is a great advantage to thee that thou shalt hear of by and by But if nothing can satisfie thy Conscience thou wouldst appease thy Conscience and quiet it and goest to Prayer and it may be comest to Sermons and yet Conscience nibs thee follows and dogs thee from place to place and thou canst not rest Certainly if thou have such a mis-giving self-condemning heart it is a clear sign that yet God himself is not at peace with thee Sometimes indeed a very honest heart may be troubled and much perplexed I would not have any abuse this for there is a troubled Conscience that is yet a good Conscience because then troubled more for sinning against God then for any thing else But if thy heart do condemn thee for a wilful living in such a sin as being obstinately defective for here the Apostle speaks principally in this in wanting love to the Brethren if your hearts condemn you in this that you do not love truly one another you can have no solid peace For I dare boldly say That there is never a man or woman in the world that hath a good Conscience though a troubled Conscience which may be good when not comfortable but they do love the Brethren and love the Saints and they do not live in any gross sin and they do not allow themselves in any little sin But now if thy heart indeed do condemn thee as not having that which is an undoubted evidence of grace not the lowest degree of grace as thy not wallowing in any sin not allowing thy self in any the least wicked way which is inconsistent with the truth of grace thus explain'd it is a certain sign that thou canst as yet expect nothing but condemnation from God And therefore by way of use Beware O beware of defiling of polluting your own Consciences know this Conscience is Gods servant and therefore cannot be bribed will not be corrupted when once it hath received its Commission from him is awakened by him This is the very nature of Conscience observe it when other things wither and dye then it may be Conscience lives when a mans teeth falls out his hair falls off and his hearing is gone and his eye-sight lost that he cannot see without Spectacles c. according to that elegant description of old age by Solomon then his Conscience begins to live more vigorously when he comes to dye It may be thou that hast been an Atheist and dull hearer twenty or thirty years together and very little more edified by all the Sermons thou hast heard then the seat upon which thou satest for this when thou comest to dye thy Conscience will torment thee Oh! it is a dangerous thing to out live your Consciences you may out-live your Trading and Honor and yet overcome that at least have comfort under it but to lose your Conscience to be Plundred of a good Conscience it is the worst of all Plundrings A man had better lose all the world ten thousand times over then to lose God and Conscience no enemy like to Conscience besides God himself who does imploy and act it a million of enemies are not so much as a terrifying Conscience Divines have a great dispute many of them where Hell should be truly you need never make an enquiry God can make a Hell in any one of your Consciences and if God should open any of your eyes at this time that have lived in wickedness all your days and set Conscience on work to torment thee thou wouldst soon know where Hell is If God should but let one drop of his wrath fall upon thy Conscience at this time and discover what a secret wanton such a one hath been and what a private Drunkard such a one hath been if he should in his holy Justice set this upon thy Conscience thou wouldst have a very Hell in thy bosom Before God advances the souls of the Saints to heaven he can bring down heaven to their souls even so he often makes a hell in wicked mens Consciences before he condemns them into hell And therefore I beseech you because that a bad Conscience is a pledge an evidence of greater condemnation Take heed how you baffle abuse break with your Consciences Give me leave to propose this short Dilemma to you here Instance in any sin either you know it to be a sin or not know it Suppose Drunkenness or in Swearing or in Lying or in Uncleanness or in Sabbath-breaking or in want of love whoever you are you know it either to be a sin or you do not know it if thou dost know it to be a sin what a blinde Atheistical Conscience hast thou if thou dost know it and wilt still live in it then what a festred Conscience hast thou This is plain language but it is very wholesom no danger to hear of it now but if it be your doom to feel it at that left hand when you come to Judgement there it will be too late then you can never make your peace with Conscience but art eternally undone Too many men do deal with Conscience very unwisely as men do with Bayliffs Suppose an Officer should have order to Arrest such a man it may be he will give the Officer Bay lift or Sergeant or what you call him five shillings or ten shillings and he spares him but alas poor man the debt runs on and the Creditor will be at the charge of a new Writ So you come to a Sermon and it may be a spark of Truth falls upon your mindes and you go home a little convinced and what will you do you will go to some company to rub it out this Sermon came close to me but you have a jolly way in London it may be get to a Tavern and drink away with a pinte of Sack Twenty Sermons and with a pipe of Tobacco blow them away so you can wear out those strokes that the Word of God hath had upon you Oh! what call you this there is a simple bribing of the Sergeant but the grand debt runs on still And then it may be God will break thy Estate and take away they wife or children or thou hast lost so much at sea but thou dost comfort thy self I have so much left yet and though you be sad for the present yet you may get up again but then it may be a greater cross comes after this and if all this break not thy Conscience it will break thy neck in the conclusion and send thee packing to Hell out of whence there will be no Redemption Therefore I beseech you consider it if you have a selfcondemining Conscience it argues there is a greater condemnation to be expected Conscience will joyn with God as a Witness and Judge against thee Let me adde this is the next place and endeavor to set it a little more on Conscience as it will never be bribed so it is indeed such
hope your new Mathematical Lecturer will read the University such a Lecture wherein he may like a good Arithmetician number the many favers comprised in this one of yours and like a skilful Geometrician and Astronomer take the Dimensions and Altitude of your Intentions herein to your perpetual Honor And shall likewise expect That many by the blessing of the Lord will inherite the fruit of this Donation The wise God hath denied you Children How can you do better then make so publike a good at least part of your Heir I conceive there is much in that of the Lord Verulam The noblest works saith he and foundations have proceeded from Childless men which have sought to express the Images of their mindes where those of their bodies have failed So the care of Posterity is most in them that have no Posterity I know well Children are in Jacobs language pledges of Gods grace yet I will be bold to tell you what hath much satisfied my Spirit my condition herein being yet by the All-disposing hand of God the same with yours in the want of such a mercy 1. This hath often been the portion of the dearest Servants of God to want Children 2. No one childe of God hath reason to expect all mercies some want Estates some want Health and to some he denies Children 3. Children are but Temporal mercies and therefore no infallable marks of Gods electing love Here all things come alike to all 4. It is a greater mercy to be a childe of God then to have a childe from God 5. When God denies such a blessing he can give contentation of Spirit to be without it which makes it no affliction 6. It may be God intends to honor such in making them the more serviceable and liberal to some publike uses whereas for the most part their minds who have children are more narrow contracted and confined to make provision for their Posterity If the Lord vouchsafe thus to use you and draw so from your Spirit this way though you want Children 〈…〉 may have such Heirs as will help to enrich you 〈…〉 of Judgement You will please Honored Sir to accept this together with a plain Sermon which you would have had made publike immediately after the preaching of it I now finding it transcribed by him who took it in Characters and when as I had often withstood importunate motions to that purpose yet still being threatned with the publishing of it by some who might probably prevail with him I rather chose to overlook his Notes so much as my Ague would allow me and to answer your desire and theirs though it hath nothing to commend it but the plainness and and peaceableness of it And were reconciling Sermons ever more seasonable then now when there are so many Incendiaries in City and Countrey yea such as would blow the coal and put both the Kingdoms into a new flame He who is great in counsel and mighty in work go on still as he hath most graciously to discover and curse such Plots and blast such Machinations according to his gracious promise Isa. 54. What ever others say or think I am convinced we ought to be so far from quarrelling with our Brethren of Scotland that we should rather provoke one another to bless God for them who first appeared with much zeal in the cause of Reformation which awakened us who were in a deep sleep of security and I doubt should have swallowed that Service-Book which they so resolutely opposed Again they came in most seasonably to help us when we were very low upon the loss of Bristol Lastly They who are indeed our Brethren in and of Scotland do now throw water upon that fire of Contention which so many would enkindle otherwise probably we might have been in Blood and Confusion before this hour And shall we suffer our selves by the policies of selfish men to be ingaged actively to joyn with such who would destroy both us and them and hazard the ruine of that Cause the maintaining whereof hath cost so dear God forbid that ever we should so much scandalize and weaken the Protestant Churches abroad There is an old Prophesie in Poly Chronicon That England shall be overcoâ—â— three times by Danes by Normans and then by Scots I hope the Scotish Conquest will not be Military as from sons of Violence but onely Moral and Faederal bringing us under the bond of the same Covenant with them You have also an ancient Historian who saith London is one of the three Cities of the world which shall never be absolutely Conquered I hertily wish you may have no other Contention amongst you but that of the Apostle Jude Contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered to the Saints and striving by an holy emulation who should most advance to holy Union of Truth and Love of Righteousness and Peace and who shall most magnifie Jesus Christ in their Places and Relations This I doubt not is the every-days work of you Honored Sir and of your good Lady wherein that you may abound yet more and more he prays who is very much Your Worships obliged Servant Thomas Hill From my Study in Tr. Coll. in Cambridge May 29. 1648. THE BEAUTY SWEETNES Of an OLIVE BRANCH of PEACE AND Brotherly Accommodation 1 John 3. 18 19 20 21. My little children let us not love in word nor in tongue but in deed and truth And hereby we know that we are of God and shall assure our hearts before him For if our heart condemn us God is greater then our heart and knoweth all things Beloved if our heart condemn us not then have we confidence towards God THe words themselves are an excellent Sermon without any further enlargement and especially upon such a day as this is A praying and An uniting day And as Father Latimer began before King Edward the sixth and his Honorable Councel Anno Dom. 1550. if I should say nothing for three or four hours together but Take heed and beware of covetousness it would be thought a strange Sermon to a King yet might prove seasonable So if I should onely take the Apostle Johns Sermon as story relates of him That when he was grown old and not able to preach largely he was carried into the Assemblies and he would onely repeat these words Little children love one another Had you no other Sermon this day but those words repeated over and over if God would bless it that it might make impression upon your spirits I hope though a short and unexpected one yet it would prove a sweet at least a very useful Sermon Thus the Apostle begins here My little children let us not love in word neither in tongue but in deed and in truth Not in word onely there is a great deal of lip-Lip-love Not in tongue onely there is a great deal of complemental-Complemental-love where there is no hearty no real-Real-love But how should we love In deed and in
a worm as never dyes In Mark 9. 44. you hear there of a worm that dyeth not and a fire that never will be extinguished I believe some of you know what the head-ake or the Tooth-ake or the Gout or a fit of the stone means suppose Eternity should be added to one of these if you should have an eternal Tooth-ake or an everlasting fit of the Stone would not this be a sad thing Adde eternity to an evil and it makes it infinitely evil What will it be to have an everlasting stinging Conscience a fire flaming in you that never will be extinguished Oh! this will be the woful fruit of such a bad Conscience and therefore take heed of such a self-condemning heart If our heart condemn us not then have we considence towards God To have a self-approving a self-absolving heart before God is a pledge of our acceptation from God When thou shalt come to read over the story of thy life and finde that God hath wrought this grace in thee and that God hath likewise taught thee to walk conscionably before him and to love the Brethren and to love them in deed and in truth Oh! here is a pledge of Gods acceptation of thee for that argues indeed That God is thy God if he have given thee a self-approving heart a self-absolving heart He hath made some impression upon thy heart something of himself there given something that is an evidence of thy sincerity and of his accepting of thee in Christ and that he owns thee in him who by his blood hath satisfied Divine Justice for thy sin and then hast thou grounded confidence towards him Why confidence towards him He is thy God For doubtless as I intimated before if God hath given thee a self-absolving a self-approving heart a heart approving thy self to him according to the rule of the Word God is thy God and God being thy God thou hast confidence in him and mayest go and pray to him as to the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ and in him thy Father and doubt not but God will hear thy Prayers I must forbear the further Confirmation and Explication of this this being the third Exercise and the season hot and divers ancient Citizens present whose chearful patience should not be discouraged And the first Use that I will make of it is this You may please to look back to the former Observation because we shall have occasion they having so great affinity to link them both together a little in the Application A self-condemning heart that argues undoubted condemnation from God A self-absolving heart does intitle us to acceptation with God 1. Take heed then in the first place that you do not rest in such a condition wherein you have not your own hearts to approve you and to absolve you And not to instance in any other particular or to return to those generals we mentioned before I will keep to that that seems to be the Apostles intention here principally speaking of their heart condemning of them for want of love to the Brethren As you profess your selves Christians take heed that you be not found such that your heart does not condemn you as indeed not loving one another in truth not loving one another in reality This day it is an Uniting day as well as a Praying day so far as I understood the intent of it it was in part as to seek God so to prevent and remove all Jealousies and all Obstructions or whatever might hinder a happy Union betwixt the Court of Aldermen and Common-Councel that you might preserve Love and Peace in the City Oh! therefore I beseech you Take heed of any thing that may give occasion to your own hearts to condemn you I have some Arguments to prove I should be glad if you will be well able to answer them that some are in a guilty condition and that however you may complement and bear it out that your hearts are full of self-condemning even in this particular that there is no more true love among you My two Reverend Brethren and Fellow-Laborers have commended Stedfastness Activity and Unity Give me leave now to adde a plain Emphasis to all that to endeavor as God shall enable me to drive this Nail to the head that it may be fastened in every one of your hearts and to put you upon a self-examining and self-considering whether you are able now to approve your selves thus to God That you have Spirits settled and composed and effectually combined in this happy Unity that this might be the glory of London to be a City compact within it self which was the beauty of Jerusalem You have had Zeal for the Publique and have let go your Money blessed be God that hath put it into your hearts to be so zealous yea have lost much Money and many of your Friends and God forbid now you should lose your selves for want of love A great Politician saith That England is a huge mighty Animal he tells you also what he thinks of France and Spain but he gives this Character of England That England is such an Animal that will never dye unless it kill it self Truly I hope the same of London that it will never dye to speak as men unless it kill it self And I know no more compendious method to stifle and undo your selves then for want of love Oh! what a victory would this be to the Blood-thirsty Adversaries when all their plots could not break you you should break one another through your Divisions What a triumph would there be at Oxford how would they insult if that when they could not reach you you should bite and tear one another Blessed be the Lord that hath put it into your hearts to extinguish what sparks there are before they come to flame Too many Citizens I doubt herein do over much resemble their Gardens which are full of goodly Tulyps beautiful to the eye but neither good for pot or smell so they have a pompous love a specious kindeness in exchanging some Visits and Invitations but little or no conference to the good of one anothers souls little or no usefulness to one another in reference to the Publike This appears 1. Because there is so much Envy in the City Now certainly Envy proceeds from want of love for if you did love one another indeed you would heartily rejoyce in one anothers good But alas that such a one should have a Place rather then I and such a one should have more Power and more Influence then I have Oh! many men cannot bear it What call you that truly it is want of love such a man wants love to his Neighbor that he envies and he wants also love to the Publique if he envies another man that is abler to do the Service of the Publique then he is were there love to the Publique if there were any man in the City more active
the wheel how would people be frustrated of their expectations that have such thoughts of London Be pleased to suffer these things to enter into your most serious thoughts and make it appear that love does spring and that you do not over-love your own Priviledges or any thing that is your own when it comes in competition with the Publique I love every man should love that that is to be loved in a due proportion according to its share with reference to Christ and his Cause There are now great things on foot and blessed be God we have heard some welcom news this day Is not this very comfortable to hear good news in our worshipping of God and seeking for peace as if God would incourage us to pray and endeavor more after it What news is it Seven thousand persons in Taunton relieved where were so many precious souls of the countrey got together and that now when Heaven was besieged with Prayers of the Saints God himself hath been pleased to be overcome and to raise the Siege of the Enemy Here is rich encouragement for the Generation of true Jacobites You have an Army on foot and a great deal of prudent and speedy care is required to consider how it should be maintained and how to manage these publique Affairs most dexterously when there comes a winter season when there is no such time nor need for such vigorous motion in these Enterprizes then dispute your Priviledges and then write Books and then debate what is between the Common-Councel and Court of Aldermen and then enter as serious and deliberate consultation as you will and set the saddle upon the right horse and let every man have his due but take heed now you let not in your Enemy by making a Breach amongst your selves when you keep Court of Guards that costs you so many thousands a year neglect not the Guard of Peace and mutual Love If you give up the City this famous flourishing City into their hands by your division how will Rome and Spain and all the World that are Enemies to the Cause of God Triumph that they have got a Victory over those that they counted their greatest Enemies to their grand Design Where is your love worthy Citizens get this self-absolving heart The Lord grant this may be such a Uniting day that this Church may be a grave to bury all the beginnings of Division and that you may go out of Gods presence glewed together And why should not we expect it though there be so many defilements that may provoke God to blast all he being a God hearing Prayers but all our work is not done when our prayers are done we will observe what good fruit is come of our prayers you will have it in every Book The City had such a meeting and they met together And for what some will say For to humble themselves and to pray to God that they may be United Then the next week the question will be What news of it how we bless God for it If now the Court of Aldermen and Common-Councel might joyn as one man then they should conclude God hath heard their Prayers and accepted of their endeavours Certainly this is a blessed design and most proper for this days work It will not be unseasonable to acquaint you with the prudent carriage of Menenius Agrippa who by a witty Parable no wonder our blessed Savior delighted so much in Parables they being so prevalent to perswade composed the great Distractions amongst the Romans The chief Magistrates were agrieved thinking the inferior Commons had too many advantages Upon a time saith he the other parts of the natural body complained that all their care and industry must be to make provision for the stomack whilest that sits quiet enjoying the pleasures we bring in to it Hereupon the other party combine to tame the stomack by hunger so that the hand would not reach meat to the mouth nor the mouth receive it which suddenly brought the whole body to an extreme Consumption Hence the necessary use of the stomack did most clearly appear that as it received strength from their care so by a reciprocal influx it helped to convey nourishment to the whole There needs no Application In the Body Politick whether of City or Kingdom mutual Help is as necessary let it be as acceptable lest by your jarring you breed a Consumption in the whole Give me leave to subjoyn that which I thought of that in that holy man Ezra He proclaims a Fast at the river Ahava that they might seek of God a right way for themselves and their little ones and all their substance And what was his reason A very pious and worthy one and I would gladly think so well of this worthy City that you had as good a reason for this meeting Because we says he had spoken to our King saying The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him I was ashamed to require of the King a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy Here was a good man had spoke great things of his God and now if he should have gone and desired the King that was but a Heathen Pray Sir let us have a party to guard us through the Countreys what would he have thought of them what have you said such great things of your God that he hath sought you out and what need you my men to guard you He thought this would blemish them and therefore he seeks God that they might finde out a way and not bring a scandal upon him nor give advantage to the bloody enemy that stood watching against them I hope this was the Design of the Right Honorable the Lord Major and the Common-Councel and whoever were Agents in this business you begin to be afraid of some heart-burnings and jealousies and you thought if it should break out how the enemy would triumph therefore you will seek God by Fasting and Prayer for a right way to unite you The Lord be blessed for putting this into your heart surely the Scripture-way is the best way to conquer all those jealousies that have been among you namely Real love one to another and I hope you will have a good fruit of this days prayer in some more sweet harmony of Spirits in the two grand points of Difference amongst you 1. In Church matters 2. In Civil matters First for your love in Church matters there is a great deal of need to preach this Doctrine to London you have had much said to you already concerning unsetledness in Opinion truly it is a sad condition yet I would not have people discouraged at it for it was always so in Reformation-time in Luthers time and others As when the Sun arises in its lustre there are drawn up a great many fogs and vapours so it is when the
thing that is not good or so far engaged to any Presbyterian to close with him in any thing that is evil but that we might with unprejudiced mindes and severe consciencces go with them both so far as is agreeable to the Word of God and here is a blessed way to a firm and lasting Union And now that this is not my own notion and fancy onely for I know nothing I have said but is past the Assembly long since For in the Paper if I very much mistake not concerning Accommodation the power of Excommunication is so allowed to the Congregation and that he may be Excommunicated by the Eldership therein What would you have more Here you do harmoniously link Congregational and Classical power both together And therefore away with all Jesuitical plots to dis-sever those that are in such a probable way of union And indeed there were Two things that made the breach at first Why did our Brethren go to New-England or abroad to other places Either there was a form of Prayer imposed or Ceremonies they could not submit to blessed be God that is turned out at the back door and there is a Directory for that or else mixt Communion And the Parliament hath given evidence That they will take order for such a power in every Congregation that an honest heart may with much comfort there sit down and so purge and refine his own Congregation that he may with much honor to Jesus Christ and satisfaction to his own Spirit enjoy the Ordinances of God in much purity Therefore I beseech you stir up your selves and one another that we study how to lessen the differences and do not give way to passionate dividing invectives God forbid there should be any such in Pulpits or in Corners or at Tables Let us all get reconciling Spirits and speak uniting language in our Sermons in our Books and upon all occasions that if it were possible they that are like to dwell in one Heaven hereafter might now dwell in one England and might serve God together and joyntly advance Jesus Christ together in the purity of his Ordinances and live in sweet peace and harmony together 2. As in Church matters so I beseech you shew your love likewise in all your Transacting Civil and City Affairs manage all your meetings your negotiations with love Let all things be done in love says the Apostle walk in love not onely now and then and speak in commendation of love you hear a Sermon of love with approbation but do all things in love give counsel in love and reprove in love and tax with love and whatsoever affairs you are to transact let all still be done in love when you come abroad in the streets there you will meet a company of poor people a proper object for love of pity it were worthy of this City to consider them Your love is principally intended I confess to the Saints to wit a love of complacency but love all love your Enemies Love should be of a diffusive overflowing disposition Love poor fatherless Children so as to bring them up at School blessed be God that you have so many Schools here and I hope the City will both wisely and conscionably still cherish those Nurseries that yong Children may be bred to write and reade and so afterwards bound Apprentices that they may be set to good Callings or fitted for the University those that have parts and look to your poor It would be a project worthy the wisdom of this renowned City that is famous for many things Many decayed Tradesmen there are and many that were good house-keepers before are fain to go a begging which they do in the night being ashamed to appear in such an habit in the day What if you should choose some one relieving Committee to give money to the poor you have many ready enough to take it from them to consider how you should finde out some way for the poor to get their living men women and yong children men that live idlely better give six pence to one that is working then a peny to one that is idle you nourish them up in a trade of temptation as long as you nourish them up in idleness For maimed Soldiers let your love be shown to them but for those that are able to work take care to keep them in employments but rather relieve them working then begging This were like true love indeed a Fasting-days fruit as you heard a word of it before out of Isa 58. what a Fast would you have such a Fast as there the Prophet speaks of Is not this the Fast that I have chosen to loose the hands of wickedness to undo the heavy burthens If the Lord would shew that mercy to crown this Fast with success that if you have been too rigid in your Taxes too severe and partial in your Impositions and put it into your hearts to loose burthens and to let the oppressed go free and ease every yoke though you have sown in tears you would reap in joy And is it not likewise to deal bread to the hungry and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house when thou seest the naked that thou coverest them and that thou hide not thy self from thine own flesh Here is work for a Fasting-day and say not It is putting up so many Prayers and hearing so many Sermons The question is whether you will act over your own Prayers and the Sermons you have heard this day will you take out this Lesson Oh! how will you rejoyce the heart of your praying servants the hearts of all the City the wrestlers with God if such visible fruits should spring up after this days exercise it would incourage others to creep into corners upon such an occasion Here is a special promise Then shall thy light break forth as the morning and thy health spring forth speedily There is darkness in the City in many particulars now sad darkness how know you but light may break forth the light of comfort every way if there were such real fruit of your Fasting and Prayer Then shall thy health spring forth speedily God might heal your Distempers and keep you in a heavenly frame It is an admirable mercy I am glad God hath brought it to my minde which the God of Salvation hath shewn to you since the Parliament began in preventing the Plague from spreading in London one Troop of destroying Angels might have done that that all the Armies against it could not have done you have had it lingring amongst you divers Summers but God hath given you the comfort of your Prayers and health hath sprung exceedingly in the City and who knows but God may give an answer to this days poor prayer and health may yet spring more plentifully And thy righteousness shall go before thee the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward I know when the City hath been called Traytors and black