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A43816
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God's eternal preparations for his dying saints discovered in a sermon at Paul's, May the 7th 1648 / by Thomas Hill ...
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Hill, Thomas, d. 1653.
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1648
(1648)
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Wing H2022; ESTC R25713
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29,286
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46
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grace of God which is a place they alledg for that purpose But 1. It may bee this grace here mentioned is chiefly the grace of Bountie 2. If it bee meant of spiritual gifts and graces and their exercise in prophesying I grant in Ecclesiâ constituendâ in a Church to bee constituted occasionally especially when upon triall by competent Judges of their abilities for the ministerie with learned Dr Ames somthing may bee don that way sine singulari vocatione without a singular call But that the admiration of som few ignorant though honest women who judg much by quick expressions which are often beyond the experience and judgment of the speaker himself being borrowed rather from others or that one young scholar applauding of another should bee the call of Christ I am not yet satisfied but shall welcom any light that shall clear up any truth of Christ though never so much against my present opinion I do not lay the strength of a Minister's call upon a Prelate's blessing of him nor upon a concurrence of all external circumstances and formalitie though I heartily love and desire order in the Churches neither must any judg of their call by their assistance Many dear Saints call that a spiritual desertion of God in prayer which is rather som darkness by the clouding of Melancholie Other Novices account that assistance from God in preaching oftentimes which is rather heat of phansie som warmth by applause mixed indeed with som stirring affections Bee whetstones to sharpen one another to raise som monument of your thanksgiving and thanksdoing for God's distinguishing goodness to Cambridg When other parts of the Kingdom were steeped in blood you were drie when destroying Angels swept away many in other places you were but scratched O never let it bee forgotten how God snatched Cambridge out of the fire in staying the plague these two last years should not you now provoke your Magistrates more to minde the sanctifying the Lord's day to restrain by their power those profane pollutions which cry for another more sweeping plague Because they may not do all but the Universitie must share in power therefore will they do nothing This I doubt will bee no satisfying answer when the Lord shall say to a Magistrate Give an account of thy stewardship I could likewise wish there were a greater harmonie of Judgments amongst you however let not difference of opinions breed difference of affections Love the meanest Saints more for that of God you see in them then you neglect them for what they differ from you that is not sinful Convers meekly together distance encreaseth difference you may possibly satisfie one another As long as wee nourish prejudices and take it for granted there is no possibilitie of reconciliation the devil blow's the coal more and exasperate's the flame till it may bee men bite and devour one anothers names and reputations at least do not suddenly excommunicate all you account carnal for Reprobates though you cannot embrace them with a love of Complacencie yet must you with a love of Pitie there is not onely Brotherly kindness but Charitie so will you commend Religion to them who judg more of it by what they see then by what they heare Finally as for my self when they speak evil of mee I will satisfie my self with that of the ancient Writer If the things thou producest bee true thou hast not hurt but advantaged mee whilest thou by reproving faults may'st procure reformation if they bee fals thou do'st more advantage mee for thou makest mee more watchful to abstain not onely from such actions but even from such thoughts onely the more vigilant others are over mee pray the more for mee because of my observers I must say with the Father I thank as wel God for the crueltie of my Adversaries as the love of Friends It hath been my portion to suffer much by tongues amongst you since my being Vice-Chancellor and to receive more unkinde and unjust censures from som of Cambridg then ever in all my life before my comfort is they are but few and men whose interest was crossed and therefore Self will bee angry and revenge often though never so injuriously yet nothing shall it discourage mee from serving your and their souls Let them mis-interpret the hand of God upon mee in my sickness and the effects thereof yet when ever God please's to restore my bodily health by preaching to promote the health of their souls I will beg by prayer the best good from God for them who cannot speak a good word of mee before men I had enemies enough because I appeared for Reformation which I would not decline if I know my heart out of love to my God though I had not been as I am under the bond of a solemn Covenant obliging mee thereunto When the competition comes between God's will and man's Peter hath taught how to resolve Act. 4. 19. yea that heroical Heathen Socrates which may make us blush being accused said If upon such conditions they being dishonorable you Athenians will absolve mee I embrance you I love you well yet I will rather obey God then you None need especially not such as I think fear God express more passion because I would not contrary to my oath betray which it may bee they expected from mee having been their preacher with more acceptance formerly then it is fit for mee to mention priviledges with which I was betrusted as Vice-Chancellor lifting up my hand to the most high that I would maintain the statutes which include's them so far as they were agreeable to the Statutes and Ordinances of the Kingdom which are or shall bee extant If the Parliament had altered them or when they shall please to bound them any way the matter of my oath being taken away I am at libertie In the mean while why may not the Vice-Chancellor act for the Universitie as well as Mr Major for the Town of Cambridg in pursuance of his Oath The Mighty God of Peace dry up the spring of these most unhappy and unseasonable differences when there are so many dissensions abroad which shall bee my prayer and endeavor till the Lord please to accomplish it If I must still suffer under the uncharitableness of any I shall desire to kiss the rod of my Heavenly Father who hath appointed it in this place where hee hath been good unto mee and earnestly labor that overcoming my self I may overcom evil with good and not suffer my self to bee overcom of evil that in so doing I may heap coals of fire upon their head not to destroy them by burning but coals of charitie to melt them and so mould them into an unfeigned love of all the Brethren who love the Lord Jesus Christ sincerely If this prevail not I will make use of Paul's soveraign cordial Rejoycing in the Testimonie of my conscience that in simplicitie and godly sinceritie and not in
fleshly wisedom but by the grace of God I have had my conversation in the world and more abundantly to you-wards Trin. Col. Camb. June the 7th 1648. Yours in the Gospel of Christ Jesus Thomas Hill God's eternal Preparations for his dying Saints 2 CORINTH. 5. 1. For wee know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved wee have a building of God a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens TOo many men in the world are like unwise Merchants that have two ships at sea one little old rotten one full of things of an inferior value another a goodly ship and full fraught and richly loaden yet possibly out of som particular and fond respect hee may more minde that rotten bark then that stately ship which call's for more serious thoughts and more fervent prayers Our immortal souls are goodly ships indeed sparks of Divinitie our bodies are poor brittle houses of clay for the best of the sons of men dwel in no better Now to have the strength of our thoughts the vigor of our affections the greatest stream of our endeavors to run out to minde our bodies it is a preposterous care yet most men in the world are sick of this distemper and therefore I shall desire you to set before you a better copie that doth bespeak yea challenge yea command your imitation of it Paul hee well knew the worth of his immortal soul and therefore laye's out his most serious thoughts about it and the eternal welfare thereof The words contain Paul's account of the sweet support that hee had under bitter troubles Bee pleased to cast your eye upon the 4th Chapter there you shall finde him toss'd upon a most troublesom sea of affliction yet hee count's them all but light in the 17th verse a strange Paradox at least to the carnal heart and ears 1. You see how triumphantly hee here speake's Wee know not not onely in the singular but in the plural number not onely for himself but wrapp's in the Saints with him Wee 2. Not onely conjecturally that is Popish language a dull groundless hope of salvation onely but wee know where is an evidence and a certaintie 3. What did hee know why those lessons well worth the learning for all those that will bee good Scholars in the school of Christ and would bee able to hold out if their Master bee provok'd to whip them Wee know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved wee have a building of God a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens that if {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} etsi although saith Grotius upon the place Although our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved Here you have a description of the brittleness of our bodie a poor Venice-glass goodly beautiful useful but easily broken every word almost hath an emphatical intimation it is but an House Houses you know will bee out of repair houses will fall in time it is but an earthly house and therefore may bee resolved into its first principle it is our earthly house of this Tabernacle the Tabernacle was a moveable house When the children of Israël were to travel through the wilderness they had Tents they had Tabernacles moveable houses fasten'd with a few cords and pins easily removed If our earthy house of this tabernacle were dissolved soul and body though knit together though the soul bee the darling as the Psalmist speak's Psal. 35. 17. yet that knot must bee untied when they have been married forty fifty threescore years together it needs no cutting asunder of the knot it will break of it self the lamp will burn out all this shewe's the mortalitie of our bodie but then that which hee doth intend is principally and more explicitely to shew you that wee have indeed an eternal provision made for us in heaven Lay two things that have an opposition together one will illustrate another and make it appear more clearly as Logicians speak so saith Paul Wee know that wee have a building with God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens When hee had before spoken of an house that was made of man Carpenters build houses but there is somthing reserved for the Saints which is God's own making and that in a more immediate way man indeed is made {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} but here it is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} hee being the more special immediate maker of this piece of work-manship God's own preparing none can do it but God himself and hee doth not use any instrument therein Wee have a building of God Great honor that whilest poor Saints live here upon earth Angels shall bee their servants and all creatures to attend them and God himself in heaven hath been preparing a house for them even from eternitie what house a house not made with hands So in Hebr. 11. 10. A Citie whose builder and founder is God wee look for such an one Eternal in the heavens that was earthly that was a Tabernacle that was subject to dissolution that was earthly this is heavenly that was but a Tabernacle a very temporary house this is eternal And here was Paul's certaintie this hee was sure of which is a great matter a glorious priviledg But there is one word which link's all together and that must not bee forgotten and that is the first in the Text For What did support Paul What was his cordial in those great extremities that hee did not sink when wave upon wave came flowing in upon him saith hee For wee know hee had beheld those things that were eternal Wee look not upon those things that are temporal but those that are eternal and here hee look'd upon them with an eye of certaintie For wee know and from these premisses deduce's this sweet Conclusion O that you and I had such faith to do the same if God should cast us into as great a sea of troubles as ever Paul was plunged into that wee might say These are nothing why so For wee know that though the very sentence of death should not onely bee pass'd but executed upon us by these troubles by the furious malice of unreasonable men yet they cannot make us miserables as hee is truly happy indeed that cannot bee made miserable hee is a rich Citizen indeed that cannot bee undon by the Devil and all his Agents wee know God hath prepared a house for us where hee will entertain us with everlasting happiness Out of the words had I time I might handle these three Propositions First That God hath been pleased to make eternal provision for all his Saints in heaven Secondly That it is possible for his Saints to have a certaintie of this that God hath built such a house for them in heaven where hee mean's to entertain them eternally Thirdly The certain evidence of this to their own hearts would bee a most sweet