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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	conscience_n	open_v	write_v	2,760	5	5.9989	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A18036	The conscionable Christian: or, The indeuour of Saint Paul, to haue and discharge a good conscience alwayes towards God, and men laid open and applyed in three sermons. Preached before the honourable judges of the circuit, at their seuerall assises, holden in Chard and Taunton, for the county of Somerset. 1620. By Richard Carpenter, Doctor of Diuinity, and pastor of Sherwell in Deuon.	Carpenter, Richard, 1575-1627.	1623 (1623)	STC 4681; ESTC S107676	65,416	130

and therefore the Hebrewes aptly call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prou. 15. 15. Prou. 15. 15. and the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is heart or soule 1. Ioh. 3. 20. 1. Ioh. 3. Lastly I giue it the title of Gods Register and deputy-Iudge because it is onely inferiour to God and vnder him holds court in the soule of man and is the principall commander and chiefe controller of all his doings and desires determining of all his actions either with him to excuse and absolue or against him to accuse and condemne and that for the conuersion of some and confusion of others The conscience endowed with these royalties The vnderstanding Metropolis of conscience resideth I confesse principally in the vnderstanding as her Metropolis Palace-Throne and thereby exerciseth her chiefe functions but yet in the whole soule commonly called the consistory of conscience she keepeth a compleat court and in the seuerall parts thereof produceth occasionally seuerall operations whence in common speech we say My conscience tels me I did this or did not that ther 's an action of the memory My conscience bids mee or forbids me to doe this ther 's an action of the will And againe It smites me checks me it comforts or torments me What are these but acts of the affections recoyling vpon the soule And certaine it is that whensoeuer conscience reasoneth with it selfe and maketh a practicall Syllogisme concerning the doing of that which is lawfull and auoyding of that which is vnlawfull it hath some helpe from all the faculties both Theorick and Practicke as when that part of conscience which the Ancients call Synteresis because as a treasury of rules and directions it keepes the grounds of the Law naturall and the principles of truth and equity shall make thus the proposition All adulterers and Syll. Cons oppressours are worthy of fearfull punishment and hereupon that other part called Syneidesis as an eye-witnesse and remembrancer of all thy doings shall make thus the assumption But thou hast committed adultery and oppression and shall conuince thee thereof by all circumstances of persons time and place whereupon followes an ineuitable conclusion In all this illatiue discourse who sees not a mutuall dependency on the mind will and memory which moues me to affirme Conscience to be a diuine power compounded of them all Whereat Basil Basil aimed when he tearmed it Naturale iudicatorium and Origen glanced when he calles it Paedagogus Origen in 2. ad Rom. animae sociatus and the Philosophers when they speake of a mans bonus genius but he Greg. spake best that cald it a booke ad quem emendandum omnes scripti sunt libri for whose sake all other bookes are written all other are but glosses vpon this Text. And cursed bee that Commentary which corrupts the Text of conscience Vse To all here present both learned and vnlearned I must commend this Text this book whatsoeuer thou art which seekest for counsel to know what thou maist doe by law consult with this booke of conscience first and see what it saith it is an excellent booke euen in thine owne bosome written by the finger of God in such plaine Characters and so legible that though thou knowest not a letter in any other booke yet thou maist reade this nay thou canst not for thy life but reade it and vnderstand it too and yeeld to the truth and equity thereof when it pleaseth God to turne thy eyes vpon it Open this booke then and see what is written in this Law how readest thou Luk. 10. 26. Ponder vpon it conferre with it it is thy cheapest and faithfullest counsellour at home thou needest not be at cost to seeke aduice abroad it is stored with singular precepts and principles concerning the knowledge and practice of good and euill perswading to the one disswading from the other Hearken then vnto it reade it in time for thy direction lest thou bee forced to looke vpon it too late to thy destruction it may be the light thereof by thy naturall blindnesse is much obscured and that the text letters thereof by affected ignorance and wilfull malice are more blurred and euen blotted out Oh then compare it with Gods Booke and labour by the helpe of Gods Ministers to haue it reformed and rectified Happy is that man that hath a liuing feeling and waking conscience for this shall keepe him so that he shall either not commit sinne or not continue long therein but the crying voyce of his conscience will rowze him out of the bed of security as the crowing Cocke did Peter and bring him to Math. 26. repentance and blessed is that repentance and obedience which is wrought by the power and command of a rectified conscience And thus hauing made a short surueigh of the nature of conscience as it is great and Gods lieutenant in the soule of man working more forcibly on all the parts and powers thereof then all other agents whatsoeuer sitting in the vnderstanding as Iudge to prescribe prohibit absolue and condemne de iure in the memory as Recorder and witnesse testifying de facto in the will and affections as rewarder and punisher pro iure aut iniuria facti I will now with the like breuity and perspicuity speake somewhat of each of these offices distinctly And first of conscience as it writes downe and keepes in record all our doings Secondly as it passeth sentence of them with vs or against vs Thirdly as it executeth the sentence determinate First conscience as a Scribe or Notary sitting 1. Office Hieroglyphic in the closet of mans heart with pen in hand records and keepes a Catalogue or Diary of all our doings of the time when place where the manner how they were performed and that so cleere and euident that goe where we will doe what wee can the characters of them cannot be cancelled or razed She omitteth no default through slownesse of hand neither strikes shee out any debt through deceit like the vniust Steward that bade put downe Luk. 16. 6. fifty for an hundred she cannot bee corrupted to conceale our faults or smothered by tract of time not to check vs for them as appeared in Iosephs brethren whose consciences troubled Gen. 42. 21. them in Egypt for that cruelty which many yeeres before they had shewed towards their Brother in Canaan It is good therefore for vs to agree with conscience in time and in all our wayes to seeke her approbation And as the reuerend Martyr B. Latimer tooke speciall care to Fox Mart. the placing of his words in his examination before Bonner when he heard the pen walking in the chimney behind the cloth and describing whatsoeuer he said So ought we circumspectly to looke to all our doings and sayings and to guard watch and ward our senses which are Aug. the gates and cinque-ports of corruption and lusts sith that conscience is not onely the curious super-visor but the

experience well known that for want of knowledge in Gods Booke and of faith in the Gospell offering forgiuenesse of sinnes onely by Christs blood many sottish soules liue in ignorance and darknesse and in the very shadow of death not able to discerne by reason of their blind nature and naturall blindnesse the things which concerne their peace but thinking all religions will saue or a good meaning serue the turne or a Lord haue mercy at last cast be sufficient Alas many a Fly doe these swallow many a sinne vnseene vnsorrowed for doe they digest and in many things do they erre as Christ told the Sadduces Mark 12. because they know not the Scriptures Mark 12. 24. and the power of God The ignorance whereof as Chrysostome noteth is the mother of Chrysost in 3. Coloss all mischiefe and therfore he earnestly exhorteth all secular persons to get them Bibles the physicke of their soules to labour to bee more Iob 22. 21. acquainted with God in his Word that they may grow vp therby in grace and in the knowledge 2. Pet. 3. 13. of our Sauiour Christ without which sauing knowledge and faith grounded thereon which the Hebrewes by an excellency call Shekel Mekodesh sanctifying wisedome the conscience 2. Faith cannot be vpright It is sufficient vnto sin to doe against conscience as Saint Paul in Rom. Rom. 14. Augustine 14. sheweth whereunto that of Saint Augustine agreeth Quicquid sit contra conscientiam aedificat ad Gehennam But it is not sufficient to duty and obedience to doe according to conscience except it bee inlightened and rectified by the Word without which information and illumination conscience often resolues where it should restraine acquits where it should condemn and so erreth and offendeth diuers waies First by an erronious acceptation and entertainment of the lawes fashions and traditions of men for the precepts of God which is the errour of superstition incident to ignorant arrogant Papists who make the Popes Dictates their practicall principles and seeing if they see at al thorow the false spectacles of their purblind guides shew their obedience in those things to wit in the adoration of Images inuocation of Saints meritorious obseruation of dayes and meates and celebration of Pilgrimages and Masses c. for which they can shew no commandement All whose Religion in these and the like poynts of Purgatory of prayer for the dead of satisfactory seruices and sacrifices of their owne inuention may easily be swept away with the Prophets besome Esa Esa 1. 12. 1. Who required these things at your hands Secondly by a vaine assumption of false principles and a misprision of good for euill of euill for good and this is the errour of prophannesse frequent amongst our common people who inlarge their consciences to the vttermost bounds of any pleasure or profit and vnder pretence of not being booke-learned will not suffer their consciences to prooue good Lawyers in Gods Booke but liue in darke corners vnder blind Sir Iohns and so take quid pro quo Chalke for Cheese riches for righteousnesse policy for piety who accounting gaine godlinesse and maintaining bad opinions to iustifie base affections doe hereupon in the errour of their iudgement practise commonly swearing prophaning of the Sabbath Vsury Lying Lottery Legerdemaine without any regret of conscience at all Thirdly by false application of good principles as when from those approued grounds and true propositions Religious adoration is not to be giuen to creatures and likewise Christians haue liberty in things indifferent these vnwarrantable conclusions are deduced Therefore we may not kneele in the Act of receiuing the Communion Therefore we are not bound to obey the Magistrate in things indifferent Which errour of conscience I may call the errour of too much singularity and precisenesse arguing their indiscretion who in their ouerweening curiosity will bee ouer-pleasing God with better deuices then his owne and take vpon them to teach the Spirit to speake according to the consonants of the Alphabet so long till their wit turne to madnes and end in mischiefe as appeareth by the course and condition of Separatists Anabaptists and Arminians at this day For the auoyding of all which errours of superstition prophanenesse and precisenesse let vs heare and obey our Sauiours counsell Search Ioh. 5. 39. the Scriptures Ioh. 5. for they beare witnesse of me the Way the Truth the Life they giue best testimony both of Gods will concerning his own seruice and of his good will in Christ to all his faithfull seruants Let this Word of God dwell plentifully in vs as Saint Paul prescribeth Col. 3. 16. Col. 3. and that not in some but in all wisedome that we may thinke speake and doe wisely in all things And for the better sharpening of our dimmed sight in matters diuine let vs not refuse the eye-salue of our better inlightened guides but gladly accept thereof that so by all these and other good meanes our consciences being rightly informed we may expresse the goodnesse of them by doing or not doing confidently what God hath commanded or prohibited And to this end that our hearts Col. 2. 2 16. may bee comforted and established in euery good saying and doing wee are to lay fast hold on that euerlasting consolation and good hope through grace which the Father hath giuen vs Colos 2. 2 16. and by all spirituall aliments to preserue and cherish that sauing faith in vs whereby we are perswaded that our sinnes are pardoned and God in Christ reconciled to vs. This indeed is the root of a good conscience as hath been already shewed and this Beleeue in Christs blood is the gracious powerfull Word whereby all consciences are now stilled as the Luk. 19. Act. 16. consciences of Mary Magdalen Zacheus Lydia and that Iaylor were suddenly and soundly thereby quieted Now for the cherishing and confirming of this faith the daily exercises of repentance and obedience are requisite and therefore to make vp the vprightnesse of a good conscience wee are in the second place to speake of these ingredients as most necessary thereunto to wit of repentance and obedience Of repentance in mind altering the thoughts from the approbation of sinne of repentance in heart sorrowing for the committing of sinne of repentance in mouth reprouing and controlling sin of repentance in the whole man remoouing whatsoeuer is knowne to be amisse and bringing forth fruits of amendment of life c. This is a worke impossible to nature without grace and so slow in the working of grace through the contradiction of our nature that howsoeuer many professe it yet few practise it but being rightly practised it will make such a diuision betwixt our persons and our sinnes that by the repairing of the Image of God more and more in vs we shall haue comfortable furtherance in the way to saluation This therefore must not be wanting to him or scanting in him that desireth a good conscience For where

the hauing and holding of an vpright conscience within you Doe all things as in Gods presence cherish true sauing-faith by often hearing and reading of the Word and the frequent practice of Prayer and true repentance inure your selues by religious exercises to a kind of familiarity with God that the assurance of his loue in Christ and the comforts thereof be not interrupted walke carefully in your particular callings to the glory of God and the common good auoyding as serpents couetousnesse and ambition which make men set their consciences on tenters and stretch like cheuerill and because at the great and generall Assises sentence shall passe and Iudgement be awarded according to the things written in the Booke of euery mans conscience take we heed Reu. 20. 13. that these Bookes of account bee kept vnblurred vnpolluted pure and cleane from presumptuous sinnes which are the cut-throate of the soule and offensiue in Gods sight In a word let this be your wish aboue all wishes and herein make sure worke come of the rest what will that by the effusion of Christs Blood for you and infusion of his Spirit into you you may inioy this pleasant and peaceable portion of a good conscience which is more highly to bee esteemed of and held at a dearer rate then the Merchants precious Pearle for which as it is Mat. 13. 46. in the Parable he sold all that he had in comparison whereof the things that are in the worlds eye most aduantageable vnto vs are to be accounted losse and iudged as dung that we Phil. 3. 7. may win it Let others say Who wil shew vs any good Yet Lord lift thou vp the light of thy Psal 4. countenance vpon vs. Let others content themselues with a portion in this life whose bellies Psal 17. 14 15. thou fillest with thy hid treasure but let vs O Lord behold thy face in righteousnesse and in the glasse of a good conscience heere on earth so when we awake in the day of Resurrection we shall be satisfied with thine Image rauished with seeing and secured for retaining thy glorious presence in heauen All earthly ioyes and treasures without this of a good conscience are but as so many ponderous waights to giue poize to the soule to sinke it to hell But with this all outward helpes for present maintenance are as so many Promooters and Proctors for the future inheritance giuing vs not onely wings of a Doue or an Eagle but of an Angel to ascend into heauen With this heauenly treasure then of an vpright conscience whosoeuer amongst vs O that there were many such is really possessed to speake plainely in the phrase of the holy Ghost he is without controuersie richly yea royally blessed * Sola conscientia virtutum praestat gaudium verum perpetuum Caeterae hilaritates frontem remittunt cor non implent Sen. in Ep. 23. Hee need not enuy the rich Corne-hoorders barnes inlarged and goods increasing or the Gluttons purple rayment and delicious feeding or the greatnesse of the greatest Potentate arrayed in robes of State powdered with Pearle and boasting with Nebuchadnezzar of his power and stately building No Hee need not enuy the magnificent pompe and vsurped Oecumenicall power of that triple-crowned ruffling Priest of Rome that Meridianus Daemon as Bernard calls Antichrist who to giue life to the image of the Beast seekes as Reu. 13. 15. much as in him lieth to make the Lord of life exhaeredem vineae exhaeredem vitae riding on mens shoulders treading on Emperours necks and swimming in his Orcipotent Sea with the bladders of intolerable pride and insolency No no Vix vnius assis Nec pretio pluris mundana haec omnia ducit For carryed in the triumphant Chariot of a cleare conscience and aduanced farre aboue these painted Pageants of things sublunary and perishing with Gods leaue and loue he inioyeth a selfe-sufficient happinesse in health and sickenesse in life and death and after death euer-induring Vse O happy then and thrice happy we if as S. 1. Cor. 1. 12. Pauls was so our reioycing and glory bee in the testimony of a good conscience if in truth wee can doe as in all his tryalls he did hold foorth this testimony as a shield of defence and flag of defiance against all scandalous imputations and Acts 23. 24. 25. aspersions if we can truely say as he said Wee are assured that we haue a good conscience desiring in all things to liue honestly Heb. 13. 18. or duely indeuour as hee in my Text indeuoured to haue a good conscience alwayes towards God Text. 3. part and men Which words importing the latitude or extent of a good conscience in respect of time and the obiects thereof come now very fitly to bee handled wherein I will labour to preuent your wearinesse First of the time and duration of the Apostles indeuour and exercise to haue a good conscience namely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Alwayes being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Alwayes Scholiast hath it being in all things euery manner of way so farre as humane frailty did not let inoffensiue and vnblameable indeuouring at all times through the whole tenor of his life Non pro vsura exigui temporis aut pro primis Caluin tantum diebus sed omnibus diebus vitae post conuersionem as Caluin renders it to bee vprightly conscionable conscionably vpright Doct. 8 So that this word Alwayes imports constancie and equality without remissenesse or partiality In the life of man and course of his calling there are many turnings references occurrences opportunities importunities and diuers respects in all which at euery turne to bee the same man requires the strength of a good conscience A child or weakeling may take two or three steps well and walke somewhat euenly but to turne hither and thither vp and downe with actiuenesse and dexterity and to maintaine the thorow pace or race with settled constancie and alacrity argues the metall and making of a very strong man Such an one was our Apostle in the race of Christianity after his conuersion as appeareth by his Triumphant Epinichion 2. Tim. 4. I haue fought a good fight 2. Tim. 4. 7. kept the faith finished my course c. and by his confident protestation Acts 23. 1. I haue Acts 23. 1. serued God with a good conscience 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thorowout vnto this day Alwayes without stumbling without offence as it is in my Text c. Which is not so precisely to bee vnderstood Reas double as if he had beene alwayes indowed with an equall good disposition to godly duties and had neuer slipt or slept through humane infirmity For as the Spouse of Christ confesseth Cant. 5. ● of her selfe I sleepe but my heart waketh and so condemneth her drowzinesse in the flesh notwithstanding her watchfulnesse in the Spirit So S. Paul Rom. 7. complaineth on himselfe Rom. 7. 19. that