truth that men might speak their hearts and act their hearts and express their hearts in the love they do pretend this is Christian love indeed Three Arguments the Apostle now here uses to engage this reality of their affection one to another 1. Hereby we know that we are of the truth All Gods children are such children as do indeed love one another they have an instinct that carries them to it and this will be a clear discovery that you are of the truth true children indeed no hastards truly begotten again by the Spirit of God Hereby we know that we are passed from death to life because we love the brethren saith John Eph. 1. 3 14. yea Christ goes higher Joh. 13. 35. Hereby shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye have love one to another that is one very strong argument that might bespeak your mutual affection To have a clear evidence that you are Gods children whatsoever sad news you should hear upon earth if you had but a demonstration from heaven of that this day it would be worth more prayers and tears then I doubt you or I shall pour out before the Lord A second Argument is this And shall assure our hearts before him Have a sweet confidence a stability of Spirit though there be a sea of trouble without yet here will be a bosom-ark something within that will fix and settle the soul there thou mayest cast anchor and lie safe having a perswasion having an assurance before God however unsettled before men and ebbing and flowing and rising and falling now good news and then bad news that damps that dashes all yet do but love one another in deed and in truth as you ought to do and you shall have assurance before God A third Argument he uses in the 22. Verse And whatsoever we ask we receive of him This would be an admirable hint this day if you and I could gather such an evidence out of the Word of God that we may be assured That whatsoever we ask we shall receive We come to ask great matters and to beg great things of God this day and now to have an earnest-peny from Heaven that as sure as you make prayers so sure your prayers shall be answered would not this be an excellent advantage He tells you upon what terms If you do but love one another in deed and in truth These are the three Arguments to demonstrate this truth and quicken to this duty But now for the 2. Argument as the Apostle amplifies it and indeed those are the words that I shall insist upon What a very great advantage now is it to have this assurance before God saith he in the 21. Verse Beloved if our heart condemn us not then have we confidence towards God If you have clear hearts before God if you have not a self-condemning heart but upon the examination of your selves and weighing your own spiritual condition in the ballance of the Sanctuary you can finde your love is weight it is not counterfeit copper love when you bring it to the touchstone but you are indeed taught of God to love one another you may have confidence towards God But on the other side if our heart condemn us God is greater then our heart and knoweth all things But when you come to examine your hearts your hearts cry guilty and have a self-condemning heart Oh! woful is your condition If your heart that is dark and ignorant and knows but a little of your selves if it condemn you and fly in your face you must know you have to deal with the great God of heaven and earth he knows all things and if your own heart condemn you you will be condemned with a witness with a vengeance indeed if not onely your own hearts but God himself should condemn you And so you have some short and general resolution of the words out of these two Verses I have four short Propositions and I will name them and upon every one of them very briefly speak something as near as I can as God shall direct suitable to this day The first Proposition is this That the heart of man hath a self-condemning and a self-absolving power Secondly That God knows our own very hearts yea and more by us then we know by our selves Thirdly If our own heart do condemn us it is an evidence of greater condemnation from the All-searching God Fourthly If our own heart do absolve us it is an evidence of acceptation before God These four Points lie obviously above ground in the words And we will begin with the first I have but a very little to say on that onely to use it as a Key to open the door to what follows The heart or conscience of man hath a self-condemning and self-absolving Power If our heart condemn us not that is excuse us absolve us the heart of man or conscience for they are doubtless the same here Conscience that is a practical power of the soul bearing witness of our selves and actions according to the knowledge of Gods Law God hath given to man not onely a power of knowing but likewise a conscience a power of knowing together with God a recoyling and reflecting upon our own actions and upon our estates the judgement of man reflecting upon himself as he is under and subject to the judgement of God this is that conscience here the heart The Lord gives us a practical understanding a practical knowledge and principles does enable us to make an application of those practical principles to our own particular case And hereupon it is that every man though never bred up to be a Logician in the Schools yet knows how to make Syllogisms either pro or con for or against himself Every body will be able to say this He that walks uprightly he that lives the life of faith he shall be saved there 's a general principle laid down in the word of God then the heart does assume but I through the grace of God desire to walk uprightly I am taught to believe on Christ In the first proposition there the heart is as it were a book a volumn full of Principles Here in the second proposition there it is a witness it bears witness together with God knows with him what its own condition is or what its actions are and therefore in the conclusion it is a Judge I shall be saved and I shall be accepted by him Every one that is unrighteous and so lives and so dyes against him God is thus provok'd but I am so and so therefore against me No unrighteous person shall inherit the Kingdom of God but I am unrighteous therefore I cannot come there Every man or woman be they never so ignorant in this or in any other Assembly hath such a power within them God hath implanted in their mindes such a power set up such a light in thy soul as that thus far thou mayest be Judge
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
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-love Not in tongue onely there is a great deal of Complemental-love where there is no hearty no Real-love But how should we love In deed and in