Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n
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A11458
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Two sermons preached at Paules-Crosse London The one November 21. the other Aprill 15. 1627. By Robert Saunderson, Bachelour in Divinitie, and sometimes Fellow of Lincolne Colledge in Oxford.
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Sanderson, Robert, 1587-1663.
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1628
(1628)
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STC 21709; ESTC S112209
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107,028
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135
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spirit offered himselfe without spot to God and till the Conscience be purged by the same blood from dead workes to serue the liuing God as speaketh the same Apostle Heb. 9. and 10. §. 24. Proofe But yet a Good Conscience in that sence as they meant it a Conscience morally good many of them had who neuer had Faith in CHRIST nor so much as the least inckling of the Doctrine of Saluation By which a Rom 2.14 Not hauing the Law they were a law vnto themselues doing by nature many of the things contained in the Law and chusing rather to vndergoe the greatest miseries as shame torment exile yea death it selfe or any thing that could befall them then wilfully to transgresse those rules and notions and dictates of piety and equity which the God of nature had imprinted in their consciences Could Heathen men and vnbelieuers haue taken so much comfort in the testimony of an excusing Conscience as it appeareth many of them did if such a Conscience were not in the kind that is Morally Good Or how else could Saint Paul haue made that protestation hee did in the Councell b Act. 23.1 Men Brethren I haue liued in all good Conscience before God vntill this day At least if he meant to include as some of the learned conceiue he did the whole time of his life as well before his Conuersion as after Balaam was but a câ—rsed Hypocrite and therefore it was but a copy of his countenance and no betâ—er for his heart euen then hankered after 2. Pet. 2.15 the wages of vnrighteousnesse when he looked asquint vpon Balaks liberall offer with this answere d Numb 22 1â— If Balak would giue me his house full of Gold and siluer I cannot goe beyond the word of the Lord my God to doe lesse or more But I assure my selfe many thousands of vnbelieuers in the world free from his hypocrisie would not for ten times as much as he there spake of haue gone beyond the Rules of the Law of Nature written in their hearts to haue done eyther lesse or more Abimelech seemeth to be so affected at least in this particular action and passage with Abraham wherein God thus approueth his integrity Yea I know that thou diddest this in the integrity of thy heart The Reason of which morall integrity in men vnregenerate and meerely Naturall is that Imperium Rationis §. 25. and Reason thereof that power of naturall conscience and Reason which it hath and exerciseth ouer the whole man doing the office of a Law-giuer and hauing the strength of a law a Rom. 2.14 They are a law vnto themselues saith the Apostle Rom. 2. As a Law it prescribeth what is to be done as a Law it commandeth that what is prescribed be done as a Law it proposeth rewards and punishments accordingly as what it prescribeth and commandeth is done or not done Abimeleches owne Reason by the light of Nature informed him that to take another mans wife from him was iniurious and enioyneth him therefore as hee will auoyd the horrors and vpbraidings of a condemning heart by no meanes to doe it Resolued accordingly to doe and to obey the Law of Reason written in his heart before he durst take Sarah into his house he maketh inquiry first whether she were a single-woman or a wife and therefore although vpon misinformation hee tooke another mans wife vnwitting that she was so he pleadeth here and that justly the integrity of his heart And from obedience to the same Law especially seeing those many rare examples of Iustice Temperance Gratitude Beneficence and other morall vertues which we read of in Heathen men not without admiration which were so many strong euidences also of this morall integrity of their hearts A point that would beare much enlargement if we intended to amplify it by Instances and did not rather desire to draw it briefly into vse by Inferences A just condemnation it may bee first §. 26. Inferences thence The first to many of vs who call our selues Christians and Belieuers and haue many blessed meanes of direction and instruction for the due ordering of our hearts and liues which those Heathens wanted yet come so many paces nay leagues short of them both in the detestation of vicious and grosse enormities and in the conscionable practise of many offices of vertue Among them what strictnesse of Iustice which we eyther slacke or peruert What zeale of the Common good which we put of each man to other as an vnconcerning thing What remission of priuate iniuries which we pursue with implacable reuenge What contempt of honours and riches Which we so pant after so adore What temperance and frugality in their provisions Wherein no excesse satisfieth vs. What free beneficence to the poore and to pious vses whereto we contribute penuriously and with grudging What conscience of oaths and promises which wee so sleight What reuerence of their Priests whom we count as the scumme of the people What loathing of swinish drunkennesse wherein some of vs glory What deâ—estation of vsury as a monster in nature whereof some of ours make a trade Particularities are infinite but what should I say more Certainely vnlesse our righteousnesses exceed theirs we shall neuer come to heauen but how shall we escape the nether most hell if our vnrighteousnessee exceed theirs a Rom. 2.27 Shall not Vncircumcision which is by nature if it keepe the law judge thee who by the Letter and Circumcision dost transgresse the Law said St. Paul to the Iewe make application to thy selfe thou that art Christian. Secondly §. 27. The second if euen in vnbelieuers and Hypocrites and Castawayes there may be in particular Actions integrity and singlenesse of heart then it can bee but an vncertaine Rule for vs to iudge of the true state of our owne or other mens hearts by what they are in some few particular Actions Men are indeed that not which they shew themselues in some passages but what they are in the more generall and constant tenor of their liues If we should compare Abimelech and Dauid together by their different behauiour in the same kind of temptation in two particulars of the sacred History and looke no farther We could not but giue sentence vpon them quite contrary to right and truth Wee should see Abimelech on the one side though alured with Sarahs beauty yet free from the leaft iniurious thought to her husband or adulterous intent in himselfe We should behold a 2. Sam. 11.2 c. Dauid on the other side enflamed with lust after Bathsheba whom he knew to be another mans wife plotting first how to compasse his filthy desires with the wife and then after how to conceale it from the husband by many wicked and politicke fetches and when none of those would take at last to haue him murthered being one of his principall b 2. Sam. 23 3â— worthies in a most base and vnworthy fashion
quisque melius sapit eo deterius delinquit Gregor in pastorali greater then any sinne of Ignorance b Iam 4.17 To him that knoweth to doe good and doth it not to him it is a sinne saith St. Iames Sinne beyond all plea of excuse Saint Paul though he were a c 1. Tim. 1.13 Persecutor of the Truth a Blasphemer of the Lord and injurious to the Brethren yet hee obtained Mercy because he did all that ignorantly His bare ignorance was not enough to justifie him but he stood need of Gods mercy or else hee had perished in those sinnes for all his ignorance But yet who can tell whether euer hee should haue found that mercy if he had don the same things and not in ignorance Ignorance then though it doe not deserue pardon yet it often findeth it because it is not joyned with open contempt of him that is able to pardon But hee that sinneth against knowledge doth Ponere obicem if you will allow the phrase and it may be allowed in this sence hee doth not onely prouoke the Iustice of God by his sinne as euery other sinner doth but he doth also dambe vp the Mercy of God by his contempt and doth his part to shut himselfe out for euer from all possibility of pardon vnlesse the boundlesse ouer-flowing mercy of God come in vpon him with a strong tide and with an vnresisted current breake it selfe a passage through Doe this then my beloued Brethren Labour to get knowledge labour to increase your knowledge labour to abound in knowledge but beware you rest not in your knowledge Rather d 2. Pet. 1 5.7 giue all diligence to adde to your knowledge Temperance and Patience and Godlinesse and brotherly kindnesse and Charity and other good graces Without these your knowledge is vnprofitable nay damnable e Eccles. 1.18 Qui apponit scientiam apponit dolorem is true in this sence also Hee that increaseth knowledge vnlesse his care of Obedience rise in some good proportion with it doth but lay more roddes in steepe for his owne backe and increase the number of his stripes and adde to the waight and measure of his owne most just condemnation Know this that although Integritie of heart may stand with some ignorances as Abimelech here pleadeth it and God alloweth it yet that mans heart is deuoyd of all singlenesse and sincerity who alloweth himselfe in any course hee knoweth to be sinfull or taketh this liberty to himselfe to continue and persist in any knowne vngodlinesse And thus much for our second Obseruation §. 22. Obseru III. Morall Integrity may be in the heart of an vnbeleeuer I adde but a Third and that taken from the very thing which Abimelech here pleadeth viz. the integritie of his heart considered together with his present personall state and condition I dare not say he was a Cast-away for what knoweth any man how God might after this time and even from these beginnings deale with him in the riches of his mercy But at the time when the things storyed in this chapter were done Abimelech doubtlesse was an vnbelieuer a straâ—ger to the covenant of God made with Abraham and so in the state of a carnall and meere naturall man And yet both he pleadeth and God approueth the innocency and integrity of his heart in this busines Yea I know that thou diddest this in the integritie of thine heart Note hence That in an vnbelieuer and Naturall man and therefore also in a wicked person and a Cast-away for as to the present state the Vnregenerate and the Reprobate are equally capable and equally incapable of good things there may be truth and singlenesse and integritie of heart in some particular Actions §. 23. With the Explication We vse to teâ—ch and that truely according to the plaine euidence of Scripture and the judgement of the ancient Fathers against the contrary tenet of the later Church of Rome that all the workes of vnbeleiuers and naturall men are not onely stained with sinne for so are the best workes of the Faithfull too buâ— also are really and truly â—innes both in their owne Nature because they spring from a corrupt fountaine for a Ioh 3.6 That which is borne of the flesh is flesh and it is impossible that a b Math. 7.18 corrupt tree should bring forth good fruite and also in Gods estimation because he beholdeth them as out of Christ c Math. 3.17 in and through whom alone he is well pleased St. Augustines judgement concerning such mens workes is well knowne who pronounceth of the best of them that they are but splendida peccata glorious sinnes and the best of them are indeed no better We may not say therefore that there was in Abimelechs heart as nor in the heart any of man a Legall integrity as if his person or any of his actions were innocent and free from sinne in that perfection which the Law requireth Neither yet can we say there was in his heart as nor in the heart of any vnbelieuer an Euangelicall integritie as if his person were accepted and for the persons sake all or any of his actions approued with God accepting them as perfect through the supply of the abundant perfections of Christ then to come That first and Legall integrity supposeth the righteousnesse of workes which no man hath this latter and Euangelicall integrity the righteousnes of Faith which no vnbelieuer hath no mans heart being either Legally perfect that is in Adam or Euangelically perfect that is out of Christ. But there is a third kinde of integritie of heart inferiour to both these which God here acknowledgeth in Abimelech and of which onely we affirme that it may be found in an vnbeleiuer and a Reprobate and that is a Naturall or Morall integrity when the heart of a meere naturall man is carefull to follow the direction and guidance of right reason according to that light of Nature or Reuelation which is in him without hollownes halting and hypocrisie Rectus vsus Naturalium we might well call it the terme were fit enough to expresse it had not the Papists and some other Sectaries by sowring it with the leauen of their Pelagianisme rendred it suspitious The Philosophers and learned among the Heathen by that which they call a good Conscience vnderstand no other thing then this very Integritie whereof we now speake Not that an Vnbeleiuer can haue a good Conscience taken in strict proprietie of Truth and in a spirituall sence For the whole man being corrupted through the fall of Adam the Conscâ—ence also is wrapped in the common pollution so that d Tit. 1.15 to them that are defiled and vnbelieuing nothing is pure but euen their mind and Conscience is defiled as speaketh St. Paul Tit. 1. and being so defiled can neuer be made good till e Heb. 10.22 their hearts bee sprinkled from that pollution f Heb. 9.14 by the blood of Christ who through the eternall