Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	bind_v	law_n	obligation_n	1,970	5	9.7701	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59561	A sermon preached before the Queen at Whitehall on the 11th of April, 1690 / by John Sharp ...	Sharp, John, 1645-1714.	1690 (1690)	Wing S2989; ESTC R6722	14,971	38

A SERMON PREACHED Before the QUEEN AT WHITEHALL On the 11 th of April 1690. By IOHN SHARP D. D. Dean of Canterbury and one of Their Majesties Chaplains Published by Her Majesties Special Command LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1690. A SERMON Preached before the QUEEN GAL. V. xiii Vse not liberty for an occasion to the flesh ANY one that useth to make reflections upon his own actions cannot but observe That one of the great occasions of the sins he is guilty of in the course of his Life is the too free use of his lawful Liberty I do not say that any Man doth commit sin by using his lawful liberty for that would be a kind of contradiction But I say the using our liberty to the utmost pitch and extent of that which we call lawful is the occasion of a great many sins that would otherwise not have been committed If one should offer to tempt a Man that hath any sense of Vertue or Religion to do a thing that at the first sight appears sinful or wicked it would certainly be rejected Every one that has any regard to God or goodness would start at such a proposal But here is our infelicity A Temptation comes on by degrees And at the first we are ingaged in nothing but what is lawful and honest and accordingly we use that liberty which nature and religion allows us and so we proceed on insensibly in the use of that liberty till at last we become uncertain whether we have not exceeded the bounds of what is lawful And by this means we are often caught Nay indeed nothing but this could betray well meaning persons and such as are vertuously disposed into sin Licitis perimus omnes said a devout Man It is by lawful things that we commonly miscarry With great reason therefore doth St. Paul give this advice in the Text Brethren saith he ye have been called unto liberty only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh There is no doubt but the Apostle writ these words upon occasion of and with reference to the great Controversy that was then on foot among Christians touching the Obligation of the Jewish Law Some then thought themselves bound in Conscience to observe all the Precepts of Moses his Law Other Christians thought they were freed by the coming of Christ from all legal Observances The Apostle determines the Case in favour of these latter and declares that by the Gospel they were called unto liberty and were free from all the Mosaical Impositions But yet nevertheless he tells them they ought to be careful in the exercise of that liberty that they do not use it for an occasion to the flesh That is to say that this liberty to which they were called should not minister to any sin That they should not so use it as to be a snare either to themselves or others To themselves by running into licentiousness and taking unlawful liberties To others either by affrighting the unbelieving Jews from the embracing Christianity or discouraging those that already believed the Gospel in the profession of it This is the strict sense of the Apostles words as they come in here in the Text and as they do relate to that occasion upon which he writ them But that sense with reference to that occasion is now out of doors among us Though the general advice that is here given will eternally be good and useful nay and always needful to be insisted on in all Ages of the World We have none now that use their liberty for an occasion to the flesh as to the point of the Iudaical Ceremonies But we have abundance that do use it so as to other matters Nay as I said before this too free use of our liberty in lawful things is one of the great Sources and Fountains from whence most of our irregularities do proceed And therefore I do not know how I can entertain you more usefully upon this Text than by endeavouring to give you the best Rules I can for the reducing the Apostle's Exhortation into practice as it doth concern us at this day But that you may see plainly what I drive at I will yet state the matter a little more particularly Our Case in this World is this The Laws of Vertue and Religion do allow Men all reasonable liberties in the gratification of their natural Passions and Appetites and in the use and enjoyment of all the good things of this Life But all unreasonable gratifications all excesses and immoderate liberties are forbidden by Religion and therefore are sinful and criminal If now in all Cases a Man could readily and certainly fix the precise bounds and landmarks of what is reasonable and moderate and what is unreasonable and excessive in the use of his liberty so as that upon all occasions and in all emergencies he could say within his own mind Thus far I may lawfully and innocently go in the gratification of such an appetite or in the enjoyment of such a pleasure or the like but if I proceed a step further I become a Transgressor I say if this was the case of a Man in the use of his liberty it would be no hard matter for any well disposed person to take all that liberty that was moderate and lawful and to forbear all that which is excessive and unlawful But now this is not always an easy matter to be done For many Cases happen in which a Man cannot precisely determine where it is that his lawful liberty ends and where it is that it begins to be extravagant and excessive So that while a Man is only designing to gratify his desires in lawful instances he is often carried beyond his bounds and proceeds to excess This now I say is one great occasion of sin to Mankind and yet there is no avoiding of it because it is such a one as doth necessarily arise from the nature of things Thus for instance It is certainly very lawful for a Man to drink Wine and strong drink not only for his Healths sake when his Constitution doth require it but also for Chearfulness and the enjoyment of his Friends But on the other side Drunkenness and Intemperance are grievous Crimes and utterly forbid by our Religion Whilst now a Man on one hand hath a desire to take that liberty that is allowed him and to gratify his natural inclination to mirth and pleasantness or to shew Civility as he terms it to his Company And on the other hand he has no certain unalterable measures to proceed by for the stinting himself in this Case as surely it is a very hard matter to prescribe or define either to a Man's self or others the exact pitch or limits where Temperance ends and Intemperance begins by this means I say he is often betrayed into sin Thinking with himself that there is a great latitude and compass in the exercise of Temperance and Sobriety as indeed there

I have been now recommending especially under the two last heads is not intended to be a rule or direction to any Hypochondriack or Melancholy Persons or such as are apt to be over-scrupulous about their actions For indeed to such persons it is the worst advice that can be given For they are apt to doubt and boggle at every thing be it never so innocent and free from blame They dare not eat a hearty meal for fear of being Intemperate And for fear of not being devout enough they exhaust their Spirits and spoil their health through the continual intention of their minds to serious things Now Persons that are of this temper are rather to be encouraged to take more liberties than they do than to abate any that they make use of But their case is of another consideration and foreign to my present purpose and therefore I here say no more about it It being sufficient to have given this intimation to such people that they do not make an ill use of any thing that I have now represented for assuredly what hath been now said doth not much concern them 2. The other thing I have to say and that by way of Encouragement is this I doubt not but some will be apt to think that the Rules I have now given about the exercise of our liberty are much too strict and severe and that if they must be tied up to such measures then farewel all the joy and pleasure and comfort of their lives But to such People I would crave leave to say that they have very wrong notions of this matter The using of their liberty in such a manner as I have been recommending would not rob them of one true pleasure or comfort that this World affords So far from that that I am very sure whoever frames his life according to these measures shall live a hundred times a happier Life and shall enjoy the World and all the pleasures and advantages of it much more to his own content and satisfaction than if he put no check to the craving of his Appetites but always indulged and gratified them in every thing and as much as they desired Assure your selves Vertue and Religion will never hinder you from enjoying any pleasure or satisfaction that is natural On the contrary there is great reason to believe that the practice thereof will extreamly heighten and advance the satisfactions you can receive from your Worldly Enjoyments I doubt not in the least but to a sincerely pious and vertuous Man and that hath a regard to God in all his actions even the very pleasures and comfotts of this Life are more gratifying and affecting than to any sensual or wicked Man For such a one as he is more capable of enjoying them so do they come to him likewise without the mixtures of those uneasy troublesome bitter reflections that other Men feel in the very best of their Enjoyments Let no Man therefore apprehend any loss of his pleasures by entirely devoting himself to God's Service and using his liberty in that careful way I have been recommending Let him not think that he shall hereby be too much straitned and confined For certainly this is the true means not only to keep him for ever from being a Slave to any thing but also mightily to improve and encrease his liberty For by thus exercising himself all the powers of his Soul will be vastly inlarged and he will hereby attain both leisure and will to employ all his rational Faculties about the best and the noblest objects in the World which will yield him the greatest pleasure that is to be had on this side Heaven Whereas if he had given up himself to be govern'd by any of his sensual Appetites he had been a poor narrow confined Creature indeed not capable of any greater satisfactions or pleasures than what the Brutes do enjoy as well as himself but with less uneasiness and fewer disturbances It is true indeed a sensual Man hath no notion of this kind of pleasures no more than a Beast hath of the pleasures of a Man And therefore it is no wonder that such Men entertain all talk about them as little better than meer Cant and Iargon But I seriously appeal to all Men that have ever made any trials in the way of Religion and Vertue whether the Contentments and satisfactions they have received from the rational use of their liberty and the thoughts and reflections that hereby they do approve themselves to God and live in hopes of his Favour and have a fair prospect of a glorious Immortal State in another World I say whether they do not find the pleasures and contentments that arise from hence to be infinitely more solid and substantial and durable than any of those that they receive from the gratification of their sensual Appetites in a vitious unreasonable manner Oh therefore Let none of us make any scruple of devoting our selves entirely and without reserve to God Almighty's Service Let none of us be afraid to put reasonable restraints upon our Passions and Appetites Assuredly the thus using our liberty is the certain way to preserve and encrease it and with it the pleasure and comfort of our Lives and not only so but to render us Everlastingly Happy and Blessed in the other World Which that we may all be God of his infinite mercy grant c. FINIS Books Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's-Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard THE Theory of the Earth containing an Account of the Original of the Earth and of all the general Changes which it hath already undergone or is to undergo till the Consummation of all things The two first Books concerning the Deluge and concerning Paradise The two last Books concerning the burning of the World and concerning the new Heavens and new Earth fol. Bishop Overal's Convocation-Book MDC VI. concerning the Government of God's Catholick Church and the Kingdoms of the whole World 4 to A discourse concerning Conscience the first Part wherein an account is given of the Nature and Rule and Obligation of it And the case of those who separate from the Communion of the Church of England as by Law established upon this pretence that it is against their Conscience to join in it is stated and discussed A discourse of Conscience The second Part concerning a doubting Conscience A Fast-Sermon before the House of Commons April 11. 1679. on Revel ii 5. The Duty and Happiness of doing good in two Sermons the former Preached at the Yorkshire Feast Feb. 17. 1679. on Eccl. iii. 10. the other before the Lord Mayor at the Spittle Apr. 14. 1680. on 1 Tim. vi 17 18 19. A Sermon at the Election of the Lord Mayor Sept. 29. 1680. on Psal. cxii 4. A Lent-Sermon at Whitehal March 20. 1684. on Luke xvi 31. These seven last by the Reverend Dr. Sharp Dean of Canterbury Mr. Ieffery's Religion the Perfection of Man 8 vo Mr. Raymond's Pattern of pure and undefiled Religion 8o 's Exposition on the Church Catechism 80. The Faith and Practice of a Church of England Man The third Edition 12o Dr. Pelling's Sermon before the King and Queen Dec. 8. 1689. Mr. Lamb's Sermon before the King and Queen Ian. 19. 1689. 's Dialogue between a Minister and his Parishioners about the Lord's Supper 8o Mr. W. Allen's Nature Series and Order of Occurrences c. 8o