Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	end_n	good_a	unfeigned_a	1,203	5	10.8412	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43147	The English rogue described, in the life of Meriton Latroon, a witty extravagant Being a compleat discovery of the most eminent cheats of both sexes. Licensed, January 5. 1666.; English rogue. Part 1	Head, Richard, 1637?-1686?	1668 (1668)	Wing H1248; ESTC R217345	253,146	477

thought it very requisite to think of that which must shortly be the means to convey me either to bliss or woe by so doing I seized on death before it seized on me It was the fittest subject I could busie my soul about for what more heavenly than the thought of immortality and what so necessary as the thought of death Seneca faith When he was a young man be studied to live well when aged how to dye well but I never practised Artem bene vivendi and therefore am so ignorant in Arte bene moriendi which makes me so fearful that I know not how to be careful of not being found unprepared Methinks I already hear that doleful saying Its imparats in paratum My sole companions were now despair and fear for the King of fear is death and indeed there is nothing absolutely fearful but what tends to death and I am confident the fear of death is worse than the pains of death for fear of death kills us often whereas death it self can do it but once Life would not be troubled with too much care nor death with too much fear because fears betray and cares disorder those succours which reason would afford to both and though some say he is more sorrowful than is necessary that is sorrowful before there is necessity yet that soul cannot be in a good condition so long as it fears to think of dying but did I not sorrow now and jutly fear that messenger that must bring me before the Tribunal of Heaven I should have too little time to wash away so many black spots especially having nothing but objects of terror and amazement before my eyes but I never needed have feared what I should suffer when dead if I had not deserved it whilst I lived Life is not alike to all men To such a wicked wretch as I am the best had been that I never had been and the next best were to live long in this condition it was ill for me that I was born worse for me that I must die for without unfeigned repentance this dying life will bring me to a living death whereas a good man is otherwise minded he counts his end the best of his being for that brings him to the fruition of his hope could death end misery it should be the greatest happiness I would wish but my conscience will not let me lye for fear the end of my present miseries will be but the beginning of worse yea such as death it self cannot terminate Now came into my minde the consideration of Eternity and with it I remembred how it was represented by the Ancients which very much helpt my present Contemplation which was thus A vast Den full of horror round about which a Serpent windes it self and in the winding bites it self by the tail At the right-hand of this Den stands a young man of a most beautiful and pleasant countenance holding in his right-hand a Bow and two Arrows and in his left an Harp In the entrance sits an old man opposite and having his eyes very intent on his Table-book writes according to the dictations of the young man standing by At the left-hand of this Den sits a grave Matron gray-headed and having her eyes always busied At the mouth hereof are four stairs ascending by degrees the first is of iron the second of brass the third of silver and the last of gold On these are little children sporting up and down playing fearless and inapprehensive of falling The sight of this Emblem of Eternity inculcated into my thoughts this interpretation The Den which was bottomless signified to me the incomprehensibility of Eternity the circumferating Serpent Time the young man Nature on Earth and Hell are her arrows fastned but in Heaven there is the Harp fulness of joy and pleasures in expressible The old man I lookt upon to be Fate the grave Matron Providence the Stairs distinct Times and Ages the Children running up and down the Stairs without fear of danger do signifie foolish Man and Woman who regardless of their salvation sport and play with it so long till they slipt into Eternity So have I been careless of that which should have been my greatest care though I knew but would not know that the least and lightest touch of death were sufficient in a moment to translate me from Time to Etermity Were we all to live a thousand years whereas the Executioner is to put a period to my life in one day longer we should before we had ran half our course in our very non-age apply our selves to repentance and newness of life Now now is the time every hour every moment now one part of an hour as I am informed to my great comfort may obtain pardon here which all Eternity cannot hereafter Therefore let this now be my time this one day I have left me to cancel my debts and trespasses against Heaven which I can never do in Hell-fire in all the years and times to come hereafter Let such who have liv'd as I in all manner of wickedness consider what Eternity is which may make them return like the penitent Prodigal What then is Eternity It is a Circle running back into it self whose center is every where and circumference no where that is to say infinite It is an Orb that hath neither beginning nor ending Or it is a Wheel Volvitur volvetur in omne volubilis aevum A Wheel that turns a Wheel that turned ever A Wheel that turns and will leave turning never Eternity is like a year continually wheeling about which returns again to the same point from whence it began and still wheels about again It is an ever-running Fountain whither the waters after many turnings flow back again that they may always flow It is a bottomless pit whose revolutions are endless It may be compared to a snake bowed back unto it self orbicularly holding its tail in its mouth which in its end doth again begin and never ceaseth to begin What is Eternity It is a duration always present it is one perpetual day which is not divided into that which is past and that which is to come Or it is an age of ages never expiring and never changing Or more properly it is a beginning continuing never ending always beginning in which the blessed always begin a blessed life in which the damned always die and after all death and struggling therewith always begin again to die As Hell-torments are eternal so will the conscience be perpetually tormented with deep and horrid despair for the life past Their worm shall not die The Poets of old alluded to this place notably in that Fiction or Fable of Tytius whom Virgil feigneth that a flying Vulture every day gnaws and tears his Liver which is every night again repaired and made up that every day the Vulture may have more matter to prey upon What is this Vulture but the worm I speak of and what is his Liver but the conscience always

but slender in the doctrine of Christianity I say I durst not discourse longer but left him to his own Conscience for conviction which I judg'd would be powerful with him at the place of Execution The day being come I resolved to see the final end of my friend And there did I enjoy the fruits of my hopes and wishes For as soon as the Halter was about his neck he roared so loud with his voice that it could not but awake the most lethargick conscience that ever the Devil lull'd asleep There I might see and know by the urinal of his eyes and the water standing therein what convulsion fits his soul suffer'd his own mouth confessing how greivously his diseased soul was stretched upon the rack of despair then it was that the voluminous Registers of his conscience which did formerly lye claps'd in some unsearcht corner of his memory were laid open before him and the Devil who hitherto gave him the lessening end of the prospect to survey his licentious courses and damned opinion now turned the magnifying end to his eye which made him cry out at last for mercy and so was turn'd off CHAP. XXX He passeth for a'Batchellor Courts several under the pretence of Marrying them by which he perswades some out of their Maiden-heads others out of their Money with which he goes for England At Chester he cheats his Lanllord where having all things requisite to compleat an High way-man followeth that trade he is met with by some of that gang who intending to rob him he discovers his intentions and they admit of him into their society BEing left now to shift for my self having lost the main prop that sustain'd me in all conditions husbanding well the advantage of this contrary wi●…d I presen●…y set the engine of my brain to work and thus it was I addrest my self to Courtship Beauty was not the mark I aimed the purchase thereof producing little profit since it self is most commonly the sole reward neither can a man attain to it but by great expence outvying all therein least any interpose Either wealthy and aged widdows or thrifty Maids who had laid up what they had gotten in Service as a bait to procure an Husband such did I daily hunt out and visit by turns I was not sparing of amorous expressions showing therein the height of zeal by which means I deluded several Some I was forced to give earnest to for their Goods before they would trust me with what they had This course I followed till I was generally taken notice of for a grand deceiver Having now gotten a round sum of money by me I borrowed where ever I could so crossing S. Georges Channel in twenty four hours I landed at Chester I took up my quarters in a very graceful Inn and gave out immediately that I had an hundred head of Cattel ooming The Master of the house taking notice of my extraordinary Garb and believing the report which I had caus'd to be spread abroad lodg'd me with much respect in one of the best Chambers of his house The Wind favoured my design as much as I could desire for it blew East-North-East by which no Shipping could come out of Ireland One day I came to my Landlord and telling him that by reason of the non arrival of my Cattel I was disappointed of Moneys and therefore I desired him to lend me ten pounds and he should satisfie himself in the first choice of the best of my beasts when they came and swore to him I would perform my promise to him upon the word of a Gentleman So that without any scruple he lent me the money Being Market day I bought an excellent Gelding with Fur●…iture thereunto belonging with Sword and Pistols and in this Equipage mounted I taking my leave of my credulous Landlord without speaking a word to him I had not r●…d far before three well mounted rid by me I found them afterwards to be the Van-guard having as many more in the Rear At the bottome of an Hill they before faced about and bidding me stand those in the Rear reinforc'd the Van. One of them clapping a Pistol at my breast commanded me forthwith to deliver Sweraing three or four full mouth'd Oaths I saw it was now to little purpose to resist although I was so well arm'd and therefore endeavou●…ed a conquest some other way viz. by smooth expressions Gentlemen said I ye are all mistaken neither do I greatly wonder thereat since I verily belie●…e ye are fresh men men of a days standing in the study of this noble Science otherwise you might have distinguisht me from an honest man for I think in thi●… Garb and posture I look as suspitiously as any of ye onely I think I take a better course when ye to avoid apprehension and ●…eap to my self greater satisfaction For ye rob in companies and if any one be taken his just fears frequently betray himself but of●…ner the rest to destruction whereas I robbing singly I rob securely Now Sirs ●…eely examine my Pockets where finding store of Coyn they demanded how I came by it I invented a lye to their general satisfaction which was I had met with a Booty a little before I met with them which was the occasion of my being so well furnisht but that which confirm'd them most was my be●…ng so well provided with Pistols in my Holsters Pockets and Boots Instead of doing what they intended they were then of another opinion and all of them carest me in a very high manner resolving to be merry at the next Inn and there to admit me as a Brother Having set up their Horses they went into a Room before whil'st I stayed sometime after for the benefit of easing nature coming in among them I thought my self mistaken in my company made a proffer to go out again but they laughing heartily called me back I knew not one person for they had pull●…d off their false Beards Vizards Hoods Patches Wens Mufflers and Perriwigs together with those other disguises that obscured the natural proportion of their faces so that they appear'd as other men Come said the cheif as I guest him to be by the sway he bore over the rest you are a freshman and therefore want some of our instructions which in due time you shall receive from us In the first place it is fit that you take an Oath which every young Theif must observe that is admitted into the Brother-hood or at his investation into the honour of one of the Knights of the Road which was to this effect First they read a charge of sec●…ecy that what ever misf●…ortune happened to cloud their freedom by rendring them as an object to Justice and the Law they should concea●… their Complices to the death or against any other jeopardy whatsoever burying in oblivion not only his Confederates but also his manner of entrance into this way And further they proceeded to swear me that if the Judges should press