4. 5. My heart is sore pained within me and the terrors of death are fallen vpon mee fearefulnes trembling are come vpon me and horrour hath over whelmed me Sometimes again he sees death as the Israelites the fiery Serpents with mortal stings Sometimes as a merciles Landlord or the Sheriffe comming with a Writ of Firmae eiectione to throw him out of house and home and to turne him to the wide Common yea he sees death as Gods executioner and messenger of eternall death yea he sees death with as much horrour as if hee saw the Diuell In so many fearefull shapes appeares death to an evill conscience vpon the death-bed So as it is indeed the King of Terrors to such an one that hath the Terrours of Conscience within There is no one thought so terrible to such an one as the thought of death nothing that he more wishes to avoyd Oh! how loath and how vnwilling is such an one to dye But come now to a man that hath liued as Paul did in all good conscience and how is it with him vpon his death-bed His end is peace so full of ioy comfort so is he ravished with the inward and vnspeakable consolations of his Conscience that it is no wonder at all that Balaam should wish to dye the death of the righteous the death of a man with a good Conscience The day of a mans marriage is the day of the ioy of a mans heart Cant. 3. 11. and the day of marriage is not so ioyfull a day as is the day of death to a good conscience There are but fewe that can marry with that ioy wherwith a good conscience dyes It enables a man not onely to looke Ananias and the Councell in the face but even to looke death it selfe in the face without those amazing terrours yea it makes the face of death seeme louely and amiable He whose conscience is good and fees the face of God reconciled to him in Christ he can say as Iacob did when he saw the face of Ioseph Gen. 46. 30. Now let me dye since I haue seene thy face It is the priviledge of a good Conscience alone to goe to the grave as Agag did to Samuel and to say that truely which he spake besides the booke 1 Sam. 15. 32. He came pleasantly And he sayd Surely the bitternesse of death is past He was deceived and therefore had no such cause to be so pleasant but a good Conscience can yea cannot chuse but be so pleasant even when going out of the world because the gilt of sin being washed away in Chists bloud it knowes that the bitternes of death is past and the sweetnesse of life eternall is at hand A man whose debts are paid he dares goe out of dores dare meete and face the Sergeants and the conscience purged by the bloud of Christ can looke as vndaūtedly on the face of death He that hath gotten the sting that is the guilt of cōscience taken away by faith in Christ he lookes not vpon death as the Israelites vpon the fiery Serpents but lookes vpon it as Paul doth 1. Cor. 15. O death where is thy sting Who feares a Bee an Hornet a Snake or a Serpent when they haue lost their sting The guilt of sinne is the sting of Conscience is the sting of death that stings the conscience The sting of death is sinne 1 Cor. 15. Plucke then sinne out of the conscience and at once the conscience is made good and death made weake and is disarmed of his weapon And when the cōscience sees death vnstingd and disarmed it is freed of feare and even in the very act of death can ioyfully tryumyh over death oh Death where is thy sting A good Conscience lookes vpon death as vpon the Sheriffe that comes to giue him possession of his Inheritance or as Lazarus vpon the Angels that came to carry his soule into Abrahams bosome and therefore can wellcome death and entertain him ioyfully And wheras an ill conscience makes a man see death as if he saw the Devill a good conscience makes a mā see the face of death as Iacob saw Esaues face Gen. 33. I haue seene thy face as the face of God they see the face of death with vnspeakable ioy rauishment of heart and exultation of spirit Well now what a motive haue wee here to make vs labor for a good conscience Even Balaam himselfe would faine make a good end dye in peace and who wishes not his deathbed may be a Mount Nebo from whence he may see that heavenly Canaan Lo here Balaam the way to dye the death of the righteous I haue liued in all good Conscience vnto this day They that haue conscience in their life shall haue comfort at their death They that liue conscionably shal die comfortably They that live in all good Conscience til their dying day shall depart in the abundance of comfort at their dying day There will come a day wherein we must lay downe these Tabernacles the day of death will assuredly come How lamentable a thing will it then be to be so destitute desolate of all comfort as to be driven to that extremity as to curse our birth day oh what would Comfort be worth at our last houre at our last gaspe whilest our dearest friēds shall be weeping wringing their hands and lamenting then then what would inward cōfort be worth Who would not hold the whole world an easie price for it then Well then would wee then haue Comfort and Ioy oh then get a good cōscience now which wil yeeld comfort when all other comforts shall vtterly faile and shal be life in the middest of death How happy is that man that when the sentence of death is passed vpon him can say with Hezekiah Isa 38. 3. Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I haue walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and haue done that which is good in thy sight Indeed the Text sayes that Hezekiah wept sore but yet not as fearing death for hee could not feare death who had thus feared God but because the promise was not yet made good to him in a son and Heire of his kingdome hence came those teares It is otherwise an vnspeak able ioy that such a Conscience as Hezekiahs was will speake to a man vpon his death-bed Euery one professes a desire to make a good ende Here is the way to make good that desire to live in all good cōscience Alas how pittifull and miserable a condition live most men in All the dayes of their lifes healths they haue no regard of a good Conscience Notwithstanding that men are pressed continually to this one care by the instancy and importunity of Gods Ministers yet how miserably is it neglected Well at last the day of death comes then what would they not giue for a comfortable end If the gold of Ophir would purchase comfort it should fly then Then poast for this Minister
not make much of a Cordiall that might cheare him then of a receipt that might feede him then As then we would be glad of a chearfull and comfortable spirit vp on our sicke beds so make much of a good Conscience Whence is it that most men in their sicknesses haue such drooping spitits lye groaning altogether vnder their bodily paines or lye sottishly and senselesly no sense of any thing but paine and sicknes Meerely from the want of a good Conscience they haue laid vp no Cordiall no comfortable Electuary for themselues in their health time against the day of sicknes Indeed you shall haue the miserable comforters of the world on this maner chearing them Why how now man where is your heart Plucke vp a good heart man neuer feare for a little sicknes c. True indeed they should not need to feare if they could plucke vp a good heart But they that will pluck it vp when they are sick must lay it vp when they are well He that hath a good conscience to get when he lyes vpoÌ„ his sick-bed is like a man that hath his Aqua vitae to buy when he is fallen into a swoune A wise man that feares swouning would haue his hot-waterbottle hanging alwaies ready at his beds-head But as in other crosles by sicknes and the like so is the comfort of a good conscience neuer more sweet then when a man is vnder the crosse for conscience sake suffers affliction and vexation to keepe a good conscience Then aboue al other times will conscience doe the office of a CoÌ„forter and will stand to him that will stand for it When Nebuchadnezzar heates his Fornace seauen times hotter then at other times then a good Conscience will speak comfort seuen times sweeter then at other times Are Gods Saints for good Conscience Fox Acts and Mon. Omnis nobis vilis est poena vbi purae comes est conscientia Tiburt apud Baron An 168. sake in prison Good Conscience will make their prisons delectable hortiards So doth Algerius an Italian Martyr date a comfortable Epistle of his From the delectable hortyarde of the Leo nine prison a prison in Vâ—nice so called So that as he said that he had rather be in prison with Cato then with Coesar in the Senate house so in this regard it was more coÌ„fortable to be with Philpot in the Cole-house then with Bonner in his Pallace Bonners Conscience made his Pallace a Cole-house and a Dungeon whilst Philpots made the Cole-house a Pallace Are Gods Saints in the Stocks Better it is sayes Philpot to sit in the Stocks of the world then in the Stocks of a damnable Coâ—science Therfore though they be in the Stockes yet euen then the righteous doth sing and reioyce yea euen in the Stockes and prison Paul and Silas sang in the Stockes Sing in Hinc est quod è contrarioinnocens etiam inter ipsae tormenta fruitur CoÌ„scientiae securitaete et cum de poena metuat de innocentia gloriaetur Hierony ad Demetri ad ep 1. the Stockes Nay more they can sing in the flames and in the midst of the fires Is 24. 15. Glorifie God in the fires And worthy Hawkes could clap his hands in the midst of the flames So great and so passing all vnderstanding is the peace comfort of a good conscience So that in some sense that may be sayd of it which is spoken of faith Heb. 11. 34 By it they quenched the violence of fire Gods servants were so rapt rauisht with the sense of Gods loue and their inward peace of Conscience that they seemd to haue a kind of happy dedolency and want of feeling of the smart of outward torments Who knowes what tryalls God may bring him to We haue no patent for our peace nor this free liberty in the profession of the Gospell Suppose we should be cald to the stake for Christs sake Would we be chearefull would we sing in the flames Get a good CoÌ„science The cause of Christ is a good cause now with a good cause get a good conscience and we shall be able with all cheerfulnes to lay downe our liues for Christ and his Gospell sake CHAP. XII The comfort and benefit of a good Conscience in the dayes of Death Iudgment IN the fourth place The time of 4 The Comfort of a good Conscience at the day of Death death is a time wherein the benefite and comfort of a good Conscience is exceeding great Death hath a ghastly looke and terrible able to daunt the proudest brauest spirit in the world but then hath it a ghastly look indeede when it faces an euill conscience Indeed sometimes and most commonly Conscience in many is secure at the time of death God in his iustice so plaging an affected security in life with an inflicted security at Death And the Lord seemes to say as once to the Prophet Goe make their Consciences asleep at their death as they haue made it asleepe all their life least Conscience should see and speake and they heare and be saued God deales with conscience as with the Prophet Ezek. 3. 26. I will make thy tongue cleaue to the roofe of thy mouth that thou shalt be dumb Therfore they die though not desperately as Saul and Achitophel yet sottishly without comfort and feeling of Gods loue as Nabal But if conscience bee awakened and haue its eyes mouth opened no heart can imagine the desperate and vnsufferable distresses of such an heart Terrors take holde of him as waters Iob. 27. 20. Terrours make him afraide on euery side Iob 18. 11. Then is that true Iob 25 23. 24. He knowes that the day of darknes is ready at hand Trouble and anguish shal make him afraid they shall preuaile against him as a King ready to the battell And no wonder for hee is now brought vnto the King of Terrours as Death is called Iob 18. 14. A man that hath an ill Conscience if his eyes be opened and his Conscience a wakened he sees death in all the terrible shapes that may bee Sometimes he sees death comming like a mercilesse Officer and a cruell Sergeant to arrest and to drag him by the throat to the prison and place of Torment Ps 55. 15. Let death cease vpon them They see it comming like that cruell servant in the Parable to his fellow Math. 18. catching them by the very throat Sometimes he sees death in the shape of some greedy LyoÌ„ or some rauening Wolfe ready to deuour him to feed vpon his carkase Ps 49. 14. Death shall feede in them euen as a ravenous beast shall feed vpon his prey Imagine in what a terrible plight the Samaritans were in when the Lyons set vpon theÌ„ 2. Kin. 17. by it imagine in what case an ill conscience is when it beholdes the face of death It puts an ill Conscience into that case in good earnest that David was in in the case of tryall Ps â—â—
good conscience shall escape from her but the sinner and hee that makes no Conscience of his wayes shall be taken by her Well let vs think well vpon this motiue we liue in dangerous declining dayes wherein men with a greedinesse turne to their Romish vomit againe Besides the factors of Antichrist are exceeding busie and pragmaticall to draw men from the faith of Christ and the holy Ghost tells vs they shall come with strong delusions Now then all you that be the Lords people saue your selues from this dangerous generation all you that haue or would be knowne to haue the soale of God on your foreheads Saue your selues from the seduction of these Locusts I but how may that be done The delusion is strong and it may be wee are weake Loe then here is a remedy against their danger Get and keepe a good Conscience liue as Paul did in all good Conscience and thou shalt be safe from all their delusions I haue kept the faith sayes Paul oh let it be the care of vs that that may be our closing voyce at our last day and if we would keepe the faith let vs keepe a good Conscience Hee that in his life time can say I keep a good Conscience he at his death shall be able to say I haue kept the faith Faith and a good Conscience are both in a bottome Hold one and hold both As therefore thou wouldest feare to turne Papist or any other hereticke so be sure to hold a good Conscience to hold on a good honest and a conscionable man So long as thou standest vpon that ground thou art impregnable and the gates of hell shall not be able to draw thee from the faith of the Lord Iesus Pro. 6. 20. 22. 24. My sonne keepe thy Fathers commandement c. And it will keepe thee So I may say here Keepe a good Conscience and it will keepe thee it will keepe thee sound in the faith it will keepe thee from being drawne away by the errour of the wicked it will keepe thee from the Wine of the fornications of the Whore of Babylon CHAP XV. The last motiue to a good Conscience The misery of an evill one THe last motiue remaines and that The fift motiue to a good Conscience is The horrour and misery of an evill Conscience If men did but truely know what the evill of an evill Conscience were and how evill a thing and bitter it will bee when Conscience awakens here or shall be awakened in hell a little perswasion should serue to moue men to liue in a good Conscience We may say of the evill Conscience as Salomon speakes of the drunkard Pro. 23. 29. Who hath woe who hath sorrow who hath contentions who hath wounds but not without a cause Even the man whose Conscience is not good even hee that liues in an evill Conscience An evill Conscience how miserable it is we may see by considering the misery thereof either in this world or the world to come 1. In this life When an evill Conscience is awakened in this life the sorrow and smart the horrour terrour is as the ioy of a good Conscience vnspeakeable An evill Conscience in this life is miserable in regard of feare perplexitie and torment To liue in a continuall fear and to haue a mans heart alwayes in shaking fits of feare is a misery of miseries And such is the misery of an euill conscience Pro. 28. 1. The wicked flees when none pursues Onely his own guilt pursues him makes him flee His owne guilt causes a sound of feare in his eares Iob 15. 21. Which Proprium autem est nocentium trepidare Male de nobis actuÌ„ erat quòd multa scelera legem iudicem effugiunt scripta supplicia nisi illa naturalia grauia de praesentibus solverent in locuÌ„ patientiae timor cederet Senec ep 98. makes him shake at the noyse of a shaken leafe Lev. 26 36. yea that so scares him that terrours make him afraide on euery side and driue him to his feete Iob. 18. 11. Yea there are they in great feare where no feare is Psal 53. 3. So that a man with an euill Conscience awakened may be named as Pashur is Ier. 2â— 3. Magor-Missabib feare round about as being a terrour to himselfe and to all his friends verse 4. An euill Conscience euen makes those feare fearefull feares of whom al other stand in fear How potent a Monarch and how dreadfull a Prince was Belshazzar who was able to put him in to any fear whom all the earth feared And yet when his guilty conscience lookes him in the face awakened by the palme writing on the wall see where his courage is then Dan. 5. 6. Then the Kings countenance was changed and his thoughts troubled him so that the ioynts of his loynes were loosed and his knees smote one against another Who would haue had his feare to haue had his kingdome Let him now cloath himselfe with all his Maiesty let him looke and speake as terribly as he can let him threaten the vilest vassall in his Court with all the tortures that tyranny can inflict and let him try if he can for his heart put his poorest subiect in to that fright and feare that now his Conscience puts him into in the ruffe and middest of his iollitie But I pray what ayles he to be in this feare in this so extraordinary a feare He can neyther reade nor vnderstand the writing vpon the wall Indeed it threatned him the losse of his kingdome but he cannot reade this threatning he knows not whether they bee bitter things that God writes against him why may hee not hope that it may be good which is written and why may not this hope ease and abate his feare No no. Though hee cannot reade noâ— vnderstand the writing yet his guilty conscience can comment shrewdly vpon it and can tell him it portends no good towards him His Conscience now tels him of his godles impieties in profaning the vessels of the Temple of the true God and that for this his sacrilegious impropriation and abuse of holy things God is now come to reckon with him Thus can his Conscience do more then all his wise men All the wise men came in but they could not reade the writing nor make knowne to the King the interpretation thereof Dan. 5. 8. But his Conscience is wiser then all his wisemen and when they are all puzzeld that interprets to him that this writing meanes him no good and though hee cannot reade the syllables yet his conscience giues a shrewd neere guesse at the substance of the writing and therfore hence comes that exâ—asie of feare and those paroxysmes of horror It was no better with Adam after his fall After his sinne committed we find him in a great feare Gen. 3. 8. 10. and he hides himselfe for feare Now obserue how his feare is described from the circumstance of the time They