Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	eat_v	idol_n	weak_a	2,180	5	9.3570	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A33220	Seventeen sermons preach'd upon several occasions never before printed / by William Clagett ... with The summ of a conference on February 21, 1686, between Dr. Clagett and Father Gooden, about the point of transubstantiation.	Clagett, William, 1646-1688.	1689 (1689)	Wing C4396; ESTC R7092	211,165	600

our selves sincerely to desire it diligently to pursue it and likewise in all our Actions to live by Rule and then we shall be sure to avoid giving ill Examples And we are the more obliged to this because we are not only to give an account of our selves to God but of our selves also with reference to the good or ill that others have received by us Let us consider my Brethren how careful we should be of our own Actions and those especially that lye open to others when if we do ill our selves we shall not only be to answer for our own transgression of God's Law but very likely for the sins of others who are either led into some unlawful Practice or confirmed in it by our Examples Which makes such an increase of Guilt and is so great a sin in it self that it is sometimes needful for a Man to abate of the use of his own Liberty in things not unlawful of themselves lest another that is likely enough to make a wrong construction of it and to encourage himself in manifest sin should indeed do so And for this reason St. Paul handling the Question of eating things offered to Idols acknowledgeth That meat commendeth us not unto God for neither if we eat are we the better neither if we eat not are we the worse But says he take heed lest by any means this Liberty of yours become a stumbling-block to them that are weak who are not throughly confirmed in the worship of one God according to the Gospel For as he goes on if any man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in the Idols Temple shall not the Conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to Idols i. e. be emboldened to commit Idolatry 1 Cor. 8. So that although it was not in it self unlawful to be present at those Sacrifices yet the Example being scandalous St. Paul concludes it to be a sin against the Brethren and against Christ ver 12. And this in as much as it would grieve their weak Conscience i. e. not as we use I doubt to understand that word grieve that it would trouble and difplease them but really hurt them by making them bold to partake of the Idolatrous Sacrifice And now Brethren if in things that are perhaps in their own Nature lawful we ought to use caution lest by an uncharitable use of our Liberty we encourage others to do things that are in themselves absolutely unlawful How much more cautious should we be not to give any Authority to sin by an Example that is evil in it self So likewise we ought with the more care to chuse our persuasions in Religion because in all likelihood we do not chuse them for our selves only but for our Children for our Servants for some of our Neighbours for many that some way or other depend upon us and for whom we must answer at the day of Judgment And since we cannot profess we cannot live but the World observes us so how instructing ought to be our Profession how instructing our Conversation How apt to promote Innocence Truth Vertue and Piety And this the more the more we are in the Eye of others In short no words I can use can make such an impression upon you as these words of our Saviour ought to make Wo be to him by whom the Offence cometh But this is not all 2. We must also be careful not to take Offences not to be led into Sin and Error by Example or Allurements by any kind of Temptations whatsoever To justifie which Exhortation I desire you to observe these three things 1. That our blessed Lord hath foretold that Offences would come nay that it must needs be that they come Nay I have shewn that the most dangerous Offences are particularly foretold in the New Testament Now Brethren this very warning in general much more those particular warnings were designed to take away in some good measure the danger of those scandals by Arming us with caution against them before-hand Since that is to be applied to all other particular Scandals that is expresly added to the Prediction of lying Wonders Behold I have told you before Now if the Offences though very dangerous of themselves were lesned by being fore-told our guilt in falling by such Offences must be so much the greater because being fore-warn'd we would yet take no warning The offensiveness of these Offences is in some part abated by the cautions of the Scripture in as much as we have no cause to be startled and amazed and to question the care of God's Providence over his Church because Offences come since the Author of our Faith has told us before-hand that they must needs come And 2. We are also fore-warned of the guilt and misery of falling by Offences in as much as our Saviour hath said Wo to the World because of Offences i. e. as I told you at first because of that evil which will happen by taking Offence But if Men were free from guilt in the committing of those sins which they fall into by reason of Scandals that are laid in their way In short if taking Offence were not it self a sin and in many cases a very great sin and such a sin as we shall be sadly accountable for at the day of Judgment there could be no Reason given why our Saviour should denounce a Wo upon this account Wo unto the world because of Offences 3. Let us not forget what was observed last time that God permits Offences to come which according to the common course of things were in themselves most likely to come he permits them I say for the Tryal of our Ingenuity our Honesty and Sincerity There must be Heresies among you that they which are approved may be made manifest It is by no means unavoidable to stumble at Scandals because we are fore-warned of them but if we take warning it is for the Praise and Reward of our diligence and faithfulness in keeping to God's Word Our Saviour speaking of the Signs and Wonders done by false Christs and false Prophets says That if it were possible they should deceive the very Elect that is they would deceive the very best Men but that they are guarded by Sincerity and by the Grace of God and these words plainly intimate that this would be the Touch-stone to distinguish Persons truly and solidly good from all others that notwithstanding the fair colours that would be put upon wicked Practices and Errors they would persevere in the ways of Truth and Godliness And now that we may not be misled by Offences but keep our selves unspotted from this present World and escape the Corruptions that are in the World through Lust let us take these few following Rules along with us 1. Let that which is on all sides acknowledged to be the Word of God be of more power and force with us than all Humane Authorities whatsoever which Rule as it is most

that defile a man but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man i. e. doth not by any means affect his Soul or his Conscience for in this respect he is neither better for washing nor worse for letting it alone and to think otherwise is a Superstition hurtful to your selves and dishonourable to God and of very bad consequence though it be not so impudent and notorious an abuse as the making void of God's Law by the other leud Tradition that I mentioned before It is to this purpose that we are to understand the method and design of our Saviour's Discourse in this place in answer to the Objection of the Pharises brought against the Disciples From which answer there are some things to be gathered well worth our observation 1. That it is sufficient to overthrow the Authority of a pretended Tradition that it is contrary to the Commandment of God. 2. That if there be one Traditionary Doctrine that notoriously contradicts the Law of God that one instance is sufficient to overturn the credit of that Tradition which pretends to deliver unwritten Doctrines of equal Authority with those that are written 3. That the universal consent of some one Age or more that such and such Doctrines were delivered by word of mouth many Ages before is no argument that they were so delivered 4. That we have a great reason to stick to the word of God delivered to us in the Scriptures and to examine all Doctrines and Rules which are said to be necessary to Salvation by that Rule and to reject the Authority of unwritten Traditions 1. That it is sufficient to overthrow the Authority of a pretended Tradition that it is contrary to the Commandment of God For if when Tradition is pretended for any Doctrine or Practice it be not enough to shew that the same Doctrine or Practice is inconsistent with what is plainly required in the Scriptures which are acknowledged by all to contain the word of God I say if this be not enough then our Saviour used an insufficient Argument against the pretended Tradition of not suffering the Son that was under a Vow of the contrary to relieve his Father or Mother that it made void the Commandment of God. But doubtless our Saviour was so far from using a bad Argument that he used the best and most convincing of all And truly if we did not in this case consider our Saviour's Authority yet it must be a monstrous prejudice that keeps any Man from discerning the strength of this Argument against the Authority of any unwritten Doctrine that it is contrary to what is written for nothing is more certain than that Contradictions cannot be true and yet they must be true if that Doctrine for which unwritten Tradition is pretended can be of God though it contradicts the written Tradition which is by all acknowledged to be Divine But as plain as this argument is yet it is very well for us that we find our blessed Saviour giving such Authority to it because there are Christians in the World bearing up themselves upon the Tradition of the Church that are loth to admit this Argument which we have no cause to be amazed at because it is an utter Confutation of all their pretences We charge them with having brought into the Church new Articles of Faith and new Doctrines of Worship which are not only very different from what was taught at first by Christ and his Apostles but some of them contrary thereunto as we can shew them out of the Scriptures But this way of proceeding doth by no means content them and they insist upon it that the Cause may be tryed otherwise For say they You acknowledge that our Church was once a pure Church and taught the Gospel sincerely but if as you say she departed from the pure Faith and Worship which the Apostles left it is impossible but this must have been very notorious because it could not have been done without opposition and resistance from some that must needs observe it Tell us therefore when were these new and false Doctrines introduced Who were the Men that brought them in Who were the first that made the discovery What Council condemned them after they were discovered For if none of these things can be shewn it is absurd to think that any such alteration should have been as you say Which reasoning amounts to thus much that it is impossible we can be sure that in the compass of a thousand Years there was a great alteration happened in the state of Religion unless withal we can tell how it came about and just when it came about the precise time and the punctual manner and circumstances thereof which is just as if a Man almost desperately sick of a Disease that had been for some Years growing upon him should prove to his Friend that he is as well as ever he was in his Life for says he You know I was well once and if I am now so ill as you say pray shew me the time when this Disease first happened the manner how and what Physitians were called about me which kind of arguing would certainly prove no more than that the Disease had taken his head When the Servants came and told their Lord that the tares came up with the wheat it was excusable in them to say We sowed good seed whence hath it these tares But when their Master told them An enemy hath done this if they had disputed and told him It was impossible there should be any Tares at all because he could not tell punctually that very Night when they were sown and who the Persons were that took the malicious pains to sow them then they had been very inexcusable thus to renounce their own certain knowledge for the sake of a vain Speculation Now we are very sure that the Apostles did at first sow nothing in the Church but good and true Doctrine Our Fathers that lived about fourteen hundred Years after found quite another sort of Doctrine gotten into the Church and some of them contrary to what the Apostles taught as the Scriptures manifestly shew and yet there have been a long time and still there are certain Disputers that go about to stagger others with such like questions as we have been speaking of and teach them to defie all reasoning out of the Scriptures till these questions are satisfied What Age What Year of our Lord were these Errors brought into the Church Who were they that brought them in and who first complained of them Now although a very reasonable account both may be and hath been given of the Persons the Time and the Manner and the Degrees by which such Corruptions got into the Church yet it is very unreasonable to expect that every Christian should be able to answer these Questions punctually because it requires more Labour and Reading than generally they have either leisure or ability to go through with but withal it is very needless because