Contzens Rules there is a little Book called Look about you Translated out of his Works and he gives you Eight Rules to cheat people of their Religion and to serve in Popery by Art I would you could all get that little Book and you should see that very Contzens Spirit is amongst Malignants and they walk by the same Rule Come by Degrees and come by Compulsions and such politique strains he hath there Take notice of your wayes and my Brethren it is most clear your Friends grieve for it your Enemies begin to triumph in it that they can have such a Power in the City and with several well-affected people in the Land who are friends to Truth to Peace and to the Government of Christ They will come and tell you What no Government Can ye believe they are friends to Government What Drunkards and Atheists and Prophane wretches friends to Government They that cannot endure a personal Reformation would they have an Ecclesiastical Reformation Will you trust them with a Government and a Government of their own setling what Government think you we should have Now so many of the well-affected both of Ministers and Gentlemen and Noblemen in Scotland are against an Engagement in War and so are they in England who are they that are forward to engage I 'le put no Character upon them you know who in England are and you have heard who in Scotland and what Government think you they would settle God keep us from a Government of such mens settling for we should have Prophaneness and loosness they would make such a latitude in Government that all should return to the old track again We must have as grosly mix'd Communions as ever and their old Ceremonies their zeal for Christmas-day and their Good-Friday more zeal this year then last for these things and more last then before And what do these men aym at I beseech you The Lord God of Heaven inform us aright if I be mistaken I wish I might see my Error If any of you may through discontent be transported the Lord discover it to you And let us take heed of this that while we are jarring one with another we do not betray our selves and all to a third Party to a Common Party that would destroy both It may be here may be the advantage which is but a poor one first destroy Independents and then destroy Presbyterians and set up Prophaneness and Loosness as much as ever Now the Lord cause you to joyn Faith and Love and Truth so together that you may not be cheated by such men The third Use And truly I have one word more to say and if I thought I should dye the next Fit I should desire to speak to this City and that is this I come hither this day and though I do it chearfully to observe your pleasures yet not without some hazard to my health that I may say a few things to you and the Lord help me that I may deliver what I did intend and that you may entertain it with the same affection I tender it to you My business should be if I had power this day as a poor unworthy friend to the Bridegroom to draw a Contract between Truth and Love in all you Citizens of London that all you though you may have some different Opinions yet I would have Truth and Love matched and married happily together in you Brethren I confess that there are many Errors but take heed you be not more offended then needs or at least thereby perverted by the politique Designs of those that serve themselves in these Divisions and upon you First I do not think all Opinions are Errors that some men call Errors Secondly All Errors are not alike not equally opposite to the Faith Thirdly Clubbing and Imprisoning and Compelling is not the proper way to cure Errors though there may be some course taken to restrain erroneous persons when they are opposite to the peace and welfare of the State c. But that I would say is this That Errors they must be reduced and confuted by Truth and then withal it is most certain That Errors abound not by reason of a Reformation and therefore to charge it upon a Reformation is very gross but there is a defect in our Reformation which gives occasion to them And as for Love they cry for Love for Love and it is a wonder men that are against the very Substantials of the Gospel yet they will cry out against any little Heterodox Opinion and for Love How can they ever expect that godly and wicked men should joyn together in Love What Churches then should we have indeed we will love the most carnal men in the world with a love of pity but not with a love of complacency and delight And Jesus Christ expects it not but that we should love as he loves But then further what love should we have such a love as indeed doth tend to Edification and doth tend to Reformation and such a love as is Soul-love and such a love as is a love to the Head as well as to the Members such love as is not complemental and frothy and flattering O therefore let it be your care still not to suffer your selves to be any ways misled because there are some defects and want of Truth and Love it hath always been so In Origens time and Chrysostoms they came to them complaining that there are Divisions amongst Saints they answered And Divisions will be Are all Philosophers of a minde Are all Physicians of a minde and if all Saints be not of a minde it is no marvel onely let them have a care to preserve Affection though they differ in Opinion But to close up all That great Oracle of the Law learned Sir Edward Cook in his Institutes gives five properties of a Parliament-man and I think they will as well agree to an Alderman to a Common-Councel-man I desire they may be considered First saith he He must be wise and constant so able to discern and know things aright persons circumstances that he be inflexible Secondly He should have a good Memory so to remember past evills that he labor to prevent future dangers The other three he takes from the Elephant First saith he Thirdly An Elephant is without gall that gall that he hath doth transire in nutrimentum corporis if he have heat he will use it not out of a selfish passionate respect but rather guide and direct it to a zeal for the good of the whole Body the Common-wealth And then secondly for that too he draws from the Elephants Fourthly The Elephants they never go alone but they go gregatim and those creatures that go alone Bears and Foxes they are hurtful those creatures that are most innocent they go together If you 'll shew you are most useful and innocent creatures like sheep O keep together And then the third is Fifthly The Elephant is
THE SPRING OF Strengthning Grace In the ROCK of AGES CHRIST JESVS DEMONSTRATED In a plain and short SERMON Preached at Twickenham in Middlesex near Hampton-Court April 16. 1648. By Thomas Hill D.D. Master of Trinity Colledge in Cambridge PHIL. 2. 12 13. Work out your own Salvation with fear and trembling for God worketh in you both to will and to do of his own good pleasure De ipsis hominum voluntatibus facit quod vult quando vult habens humanorum cordium quo voluerit inclinandorum omnipotentissimam potestatem Aug. de corrept Grat. cap. 14. Christus meus omnia London Printed for Peter Cole at the Printing-Press in Cornhil near the Royal Exchange 1648. TRVTH and LOVE Happily Married in the SAINTS And in the Churches of Christ. Ephesians 4.15 But speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things which is the head even Christ. PAuls chains and tears have had a prevailing rethorique he hath wept as well as swet over his hearers with good success when he was to preach to Felix though a Prisoner though with a Chain he made him tremble and here in the first Verse he comes as a Prisoner for their sakes to beseech them and a further and special Emphasis he comes to perswade them to that which is most pleasing namely To Vnity to which purpose he uses four several Arguments First There is a common engagement of all Saints to Vnity I beseech you walk worthy of your Vocation whereunto you are called with all lowliness and meekness forbearing one another in love there is one body one spirit even as you are all called in one hope of your calling one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all here is a whole bundle of Arguments in this first consider your Vocation those Priviledges to which you are advanced thereby and they leave a very great obligation upon you as Saints to study Vnity Secondly There is an Argument from the Equity of the thing in the 7. Verse Vnto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ unto every one of us every one hath some gift as it pleases Iesus Christ to proportion out such a measure to this Saint and such a measure to that Saint the little finger in the mystical body so much as is fit for him in the hand so much as is fit for him and this with a common respect that there might be a mutual use of all those with subserviency to the whole in reference to the mystical body of Christ there is an equity in it Thirdly There is a very great congruity and that argument you shall finde in the 8 9 and 11 Verses Jesus Christ when he did ascend he gave gifts to men all the gifts that are in the Churches and graces they are derived from the same efficient cause and therefore it is most incongruous that they should be distracted and divided so as to reflect dishonorably upon him that is the sole efficient cause of them and that with common intents and purposes for good of the mystical body But then fourthly and lastly You have here another Argument from the necessity of it till we all come to the Vnity of Faith and that we be no more tossed to and fro as children and carried up and down with every wind of Doctrine but that we speak the truth in love and so grow up into Jesus Christ in all things who is the head here is the necessity of it you 'l never grow up to intimate communion and fellowship with Jesus Christ you 'l never make a wise improvement of him as members of the mystical body unless you learn this heavenly skill namely How to advance Vnity and so I come to shew you what propositions this last Argument drawn from the necessity of the thing will afford us in the 15. Verse which by Gods assistance according as the weak measure of strength I have will bear I shall insist upon at this time But speaking or following the Truth in Love grow up into Christ in all things which is the head where first its clear Jesus Christ is the head of Saints the head of the Church 2. The Lord Jesus Christ when he ascended and gave gifts to men did intend did expect that there should be such an entertainment of the gospel that we should grow up into Christ in all things who is the head 3. Thinking speaking following the truth in love is the Gospel method to our Spiritual welfare I 'le begin with the first Christ is the head of particular Saints the head of the Church In the state of innocency Adam was the head of the great family of the world when he forfeited his headship and all that he did enjoy by eating the forbidden fruit that family was dissolved he was turn'd out of Paradice all was scattered abroad and we with him were then cast into a desperate condition unless God would be pleased to finde out a second Head and to that purpose out of the riches of his Grace and the infiniteness of his Wisdom that which Angels could not reach which men had not so much as any thoughts of or desires after God pitched upon namely Christ and designed him the Head of the Corporation of his Church of a certain number given unto him in his eternal Counsel for whom he should undertake and this learned Expositors conceive to be the meaning of that place where he speaks of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there in Ephesians 1.10 That he might gather together all things that all things might be headed under one headed under Jesus Christ Now before the fall all were headed under the old Adam now when they were in a shatter'd condition they should be reconciled and collected headed under Jesus Christ for the better opening of this you may be pleased to take notice of three particulars First Here is the Headship it self Secondly Here is the Appropriation of this Headship to whom he is a Head Thirdly Here is the Title to this Headship First For the Headship it self he is a Head 1. In regard of his preheminence it is an expression in 1 Col. 17.18 In all things having the preheminence he is the Head every member in the mystical body hath a Dignity and is advanced to an excellency to some degree of it but he that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that hath the preheminency he is the Head that is Christ but this is not all if you look upon a Picture there the head of a man hath a preheminence therefore we must have more then this He is head 2. In regard of Direction and in regard of Power being a wise head able to advice and guide and govern the body as the Apostle Peter speaks of him in 1 Pet 3.22 Who is gone into
Spirit which he purchased at so dear a rate and shall the Spirit give gifts to men and those gifts be actuated and exercised and prepared for you and shall not we improve them O what an ill requital is here 2. He hath a vehement desire of union and communion with all those that God the Father hath given to him Behold I stand and knock at the door if any will hear my voyce then I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me that is a melting place a winning place in Rev. 3.20 Jesus Christ is impatient as it were I may speak it with reverence to want communion with them who are his in Gods eternal counsels But then thirdly Christ may well expect this Because attaining the intended stature and measure of the fulness of Christ we are fit for heaven as in Ephe. 4.13 Till we all come to the unity of faith and to the perfect stature of the fulness of the age in Christ therefore there is such a pitch and Jesus Christ expects it you will never be fit for him till you come to your pitch there is a minimum quod sic as Philosophers speak about natural bodies so about every member of the mystical body you must come to such a degree of grace before you are fit for heaven now God hath designed you that that you may be meet to be partakers of the inheritance with the Saints in light it is not slipping out of a drunkards habit and to desire to be dissolved or to receive the communion or to give such and such legacies or to send for a Minister and say Lord have mercy on me No thou hast been a drunkard and an Atheist all thy days thou art not meet to go to heaven Paul blesseth God that hath made him meet Heaven is a holy place and God is a holy God and thou hast a very cursed sinful nature very unfit for heaven till thou be pollished fashioned and framed now Jesus Christ expects this The third particular follows I shall not dispatch all you 'll give me leave to consult for my own health As you have had the expectation it self and the grounds of it so you shall have The end Now the ends of it are two why Christ intended this and expects this First For your stability in Christ and Secondly For your improvement of Christ. 1. Your stability in Christ. 2. Stability in judgement O that is an admirable thing Health of body is a great matter but truly soundness of faith especially in these unstable times is much greater It is a good thing to have the heart established with grace that is with the doctrine of grace and not with meats not to be carried up and down with this wanton opinion and that wanton opinion in Heb. 13.9 A good thing to have the heart established in grace To have a stability in affection that thy affections may centre upon Christ as thy love and thy desire and thy hope and thy joy thou mayest desire other things yet thou mayest be able to say I have none in heaven but thee and none in earth that I desire in comparison of thee you may love other things but you may be able to say I love Jesus Christ for himself and love my self and all other things in reference to him I value power and estate learning and all outward thing nothing but with reference and subservience to Jesus Christ O here is a sweet stability of affection and that Jesus Christ may not onely be thy joy but the exceeding gladness of thy joy a triumph of joy to joy more in knowledge of Christ and communion with Christ then you do in all outward comforts and advantages whatsoever here is a sweet stability of affection these people will not be carried up and down so much with either crosses or comforts as very many are But then There is a stability of conversation that is a blessed stability in James 1.8 A double minded man is unconstant in all his ways as long as you have an end and an end a heart and a heart a minde and a minde you 'll never be constant you know not where to finde any men in the world but godly men because they have fixed principles they make conscience but come to a covetous man when you speak of his covetousness there you have him when you speak against his earthliness there you lose him he hath a double minde something for God and something for the world hath no more Religion then suits with his worldly designs he will hear a Sermon because it is cheap yet he will it may be deceive you in his shop because there is his interest and he will it may be be jolly and frollick and scoff over a cup of sack at the people of God soon after Sermon though he hath expressed it may be a great deal of zeal to the Minister why there lies his interest he is a jolly man a professor at large he must be bold O here is no stability It is a blessed thing and a sweet advantage and Jesus Christ intends this that you should be grounded in Christ being rooted and grounded and stablished in the faith in Colosians 2.7 Now the next end is this Your improvement of Christ An improvement of him for what purpose Why for all necessary gifts as a Magistrate as a Minister in any place of trust he hath variety of gifts in 1 Cor. 12. For all graces he hath variety of graces he hath abundance of Spirit that you may be filled with all the fulness of God as I remember in Eph. 3.19 In all conditions and relations that you may know how to be sick and how to be poor how to be Magistrates how to be Ministers I have learned to want and abound I can do all things through Christ enabling me saith Paul in Philippians 4.13 And then In all duties you can do nothing without Christ but as he gives in as he communicates himself and vouchsafes to assist you when he withdraws you flag you wither I 'le be bold to say a word to my Brethren of the Ministery O that Ministers would chiefly study and minde this work this is proper Pulpit-work to put people upon such an entertainment of the Gospel that they might improve Jesus Christ and grow up to a stability in him Paul was sent had a Commission according to the faith of Gods elect in Tit. 1.1 and Gal. 4.19 I travel in birth with you saith Paul till Christ be formed in you O what pain it cost him every Sermon It was a great speech yet I have heard it as a certain truth concerning Reverend Mr. Bains That every Sermon cost him as much in his sence as he thought as it did ordinarily cost a woman to bring a childe into the world I travel in birth till I see Jesus Christ formed in you