Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	david_n	heart_n	smite_v	1,341	5	9.6931	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A01935	Certaine sermons preached upon severall occasions viz. The vvay to prosper. The vvay to be content. The vvay to vvell-doing. A summer sermon. A vvinter sermon. Vnknowne kindnesse. The poore mans hope. By Iohn Gore Rector of Wenden-lofts in Essex.	Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Way to prosper.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Way to be content.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Way to well-doing.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Summer sermon.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Winter sermon.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Unknowne kindnesse.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Poore mans hope.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Oracle of God.	1636 (1636)	STC 12071; ESTC S120526	199,234	334

Let the Righteous smite it shall be a kindenesse c. In which words there are three generall parts to be observed which may be reduced to three heads and be thus exprest 1. Desiderium sanae conscientiae the desire of a sound and a good conscience that which is most distastefull to a bad conscience is most desirable to a good one viz. To be smitten and to be reproved percutiat et increpet Let him smite me let him reprove me 2. Electio sidelis amici the choyse of a faithfull friend of a fitting person to doe this office A man wold be loath that every Iack or every base fellow should curbe and snib and smite him for his errours but a Righteous man or if you please to take the word so a right wise-man one that is able to give a man counsell and honest to keepe a mans counsell let such a one smite in Gods name let him reprove and spare not percutiat me Iustus et increpet Let the Righteous smite me and let him reproove me though it be as the originall hath it Malleo percutiat Let him smite me as it were with a Mallet now Malleus incutit et excutit a Mallet serves both to drive in and to drive out so his meaning is if it be good counsell let him drive it in if it be a bad custome let him drive it out let him not forbeare me in either but smite home in both 3. Acceptatio fraternae correptionis the acceptation or well-taking of brotherly reprehension David did professe in the behalfe of all penitent and humble sinners that he would be so farre from taking it as a discourtesy or esteeming it as a disreputation to be told of his faults by such a man after such a manner that saith he it shall be Misericordia it shall be a kindnesse unto me yea a mercy yea more then that it shall be Oleum Capitis as it is in the Hebrew a principall a soveraigne an excellent oyle that shall not breake my head of these in their order first of the first part which is 1. Desiderium sanae conscientiae the desire of a good conscience that is to be smitten to be reproved A sound heart is like a sound hand that can abide not only rubbing chafing but smiting and striking too if occasion serve and yet neyther suffer nor offer any harme whereas if a man have a thorne in his hand or a bille or an vlcerous sore the least touch at unawares provokes him to impatience and makes him fret at him that meant him no unkindnesse So fares it with a man that hath a thorne in his heart or an vlcer in his Soule I meane some secret sinne or other that he loveth and is loath to part with though he be not smitten upon purpose if he be but touched upon the by as David saith in another case Tange montes et fumig abunt Touch the Mountaines and they shall smoke so the least touch upon his predominant his Mountaine-sinne makes him fret and fume and smoke like the vapours in the clouds that never leave working when once they are enraged till they have vented themselves into a clap of thunder malice will finde a vent if it be but stirred with a touch When thou with rebukes dost chasten man for sinne He is as a moth fretting a garment saith our translation Psal 39. 11. He that undertakes a carnall man with rebukes to chasten him for sinne shall finde him play the Moth presently he will be fretting secretly though hee make no shew of it openly as wee say of a Moth Tinea damnum facit non sonitum A moth doth mischiefe and makes no noyse I say Rebuke him and you shall finde him a very moth if he cannot finde a hole in that mans coate that shall offer to reproove him t is a venture but he will fret one that is he will either raise some imputation of scandall upon him or bring some action at law against him one way or other he wil be revenged upon him for it It s death to an ill-minded man to be smitten for his faults But then come to a man of an honest heart and an humble minde one that is truely conscious to his owne defects and such a one will be so farre from taking it in ill part or in indignation to bee touched for his transgressions that he will rather entreate any good man or any good Minister as the man of God entreated his neighbour 1 Reg. 20. 35. Smite me I pray thee in the name of the Lord If thou knowest any thing that is amisse in mee or seest mee doe any thing that may be displeasing to God or prejudiciall to my calling to my credit or to my conscience to God-ward doe not favour me doe not forbeare me but deale truely and effectually with me and smite mee I pray thee in the name of the Lord. And such was Davids disposition in my Text though he were a prince and a man after Gods owne heart yet was he so farre from delighting to heare himselfe flattered for his vertues that he did rather even desire and long to feele himselfe smitten for his vices percutiat et increpet let him smite me and reprove me A man would thinke that David had smiting enough if that were good he should desire no more Almighty God had smitten him as he saith himselfe with such a sore disease that there was no rest in his bones noe breath in his body by reason of his sinne Besides that his enemies had smitten him on every side They came about me like Bees saith he animasque in vulnere ponunt they smote him and stung him though it were to their own undoing though they left their very lives and soules in their stings Beyond all these Davids owne heart had smitten him more then once when hee numbred the people His heart smote him saith the Text. 2 Sam. 24. 10. To teach us how our hearts should smite us when we consider the number of our sins So when be had but cut Sauls coat his heart smote him againe as much perhaps as it would have done some other if he had cut Sauls throat I say if smiting be good surely David had enough of it and yet you see there was an unicum deest one thing wanting to all those smitings He that knew the state and temper of his owne soule did sensibly finde in himselfe that if he were but smitten againe in another kind if the Righteous would but smite him too it might be a meanes to doe him as much yea much more good than all the rest had done But stay and let us reason the case why should David desire to be smitten once more having been so much and so often smitten before I will tell you what I thinke his reason might be 1 Vt videat that he might see his errors We have a saying that standers by see more than Gamesters so another man may see

theirs would by their influence so moysten and fatten the earth that they should not need to be beholding to God for any rayne now quoth Eliah here is a judgement to try your gods withall goe to the gods that ye have served let them helpe now or never if they can doe any thing they can send a showre of rayne if not why doe ye serve them I say it was a convincing judgement Eliah did it on purpose to let them see the vilenesse of their Idolatry what base what impotent what unworthy gods they served that could not helpe their clyents to a drop of raine In like manner whatsoever a man makes his god besides the true one I meane puts his trust in for helpe in time of neede shall at length so deceive him and so befoole him that he shall be forced to confesse as these people did in the end The Lord he is God The Lord he is God 2. Because it was a just and a fitting punishment this people were guilty of spirituall barrennesse and God plagued them with temporall barrennesse No Nation under heaven was so husbanded and manured of God so watered with the dewes of heaven I meane with the meanes of grace and salvation as they were and yet none more unfruitful in every good work Now therefore Eliah fits them with a judgement sutable and agreeable to their sinne hee prayes to God that it might not raine that so their lands might be answerable to their lives and their soyles become as barren as their soules Thus it pleaseth God many times to pay men in their owne coyne to come home to them in their owne kinde and to fit his punishments according to their sinnes That as they that sinne in their goods by misgetting miskeeping and mispending them are many times punished in their goods by losses and crosses by fire by water c. And as they that sinne in their children by misloving or misnurturing them are oft times punished in their children as David was in Absolom and Adonijah so they that sinne in their lands it is just with God to punish them in their lands Salomon tells us Prov. 21. 4. that the plowing of a wicked man is sinne That is strange the husbandry and tillage of the ground is generally held to be one of the most honest the most innocent the most harmelesse callings in the world and so it is of it selfe and yet we see when a wicked man takes the plow in hand when a man goes to his plow with an ill minde and an ill conscience his very plowing addes to his sinnes And it is just with God that that land which is plowed sinfully should thrive accordingly and become as bad and as barren as the owner A fruitfull land doth God make barren for the wickednesse of them that dwell therein 3. Because it was a sensible and a palpable judgement As God Almighty told Cain Gen. 4. 7. that he should be cursed from the earth The Lord knew that Caine cared not to be cursed from heaven and to be banished from the presence of God and branded for a Reprobate but to be cursed from the earth to be cursed in earthly things he being a tiller of the earth that would goe nearest to his heart of any judgement Even such is the disposition of every man of the earth as David termes earthly-minded men they doe not value nor care to be cursed from heaven to be excommunicated out of the favour of God and out of the blessed company of all faithfull people which censure of excomunication if it be rightly carried with a Clave non errante as the Schoolemen speake when there is no errour committed in the use of the Keyes is one of the greatest punishments under heaven But carnall men are not sensible of this and therefore God will punish them in that wherein they are sensible in their wives and children in their corne and cattell c. in such things as are neerest and dearest to them as when David slung his stone at Goliah if he had strucke him upon any part of his harnesse he had never felt the blow but striking him as he did in the forehead which was naked and tender that sunke him presently so it is with carnall men for spirituall judgements they are harnessed their hearts are hardned their consciences are seared they have as the Apostle speakes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a horny hoofe as it were growne over their hearts that makes them insensible of any spirituall blow that can light upon them Therefore Almighty God knowing in what part they lie naked in what kinde they are tenderly affected namely in their affection to earthly things strikes them there plagues them in that and that ●inkes them like Nabal whose heart died within him like a stone As we see in Exodus how Pharaoh and the Egyptians hardned their heart and out stood all the plagues of Egypt till God plagued them in their children and that broke their hearts So beleeve it they that care not for spirituall punishments for the losse of Gods favour the losse of heaven the losse and perill of their owne soules God will finde a time to punish them in that which they do and shal care for in their corne in their substance in that which is neerest and ●earest ●o th● As he did these Israelites here because they were not sensible of the want of grace God punisht them with that would make them sensible with the want of raine that when they had plowed sowne their land and bestowed all their care and cost all should be in vaine for want of moisture to refresh the earth These or the like reasons I suppose might move Eliah to pray and procure this kinde of judgement By the way if any man desire to know the reason why God is not thus marvelous in the Ministers of the Gospel as he was in Eliah and those other Prophets of the Law why we that are his Evangelicall Prophets cannot doe such wonders in our dayes as they did in theirs Answ though that same donum miraculorum the gift of Miracles be ceased in the Church now that the Gospel hath taken roote as Husbandmen when they transplant a tree at first they set props and staies to shore it up but after it hath taken roote they plucke away the stayes and let it grow by the ordinary influence of the heavens I say though the gift of working wonders be ceased yet miracles and wonders in an another kind never cease but are wrought daily by the Preachers of the Gospel For you must know that the micles under the Gospel are of a differing nature from the miraracles under the Law those were ●cularia miracula as I may fitly call them eye-miracles that were visible and outwardly apparent to be seene but these are Auricularia miracula Eare-miracles secret and invisible wrought in the heart by the Word and Spirit of God entring in at the eare and going

know this in generall that such a thing must be that every man must be content with his estate because God will have it so but a man must apply this knowledge to himselfe in particular and labour to work himself to such an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such an inward tranquillity and contentednesse of mind that nothing that God sends may come amisse to him As S. Austin said of Almes Qui vult ordinatè eleemosynas dare deb et a seipso incipere He that will give Almes in a right and orderly manner must begin with himselfe How is that Mendicat a te anima tua esurit justitian c. Thy owne soule lies begging of thee it hungers after righteousnes it thirsts after grace its naked and wounded for want of spirituall cloathing and comfort first begin with thy own soule cherish that comfort that save and succour that shew mercy first to thy selfe then shalt thou the better know and understand how to shew mercy and pitty to the bodies and soules of others In like manner He that would go the right way to true Contentment must begin with himselfe first study his owne peace subdue his own passions quiet his owne mind and content his owne soule and when he hath done so he may then happily make his own plaster serve another sores and comfort others with the same consolation wherewith himself hath formerly been comforted and contented but that can he never doe till he be able to say of himselfe what S. Paul doth in my text How ever others be affected I for my part have learned to be content So much for the first particular which is singularitas personae the propriety of the person 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have learned c. the next is 2 Specificatio temporis He doth not say I will learne but I have learned to be content This is one of those praecognita as we call them that must be knowne and learned aforehand against the time that God will give occasion to make use of them As the Prophet Esay exhorts Esay 42. 23. Hearken to this and heare it for the time to come though it may be for the time present all things are so well with you that you have no need no use of this doctrine yet the time may come God knowes how soone that you may be glad and thanke God that ever you heard it doe not therefore heare it for the present onely as most men doe Sermons but heare it for afterward and lay it up for the time to come For as Tully said of Poetry that it was a profession for all times prosperity and adversity for all ages youth and old age for all places at home and abroad so is this a lesson for all times all ages and all places and happy are they that have learned it aforehand that they may not be to seeke when they shall stand most in neede of it but have a salve in readinesse for every sore Was not that a sad and a lamentable distresse that the people of Israel were driven to 1 Sam. 13. 22. That in the day of battell there was neither sword nor speare found in the hand of any of the people save onely in the hand of Saul and Ionathan how did those unarmed people inermes in armis tremble and quake to meete their enemies in the faces Even such is the case of an unprepared Christian when trouble comes upon him like an armed man suddenly and unresistably what miserable plunges must he needs be driven to that hath not learned aforehand to be content with any fortunes and to repose and rowle himselfe upon his God in the worst events When the world is full of feares and dangers and calamities are ready to breake in upon a people what a taking are they in that have not learned to be content as David saith of those in a storme at sea Psal 107. 27. They are even at their wits end ready to run mad and goe besides themselves with astonishment and anguisb of spirit whereas they that have learned Saint Pauls lesson in my text can say to their soules as David did to his Psal 116. Returne unto thy rest O my soule they can readily turne themselves to God who is Centrum qu●etativum as the Schoolemen speake and there finde rest unto their soules like Noah in his Arke when a world of others are overwhelmed with a floud of sorrow Beloved we are not worthy to know for what we are reserved nor how God will please to deale with us let our care be therefore like Mariners at Sea in a calme to provide for a storme in health provide for sicknesse and in peace prepare for trouble that if any unexpected trouble should arise we may be able with Gods mercy to overcome it and to wade contentedly and quietly through it labour aforehand to ballast our soules with grace that we may hold out stedily unmoveably in this troublesome world You know that which must keepe a ship stiffe and steddy on the sea must not be levers and shores without it but weight and ballast within it so that that must keepe a mans mind and conscience steddy and upright that it doe not vacillare stagger and reele to and fro like a drunken man as David speakes it is not wealth and meanes without a man but grace and godlinesse and contentment within him A man shall never be quiet in his mind never setled in his conscience but alwayes tossed and turmoiled with doubts and cares and feares till he hath learned this lesson of the blessed Apostle In whatsoever state he is therewith to be content 3. Specialit as rei the excellency of the thing it selfe exprest in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 selfe-sufficient if wee take the word in a strict and proper sence none can properly and rightly be said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 selfe-sufficient but onely God As our Saviour told the young man in the Gospel Marke 10. 18. when hee called him Good Master why callest thou me good saith Christ there is none good but God the meaning is none that hath his goodnesse in se a se in himselfe and from himselfe but onely God all the goodnesse that men have comes downe from God as light doth from the Sunne or water from the Spring though Christ were God too and therefore good but that was more than the young man knew so there is none truely selfe-sufficient but God onely that hath this sufficiencie this fulnesse of content in and from himselfe without being beholding to any treature man of himselfe hath no sufficiency neither sufficient meanes to maintaine him nor sufficient strength to defend him nor sufficient grace to save him but all our sufficiency is from God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who is sufficient for these things is as true in other cases as in the case of 〈◊〉 Ministery man of himselfe without God is not sufficient 〈◊〉 any thing as the Moone is but

I will therefore returne I will repent I will desist and sin no more Thus did Saint Paul as you may read Acts 9. when hee had gotten authority from the higher powers to binde and carry captive all that called upon the name of Iesus Christ he went on saith the text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like a tired Wolfe breathing out threatnings and slaughters against the people of God si non aliquâ nocuisset mortuus esset if he had not done some mischiefe hee had beene breathlesse he had beene a dead man well our blessed Saviour meets him in the way smites him downe from his horse and gives him a sweet and yet a searching rebuke Saul Saul why persecutest thou me c. after this that he had beene thus smitten you never read that ever he shewed his letters that ever he drew forth his commission or went about to put his purpose into practise but immediatly desisted and turned a new leafe and became more zealous for the Gospel than ever he was against it Thus God told Abimelech Gen. 20. 6. Cohibui te I restrained thee I with-held thee or kept thee backe from sinning against me How did God withhold him or by what meanes See the last verse of that Chapter he smote him with a judgement and that deterred him from it if there be any meanes under heaven to restraine a man from sin or as S. Iames his word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iam. 3. 2. to bridle and curbe a man in from sinning against God and against his owne soule it is this preventing stroke of the hand of God as Ahaziah told the man or God 2 Chron. 25. Forbeare why sholdst thou be smitten It is a happy thing when a man wil be won by faire means to forbare before he be smitten but he that will not be won by foule meanes to forbeare when he is smitten if smiting will not make a man to forbeare sinning it is a shrewd signe that man is Conclamatae spei little hope of his amendment And for this cause I suppose that David in the last place might desire to be smitten yet againe ut desistat that hee might forbeare that he might leave his sinne and so much shall serve to be spoken of the first generall part of my text which I termed desiderium sanae conscientiae the desire of a sound and a good conscience that is to be smitten and reproved The next is 2 Electio fidelis amici the choife of a faithfull friend of a fitting person to doe this office of kindnesse for a man that deserves and desires it percutiat me justus Let the Righteous smite me You may by justus understand Christus as some doe or you may by justus understand sanctus as others but my conceit leades me to take it in the plainest and directest sence so that by a righteous man I conceive to be meant a Right wise man a sober understanding man a man of good temper good goverment and good discretion if any man undertake to smite me saith David let it be such a man or none for why if a Righteous or a Right-wise man smite me and reprove me he will doe it 1 Sine felle without gall without bitternes For as there is a fault in too much lenity too much forbearance and indulgence where there is just cause of sharper reprehension which was Elies fault in the case of his sons 1 Sam. 3. 13. the text saith His sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not So our Translation renders it but the Originall is more expressive for there it is Maledictionem inferebant sibi they brought a curse upon themselves by their wicked lives non corrugavit frontem in eos he did not so much as frowne or bend his browes upon them Whereupon saith S. Bernard quiaira Eli tepuit in filios ira dei exarsit in illum because the anger of Eli waxed cold against his sons the anger of God waxed hot against him I say as there is a fault in too much lenity and indulgence so there is as great a fault in too much virulency and bitternesse David complaineth whether of his friends or of his enemies that they gave him Gall to drinke this we know was prophetically spoken and litterally fulfilled in our blessed Saviour at his passion but surely David spake it of himselfe in a metaphoricall sence meaning that their words and rebukes were as bitter as vile and as distastfull to him as if they had put gall into his very drinke Now observe it when you will you shall find that these harsh these galling reprehensions doe never worke kindely a good disposition as S. Iames saith Iam. 1. 18. The wrath of man worketh not the righteousnesse of God that is a furious or a railing reprehension doth not perswade or move a man so as that thereby he is won to God or to goodnesse for one will take that which commeth from a hasty man to proceede rather out of spightfulnesse and spleene then of love or good-meaning and so it falls to the ground without working that good effect which wholesome reprehension should worke that is it doth not frame nor worke a mans heart to the righteousnesse of God Now an undiscreet man in his passion is tanquam leo in vi suâ as the Prophet speaks like a Lion in his rage and hath not the wisedome nor grace to moderate and containe himselfe from words that are as bitter as gall yea as sharpe as swords and arrowes like swords that wound a man if he be neere hand and like arrowes that follow him and wound him thorow if he be a farre off they never smite a man but they wound him in his reputation But then let a righteous man or a rightwise man undertake to smite or to reprove and he will doe it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle speaketh Gal. 6. 1. in the spirit of meekenesse and will endeavour as the text saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not so much to reprehend as to restore such a man to a better estate than he found him in it is a metaphor taken from Chirurgions and Bone-setters that when they undertake a dislocated joynt to restore it and set it right they doe it with as much tendernesse as possibly they can and with as little paine as needs must to the patient or as he that taketh a mote out of ones eye taketh it out exceeding warily and tenderly least he put out the eye also so tenderly so feelingly will a man of discretion goe to worke in the manner of his reprehension as if the case were his owne as if himselfe were in the same condition Therefore if any man smite me saith David let him be a righteous a right-wise man for such a one will doe it sine felle without gall without bitternesse 2 Sine publicatione without publishing divulging and telling it to the world It was our Saviours rule Matt. 18. 15. If thy brother offend