Lordships pardon for this boldnesse and Prolixity and a favourable acceptance and perusal of this homely Treatise shall continue to efflagitate and importune God that as he hath made you high in Place and Honour and Dignity So you may be made much more high in Name and Praise and Grace and Glory Your Lordships humble servant in every Christian service Jo SHEFFEILD To the Conscientious Reader CHristian and Consciencious Reader for such I desire to find at least to leave thee the World is now full of Books so full that it cannot contain all that is written and of how many may it be said that they do but proclaim the vanity of the Writer and procure wearinesse if not vexation to the Reader As for the subject and matter of this Discourse it cannot but receive thy Approbation Howsoever the homely and plain language in it the unelegancy and untakingness of the composure and composer in this now so knowing but more censorious Age may cause it to be laid aside with neglect by some who as in hearing they hear not Sermons but names so in reading use not to read Treatises but Titles O my Lord I am not Eloquent Vir verbâ—rum Ex. 4. 10. but of a slow Speech and of a slow Tongue yet if the Lord say I will go with thee and be with thy mouth and with this Rod and Pen in thy Hand how much may a stammerring and discouraged Moses undertake and go through with Jerom said he did diligere Christum in Augustino Love Austin the better for Christs sake our times invert it and we do onely diligere Augustinum in Christo we love Christ the better for St. Austins sake and it may be should not like Christ at all if it were not in Austins mouth and parts The preaching of Christ in a crucified stile now is accounted foolishnesse as heretofore in a crucified state But as of all Divinity it may be said Ornari res tanta negaâ— contenta doceri so especially a discourse of Conscience needs least the dresse of humane Ornaments requires most the strength of Divine Evidence and Demonstration of the Spirit It is a subject wherein many of eminent worth have travelled some more antiently many more of latter times and among our selves All which will have their deserved praise in the Churches of Christ unto succeeding Ages And yet it were much to be wished that either more were written in these dayes by those who are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and of more leisure and abilities or that what is already written were more read studied perused and practised As for me although I cannot but be so far at least Conscious to my own weaknesses and insufficiencies as to say with Gideon Is not my thousand the least in the Tribe and is not some others Gleanings better than my whole Vintage yet having expected that some of more dayes and name and parts should have spoken in Abners language to Joab calling for a Cessation 2 Sam. 2. 26. or a Retreat How long shall it be ere thou bid the People return from pursuing their Brethren that our Swords of Contention may he beaten into Plough-shares of more use and fruitfulnesse for the Lords field and our Spears of difference into Pruning-hooks to prune and dresse the Lords Vineyard least all practicall Divinity be eaten up of controversal which being exhaled first from more specious utrums shortly congeales into more gross dubious neutrums at last dissolves into irreligious nihilums and settles in scepticism at last or foulest Atheism and fearing least our smal Coal or Spark which is yet remaining our sacred Coal of Israel of Religion Faith and good Conscience should be quite put out which to me seems to be struck at and in great danger I have with Craesus Son who had never spoken before till he saw his Fathers life in that danger broken that silence and broke out from that privacy which I could gladly have enjoyed But if Religion be in danger as clearly it is I concluded that if Dumb men should not cry out the very stones would cry out against them Conscience is the Book of Books the ancientest piece of Scripture in the World the first Tables of Gods own hewing and Hand-writing in the heart of man for whose sake all other Books since yea the Scripture was after purposely written to Comment upon it Unicuique suus liber Conscientia propter hunc libellum omnes alii libri inventi sunt if Bernard say true This is thy Book which thou must be well versed in or all thy other reading will be unprofitable To study other Books may make thee a Scholler but to study this makes thee a Christian Conscience is a little Map or volume of Divinity there is more of God to be seen in Conscience than in any other piece It is the rarest piece that God ever made Of all Creatures there is more of God to be seene in Man than in them all in Man most in the Soul in the Soul most in the Conscience This smelleth more of God saith one than the Heavens the Sun the Stars or all the glorious things of the Earth Gold precious Stones Rubies or the sweetest Herbs Roses or Lillyes Conscience is the Art of Arts and Science of Sciences which every one of whatsoever Degree Quality Science is of absolute necessity bound to be skilled and exercised in A Book it is which neither the Learned when it is delivered to him with this Charge Read this I pray may refuse put away as he Esa 29. 11 12. and say I cannot for it is sealed It is an open Book Or when to the unlearned with the same Charge Read this now he may not say I cannot for I am not Book-learned It is â—n easie Book the Lay-mans Book or Primmer Multae sunt Scientiae hominum sed nulla melior illa quâ homo cognoscit seipsum Many Sciences there are but none like that whereby a man knowes himself The Tree of Knowledge hath often proved to the sons of men the Tree of Evill the fruit though delightful to the eye and pleasant to the taste often proving bitter Apples of contention God hath justly hedged it in and set an Angel to keep man from approaching it But the Tree of Conscience is ever the Tree of Life his fruit is meat his leaves medicine and his very shade comfortâ—ble And truly if a man have but so much Knowledge as to get and keep a good Conscience though he can never attain to those high Speculations which the world admires it is enough I would have you saith the Apostle to the Ro. 16. 19. Romanes as simple to evill as wise to good And our Saviour to those of Thyatira whose parts could not reach the bottome of those strange and deep notions which they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 depths though depths of Satan counting their doctrines of licentiousnesse depths and the old plain sincerity and conscientiousnesse but
cannot say though he have the better Sword but his enemy may have the better Cause that the other cause may after carry it Fourthly The Conqueror may pay so dear for his victory that he doth not greatly joy in it Ezek. 32. 27. Fifthly The Conqueror may when all is done go down to Hell with his sword by his side and his weapons of war under his head though he was the terror of the mighty in the land of the living and then his iniquity shall lie heavie on his bones But we are more than Conquerours we have overcome to day and shall to morrow our cause is a victorious cause carries not Fortunam Caesaris but Honorem Christi therefore shall go forth conquering and to conquer and let Satan and all his Confederates unite their forces Principalities Powers height depth we fear them not all we are secure of victory and safety O glorious and happy condition when a man hath lost all he is as if he had gained all the world when killed all the day long as if he was triumphing all the day long I suffer and am bound saith the Apostle but the word of God is not bound my Cause is not bound my Conscience Dr. Stoughton in his Sermon before K. James is not bound a man takes no hurt while Conscience is safe Excellently Dr. Stoughton to this purpose Job was more happy when he fate upon the dung-hill than Adam when he sinned in Paradise because though his body were dissolved into worms and every worm acted by a Devill as Origen would have it to increase his torment yet he had not eaten the forbidden fruit which bred this worm of Conscience and made him fly from God The Bride that hath good Chear within and good musick and a good Bridegroome with her may be merry though the hail chance to rattle upon the tyles without upon her wedding-day Though the world should rattle about his ears a man may sit merry that sits at the Feast of a good Conscience Nay the Child of God by virtue of this in the midst of the waves of affliction is as secure as that child which in a Shipwrack was upon a plank in his mothers lap till she awaked him securely sleeping and then with his pretty countenance sweetly smiling and by and by sportingly asking a stroke to beat the naughty waves and at last when they continued boystrous for all that sharply chiding them as though they had been but his play-fellowes O the innocency O the comfort of Peace O the tranquility of a spotlesse mind There is no Heaven so clear as a good Conscience So that learned Doctor Good Conscience is to a man his closest and dearest friend that like Baruch to Jeremy will visit him in prison and will keep his Evidences safe for him in a time of common conflagration and calamity Jer. 32. 11 14. Or rather it is that Earthen vessel wherein alone our Evidences of our heavenly state are put and preserved from being corrupted both our Evidences our sealed Evidence and our open Evidence for a Christian must have two the sealed Evidence of Justification and the open Evidence of Sanctification are kept in this Vrne as Baruch was commanded to put both Jeremies Evidences of his purchase the sealed and the open in an Earthen vessel Yea good Conscience is not onely the Non est utilius remedium nec certius testimonium futerae beatitudinis bonâ Conscientiâ Bern. de in t domo preserver of Assurance but is a part of it for what is Assurance of Salvation but in the originall an Act of Grace passed in favour of a poor repenting and beleeving sinner in the Court of Heaven entred and ingrossed in the Book of Life which because procured by the Price of Bloud is written out in the precious Blood of Christ signed and sealed by the impresse of the Spirit of promise which is the Fathers and the Sons Agent on this behalf and attested by good Conscience as that which sets to his his seal next God and is then delivered into the hand of Faith as Gods Act and Deed for the sole Use and Benefit of a rightly purified Conscience Or Assurance is a Transcript taken out of the book of life that sealed book sealed in the bosome and counsell of the Father now unclasped by the hand of the Lamb written fair out in his Bloud attested by the Spirit of God within and endorsed without with the graces and fruits of the Spirit and at last passed in the Court and entred in the Office of good Conscience This this is the Assurance of the Saints when Gods Spirit attests to our Spirit and again our Spirit doth withal consent with the Spirit of God The other benefit of good Conscience 2 At Death here is at death when as it enables and directs ad benè beatèque moriendum an undertaking that all Philosophy could never make good nor did attempt but did onely promise the way ad benè beatèque vivendum yet fell short of that Conscience is the way to well-living it is the onely way to well-dying This gives rejoycing as the Apostle saith to him that is under the sentence and stroke of death and is now despairing altogether of this life 2 Cor. 1. 9. Good Conscience as it is sweeter than life so it is stronger than death and the good man and his Conscience are like Saul and Jonathan lovely in their life and which is above all in death they are not divided Hujusmodi comparandae sunt opes quae cum naufragio simul enatent Prideaux History pag. 247 The goods embarqued in good Conscience are the onely goods which will be saved when there is any shipwrack of State or Life And those are the goods we should get said the Emperour Lewes of Bavyer which in a shipwrack can swim out as well as thy self A saying also which Q. Mary is said to have Englished and much delighted in These are two great Benefits in this Life here But there are two greater for hereafter Conscience helping Ad tutò intrepidèque comparendum Ad Gloriosè aeternèque triumphandum 3 At judgment Conscience hath two other kindnesses which it will doe for the Soule beyond those two fore-named in life and death It will stand a man in stead when he is to make his appearance before the Tribunal of God Where Courage dares not shew his face nor Eloquence open his mouth where Majestie hath no respect and Greatnesse no favour and as the Martyr said Where money bears no mastery There good Conscience is known and befriended there it dares appear thither it doth appeal when the King and the Captain and the Great man and the Mighty man and the Chief Commander and the Rich and the Bond and the Free cry to the mountains to hide them and to the rocks to fall Rev. 6. 15. 16. on them that they may not appear Then doth good Conscience lift up
the two prisoners dreams Pharaoh made it good Hic crucem sceleris precium tulit alter honores Gen. 41. 13. It came to passe saith the Butler to Pharaoh as he interpreted to us so it was me he restored to mine office him he hanged Joseph is then said to hang the one and restore the other because he foretold it so and it fell out accordingly so conscience is said to absolve and condemn because according to the sentence of this lower Court and Judicatory of conscience usually is the last sentence of that highest Court in Heaven If my conscience Job 31. 35. 36. clear me let my adversary write a Book and Libell against me I shall wear it as a Isa 50. 8. Crown my witness is at hand and he is near 1 Sam. 2. 25 that justifieth me But if my conscience Libell against me who shall Apologize for me If a Quamquam humana sub tersugiem judicia judicium propriae conscientiae fugere non valeo Bernard man sin against another the Judge shall judge them but if a man be condemned by himself who shall be his Dayes-man I may flie mans judgement seat or stop the Judges mouth but I cannot escape the Bar nor stop the mouth of my own conscience Prima est haec ultio quod se Judice nemo nocens absolvitur Improba quamvis Gratia fallacis Praetoris vicerit Vrnam Juven Sat. 13. I might adde to these four named Offices of Consciences registeriall office conscience a fifth his Registerial Office for conscience is the great Register and Recorder of Vbicunque vado conscientia mea â—â—e non deserit sed prae sâ—ns ad sâ—sâ—it quicquid facio scribit Bernard the world It is to every man his private Notary or Secretary keeping notes or records of all his Acts and Deeds Hence it hath his name Synteresis given it Conscience hath the Pen of a ready writer and takes in short hand and in an illegible character from thy mouth as fast as thou speakest yea from thy heart what thou contrivest consciences writing at present is not legible as that which is written with the juyce of a Lemmon is not to be read by Day-light but against the fire by night you may read it so consciences writing will be read by fire light of distress or in that day when Heaven and earth are on fire then shall this book be opened and the Cypher be discovered Conscience is the poorest mans Historiographer who hath no Chronicler to write his Story Every mans Acts both first and last are written in the Apocryphal Book of conscience The sin of Judah is written with the pen of iron and with the point of a Diamond it is graven upon the Table of their heart Jer. 17. 1. It is not the lot of every mean man to have his Acts and memory perpetuated it is the honour of Kings and sometimes of some other more eminent persons of David it is said 1 Chro. 29. 29. Now the rest of the Acts of David the King first and last behold they are written in the Book of Samuel the Seer and in the book of Nathan the Prophet and in the Book of Gad the Seer But of every man of whatsoever quality it may be said the rest of his Acts though they be not mentioned in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings yet first and last they are all written in the book of the Chronicles of conscience by Syneidesis the Seer and Synteresis the Recorder Now to draw to a conclusion conscience I said was then a good conscience when it doth discharge all his forenamed Offices A Magistrate a Minister a Judge a Witness is then good when each of them is good in his proper place and function and indeed that every one is in truth which he is in discharge of his particular Calling Then is conscience good when it doth officiate well and doth the part of a Minister of a Magistrate of a Witnesse and of a Judge In these four tespects I may say of conscience Ipsa indicat ipsa imperat ipsa observat ipsa judicat as Bernard excellently Ipsa testis ipsa judex ipsa tortor ipsa carcer Ipsa accusat Lib. de consc cap. 9. ipsa judicat ipsa punit ipsa damnat A good conscience is a good Minister a good Magistrate a good Witness a good Judge the best of friends but an ill conscience is an observer of thee will be an informer against thee and both thine adversary and accuser and witness and Judge and Jaylor and Executioner and Tormentor too the worst of enemies Hence flow five Corollaries or conclusions Corollary 1. Conscience is to perform his two first Offices viz. of a Minister to inform and direct and of a King to command and prescribe before a work is to be done or when in fieri Conscience should call in Understanding and Faith to advise with and herein imitate God who Gen. 1. 26. intending to Create Man propounds his Action propounds his End and propounds his Model Let us make man in our Image after our likenesse and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the ayre and over the cattell and over all the earth c. So should we say Let me upon deliberation do such an Act after such a manner to such an end This is to Act according to conscience and consequently according to God Corollary 2. When a work or action is already done In facto esse conscience is to discharge his two last Offices of a witness and of a Judge to accuse or excuse to approve or reprove and so to passe sentence Thus did God after every dayes work finished he reviewed his worke and saw with much content and fulness of approbation it was good And at last Gen. 1. 31. God saw every thing that he had made and behold it was very good So should we review all our actions before we passe from them to new businesses Let thine eyes look right on and let thine eye-lids look strait before thee Ponder the path of thy feet and let all thy ways be established Prov. 4. 25 26. There you have these two rules in the well learning and practising whereof lies the chiefest businesse of Practical conscience Coroll 3. When a man goes wilfully against the two first Acts or Offices of Conscience viz. Ministerall Regall he commits the highest sin and draws on the greatest guilt Maxima violatio Conscientiae maximum peccatum Ames What made the sin of the lapsed Angels unpardonable but because they went against a full and clear light of a fully informed conscience and divinely irradiated understanding Their sin had many ingredients of that sin against the holy Ghost in it being committed against clear light much received grace with full consent of will having much of malice in it therefore no wonder it became unpardonable And whence is it that the sin against the
sapienter descendere in infernum Ber. de vit Sol. discretion and go a wise and learned way thither These keep the key of Knowledge but mean not to go into the Kingdom of Heaven themselves but the key of Conscience the poor and simple and unlearned ones in the world get and presse after the Kingdom of God and enter in Surgunt indocti et rapiunt Regnum Coelorum nos cum doctrinis nostris sine corde ecce ubi volutamur in carne sanguine Aug. Conf. l. 8. c. 8. The Publicane and Harlot conscienciously humbled enter into the Kingdom of Heaven before the Pharisee elated with his greater knowledge And the illiterate Christian is able to read his name in the book of Life and his Duty in the Book of Conscience when the most literate Scribe and Learned Scholler can do neither CHAP. X. Of the well spoken Conscience Of the wel spoken conscience THe well-spoken Conscience is that which can make the Soule a good Answer or upon just Occasion can make fit Demands and put forth his Queres This is that good Conscience or rather Property of it which Peter commendeth so much resembling it to Noahs Arke and saith of it that it saves us 1 Pet. 3. 21. The like figure whereunto even Baptisme doth also now save us not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The answer of a good Conscience towards God Which word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies as well or rather an Interrogation then an Answer Stipulstio Some thinke the Apostle doth allude to that Practise of Demands made in Baptisme Credis Credo which Practise though very Ancient yet may be questioned whether so Ancient Our Translators have chosen rather to render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Answer And in this sense it tells us what conscience hath to do First It makes a good and ready Answer to God It is ever as quick of Speech as it is of Sight or of Hearing when God saith Seeke ye my face my heart saith David talkd of it and went up and downe with it Thy face Lord I will seeke Psal 27. 8. It is written of me that I should doe thy will Psal 40. 8. Conscience replyes thy will O my God is my will Thy law is in my heart I am content to do it Conscience goes often into Habukuks watch Hab. 2. 1. Towre and watcheth listening what the Lord hath to say and studieth what to answer when he is spoken unto Speak Lord saith Conscience for thy servant heareth yea Conscience is 1 Sam. 3. 10. ready to aske and listen Lord what wilt tbâ—u have me to doe As Augustine often da quod Act. 9. 6. jubes et jube quod vis Lord give what thou commandest and give what Command thou wilt Loquere Magister bone libenter te audio et cum adversaris mihi et cum irasceris audio te Cyprian Secondly It makes a good answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for God according to that Precept 2 or 3 verses before 1 Pet 3. 15 16. Sanctifie the Lord God in your hearts and be ready alway to give an answer to every man that asketh you a Reason of the hope that is in you with meekenesse and reverence having a good Conscience that whereas they speak evill of you as of evill dooers they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ So that with S. Peter it is a matter of Conscience and a marke of a good Conscience to be ready to yeeld an account of our Spirituall state when it is required of us Nicodemus thought he was bound in Conscience to stand up and make an Answer for Christ when he was unjustly condemned in the Consistory being never heard and never summoned Doth our Law condemnn any man saith he before it heare him and know what he doth Good Conscience cannot be silent Jo. 7. 51 and fit still without an answer when any cause of God is in hand A good Conscience thinks it is the heaviest crime that can be laid Blasphemiam ingerit religioni quam colit quiâ—quod confitetur ante omnes non impleverit Cyprian to any mans charge to be silent for God Let them call me Adulterer Theife c. or what they please said Luther so that I may not be charged with wicked silence in the cause of God Thirdly Good Conscience makes many a good answer fot ones selfe when under the greatest cloud of Censures and Suspitions or under the Aspersions of all Obloquies Ro. 9. 1. I speake the truth saith the Apostle and lie not my Conscience also is my witnesse This the same Apostle glories in in another place we are as deceivers say you but yet True men saith 2 Cor. 6. 8. 9. Conscience As unknown say you well enough known saith Conscience Conscience makes the best Certificate and gives the best Testimony to any man that hee can have with which Certificate he may confidently travell and passe the whole world over yea at last with this he shall not feare to enter Heaven conducted thither by a guard of Angels Fourthly When any businesse of greatest consequence is under consideration Conscience puts the best answer into thy mouth and will readily resolve what is to be done Enquire-still at Consciences mouth and say as Paul to Philemon without thy advice wil I do nothing consult not in such cases with flesh and blood with safety and policy but with conscience and duty and the answer is ready Phil. v. 19 Habes spacium trium dierum in quo deliberes velisne Romam reverti aut aliquem locum quo traducaris eligere cui ille trium dierum vel etiam mensium spacium rationem non immutat quare mittas me licet quo velis Magd. Cent. 4. c. 3. we need not crave time As Liberius a Godly and Orthodox Bishop of Rome when convented before Constantius an Arrian Emperour and charged there with stubbornes for partaking with Athanasius answered most freely before the Emperour at last when after all faire perswasions and sharp threats he found him persisting in his former resolutions he gave him then three dayes time to consider of it whither then to returne to his Bishoprick at home or to be banisht or to set downe what he would make choice of He answers O Emperour send me whither thou wilt three dayes or three moneths are all one to me Truth and reason do not change with time So into banishment he was sent If men would in their straites when they know not what to resolve upon cast their lot into the lap of Conscience they should have a more certain easie and compendious resolution then by consulting with flesh and blood and reading sometimes many discourses Cathedram habet in conscientia qui corda docet Conscience should bee made Doctor of the Chayre It is the most sound Divinity Reader and oftentimes the most satisfying Casuist in the world
and love death Good Conscience is the Prov. 8. 39. charge we travell with whatever danger we may meet with in our way we must run or fight or die or fly for it rather then deliver up such a charge Good Conscience is the Ship in which we embarque and adventure all we have Credit State Libertie Life and Soul too as Noab put all into one Bottome all his Familie all the Catholike Church and the Reserve of the whole world and all was safe This Vessel or Man of war must never be yeelded up but rather we must sink and perish in the defense of it Good Conscience is our strong Fort which we must upon no terms capitulate to deliver up to the enemie but chuse rather to die upon the ground Secondly look upon Timothie as a Minister and this doth further inform us That a good Conscience is the good Ministers great Charge This charge I commit to thee Son Timothie to hold Faith and a good Conscience These are Arma Ministri The Ministers weapons The Minister must be a man of Conscience and for Conscience wholly This is the floore he must daily purge This the garden which he must dress and keep The living stone which he must hew and polish to make Temples for Christ of This the Sanctum Sanctorum into which the Gospel-Minister must daily enter Faith and good Conscience are his principall weapons he must be most expert in and exercising at both in Person and Pulpit This is to preach the whole counsell of God to preach Faith in God and Conscience in men To say that Conscience is a Dutie is too little it is the Summe of all Duties To call good Conscience a Grace is too little it is the Summe of all Graces It is Totum Dei The whole Command of God It is Totum homi is The whole Dutie of man Good Conscience is the Contents of the whole Bible and all the Scripture bound up in a small Volume Will you hear in one word the summe of all Keep Faith and a good Conscience This is the whole dutie of man The summe of the first Table is Epitomized in one word Love God with all thy heart Of the second in another word Love thy Neighbour as thy self But the summe of both Tables of the Law and all duties of the Gospel is reduced to this one word Conscience Hast thou Conscience Thou dost fulfill the first hast thou Conscience Thou wilt fulfill the second Thou O man of God look well to thy Charge thy own and thy Peoples Conscience Herein must thou daily exercise thy self as a workman who needeth not to bee ashamed to keep thy self pure and to keep thy peoples Conscience without offense to God and man warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus Col. 1. 28. The Heathen Priests and Aruspices were to be skilfull in the Entrails of the beasts and by inspection into the Sacrifices they were wont to make their observations The Gospel Minister his Inspection must be into the inwards of his flock The best Christian is he who is most versed in his own Conscience and the best Minister is he who is best acquainted and hath most to do in his peoples Consciences Bernard hath an excellent saying of Conscience Vnicuique suus est Libellus Conscientia propter hunc Libellum omnes alii libri inventi sunt Every mans Conscience is his own Book and Bible and for this little Books sake all the good Books in the world yea the Bible it self were written All Divines Sermons All Divines writings treat of this Book And whatsoever Books are in the world if they no way tend to this end to inform or direct or satisfie or better Conscience it were better that the world wanted all those books How happie were it in these times if Conscience was preached more and Controversies less Whatever is the man that preacheth Conscience would be the matter preached and spoken off whatever be the Auditorie Conscience would be the Argument whatever the Occasion Conscience the Subject of the Discourse whatever be the Text Conscience would be the Doctrine handled whatever the Doctrine Conscience would be the Vse whatever the Companie Conscience would bee the Conference Else I am bold to say whatever be the Preacher or Hearer or Text or Doctrine or Reason or Vse or Conference nothing is spoken fit for the Preacher or pertinent to the Matter or Auditorie or Occasion or Text or Doctrine or Vse or Companie Conscience is the Lay-mans onely Book he can read no other It is the Ministers Concordance which he must peruse and studie most He is not a Preacher that is not well verst in this This little Book is like that little Book given to the two Prophets Ezekiel in the third of Ezek. v. 3. and St John Revel 10. 9 10. which both are commanded to eat and to receive inwardly into their bellie not into their mouth or head or hand Son of man cause thy bellie to eat and fill thy Qui legem Dei recte interpretantur referunt eam ad rectum finem seu scopum qui est charitas ex puro coâ—de conscientia bona fide non simulata at isti doctores non referunt legem ad hunc sinem sed ab istis commemoratis rebus tanquam à sâ—â—po aberrant ergo non rectè legem interpretantur sed ad vaniloquentiam deflectunt bowels with this Roll which I give thee But with this difference that to the godly and faithfull Minister it is like Ezekiels Roll as Honey for sweetness but to an unsound and man-pleaâ—ing Minister it is like John's Book Sweet in the mouth to discourse of Bitter in the bellie displeasing when it comes to practise This is the mark we should aim at saith Piscator upon that place 1 Tim. 1. 5 6. The end of the commandment is charitie out of a pure heart and of a good Conscience and of faith unfained which some having swerved from have turned a side unto vain jangling That is the right interpreting of the Scripture when we referre all to this end to promote Charitie and Puritie and Faith and Conscience to leave these is to miss the mark and to become Janglers not Preachers Thirdly this informes us in particular how it comes that so many daily break in Citie and Countrey making shipwrack of Credit of States and Families the matter is they were broken at home first in their Consciences then they must needs break abroad Break Conscience and thou art broken none thrive after it This makes the worst bankrupts it makes a man to be out of Credit with God and in his own heart A moth or worm in Conscience is commonly followed with a moth and worm in the estate The inheritance hastily gotten is as soon wasted From the hire of an harlot if it came to the hire of an harlot it returns Micah 1. 7.
the great State The godly man saith there is no such necessity for me to have two eyes or two hands there is no necessity of preserving my credit of securing my state of providing for my family no such necessity of gathering riches to live honoured and so dye wealthy but there is an absolute necessity lyes upon me to fly hell save my soul lay hold on eternall life and to this end to get a good conscience If I have but a good conscience left me faith the Christian I have enough while I have that I can want nothing I may be counted poor yet am truly rich I may be looked upon as outwardly sorrowing but behold I am alway rejoycing as dying but I live 2 Cor. 6. Austin said of some Christians Amiserunt omnia quae habebant nunquid fidem nunquid pietatem nunquid interioris hominis bona qui est ante Deum dives de civ Dei l. 1. c. 10. as unknown yet well known as a deceiver yet true as having nothing yet possessing all things I may have dirt cast upon my face good conscience will wipe all off 1 Pet. 3. 16. Having a good conscience that whereas they speak evil they may be ashamed who falsly accuse your good conversation in Christ I may lye under great pressures even to despair of help or life good conscience supports me and makes all light 2 Cor. 1. 12. I may have my credit blasted yet repaired againe as Joseph had State ruined yet restored againe as Job had life lost yet found againe as Christ Jesus promised but if conscience be lost I am a lost man The world may with their lightning as the Philosopher saith Consume the scabbard but not at all peirce the sword destroy and split the caske but not spill the liquor or wine in it yet how sad it is that the getting and using conscience is so much among the most of men neglected Every one observeth his rule and way Si curtatus in aequali Ton sore capillos Vel si Toga dissidet impar Horat. Vide Domine quomodo diligenter observent filii bominum pacta literarum syllabarum accepta à prioribus locutoribus à te acceptvae terna pacta perpetuae salutis negligant Conf. l. 1. c. 18. of living but the Christian Every Artificer studieth to be exact in his kind the Taylor hath his measure or his patternes the Carpenter heweth and Squareth his timber the Mason his stone by rule he maketh his wall by Line and Plummet must not the Christian observe his measure his patterne his rule and line The welbred Gentleman is ashamed to be seene abroad in an undecent habit if he be not drest from Top to Toe in the best fashion he thinkes he is not like himselfe And is not the Christian to observe his fashion and demenour Austin did observe and bewaile this exceeding Pathetically the Grammarian observeth his Rules of speaking given him by his master and shall not we observe our Rules of doing given us by God himself the Grammarian or Orator observes his Construction his Pronounciation will not say Inter hominibus for inter homines will not lose you a Letter nor an accent nor an aspiration saith he which is no Letter he will not commit such a Verball fault as to say Ominem for Hominem yet saith he he that will not against the Rules of Grammer the Precepts of his Schoolemaster pronounce Ominem for hominem dare against the Rules of Divinity and precept of God Hate a man odisse Hominem Yea saith he you may observe the Eloquent Orator or Lawyer is more carefull of his words when pleading against his Adversary and is more afraid to speake one word improperly then to aggravate his charge without all charity and Conscience Vigilantissimè Cavet ne Per linguae Errorem dicat inter hominibus et ne per mentis furorem hominem auferat ex hominibus non eavet yea he confesseth and bewaileth it as one of his owne sins when he was a young Scholler that he did abhor Barbarous Solaecisines and Incongruities of speech more then absurdities and incongruities in his actions But let all men know wheresoever Conscience is wanting or not attended there is yet no Grace nor shall there ever be glory First there is yet no Grace at all in that heart the first lesson and the A. B. C. of a Christian is Make Conscience The first thing that God doth worke in that mighty change from nature to Grace and Translation from death to life is the new heart He begins ever with Conscience He a wakens it he softens it enlightneth it enliveneth it He cleanseth it he Sanctifieth it Ezek. 36. 25 26. He dwelleth in it The first worke of Grace is the Donation of a new heart and the change of a stone into flesh The sense of Externall feeling is the first Indication of the life of nature this sense of Internall feeling is the first and best discoverie of the life of Grace He that hath not his Conscience sprinkled purged quickned renewed and of a new impression is not at all of God yet nor belongeth to him Because he neither hath his Image nor his Superscription Therefore neither shall he ever have Glory which is the second thing Secondly where is yet no Good Conscience There shall be no Glory As in the New Creature where God worketh Grace he begins with Conscience as was said before So in the new Covenant where God promiseth Glory he begins with Conscience also This is the Covenant of grace when God promiseth to blot sinnes out of his booke of Remembrance He giveth unto man a New Conscience for a Book of Remembrance unto duty and obedience Heb. 8. 10. 11. 12. This is the Covenant I will make with the house of Israel I will put my lawes into their mind and write them in their hearts and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a People And they shall not teach every man his Neighbor and every man his Brother saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest for I will be mercifull to their unrighteousnesse and their sinnes and iniquities will I remember no more In which words the Lord alludeth to what he did to his people Israel when he made the old Ceremoniall Covenant with them He spake to them gave them his mind in writing delivered them the two Tables containing the Tenor and duties of the Covenants these Tables were to be layd up in the Arke God will do much more now he will speake to the heart write the law in new Tables fleshly Tables of the heart and keepe them there as in the Arke And there they shall be for a continuall monitor remembrance that they shall need the lesse of outward teaching and humane Laws they having an inward Directer and Admonisher and a Divine Law within God will pardon no mans sinnes which is
to him Be sure to carry it fair with thy self and keep peace at home that thy house be not divided against it self and so end in ruine Miserable it is if man and wife live at discord God is not there What is it when a man disagrees with himself Or be sure if there be any discontent here to get all composed Deliver thy self as the Roe see whether thou be in fault or thy Conscience Austin tels us how he had many Quae non ad me dixi quibus verberibus flagellavi animam meam a round bout with himself after that God had shewed him his sin He went aside and chode himself Then into a private Garden he got where none might interrupt him and there his Conscience and he were wrangling till God agreed them and made them friends These fallings out breed the strongest friendship both with God and thy self In hortum abiit tum in illa grandi rixa domus interioris quam fortiter excitâram animam meam in cubiculo nostro corde meâ— in hortulum abstulerat me tumultus pectoris mei ubi nemo impediret ardentem litem quam mecum aggressus eram Aug. Conf. l. 8. c. 7. 8. Fifthly yet so we must hearken to and The fifth Means Vnicuique suus liber est Conscientia c. Et ideo scribi debent libri nostri ad exemplar libri vitae si sic scripti non sint saltem corrigantur confer amus itaque libros nostros cum libro vitae â—â— forte in illa ultima discussione abiiciantur si non fuerint emendati de Consc lib. 1. cap. 9. confer with Conscience as also to confer Conscience with the Scripture That is the Book of life as Bernard saith and according to that our Conscience must be copied or corrected Let us therefore saith he compare and confer our books with Gods book lest in that day our books be rejected as false and faulty when they come to be examined See therefore if thy Copy be according to the Original The Christian grows judicious when he reads not Scripture cursorily but when he diligently conferreth place with place and Scripture with Scripture Conscience is to be compared with the Bible and examined by it The able and expert Divine rests not in perusing a Translation be it never so good bur confers the Traslation with the Original Conscience is but a Translation at the best and in most the most corrupt Translation this vulgar Translation had not need be made authentick and Canonical But thou must search the Scriptures and not trust thy own judgement too far Keep thy Watch still going as I said before but see thou that it be right set not by thy neighbours clock or thy own guesse but by the Sun-dial Conscience is indeed unto a man a kind Solis Canonicis libris debetur fides caeter is omnibus judicium Luther of Scripture yet at most but Apocryphal not Canonical Apocryphal it is therefore not to be denied reading Canonical it is not therefore not infallible Nothing is to be taken Dogmatically from the Apocrypha say we unlesse it be contained in the Scripture So far we receive them as they consent with Scripture no further So far receive thy Conscience A 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is not so as it should be heard for it self but it is secundariae authoritatis lectionis allowed it may be when it holds a consonancy with the written word The grossest Idolatry in the world saith a learned Divine is to make thy self the Idol and as bad a Rutherford Papacy as that at Rome to make a Pope of thy own Conscience Thy Conscience is indeed thy Rule but it must then be Regula Regulata it may not be Regula Regulans et primaria that is it is a Rule ruled by another not giving Rules but when from that other Rule Conscience is to every man his Law to himself Rom. 2. 15. but this law is to be written out as the King was commanded Deut. 17. 18. 19. to write his Copy out of Gods law and then to read therein all the dayes of his life Conscience may be to thee thy Aaron in stead of a Prophet but it must then have his Moses with it to be to it in stead of God This consideration alone well weighed would resolve what is to be done in many cases and may direct in many passages Nothing is more ordinarily pleaded than Conscience Conscience It is my Conscience say most what ever is their practise or opinion and if Joab take Sanctuary here he thinks himself safe secure that none may remove 1 Kin. 2. 28 31. or trouble him but a Solomon will fetch him thence or he may die there It is my Conscience saith the Papist the same saith the Jew the same a Mahometan and I will die for my Conscience The same may an Antinomian an Arminian or Anabaptist say and I will not goe against my Conscience c. I but is it a good Conscience a well informed and enlightned Conscience My Conscience bids me do thus say men often I but what doth God bid Conscience do Had not Adam fallen we should have needed no other Rule but our own Conscience Now we have a Law written and Proclaimed we must not make Conscience the Supream Law but the subordinate In the integrity of my heart may Abimelech say when it was but Gen. 20. 3. a blind integrity And Jonah being challenged for his frowardnesse Doest thou well Jonah to be angry he replies yea so well as Jonah 4. my Conscience is satisfied that I could die in this mind and thus I would do if it were the last thing I should say or do Chrysostome blamed those that are curious and choise what money they take who will refuse to take that which they know not Nisi ipsi videant numeros calculos constare they wil look for the figures and for the right Stamp But in matters of Conscience and in points and practises of Religion â—re easily over-reached Simpliciter se huc illuc ferri patiuntur Cum sint ab autore spiritu sancto dicuntur autoritatis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 veritatisque 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chamier de canon fid l 4. c. 1. Cui subjic iÌ„ oportet omnem pium intellectum Aug. 6. Means Vel Deum interpellet inquirat aut consulat nam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vocat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is the highest honour and perfection of the holy Scriptures that they coming from an infallible hand and written by the divine inspiration of an un-erring Spirit have this Prerogative above all other persons writings and opinions that they are of undubitate and unquestionable Authority and of infallible certainty to which every thought and reasoning of man must be brought into subjection Conscience is indeed to have a negative voice so that nothing is to be done without his assent and good liking