when you come to my door En quam negare nollet qui sibi etiam neganti qualiter extorqueretur ostendit Chrysost I may be as it were a sleep and you may be ready to think I have not heard when the Lord called and now the Lord will not hear when I call It may be if I come not at your first call you will presently conclude that I will not come at all But saith the Lord Sinners be not discouraged if I come not at your call I le come at your knock bring my Sons name with you if I come not at your knock I le come when you bounce at my door of Grace Oh how willing is God that we should hit the mark when hee teacheth us how to shoot and how willing to answer our prayers when that God whom we pray to indites our Petitions Oh Lord how desirous art thou we should prevail when thou tellest us how we should wrestle Aut in respondendo quam facit moram qui in dictandis precibus vota supplicum sit praevenit idem God wrestles with man by tentations and man wrestles with God by prayers Where is the spirit of prayer generally we had rather sleep than wrestle with Jacob. O said the lazy Husbandman stretching himself on his bed at noon day in the Summer-time that this were working So now says the worldly Politician when he is framing his plots for preferment O that this were the setting up of the Kingdom of Christ O says the Apostate Professor that spends his time in the Ale-house or in gaming O that this were repenting and recovering a good Conscience So crys the lazy Christian folding his arms like Solomons Sluggard in his bed yet a little slumber yet a little sleep O that this were wrestling or praying with God and gaining the blessing Sed hoc est opus pulveris non pulvinaris I would wrestle if I had strength say some Saints Never complain for want of power if you have a will by strength that is our strength shall no man prevail the Lord teaches our hands to war and our fingers to fight he that bids us come into the field resolves to give us strength to fight and to give us the day we are not so impotent but Christ is as powerfull The Spirit of God helpeth our infirmities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even as the Nurse helpeth the child holding it by the sleeve Quomodo non exauditur Spiritus à Patre cum exaudit cum Patre or as the Staff upholds an old man that else cannot stand or as the Father seeing the child lifting at a great weight too heavy for him runs to assist him clasping hands about the burthen with him We have no strength but what is given us and if the Lord withdraw the influence of his Grace either we fight not or we are foiled Christ conquered by dying and we conquer by yeelding Prayer prevails with God not as it is our act but as it is the Lords institution God looks on Prayer as his image he knows his children by their crying and when they cry he presently runs to help them As Q. E. gave Sir W. R. a Ring as a pledge of her favor and bid him send that token to her when ever he was in distress and she would relieve him so the Lord tels us we shall see him if he hear of us It is true Jacob prevailed over God but it was with God That God that called Jacob to fight gave him weapons to foil himself He that fought against Jacob fought also in Jacob it was not Jacob prevailed over the Angel but the Angel in Jacob that prevailed over the Angel he fought not against God without God he that provoked him to fight instructed him how to resist at the same time both contending against him and for him as being both Opponent and Defendant assaulting him with the one hand and assisting him with the other supplying him with more strength in resisting than expressing strength in opposing him how sweet to consider The Angel contends with Jacob with his left hand and contends for Jacob with his right hand otherwise who dares enter the Lists with the Almighty by whose breath man is consumed by whose looks the Mountains are melted at whose nod at whose voyce the whole Creation trembles We must distinguish between natural strength and strength conferred by Grace by the former Jacob had been conquered by this he overcame If the Angel that strove with him had not strove for him he had been so far from gaining the name of Israel that he had lost the name of Jacob. Wherefore beleevers fall to wrestling but if you measure your success by your own power you are vanquished before you fight he that would overcome must neither look on his own arm nor on the arm of his Adversary but the mouth of that God that hath promised and can perform The Match is too unequal with the Devil much more with God We are like Grass-hoppers to those Gyants when we compare our selves with them how can we but despair but when we compare our selves with God how can we despair He that brings Jacob into the field gives him the victory The example of Abrahams contending with the Lord in prayer is notable also and shews what a friend at Court prayer is when otherwise man dare not look the Lord in the face Prayer is the Asylum the last refuge we have to fly to Deus qui certamini praeerat vires etiam ad vincendum praestat De la Hay in loc and if Justice beat us out of that Hold we are conquered That which was an argument of the Athenians weakness they fought with King Philip onely with words and writings is our Fort Royal and an argument of our strength Litieris verbisque solis valemus There are Four Duels that every Jacob is to fight in the world besides that wherein he contends with God and unless he be first a Prevailer with God he cannot be a Conqueror in the rest There is an inferior Duel with man not so much with sinful man as with the
Man of Sin an exterior Duel with the World an interior Duel with the Flesh a superior Duel with the Devil but if we are Israel if God have predestinated us what can man do against us If God have called us what can the World do against us If God hath justified us what can the Flesh do against us If the Lord will glorifie us what can the Devil do against us First There is a Duel between the Flesh and the Spirit the old man and the new man And here blessed Paul in the strength of the God of Jacob enters the Lists Gal. 5.17 Rom. 7.23 c. The flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit lusteth against the flesh and these are contrary one to the other so that yee cannot do the things which ye would Here we have first a Duel or Combate between the Flesh and the Spirit the Law in the mind and the Law in the members the Flesh and its members lust against the Spirit and the mind the Spirit and the mind lust against the Flesh and its members The Flesh and the Spirit are presented as the two great Houses the two famous Generals of the world that combate one against another The flesh takes the field and under its conduct march its works as so many Souldiers Adultery Vncleanness Lasciviousness lead up the Van Idolatry Witchcraft Hatred Variance Emulations Wrath Strife Seditions Heresies Envyings make the main Body Murders Drunkenness Revellings c. bring up the Rear All these receive pay of the Flesh and observe its command The Spirit likewise appears and his Fruits or Followers are Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance all these are sworn Souldiers to and manifestly wear the Colours of the Spirit Secondly Here is the Field or the person or subject where this Duel is fought in the souls of Gods Jacobs between the regenerate unregenrate part of man Not that the Flesh fights in one part of the Soul and the Spirit in the other as if the Flesh did challenge the Understanding and Conscience Contraria possunt esse fimulin eodem subjecto and the Spirit did challenge onely the Will and Affections but they are mingled and combined together in all the faculties of the Soul The intellectual part or mind is not one part flesh and another part spirit but the whole mind is flesh and the whole mind is spirit that is the flesh and spirit are in the whole mind partly one and partly the other The whole Will is partly flesh and partly spirit they are not distinguished in place but onely severed in apprehension As in the dawning of the day the Air is not wholly light or wholly dark neither in one part of it is it light and in another part dark but throughout the whole Air is partly dark and partly light As in a Vessel of luke-warm water the water it self is not only hot or onely cold or in one part hot and in another part cold but heat and cold are mixt together in every quantity of the water So here this Duel is not at a distance but it is an intimate contrariety in the same Soul like the struggling of Jacob and Esau in the same womb there is no room to hold an Vmpire no space to contain a Mediator or to shift off and evade the conflict the same soul that requires obedience doth it self resist it In the same Mind the wisdom of the flesh contends against the wisdom of the Spirit in the same Will there is a delight in the Law of God and a liking to the Law of sin in the same Heart singleness and hypocrisie sensibleness and hardness in the same Affections dwel the love of Christ and the love of creatures fear of God and fear of man dependance on the Spirit and doubtings of its favor In totâ animâ in toto corpore conditorem habeo pacis Deum quis in me siminavit hoc bellum Aug. A mans enemies here too truly are they of his own house Thirdly Here is the Manner of the Duel or Combate they fight and conflict one with another even as Goliah against David or the Amalekite against the Israelite the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit lusteth against the flesh the good that I would I do not but the evill which I would not that I do Here Knowledge fights against Ignorance Faith against Vnbeleef Heavenly-mindedness against Worldly-mindedness as light against darkness heat against cold As the Spirit in a man wins so the flesh loseth ground Sometimes the flesh prevails and crys victoria and then Paul exclaims and crys who shall deliver me Sometimes the Spirit prevails and sings Halelujah Quid hoc est monstrum imperat animus corpori paretur imperat animus sibi resistitur id blessed be God through Jesus Christ Lord I beleeve said he help thou my unbeleef So crys the soul Lord I will help thou my unwillingness Lord I hear help thou my deafness Lord I remember help thou my forgetfulness Lord I rejoyce in thee help thou my heaviness Lord I desire to have more fellowship with thee help thou my backwardness O Lord I see my duty is to glorifie thee and to conquer sin but I cannot do it I do it but I cannot finish it I follow after thee but I fall I press forward yet I faint I wrestle and yet I halt I profess yet I apostatize I conquer and yet I am carried captive I crucifie my lusts and yet they revile me It is true there is a Duel or Conflict in a natural man but not between the flesh and the spirit for they are all flesh and no spirit not between the old and new man for they are wholly of the old and have nothing of the new man in them that conflict is not from the mind renewed but onely from the mind enlightened not arising from the love of the command but onely from the fear of the threatning That contest is between the Conscience and the Heart between the Judgement and the Will only not between Affection and Affection Love and Love Joy and Joy Fear and Fear as in the regenerate The voyce of Herods conflict was this The Law saith I must not commit Incest I saith his Conscience if you do so you are condemned but saith Lust Herodias pleaseth me and I will enjoy her here is the Conscience only against the heart but the voyce of Davids conflict was otherwise Conscience saith David you must not commit Adultery you le sin against the Law and against your light Lust suggesteth the sweetness of that sin and likewise his Love to God saith I dare not wholly give my consent to this Adultery here is not onely Conscience against Affection but Affection against Affection in a word In a natural man there is a fight in the flesh but no fight against the flesh Fourthly The Ground of the Duel These two are contrary there are contrary Laws by which