Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	die_v	hell_n	worm_n	1,009	5	9.7957	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50489	The good of early obedience, or, The advantage of bearing the yoke of Christ betimes discovered in part, in two anniversary sermons, one whereof was preached on May-day, 1681, and the other on the same day in the year 1682, and afterwards inlarged, and now published for common benefit / by Matthew Mead.	Mead, Matthew, 1630?-1699.	1683 (1683)	Wing M1555; ESTC R19143	252,739	482

like sense of sin and sight of a lost estate So that there is mercy even in being under the Spirits Yoke And therefore Secondly Do not be unsensible of the mercy of being under the bondage of the Spirit though it is not a Case that hath comfort in it yet it is a Case that hath mercy in it And no present misery of any condition should make us to overlook the mercy of that condition You see sin in its filthy nature and damning guilt and thereupon are filled with dread and fear and is not this a mercy Though to do sin is the most unprofitable work yet to see sin is the most profitable sight For so long as sin is unseen Christ will be unsought The remedy is never desired till our misery be discerned and felt Your conscience is full of trouble and you are weary and cry out under the burthen of your soul-troubles and is not this a mercy How shall the burthen of sin be removed if conscience be not troubled under it The more the Sinners conscience is at peace the more sin is in power The strong man armed keeps that house Luke 11.12 Besides it is the design of God that sin shall be the trouble of every Sinners conscience sooner or later here or in Hell Hell is full of troubled consciences there is not one soul there but lyes under terrour of conscience for sin for that is the worm that never dies Mark 9.44 And is it not a mercy to be troubled for sin here rather than in Hell Here the trouble is but for a season there it will be for ever Here the end of your trouble for sin is peace and comfort Weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning Psal 30.5 But in Hell your trouble will end in desperation and everlasting horrour Whatever therefore your troubles are yet reckon it for a mercy that God hath brought you to a real sense of your sin and misery for that this is the only way to drive you out of your selves to Christ You had been undone but for this undoing Thirdly Do not be weary of the Spirits operation in his carrying on the work of conviction lest by growing weary of his work you make him weary of working There are two things Sinners express a great weariness under viz. the Word and the Rod. To sit long under the Word or to lye long under the Rod O what a weariness is it Now to be weary of these is to be weary of the Spirits work for by these he calls and knocks and strives to make his voice to be heard and therefore they often go together and hence you read of chastising and teaching Psal 94.12 The Rod prepares us for hearkening to the Word and the Word teaches us to understand the Rod and therefore the Spirit sometimes uses them together He binds them in Fetters and holds them in Cords of affliction and then shews their work and their transgressions that they have exceeded Job 36.8.9 10. and so opens their ear to discipline and commands that they return from iniquity Why then should any be weary of the Spirits work And yet that it is so is most evident For why do Sinners so many ways stifle the motions of the Spirit in the soul sometimes looking on spiritual troubles as mere melancholy sancies and as such shake them off Sometimes they are stifled by shame lest others should think them mad and distracted Sometimes they are stifled by declining that Ministry that deals most with the conscience and will not let them alone in sin Sometimes by running into idle debauched company that scoff away the troubles of a convinced conscience Sometimes by over business in worldly matters The cares of this World choke the Seed and it becomes unfruitful Matth. 13.22 And is not this a great sin it is murder to destroy a Child in the womb I charge you young ones with this sin this day before the Lord. And I will prove you guilty of it For what is the reason that the Word preached hath so little success that so few of you are converted from your sins and lusts to Christ I tell you this is the reason You have stifled the motions of the Spirit of God in your souls you have resisted and quenched him you have broken his Yoke from off your neck and do ye understand what ye do Do ye know the mischief of this sin It drives the Holy Spirit out of the heart You say to him depart Job 21.14 you are weary of his striving to make you weary of sinning It greatly gratifies Satan For his design is to harden the heart against the impressions of the Spirit and so lead Sinners to a Hell through a Fools Paradise It provokes the Lord to give you up to your own hearts lusts and vile affections Rom. 2.24 26. And I am perswaded that it is the Judgment that many of the young Generation of this day lye under It provokes him to take away the Gospel And I am afraid that this Judgment is at the door for why should God continue it to a Generation that slight and reject it And wo to such as shall be found to have had a hand in sinning away the Gospel It is this sin that makes Hell hot indeed It will be one of the saddest reflections in that state for a damned Sinner to recal the many sweet motions of the Spirit which in his day of Grace he had In such a Sermon how was my heart touched and my conscience awakened But all came to nothing In such a sickness how did the Spirit of God deal with me and set sin home and made it a burthen What promises and resolutions did I then make to shake off sins to leave my former wicked courses but it came to nothing Had I then yielded to the strivings of the Spirit and hearkened to his calls and counsels I had never felt these flames But my slighting God breaking the Spirits Yoke by resisting and quenching his motions this is that which hath brought this endless misery upon me O what a dreadful thing is it to be weary of the Spirits work when he comes to convince of sin Quest But when may a man be said to be weary of the Spirits work Answ First When he cannot endure an awakening convincing Ministry nor searching truths but declines those Doctrines that interrupt him in the way of his lusts and disturb the quiet of his conscience as Felix did Paul's Sermon of righteousness and judgment to come because it made him tremble the Doctrine came too close to his conscience and therefore he dismisses the Preacher to a fitter season Acts 24.25 Secondly When he is over-hasty for peace and comfort then he is weary of the Spirits Yoke This is the Case of most they are no sooner under the sense of sin but they must have comfort The Arrows of the Almighty are sharp and when they go deep do cause an unspeakable

for it is a communion with him in his own nature which is holiness Now thus every good man walks with God and hath a daily communion with him so far as holiness is in exercise How often may we hear the Children of God complaining of the want of communion with God! this arises from a mistake of the thing They judge of fellowship by sensible fruitions and of communion by comfort So much as God gives out of the comfort of his presence and the light of his face so much communion they partake of And where this is not injoyed there all communion is denied Whereas communion with God may be maintained and yet present comfort may be left out Though they cannot walk by the light of his countenance yet they may walk by the light of his counsels So did Job Chap. 23.8 9 10 11 12. Behold I go forward but he is not there backward but I cannot perceive him on the left hand where he doth work but I can't behold him he hides himself on the right hand that I cannot see him But he knows the way that I take my foot hath held his steps his way have I kept and not declined Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips Here you may see Job walking with God when at the same time he cannot find him He walketh by the light of his will revealed when he can't walk by the light of his face discovered and so hath a communion with him in his counsels though not in the light of his countenance And this makes the Yoke of obedience pleasant it is a walking with God you have hereby communion with him in his Holiness when you want the comforts of his presence and this makes your way sweet though God doth not shine upon your path This I take to be the meaning of that of David Psal 112.4 Vnto the upright there ariseth light in darkness Holiness yields a sweetness and comfort when it may be the light of Gods face yields none 2. Godliness is attended with the pleasure of a witnessing Conscience He that follows its guidance shall never want its witness God leads man by a twofold guide the Word and Conscience the Word without and Conscience within the Word is a light to us and Conscience is a light in us the Word directs the Conscience and Conscience directs the conversation And he that follows the guidance of Conscience as it is guided by the Word shall never want a witness to the goodness of his state and heart He that opposes and violences Conscience shall find it witnessing against him but he that is guided by it shall have it a witness for him As the Spirit of God is first a Counseller and then a Comforter so Conscience is first a guide and then a witness And what greater pleasure than the witness of a mans Conscience to the goodness of his conversation As a condemning Conscience is the greatest torment as being a degree of Hell so a witnessing Conscience is the greatest comfort as being a first-fruits of the joy of Heaven Our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in the world 2 Cor. 1.12 A witnessing Conscience brings with it an unspeakable sweetness and comfort As for instance First What is it that satisfies a man when nothing else can it is the witness of his Conscience A good man is satisfied from himself Prov. 14.14 Secondly What is it that gives confidence and boldness towards God it is a witnessing Conscience 1 John 3.21 If our hearts condemn us not then have we confidence towards God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we have boldness so the word is rendred in Heb. 10.19 Having brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus A good man hath a threefold boldness and confidence from a witnessing Conscience 1. A boldness in Prayer Let us come boldly to the throne of grace Heb. 4.16 There are three things which together cause this boldness First The Throne God is upon to whom we make our requests viz. a Throne of Grace and Mercy Let us come boldly to the throne of grace Heb. 4.16 Secondly The advantage we have by Jesus Christ at the right hand of God Who ever lives to make intercession for us Heb. 7.15 Thirdly The help of the Spirit whereby we are inabled to call him Father and who makes intercession in us Rom. 8.15 26. 2. Boldness and confidence in the midst of all dangers He shall not be afraid of evil tidings Psal 112.7 Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death yet will I fear no evil Psal 23.4 The righteous is bold as a lion Prov. 28.1 3. Boldness and confidence in the day of Judgment 1 John 4.17 That we may have boldness in the day of judgment And how sweet must this be to dye and go to the Bar of God confidently assured of the goodness of our case Thirdly What is that which comforts and supports a man when all else it may be witness against him It is a witnessing Conscience Sometimes men may witness against him and falsly charge him as in Jobs case yet then Conscience supports him in the testimony whereof he can appeal to God as in Chap. 10.7 Thou knowest that I am not wicked Sometimes God seems to witness against him Thou writest bitter things against me Job 10.17 Job 13.26 Yet then to the upright there arises light in darkness Psal 112.4 Sometimes Satan witnesseth against a man accuses him of hypocrisie and unsoundness of heart in the ways of God as he did Job of serving God for by-ends Job 1.9 10. yet then Conscience supports him as it did good Hezekiah in the testimony whereof he appeals to God Remember Lord Isai 38.3 how I have walked before thee with an upright heart Fourthly What is that which fills the Soul with peace and joy when troubles and distresses are upon us it is the witness of Conscience This made Paul and Silas sing in the Stocks This made the Martyrs triumph in the midst of the flames As sorrowful yet always rejoycing 2 Cor. 6.10 O what a sweet thing is a witnessing Conscience it fills a man with the richest and the most lasting peace 1. With the richest peace and therefore it is called the Peace of God Phil. 4.7 The peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus That this is the peace of Conscience is evident in that it is said to keep the heart and mind And it is called the Peace of God First Because of the greatness and excellency of it according to that Hebraism whereby things great and excellent are intitled to God Psal 36.6 As the mountains of God the Cedars of God Psal 80.10 the increase of God Col. 2.19 c. Secondly Because he gives it When

of Antichrists followers by this That they had pleasure in unrighteousness 2 Thess 2.12 By all which the pleasures of sin appear to be forbidden pleasures so that no man can injoy any one lust but he must resolve to controul God to violate his Authority and break his Command and he that breaks this hedge a serpent will bite him Eccles 10.8 But where are we forbid to take pleasure in Godliness Are spiritual delights forbidden fruit May not a man rejoyce in God O yes For 1. This is so far from being forbidden as a sin that it is commanded as a duty Delight thy self in the Lord Psal 37.4 Rejoyce in the Lord always and again I say rejoyce Phil. 4.4 2. It is the true Character of a godly man His delight is in the law of the Lord Psal 1.2 I will delight my self in thy commandments which I have loved Psal 119.47 I delight in the law of God after the inner man Rom. 7.22 This no unregenerate man can attain to Will he delight himself in the Almighty says Job of the Hypocrite Chap. 27.10 He may do much but this he cannot do He may pray and read and hear and make profession of God but he cannot delight in God 3. This makes us sharers in the very pleasures and joys of Saints and Angels in Heaven for the joy and pleasure of that state is in God and Holiness 4. This shall have a sure reward Delight thy self in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart Psal 34.4 Thou shalt delight thy self in the Lord and I will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father Isai 58.14 Sometimes delight in God is required as a duty but here it is promised as a reward So that here is a double reward promised to delighting in God First Such shall delight in God They that make it their duty it shall be their reward As God sometimes punishes sin with sin Hos 8.11 which is a great punishment so he rewards delight in God with delight in God which is a great reward They shall find such rich consolations such abundant sweetness and matter of satisfaction in God and his ways as shall fill the Soul with delight Thy comforts delight my soul Psal 94.19 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures Psal 36.8 That is one reward promised Secondly I will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father That is literally the blessings of the land of Canaan given for an inheritance to him and his seed but this being a Type of Heaven therefore it is the glorious inheritance above that is chiefly intended So that these spiritual pleasures shall have a sure reward And hence it appears that though the pleasures of sin are forbidden fruit yet the pleasures of holiness are not They are lawful pleasures Sixthly The pleasures of sin are dangerous pleasures full of danger What Solomon says of the Harlot Isai 59.7 Her house inclines to death and her paths to the dead Prov. 2.18 is true of every sin it is a way that takes hold of hell and death Never any went on in it but have miscarried And what pleasure can there be in a way so full of danger But in the pleasures of godliness there is no danger no fear of miscarrying An high way shall be there and it shall be called the way of holiness the way-faring men though fools shall not err therein Isai 35.8 Where there is life without death there must needs be pleasure without danger and so it is here In the way of righteousness is life Prov. 12.28 and in the path-way thereof there is no death O what dangers do men run into for the pleasures of sin dangers of Soul and body dangers of present judgment and eternal torment but here is pleasure without danger Seventhly The pleasures of sin are disturbed pleasures the smarting reflections and checks of Conscience do greatly interrupt the free injoyment of sins delights There are but few sinners but their pleasures in sin are attended with an upbraiding Conscience The best part of a natural man is his Conscience when will and affections are wholly for lust Conscience many times takes part with God when affections intice conscience troubles and gives such an amazing prospect of the dreadful consequences of sin as doth very much abate its pleasures and imbitter its sweetness Nay many have been in great troubles and horrors for sin upon this account the gnawings of this worm within have been such as have utterly extinguished the pleasures of sin for the present Conscience reflects guilt guilt causes fear and fear hath torment 1 John 4.18 And in this case the pain of sin is far more than the pleasure for no man can act with much pleasure against the checks of his own conscience And therefore many have been forced to find out ways to quiet conscience or at least to silence its clamors that they may have a more free and undisturbed injoyment of their lusts and this is that which hath made so many Hypocrites both among Papists and Protestants taking up a little outside devotion and taling over a few prayers to God and then thinking this a full amends to him for what is past and so sin upon a new score Lust can't be freely injoyed unless conscience is silent conscience will not be silent unless God be some way owned and hence though the sinner in his heart hates God and the life of God yet he is forced to mingle somewhat of the practice of devotion with a vicious conversation that he may at once injoy the sweet of his lusts and yet quiet a quarrelling conscience Or if custom in sin and a seared conscience have worn out the sense of such checks and regrets the case is so much the worse where-ever sin is practised and conscience not pained the man is dead past life and past hope Dr. Preston relates of one in Cambridge that falling into a great sin his conscience was troubled but having this temptation upon him That if he did the same sin again his conscience would trouble him no more he complied with the temptation and ran into the same sin again after which his conscience was silent and from that time he went on in his lusts without trouble or controul But the pleasures of godliness are undisturbed pleasures Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace Prov. 3.17 The sinner hath pleasure but no peace but in the ways of God the good man hath pleasure and peace And it must needs be sweet where pleasure is attended with peace There is a twofold peace that doth attend the life of godliness peace supernal and peace internal The one is a peace between God and Conscience The other is a peace between conscience and a mans self And where this peace is the pleasure of the Soul must needs be an uninterrupted pleasure

many times the sinner out-lives all his joys and delights they tarry not till he dies from them but they die from him sometimes pining diseases sometimes continued crosses sometimes a worm in the conscience extinguish these joys and they are never kindled more But if none of these do to be sure death doth for when that once comes then farewel the pleasures of sin for ever Hell is too hot a Climate for wanton delights to live in sin shall be so far from affording delight there that the remembrance of it shall greaten their torment And therefore if the pleasures of sin do not die from us yet we are sure to die from them as Pope Adrian said to his Soul when expiring Quae nunc abibis in loca Nec ut soles dabis jocos Thou art now going where there is no pleasure to be found But now the pleasure of godliness is durable pleasure it is not transient and fading It is not water from a fading brook but from a river whose springs fail not Therefore the Holy Ghost had no sooner said Thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures Psal 36.8 but he presently adds in the next verse For with thee is the fountain of life A fountain is always running and yet is never exhausted The river of pleasures which godliness affords is fed from a fountain that is overflowing and ever flowing Fourteenthly The pleasures of sin have a sad end There is a sting in the tail of them they are like the wine Solomon speaks of that though it looketh pleasantly in the cup yet at the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder Prov. 23.31 32. The stollen waters of sin how sweet soever they seem to be in the mouth will be gall and wormwood in the belly even bitterness in the latter end So says Zophar Job 20. 12 13 14. Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth though he hide it under his tongue Though he forsake it not but keep it still within his mouth yet his meat in his bowels is turned it is the gall of asps within him O that sinners would consider the end of sin As Abner said to Joab Knowest thou not that it will be bitterness in the latter end 2 Sam. 2.26 Sensual pleasure goes out like a candle and leaves a stink behind it great damps and sore griefs in the conscience Wo to you that laugh now for ye shall mourn and weep Luke 6.25 In Isai 5.14 it is said Hell hath inlarged her self and opened her mouth without measure and he that rejoyceth shall descend into it That is he that lives in the pleasures of sin his present pleasure shall end in Hell where there is punishment without pity misery without mercy sorrow without succour mischief without measure and torments without end This is all you shall ever get by sin a little pleasure and eternal torment But the pleasure of godliness as it is sweet in the way so it is sweeter in the end Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace Psal 37.37 Christ keeps the best wine till the last The pleasures of godliness that good men injoy in the way are not to be compared to the pleasures that they shall injoy in the end When the pleasures of sin shall end in the wrath of God and eternal misery the pleasures of godliness shall be so far from being extinguished that they shall be perfected * Si quid male feceri● voluptas transit dolor manet si quid benefeceris labor transit voluptas manet For holiness brings us into the full fruition of God at last In whose presence is fulness of joy and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore Psal 16.11 So that we may say of the pleasures of holiness and the pleasures of sin as Solomon says of wisdom and folly Eccles 2.13 Wisdom excelleth folly as far as light excelleth darkness So do the pleasures of holiness excel the pleasures of sin And thus you have the pleasure of Christs Yoke made out comparatively viz. by comparing it 1 with the Yoke of the Law 2 with the Yoke of Sin 3 I shall make it out by a collation of instances And I will instance in the most difficult duties of Religion If the most difficult and severe duties of Religion have a real pleasantness in them then it must needs be good to come under the Yoke of Christ but the most difficult duties of Religion have a real pleasantness in them I will instance in three which I take to be the most difficult Repentance Mortification of Sin Bearing the Cross 1. Repentance This seems to be one of the most difficult and unpleasant duties which the Yoke of Christ lays us under It is an afflicting the Soul Ezra 8.21 And what pleasure can there be in affliction It is a being ashamed and confounded for sin Jer. 22.22 And what pleasure is there in shame and confusion It is a renting and breaking the heart Joel 2.13 Psal 51.17 And what pleasure can a man take to have his heart rent and broken It is an exercising indignation and revenge upon our selves 2 Cor. 7.11 And what pleasure is it for a man to be angry with and take revenge upon himself It seems therefore upon all these accounts to be a very difficult duty and yet notwithstanding it is a duty full of pleasure and sweetness And this will be manifest First If you consider it in its spring and rise The work of repentance if it be right hath for the spring of it the efficacy of the grace of the Gospel upon the Soul melting it down at the foot of God The sweet sense of the goodness and mercy of God in Christ thaws the heart and causes it to melt into tears of godly sorrow for all sin done against such infinite love and tender bowels That thou mayst remember and be confounded because of thy shame when I am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast done saith the Lord Ezek. 16.63 The reconciled face of God shining upon a sinner makes him more ashamed of sin than any argument in the world can do And there cannot but be pleasure in the exercise of this grace when it flows from so sweet a spring Secondly If you consider how great a hand it hath in removing the burden of sin Sin is such a burden as will sink the Soul down to Hell if it be not removed And if any man feel it not to be a burden it is because he is dead in sin but where there is any life the burden is very great Mine iniquities are gone over my head as a burden they are too heavy for me Psal 38.4 Now repentance helps to remove the burden of sin for when the Soul repents God forgives and so the burden is took away The pardon of sin is that which takes away the burden of sin this Job intimates in that his expostulation with God