Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	child_n	spirit_n	witness_v	1,106	5	9.8469	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85985	The blessed peace-maker and Christian reconciler: intended for the healing of all unatural and unchristian divisions, in all relations: according to the purport of that divine oracle, pronounced by the Prince of Peace himself, Matth. 5.9. By Claudius Gilbert, B.D. minister of the Gospel at Limrick.	Gilbert, Claudius, d. 1696?	1658 (1658)	Wing G701; Thomason E939_3; ESTC R202209	119,212	155

peace peace when there is no Peace but sudden destruction like the Dreamer in the Prophet that eats and drinks in fancy but is still empty and wretched Thus many dream themselves into a fools Paradise snorting on the Bed of carnal security till they drop into Hell at unaware 3. There is a dead Peace without sense or smart because without life in such who are Spiritually and judicially dead though they seem to live This was the case of many in Sardis All unregenerate Souls are naturally dead in Sins and Trespasses Divers of them after a temporary flash of profession do apostatize and grow worse then before These are the Trees twice dead plucked up by the root Seared consciences that grow past feeling into all Excess Like the dead Sea once a flourishing soil turned now by divine Vengeance for sin into a stinking puddle that Kils every fish and fowl that come but near it Such like the Ranting Crue have stifled and murdered Conscience by frequent Relapses so that they can commit all iniquity with greediness and without remorse They are dead whilst they live like the wanton Widdow The Peace of a rotten Carrion is their perfection wherein they please themselves till conscience revive to hurry them to their final Execution 4. There is a Diabolical Peace a Combination with Satan and for him in the waies of sin Hell it self hath some kind of Union and Order that Kingdom of Darkness if disordered in it self or divided against it self could not possibly stand There is a Belzebub a Prince of Devils the strong man that keeps all in Peace under his Rule As Satanical spirits do conjure together so are too many wicked Wretches combined with them either directly or collaterally Witches and Sorcerers are become Satans slaves by explicite Compact All wicked Persons are his Instruments though many of them more implicitly Conjunction in sin is a conspiracy though often coloured with specious pretences of good fellowship Many are daily found to do the Devils work in plotting mischief and tempting others to sin The best of their Peace is but conjuration in all sinfull associations Whilst they make a Covenant with Hell and find no trouble in Satans drudgery what Peace can they expect There is no Peace saith my God to the wicked All such Peace is but nominal and aequivocal Our Text excludes all such Secondly There is a good Peace Peace in good which is intended here This is the sweet agreement and harmonious Correspondency of things in conformity to Gods Will their Soveraign Principle Rule and End The Creatures esse and Being is given it in order to its operari and working That working is still to be sutable to their Being according to that Rule which the Being of Beings doth by his pleasure appoint thereto for its proper end Whilst things thus move in their respective Sphere Peace is maintained in a mutual accommodation to each other Man is specially concerned in this Peace and that in a treble respect 1. There is an Eternal Peace Peace with God 2. An Internal Peace Peace in man 3. An External Peace Peace with men 1. Peace with God is made in the Court of Heaven in the Regeneration of Gods Elect when the Soul is first united to Christ by the renewing of the Holy Ghost in the first conversion Then is actual application made effectually of Christs all-sufficient oblation upon conjugal terms whereby Reconciliation between God and Man is actually compleated Thus being justified by faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have access through faith into the Grace wherein we stand The Fathers eternal Purpose and the Sons virtual Purchase is then and not till then effectually fulfilled by the spirits Operation The Elect themselves are by nature before this gracious change alike Children of wrath and enemies to God even as others The sentence of the Law given to mankind in the first Adam abides in force upon all his natural Posterity and upon Gods Elect with the rest till they become by renewing Grace the seed of Christ the second Adam and thereby brought into a state of Reconciliation His Union to Christ that affords communion with him in this as in all other priviledges Thus God wills a change in them positive and Relative though he changes not his will about them His Electing Love of good Will towards them is an immanent eternall Act of his which makes no actual Change in their state till their nature be changed by his sanctifying Grace that his Love of delight may operate about them being a transient Act. The change is not in God but in the Creature wrought upon by such Acts flowing from God Gods Will is indeed but one Intire Act being God himself but the operations manifestations and effects thereof about the Creatures are various many wayes A Traytor is not in Peace with the Prince till actually pardoned and discharged in a legal and orderly way Christ indeed presented an all-sufficent satisfaction to divine Justice whereby Impetration was made of divine Mercy for all Gods Elect but upon the conditions agreed between them to be seasonably and effectually applyed to those Elect of his Till such conditions be fulfilled in them by his sanctifying Spirit they cannot enjoy the actual benefit thereof This divine Peace is the peculiar of the new creature born again by that singular Grace which forms the new man after Gods Image by a supernatural Birth The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the best of the best Man before this spiritual work is enmity against God neither willing nor able to yield subjection towards Peace and Reconciliation But the Soul once married unto Christ and adopted of the Father through the spirits gracious application is made Partaker of true and lasting Peace the debts being paid crimes forgiven and all sins covered with the Wedding Garment of Christs Ri hteousness imputed to him and by Faith received 2. Internal Peace is Peace of conscience flowing from the former by a seasonable and orderly reflexion The Kingdom of God is first Righteousness then Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost Thus to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace The Conscience duly purified through faith in his blood is orderly pacified This Peace admits of a various and variable latitude according to the various degrees and conditions of Gods children In some its not perceived sensibly of a good while after conversion admitting of Clouds and Eclipses as the light of the Sun in nature through earthly and airy Interpositions The due sense thereof requires a special Irradiation of Christs Spirit shining upon his gracious Image wrought in the soul to make a due Reflexion thereof That Holy Spirit must witness with our spirit that we are the children of God and if Children then Heirs yea coheirs with Christ This requires a rational discourse formed in the soul by divine Logick whereof

your profuse lavishing of all he had bestowed on you Is it not best for you to close with Christs terms for a sure Peace between God and you that you may be advanced in his house and Kingdom among his children to the dignifying property of blessed Peace-makers in every Relation Is there any thing in his Articles of Peace to be stuck at on any consideration Is there any Mercy in his Al-sufficiency that you may not receive in your conjugal entertaining of him Is there any Duty required of you that is not most just and Rational equal and beneficial Is there any Lust in your heart or Life that deserves not to be wholly crucified being so poisonous and so desperate an Enemy to all Good Is there any creature to be compared with or preferred before Christ Is there any part of your Religious self that can in the least satisfie Gods justice avert his wrath or merit his favour Is there any Good Divine or Humane that attends not his Peace Is there any Evil from God or the Creature that accompanies not that sinfull Peace which opposes and undermines Gods Peace Be then perswaded utterly to break with Sin with Self and Satan that you may conclude with God in Christ through his Holy Spirit according to the Tenure of his Gracious Covenant Accept of him so as to resign up your whole self to him freely and fully surely and singularly As he engages for Mercy on his part be engaged also for Duty on your part that his Gracious Covenant may be compleated by such a cordial Reciprocation Receive by Faith what his Spirit gives that you may through his Help return in Duty what you receive in Mercy Improve his Promises to obey his Precepts Yield your heart to him to mend it for you that you may mend your wayes towards him Be you wholly His that you may know him to be wholly ours Let your Peace with him in the Court of Heaven be so well ratified by mutual consent that your Peace within may be thence evidenced by due Reflections in your own conscience through the Irradiations of his renewing Spirit in that Christal Glass washed in his Blood and purified from its defilements Thence attend that noble work of Peace both in Spiritual and Civil Relations which will characterize your Nature and Name among the Children of the God of Peace 2. The Friends of Peace should hence be exhorted to make good their Dignity and Duty as becomes the Sons of the most High Hath any of you concluded Peace with God in Christ by his Spirit upon Gospel-terms Have you thence enjoyed a pacified conscience through the purging Vertue of his Blood and Grace effectually applyed to your Soul by his Spirits saving Operations in his Word and Providence Have you learned in the School of Christ what that good Peace imports in each Society and condition of Men which is such a Blessing and so blesses all those children of God who make it their Business to be Peace-makers Do not all these Bonds twisted by the Lords hand oblige you strongly to attend this Work to the very utmost that you may act therein from him and like him for him and through him Are not the Vows of our Grand Peace-maker upon all His in a special manner engaging his children to demonstrate their Relation to him by the most effectual Improvement of such a Dignifying Property Be we then hence stirred up in earnest to make this our Business and to follow it with all prudent Zeal through the supplies of his Holy Spirit in each Relation and Occasion whether in the Church State or Family The Doors of Gods Sanctuary were made of Olive-Wood the choise Embleme of Peace Le ts believe and pray wait and labor in all fit means appointed of God gill those blessed Gates be opened unto us that the righteous Nation which keeps the Truth may enter thereby into the Rest and Glory of Christs Kingdom Let our Dignity quicken us to Duty and our Duty lead us to Dignity Observe we hence how to carry it towards all Friends Strangers and Enemies 1. Towards Friends in all Expressions of unfained Love and hearty compliance so far as Gods Honour their Good and our Duty will prescribe to us Let all the Friends of Christ be counted and used as our best Friends though some of them may be found weak sickly and froward should not our carriage and mind towards them answer the Lords mind and carriage according to his Word Turks and Jews Heathens and Papists labour to agree shall not Christians agree as far as they can Where Christs Image appears though but small and in a homely dress should it not be owned and cherished among his children What evil we see or suspect in others let it cause us to reflect on our selves and judge our selves for the seed and spawn of the like in us Should not we pitty and bewail their case labouring to help them as becomes the fellow-members of Christs own Body Family and Kingdom Should not those Divine Exhortations so frequently and abundantly pressed on all Christians in his sacred Word prevail mightily with us Should we not study practically with utmost Industry that more excellent way of Christian Love so highly commended so largely described in 1 Cor. 13. chapter throughout in Eph. 4. Phil. 2. Rom. 14. 1 Cor. 14. Gal. 6. Col. 4. 1 Thess 4. 2 Thess 3. c. as likewise in all the Epistles of James and Peter of John and Jude Was not this the great charge which Christ left with his Disciples in his last Sermons so full of his heart whilst he was pouring forth his tenderest Bowels in his loving and lovely expressions so copiously inculcated on them Did not he ratifie the same by the choicest Token of Divine Love in giving up himself to that bitter Passion and accursed death that he might be our Peace and commend Peace to us in the most efficacions manner that Heaven could afford Did not he give us the Seals of his Covenant and all the Blessings and the Means thereof to knit all His into One in himself that they might be orderly preserved in One by the effectual working of the measure of every part to the edifying of the whole in Love Should not we be moved by such an Interest so much concerning our own Advantage in the concernments of Christ and of his people Le ts then study the things that make for Peace wherein we may edifie one another Mind we that Axiom which the Light of Nature discovered to Pagans and the Light of Grace explains unto Christians Concordiâ res parvae crescunt discordiâ maximae dilabuntur the smallest matters flourish thrivingly watered by Concord the greatest things waste miserably blasted by Discord Suppose that we meet with sower crabbed Spirits that slight and oppose the wayes of Peace which we would promote do not we find more cause of caution care and information for compliance usque

Scripture yields the Major conscience suggests the Minor and from both premises deduces a comfortable conclusion There is a reflexive Act of Faith necessary hereto called the faith of evidence or assurance to perfect such a gracious Eccho resounding from Earth to Heaven Paul enjoyed such a Peace by a due Improvement of Grace Christians should labour orderly for it by their due progress in spirituall Growth working out their salvation with fear and trembling to make their Calling and Election as sure to themselves as they are sure in themselves Yet many gracious Hearts often want this sight through the many Blasts of external temptations and cloudy vapours of internal Corruptions 3. External Peace with men is answerable to our several Relations both religious and civil 1. There is a Religious Ecclesiastical Peace which is the tuning of Gods People into a due composure and Christian Correspondence in the affairs of his Church and Worship This Peace are we often minded of and pressed to that having Salt in our selves we may have Peace one with another The members of Christs body though different and distant are thus to be at Peace as in the Church mystical Invisible so in the Church Political visible They must study the things that are for Peace wherein they may edifie one another They that agree in the main of Christianity should labour to agree and help one another in the means thereof All the living stones of Christs spiritual house that are duly set on him the foundation should be regularly squared to comply with each other therein Schisms and Convulsions are alwaies bad but worst of all here Though we may not joyn with Gods people in that which appears evil to us yet that difference must not hinder us from closing with them in such things which they and we do account needful and good This Peace includes not Approbation of evil nor doth it exclude due Administration of regular Censures private or publick We are herein to imitate Christ our Head who approves of no evil and still administers all due censures yet is not in the least hindred thereby from bearing with his children and servants in forbearing them as he sees convenient He keeps peace with them whilest he chides and frowns threatens and corrects so should Christians do after his pattern for each others good 2. A civil Peace bears its proportion to our respective stations either political in the State or Oeconomical in the family To this Peace we are all called being bid and bound to seek and follow it hard not only with the gentle but also with the froward As we are men subject to humane frailties and willing to be born with so must we think the like of others No politick fabrick can stand without this The Laws of Nature and of Nations are subordinate to the Laws of Heaven for the cementing and maintaining hereof This Peace includes not any Commission of evil or omission of duty but only that which tends to an orderly accommodation of mutual Relations for good against evil This threefold Peace hitherto explained will appear to be a blessed thing if we do but consult with Scripture and Experience Blessedness is the confluence of all good in the removal of evil opposite to that good Such as the Peace is such is the Blessedness attending it whether spiritual or temporal publick or private Divine Records comprize still all good under this expression either as included in it or joyned to it or flowing from it It s the constant Dialect of Christ and his Apostles in their salutes and fare-wells as it was the Spirits language under the Old Testament whence the New Testament borrows most of its expressions Benedictions and Valedictions run s●●ll on this wise Peace be to you Peace be with you in the Word of God Induction might easily be made by pregnant instances in each particular branch were it needful in so clear a point The experience of all Ages publick and personal verifies it more then sufficiently This Sun-light needs not the help of our Candle 3. The Demonstration and Ground of this truth may be contracted into a threefold Reason from the Author Nature and Adjuncts thereof Reason 1. Peace is a blessed thing because the blessed God is the peculiar Author and Cause thereof considered both essentially and personally 1. God essentially considered is the God of Peace that 's his Title of Honour frequently proclaimed by his Heraulds and Embassadors What 's Peace but the congruity of the workings in each creature to that end whereto the supreme Mover hath appointed their respective Beings All Good must needs be from the first and chief good being ruled by him and leading to him as it comes from him The more of true Peace there is found anywhere the more of God and Blessedness still Gods excellency is shadowed out to us by Divines in a triple Method of exemption eminency and causation Thus God is declared to be infinite unchangeable c. he is most just most wise c. and he is the Cause of Causes who supports governs and supplies all things by a constant Influx of Providence being alwaies the proxime immediate Cause to every action His divine causality runs as a string through all secundary Causes to knit them to their respective operations and effects which he suspends and orders at his will The Correspondency of creatures to his will keeps the Peace and Blessedness so far their breaking of rank and forsaking their appointed station and motion brings the Jar and Woe by breaking that Peace Sin and sorrow come in at such a gap whilest the rational creature loosens this Bond of Peace in any Relation God himself challenges a special interest in this great blessing as the Author and Ruler Supporter and Promoter Restorer and Preserver Proprietor and Disposer thereof 2. God personally considered is the God of Peace which makes it to be such a Blessing In the divine Trinity a perfect Peace shines most gloriously Unity and Order the great Essentials of Peace appear therein by the beams of that eternal Brightness Unity of Essence and Order of Persons hold forth that transcendent Peace in the divine Trin-Unity There are three that bear Record in heaven the Father the Word and the Spirit and these three are one Here is priority not superiority a co-ordination though no subordination These three divine Persons have a distinct as well as a conjunct influence into Peace there are three that bear Record on earth agreeing in one also towards Peace 1. God the Father is the Head-spring and Original Source of Peace to man It flows from him primarily to us thus the Apostle teaches us to expect Grace Mercy and Peace from God the Father 2. God the Son is the grand Treasurer of our Peace which he receives from the Father for us You have him therefore still joyned to the Father in the Magna Charta the great