partly by way of information and partly by way of exhortation and that both to good and bad SECT 3. The true causes assigned that justly fill men with horrour and dread of the thoughts of death and so render them much affraid and unwilling to dye THere are many things that justly cause a fear of death even a great and terrible fear First the consciousness of sin and guilt especially in the state of unregeneracy which is alwayes accompanied with impenitency and unbelief the two damning sins not but that all other sins even the least that is hath demerit and provocation enough in it to damn any one that is guilty of it but Faith and Repentance where-ever they are in Truth will take all off even millions of guilts and make the blackest sins that are as white as snow scarlet and crimson sins to bee as wool Isa 1.18 Now where these are wanting and so the guilt and filth of every sin remaining and upon all occasions flying in a mans face and fixing their venomous stings in his heart and conscience How terrible must this needs be For do not thoughts of the wages which these sins not repented of do deserve come pouring in upon him as at all times so most of all when Death approaches Though before he lull'd his conscience asleep and would not suffer it to be awakened neither by a quickning Soul-searching Ministry nor the plain-dealing of faithful friends Yet now Satan and Conscience too will both speak and speak aloud too yea though Satan should say nothing but be altogether silent yet self-accusations and self-condemnations will speak enough to fill the soul with horror and leave it in such distresses as no remedy can be found for while the aforesaid impenitency and unbelief remains to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à semet ipso damnatus self-condemned Who can express the terror of it and indeed this is that not so much Death it self as begets so much fear and dread As Ambrose in his discourse de bono mortis doth learnedly argue where in his eighth Chapter he hath many excellent passages to this purpose Mors peccatorum pessima saith he non utique mors pessima generaliter sed pessima specialiter peccatorum unde liquet acerbitatem non mortis esse sed culpae the death of sinners is the worst of deaths not death in general but the death of sinners From whence 't is evident that the bitterness is not from death it self but from the crimes that merit it Again a little farther he hath these words suae igitur unusquisque conscientiae vulnus accuset non mortis acerbitatem Let every one therefore that by his Sin hath wounded his own conscience lay the blame there and not upon death And again Non enim habemus quod in morte metuamus si rihil quod timendum sit vita nostra comisit There will be no cause of fear in death if in our life-time we have done nothing that we have cause to be afraid of Once again Prudentibus delictorum supplicia terrori sunt delicta autem non mortucrum actus sunt sed viventium To wise men the punishment of offences is matter of fear now these are the acts not of dead-men but of the living This then is the first thing that gives just cause of the fear of death Sins not repented of Secondly The apprehension of Divine displeasure hereupon and the Wrath of an Offended God a Wrath unappeased an infinite wrath a wrath intellerable and unexpressible a wrath inflicted by an Omripotent Power in comparison of which all the rendings tearings cruciatings burnings rackings torturings of mens bodies here by all the most exquisitely invented torments upon Racks Gibbets Wheels Gridirons and other engines of cruelty are but a flea-biting The principal torments here I mean from the sense of Divine wrath being chiefly seated in and mostly inflicted upon the minde not but that the body too when 't is risen from the Grave shall have its share in these sufferings in conjunction with the soul even to its utmost possibility of bearing them Thirdly An obnoxiousness to all this by the fixed Law of God which cannot be altered and by which he stands accursed and subject to all the direful threatnings thereof so long as he remains in this his unregenerate and impenitent state This is another thing that adds unto his fear Fourthly The thoughts of that most just and great Tribunal at which he must one day stand and where an account must be given of every thought word and deed how wicked how vile soever and howsoever circumstanciated all must be detected then and laid open before Men and Angels All night-sins secret-sins heart-sins The Thief the Murderer the Adulterer the closest and most undiscerned Hypocrite shall then be known what he is and all his iniquities start up before him The Books shall be opened the Book of a mans own Conscience the Book of Gods omnisciency the Books of Record in Heaven And then shall the impenitent hardened sinner stand before his great God and Creator who will now be his Judge as a guilty Malefactor and as I said before self-condemned There shall need no farther evidence than himself against himself All his scoffings and scornings of God and the things of God of his holy Waies Ordinances People all his contempts of Christ and tramplings under-foot of his most precious blood all his fleightings neglectings and opposings of the Spirit of Grace and the work of it upon his own heart all his abuse of Mercy and of the Patience forbearance and long-sufferings of God towards him shall be remembred and set in such order as to give him a full view of all at once Now how dreadful must the very thought of this also needs be to an impenitent and hard-hearted sinner if ever his Conscience be but in the least awakened Fifthly The Heart-sinking expectation of that most dreadful Sentence of Condemnation to be pronounced upon him in these or the like words Go you cursed into everlasting destruction into Hell-fire there to be tormented with the Devil and his Angels I and to bee tormented by them as well as with them For the Devils shall not onely be companions and sharers with the damned Sons and Daughters of men or rather the Sons and Daughters of men shall be sharers with the Devil and his Angels for whom as for the first Offenders Hell-fire is said to be prepared Matth. 25.41 but shall also be their tormentors and Executioners and what greater aggravation can there be to the misery of Malefactors than that those that hate them most and likewise have the greatest skill and strength in inflicting torments yea and exceedingly delight in such cruel work and are never weary of it should be their Tormentors Sixthly The consideration of a most severe and impartial Justice which in case of non-satisfaction otherwise made will certainly have the utmost vengeance taken in the Execution of the aforesaid sentence
any breach of Gods holy and righteous Law any act that may satisfie his own evil heart be it never so foul either sees no hurt or will see none in it is willingly ignorant as the Apostle speaks in another case 2 Pet. 3.5 and to that end hates to be reformed cannot endure a soul-searching Ministry or a plain-dealing Friend that may convince him of the sinfulness of his heart and waies and so lies drowzing under a sleepy and kinde of dead Conscience or else if his Conscience doth stir at any time and begin either latrare or lacerare to barke and it may be to bite too what doth he do presently Doth he not do by this his barking and biting Conscience ready to fly in his face as a man that hath a fierce Mastiff-Dog tye him up or Muzzle him Thus he deals with his Conscience and that he may bee the less at leisure to hearken to or hear the brawlings of it is it not his common practise to go into some such company or engage in some such business or indulge himself in some such pleasure recreation or other sinful divertizement as may wholly take him off from giving any the least attendance or regard to it So long as he can keep his eyes open he is thus employed and when night comes what care doth he take either to ingorge or intoxicate himself so as he may sleep it out till day-light returns or at least that hour of it that gives him the advantage of his accustomed course of sinning with his wicked Companions day after day Thus he lives and wastes his precious time not caring or knowing how soon death may Arrest him and spoil his sport Fourthly and Lastly A regenerate person is a man Crucified to the World and the World to him He is no more moved or affected with the pleasures the delights and lying vanities of this world than a living man is pleased with the presence of a dead Wife lying by him and all the splendours grandeurs blandishments allurements and bewitchments of this world work no more upon him than upon a dead man that hath neither sense nor motion nor life in him But yet in the mean while though his heart be dead to this world world and all the fine toyes and trifles of it so as all the wealth riches gauderies and glories thereof be nothing to him yet he is so wise as to minde the things of the other world these as he highly prizeth and values them at their just rate so he earnestly seeks after them His whole business lies here namely by patient continuance in well-doing to seek for glory honour immortality eternal Life Rom. 2.7 and this being the trade hee drives every step he treads is towards Heaven and to a being made meet for the enjoyment of it Contrariwise an unregenerate person takes quite another course he is all for earth and for earthly things all for either the profits of the world if his heart be choaked with covetous cares and thoughts or for the pleasures of the world if he be a bruitish sensualist or for the honours dignities and high-places of the world if he be of a lofty and proud Spirit As for the injoyment of God or the saving of his soul they are matters too serious for him to minde mundus cum suis frivolis the frivolous World is his Idol and that he will adore though with the losse of Heaven it self and all the blisses thereof for ever which being so may we not conclude that every step he treads is towards Hell and that he is ripening apace for it Thus we see what a vast difference there is between a regenerate person and an unregenerate in their lives Let us see now what the difference is in their deaths The regenerate person 1. Hath no stings nor gaulings of Conscience his main worke is done when he comes to lye upon his dying-Bed It hath been his every daies work to set things right and to keep them so to the utmost of his endeavour betwixt God and him to get and grow up into an intire friendship with him and still to call himself to an account for every thing that might offend and with all speed to hasten to the blood of sprinkling to be washed and cleansed he would never be at rest so long as guilt remained upon his own heart or one frown in the face of God towards him But this the unregenerate person never did nor would ever by any means be perswaded to it self-Examination self-Reflexion and self-Judging were Duties which he was alwaies a stranger to these were works for an awakened and a tender Conscience which he never had nor desired to have and so now judicially is given up happily to a Conscience past feeling and that cannot be sensible of any thing 2. In case a regenerate and holy person should be under some little clouds for a while and through the malice of Satan by Divine permission be somewhat damped in his inward peace and comfort when hee is about his last work of dying yet as hath been said there is no just reason why it should be thus with him and 't is very rare that any good man or woman is long vexed thus but to be sure the storm ends at last and the rest of their passage is usually under a pleasant and fair gale God himself as I may so say sitting at the sterne and the holy Angels spreading the Sails And Oh then the calmness of their mindes the serenity of their peace the inward quiet of their souls how great is it How is not Death then at all dreadful but rather a welcome Messenger which they now look for and wonder that his Chariot wheels move no faster which blessed repose being now cast into after their buffetings and combates with Satan on a sudden they breathe forth their perfumed breath and so fall asleep in Jesus But alas How far otherwise is it with a wicked unregenerate man when he comes to this dying worke For if his Conscience be not so far seared blinded and left judicially insensible as was but even now mentioned but is let loose upon him and inabled by the God of Conscience to charge him and accuse him home If it calls all his sins to remembrance and sets them in order before him a work which sometimes God to shew his Power will assist this or that wicked mans Conscience in as himself speaks Psal 50.21 I say when once Conscience acts this part upon some obstinate and impenitent wretch and hath a commission so to do Oh then the roarings the yellings the howlings of such a Conscience How then doth death come with all its stings how doth Hell fire flash in his face with all its flames And how doth the Devil himself as 't were haunt and affright him with all his Feinds Oh now the horrors the terrors the soul-sinking over-whelming dreads that are upon him may not his Name bee now changed into magor-missabib
return to him when he contends with them when he smites and smites so smartly too and seems to threaten yet worse things when will they return Truly the sight of this were there nothing else to trouble one would make a true mourner in Zion not care how soon he were taken out of this evil World no more to have to do with it Farewel therefore Courteous Reader whoever thou art and let you and I prepare with all speed for heaven This is the counsel and shall bee through Grace the practice of him that as passionately wisheth for thine eternal welfare as for his own J. B. THE CONTENTS Section 1. THe Words explained the Text divided and Doctrines raised Section 2. The first Doctrine propounded and the method laid down for the handling of it Section 3. The true causes assigned that justly fill men with horrour and dread at the thoughts of death and so render them much affraid and unwilling to dye Section 4. What it is that gives a good and sufficient relief against the fear of death greatly fortifying and encouraging the heart when it makes its approach unto it Where first the remedy is laid down generally Section 5. Two more special remedies added to the former viz. A reconciled God and a good conscience Where first of a reconciled God Section 6. Of a good Conscience which is the second special remedy and wherein it consists there are two branches It is a quiet Conscience and an excusing Conscience A quiet Conscience consists also in two things 1 In a settled and well grounded peace 2 In being void of offence both towards God and towards men Where of the first Section 7. Of the second branch of a quiet Conscience namely a conscience void of offence both towards God and towards men Section 8. Of an excusing Conscience which makes its own defence 1 Against the challenge of exacting justice 2 Against the malice of an accusing Devil Section 9. Two important Objections answered against the preceding Doctrine and what hath been said upon it Section 10. The Uses and improvement of the point First by way of Information and then of Exhortation both to good and bad SICK-BED Thoughts PHIL. 1.23 Having a desire to depart and to be with Christ SECT 1. The words explained the Text divided and Doctrines raised AMong the many advantages that accrued to the Gospel in general and to Pauls own spirit in particular from his sufferings at Rome this was one that he was gotten loose from the world was raised in his desires after heaven and in more vehement longings after Christ so the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having a desire plainly intimate The words are very emphatical and saies Zanchy upon the place import three things 1. An ardency of affection from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ardere which signifies to burn whence appetitus ardens effrenis libido a burning desire a strong vigorous and intense desire with great vehemency and earnestnesse 2. This desire is intrinsecal and productive by the soul only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 't is properly the work of the minde which is the fountain from whence all desires flow the mint where they are all coyned as that is such are the desires good or bad If that be holy pure active heavenly so are the desires but if the minde and heart be impure cool and faint in its affections towards God and the things of God then the desires are so too impure weak and faint therefore 3. The participle of the present tense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having a desire notes a continued act a desire alwaies in action ever working till the thing desired bee accomplished and fully attained It is not slothful nor idle at all puts a man upon running without weariness upon praying without ceasing Now this desire here is carried out after two things to depart and to go to Christ First To depart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or to be dissolved say our old English Bibles agreeable to Jerome's Translation by the Latin word dissolvi which is to bee resolved into our first principles the body to the dust and the spirit to God that gave it Which also Scaliger and Erasmus follow Many learned men have criticised upon this Greek word and given their various opinions about the true notion of it the chief of which because they have something of instruction in them I will here take notice of and recollect together Sometimes 't is the Marriners word verbum a nautis translatum saies Erasmus when he doth soluere Anchoram loosen his Ship weigh Anchor and upon the very first fair wind makes haste to bee gone to his desired Port Thus the Syriack reads it so doth Chrysostome and some others And indeed what is this life of ours here in this World but a flitting up and down and changing place as a Ship at Sea that still is passing to and fro from shore to shore and whilst it doth so doth it not meet with many troublesome and rough Seas and is it not often endangered by high winds boisterous waves rocks and quicksands than which what can be a more lively Emblem of the life of man which alwaies encounters so many hazards and tossings till at last it grows leaky and crazy like an over-worn Ship that can sail no longer and is it any marvel if then it be willing to weigh Anchor and get with what speed it may to the Heaven and Haven of its rest Even an Heathen hath passed this sentence upon the life of man Seneca by name who writing to Polybius hath these words in hoc tam procelloso in omnes tempestates exposito mari navigantibus nullus portus nisi mortis est Ad Polyb. c. 28. in this tumultuous and stormy sea exposed to all manner of tempests no safe Port is found to the Saylers but that of Death The like passage Ambrose hath after him in his Book de bono mortis c. 8. Justo mors salutis portus to a just man death only is the safest Haven Sometimes 't is the Souldiers word when hee doth soluere funes at the command of his General loosen his Tent in which hee lies upon the ground plucks up the stakes unties the cords that he may quit his old quarters for new ones And what metaphor can bee more proper than this also to set forth our condition here for is not the life of every good Christian in this World a Souldiers life under his Captain General and must he not alwaies be both in a fighting and moving posture ready to follow his General where-ever he marcheth must he not sit loose from every place and carry as I may so say his Tent with him to pitch it down and take it up again as occasion serves till at last the cords be not only loosned but broken and especially that silver-cord mentioned in Eccles 12.6 by which the soul is fastened to its body as to its Tent and what else
Seventhly And of an utter impossibility of making the satisfaction required For who can do this that hath no Christ to undertake it for him as a Man living and dying in a state of unregeneracy hath not nor can never hope for it And having no Christ to satisfie for him so no Mediatour nor Advecate to stand betwixt God and him to plead for him or put in out kinde word on his behalf Eighthly Thereupon sees an absolute necessity of his being unspeakably miserable and this too more waies than one 1. By the punishment of lesse 2 By the punishment of sense By the punishment of losse a tetal separation from the comfortable presence of God and the Glory of his Power 2 Thes 1.9 I say from the comfortable presence for from his essential presence none can be separated no not either men or Devils though they make their bed in Hell Psal 139.8 and then also by the punishment of sense of which I gave a touch before In these two paena damni paena sensus the punishment of lesse and the punishment of sense the whole torment of the damned consists and therefore in the sentence given upon them both are contained Depart from me ye cursed There 's the first the punishment of loss into everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels there 's the second the punishment of sense what this Hell-fire is we find expressed elsewhere in other terms in Matth. 8.12 't is called outer darkness where is weeping and gnashing of teeth a fire without light which hath something of comfort in it but here is all darkness in Matth. 13.42 't is called a Furnace of Fire and wailing is there added to weeping in Isa 30.33 The Fuel of this Fire 'T is said to be a pile of much wood and that the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it Rev. 14.10 'T is called the wine of the wrath of God a cup of indignation without mixture that is 't is pure wrath 't is all wrath and nothing else but wrath Justice without any the least tincture of mercy And 't is poured out too poured out q. d. without measure to note the abundance of it To which Lastly must be added that all this is eternal 't is everlasting Fire everlasting as well as devouring Flames everlasting burnings Isa 33.14 not onely without the least hope of mitigation or abatement but of intermission too When millions of millions of millions of ages are past still still there is as much to come and the reason is because 't is an infinite punishment that is due which since finite Creatures can never undergo therefore they do as it were compensate by the eternity of it Christ bee being an infinite person could and did stand under infinite wrath for those he dyed for and so God hath received full payment his Justice is fully satisfyed for them which it can never be by the sufferings of the damned to eternity Now lay all this together and how can it do otherwise then minister most dreadful terrors to the minde of any unregenerate man that is not totally blinded and of a seared conscience to think of dying SECT 4. What it is that gives a good and sufficient relief against the fear of death greatly fortifying and encouraging the heart when it makes its approach unto it Where first the Remedy is laid down more generally HAving spoken of those things which do justly cause a very great fear and dread at the thoughts of Death I wil now apply my self to the best Remedies I can against the said fear And the first and surest Remedie of all is a fundamental one that never fails that is never fails of becoming a good and sufficient ground against the said fears It is a true and thorow-change upon the heart a saving work of Grace whereby a man is regenerated and become wholly a new Creature When a man can give good proof of this that he is indeed translated from the power of darkness into the Kingdome of the dear Son of God is no longer under the power of the Prince that rules in the Air He may then also truely say and build upon it that he is no Childe of Wrath and so consequently hath no cause to be afraid of death for why is death terrible to any but for this reason Among others as we have heard because it is an inlet unto Wrath that is to such as are Children of Wrath but to none others not to such as are born again For as 't is true on the one hand that except a man bee born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God John 3.3 So on the other hand it is every whit as true that hee that is born again shall never see Hell much less shall he feel it or come into it But then let not any man deceive himself and take that for a New-birth which is no such thing Many pretenders there are hereunto many that wil needs pass for the Children of the Kingdome such as the self-justiciary the civil just moral righteous man that harmes none is charitable beneficent and helpful to many affable courteous and ready to do good to all as opportunity is given him yea and seems to do what he doth chearfully and as one glad of the occasion and perhaps goes further than this too is very zealous holy and religious in his way keeps his Church constantly and it may be prayes in his Family also instructs Children and Servants and what not of this kinde but if you search him to the bottom a fine spun Papist may be as good as he his light within him and his holy conversation without may be no better than Popish merit he may bee off from the foundation for all this and bee farre enough from the true work of Regeneratign and such a faith and repentance as only fits for Heaven How many and especially in this our present age have and still do split upon this Rock in establishing their own righteousness instead of submitting to the righteousness of God as the Judaizing Christians did in the Apostles daies Rom. 10.3 and for such as these what-ever conceits they may have of themselves I will not warrant them from the fear of Death or secure them against it their conscience may possibly be better informed concerning their inward state and then what wil follow we may easily guesse either another more thorough work upon them or such terrors at the hour of death as cannot be removed And if any shall ask How may we know when the work of regeneration is right and sound indeed I briefly answer The Apostle hath given the character of it in few words but very fully and significantly in 2 Cor. 7.10 11. Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of For behold this self-same thing that ye sorrowed after a godly sort what carefulness it wrought in you yea what clearing of your selves yea what indignation yea
what fear yea what vehement desire yea what zeal yea what revenge In all things ye have approved your selves to be clear in this matter Here are inward works works of mortification works of sanctification heart-works such as all the faculties and affections of the soul are imployed in not meer external acts and outward formalities without life and power An Hypocrite may go as far in these seemingly yea and farther too than some sound and sincere-hearted Christians Look therefore into thine heart examine the matter there and do it faithfully without putting a cheat or fraud upon thy self and if thou findest thy self under this character that the Apostle here gives of a true penitent then I dare pronounce thee a regenerate person and one that hast no just reason to be afraid or unwilling to dye SECT 5. Two more special remedies added to the former viz. a reconciled God and a good conscience Where first of a reconciled God TO the aforesaid general remedy I shall add two special ones which yet do more or lesse alwaies accompany the former The first is a reconciled God which speaks much particularly these five things First That Divine Justice is fully satisfied so fully that it can lay no farther claim upon which God presently saies concerning the soul for whom such satisfaction is made Deliver him for I have found a ransome I am well appayed for all the wrongs hee hath done unto me and for every debt he hath contracted Secondly That Gods anger is thereupon appeased his wrath extinguished and so himself wholly pacified and attoned All displeasure is now gone not an angry word now nor an unpleasing look any more And when all frowns are out of Gods face why should not all tears bee wiped from our eyes Thirdly It alwaies brings pardon with it Reconciliation necessarily supposeth a total removal of guilt No charge comes in against that soul with whom God is reconciled nor none wil be heard against it How busie soever Satan is that great accuser of the Brethren yet he can do nothing now when the Attonement is once past and remission obtained through the blood of Jesus it abides for ever 'T is everlasting mercy everlasting love As God is unchangeable in his Nature so in his Word and Promise Hath hee made it one branch of the Covenant to pardon the iniquity of a poor penitent Believer and remember his sin no more Jer. 31.34 He will be as good as his word and the Soul that trusts him shall finde it so Fourthly By means of this the soul stands wholly blameless and as 't were without the least spot or wrinkle before God 'T is a pure and an holy Soul so thoroughly washed by an all-cleansing blood so 't is called 1 John 1.7 that no defilement remains upon it nothing unlovely or displeasing It is become a great beauty as I may say now and a very taking Object in the eye of God And thereupon Fifthly he takes it into his peculiar favour and admits it into his very bosome as his Spouse-Royal Queen Hester when first purified and perfumed with the Oyle of Myrrhe and other rich Odours Esth 2. was not more acceptable to the embraces of Ahashuerus than a soul thus cleansed and purified by the blood of Jesus and sweetned by his precious Oyntments is unto the God of Glory Hee is no longer now a stranger much less an enemy unto the soul but a dear Lord and Husband a God in Covenant with it for ever All which considered tell me what reason is there or can there be for any man to be afraid and so consequently unwilling to dye with whom God is thus reconciled Sure none at all And this is the first special Remedy SECT 6. Of a good Conscience which is the second special Remedy and wherein it consists It hath two branches 't is a quiet Conscience and an excusing Conscience a quiet Conscience consists also in two things 1. In a setled and well-grounded peace 2. In being void of offence both towards God and towards men Where of the first I Come now to the second special Remedy a good Conscience which doth likewise much fortifie against the fear of Death I shall not here speak of Conscience at large neither of its Nature nor several operations nor enquire whether it be properly an Habit as Scotus Bonaventure and Durandus with other Schoolmen would have it but onely briefly lay down a few things for the right understanding of it First Then it may be thus described It is the judgement of a man concerning himself as it is subjected to the judgement of God the supream Judge and is that which God himself as I may so say appeals to Isa 5.3 Judge I pray betwixt me and my Vineyard So 1 Cor. 11.31 If we would judge our selves we should not be judged And Secondly 'T is said to be a good Conscience when it judgeth rightly and according to the Word of God which alone both directs and bindes it Thus it is honestè bona good in respect of the honesty and integrity of it when it accuseth or excuseth rightly and according to truth and this in all the actions of a man's life whether good or bad For in Conscience are two things by which it is enabled to make a judgement of its own Acts. 1. That which Divines call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a treasury of Knowledge in which the Notions of things to be done or not to be done are as 't were kept and conserved 2. That which is called judicium practicum or rather the act of a practical judgement proceeding from the understanding faculty which is the chief seat of Conscience and because it alone next to God himself knows its own act and none else therefore the knowledge of it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a con-knowledge as I may so say or a knowledge in combination with Gods knowledge which hee hath of man and of his actions as oâ—â— Learned Perkins expresseth it whom Amesius follows But to say no more about this but what the Apostle doth 1 John 3.20 If our heart condemn us God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things I proceed to speak of a good Conscience as it is pacatè bona a quiet Conscience of which there are two branches wherein it doth consist The first is a settled and well-grounded peace It is not any kinde of peace a sleight and unsound peace that makes a quiet conscience or can give such a rest and complacency unto it as to cause it to become a Nightingale in a mans own bosome and that in the time of the greatest distress that can befal him in this world No but it is a firm and sollid peace that must that can do this and no other Now that I may be the better understood what I mean by such a sollid firm settled and well-grounded peace as constitutes a quiet Conscience that is at peace within it self and makes its own Musick whatever clamours
cares not how much hee decreaseth so Christ may increase No proud ambitious Haman ever sought his own honour so much as he seeks Christs his heart his whole-heart is set upon this his time his estate his parts his power and interest among men if any he hath all shall be improved this way to serve Christ let his sufferings be what they will or can be in his Name Liberty bodily Pains no Prisons scare him no sorrows whatever so Christ may gain by it Now when Conscience bears witness to this also as well as to the former particulars that this is the frame of his heart or at least that he sincerely desires and endeavours that it may be so this man I dare avouch hath a quiet Conscience a Conscience settled in a well-grounded peace and so hath no just reason to fear death SECT 7. The second Branch of a quiet Conscience namely a Conscience void of offence both towards God and towards men A Conscience void of offence towards God is a Conscience impelling and putting a man upon his utmost endeavours in all things to approve it self to God and to walk before him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto all pleasing Col. 1.10 Which the Apostle saies is to walk 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Worthy of the Lord who in all things deserves to be pleased by his own Creatures especially by man above the rest for whom he hath done more than for all the rest more than for Angels themselves Now he that upon consideration thereof doth all he can to testifie his gratitude to his most obliging God in avoiding every thing that may offend him not onely every sin but every occasion unto sin every shadow of it and so hates the very garment spotted of the flesh and also in doing whatever may be acceptable and delightful to him this man if any hath a Conscience void of offence towards God For to be sure he alwaies doth three things that none else do First He makes it his great care and study to finde out the whole will of God concerning him to understand all his Duty Secondly To practice all that hee knows thereof even to his utmost So that God himself may say of him as he did of his Servant David Act. 13.22 I have found David my Servant a man after mine own heart he shall do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all my wills and indeed herein lies the very excellency of our obedience that 't is done in compliance with and pursuance of the Divine Will and to have our own wills engaged in so doing for as 't is the will in God that an holy man chiefly looks at as the ground and great reason of his obedience so 't is the will in man that God also chiefly eyes in all he doth If there be first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a willing minde sayes the Apostle it is accepted 2 Cor. 8.12 Intimating that if this be wanting let the Duty in the matter of it or seeming performance otherwise be never so splendid and glorious yet 't is not accepted 'T will be no better than a guilded iniquity as the Lord saies to Judah by the mouth of the Prophet Jeremiah Chap. 2.22 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 iniquitas tua inaurata 't is but a fine painted sin when all is done We say in Phylosophy forma dat esse 't is not the matter but the form that specificates every thing and distinguisheth it from all things else it is much more true in Divinity the heart and Soul of the man must be in every act of that obedience which pleaseth God he must be sincere in it and that universally and constantly every command must bee readily embraced and gladly obeyed and he that doth this or at least strongly desires and endeavours it is upright before and acceptable to God especially it being added in the Third place that wherein he fails 't is the great grief and sorrow of his heart that which costs him many a sigh in secret and many a tear between God and him and this briefly is to have a Conscience void of offence towards God and concerning which he can appeal to God as Job did whatever men say or think of him Job 16.19 20. Also now my witnesse is in Heaven and my Record is on high my friends scorn me but mine eye poureth out tears unto God The next thing is That 't is a Conscience void of offence towards men too When is that you 'l say When there is a great tenderness in the Conscience of doing wrong to any no not in the least and a great impulse to do to every man what is right and just and this from a principle of holiness For holiness towards God is the root upon which Righteousness towards men stands and from whence only it springs and grows And the truth is without both these Conscience cannot be good neither as a light nor as a witness nor as a Judge It can perform none of its Offices in fit manner nor due order the rule holds here as much as any where ad constituendum bonum ponenda sunt omnia requisita sed malum fit ex quolibet defectu to constitute a good thing all requisites must be present but one defect onely makes it evil Therefore the Apostle when he would describe a good Conscience puts in comprehensive words words that take all in that render it every way good Honestè bona pacatè bona good in the integrity of it good in the calmness and peaceableness of it Void of offence How large is that and void of offence towards God! how large is that too What needed hee have added any more The truth is whoever offends men and himself among others whoever interrupts his own peace brings any guilt upon his own Soul as well as doth wrong to another doth he not even therein also offend God and transgress his Law However the Apostle notwithstanding adds that also Void of offence towards men and thought it necessary to do so not onely for the more full vindication of himself before the Roman Governours to whom hee appealed but to intimate that his actions were every way such that hee durst appeal even to men also whoever they were though enemies as well as a righteous God if they would but be impartial and lay aside passion and prejudice that he was unjustly accused But this by the way onely Let 's consider what the Apostle means in this place by a Conscience void of offence towards men I conceive he doth not place it in meere moral acts of justice such as fair dealing paying every man his own giving every man his due and such like but in a pious and religious care no way to become an offence a stumbling-block or scandal to any by any dangerous opinion or evil example and that this is the Apostles sense or at least his principal meaning two things induce me to believe 1. What hee saies in the fore-going verses 14 15 where he
many ardent affections and pious ejaculations may pass from the heart to Heaven which the Devil may not know the reason of and of which alone God is witness This then is another excuse that Conscience makes for it self and 't is none of the least And yet 4. There is one more a very good one when all else is said that can be the Conscience flies to that in 1 Joh. 1.7 The blood of Christ cleanseth me from all sin So that let the Devil accuse as home and charge as deep as hee can yet here to be sure is a full answer for him an irrefragable one and such as he can never invalidate or take away the force of And in case Satan should be so impudent as to urge the matter farther and say that is true the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin but that belongs to none but a true Beleiver which you can never prove your self to be To this Conscience answers likewise and that roundly and smartly Thou lyest Devil and besides thou art no Judge in this case it comes not within thy cognisance what transactions are in my soul what mutual embraces betwixt Christ and me what acts of faith and love are in that secret place as I said before thou knowest not It doth not therefore follow it is not de non entibus de non apparentibus idem est judicium things that appear not to one that is ignorant are as if they were not Let that matter alone Devil for as cunning as thou art thou art no Judge in it it is enough that my God who alone is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the knower of the heart Acts 15.8 knows that I love him and believe in him whether thou knowest it or not Thus now we see what a good Conscience is in both the parts of it both as 't is honestè bona pacatè bona as 't is a quiet Conscience and an excusing Conscience every way void of offence both towards God and towards men and where such a Conscience is is it not a sufficient fortification against the fear of Death What is it that can be a just ground of trouble to this man That which is the most disquieting thing of all namely his sin and the guilt of it that is removed Christ hath taken it off from him What is it can be matter of terrour to him at the great Tribunal which he must one day stand before No enemy will appear against him there for God is reconciled to him and hee that shall sit there as his Judge is no other than his Redeemer And if Conscience here even in this life whose internal motions are known to none but God himself upon which ground none else but he can impose a Law upon it and oblige it be at so much ease Surely 't is from the same God that he is going to who alone can comfort or afflict the person to all eternity hereafter whose conscience he alone also can comfort or afflict in time But I hasten to answer two impertant objections which seem much to contradict all that hath been said hitherto SECT 9. Two important objections answered against the preceeding doctrine and what hath been said upon it FIrst It may be some will say shall we think that all those that are afraid or unwilling to dye are to be looked upon as persons without such a quiet and excusing Conscience or as those which have not such inward testimonies of a good estate and that in all the particulars which have been mentioned Would not this be very uncharitable to pass such a censure Yea and very unwarrantable too and against plain evidence both of Scripture and Experience Of Scripture which positively affirms Heb. 2.15 that some and those precious ones too for 't is spoken of Saints through fear of death are all their life time subject to bondage And doth not experience farther prove it almost every day How many choice Servants of Christ have met with hard struggles when they come to dye Have been willing to live yet longer if it might bee Have they not had their dreads on them Yea their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pangs and bands in their death like a woman in travel Secondly On the other hand is it not a very ordinary thing to see wicked men live and dye in peace Men as vile as prophane and deboished as any the earth hath and yet their Consciences are quiet notwithstanding they have no disturbance at all from them nor as the Psalmist saies have they any bands in their death Psal 73.4 but seem to pass out of the world as innocent as Lambs and without any fear at all upon them These are two considerable Objections indeed and must be answered and to satisfaction too least the truth before delivered bee prejudiced and shaken by it I answer therefore to both in order and first to the first objection I say three things First by way of concession I grant it that many who have indeed such a quiet and excusing Conscience a Conscience void of offence both towards God and towards men as I have been speaking of do notwithstanding dye with fears upon them and seem to be taken out of the world by violence rather than freely to go out of it and this contrary to the very precepts even of an Heathen moralist For what saies Seneca in his 104th Epistle Vir fortis sapiens exire debet è vita non trahi a wise and a valiant man ought to go readily out of this life not to be drawn And again quid est obsecro cur timeat mortem homo What is there in death considered simply in it self that a man should fear cum illâ nihil sit mali nisi quod ante ipsam est timeri the greatest evil of it is to be afraid of it before it comes Thus he even a very Heathen Well but yet for all that such is the extraordinary timidity of some persons and good ones too such is their aptness to despond partly from the natural constitution and temper of their melancholy bodies and mindes partly from the molestation of the great enemy of mankinde through Divine permission the Devil that the work of natures dissolution comes off hard with them and is a much more difficult task to them than to some others And the truth is who that is a Son or Daughter of Adam let them be never so holy and never so fit for Heaven but more or less have something of a cohorrescency of death upon them Two such old friends and so intimate as the body and the soul are loath to part It is natural for every thing to desire and seek the preservation of it self and to oppose and be afraid of that which destroys it Hence 't is that Aristotle in the third Book of his Ethicks the fixth Chapter tells us that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Death is most dreadful Thus also another Heathen Epicur Ad me nunc Apud
Laert. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of all evils death is the most formidable But what need we go to Heathen Authours for this since the Scripture it self affirms it whilst it saith of Death that 't is the King of terrours Job 18.14 But Secondly I answer That though these fears are found stirring and disturbing the mindes even of good men and women as well as others and we have often experience of it and cannot deny it yet this I affirm that the persons qualified as aforesaid with a good and a quiet Conscience have no just reason to be so fearful but have good and sufficient ground to the contrary What mens fears are de facto is one thing and the ground of them is another that good men have no just ground no reason to bee thus affrighted I still contend for why should they since God is reconciled to them as hath been said and since they have such a Mediatour and Advocate in the Heavens as Jesus Christ and since they have their Pardon in their own bosomes and clear evidences of their own regenerated and sanctified state and of their being already received into favour with that God that they are going to And therefore Thirdly It is very rare that any Childe of God dies under these fears but sooner or latter they make a conquest over them at least in some good degree buffetings they sometimes have and may have for some time and 't is seldome that the most eminent of the Saints escape them Heman's case may be many a good man 's besides Psal 88. throughout but when do we hear of any of them that dye despairing and go out of the world with these terrours unvanquished I would be tender in the case and not be positive in determining one way or other for Francis Spira's sake But am most inclined to think that who-ever are delivered from the wrath to come are also delivered from the prevailing fear of it before they breathe out their last breath Many and famous are the instances which wee have of this kinde such as Mistress Honywood Mr. Throgmorton Mr. John Holland Mris. Katherine Brett and many others which are recorded by such as have left their Funeral Discourses in Print and have written the lives of holy men and Women Those that list may finde some of them in the works of Dr. Thomas Taylor Mr. Bolton Mr. Gataker Mr. Samuel Clark and elsewhere To the other Objection I likewise answer Suppose a prophane Sensualist a Drunkard a Whoremonger a bruitish Rioter that wastes his body his estate his time his conscience in the pursuit of his beastly and silthy lusts that revels it out night and day without any the least regard to God and his ownsoul Suppose a covetous earthly muck-worme that grip's and grasp's per fas nefas right or wrong hee cares not how so he get an estate fill his coffers with silver and his heart with guilt by fraud deceit and oppression that squeezeeth the Fatherless and the Widdow the poor and needy that over-reacheth his innocent and well-meaning Neighbour Suppose the proud and superstitious person that over-looks and scorns every one below himself yea those that are every way his equals at least if not better than he the high and lofty person that can debauch himself without any scruple and renounce all former principles and practices that can swear and for-swear do any thing be it never so vile and impious so that hee may rise by it grow higher in place and esteem among men and attain unto such a grandeur and greatness that hee hath propounded unto himself Suppose a malicious envious person and therein as like the Devil as any you can meet with a bloody minded man that hates God and all goodness that persecutes a Saint with greatest rage and fury for no other reason but because he loves God owns his Waies Ordinances and Institutions Walks holily and by the shining light of his conversation condemns the Generation of the wicked Suppose an Athiest an Apostate that hath out-lived all Conscience that bids defyance to that holy profession which once he seemed to make to God and every thing that hath his Image and Superscription upon it Once more suppose an Hypocrite not only a gross but a fine-spun Hypocrite of which there are too many in these daies that make great pretensrons to Religion it self that seems as devout as zealous and as much concerned for God and his Truth for his holy Waies and Worship as those that are most sincere but all this not in pure love to those things but for some worldly or Carnal ends which otherwise he cannot accomplish I say suppose that these and many such like as guilty of other evils as great as any that I have now mentioned should after their whole life thus spent and that impenitently dye in peace without any the least remorse or check of Conscience would you say or can you think that these men have a good and truely quiet Conscience Men thus obdurated and given up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to an injudicious and reprobated minde as the Apostle's phrase is Rom. 1.28 Men of so profligated a life and so prodigiously wicked that after the hardness of their heart and that cannot repent have treasured up to themselves wrath against the day of Wrath. I say is there or can there be any ground to imagine that they have a good and a quiet Conscience What because they live and dye thus like an Hog in his stie that dyes of the Measles or the Murraine or some other such Plague that a beast is subject to with scarse a grunt or a groan is all well therefore with him Alas is there not a great deal more cause to say and that without any breach of charity that the Conscience of such as these is at best but a sleepy Conscience a Conscience lull'd into a damnable security and insensibility a seared Conscience a Conscience past feeling Than which what can be a greater Judgement or sorer Doom When God saies of any man as in Rev. 22.11 He that is filthy let him be filthy still Let the Adulterer the Blasphemer the Idolater be an Adulterer still a Blasphemer still an Idolater still When he shall say as he did to Ephraim Hos 4.17 Ephraim is an Apostate he is joyned to Idols let him alone Let him live and dye in his sin without repentance Let him perish and go down to Hell and let him go without all sense or apprehension of his danger with a blinded minde and an hardened heart Let him fall into his own destruction and that without recovery when he is least aware of it Can any thing bee more terrible than this And yet what less than this can they look for who live and dye in a state of unregeneracy let their passage out of this world seem never so peaceable and quiet For though they have no bands in their death as the Psalmist himself confesseth Psal 73.4 Yet
being wicked men and women they are far from a truely good and quiet Coscience And so now I think I have answered this objection too and that without leaving any room for a Reply I come next to the use of all which is two-fold SECT 10. The uses and improvement of the point First by way of information and then of exhortation both to good and bad By way of Information SEe here the difference the vast difference between men and women regenerate and unregenerate between men reconciled to God and unreconciled between men of a good Conscience and an evil Conscience and that both in their life and in their death In their life which in many things differs very much I will reduce all to four heads briefly 1. One of them the regenerate person lives holily the whole course of his life is holy in all the designs of it in his continual practise in a sincere thorough universal constant obedience He is freed from the bondage and power of sin he is no way under the dominion of it it doth not reign in his mortal body but he is very much dead unto sin and alive unto God There 's nothing in the world that he hates and flys from so much as sin and all occasions and temptations leading to it Hee 'l as soon adventure himself into a nest of hissing Serpents or into an house infected with the Plague as to go into any place or company where his heart may be endangered or his eyes and ears be vitiated with corrupt and corrupting objects discourses and examples And as for the Devil that is alwaies injecting filthiness into his thoughts or laying snares before him and still some way or other is soliciting him to evil he is so much aware of him that he stands upon his guard continually is evermore struggling with him and by his holy combates with him through the strength of Christ never fails of making some conquest over him more or lesse and whilst he resists him causeth him to fly from him But now the other the unregenerate person how wickedly and wretchedly doth he live What an unholy and impure life How doth he wallow in his filthinese as a Swine in its mire and lick it up as a Dog doth his vomit how doth his heart lye asoak in sin and what a miserable Vassal and Slave is he to it multos Dominos habet qui unum non habet How many Lords is he under whilest he disobeys the Lord his Maker every lust exerciseth a domination over him a great and a severe Tyranny How is he distracted betwixt this sin and that betwixt this temptation and that And how busie is he to make provision for every Lust I and he must please the Devil too whose Vassal he likewise is so far is he from resisting or opposing him and indeed how can he he having laid his chains upon him For doth it not fare with the Devils Bond-Slaves whom he holds Captives at his will as the Apostle speaks 2 Tim. 2.26 as it doth with the Turkish Galley-Slaves who being both Manacled Shackled and fastned to their Seats and Oares are made to work till the Irons eat into their very flesh and besides that to suffer as many cruel blows as their savage Task-masters have a minde to give them This then is one difference A second is this The Regenerate person walks with God is in amity and friendship with him as Enoch was there is a great good will betwixt God and him they are agreed together as the Prophets Phrase is Amos 3.3 can two walk together except they be agreed It is the regenerate man's daily and constant care in all things to please God to do his will yea all his will this is meat and drink to him he is never better pleased than when like Christ himself Luke 2.49 he is about his Fathers business this he mindes more than his appointed food as Job did Job 23.12 He will rather lose a Meals meat two or three for fail than an opportunity of doing a service for God or wherein he may any way injoy some good from him in this or that Duty or Ordinance Which kindness God takes great notice of and will be sure to answer again to him and some way or other makes him sensible how well he takes it at his hands This blessing and that shall speak it out unto him he will make good all that he hath promised to them that keep his Statutes and his Judgements to do them Deut. 28 1.-15 All manner of blessings shal come upon him the blessings of the City and of the Field of the Basket and of the store yea of Heaven and of Earth as is there at large expressed But now as to the unregenerate person it is quite otherwise with him he is at enmity with God and God with him he walks contrary to God and God to him he hates God and God hates him as 't is said of the howling Shepherds so they are called Zach. 11.3 that had no pity upon the Lords people ver 5. their soul saies God abhored me and my soul loathed them ver 8. the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hates Psal 11.5 And thereupon must not such an one needs be under a curse a dismal one and may he not reasonably look for it every day Yea every hour every moment hath he not cause to fear that one curse or other one sore Judgement or another will fall upon him What saies David Psal 7.11 12 13. God is angry with the wicked every day if he turn not he will whet his Sword hee hath bent his bow and made it ready Hee hath also prepared for him the Instruments of death he ordaineth his Arrows against the Persecutors And again Psal 11.6 Upon the wicked he shall rain snares fire and brimstone and an horrible in the Margent 't is a burning tempest this shall be the portion of their Cup. And this is a second Difference the third follows A regenerate person hath an awakened an enlightned a tender Conscience a good and bonest Conscience that will do all its Offices faithfully It will inform accuse give true evidence rebuke and passe a right Judgement too as the case requires It will not suffer him to lye in his sin or to neglect the means that may remove either the guilt or filth thereof and 't is his constant care alwaies to keep it wakeful and tender apt to be convinced and apt to rebuke upon all occasions He no way despiseth the fore-warnings of it to prevent sin and the checks of it when sin is working and ready to put forth it self for by this means principally the amity is kept up between God and him and the peace that he injoyes inwardly maintained But how much otherwise is it with an unregenerate man either he is a man of no Conscience that is makes no Conscience of any thing he doth scruples nothing doubts nothing but adventures upon any thing