you here reade A smiting checking Conscience is a very great Mercy tho little priz'd or esteemed by the most 3. Remember how bitter Sin was to you before you came to know what peace of Conscience meant how many a bitter Tear it fetched from your Eyes how many deep and bitter sighs from your Hearts yea even to the breaking of your Loins O what Gall and Wormwood was it to your Souls How often did you say will it not be bitterness in the latter end How often did you take up that Language to your own Souls This is thy way and thy doings because it is bitter it reaches to thy Heart c. But yet as you reade do you remember how sweetly all this ended in God's speaking peace to your Souls and you no more turning to Folly 4. Tremble to think of losing the Peace that God hath spoken to your Consciences under sense of Guilt when you meet with that guilt which concerns you O let the loss of your peace be like Hell to your Souls O blot not that Pardon your Redeemer hath written so legibly in his own Blood Blurring off your Pardon may cost you dear 5. Be afraid of the least Guilt the least Sin because it is Sin When Satan cannot prevail with you to venture upon greater Sins then he will tempt to lesser Sins But know you not that the least Sin is Soul defiling yea the least Sin is Soul damning unless the Blood of Christ sprinkle your Consciences How have many Souls groaned under the guilt of such Sins for many Years when God hath set them home upon your Consciences The third sort of Readers into whose hands this little piece may fall are such whose Consciences are seared such the Apostle mentions these are in sensible 1 Tim. 4.2 Truths make no impression upon them Ephes 4.19 they are be nummed The Apostle expresses it by being past feeling And when they are arrived at such an height of Sin what do such do The Text tells you They commit all Uncleanness with greediness Now to such I would say 1. The day is coming thy seared and insensible Conscience shall condemn and rise up in judgment against thee And O then who can stand before the witness of an awakned Conscience You may as well think to dwell with everlasting Burnings and tormenting Flames as avoid or evade the Testimony of a tormented and awakened Conscience Nay know that sometimes this Hell hath begun here Will not Cain tell you while he crys out My punishment is greater than I can bear No torment like the torment of a guilty Conscience Nay ask Adam and he will tell you when he was afraid and hid himself from the presence of God O Guilt you know cannot endure the presence of the Judge O doth not Pashur's case speak forth this truth What a terror to himself was he Did not Judas preach this Doctrine when he cri'd out I have finned in betraying innocent Blood Nero that Monster when he had killed his Mother Agrippina and his Wife and set Rome on fire after all this Guilt at last felt an Hell in his Conscience and could not rest Day nor Night so that when he died he cried out his Mother Wife and Father all will'd him to die Richard the 3d O what a guilty tormenting Conscience had he after the Murder of his Nephews in the Tower and the Night before he was slain at Bosworth he dreamed he thought all the Devils in Hell were halling him in most hideous and ugly Shapes What says Judge Morgan to this case after he had unrighteously passed Sentence upon the Lady Jane afterwards feeling an Hell in his Conscience cried out O take away the Lady Jane take away the Lady Jane Which made one say The Guilt which from unseen Pollution springs Pale sweating Horror in the Bosom brings 2. What tho your Consciences be seared upon the account of your Guilt being undiscovered Yet know God many times hath found out Guilt in an extraordinary way Providence treads not always the same Paths in discovering hidden Guilt Eccles 10. ult he can cause a Bird of the Air to carry the Voice and that which hath Wings to tell the matter He can reveal In quity from Heaven The Heavens shall reveal his Iniquity Job 20.7 and the Earth shall rise up against him One of our * Lord St. John Judges riding his Circuit of late Years met with this Passage One being Murdered and the Murderer not being discovered the Murderer being brought to the dead Corps the Corps opened his Eyes at the Murderer and fell into a Sweat This the Judge related to a godly Minister then living History is full of such Providential bringing hidden Guilt to light 3. Know poor Sinners while your Consciences are seared you are Satans marked Slaves In Ancient Times they used to mark their Slaves and the Holy Ghost alludes to it when we reade of the Mark of the Beast in the Forehead or in the Hand This Searing-Iron puts Satan's Brand upon you you are his And O poor Sinners did you but as you reade this believe it what restless Days and Nights would you have until you had some hopes of your escape from this House of Bondage Can you be content to live and die in the Devil's Drudgery Can you be content to be his bored and marked Slaves his Servants for ever Then you must have the Wages of such Servants and such a Service The Wages of Sin is Death Death Spiritual Death Eternal 4. Know poor Sinners there is not so much as one seared Conscience in Hell they are sadly awakened that are awakened with Hells flames about their Ears If you could hear the Crys and Shrieks of tormented Souls you would say Hell is full of sense of Guilt But alas now it is too late then Repentance is too late They are all saying This and this hath their own Ways and Doings procured unto them O it is bitter O it reaches to their Heart But O Sinners this should have been sooner 5. Know poor Sinners what you reade here if you go on in Sin you will feel another day for an aggravation of Sin yea and Condemnation too What reade what may prevent your Ruine and yet run on What split your Souls upon these Rocks and Sands you saw such Sea-marks before to keep you off O is not this to be wilful in your Perdition Is not this to run headlong to Destruction O Sinners hear God calling out of Heaven to you by his Servants Preaching to you Printing for you why will you die why will you perish why will you run on in Sin when you know that when Lust hath conceived it brings forth Sin Jam. 1.15 and Sin when it is finished bringeth forth Death O then poor Soul Reade and Hear and Pray that thou may'st prosit by all bless God for all and bring forth the Fruits of all Thus prays thy Servant for thy Soul J. R. Gen. 42.21
Sins They are most dangerous because they go a great while undiscovered and the concealment of them often is an occasion of being hardned in them and putting off Repentance for them God often makes use of Shame upon discovery of some secret Sin to be a means to lead to Repentance 5. The longer Guilt lies hid the louder will it roar in the Conscience when discovered thus you see it did with Joseph's Brethren O now their guilty Consciences roar upon them though it had been hid so long O what work will Sin make in thy Conscience when it shall walk there after thou thoughtst it had been buried twenty or thirty years O then who would not stand off from secret Sins Third word of Counsel O then repent of sin if guilt stay behind after the Fact be committed Is it not then high time that your sin should be blotted out upon your Repentance I must tell you Sinners the guilt of sin is upon your Consciences until your Repentance You lie under Guilt if it be twenty years after What thâ— you have escaped the Revenging Hands of God hitherto yet the Guilt is upon you and that binds you therefore you see Repentance and Remission of Sin goes together O poor Sinners until you sincerely Repent all your Guilt is upon you Yea it is marked before the Lord and O how sad is this to have the guilt of all thy Sins that thou hast committed to this very day upon the back of thy Soul Fourth word of Counsel O then flie to the Blood of Chrâ—â— Guilt will walk in your Consciences when once awakened until the Blood of Christ be sprinkled upon them Until you by an eye of Faith behold the Lamb of God who takes away the Sins of the World What though Guilt hath laid long upon you What though the Sin be of old standing yet the Blood of Christ takes it away It cleanses from all Sin Heb. 12.24 new or old great or small Inormities or Infirmities sins against Light or sins against Love O then come Sinners come to the Blood of Sprinkling Fifth word of Counsel is O then do not lie long in your Guilt To fall into Sin is dangerous but to lie long when fallen is much more dangerous These Bâ—â—â—â—en of Joseph's laid long in their Sin and Guilt O poor Sinners when you fall by Sin make haste to get up by Repentance 1. What if you should be hardned in Guilt and do you not run the hazard of being hardned in Sin when you lie in it It may be before you commit it you think you may repent of it when you will but alas you may soon be hardned through the deceitfulness of Sin Dr. Preston speaking of the deceitfulness of Sin O says he Sin in the first temptation to the Sinner seems little commit but this once and thou mayst afterwards repent of it and thou needest never commit this Sin again But alas says he every Sin committed leaves the Spawn of another Sin upon the Soul and after once the Soul is easily led into another Act until it be hardned through the deceitfulness of Sin 2. What if you die in it You may lie in it and die in it O what if God say such a word to you in your Guilt unrepented of as he did to those Jews You shall die in your Sins O is not this a dreadful thing to die in Sin You think it sad to die in Debt to Men what is it then to die in Sin which is debt to God with all your sins upon the back of your Souls What if thou diest an unpardoned Sinner art thou not damned if thou hadst ten thousand Souls And O what a venture dost thou run that liest in Sin 3. O do not lie in Sin The longer it is laid in the harder it will be to repent of The longer a Sinner lies in his Fall the harder he is to Rise As the larger a Disease is upon a Person the more difficult is the Cure A Man feels not at first when he lies upon the Ground but if he lies a while he grows stiff and can very hardly rise Thus it will be with a Soul that lies long in Sin O then repent speedily of Sin GEN. xlii 21. Therefore is this Distress come upon us WE are now come to the second part of the Text viz. The Reflection or Accusation of Joseph's Brethren their Consciences now being awakened by their Affliction they now jointly draw up this Conolusion and Indictment against themselves O Therefore is this Distress come upon us 1. We have the Reflection it self O how quick was Conscience now What quick work sometimes doth sence of Guilt make O now they cry out with an Asseveration Verily we are guilty c. 2. We have the occasion of this Reflection viz. Their present Distress Now they were under Affliction For their being all this while in the hand of Joseph was an unknown Business to them Their distress and strait was great and now they as one Man conclude for their guilt this Distress was come upon them The Truth the Text presents us with is this In a day of Affliction Gonscience is very quick and active in its Reflections This is a profitable Truth and worth inquiring into such Days as these when so many are hardned in their sins Poor Sinners ruffle it out and stout it out against God in a a day of Prosperity O who but they with Pharaoh saying Who is the Lord Thus he swaggers it out but stay until an Hand of God be upon him and then you will find him of another mind O then Send for Moses to pray for me Then he confesses I and my People are wicked Thus the Prophet Jeremiah makes the wild Ass an Emblem and that very fitly of a wicked Man in his prosperous condition running on in Sin As the wild Ass snuffs up the Wind at her pleasure Jer. 2.24 All Counsel all Instruction all Advice is lost All that seek her do but weary themselves But stay until her Months of Affliction and Distress come and then they may be spoken with In their Months one shall find them O now Conscience begins to talk with them and call them to a serious debate concerning their past lives and Transactions God often sets Conscience to discourse with Sinners in the day of their Distress We have plentiful Instances of this Truth in holy Writ You may find it proved of the worst of Men as well as of God's own People The case of Gain what a quick Reflection was that of his All that meet me will slay me His sin and guilt walked in his Conscience Abel's Ghost as I may say he haunted Gain's Conscience Alas Who was in the World to slay him It was only the conclusion of his guilty Conscience Ahab had sinned highly against the Lord he was a Non-such for a Sinner 1 King 21.24 There was none like unto Ahab which did set himself to work wickedness
THE HUE and CRY OF CONSCIENCE AFTER Secure Sinners OR THE ALARM of CONSCIENCE In order to the Discovery of HIDDEN GUILT The Heaven shall reveal his Iniquity and the Earth shall rise up against him Job 20.27 Thou hast set our Iniquities before thee our secret Sins in the light of thy Countenance Psal 90.8 By JOHN RYTHER Minister of the Gospel LONDON Printed by J. D. for Iohn White at the Three Bibles in the Minories 1680. TO THE Serious and Impartial READER THe present Day cannot but be looked upon to be an evil Day even by those who have but their Eyes half opened That which makes a Day evil is the Sin of the Day which brings on the dangers of the Day and God's threatnings to cause our Sun to go down at Noon and to darken the earth in the clear Day And I will turn your Feasts into Mourning and all your Songs into Lamentations and I will bring up Sackcloth upon all Loins and Baldness upon every Head and I will make it as the mourning of an only Son and the end thereof as a bitter Day Now when the evils of our Sins abound among us and the evils of God's Threatnings impend over us it is a seasonable time to contribute to a check of the one and to a preventing of the other which must be by some awakening or searching Calls and Crys to sleepy and drowzy Consciences which is the sole Design of this small Treatise Three sorts of Readers it is like to fall into the Hands of 1. Of awakened or it may be startled Consciences but half awakened Or 2. Into the hands of such who are sprinkled from an evil Conscience Or 3. Into the hands of such whose Consciences are seared Now for the first of these I would offer some things to serious Consideration 1. Whatever thou find'st here to concern thee do not put it off Know is a renewed Call of God to thee and say as in that case Lo this we have fearched Job 5.27 so it is hear it and know it for thy good Or as it is in the Hebrew for thy self Know it to a practical and profitable improvement of it Dost thou know what thou mayst find in following the Search Hadst not thou better search Truth to set thee upon a diligent search for Guilt that hath laid long hid than let God find it out to thy shame sorrow and confusion of Face O be not thou troubled that thy Conscience is startled and begins to fly in thy Face Know now it is a Call of Christ Ephes 5.14 saying Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the Dead and Christ shall give thee Light Little do Sinners know the danger of putting off Christ's renewed Calls 2. Carry what concerns thee in this Treatise to God in Prayer Conviction looks well when it puts upon Supplication O this is the great Reason why so many awakenings by the Ministry of the Word or by Providential Dispensations die and come to nothing because they are not prayed over O how hard is it to bring guilty obstinate Sinners upon their Knees We find when Ephraim bemoaned himself and lay under Conviction he then presently fell on praying Jer. 31.18 Turn thou me and I shall be turned for thou art the Lord my God O Sinners know that such Convictions as are not attended with Prayer will but prove aggravations of your Sin and Guilt another day As soon as ever God had wrought throughly upon Paul it was said Behold he prayeth Prayer is the first breath of the new Creature 3. What concerns thee here consider it well weigh it in the ballance of the Sanctuary prove whether it be according to the standard of the Sanctuary Poor Souls hear much and it may be reade much but this marrs all they consider little Now it is the considerate Reader that is the profitable Reader Consider what thou readest 2 Tim. 2.7 and the Lord give thee understanding 1. Consider the Word thou hearest and thou readest shall judge thee at the last Day All thou hast heard all thou hast read shall come in as witness against thee And canst thou stand before such a Testimony 2. Consider thy own Conscience in that Day will be a thousand witnesses And canst thou then lift up thy Head when the Books shall be opened Rev. 20.12 and amongst the rest this sealed Book of thy own guilty Conscience where thy Iniquity that hath been sewed up shall be brought to light Job 14.1 and thy Transgression that hath been sealed up in a Bag shall be openly detected and discovered 3. Consider the Day is bastening upon thee that the iniquities of thy heels shall compass thee about Psal 19.5 O how wilt thou poor Sinner be entangled and perplexed with thy Sin and Guilt Some understand by Heel the last part of a Mans life towards his Death And doth not such a day hasten upon you O what work will Guilt make in the Conscience in a day of Distress consider by Joseph's Brethren 4. Consider how thy Conscience consents as thou readest Is not this true says Conscience Hast not thou found and felt it so says Conscience Is not thy Conscience put to silence as thou readest Consider that the Truths are commended to thy Conscience 5. Consider how sad it would be for all thy awakenings all thy touches all thy impressions all thy Convictions to be lost at last O Sinners how will such be condemned out of their own Mouths Can these be lost and your Souls saved of all your losses you may reckon these among your grea est losses 4. What concerns thee here remark and remember you may read much and remark little and this marrs all you read this remarking is Conscience taking Notes and making Animadversions upon Truths You do not bring your Consciences to reade Books say as you reade O my Conscience mark this this nearly concerns thee You know Men mark and observe what concerns them The second sort of Readers this little Tract may fall into their Hands are such who are sprinkled from an evil Conscience upon whose Door-posts the Blood of the Paschal Lamb is sprinkled who with Paul daily exercise themselves in all good Conscience both towards God and Man 1. O do you reade and bless God that you have to all Chalenges and Questions the answer of a good Conscience that you can silence all your Objections and Accusations by Faith in the Blood of Christ and can sing that triumphant Song even in your Militant State Rom. 8.33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect c. Can every one say so can every Professon say so can every Child of God say so Are there not many that have been a long time learning to sing this Song and have not learnt it to this day 2. Let this be your care to preserve the tenderness of your Consciences You may by guilt Sirs benum your Consciences as you find by what
that gets a â—ot but being warm at preâ—nt feels it not but afterwards the loss of Blood causes â—â—m to faint Persons engaged in their Temptations do â—â—t feel the fiery Darts that â—atan shoots at them O! but in cold Blood how do â—â—ey cry out When they â—ome to a feeling of themselves what they have done against God and against their own Souls Remember Siâ—ners what you commit 〈◊〉 your hot Blood you will 〈◊〉 pent in your cold and it wâ—â— walk in your Consciences afterwards Prov. 28.23 He that rebuketh Man afterwards shall fâ—â— favour more than he that flatereth with his Tongue say Solomon viz. When a Man is in cold Blood composed 〈◊〉 his Spirit then he cousider this friendly rebuke was 〈◊〉 Love 3. Reason Why Guilt often walks in the Conscience after the Fact is committed is Because the custom of Sin takes away the conscience of Sin Custom in Sin is a very hardniâ—â— thing when Sinners have gotten habits of Sin one 〈◊〉 being Drunk another of being Unclean another of being Proud now all sence of Sin is lost Jer. 13.23 Can the Ethiopian change his Skin or the Leopard his Spots No more can they that are accustomed to do evil do good O! but now when the Lord musters up the Sins of a poor guilty Wretch in order to bring him to Repentance then the Lord makes this Sin walk in his Conscience and the other Sin is brought to remembrance O! now the Soul crys out Men and Brethren what shall I do My Sin is ever before me O how was David haunted with his guilt How did it now walk in his Conscience 4. Reason Sinners are ignorant of the sad effects and consequences of Sin until afterwards Alas many times Sinners know not what they do when they commit Sin 1. They know not what they do in sinning against God David in his heat of Temptation did not consider it until afterwards 〈◊〉 then he cried out Psal 50.4 Against thee against thee only have 〈◊〉 sinned The Prodigal did noâ— know what he did in the going from his Father but afterwards how did he cry out Luke 14.21 I have sinned against Heaven and in thy sight Now Guilt did walk in his Conscience Now Sinners cry out with them in the Prophet Isa 59.12 For our Transgressions are multiplied before thee and our Sins testifie against us for our Transgressions are with us 〈◊〉 and as for our Iniquities we know them 2. Now the Eyes of the Sinner being opened he sees the sad consequences of Sin that he hath sinned against his own Soul Pro. 8.36 He that sinneth wrongeth his own Soul O now what work is there in the Conscience when the poor Guilty Sinner sees how he hath wronged his own Soul yea without Mercy from God undone it for ever nay without Repentance thou hast not only wronged thy own Soul but damned thy own Soul O now the Sinner sees the reward and wages of Sin is Death The first Death and the second Death Temporal Death and Eternal Death and now it begins to appear in its proper Colours but alas this is not until afterwards 5. Sin walks after the Fact committed because the aggravations of Sin ordinarily do not appear until afterwards That which makes Sin stand up in the Conscience of a Sinner is the aggravation of Sin which is laid before it usually by Reflecting Acts therefore the work of Repentance is set forth by these Reflecting Acts O says the penitent Sinner Jer. 8.6 What have I done Alas a Sinner in an hour of Temptation doth not take time to deliberate upon it to look into the Aggravations of it but all these come in as After-claps These are Conscience's After-claps Oh! what aggravations undoubtedly did appear in this case of their Guilt against their Brother Joseph 1. They speak like Persons aggravating their Guilt O now they cry out Gen. 37.26 27. We are verily guilty concerning our Brother O now they see the aggravation of their Sin against their Brother against the Law of Relation To make a Slave of a Stranger had been a great Sin but to make a Slave of a Brother this was an higher aggravation and we find this consideration startled Judah Let not our hand be upon him for he is our Brother This was a sin against the Law of Nature and the Law of Relation as well as the Law of Religion 2. They have this aggravation of the matter of Fact it was committed against Warning Thus you see Reuben rubs them with it in their distress Gen. 42.22 Spake I not unto you saying do not sin against the Child and you would not hear therefore behold his Blood is required O now all comes out as we say to sin against Warning is a great aggravation O now says the guilty Conscience once awakened how fairly wert thou warned nay how frequently wert thou warned O says Conscience did not I speak to thee and tell thee solemnly thou shouldst answer for it and God would require it 3. There was this aggravation in it there was Theft yea the highest Theft in it it was Man-stealing as Joseph says himself I was stolen away out of the Land of the Hebrews Gen. 40.15 Now this kind of Theft was punishable by death Exod. 21.16 He that stealeth a Man and selleth him shall surely be put to death And O then what an aggravation of Sin was this to sell their own Brother 4. There was this aggravation of Guilt stood up in their Consciences it was a deliberate Act as was hinted before an Act of Counsel and Conspiracy the Text is express in it And when they saw him afar off Gen. 37.18 even before he came near them they conspired against him to slay him And as they joyned in their Conspiracy now upon guilt walking in their Consciences they in my Text joyn in their Consession O! so it is with Sinners when Sin is laid home to the charge of Conscience O but was it not a plotted piece of Guilt a contrived piece of Guilt a deliberate Act David tells us he said He would confess his Sin and God forgave the Iniquity of his Sin Psal 32.5 viz. The deliberateness of it it may be he points at that particular aggravation 5. Aggravation that stood up in the Consciences of Joseph's Brethren was their hiding of it and this put them upon dreadful Lying and Dissembling with their Father Gen. 37.30 And we will say Some evil Beast hath devoured him This have we found know whether it be thy Son's Goat or no. O what dreadful work was here This is the fruit of Sin to cover and hide all with Lyes to their own Father 6. Aggravation was there Cruelty and Hard-heartedness The Text tells you They would not hear when he besought them And now this cuts them to the Heart So will Conscience one day say to the guilty Sinner O! did not I beseech thee to hearken to me
smiting him Aâ— David his Heart smote him when he cut off the Lap oâ— Saul's Garment Tendeâ— Consciences find this inwarâ— smiting either upon thâ— commission of Evil or thâ— omission of Good Ah! now how did Joseph's Brethren's Consciences smite them It is set forth by the poor Publican smiting on his Brest And sometimes with Ephraim's smiting upon his Thigh O now Sinners reflect upon their Sins as thaâ— word No Man repented and said what have I done 5. It is set forth by bringing again to mind which is the proper notion of Reflection Remember and shew your selves Men Isa 46.8 and bring it again to mind O ye Transgressors Therefore we have frequently such Expressions Remembring their evil ways 1 Kings 8.47 and if my People shall bethink themselves These are properly the Reflex Acts of the Mind and Conscience 6. It is set forth by Accusing The Conscience draws up an Accusation against the Sinner as here Joseph's Brethren did it Reflects when it Accuses We reade of the Gentiles who only had the Law of Nature and yet their Consciences did accuse them 7. It is set forth by Condemning which is higher than Accusing it passes Judgment as well as it witnesses If our own Hearts condemn us 1 John 3.20 God is greater than our Hearts viz. our Consciences We may spell out of all these some things of the nature of Reflection of Conscience Second Inquiry is What this awakened Conscience reflects upon For we must understand that Conscience doth never bear false Witness for in this case the voice of Conscience is the Voice God Conscience's Testimony holds true in the case of Joseph's Brethren 1. Conscience in a day of Affliction reflects upon matters of Fact It may be at the present commission of the Sin the Sinner takes no notice of it in an hurry and huff of Temptation all is forgotten O! but there is 〈◊〉 Book of Remembrance that Conscience keeps and all your Sins are registred there and though it be a sealed Book at present you know not â—ow soon it may be opened and you judged out of it according to what you have â—one O how many Sinners may now deny matter of fact but when Conscience â—hall be awakened to lay it â—ome and charge them plainâ—ith it saying as Nathan to David Thou art the Man Then there will be no denying of it The witness of â—â—es own Conscience is an â—deniable Testimony Cain â—ould not deny this Testimony therefore his Guilt cri'd all that meet me will slay me 〈◊〉 aoh could not deny this Testimony I and my People are wicked Judas could nodeny this Testimony I have sinned in betraying innocent Blood The People of God could not deny this Testimony when they cried out Our Iniquities testifie again us c. 2. Conscience doth no only reflect upon matter oâ— Fact but upon Circumstances and Aggravations of the Fact Conscience when awakened becomes tender and calls every particular Circumstance to remembrance that did heighten or any way aggravate the matter and thus did they in the Text Wherein lay the aggravation of the Guilt You have heard hinted before I that we saw the anguish of hâ—â— Soul and he besought us yet we would not hear 1. They saw the anguish of his Soul and yet their Eyes did not affect their Hearts 2. It was their Brother too 3. He besought us 4. They would not hear All of them great Aggravations Saw it The anguish of a Brothers Soul A beseeching Brother and would not hear Deasned their Ears to his lamentable Cries O how do their Consciences Reflect upon all these There are several things that Conscience when awakened reflects upon with reference to the Circumstances of matter of Fact 1. Sometimes Conscience tells the Sinner it is against Light Thou hadst so much Light as to conceive this before commission that it was a Sin that it was a Violation and Transgression of an holy Law and says Conscience this thou knewest yea this thou knewest before-hand and yet contrary to the discovery of this Light thou didst run violently into it and rebelledst against the Light as Job's phrase is Job 24.13 2. Sometimes Conscience tells the Sinner he hath sinned against Resolutions and this is an aggravating Circumstance O how often says Conscience hast thou broken thy serious Purposes and Vows when it may be you have been in imminent dangers and distresses Now Conscience registers and records the very Resolutions of poor Sinners it being privy to all the secret Purposes When some of you are at Sea ready to be swallowed up of the Belly of Hell as Jonah phrases it O then you pray to God and purpose against Sin if God will bring you off with your Lives at this time Or it may be others of you at Land upon a supposed Death-bed O if God will spare you How do you resolve against Sin yea against those Sins that sting your Consciences most But alas after all this do not you break your Bonds Now Conscience books all and at one time or other will remember you of all these things 3. Sometimes Conscience in its Reflections tells the Sinner of sinning against its Warnings and Dictates To sin against the dictates of Conscience is a very great Aggravation O Sinners how often hath Conscience warned you As you love your Peace as you love your Souls as you will answer it at the great Tribunal of God that you go not on in such a Course or that you commit not such a Sin at your Peril says Conscience but not withstanding all this the Sinner blunders on I tell you Sinners from the Lord there is never a Warning an awakened Conscience hath given any of you but it will rise up against you another Day either here or hereafter 4. Sometimes Conscience in its Reflections tells Sinners of their sinning against its Reproofs which is an aggravating Circumstance To run into Sin after long reproved hence you have that terrible word Proy 28.1 He that being of ten reproved hardens his Heart shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy O says Conscience is not this thy Case Hast thou not often been reproved Have not I often reproved thee and God often reproved thee and Ministers often reproved thee Yet hast thou gone on c. And will not every Reproof walk in your Consciences another day that you sin against now 5. Sometimes Conscience in its Reflections tells Sinners of sinning against Mercy which is another aggravating Circumstance How many Mercies says Conscience have you sinned against sparing Mercy at Sea and at Land preventing Mercy preserving Mercy O what a life of Mercy hath thy Life seen Nothing but a Series of Mercy a large Tract of Mercy a Line of Mercy and yet thou hast sinned against all This will grieve thee another Day when thou shalt have all thy Mercies as well as Sins set in order before thee Thirdly Conscience reflects upon the dishonour Sin brings to God as well
can you stand under his Anger According to thy Power so is thine Anger 2. Conscience reflects upon the Soul's Pollution and Defilement another sad effect of Sin That a Soul which came out of the Hand of God so pure so spotless a Being should be so deformed and defiled O how sad is this 3. Another sad effect of Sin that the awakened Conscience reflects upon in a day of Affliction is the withdrawment of God's comfortable Presence from the Soul O! how did the Spouses Conscience Reflect when she said My Beloved hath withdrawn himself Sin makes God hide himself from his dearest Children And O what temptations are God's Children exposed unto when their Father is withdrawn O how easily then are they drawn in to think hardly of God to be jealous of God to question his Promise I might name many other sad Effects and Consequences of Sin that awakened Consciences Reflects upon But I will forbear The Third Query is this What kind of Reflections these Reflections of awakened Consciences are 1. These Reflections are home Reflections O Sinners when Conscience Reflects and charges it home this was the case of my Text it was a home charge Verily we are guilty concerning our Brother O how quick was Conscience now with them And so when David reflected upon his Sin charged upon him by Nathan Thou art the Man says Nathan I have sineed says David It may be for the present your Consciences say little to you are very silent but stay until God shall awaken them O then until your Sin be pardoned it will be a Terror to you and cause you to mediate Terror What though this Lion sleep day will come that God will rouze him up and then he will be a Roaring Lion O what an home Reflection was that of Judas I have sinned in betraying innocent Blood And surely Peter's Conscience charged him home when he went out and wept bitterly 3. These Reflections of awakened Consciences they are just and righteous Reflections O! Conscience doth not reflect without a Cause doth not accuse or sting without a Cause Was then not a Righteous Cause for this Reflection in the Consciences of Joseph's Brethren Was there not great Guilt a the bottom Did Cain's Conscience afright him without a cause had not he killed hâ— Brother Abel Did David Conscience smite him with out a cause when he cried out I have sinned Did Judâ— his Conscience torment him without a cause when he cri'd out I have sinned in betraying Innocent Blood Oh Sinners When you look into your past Lives and turn over the Book of your Conversations Page by Page Leaf by Leaf and observe Page and Margin well you will sind both full of causes for these Reflections May not you charge your selves for this Sin and the other for this unknown Guilt to the World and the other O then you will say it is a righteous thing that Conscience should Condemn and that the Sentence thereof is a just and righteous â—entence We reade of him that had not on the Wedding Garment his Mouth was stopt he stood speechless So will it be in this Day with all poor guilty Sinners they will not have a word to say for themselves why Sentence should not be Executed upon them Rom. 2.19 Every Mouth must be stopt that all the World may become Guilty before God 3. These Reflections are full of Horrour and Dread Fear naturally results from them and you know Fear hath Torment in it These Reflections become great Torments to guilty Consciences the inward gnawings of this Worm are very terririble Alas what can arise out of Guilt Sinners but Dread and Horror Guilt we say makes a Man affraid of his own Shadow O what a torment is this when a Man â—omes to be dogg'd and haunted where-ever he goes with with his own guilty Conscience He needs no other Executioner or Tormentor The â—ase of Spira is a dreadful â—anding Instance Herod heard â—f the Fame of Jesus and â—id unto his Servants Mat. 14.2 3. This 〈◊〉 John Baptist he is risen â—â—m the Dead therefore might Works do shew themselves in 〈◊〉 What was the matter â—ith Herod that he was thus â—â—â—tled and crys it was â—â—hn He had killed John â—â—d now John though dead â—â—lk'd in his guilty Conscience and as a Spectrum â—eadfully affrighted him 4. These Reflections of â—â—ty awakened Conscience are not easily quieted Conscience is not easily pacified Luther hath this passage It is as hard a thing tâ— comfort an afflicted Conscienceâ— as it is to create a World God says he Isa 57.19 created the fruits of the Lips Peace peace viz. in his Minister's Mouths when they are Barnabasses Sons of Consolation to troubled Souls O! Who caâ— speak Peace to a Woundeâ— Conscience but God Hâ— only can say to poor Souls iâ— danger of being Shipwrackâ— with these Storms of Conscience's Troubles Peace and bâ— still The Lord Jesus can only command these Wind and Storms to obey him Thus it was with David thâ— the Lord had sent Nathaâ— the Prophet to him to teâ— him God had put away hâ—â— Sin yet all this would not do until the Lord told him so himself which occasioned that Prayer of his Lord make the Bones which thou hast broken to rejoyce Psal 51.8 Make thou me to hear the Voice of Joy and Gladness 5. These Reflections of awakened Consciences are such as constrain the Sinner to seek out for ease Poor Souls now dwell in little ease they are disquieted and distressed and therefore look out for a Remedy A wounded Spirit who can bear Wounded Men you know groan for ease So do these wounded Souls Hence it was that Cain under the horrour of his awakened Conscience begins to build Cities to divert the rage of his throbing Conscience Many Sinners when awakened and troubled they go to the Musick with Saul to play the evil Spirit down It is said of Charles the 9th King of France after that dreadful Massacre in Paris which was in his Reign He never durst awake out of his sleep without Musick So many go to sinful Company and sinful Recreations to make use of them as a sleepy Sop to allay the rage of an accusing tormenting Conscience as tho they had a design to Conjure down the Guilt that walks in their Consciences But now when a poor Soul is truly awakened with a clear sight of Guilt in the Glass of the Gospel O then he begins to pray to seek out after Christ to enquire what he shall do to be saved to be pardoned O! how do such poor Souls like the stung Israelites under the smart and pain of the Wound run up and down to look towards the Brazen Serpent for Healing And like those prickt in the Heart cry out Men and Brethren what shall we do First Reason Why Conscience in a day of Affliction is quick at Reflections Because days of Affliction are days of Remembrance Conscience sets Memory now at work and now
prove a Remedy Will not this make the Wound to bleed so much the more To run into sinful Company when wounded in your Consciences will not this inflame the Reckoning Is not this to run so much the more upon the score with God O Sinners let me tell you all these Arrears must at the long run be reckoned for 2. Others they run to lawful Comforts and Enjoyments and so labour to stifle the Reflections of their guilty Consciences 3. Others they run to their lawful Employments as Cain did to build Cities so some go to their Trades to their Shops on purpose to drown the convictions of their own guilty Consciences 4. Others go to their sinful Recreations Carding and Dicing and Gaming 5. Others make Charms of their Duties and Forms as Papists go to their Pater Nosters and their Ave Marys nay may not this piece of refined Popery be in the Heart of such as call themselves Protestants But alas all these cannot bear down an awakened Conscience when God sets Guilt on The Third Use Is a word of Exhortation to poor guilty Sinners O! then yield an Ear to the Reflections of your own Consciences Many a Man's Conscience cannot be heard by him it checks him and chides him and reproves him but yet all this while the Sinner stops his Ear as the deaf Adder of which some write That she claps one Ear to the Earth and covers the other with her Tail O hear Sinners then what Conscience hath to say Hearken to the Preacher in your Bosoms Turn you about Sinners once before you die and listen to this Preacher 1. Sinners if you will not hear it now you must hear it whether you will or no hereafter And O how sad will it be to hear it there Where the Worm never dies and the Fire never goes out This Worm is the guilty Conscience which Sinners must hear in Hell if they will not hear it here Guilty Consciences preach in Hell and the Sermon is as long as Eternity it self Maak 9.44 and happy were the Damned if they could run away from these Sermons O Sinners you cannot stop your Ears in the other World against your guilty Consciences as you do in this 2. Sinners hearken to the Reflections of your own Consciences for your hearing them will be in order to the getting of your Sins pardoned Its Reflections are in order to your Repentance and your Repentance will be in order to your Remission They are both put together and preached in the Name of Christ together And would not you be glad to have your Sins pardoned Would not you be glad to have your Sins washed away in the Blood of Christ Would not you be glad to have this heavy and insupportable burden of Guilt removed off the back of your Consciences Are your Sins gone over your Heads as a Burden yea as too heavy a Burden for you to bear and would not you rejoyce to be led to Safety and Rest under all your Loads and Pressures 3. Be sure you attend to the Reflections of your Consciences for the Rod joyns issue with Conscience the Rod sets Conscience on work and they preach the same Doctrine Therefore we are called and strictly charged to hear the Rod. It may be Sinners Mic. 6.9 God hath tried other Preachers and they have done little good to make you sensible of your Guilt then God commissions these Preachers Conscience and the Rod. If a Man cannot come abroad and hear a Minister then Affliction shall preach to him at Home Now the Rod is assistant to Conscience Job 24.13 the Preacher in your Bosoms 4. Sinners be not deaf to the Reflections of your Consciences this is to sin against your Light nay to â—ebel against your Light And is not this sad and the guilt of this Rebellion you will be charged with another day 5. Poor Sinners Be not deaf to the Reflections of your own Consciences usually God follows such with his severest Judgments 1. Sometimes Temporal Many times God makes that threatning good upon such I will wound the hoary Scalp of every one that goes on in his Trespasses Psal 68.21 If Men will walk on in their Sins contrary to all checks and convictions of Conscience let them look for some severe blow of the Hand of God upon them sooner or later for tho the Sentence be not speedily executed it is not said it never shall Tho Execution day be for a while deferred yet it will come 2. Spiritual Judgments which are the worst and saddest of Judgments Many times Sinners deaf to their Consciences are given up to a seared Conscience to a reprobate Mind to vile Affection to their own Lusts to hardness of Heart And is not the judicially hardned Sinner the half-damned Sinner The Second Branch of Exhortation is To such as have Reflecting tender Consciences O then bless the Lord for such awakened Consciences It is a greater Mercy than you think of to have such a Monitor and Remembrancer in your Bosoms 1. Is it not a Mercy to be way-laid in a sinful Course To be prevented in Sin To be stopt in a Carreer and full Gallop for Hell This this is the end why God sets Conscience at work with a poor Sinner Had not many poor Sinners run headlong to utter Destruction and Damnation else May not many a poor Sinner say to Conscience as David did to Abigail Blessed be the God of Israel 1 Sam. 25.32 33. that sent thee this day to prevent me from shedding innocent Blood When thou hast had rebukes of Conscience hast thou not said Numb 22.34 as Balaam to the Angel in his way to stop him If my way be perverse before the Lord and displease thee I will get me back again And is not this a Mercy 2. Is it not a Mercy to be raised to Re entance after falling into Sin The Sinner's Sinning is his Fall the Sinner's Repentance is his Rising And are not all Conscience's Reflections when it is awakened in order to Repentance as hath been already hinted and is not this a Mercy to be pluckt as a Firebrand out of the midst of the burning O! how doth Conscience give many a pull at some Sinners to get them out of the Fire lest it should prove the Fire that never goes out 3. Is not this a Mercy to have thy Soul lie in the way of a Pardon Canst thou O poor Sinner expect Remission without Repentance Hast thou any Promise for it in all the Bible Produce it if thou canst O! whoever told thee so but Satan and thy own deluding Heart Do not all Offenders that receive Pardons from their Princes receive them upon their Knees Whither is it thy awakened guilty Conscience would send thee but to the King of Israel that Merciful King with Sackcloth upon thy Loins and an Halter about thy Neck in order to the receiving of thy Pardon Third Branch of the Exhortation O then bless the Lord for days of