that are there cannot be easily purged those unclean stables cannot be soon swept there is no power in nature to purge it for we are dead in trespasses and sins and what is more sutable to dead men then dead works and it is necessary to consider that if Conscience is not purged here it will never be purged and there is but one means in the world will do it First Consider the disease and that is a Conscience defiled with dead works as all the works of an unregenerat man are he being a dead man c. And Conscience is defiled onely by sin and there are two things in sin that defile the Conscience First the guilt of it Secondly the defilement of it and hence Divines say that as a good Conscience is either honeste bona pacate bona purged from the filth purified and and pacified in respect of the guilt So there is a twofold evil Conscience either moleste mala a Conscience disquieted with the guilt of sin or else vitiose mala polluted with the defilement the filth of sin and a mans Conscience must be purged from both these Secondly Here is the Medicine that must purge the Conscience from both these and that is the blood of Christ by the blood of Christ is meant that perfect satisfaction that he did give unto the justice of God for the sin of man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim 2.6 A price every way answerable to the debt that we did owe Now there was a double debt that man did owe to God a debt of obedience as he was a creature and a debt of service as he was a sinner a debt of suffering the one answering the precept and the other the curse of the Law and both are here meant by the blood of Christ his whole and perfect satisfaction his active and passive obedience Onely our whole redemption is attributed to his blood Ephes 1.7 We have redemption through his blood because this was the last payment for the debt that Christ did pay for us was as a debt that men pay upon a bond by several parcels a little at one time and a little at another but the debt is not paid nor the bond cancelled till it be all paid so though indeed all the acts of obedience that Christ did perform in our nature they were for us and were part of that obedience that we did owe all the acts of obedience that he performs in the dayes of his humiliation takeing our nature upon him he did as our surety and many of his sufferings went before his death for he was dying all the while the thirty three years that he lived upon the earth being indeed a man of sorrows a worm and no man his suffering in his hunger and thirst labour and weariness and all the persecution that he suffered from men after he set his foot upon this earth they are to be counted as part of his satisfaction but yet the shedding of his blood upon the Cross and being delivered unto death for us this was the last and great act and from the last payment which did fully satisfie the debt and cancel the bond hence it has its denomination and so the whole satisfaction of Christ as our sacrifice and surety is here meant by the blood of Christ Thirdly The manner how this medicine doth work this Cure it is by sprinkling of it a man must have his heart sprinkled from an evil Conscience It is a Typical expression taken from the sacrifice under the Law the sacrifice must not onely be killed but the bloud must be sprinkled also where the pascal Lamb was to be slain they must take the blood in the Basin and with a branch of Hysope sprinkle it upon the dore-posts not that the Angel had need to have a signal that he might pass over their houses for he knew them well enough but they had need of it that they might thereby have their faith tried and strengthened in the sprinkling of that blood of which the blood of the Lamb was but a Type So Exod. 24.8 When they had offered the sacrifice Moses took the blood and sprinkled it upon all the people Lev. 14.14 and when the Leaper was cleansed he came to the door of the Tabernacle and brought a trespass offering and the Priest did take of the blood and put it upon his right ear and the thumb of his right hand And in answer to all this Type the blood of Christ is called the blood of sprinkling Heb. 12.24 And this sprinkling is nothing else but the application of his merit and satisfaction of this blood unto a mans own particular soul for in Christ's sacrifice there was a satisfaction and application the one is in killing the sacrifice and the other in sprinkling the blood and this is done when by a mighty work of the Holy Ghost the Conscience affected and afrighted with the guilt of sin doth rely and cast it self upon this satisfaction to be a sacrifice for him then is this satisfaction apropriated and applied unto him so this blood as sprinkled is a speaking blood it speaks better things then the blood of Abel that is it speaks so in the Conscience non vindictam clamat sed veniam Conscience is pacified and a man thereby puts his sins upon the head of the Beast Our sacrifice is a sufficient satisfaction and the Conscience is not terrified with the guilt of sin as if it were his own and as if he were to satisfie in his own person no more for the soul saith he was made sin for us that knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him Christ came into the World to save sinners of whom I am chief And here are these six things taken in by the soul to pacifie the Conscience in respect of guilt First When the soul sees by a spiritual and heavenly teaching that the great plot and design of God under the second Covenant is to take away sin Heb. 10.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To take sin off the sinner for if God will be just he must punish the sin and if he be mercifull in sparing the sinner there must be a way to separate the sin from the sinner and this the Lord will do by an act of Sovereignty such as he did never exercise unto persons under the first Covenant and that is by imputing of our sin unto another who was righteous 2 Cor. 5.20.21 and he was made sin for us who knew no sin he will be just and therefore there shall not be commutatio justitiae and he will be merciful and therefore there must be à commutatio personae there had been else no place for mercy to have come onely there is this one cause the Lord will change the person and by an act of absolute sovereignty the Lord will count it so that the sin shall be in Gods account in the guilt of it taken off from the one in
rowl away the stone from the grave but it was done in a legal and judiciary way and therefore he is said to be justified He is near that justifies me 1 Tim. 3.16 Isa 50.8 And by this he doth convince the World of righteousness because the Lord delivered him from death Because he doth go to the Father Sixthly For a Soul by an Almighty power of God to rest upon this satisfaction of his and to plead it before God for himself at his judgment seat First To look upon Christ as dying not for himself but as a surety for in justification and the purging of Conscience from the guilt of sin the eye of Faith is mainly set upon Christ crucified Christ as dying and that as a surety to make satisfaction 1 Cor. 2.2 Heb 9.22 I desire to know nothing but Christ and Christ crucyfied for without sheding of blood there is no remission For though it is true that the personal excellencies that be in Christ are the objects of Faith yet that Faith as it comes to Christ in the act of justyfication and being quit of the guilt of sin it mainly looks upon Christ dying Christ satisfying Secondly To look upon Christ as a representative head as one in whom I died as a surety so as one in whome I rose he was justyfied and I in him because as he dyed for me so for me he was justified also and Christ was formerly condemned therefore there must an act of aquiting pass upon Christ and therefore Heb. 9.28 That it was so apeared plainly for he did bear the sins of many in respect of the guilt of them and he shall apear the second time without sin that is have the guilt of no sin charged upon him in oposition unto his former bearing our iniquities he shall be aquitted before men and angels and therefore he rose as the first fruits as a person representing all the rest of the elect and he was justified in the spirit that is raised up by the power of the divine nature thereby he was manifested to be justified and as he is sanctified as a common person and receives an Image for us that we must bear the Image of the heavenly there is life eternal laid up in him so he is justified as a common person from the guilt of sin that not any iniquity remains unsatisfied for in his behalf that is the ransom in his death is fully paid and as we were condemned in Adam a common person so it is reason we should be justified by Christ as in a common person also now when a soul by an almighty work of the spirit of God looks upon all these acts of Christ and the soul rests upon them in respect of the guilt of sin he doth put his sins upon the head of his surety and looks upon himself as acquitted in his justification and casts himself upon it that he may attain it thus the blood of Christ is said by a mighty work of the spirit on Christs part and faith on ours to be sprinkled upon our Consciences to purge them from the guilt of dead works Quest But how shall I know whether there be such an almighty power put forth in me that I may stay my soul upon Christs blood thus satisfying that I might be able thereby to see my Conscience purged and pacified and the terrour of sin taken away Answ A man shall know this almighty work of the spirit sprinkling this blood of Christ upon the Conscience by enabling a man unto that which all the power and improvement of a natural Conscience cannot perform and it will be seen in three things First When a mans Conscience awakened and convinced of sin doth yet make after reconciliation with God and union with Christ for a natural Conscience can find it easie to believe while he goes on still in his sins and Conscience is a sleep and indeed the faith of most men is but a good conceit of themselves from the self flatery of their own hearts but as soon as Conscience is awakened by and by they fly from God and look upon him as an enemy Luke 3.5 there are Mountains to be made a plain and there are Valleys to be fill'd now when a soul considers himself under the condemnation of sin the curse of the Law and looks upon God as an angry judge and yet saith I have heard that the Lord of Israel is a mercifull God and if mercy save me I shall be saved and if mercy destroy me I shall but dye I will fly to him whom I have offended and lye down at his footstool there is nothing in the world that I desire like unto reconciliation with him and I would be reconciled to him in his own way the way of union with Christ I would he found in him not having my own righteousness I would submit to the way of the Gospel Oh blessed is the Man unto whom the Lord imputes this righteousness and he is made the righteousness of God in Christ when a soul thus convinced of sin saith God be mercifull to me a sinner I will now go to him and leave my self with him let him do as it seemeth good to him as David said if the Lord delight in me he will save me c. truly all the power of nature improved can never make men leave themselves with God in this manner Secondly When a mans sins are discovered and the Lord leads a man into the wardrope of Christs righteousness and enables him to see how there is enough therein to cover them all and as God saw enough of Christs righteousness to satisfie him in point of justice so the Lord doth by a glorious light shew unto the soul enough of Christs righteousness to satisfy also in point of guilt that the soul can in some measure in Christ answer all the objections that Conscience can make by some spiritual reasonings drawn from the Lord Jesus Christ as when Conscience objects sin is a transgression of the Law but the soul answers the sufferings of Christ are the humiliation of the Law-giver sin is a dishonour to God in point of goods but Christ that made all things with him and had the same title unto all that God the Father had he laid down all and became poor and took a new title unto all he had more then a world to lay down sin did wrong God in point of honour but he that was the brightness of his glory did abase himself and made himself of no reputation and did bring thereby more honour to God he being subject to him then the subjection of all the creatures could have done it was a higher honour to the Soveraignty of God to have his son a servant then could have been to have had the service of all the creatures and he can do him more service and bring him in more glory in an hour then all the creatures could have done if man had stood to eternity sin did offend
prize of the high calling and it is some ground that I have got already something that I have attain'd but yet it is but a little but upon a hope that I shall have him that indeed is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in my eye therefore I strive with all my might and press hard to the mark c. And thus the blood of Christ gives an efficacy unto all the precepts and the promises of the Gospel and they are all of them by this means of a cleansing nature they do purge the Conscience they have all a cleansing property Fifthly The blood of Christ doth purge the Conscience by sprinkling all means that it shall tend unto a mans purification that as by sin all things do become means to defile the Conscience so by the blood of Christ all things shall become means to purge the Conscience Tit. 1.15 Unto the pure all things are pure but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure but even their mind and Conscience is defiled For under the law the sprinkling of the blood was not onely upon the person but upon the book and the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministery Heb. 9.19 Implying that none of these would have been instruments of purging of the Conscience if they had not themselves been first purged by the blood of Christ But what are the means that thus purge the Conscience First The word of God Ephes 5.26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of Water by the word and John 15.3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you c. Mens Consciences are purged by it but yet in it self it will increase the defilement as unto all unregenerate men it does Heb. 6.7 The ground that drinks in the rain that comes oft upon it and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed receiveth blessing from God But that which bears thorns and briers is rejected and is nigh to cursing And yet if Christ sprinkle it with his blood it will surely purge the Conscience and all the purging vertue that the word has is because his blood was sprinkled with the blood of the sacrifice Secondly All other ordinances also 2 Cor. 3 3. First that of the ministery ye are our epistle and though ye have Ten thousand instructers yet not many Fathers but I have begotten you through the Gospel Now even this ordinance that was appointed for their cleansing will but increase their pollution of themselves if their uncircumcised heart should rise against the message they bring them to believe in the blood of Christ and then God in judgment says to his ministers go make the heart of this people fat let their hearts be hardened and their spirits rise against it that hearing they may hear and not understand least they be converted and I should heal them the Lusts of men are thereby the more exasperated and drawn forth as it did in the Pharisees under Christs ministery their enmity did rise to the sin against the Holy Ghost besides Blasphemy against the son of man but that the ministery is effectual to any souls it is onely the sprinkling of the blood of Christ upon all the ordinances thereof and it will purge if Christ in it sit as a refiner of silver in his shop and do concurr in the ordinances to their refinement Thirdly The example of the Saints are a means of purging the Conscience Phil. 3.17 Be followers together of me and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample c. When a man doth observe unto what a pitch of holiness and purification the Saints of God have attained as the example of Christ so of the saints also such pressing forward to more spirituality such growth in grace and in knowledg such love to all Saints this is a great means to raise the hearts of them that fear God to give all diligence to be as they were holy in all manner of conversation But yet they will be a means of pollution of themselves even these glorious examples of Christ and his followers if not sprinkled with the blood of Christ and as the Pharisees looking upon the holyness of the Saints they were the more inraged so the more lively men do see holyness in the practise of it they hate it so much the more Fourthly Hos 2.6 Jer. 31.18 Isa 18. Afflictions When the Lord sends it upon any of his children this is all their fruit to take away their sin but yet afflictions will of themselves purge no mans Conscience but rather defile it as we see how the rage of mens spirits are drawn out by it as King Ahaz sin'd yet more the more he was afflicted and Revel 16.9.10 They did gnaw their tongues with pain and did blaspheme the God of Heaven but repented not of their evil deeds bray a Fool in a Morter and yet his folly will not depart from him but yet if Christs blood do sprinkle our crosses they shall be as corasives to eat out the proud flesh and they shall tend to heal him whom they had wounded Fifthly Sometimes the Lord will do it by sins in giving him up to some publick open and scandulous fall as he did with David lets him fall into that great evil of murder and adultery and that made him to wash himself throughout and it was a means to keep him low and to preserve him from sin all his life time after and we have the like instance in Peter in denying the Lord and cursing and swearing that he never knew him when thou art converted says Christ to him strengthen thy bretheren for he would be the stronger afterwards as a bone broke c. and the less apt to fall into sin Surely sins of themselves being filthiness it self cannot purge but will defile but yet sprinkled with the blood of Christ they shall be an occasion of purging Sixthly Sometimes the Lord will do it by leaving a man to the winnowings of Satan in some furious and violent temptation Satans aim is thereby to sift out all grace and to leave nothing but chaff in the soul for we fight not against flesh and blood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things that concerne Heaven and Eternity and commonly men are foiled by them and are the more filthy by a touch of the wicked one 1 John 5.19 But when the Lord doth sprinkle a temptation with the blood of Christ it shall be a means to purge the soul and the poyson of it shall be tempered into a wholesome medicine as it was unto Paul * A Messenger of Satan c. 2 Cor. 12.7.8 It is sometime purging and sometimes preventing Physick to keep the soul from being lifted up c. The same may be said of mercies and of all the dispensations of providence for all shall work together for good that is for a mans spiritual and eternal good because they are all yours Creatures and providences
one potion and therefore it will be good for you to take that in time also Now what is this medicine that will purge the Conscience it is the blood of Christ onely Heb. 9.14 It shall purge your Conscience from dead works and Heb. 10.22 Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience Here is first the disease and that is dead works with the subject of it or the part of the evil affected that is the Conscience Secondly There is the medicine it 's the bloud of Christ who offered himself by the eternal spirit without spot to God Thirdly The manner how this blood doth it it is by sprinkling and therein the power of this medicine is put forth First The disease dead works in the Conscience are of two sorts Guilt and Lust c. But to awaken every mans Conscience to get it purged take these considerations First By nature every mans Conscience is defiled Tit. 1.15 Heb. 9.14 the blood of Christ comes upon no mans Conscience but it finds it polluted with dead works for whether we consider either the guilt or the defilement of sin it 's the Conscience that is the main receptacle of it the guilt is laid up there Jer. 17.1 The sin of Judah is written with a pen of Iron and with the point of a Diamond it is spoken de summo indelibili reatu it was written upon their Consciences and upon the horns of their Altars nec deleri potest nec latere for it did appear upon every Altar and every new act of sin adds unto the defilement of Conscience that 's the Tophet the Golgotha of the soul men of corrupt Consciences are graves though they appear not so Now when a man shall consider how our iniquities are gone over our heads and are more in number then the hairs of our head and even answerable to the sand upon the Sea shore innumerable What filthy polluted Consciences must such men needs have Secondly Consider what a miserable thing it is for a man to have a polluted Conscience First It breaks a mans peace the inward man is never quiet Isa 57.21 There is no peace says my God to the wicked It is as Austin compares it to a bad wife that when a man hath met with hard labour abroad trouble and afflictions from without and retires himself and hopes to find some comfort at home but there he has never a quiet hour this is more troublesome then any of his outward crosses can be for it is an evil Wife that 's a continual droping so is Conscience Fugiet ab agro ad civitatem à publico ad domum à domo ad cubiculum sequitur tribulatio Secondly It imbitters all a mans comforts a good Conscience will sweeten every cross Paul and Silas can sing in the stocks Ubi cunque alibipassus est tribulationes illuc confugiet ibi inveniet Deum c. and the Martyrs rejoyce a the stake for whensoever any man suffers tribulation for keeping a good Conscience thither God hastens and finds him and makes him rejoyce in the testimony of his Conscience so an evil Conscience will imbitter every comfort Paul can stand with boldness at the Barr when Felix doth tremble on the Bench there is no state can secure a man that has an evil Conscience his comforts will not secure him they will all be imbittered take the choycest pleasures of sin that any man of you doth injoy it is this adds Water to your Wine and adds a tincture of Gall and Wormwood to all your sweetness and delicacies There is an evil spirit that comes upon Saul from the Lord and what is that Turbatur iâ—i anima Conscientia immoderata tristitia a diabolo excitata and when God did suffer Satan to come in and disquiet his Conscience all the comforts of a kingdome could not sweeten such a mans spirit neither can he have any sweetness in them all Thirdly It takes away a mans courage a good Conscience makes a man to be as bold as a Lyon and he can set his face as a Rock let the storm come and yet the Rock shakes not and he is not afraid of evil tideings but the wicked flyes when none pursues them and indeed they need no other pursuer for there is within them Lethalis arundo as a Deer that is shot may run but still carries his misery with him and as Cain surely every one that meets me will slay me Gen. 11.4 Herod when he heard of the fame of Jesus he says surely it is John the Baptist he is risen from the dead and therefore mighty works shew forth themselves in him Fourthly It unfits a man for every duty for the guilt of it arising in the Conscience stops a mans mouth and shuts up his heart before the Lord brings him into the presence of God as a Malefactor into the presence of the Judg with a vail upon his face and pollutes all his services his prayer is turned into sin for all things are defiled unto them whose Consciences are defiled Tit. 1.15 Fifthly A man cannot promise himself any acceptance or success in any thing he does Mal. 3.4 He shall purge them as silver and then shall their sacrifices be pleasant unto the Lord c. and Psal 51.13 Open thou my lips then shall I teach transgressours thy way c. God may indeed work great things by men of polluted Consciences but they cannot promise themselves success in any thing that they undertake till their Consciences be purged Sixthly Thou art in a continual fear and expectation when God will awaken it as he surely will do for sin lyes at the dore but between a godly man and sin there is a wall that will never open but between a wicked man and sin there is a dore that though it may be shut long it will open at last and an evil Conscience it is that watcheth at the dore till the man dare look out miserrimum est talem habere janitorum Luther A Spirit of slumber upon a man and a seared Conscience is a great judgment but it will not last allways it is at farthest but for the time of this Life and then the callumne upon Conscience shall be worne off and the slumber cast away and it shall be awakened so as never to sleep again Read the story of Cain and Belteshazar of Judas and of Spira c. Nay Lay your ears to Hell a while and hear the clamours of polluted Consciences there and you shall see that the greatest plague that can befall a man in this life is to be left unto the power of an evil Conscience so that you had need to seek to have your Consciences purged and this is specially to be considered of you that are grown old in wickedness and whose bones are still full of the sins of your youth having been laying in defilement into your Consciences long surely all this filth the sink and sodoms of vanity
are as truly subordinate unto your good as they are unto Gods glory 〈◊〉 and the end of all is to take away the sin and to purge the Conscience that is defiled by sin and to perfect holiness in the fear of God Sixthly The blood of Christ doth purge their Consciences as it is now sprinkled in Heaven before the mercy Seat by the interception of Christ for there were under the Law two things that did perfect the sacrifice the offering of it the killing of it and the carrying the blood into the most holy place and sprinkling it upon the mercy Seat and the sacrifice was not perfect until both were done and the blood was to remain before the mercy Seat so the Lord Jesus has offer'd himself a sacrifice but his blood is sprinkled still upon us and remains and it is a speaking blood it speaks better things then the blood of Abel now it doth speak to us continually for the end of his blood and what is it but that we may be cleansed he gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie us to himself Tit. 2.14 c. and the cry of this blood still in Heaven is sanctifie them by thy truth keep them from the evil of the world father keep through thy own name them that thou hast given me c. But how shall I know my Conscience is purged by the blood of Christ c. First The more a mans Conscience is afflicted with the spiritual rising of lust and he loaths himself for it as Paul for the Law of his members warring against the Law of his mind and Job I have seen thee and therefore I abhor my self Secondly The more ready a man is to deny himself for God in any service and his Conscience puts him forth to the uttermost in it as Paul I am willing to spend my self or to dye for the name of the Lord Jesus and Abraham rose up early to obey the command of God even to sacrifice his only son for the more the glory of God and his commands do sway with a man the more cause he has to be assured that the blood of sprinkling has passed upon him c. Thirdly The more a mans Conscience keeps down h is lust in the presence of the object of it as Boaz the woman lay at his feet and yet his lust did not rise and as Job to make a Covenant with his eyes and not look upon a Maid not have eyes full of adultery a godly man may be tempted to sin it may be in the absence of the object but if it be present and lust have all the advantages that can be and yet it cannot prevail it s an argument of a pure Conscience and try all these with reference unto your darling lust for answerable as the Conscience is purged with respect unto that so it is unto all other sins whatsoever It will serve for exhortation unto all men to keep their Consciences pure Vse 2 being once cleansed in the blood of the Lamb and this was the Apostle Pauls labour and his dayly exercise Acts 24.16 in this I exercise my self to to keep 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Conscience void of offence before God and all men Now we have formerly heard that as there be two things in sin so there is a double defilement of the Conscience there is a guilt and a pollution and a mans Conscience can never be a good Conscience a pure Conscience without a stumbling block unless it be kept pure in both these and here I would speak of a pure Conscience according to the Apostles distinction First before God Secondly before men And first in reference unto the guilt of sin and a Conscience polluted therewith and this is a heart sprinkled from an evil Conscience Heb. 10.22 that is an accusing and a condemning Conscience 1 John 3.21 if our hearts condemn us not that is if they have the guilt of no sin lye upon them for which they draw us before the judgment Seat of Christ and pass upon us the sentence of condemnation and so Paul 2 Cor. 1.12 this is our rejoycing the testimony of our Conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our Conversation in the world and more especially towards you and 1 Cor. 4.4 I know nothing by my self it was a small thing to him to be judged of by man or in mans day for men have their day of judgment also as God has his and the reason why he doth despise the judgment of all men is this that he was conscious to himself of nothing wherein he had misbehaved himself in his Apostleship towards them many weaknesses there were which he owned in himself but yet the guilt of none of them did stick upon his Conscience and yet he refers himself unto the judgment of God who knows more then a mans Conscience can know by a mans self c. and this was the great care of Job that his heart might not reproach him all his dayes Job 27.6 In respect of God there is a two-fold good Conscience in regard of guilt one in truth and the other in shew and appearance only First There is a natural Conscience that may have a great shew of goodness in it not having the guilt of sin rising in it but may with a great deal of boldness appear before God and may lift up a mans face before him and yet this not be a Conscience truly good as we see in the Heathen Rom. 2.16 their thoughts do excuse as well as acâ—use and that in the day when God shall judge the secrets of all men c. therefore there is the guilt of some sins that Conscience will acquit a man from and will speak for him in the presence of the Lord and so some do apply that speech of Paul as Act. 23.1 I have lived in all good Conscience before God even unto this day it is conceived by some as Cajetan c. that it is spoken in reference unto all his dayes even those also before his Conversion in which he did never sin against his Conscience and therefore he saith bona Conscientia non bono opere for he thought that he did God good service in all that he did as Luther did say of himself Nec ita eram glacies frigus sicut Eccius alii qui propter ventrem Papam defendere videbantur sed ego rem seriam agebam ut qui diem extremum horribiliter timui salvus fieri ex intimis medullis cupiebam And the goodness of a mans Conscience in not witnessing guilt is but a seeming goodness it is sometimes from a mans uprightness and good intention in a particular act wherein though he doth ill yet he doth mean well and think also that he doth well as it is the manner of many a misled and deluded soul as Gen. 20.5.6 Abimelech answered God in the integrity of my heart and the
for the loss of them at any time as Judas sought oppertunity to betray Christ Prov. 7. and the Harlot is glad of the opportunity The good man is gene fromhome and has taken a Sum of moneywith him and will not return till thetime appointed come let us take ourfill of Love and Joseph's Mistress when none of the men of the house were within and Judas when the Oyntment was poured out he was sorry for the wast that he lost such an opportunity and Gehazy my Master has let him go with all those fine things but as the Lord lives I will go and get something of him and what did he get but a foul disease c. Eightly When much means are used to keep men from sin and they avail not but men do break through all and will commit sin when men have been often admonished Pro. 29.1 and often afflicted Pro. 29.1 God will hedge up their way with thornes and yet they will follow after their Lovers Hos 2.6 God doth take many courses to make sin difficult unto a man a hedge of thornes and yet the man follows after it still Pro. 13.19 Balaam a man would have thought Gods forbidding him first and then the difficulties that lay in his way should have hindred him and though he would still be trying to displease God yet still God held a hand upon his Conscience nevertheless Balaam ran greedily after the wayes of unrighteousness when men cannot endure to be reproved Asa was a godly man yet his Conscience was in an evil frame he could not bear a reproof nay when men wait and lay snares for him that reproves in the gate c. It is a sign of a seared Conscience c. Ninthly When men grow impudent and shameless in evil for there is a shame that doth keep men from some sins some kind of awe and respects before men Gen. 15.16 but there is a fullness of sin and impudency and obstinacy makes it up when men have a Whores forehead that cannot blush they are not ashamed of sin nay they glory in their shame and speak of it with rejoycing pudet non esse impudentem the unjust know no shame Lastly When men are not affected with and not afraid of spiritual judgments it 's the highest and the greatest wrath that can befall a man vae illis ad quorum peccata connivet Deus Luther Ephraim is joyned to Idols Let him alone why should they be smiten any more they will revolt more and more I will not punish your daughters when they commit adultery saies the Lord non parcit propitius parcit iratus Aust O servum illum beatum Tertul. cui deus dignatur irasci The last sentence of the Church is Anathama Maranatha and so it is here also Now there is nothing the people of God are more affected with then spiritual judgment to be given up to a hard heart to a blind mind and a spirit of slumber they are troubled at nothing more wounds upon a mans estate or his name lyes not so heavy upon his spirit nay he would chuse all outward evils rather this is a strange and terrible work of God in judgment pouring out upon a man a spirit of a deep sleep and for men not to be troubled that they are not troubled it is an argument of a very polluted Conscience 1 Cor. Durum est quod seipsum non exhorret Bern. Secondly Now to give some rules how a man should do to keep a good Conscience in all things First Set a high price upon a good Conscience as being the excellency of the man which will bear up a man against all evils that men or devils can do to him 2 Cor. 1.12 says the Apostle this is our rejoycing that in godly simplicity we have had our conversation in the world and 't is this that gives a man boldness in the presence of God if our hearts condem us not we have boldness in his sight a man that has a good Conscience shall lift up his face without spot even before God a good Conscience it is a continual feast it cheers a man in the worst times and his Conscience can never be freed from guilt that is not in desire at least freed from defilement for Christ came by water and by bloud and upon our Consciences he sprinkles bloud and sprinkles upon them clean water also Secondly Come to the Laver repent dayly judg your selves dayly and apply the blood of Christ which can onely purge the Conscience and do it dayly for the longer any sin lyes upon the Conscience the more unclean that Conscience is it is compaired unto a Fountain that doth dayly work out the mud Mâ—t. 12.15 and doth not let it rest there at all but immediately works against it to a renewed Conscience all sin is as a mote in the eye and a beam he can have no quiet till it be out but sin in a natural Conscience it is not burthensome though men add iniquity to iniquity can easily slip into sin without any remorse whereas we are not to give place to the Devil no not one hour Peter after he had sin'd straightway he went out and wept bitterly Oh! when any sin lies upon the Conscience be sure that it will defile thee more therefore make hast and work it out this delay of purging the Conscience is an evil may be found in the best men it cost David broken bones and great perplexity thefore we should be the more careful to come to the Laver of regeneration Thirdly Do not despise the checks of Conscience but mind that Light within you when it reproves for fins either of omission or commission do not turn the deaf ear Davids heart smote him and he took notice of it and Christ himself my reins chasten me to instruct me in the Psal 16.7 night season c. For let me tell you that any motion of a mans Conscience slighted it is thereby defiled for it speaks in the name of God and not any word of God nor any admonition of Conscience should we pass by without regard for Conscience is in the place of God in the man Fourthly Let it be your constant desire and your dayly exercise to live honestly in all things according to that of the Apostle Heb. 13.18 And truly therein the goodness of a mans Conscience is seen and Acts 24.16 In this I exercise my self to have always a Conscience void of offence toward God and toward men Satan doth cast defilement into the Conscience dayly and therefore there is nothing that a man should be imployed in more then to keep a good Conscience dayly in all things and truly it is the great shame of many that will take upon them the name of Religion yet are defective in this in a great measure that it may be said of them they do not labour in all things to keep a good Conscience Fisthly Take
doth purchase the persons of the elect Acts 20.28 therefore they are called a purchased people 1 Pet. 2.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes 1.14 they are the seed that do arise from the travel of his soul for he dyed as a grain that he might not abide alone John 12.32 when the Son of man is lifted up he will draw all men unto him and the selecting of the Saints out of this world is a fruit of his death and a part of the purchase thereof Gal. 1.4 Secondly All the graces and all the gifts of the Holy Ghost are part of his purchase though in him they were free he did not merit his unction no more then his union the humane nature could not merit it yet as they are bestowed upon us so they are the fruit of his merit for they could never have conveyed this unto us if he had not satisfied God and laid down a price answerable unto all and therefore Ephes 4.9 10. he that ascended is the same that descended into the lower parts of the Earth and he ascended that he might fill all things all the fruit of his ascention comes from his humiliation had he never descended he had never ascended therefore all the fulness of the graces and the gifts that the elect have it is grounded upon this the fruit of all his offices is grounded upon his Priest-hood he does as a Prophet teach but that he had never done if he had not satisfied he doth as a King dispence gifts but these gifts he gives to his people by his priesthood as an honour that the Lord has given him because of his abasement and his humiliation and thus our sanctification and the purging of the Conscience flows from the death of Christ which is the meritorious cause thereof Thirdly The active obedience of Christ is the pattern and the causa exemplaris of all that holiness and purification that is required of us our holiness consisting in a conformity into Christ he having received the Image of God in himself and by beholding of his Image we are changed into the same 2 Cor 7. last verse Christs life is a living Scripture a visible commentary upon the Law of God whose actions we must follow be you followers of me as I am of Christ looking to Jesus and seting him before us 1 Pet. 2.21 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Copy for us to write after and whose virtues we must shew forth our happiness being to be like him in glory 1 John 3.3 we must resemble him here as a child doth his father for as we have born the Image of the earthly so we must bear the Image of the heavenly as we have born the one here in sin and guilt so we must bear the other here in grace and hereafter in glory Fourthly Christs blood doth cleanse us by the precepts and the promises of the Gospel he doth sanctifie us by his truth John 17. First by the precepts of it for he saith be you holy as I am holy and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart as obedient children fashion not your selves according to the lusts of your former ignorance put off the old man and put ye on the new man be not conformable to the World but be transformed by the renewing of your mind and all these precepts have a purging vertue because through the blood of Christ all the commands of the Gospel carry grace with them and a spirit that inables men to fullfil the command jubet juvat Indeed you may well question can a thing that is intrinsically unclean purge it self can a Black-moor change his skin c. It is true he cannot but there is a creating word verbum factivum such as Christ said unto the Leper I will be thou clean and by his commanding it the soul is cleansed as when God by a way of command did cause the creatures to to stand up act of nothing for the commands of the Gospel they are as seed by which a man is begotten and they are as a mold into which a man is transformed Rom. 6.17 A man is cast into it as into a frame that doth change him and fides impetrat qu od lex * Aust imperat Secondly In the promises of the Gospel and they are all grounded in the blood of Christ for all the promises are in him yea and in him Amen he is the center and they are all as so many lines drawn from him he is the great promise that gives being unto all the rest of the promises and efficacy it 's the death of the Testatour that doth confirme the Testament it were else a blank and therefore the Sacrament of the Lords Supper is called the New Testament in his blood Matth. 26.28 That is the whole New Testament and the promises thereof are offered and sealed unto you in his blood and if it were not a Testament in his blood it were invalid and of none effect and the promises of the Gospel do purge the Conscience First As they are objects of Faith Christ having promised in them a purification Isa 4.4 Zac. 13.1 There is a fountain open for sin and for uncleanness Isa 52.15 it is aspersiâ— doctrinae justitiae Mal. 3.1 He shall sit as a refiner and shall sanctify the sons of Levi with refiners fire c. Exek 36.25.37 I will sprinkle clean water upon them c. They shall not defile themselves any more with their Idols and with their detestable things Now the soul looking upon the faithfullness of God and his goodness ingaged in these sayeth having these promises let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit and these promises Faith turns into prayer and obtains the mercy promised because all these promises are confirmed by the bloud of Christ Secondly The promises do purge the Conscience as they are grounds of hope for they are onely promises that are the grounds of hope to the saints Psal 119.49 establish thy word unto thy servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope and a hope that is grounded upon a promise is a hope that will never make a man ashamed and hope is a great ground of purging Tit. 2.12.13 Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ c. who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify to himself a peculiar people c. The grace of God bringing salvation teacheth us that denying ungodliness and worldly Lusts c. Looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of God as many as have this hope do purify themselves even as he is pure c. Truly in all things the more lively a mans hopes are the more springing his endeavours are And he doth take care to cast away that which will cloud his hope or defer it Phâ—l 3.12 I have a hope of the
charge parents have the souls of their children committed to their charge and Ministers of their people and Magistrates and Masters in their places also and of the Talents that God has committed to your trust in this World next to your own Souls are the Souls of others the more any loves his wife and child and friend c. The more he will labour to bring them in love with grace and the ways of of God Prov. 4.3 He was beloved of his Father he taught me also c. Prov. 1.1 Tender and onely beloved of my Mother The words of King Lemuel the Prophesie that his Mother taught him and 1 Pet. 1.1.2 That if any obey not the Word they also may without the Word be won by the conversation of the wives c. The more the Wife loves the Husband the more she endeavours to win him c. It is possible the great cut unto Adams conscience was that by sin he not onely destroyed himself but his posterity Bern. non parentes sed peremptores a sad parting to hear a child say when he is lanching into eternity a cruel Father hast thou been to me in neglecting to instruct me for the salvation of my soul and for a Wife to say a bloody Husband hast thou been to me and a bloody Minister hast thou been to me for thou hast sold souls for gain Ezech. 13.10 Because they have seduced my people Rev. 18.13 saying peace and there was no peace and one built a Wall and loe others daubed it with untempered morter c. They made souls of men their Merchandise c. Indeed there be many men that gain by the loss of souls as Act. 19.24 When the Devil was cast out they were highly offended to hear souls should be saved because the hope of their gain was gone Secondly If you would keep a good Conscience towards all men do not bear sin for them either by not mourning for them or by not reproving them when they sin against God First By not mourning for them It was an excellent frame in the Psalmist my eyes gush out rivers of water because men keep not thy Law Secondly By not reproving them Lev. 19.17 Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour and not suffer sin upon him c. It is sad to bear the sins of other men remember thou hast enough of thy own ab alienis meis libera me Domine Aust It may be thou shalt be counted morose and unsociable but malo famam boni viri perdere quam Conscientiam and which will be better at the last day when men shall say euge bone socie or Christ bone serve But men think they shall get ill will for their pains and there is little good like to come on it and so men shift off their Duty â—ut hear what Job says of himself Job 31.34 Did I fear a multitude 〈◊〉 did the contempt of families terifie me that I kept silence There is a sinful and cursed silence that all good hearts should be afraid of when the glory of God and the good of souls is in danger then is the season specially for all the upright of heart to rebuke for sin those that God has puâ— under their care and to mourne for what they cannot help Though we cannot be reprovers of all sinners yet we may be mourners for all sinners Thirdly Do not get an estate unjustly by falsisying of publick trust or else by secret defrauding or going beyond thy brother for the issue of it will be the rust of the silver you so get shall be a witness against you Joh. 5.3 and the cry of the oppressed enters into the ears of the Lord c. Woe to him that builds a town with blood Job 31.38 the Stones out of the Wall shall cry out against him and that hath the labour of the hireling without wages and makes a prey upon the necessities of men c. Naboths Vineyard stuck in Ahabs Conscience and Judas Thirty pieces also it being the price of blood it terrified him so that he chose strangling rather then bear the guilt of it he had lucrum in crumena but Gehennam in Conscientia Fourthly If you have wronged any one restore it for that unjust gain lyes upon thy Conscience and God will make thee vomit it up he will pluck it out of thy belly Conscience will never be at ease till then for as long as a man retains it he does justifie his sin and does every day commit it Nâ—h 5.11 therefore make haste and restore whatever thou hast got unjustly and by indirect means Zacheus restored it four-fold go you and do likewise Herod could not repent keep his Herodias non remittitur peocatum c. Mic. 6.10 And God takes it ill that men do not and what doth the Lord require of thee but to shew mercy c. Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked I will punish all those that leap on the threshold which fill their masters houses with violence and deceit c. Zeph. 1.3 Fifthly Take heed of the neglect of doing good to others rich men have an oppertunity of doing good to others and look you do it for riches do not always last they are this worlds goods and take to themselves wings and fly from one place to another make therefore friends of the unrighteous Mammon c. And great men have an opportunity to lift up their hand for the fatherless and to restore the needy to their right and oh that it were more the aim of great men that are so ambitious of honour and high places in the world that they may be restorers of breaches and a help to the needy and helpless that justice and righteousness may take place then there would not so many have contempt poured upon them as now there is and God will still overturne overturne till there be no complaint in the midst of us and how bitter will the remembrance of them be that have had a hand to do good and yet wanted a heart as it was in Jehu's time he took no heed to walk in the way of God with all his heart so many a man may say time was when I might have reformed Religion had not my Policy given Laws to my Piety and my desire to set up my self hindred me from exalting God Phineas was zealous for God and a covenant of peace was made with him Nehemiah did reform profaness and the Lord remembred him in goodness c. Now when men will not use their authority for God but he is dishonoured and the souls of men are destroyed and the needy are sold for a pair of Shooes and their possessors slay them and think themselves not guilty and every man does what is good in his own sight and there is none to put them to shame the the Lord will remove the Diadem c. and cast down the mighty from their