Tell him with Job Behold I am vile and with Agur Surely I am more brutish than any man I have not the understanding of a man Prov. 28.13 Psal 32.5 6. Job 40.4 Prov. 30.2 3 Abhor thy self in the sense of it A prostrate self-abhorrence will surely purge thy Conscience and blot that consciousness of sin thou hast contracted both out of God's debt-book and thy own day-book Whereof Job and David are plain and pregnant instances Job 42.6 Psal 51. This Medicament is a sure preventive and safe purgative of a putrified Conscience it includeth these two as the principal ingredients 1. Self-displicence in sorrow and indignation with thy self as David Oh! that I should be such a fool such a sot such a beast 2 Cor. 7.11 Psal 73.21 22. 2. Self-defiance in shaming and judging thy own self renouncing thy righteousness and ripping up thy follies and filthiness and loathing thy self in thy own sight O Lord righteousness belongeth to thee but to me shame and confusion of face O my God I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face c. Ezek. 6.9 c. 16.63 Dan. 9.7 8. Ezra 9.6 3. Rev. 2.5 Renew Do over the first works for thy former washing The door of Mercy stands as open as heretofore Thy duty to use the means and the efficacy of the means upon a due use of them is as observable as heretofore Then thou wert without strength and couldst not co-operate with divine Grace nor any more cleanse thy sin than the Ethiopian can change his skin In that first work thou wert meerly passive Rom. 5.6 Jer. 13.23 Job 14.4 * See Saryl ad loc But now the case is altered the least Saint is not without a little strength Grace is communicated and doth expect thy co-operation with it self that a man purge himself Rev. 3.8 2 Tim. 2.21 2 Cor. 7.1 Renew then 1 the advised provision Q. 5. Dir. 3. Particularly 2 the application of the Promises this is not only an excellent congruity and an evident connexion between the Promises of Christ and the purging of our Conscience but they exhibit a Copy how we should purge and effectually conveigh a power whereby ye shall purge the Conscience and escape the corruption that is in the world through lust 2 Cor. 7.1 2 Pet. 1.4 3 Renew the ardour of thy Prayers these will engage and sanctifie all other endeavours engage Heaven and thy own Heart follow thy work close here and with much constancy Double the duty and thy diligence therein Remember the Psalmist how he reiterated this Petition Wash me purge me cleanse me create a clean heart in me Wash me throughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin Psal 51.2.7 10. 4 Renew the Acts of these holy Principles in thee Faith Hope and Love as they were of past so are they of present and perpetual efficacy so the expressions intimate Act. 15.9 1 Joh. 3.3 Purifying 't is not said having purified their Hearts by Faith He that hath this hope purifieth himself c. Send Faith afresh then to the Blood of Christ and the blessed Covenant of Grace for cleansing and let this stir up and streng then the other implanted Habits to their several imployments Shew Hope a further sight of those pure and perfect Glories which God hath prepared and promised The more this glorious Purity becomes the matter of thy Hope for hereafter the more will a gracious Purity become the matter of thy attempts and aspirings here And to besure the more thou lovest pureness of heart the more wilt thou apply thy self for and shalt attain of heart-purity CHAP. IV. Of the Peaceable and Disquiet Conscience Q. 1. Whether the Conscience that is not Evangelically good or pure may yet enjoy great peace and so whether a Man may safely conclude his Conscience is pure because 't is quiet and at peace I. Prop. 1 IF you understand peace of Conscience in the most proper precise and strict notion thereof then can there be no peace of Conscience where there is no purity 'T is first pure then peaceable There is no peace saith my God to the wicked Others may sing a Requiem to them Peace peace and they may bless themselves in their own hearts saying I shall have peace but my God saith there is no peace Jam. 3.17 Jer. 6.14 Deut. 29.19 Isa 57.21 The quiet of such Consciences some please to call a Truce but cannot allow it the name of peace If that here is only a temporary suspension of arms no total cessation * See Dyk good Cons p. 31 32. the quarrel is not taken up Conscience is but taking more time to right it self and revenge their stubbornness Peace of Conscience if we understand it strictly imports more than an immunity from inward Concertations and Concussions it implieth also an enjoyment of it self with a victorious serenity in the felicitating smiles of God's Countenance and in viewing the spoils of Sin and Satan its vanquished adversaries Rom. 15.13 Phil. 4.7 Joh. 14.27 It presupposeth peace with God as its prime basis upon which it rests and into which it is resolved as its principal cause Peace of Conscience being originally but the reflex of this that God is reconciled and at peace with us Rom. 5.1 2. Job 22.21 Men of impure Consciences are upon terms of enmity not of peace with God they are against him and he against them Ephes 2.16 Psal 18.26 2. It presupposes a propriety in Christ who is our Peace whose death for us is the sole price of our reconciliation and peace with God and whose Union with us and the communion with and conformity to him is the signal evidence thereof But the impure Conscience hath no interest in Christ he is not only without Christ but at war and enmity with Christ Ephes 2.14 Rom. 5.1 10. 2 Cor. 5.18 19. Fph. 2.12 Col. 1.21 3. It is produced by Faith Faith Evangelical giveth us peace with God and God giveth us peace in and by the exercise of faith Faith unites us with God in Christ and so 't is peace in Heaven here is its direct act and then Faith unfolds and reviews this Union and so 't is peace in the Heart here is its reflex act Now the impure Conscience hath no saving Faith which doth still first purifie then pacifie the Conscience Rom. 5.1 c. 15.13 Ephes 3.17 18 19. 1 Joh. 5.11 12 13. Joh. 5.44 Act. 15.9 4. Besides this peace is made the priviledg the incommunicable priviledg of the Church and Kingdom of Christ who are said to be clean through his word Peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you c. i. e. to you not only eminently above others but exclusively to you and not to any others Rom. 14.17 Joh. 14.27 cum 15.3 II. Prop. 2 But if you understand peace of Conscience in a larger and less proper sense in the vulgar notion and latitude of this expression as it imports the quietness thereof from inward arrests
art verily faulty But is it united to fear God's name There is none that Conscience bids thee pursue by desire like him or binds thee to please in and by thy duties like him or to promote his designs of glory equal with him Psal 86.11 c. 73.25 1 Thes 2.4 2. Enquire into the offices whereunto it directs thee Dost thou renounce the hidden things of dishonesty durst you not walk in craftiness or handle the Word of God deceitfully by contempering flesh and spirit in thy work as Vintners do in their Wines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But wouldst thou every office thou presentest shouldst be a pure offering every prayer a pure prayer And that which thou principally covetest therein is that thou mayst call on the Lord out of a pure heart 2 Cor. 4.2 Mal. 1.11 Job 16.17 2 Tim. 2.22 3. Enquire into the openness simplicity and unguilful disposition of thy Conscience What hast thou an heart and an heart as those Psal 12.2 marg one for God another for Baal for the world Miserable the pure Conscience is a plain Conscience 't is clothed with simplicity and godly sincerity 't is a spirit in which is no guile Durst you not double then in the matters of Conscience nor dissemble in the matters of corruption Art willing God should see the worst of thee and shew thee the very worst of thy self Dost thou expose all to his search and wouldst approve all in his sight and not so much as have thy heart secretly enticed from himself This is a pure Conscience 2 Cor. 1.12 Psal 32.2 1 Chron. 12.33 Psal 119.23 24. Job 31.27 2. Is thy Conscience purified from its defilement I know you are not purified from all degrees of sin are you from all the kinds of sin You are not purified from the actual stain of them but are you from the habitual state in them this is God's promise and the Gospel-purity of the Conscience I will cleause you from all your filthiness Ezek. 36.25 26 33. c. 37.23 I know none can say and speak truly his Heart is clean from all adhesion of sin to him or from activity of sin in him But can you say my heart is clean from the approbation of any sin by it and from the allowance of any sin in it 1 What say you to an habitual course in sin I know there are wicked works found with you but is there no wicked way found in you Do you refrain your feet from every evil way Though you fall into the mire with the sheep do not you wallow in the mire with the Swine Do you wash off the repeated spots of your sins by the renewed streams of godly sorrow to repentance else never call it a pure Conscience Psal 139.24 Psal 119.101 2 Pet. 2.22 Mich. 6.11 2 What say you to the authority and command of sin Doth Conscience woo and welcome it or witness and war against it and wash it self afresh in the blood of Christ and waters of Contrition when it hath contracted guilt and filth by the power or policies of it Is Conscience pure from its reign though she cannot preserve you from its rage Sin may pollute your Conscience and for present captivate it But doth not Conscience give up her self to the commands thereof but grieves rather that she should so be contaminated And when captivated doth Conscience raise complaints in and recollect the other powers of the Soul And doth she run to Christ renew the quarrel and reinforce her strength for another combate and resolve never to quit the field till she carrieth the victory and the Crown be fixed upon the head of Christ This is a pure Conscience Rom. 6.12 23. c. 7.15 ult 3 What say you to the hearts closing with sin Are you pure from the indulgence of sin though you cannot be from the in-dwelling of sin Do you hate all false ways Is there never an Herodias that your Hearts hug and cherish Are you for taking away all iniquity Is thy Conscience afraid of all abhorrent from all arms against all Secret as well as open Such as serve the interest of the flesh as well as such as straiten it And would you keep your selves unspotted from the world unspotted from the flesh as well as unswallowed uâ— by the world or by the flesh This speakâ—â— you to have a pure Conscience Psal 119.104 128. Hos 14.2 Psal 19.12 13. Jam. 1.27 Jude 23. Thirdly What is thy Conscience purified unto 1 To what as thy employment The pure Conscience is for the purest carrlage after the purest Copy 1 Job 3.3 This is the Temple of God the very floor of whose house as was that of Solomon's is over-laid with pure Gold both within and without 1 Cor. 3.17 1 King 6.30 Search the acts and offices of Conscience then is Godliness the greatest employment which it commands the other powers of the Soul and wherein it most congratulates it self If it be purified from sin 't is for the service of God if from dead works 't is to serve the living God 2 Tim. 1.3 Tit. 2.14 Heb. 9.14 2 To what as thy enjoyment The pure Conscience is for the purest comforts not so much for those which run out of the muddy Cisterns of Creatures but for such as rise out of the unmixed springs of Communication with God in Christ and the intimate sense of his quickning and conserving influences Nor doth it ever enjoy it self with that serenity as in the evidence of God's grace to him or in the exercise of his grace in and by him This is its rejoycing this its rest Psal 65.4 2 Cor. 1.12 Psal 116.7 Enquire then what are those enjoyments wherein Conscience giveth thee the greatest content and complacency Are they the impurer objects and operations of Sense or the purer acts and objects of the spirit of Faith Here is that pure river of the water of life wherein the pure Conscience doth most bath and bless it self Phil. 4.7 Rom. 15.13 Rev. 22.1 3 To what as thy end The pure Conscience puts forth its acts both imperate and elicite upon the purest accompt and for the purest ends with pure Conscience The Intentions to which it determineth the Will are not as the Feet in Nebuchadnezar's Image part of Iron and part of Clay but like that Image's Head of fine Gold 'T is a Conscience toward God 2 Tim. 1.3 Dan. 2.32 33. 1 Pet. 2.19 Enquire then whether the praise of God be that principal end which you prefer in and above all that Conscience carrieth you out to enterprize whether you do not mingle your glory with his or make his glory serve yours If God hath purified thy Conscience it is peculiarly for himself as the sole supream end and object of it And the Apostle offers us this observation That whatsoever is done heartily i.e. of pure Conscience is done unto the Lord and not unto men Phil. 1.20 Joh. 5.44 c. 12.43 Tit. 2.14 Col. 3.23 Ephes 6.6 7. Q. 5. How may
Gen. 39.9 And charging us to such as are good to do them 1 Pet. 3.16 The object of Conscience then is very large and extensive So that as one saith * Annesley qu. supra 'T is much easier to reckon up what is not the object of Conscience then what is In brief whatsoever is morally operable is the object of Conscience whatsoever Conscience doth or may operate about in a Moral sense and so takes in both our estate toward God and all our actions not only such as are moral operables in a stricter sense but such as are only thus in a larger sense as is Evangelical faith it self to be accounted * Sanders Prael 1. §. 23. This being as the command so the work of God that we believe in his Son Jesus Christ Joh. 6.29 1 Joh. 3.23 Nay there is not an act of that Moral indifferency which we may call properly humane the indeliberate and immoral actions of man which grow out of the imagination and disposition of natural qualities I except as being not in propriety of speech humane as not proceeding from the Soul as reasonable * Aquin. Sum. 12. q. 18. a. 9. I say there is not so indifferent an act which comes not within the sight and censure of Conscience though not as such or secundum speciem yet in its singular existence and as 't is circumstanced by which circumstances Conscience considers it made either morally good or else morally evil Thus Davids heart smote him but for cutting off the skirt of a garment an act in it self indifferent But Conscience attends the circumstances It was the skirt of Saul his Sovereign and Gods Substitute and therefore a sin in him who was his subject servant c. 1 Sam. 24.5 6. Thirdly Q. What is the end of Conscience to which it resers 'T is Mans judgment of himself i.e. of his estate and actions as it and they are subjected to the judgment of God Conscience being Gods Substitute and set by God himself upon the throne of Judicature doth therefore subordinate all to God all its objects and in all its operations It eyes God as the supream Judg both of it and of them in its regular acts and exercises Search me O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts Psal 139.23 24. Nor doth Conscience ascite either the estate or any action into or sit upon them in judgment but as they and it are subjected to him who is superiour to the Conscience greater than the heart and knoweth all things 1 Joh. 3.20 21. Truth is when Conscience acts it self it is steered by and subordinated to the judgment of God in its whole judicial process In the first proposition 't is ruled by and subjected to the judgment of God in point of truth or as to matter of law In the second proposition 't is ruled by and subjected to it in point of testimony or as to matter of fact and therefore in the third proposition which is but a result from and upon the two former there cannot but be a subordination and subjection still had and made either virtually or formally to the same righteous and unerring judgment How shall I do this great wickedness and sin against God saith Conscience in Joseph As I have done so God hath requited me saith Conscience in Adoni-bezek Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God judg ye say Peter and John to the Jewish Rulers when they would set Conscience in them at work Gen. 39.9 Judg. 1.7 Act. 4.19 The office of Conscience then in general is to judg for from and under God which is inclusive of many particular acts or as some please to phrase it offices whereof I shall give you a succinct view in opening a sixth Question Q. 6. What are the Offices of Conscience and how may we so order her and our selves in them as to come off with more clearness The Offices of Conscience are best observed and opened by a review of the manner of its operation or judgment which is by way of Discourse in a practical Syllogism as hath been already mentioned Let me offer two instances more Thus All that have the Lord for their God are in an happy or blessed estate But I have the Lord for my God Therefore I am in an happy or blessed estate Again All sin is to be avoided for it self But this idleness of mine is sin Therefore This idleness of mine is to be avoided for it self Here are two Syllogisms which shew the manner of Conscience its operations both as concerns my estate in the first Syllogism and as concerns action of mine in the latter In each Syllogism there are as you see three propositions This is the proceeding of Conscience in all the judgments it maketh The offices of Conscience are obviously pointed us out in and by these several Propositions The first Proposition still manifestly contains some general law or rule whereby I may come to a clear issue in judgment what my actions have been or else should be and what my estate is Thus Conscience hath the office of a Law-giver thus she is to conserve for us and 1. to communieate or dictate to us laws or rules of general right and verity as concern our estates and actions And so the Apostle sometimes appeals it Know ye not i.e. do not your Consciences tell you that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.9 Know ye not that to whom ye yield your selves servants to obey his servants ye are to whom ye obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience to righteousness Rom. 6.16 i.e. Do not your Consciences dictate as much as this So 1 Cor. 11.13 14. Judg in your selves c. Conscience is appealed to in this general concernment Is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered Again Doth not even nature it self i.e. doth not even natural Conscience teach you that if a man have long hair it is a shame unto him 3. To chalk out and descry our liberty As it is to dictate law or what must be in matters necessary so it is to discern liberty what may or may not be in matters of indifferency * Ames de Consc l. 1. c 3. n. 1. Q. 5 p. 26. That Conscience hath to order and officiate for us in thing adiaphorous is afore premised the Apostle prompteth 1 Cor. 10.25 27. I know there are that approve not the mention of these acts to the account of Conscience But the twofold acceptation of Conscience tendered you Quest 5. pag. 21. a more large and in a more limited sense may salve their exceptions And that such dictates and laws appertain to Conscience in the common and received usage of Conscience which I am particularly concerned to attend needs no other proof than the frequency of such speeches among us My Conscience tells me Men should do to others as they would
7. Exercise your selves to have always a good Conscience So Paul Herein do I exercise my self to have always a Conscience void of offence toward God and toward men Act. 24.16 Conscience will not be ensured or preserved without consideration exercise and pains 1. Co-united endeavours there must be as respects the subject Herein do I exercise my self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this is his study his labour his work his business which took up his outward specially his inward man Of so large an import is that word Here is matter enough to take up the whole Man Mind Memory Will Affections Members which had need be all imployed either for informing of or conforming to Conscience 2 Continued endeavours they must be as respects the circumstances Herein do I exercise my self always Let the times frown or favour the good Conscience let Conscience smite or smile whether you are under the arrests of Judgment or the happy liberties of mercy whether men speak well or ill whether the Candle of the Lord shine upon you on the one hand or the calumnies of men like so many arrows stick fast in you on the other whatever business be before you this business must not be behind or be neglected by you and herein use an holy constancy as you would maintain an holy Conscience and be able to say with Paul I have lived in all good Conscience before God until this day 1 Pet. 3.15 Job 27.6 3 Comprehensive endeavours they must be both as respects the state of Conscience that it be void of offence and the objects it regardeth likewise both toward God and toward man Keep the Conscience inoffensive if you would keep it entire and Evangelically good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is sometimes passively taken Phil. 1.10 Sometimes actively 1 Cor. 10.32 that Conscience neither give nor take offence either offend or be offended Eye Conscience in both kinds and herein exercise your selves constantly nor only as respects God nor only as respects man but as respects both God and Man first as respects God then as respects Man Let Religion toward God and Righteteousness toward Man be your continued exercise and you will neither impair the tranquillity nor injure the tenderness of your Conscience Job 2.3 Psal 15. Isa 33.15 16. Conscience hath both Tables of the Law committed originally to it The Conscience again committeth them as Josiah did to the other Powers as its inferior Officers when these bring Conscience word as Shaphan brought the King back word again saying All that was committed to thy servants they do it Then we have both a sincere and inoffending and also a secure and inoffended Conscience 2 Chr. 34.15 16. 8. Exercise Conscience oftner if you would have it always good The weal of Conscience lyes much-what within the walls of conscience If you vvould keep conscience vvell you must keep conscience at vvork sloth vvill beget sickness beget sin and incense justice to take away your talent Mat. 25.28 2. 1 Be frequent in examining Conscience ask how the case stands the frequent'st trier is usually the forward'st thriver in the School of Christ and of Conscience as well as of humane Literature The more you prove and examine Conscience the more you provoke and engage it for after-times and improve the experiences antecedent Psal 77.6 c. 2 Be forward in exciting Conscience Is it incident to drowsiness distempers deadness call upon it the oftener rouse it up by awakening Considerations thy Conscience is keeper of the Vineyards the other faculties and thine own Vineyard hast thou not kept Put it in remembrance of its duty and thy danger Provoke it by arguments of mercy and alarums of justice that if thou must say with the Spouse I sleep yet thou may'st say with her my heart waketh Psal 108.2 Cant. 1.6 c. 5.2 3 Be faithful in exonerating Conscience Whatever Conscience directed by the Word of God dictateth fail not to do it whatever it forbids thee forbear it else thou teachest Conscience to forbear thee limiting Conscience and not listning to Conscience are a ready way to the losing of Conscience 'T is miserable when men are churlish with Conscience and it must be said of you as Nabal's servants said of him He is such a son of Belial that Conscience cannot speak to him 1 Sam. 25.17 Listen to Conscience then and be led by it so shalt thou live in all good Conscience As God said to Abraham so say I to thee In all that Sarah in all that Conscience shall say unto thee hearken unto her voice If you would hold a good Conscience obey a good Conscience if it may not be heard it will away If it may command thee it will continue with thee Act. 23.1 Gen. 21.12 2 Tim. 1.3 1 Tim. 3.9 9. Exercise the good that is in and with your Conscience Actuate and imploy your implanted habits of Grace and these will grow into greater increases Keep up the lively exercise of Faith Love and Repentance and you keep up the exercise and enjoyment of a good Conscience These say to Conscience as David sometime did to Abiatbar Abide with us fear not he that seeketh thy life seeketh our life With us thou shalt be in safety Prov. 4.18 1 Sam. 22.23 Rinse Conscience upon every fall thou catchest from the filth which thou contractest in the waters of repentance The more tears of Contrition the more tenderness of Conscience and transcendent comfort Psal 51. Job 11.14 15. Raise and quicken Faith this will subdue enemies without sanctifie Conscience within sprinkle the blood of Jesus on it and suck continued virtue from his blessed promises 1 Joh. 5.4 5. Act. 26. Heb. 10.22 23. Repeat and continue the dear and delicious acts of Love which will facilitate the Commandments to you free Conscience in you and fits you to whatever capacity Christ shall call you 1 Joh. 5.3 1 Cor. 13.4 8. CHAP. III. Of the Pure and Defiled Conscience Q. 1. Whether the Conscience in man be naturally pure or defiled Touching this I must return you to what hath been already spoken Chap. 2. Quest 2. and 3. Q. 2. Whether a pure Conscience be attainable by man in this life THere is a double purity of the Conscience 1. Exact and legal as fully answers to what the Law asks 2. Evangelical and more large as fitly agrees with what the Gospel allows That excludes all degrees of pollution and includes all degrees of perfection this allows no degree of pollution and aspires after the highest degree of perfection 1. That legal and exact purity of the Conscience neither can nor ever was attained since the Fall by any meer man in this life 1. Who was ever priviledged in this life from the pollution of Conscience Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin Who can understand his errors Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean as man is not one There is not a just man upon the earth
of thy estate How is the most fine Gold changed Consternation fills my heart the crown is fallen from my head the joy of my heart ceaseth But especially thou must deplore the signalness of thy sins Wo unto me that I have sinned I will be sorry for my sin My sin is ever before me Against thee thee only have I sinned c. Lam. 4.1 c. 5.15 16 17. Psal 38.18 51.3 4. 'T is not sorrow simply but sorrow for sin which is the salve for a wounded spirit Yea this is not only a salve to heal but a sacrifice to expiate Psal 41.4 51.17 So that were thy heart more broken for sin it would be less burdened with sighing For this would interest God in thy case The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit Nay this would engage him in the cure He healeth the broken in heart and bindeth up their wounds He undertaketh to cordial and revive them yea to come down and dwell in them Psal 34.18 147.3 Isa 57.15 3 Return from thy sins unto the Lord in conversion Whence are all thy maladies but from turning to them from him And what remedy is there without returning to him from them Lo this is God's own prescription who is the great Physician and hath his promise of a cure sealed up with it and the Saints probatum est subscribed to it Hear how he calls encourageth cheareth quickeneth thee Hos 14.1 7. Jer. 3.1 12 13 14 22. Return ye back-sliding children and I will heal your back-slidings When will you speak back to him Behold we come unto thee for thou art the Lord our God who alone hast right in us and art alone able to give rest to us The misery is men turn into themselves or unto second causes with Ephraim to be healed of their wound and then cry out with Jeremy Why is my pain perpetual and my wound incurable which refuseth to be healed And thence complain and fly out even against God's faithfulness Wilt thou be altogether unto me as a lyar and as waters that fail To such strange heights of diffidence do such diversions sometimes drive them But alas they disoblige God from comforting them by these courses of theirs and open a way for severer corrections while they decline him and deifie others Hos 5.13 14 15. Jer. 15.18 19. Psal 13.1 2 3. 77.7 11. Come then and let us return unto the Lord. There is no recovery of our peace out of his presence 'T is he woundeth and his hands make whole Return we hither and we are sure to recover He hath torn and he will heal us he hath smitten and he will bind us up We have his promise for it Hos 6.1 2. Zach. 1.3 Job 5.18 Deut. 4.29 30 31. Direct 5. Take the Balsome that is in the blood of Christ Is there no balm in Gilead Is there no Physician there Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered Though there were none there that could heal their civil wounds Isa 8.22 c. 46.11 yet there is enough here to cure thy spiritual wounds For the blood of Jesus cleanseth from all sin cureth and redeemeth from all iniquity 1 Joh. 1.7 Tit. 2.14 His blood is the most sovereign confection and 〈◊〉 blessed self the most skilful Chirurgeon and Physitian No sore no sickness ever came amiss to him He hath healed infirmities of eighteen yea of eight and thirty years standing Isa 53.5 Mar. 2.17 Luk. 13.11 12. Joh. 5.5 c. Yea he is not only the Physiâ—ian but the Physick as one saith * D. Reynolds on Hos 14. Serm. 4. and gives himself his own flesh his own blood for a purgative a cordial a plaister to the Soul of his patient There is no balm for Conscience like the blood of Christ § 14 It both cleanseth and comforteth It purgeth her from dead works and pacifieth her with the living God and like the tree of life it is both for meat and for medicine Heb. 9.14 c. 10.19 22. Eph. 2.13 14. Ezek. 47.12 See then that you apply this blood to you and see him applying it for you 1 See that you apply his blood to you The best Balsoms become ineffectual without a befitting application Conscience is the part affected apply this plaister close to it You are not come to blackness and darkness but to the blood of sprinkling Heb. 12.18 24. Think it not enough that Christ's blood might be shed for you but it must be sprinkled on and by you The remission of your sins both in it self and in the sense of it doth immediately flow from this not that We have sinned and so God is provoked This is the burden and matter of pain to Conscience Christ is the propitiation for our sins this breatheth forth peace to Conscience But how is he the propitiation for our sins Through faith in his blood So that without an intervening act and application of faith Conscience is not blessed with peace notwithstanding the blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1.2 1 Joh. 2.1 2. Rom. 3.25 Come then and apply this choice and happy Balsom the precious blood as Peter calls it of our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.19 Apply and bring down the vertue of it to thine own case and condition Oh the advantages of an holy application which Christ assures us of under the metaphor of drinking his blood Joh. 6.54 55 56. Accept it then from the hands of thy dear Physician who to save thy blood hath shed his own and hath washed us from our sins in his own blood Appropriate it especially to the ulcerous and diseased part Take it for thine own 'T is no presumption while the Physician tenders it to thee and that freely and tells thee thou must not so much as dream of life without drinking his blood i.e. without applying and appropriating it Act. 20.28 Rev. 5.9 c. 1.5 c. 22.17 Joh. 7.37 c. 6.53 I allow that there is a difference between the act of the Will in chosing and accepting of Christ for mine and the act of the Conscience whereby I know and am assured that he is mine and I am his And though the latter be only immediately productive of this peace yet the former is eminently preparative thereunto and doth beget an initial and inchoative peace at least it will baffle many troubles Go then as far with Conscience as you can in it in answering her pleas from hence if you cannot accord all in peace Doth Conscience suggest the foulness of thy sins speak back again to Conscience His blood was shed for many for the remission of sins yea and of my sins if I am but throughly willing to take him for my Lord and Saviour Doth Conscience tell thee of thy several forfeitures and spiritual vassallage to Divine justice Tell Conscience his blood hath obtained eternal Redemption yea there is redemption for me through his blood if I can receive