Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	law_n	work_n	write_v	3,207	5	6.2968	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A03796	St. Pauls exercise, or, A sermon of conscience Describing the nature of it; and declaring the manner and meanes how to obtaine, and retaine, a good conscience. Preached by Iohn Hughes, Doctor in Diuinitie.	Hughes, John, fl. 1622.	1622 (1622)	STC 13914; ESTC S104276	14,412	29

the Casuists and Schoolemen of purpose that I may speake to the people and to their consciences And therefore according to plainenesse of speech and soundnesse of truth Conscience may thus be defined Conscience is a noble and a notable faculty in the soule of man working vpon it selfe and determining of all our particular thoughts words and workes either with vs or against vs. 1. I call it a Faculty because it produceth acts and is inseparable from its subiect Exui sed non deponipotest It may be left off for a time in respect of the vse of it as reason in a drunken man but it cannot be cast off for euer or remoued from the soule Which made St. Bernard to say Quocunque vado conscientia mea wecum Wheresoeuer I goe my conscience is with me it dogs and followes mee Adest vin● seqitur mort●um It is present with me while I liue and when I die it dyeth not for when my body is rotting in the graue my conscience shall liue And when I rise againe my conscience will come with me before God and his iudgement seat either to excuse or accuse me 2. I call it noble and notable in respect of the reciprocall working thereof which is strange and admirable and it is on this manner First the minde thinkes a thought either good or bad and then the conscience by doubling and reflecting the same doth thinke againe of that thought and iudgeth whether it be good or bad Wee haue a good resemblance thereof in the eye for the eye that seeth all things that may be seene seeth not it selfe but by way of reflection and the helpe of a looking-glasse So it may be said of the minde it mindes and vnderstands all things that may be vnderstood yet it vnderstands not it selfe nor its owne nature but by recoiling reflecting recollecting the beames rayes of that diuine light in and vpon it selfe which made some to say that Conscience is nothing else but anima reflexa the soule of man recoiling and reflecting vpon it selfe 3. I place it in the Soule of man not as part of a part for anima est indiuisa the soule is impartible but tota in tota whollyin the whole soule and all the faculties thereof where it keepeth a compleat Court the Court of Conscience In the vnderstanding where it principally resideth Bonorum malorumque facinorum est Index Index It sitteth as a Iudge determining and prescribing de iure this may or may not be done and this is well or ill done In the memory it is a Register a Recorder and a Witnesse Qui nec fallit nec fallitur which can neither deceiue nor be deceiued testifying de facto this was done and that was not done whereof the Poet speaketh Nocte dieque tuum gestas in pectore testem In the will and affections it is a layler or executioner easing or tormenting vs For what are the approofes and reproofes the ioyes and checkes of the conscience but actions of the will and affections recoiling vpon the Soule either comforting or tormenting vs for deeds past or else terrifying vs for euill deeds to come Which made one to compare it to a bridle and a whip Frenum ante peccatum flagrum post peccatum A bridle to curbe vs before we sinne and a scourge to whip vs after wee haue sinned 4. The fourth and last thing in the definition is the Subiect or Obiect whereupon Conscience doth worke or the matters wherewith it intermedleth It medleth not with vniuersalities as Arts and Sciences nor with other mens matters as busie-bodies doe but it deales wholly and solely in our owne proper and particular actions And of these it giueth iudgement by a kinde of reasoning and disputing in with it selfe called by the Schoolemen a practicall Syllogisme whose maior is some maxime in Reason or Religion which cannot be denyed and whose minor is some act fact or dutie of ours ill or well done omitted or committed And then followeth the conclusion of it selfe either with vs or against vs as conscince beareth witnesse Sometime it speaketh for God against vs and sometime for vs vnto God being as it were a middle 〈…〉 ng and an indifferent arbitrator betweene God and man And it is called Conscientia quasi cordis scientia saith S. Bernard or rather Scientia cum alia a knowledge ioyned with our knowledge whereby it knowes that of vs which God onely knowes with vs. It is a co witnesse with God for no man knowes what is in man but God onely the spirit of man which is his conscience and this is instar mille testium worth a thousand witnesses Which made the Philosopher to say O te miserum si contemnis hunc testem O wretched man if thou despisest the iudgement and testimony of thine owne conscience The Fathers haue many sayings and similies to expresse the nature of Conscience S Bernard compares it to a Booke Conscientia est liber ad quem emendandum omnes scripti sunt libri Conscience is a liuing booke annexed to the soule of man indeed a power or faculty of the soule like vnto a Booke for the informing and reforming whereof all other bookes are written and printed for what are all the Diuinity-bookes and all the Law-bookes but glosses and Commentaries vpon this Text Et maledicta glossa quae corrumpit textum Cursed is that law-booke or glosse that goes against Conscience This booke consisteth of two parts or volumes The one is a Law-booke wherein are set downe the grounds and principles of truth and equity called by the Ancients 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 siue relicta rationis Scintilla the reliques and remaines or the records of the Law and light of Nature The other part is a Chronicle or a Registrie wherein all our workes are written which made S. Chrysostome vse the same comparison which S. Bernard long before Conscientia est codex in quo quotidiana peccata conscribuntur A booke wherein all our daily sinnes are written Now Conscience when it giueth iudgement it first reades ouer the Law-booke and examineth what is written there what is bidden or forbidden by the law of God nature And then it turneth ouer the records and seeth what is done or left vndone and accordingly it giueth iudgement either with vs or against vs. S. Origen compares Conscience to a Schoolemaster Pedagogus animae sociatus affectuum corrector A Master or Monitor to direct our wayes and to correct our errours S. Austin to a looking-glasse Speculo similis euen a cleare Christall glasse wherein wee may see our owne vertues and vices and behold the image of the inner man Tertullian calls it praeiudicium extremi iudicij A fore-runner of Gods last iudgement euen the best Almanacke in our owne breasts and bosomes to foretell vs what shall become of vs at the last day These things I pray you to