Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n
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A61776
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The certainty of heavenly and the uncertainty of earthly treasures together with a discovery where the treasure and heart is placed / as it was delivered in severall sermons by that eminently faithfull servant of Christ, Mr. William Strong ...
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Strong, William, d. 1654.
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1654
(1654)
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Wing S5998
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58,281
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207
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like a sheep but now we are returned to the shepheard of our soules There is not any thing can reduce a man to God that hath departed from God but the placing his chiefe good in him that soul whose chiefe good is at home will not long stay abroad 4. 4 Unto thy chiefe good thou maist alwaies retire and fetch comfort Unto a mans chiefe good his soul retires and from it he fetcheth chief comfort upon all occasions and so may Saints he that makes choice of the chiefest good can say I am sure of this Comfort The Name of my God is a strong Tower Prov. 18.11 therefore I will runne to it and be safe the Rich man goes to his wealth the righteous man goes to his God A godly man is able to say in those distresse though I have no Riches to comfort me and very few friends to stand by me yet I have a God a Christ a Heaven a new Covenant a new image which I can retreat to and rely upon in all occasions and thus the soule can triumph in his chief good over the chiefest evills as the Spouse it is a voyce of triumph my beloved is the chiefest of ten thousand Cant. 5.10 There is all a mans comfort in that which is his treasure now God being his Treasure there is his comfort and hence it is that these dare compare with any persons in any affliction Psal 44.8 compared with verse 22. in verse 8. In God we make our boast all the day long and verse 22. For thy sake we are killed all the day long What boast of God and killed all the day long for God I here is the comfort of a godly man he can retire unto his chiefe good and whensoever he retreats to it he is filled full of comfort by it 5. 5 This may be a comfort in all thy failings Prov. 20.9 'T is of great Comfort to a godly man in the middest of all his failings yet I have not failed in chusing God for my chiefest good The best men may nay must say Who can make his heart clean and when he looks back upon his way he must say My heart bath runne out inordinately after this thing and that thing and I have neglected my chief good and my treasure but for this I desire to be ashamed all my life but my happinesse is laid up in him and no other I have chosen him for my chief good and though I have failed in many things Psal 18.2 Yet I have not wickedly departed from my God departed he hath and many times departed wittingly and willingly but wickedly I have not departed from God What is it for a man to depart from God willingly 'T is for a man to place his chief good some where else then in God to go out after an other God now in this David can rejoyce in the midd'st of his failings and so maist thou In that he hath not so departed from one God to set up another therefore this and onely this can comfort the Saints in the midd'st of all their failings The departings from God is the greatest trouble that doth befall them but yet here is their great comfort that they have not left him as their Treasure though they may sometimes leave him as their Lord. 6. 6 That which thou layest up for thy chief good herethou shalt enjoy for ever hereafter Comfort which is unspeakable that which thou hast laid up for thy chief good here by Election that thou shalt enjoy in the world to come by fruition therefore Austin saith A mans blessedness is begun in Election here but finished and perfected in fruition hereafter Gen. 15.2 saith the Lord I will be thy exceeding great reward dost thou chuse God for thy chiefest good here if thou dost that which thou chusest in one world thou shalt enjoy in another 7. 7 Thou shalt be blessed with the blessednesse of God He that hath laid up his chiefe good in heaven shall be happy with the same happinesse that God himselfe is happy withall look wherein Gods blessednesse lyes in that shall thy blessednesse lie wherein doth Gods blessednesse lie it lyes in himself his chiefe good lies in himselfe for the Creature to acknowledge God for his chiefe good so farre as the Creature is capable he is blessed with the blessednesse of God himselfe and thou dost enter into the joy of thy Lord. Now I proceed to the latter part of the Text viz. For where the Treasure is there will the heart be also Out of which words I gather this observation viz. That a mans chiefe good is Attractive of the heart Doct. or the Treasure where ever it is carryes the heart with it Where ever a mans Treasure is there will his heart be THere are four things I shall speak to by way of Explication 1. To shew you what is meant by the heart By heart in in Scripture is meant the whole soul 2. That the soul of man the heart goes out of it selfe for its happinesse for its chiefe good or thus the chiefe good of man is without himselfe 3. 'T is a matter of great concernment where a mans heart is placed 4. That the heart doth alwaies follow the Treasure the heart and the Treasure will be together and none can put them asunder 5. We shall give you the grounds of it First What is meant by the heart By the heart is meant 1. The whole soule By the heart in Scripture is meant the whole soul The Hebrews generally place the Government of man in the heart and make the heart the seat of the reasonable soul so that you shall find the Scripture commonly speaking of it First if you look to the whole soule as corrupt as unsanctified so corruption goes through all the faculties of the soule but the heart is said to be the seat thereof ler. 17.9 The heart is deceitfull above all things and desperately nicked and 1 Pet. 3.4 't is called The hidden man of the heart 2. If you looke upon the soule as renewed 't is said With the heartman believes Rom. 10.10 But the heart of man in Scripture is sometimes taken for those things that are scituated and have their habitation especially in the heart As wisdome is attributed to the heart or folly Ephraim is a silly Dove without a heart Hos 7.11 and he that trusts to his own heart is a foole Prov. 28.26 that is hee that leanes to his owne wisdome Again The conscience the heart is put for Conscience Davids heart smote him when he cut off the lap of Sauls garment There 's a conviction of the Conscience that 's called the heart somtimes for the memory which is the treasurie of the soul But there are three things meant by the heart in this place 1. 3. The thoughts and consultations The thoughts Meditations and consultations of the heart where the treasure is there is the heart that is there is the