Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	day_n	holy_a	sabbath_n	1,012	5	9.4280	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49252	The naturall mans case stated, or, An exact map of the little world man considered in both his capacities, either in the state of nature or grace / as is laid down in XVII sermons by that late truely orthodox divine, Mr. Christopher Love ... ; whereunto is annexed The saints triumph over death, being his funeral sermon, by that painful labourer in the Lords vineyard, Mr. Tho. Manton ...	Love, Christopher, 1618-1651.; Manton, Thomas, 1620-1677. Saints triumph over death.	1652 (1652)	Wing L3169; ESTC R35003	150,068	340

Scripture to prove this one is in Joh. 8. 47. He that is of God heareth Gods word you therefore hear them not because you are not of God they that are of God hear his Word those that belong to Christ and have an interest in him hear his Word not only with the ear but with the heart and so in 1 Joh. 1. 6. sayes the Apostle We are of God he that is of God heareth us he that is not of God heareth not us hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of errour and therefore thou obstinate and stout hearted wretch that canst lie like a flint under the Word of God and suffer no command to make impression upon thy spirit verily thou canst lay no just claim to Jesus Christ 6. That man that uses greater industry and takes greater complacency in the acting and committing of sin then ever he did in the exercise of any grace or the performance of any duty that man is without Jesus Christ You have an excellent place for this purpose in Joh. 3. 8. 10. He that committeth sin is of the Devill he doth not say he that does sin is of the Devill but he that commits sin with delight that makes a trade of sin he is of the Devill and so on in the 10. ver In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the Devill whosoever doth not righteousnesse is not of God he does not belong to God he that does not righteousnesse with delight and complacency with joy and industry as he that doth commit sin that is act it with delight and makes a trade of it is of the Devill so he that does not do righteousnesse that is with delight and joy and chearfulnesse that man is not of Christ you then that can sin with delight but perform holy duties with a flat and dead and dull spirit you that never took so much delight to sanctifie the Sabbath as you have done in prophaning of it you that never took so much delight in the performing of duties to God as you have done in sinning against God lay off hands from Jesus Christ if your hearts be full of sin you can have no interest in him In Joh. 9. 16. some of the Pharisees said this man is not of God because he keepeth not the Sabbath This had been a very good argument had it been well applyed had Christ indeed not kept the Sabbath if it may be truly said of you that thou dost not make conscience of keeping of the Sabbath or of performing any holy duties I can truly say of you that you are not of God now then examine your selves by this argument whether you are of God or no if you do prophane the Sabbath day and make no conscience of performing holy duties nor of sinning against God this shews that you are not of God that man that acts sin with more delight then he performs holy duties hath no interest in Christ as in 1 Joh. 5. 18. Hee that is born of God sinneth not that is he doth not commit it with that delight and complacency as wicked men do but he that belongs to God he keepeth himself pure and that wicked one toucheth him not that is not so as to make him commit sin in the former sense but he keepeth himself he will not give himself to commit sin with that cheerfulnesse as wicked men do and therefore saith the Apostle we know that we are of God and the whole world lyeth in wickednesse 7. The last Character is this that man is without any interest in Christ that backslides from the wayes of Christ both in judgement and in practise Beloved when a man shall backslide from the truth of Christ in judgement and from the exercises of holy duties in practise when he backslides both these wayes he is not in Jesus Christ 2 Joh. v. 9. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God but he that abideth in the Doctrine of Christ he hath both the Father and the Son that man that sins both in judgement and in practise he is not of God but he that abides in the truth of God both in judgement and in practise he hath both the Father and the Son Oh therefore I beseech you in the fear of God look about you to see whether you are the men that have a reall actuall interest in Christ or no. Are you such men as are without the spirit of Christ or are you without a saving power derived from Christ enabling you to mortifie your bosome lusts Are you without an unfeigned love to the person of Christ or without a true and saving knowledg of Christ Are you contentedly ignorant of Christ and care not to know more or are you obstinately ignorant and wil not learn more Are you without a hearing ear and an obedient heart to the Word of Christ Do you take greater industry and complacency in the committing of sin then ever you did in the performance of any holy duty Or do you backslide from the wayes of Christ both in judgement and in practise If there be a concurrence of these seaven Characters in you then conclude that you have no interest at all in Christ conclude then that at this time you are without Jesus Christ Thus now I have done with the second question which I promised you to answer I shall now spend a little time in winding up what I have said in a practicall Use and then come to the third Question And in the application of this I shall direct my speech to two sorts of people 1. To those that are plunged into a spirituall delusion to say they have an interest in Christ when they have not 2. To those that say they have not an interest in Christ when they have Use 1 1. To you that say you have an interest in Christ when you have not give me leave to propound these 3 or 4 questions to you first let me ask this question Were you ever without Christ yea or no If you answer no then let me tell you thus much that that man that sayes he had Christ ever I may safely say he had Christ never thou that dost say that thou hadst Christ ever since thou wert born I can safely say that thou hadst Christ never since thou wert born for every man is born a Christlesse man 2. Thou that sayest thou hast an interest in Christ let me ask you this question How came you by your interest in Christ Do you think that Christ fel from heaven into your bosome whether you would or no How came you by Christ then Did you ever make a powerfull prayer unto God for him Did you ever sigh and sob and cry mightily unto God for him Did you ever see your misery without him and beg the Father earnestly for him for God is not prodigall of his son to give him to those that never ask him 3. Let

of darknesse where infernall spirits are reserved in chains of darknesse to the judgement of the great day Which way soever a Christlesse man looks there are nothing but miseries accompany him if he looks outward there the creatures are against him if he looks inward there is a galled and accusing conscience ready to accuse him if he looke above him there is an angry God against him if he look below him there is the Devill ready to receive him a Christlesse man is in a most sad and dolefull condition as I might exemplifie by this familiar similitude Suppose a man were falling into a great and dark dungeon wherein there were nothing but Toads and Serpents and all manner of venemous beasts and as he were falling in should catch hold of a twig of a tree that might grow over the mouth of the dungeon and then suppose a lean beast should come and begin to gnaw and bite off that twig what a miserable case will that poor man be in why just so it is with thee oh Christlesse man thy life in this twig and death is the lean beast that is biting off this twig of life and then thou failest down into a dungeon of darknesse there is nothing but the twig of life between thee and hell 5. If you look before you there is nothing but misery likewise approaching thee and these are the snares and temptations the Devill layes in thy way to ensnare thee and intice thee to sin there is not a step thou treadest nor any company thou goest into but the Devill layes a trap to ensnare thee 6. If you look behinde you there is nothing but a huge heap of past sins unrepented of unsatisfied for and unpardoned that are able to sink thee into the bottomelesse pit of hell how then canst thou think of thy past sins but with a sad heart how dreadfull is it to consider how many thousands of sins thou hast been guilty of and yet never hast been humbled for them nor never shed one penitentiall tear for them the guilt of the least of them being enough to plunge thee into hell for ever 7. Look on thy right hand and there are all the blessings of God all thy fullnesse and prosperity thy riches and great estate are all made a curse to thee God gives a wicked man riches for his hurt Eccles 5. 13. Prosperity shall kill the soul of the wicked Oh Christlesse man thy riches and prosperity are all instruments and means to further thy everlasting ruin and destruction 8. Look on thy left hand and there are all the miseries and afflictions and sufferings and reproaches and diseases and sad accidents that you meet with as so many forerunners of those unutterable and untolerable and unsupportable sufferings which a Christlesse man shall undergoe to all eternity Oh then unhappy man that thou art that hast not an interest in Jesus Christ without thee and within thee above thee and below thee before thee and behinde thee on thy right hand and on thy left there are nothing but miseries accompanie thee on every side Thus much for the first positive part of the misery of a Christlesse man it is a very sad point that I am now upon and therefore I shall sweeten all in the close with two or three words of consolation But 2 Beloved follow me now Thou that art a Christlesse man or woman thy misery in the positive part of it lies in this there wil be nothing in the world so dismal and intolerable to thy soul as the apprehensions of a God without Jesus Christ God that is an amiable and desireable and an universall good in Christ yet out of Christ this great God that is so good and rich in mercy and free in grace is cloathed with red and Scarlet you that are out of Christ cannot look upon God but with dreadfull apprehensions of him you cannot look upon God as a God of mercy to pardon you but as an angry Judge ready to condemn you not as a friend that seeks your welfare but as an enemy that sets himself in battel array against you to ruin you you cannot look upon him as the Rock of Ages in the clifts whereof you may finde safety but as a burdensome stone the weight whereof will beat you down and grinde you to powder you cannot look upon God as a Refiners fire to purge away your drosse but as a consuming fire and everlasting burning to consume you to ashes these these are the awakening and soul-affrightning apprehensions which every poor soul that hath not an interest in Christ must see the apprehensions of God will be very dreadfull to you 3. Your misery in the positive part of it lies in this that all the creatures and blessings you injoy in the world are acurse to you for all blessings are given in and through Christ there is no blessing given thee as a blessing nor no mercy as a mercy if Christ which is the mercy of all mercies be not given to thee and here I shall shew you your misery in this particular under these five heads 1. To have an estate is a blessing of God but yet all the estate and revenues and substance which you have gotten by the labour of your hands and the sweat of your brows are all accursed to you if you have not an interest in Jesus Christ as in Deut. 28. 17 18. Cursed shalt thou be in the City and cursed shalt thou be in the field cursed shalt thou be in thy basket and in thy store cursed shalt thou be in the fruit of thy body and of thy land in the encrease of thy kine and in the flocks of thy sheep cursed shalt thou be when thou goest forth and cursed when thou comest in and so in Job 20. 15. He shall swallow down riches but he shall vomit them up again and in Eccles 5. 13 sayes Solomon There is a sore evill which I have seen under the Sun namely riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt 2. You are cursed in your house likewise as in Job 28. 15. The terrours of God shall dwell in the taberuacles of the wicked and brimstone shall be scattered throughout his habitation and so in that place I quoted before Deut. 28. 19. 3. He is cursed in his name as in Prov. 16. 7. The name of the wicked shall not 4. He is cursed in his calling as in Prov. 21. 4. The ploughing of the wicked is sin and in Deut. 28. 20. The Lord shall send upon thee cursing vexation and rebuke in all thou settest thy hand unto for to doe 5. He is cursed not only in his estate in his house in his Land in his calling but in his eating and drinking too you have a strange expression for this in Job 20. 23. When he is about to fil his belly God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him and shall rain it upon him when he is eating so in Psal 38. 30 31.

love upon your belly you make your belly your God or if upon pleasures then you make pleasures your God and so of any thing else And therefore beloved I beseech you look to it and examine your selves is not God undervalued sometimes when your lusts are set in the throne is not God sometimes very low in your estimation and other things set above him if it be so it is meer Atheisme in your hearts 7. That man is an Atheist that makes no conscience of keeping those vowes and covenants he hath made with God The Scripture looks upon that man as an Atheist that does not make conscience of performing those covenants which he hath made with God in Josh 24. 25 26. there Joshua made a covenant with the people and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem and he wrote these words in the book of the Law of God and took a great stone and set it up there under an oake that was by the Sanctuary of the Lord and Joshua said unto all the people Behold this stone shall be a witnesse unto us for it hath heard all the words of the Lord which he spake unto us it shall be there for a witnesse unto you lest ye deny your God and therefore those men that do call the covenant that we have made with hands lifted up to the high God an old Almanack out of date and do scorn and despise the oath they have taken and make no conscience of keeping the vowes and covenants they have made with God the Scripture looks upon such men as very Atheists and beloved in this regard there are more Atheists now in England then ever there were since the world stood But the Lord will manifest himself to be a just God though wicked men do despise his covenant and count it as an unholy thing 8. That man is a very Atheist whose conscience does never trouble him nor check him for the commission of any sinne That man that can be drunk to day and swear to morrow and cheat the next day and commit one sin after another and yet his conscience never give him any controll that man is a very Atheist Those that can live in the world and commit grosse sins every day and their consciences never check them for their sinnes it is a sad sign that such men are practicall Atheists If you have the fear of God in you and the thoughts of a God upon you it will make you reflect upon sins past and be grieved for sinnes and miscarriages of twenty years standing thus did Josephs brethren call to minde their former sins Gen. 42. 21. And they said one to another We have verily sinned against our brother in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us and we would not hear him and therefore is this evill come upon us and so Job Thou writest bitter things against me and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth and so David prays that God would not remember the sins of his youth But now you that can be drunk one day after another and belch out one oath after another and commit one sinne after another and thy conscience never controll thee the Lord be mercifull to thee for thou art plunged into a depth of Atheisme One compares an Atheist to a duck in a pond if a man throwes a stone into the water where she is she will presently dive under but let it thunder or lighten never so much in the heavens she takes no notice of it so an Atheist he cannot endure that men should take notice of him or discover his wickednesse to reprove him or speak against him but let God thunder upon him never so much he will not be troubled at it did you live under the apprehensions of a Deity it is impossible your consciences should be so long and so frequently out of its office 9. Those men are very Atheists that do yeeld to a detestable indifferency in matters of Religion that man that will sleep in a whole skin and not dare to do any thing to the hazarding of his estate or person for the advancement of true religion such a man is a very Atheist I will give you a strange place for this in 1 King 18. 21. sayes Elijah the Prophet to the people How long will you halt between two opinions if the Lord be God then follow him but if Baal be God then follow him and the text saies the people held their peace and answered him not a word they neither said they would follow after God neither did they say they would follow after Baal if God were too strong for Baal they would be for God but if Baal did prevail they would follow after him which did manifest their Atheisme and that God was not their God that man that takes God to be his God must follow him through whatsoever troubles or afflictions hee meets withall in the world and indifferency in matters of religion does argue men to be very Atheists And therefore all time servers that live according to the times that are men of indifferent tempers any religion rather then fail will serve their turns such men are practical Atheists 10. Men do then shew themselves to be very Atheists when their practises shall palpably thwart and contradict their professions when they are such as those spoken of in Tit. 2. 16. that in their words do professe to know Christ but in their works they deny him Those that do professe themselves to be Christians and yet live like heathens that professe themselves to have an inheritance with the Saints in light and yet walk here as Children of darknesse such men are very Atheists And thus I have done with these 10. discoveries of a practicall Atheist I have given you thirteen in all three of them out of the Scripture and ten more deduced from the Scripture Use 1 Now the use that I shall make of this shall be by way of counsell and advice if this be so as you have heart that all unregenerate men are practicall Atheists they live as if there were no God in the world Oh then that you would bewaile this practical Atheism that is among you Doest thou favour thy self in the practise of secret sinnes or dost thou make no conscience of the performance of secret duties Doest thou make impunity to be a provocation to impiety and doest thou carry in thy minde a forgetfulnesse of the day of Judgement or doest thou distrust the providence of God in times of trouble and distresse Doest thou place thy affections upon any thing in the world more then upon God And doest thou make no conscience of performing the vowes and covenants thou hast made with God Does thy conscience never trouble thee after the commission of sinnes Art thou a luke warm and indifferent man in matters of Religion Doest thou professe to know God and in thy works deny him Doest thou any of these