of the righteous and the quiet conscience of the wicked Answ The difference between them lieth in foure things 1. In the thing it self 2. In the cause 3. In the effect 4. In the continuance I. In the thing it self The quiet conscience in the godly is double not onely apparentiall and nominall but reall and substantiall It is quiet and quiet too peace and peace too I create the fruit of the lips peace peace Mark peace and peace too peace in appearance and peace in truth and substance also But the peace and quiet of conscience which the wicked have is not such peace It is peace and no peace peace in appearance but no peace in truth Their god is the god of this world and he perswadeth them they have peace But my God saith the prophet speaketh otherwise There is no peace to the wicked saith my God They talk of a good conscience sometimes and boast they have a good conscience but the truth is they cannot have true peace within for saith the prophet the wicked is like the troubled sea which cannot rest whose waters cast up mire and dirt So doth a wicked mans conscience secretly cast up mire and dirt in his face His peace can onely be outward and apparentiall II. There is a difference in the cause The quiet of a good conscience ariseth from one cause and the quiet of a bad conscience ariseth from another 1. The quiet of a good conscience ariseth from a distinct knowledge of the word of God and of the precepts and promises conteined in it But the quiet of an evil conscience ariseth from ignorance When men know not God nor his holy word which should bind conscience they fear nothing because they see nothing they know not the danger of sinne Like a blind man standing before the mouth of a cannon he feareth no danger because he seeth none so carnall men fear not because they know not what cause they have to fear Their very prayers that they make are an abomination to God and they know it not their good duties they do are all like cockatrices egs and they know it not they know not that they are in the bond of iniquitie in the snare of the devil Their consciences are quiet because they know not what cause they have to be otherwise This is one difference The quiet and peace of a good conscience ariseth from light and from knowledge the quiet and peace of an evil conscience from darknesse and ignorance 2. The quiet of a good conscience ariseth from a due examination of our selves by the word and purging of our consciences Conscience never can be good without purging and sprinkling no nor without a due examination the quiet of a good conscience ariseth from this Whereas the quiet of a wicked mans conscience ariseth from want of this He never examineth his conscience but letteth it sleep till God awake it with horrour I say a wicked mans conscience sleepeth and that maketh it quiet and he is not troubled nor molested with it Like a baillif or sergeant fallen asleep by the way the desperate debtour whom he lieth in wait for may passe by him then and find him very quiet and not offer to arrest him or like a curst dog fallen asleep a stranger may passe by him then and not be meddled with Such like is this quiet evil conscience 3. The quiet of a good conscience ariseth from a good ground from the works of Gods Spirit from true saving grace from righteousnesse Rom. 14.17 we reade of righteousnesse and peace True peace of conscience ariseth from righteousnesse Whereas the false peace of the wicked ariseth onely from vain hopes and conceits They are not guiltie of such and such great sins or They are not so bad as some others As the Pharisee's conscience was quiet why God I thank thee I am not as other men are no drunkard extortioner nor like this publicane Or perhaps from this ground their peace ariseth The Lord is very mercifull and The Lord Jesus died for sinners Or perhaps this is their plea They are good comers to church They have prayers in their families They have been professours of Christ Jesus so many years From hence they dream of peace upon false grounds whenas the way of peace they have not known When conscience shall be awaked then it will tell them how they have by flattery deceived their own souls and that having no true righteousnesse they could have no true peace 4. The quiet of a good conscience ariseth from tendernesse and from life Therefore the Apostle joyneth together life and peace Rom. 8.6 True peace of conscience ariseth from life whereas the quiet of a wicked conscience ariseth from searednesse and benumbednesse and deadnesse when men being past feeling of sinne are not troubled at the committing of it Thus ye see the second thing wherein the difference lieth namely in the cause III. They differ in the effect First The effect of the quiet of a good conscience is comfort and rejoycing Being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ What followeth By whom we have accesse by faith rejoycing c. Mark The peace of conscience bringeth forth rejoycing And so in other places peace and joy are joyned together But the evil conscience though quiet wanteth this rejoycing If carnall men had no more mirth then what the quiet and peace of their consciences doth help them to they would not be so merrie as most of them be Secondly Another effect of true peace of conscience is It sanctifieth the soul it purgeth the heart purifieth the life and reformeth the whole man It is the instrument whereby God sanctifieth his people more and more The God of peace sanctifie you wholly Observe the title which the Apostle there giveth unto God when he sanctifieth his people he calleth him the God of peace he sanctifieth his people by peace It maketh them think thus We must not do thus or thus as others do we shall lose the peace of our conscience if we do This maketh them strive against sinne denie their own wills and carnall appetites If I should not do so I should have no peace This peace sanctifieth But the peace which carnall men seem to have doth not sanctifie the soul they are never the more holy for the same Again another effect of the peace of a good conscience is to put life into us in the performance of good duties it maketh us with gladnesse and delight perform the duties of our generall and particular callings But the false peace of an evil conscience suffereth the wicked to be dead and dull to good duties The true peace keepeth our hearts and our minds We should lose our minds in the things of this life but this peace doth keep them upon God we should lose our hearts upon our profits and pleasures and affairs in the world but the peace of conscience doth keep them
estates Now I will shew you the reasons why men are mistaken though conscience do tell them 1. Because the speeches of conscience in the wicked many times yea most times are low speeches The gnawings of conscience whereby they are told they are in a bad and a damned estate are like the gnawings of a very little worm that a man can hardly feel Where their worm dieth not The word in the originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth a very little worm that breedeth in scarlet that a man can very hardly see or perceive so men sometimes do hardly see or perceive the condemning and gnawing of conscience Again conscience biteth suddenly as I told you it giveth a little nip and away Like a sparrow that flieth by it flieth so fast by a mans eye that he can scarce tell whether it be a sparrow or no So it is not easily perceived whether it be a condemning conscience or no it giveth such sudden nips and away that men seldome take notice Beloved there is never a wicked man under heaven unlesse he be delivered up absolutely to a reprobate sense but hath a thousand of these sudden momentany nips every day in the yeare Had he the heart to observe them but be hath not he might see his wretched estate to trouble him and provoke him to Christ and to be converted that God might heal him I say had he a heart he might see it but these nips are so secret and sudden that he doth not So likewise it is with the godly in regard of true comfort Their conscience suddenly flasheth in comfort and they many times do not observe it As Job speaketh of God Lo he goeth by me and I see him not he passeth on also and I perceive him not So doth the Lord go by his children in the sudden flashes of comfort in their conscience but many times they see him not perceive him not 2. Because the devil blindeth mens eyes therefore they do not see what their consciences do shew them Ye may reade this of the wicked people in Corinth S t Paul saith he commended himself and the Gospel to every mans conscience in the sight of God that is He did so preach and so live that every mans conscience could not choose but say Certainly Paul preacheth the truth and Paul liveth right and we must live as he speaketh and doeth He made their consciences say thus and to tell them they were not right if they did not But mark what followeth Some did not see this Why The god of this world saith he hath blinded their eyes So the god of this world blindeth the eyes of the wicked that what their consciences shew them they do not see it nor observe it So for Gods people Though they be in a good and a blessed estate and their consciences can say it yet Satan oftentimes hindereth them that they do not perceive their own comfort 3. Men do not love conscience We should love conscience better then the dearest friend we have under heaven We would do much for a friends sake but we should do a thousand times more for conscience sake Obey Magistrates for conscience sake suffer disgrace reproches any thing for conscience sake It is better then all the friends in the world But the wicked they do not love conscience let conscience speak they care not to heare it They will heare friends but they will not heare conscience Let their lusts call and their profits and pleasures call for this and that thing they heare all but they love not to heare conscience Nay many wicked men are angry to heare talk of it When Paul had made mention of conscience Ananias commanded he should be smitten Men and brethren saith Paul I have lived in all good conscience before God untill this day Smite him on the mouth saith the high Priest Ananias He was angry to heare him talk of a good conscience This is most certain men do not love conscience nor to be curbed by conscience nor informed by conscience They had as lieve see the devil as that their consciences should inform them of their estates and tell them thus and thus they are They are told rightly and yet they are mistaken because they do not love to heare conscience of that theme Of a good and bad conscience YE have heard concerning the witnesse-bearing of conscience about our estates The next thing to be spoken of is that welknown distinction of a Good and a Bad conscience This distinction we reade of in Scripture Concerning a good conscience see Heb. 13.18 We trust we have a good conscience Concerning a bad conscience see Heb. 10.22 Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience There be both the members of the distinction Of them both briefly and in order and first of a good conscience The goodnesse of conscience is twofold naturall and renewed 1. The naturall goodnesse of conscience consisteth in those reliques of goodnesse which it reteineth since the creation Ye know man depraved and corrupted his conscience by his fall yet there be some reliques left as reason and knowledge and reflexion I do not mean reliques of any spirituall goodnesse in conscience For as there is no spirituall goodnesse left in the other faculties of the soul so neither in conscience But the naturall goodnesse which I mean is nothing else but the veracity of conscience whereby it is inforced according to the knowledge it hath to tell the truth Thus every wicked man hath a good conscience Their conscience is good in that sense their conscience hath this naturall goodnesse that it telleth them the truth how it is with them Nay it is essentiall to conscience to be good in this sense It is the essentiall property of conscience to speak according to its knowledge It is the best faculty a wicked man hath it is better then his mind or heart or will There is more goodnesse in a wicked mans conscience then in any other of the powers of his soul His conscience speaketh more for God then himself doth and standeth more for God then himself will Not but that as all the powers of the soul are desperately corrupted by sinne so conscience is desperately corrupted as well as any of them but I speak of the essentiall goodnesse of it which can never be lost The devils in hell have not lost the goodnesse of their essence Nay their essence is better then the essence of Gods Saints their essence must be good because that is Gods creature nay better then any mans essence because the Lord made them a degree above man And as man is a degree above beasts so angels are a degree above man so conscience is a degree above other powers of the soul in its naturall goodnesse That conscience hath such a naturall goodnesse in it see it in those cursed Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites who brought the woman taken in adultery to Christ Their conscience was good
conscience too and renewed but cumbred with sundry imperfections which in processe of time by growth in grace are for the most part conquered in the godly True faith is required unto this For the Apostle calleth such an one a brother in Christ one that hath this infirm conscience It is good neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth And we must not set such an one at nought Tush what care I for him I know I may lawfully do thus and this is my Christian liberty and shall I lose it for him because of his conscience Nay saith the Apostle Why dost thou set at nought thy brother Mark The Apostle counteth such an one a Christian brother and not to be set at nought and therefore this is a good conscience too differing as much as white from black from such consciences as are weak through superstition of mind and through pride of heart because they will not be otherwise or through affected ignorance because they love not to be better informed These weak consciences are wicked I speak not of these I speak of a good conscience a conscience renewed but renewed imperfectly having yet sundry defects and imperfections The imperfections of it are 1. Imperfection of knowledge It doth not yet soundly and clearly understand what is lawfull and what is pure and what is by Christian liberty indifferent Paul saith I know and am perswaded by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of it self but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean to him it is unclean He speaketh of things that are indifferent The Apostle had knowledge but there were others who did not know this O I may not eat this meat I may not play at bowls or use any other recreation I should sinne if I should c. This is one weaknesse in this kind of conscience weaknesse of knowledge 2. The second imperfection is to be grieved where it needeth not be grieved As when it seeth other do that which it self through mistake doth judge to be evil it is apt to be grieved and troubled to see it If thy brother be grieved with thy meat now walkest thou not charitably It may be thou thinkest it lawfull to eat such meat but he thinketh otherwise and so is grieved to see thee eat This is another imperfection in this conscience to be grieved and offended without just cause 3. A third imperfection is in judgement It is apt to judge and condemne another mans liberty 1. Cor. 10.29 Why is my liberty judged of another mans conscience He speaketh of a weak conscience It is apt to be judging condemning my liberty saith he but why so This is a fault and an imperfection indeed O such an one sinneth he doeth so and so yet it may be the thing is not unlawfull but a weak conscience is apt so to judge it and to condemne him that doeth it Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not and let not him that eateth not judge him that eateth Rom. 14.3 4. A fourth imperfection is this A weak conscience is apt to be misled So the Apostle intimateth Take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling-block unto them that are weak for if any man see thee who hast knowledge sit at meat in the idoles temple shall not the conscience of him that is weak be emboldned to eat those things which are offered to idoles and through thy knowledge shall thy weak brother perish for whom Christ died Where ye see that weak consciences are apt to be misled The reason is this Because when they see others whom they know to be more learned and judicious then themselves to do so and so that may soon tempt them to do it though their conscience be against it The first use is this If any have weak consciences let them labour to strengthen them Ye see what imperfections are in a weak conscience how apt it is to be offended and to judge other mens liberty how prone to misleading therefore let every good soul labour to be strengthened The second use is this Those that be strong must be carefull that they offend not the weak Though they do believe such and such Christian liberties they have yet if they know the use of them will offend their weak brother they should be carefull to abstein Let no man put a stumbling-block or an occasion to fall in his brothers way Thirdly if it be such a sinne to sinne against the conscience of the weak then what a sinne is it to sinne against the conscience of all that are godly whether weak ones or strong ones Ye who walk after the flesh and can have disorders in your families and vanity in your mouths and apparent corruptions in your lives Ye who can drink and be drunken and keep company and profane the Lords dayes ye offend the consciences of all that are godly it is a grief to their souls to see it Let me tell you It is a sinne to be wicked however and the high-way to hell but to be wicked when ye have godly neighbours about you your sinne now is double For as you offend God so you offend them too Ye may remember what Christ saith Whosoever offendeth one of these little ones which believe in me it were better for him that a milstone were hung about his neck that he were drowned in the depth of the sea Matth. 18.6 Ah ye vile wretches â— ye little imagine what fearfull vengeance ye pull on your own heads It were better for you that a milstone were hung about your necks and ye thrown into the sea then that ye should offend one of these little ones Ye may call them what ye will call them puritanes precisians uncharitable people censurers ye may call them as Satan teacheth you to call them but it is certain it were better a milstone were hung about your neck and ye thrown into the sea then that ye should offend any one of Christs little ones The Lord open your eyes that ye may repent and believe the Gospel your selves and be saved 4. Lastly be exhorted brethren to labour after a good conscience How excellent a thing is it that hath so many good ingredients Illumination is one ingredient and Faith is another and Tendernesse another and Purenesse another and Quietnesse another and the Bloud of Jesus Christ another It is like Aarons composition which smelt sweetly when he went into the sanctuarie It is compounded of excellent conditions such as smell sweet when we come before God the Lord loveth that such should come near him We may come with assurance to speed if we come with a good conscience Let us draw near with assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience Mark we may draw near with assurance if we come with a good conscience It will comfort us in all troubles and
do not condemne us we may be confident to stand before all the judges and kings in the vvorld yea we may have confidence towards God saith the text And as conscience is supreme in bearing of witnesse so also it is supreme in commanding All the commands of it are powerfull and supreme it will not be slighted it bindeth kings and princes Nay though God himself command the contrary yet can we not disobey conscience without sinne By this it appeareth that when conscience doth witnesse its witnesse is supreme when conscience commandeth its command is supreme 2. Conscience as it is supreme in witnessing or commanding so it is impartiall in judging It respecteth no persons no estates but accuseth the richest as well as the poorest the greatest as well as the meanest It made great Belshazzar so to quake that the joynts of his loyns were loosed and his knees smote one against another Dan. 5.6 It made great Felix to tremble to heare Paul speak of righteousnesse and of judgement Felix thought to scare Paul but conscience scared Felix So on the other side it is impartiall in excusing It will give evidence of the good works of the poorest in the world as well as of the wealthiest Art thou never so mean thy conscience will be as ready to excuse thee if thou hast done well as if thou wert the greatest It is impartiall in its office Others it may be dare not or will not accuse but conscience spareth none no not it self Though its accusations do load and burden and torment it self yet it will do its office 3. Conscience also is faithfull in its office and sincere It alwaies speaketh of us as it thinketh It may be deceived and mistaken for a time but it never speaketh contrary to what it thinketh It is a faithfull and sincere witnesse of our thoughts words actions and courses whether they be good or evil so farre as it is illightned by Gods word It ever giveth evidence aright it never flattereth nor condemneth any without a cause It is a faithfull and a very upright witnesse Others may dissemble with us and commend us and applaud us when we are naught and call us good men and good women when we are nothing so but this will tell us plainly how vile and sinfull we are and if we say we are good when we are not it will tell us plainly we lie He that saith I know him and keepeth not his commandmentâ— is a liar Mark though he say it yet his conscience giveth him the lie It is faithfull again in excusing It beareth witnesse of every good dutie we perform and of whatsoever good is in us Though all Jobs friends spake evil of him and God himself by his outward judgements seemed to condemne him for a wicked man yet still his conscience like a faithfull witnesse did not forsake him nay it offered to reason with God himself I would reason with God I know I shall be justified and I will never forsake mine innocency till I die Still his conscience stood for him and excused him Thus on both sides conscience is a faithfull and sincere witnesse it will not be corrupted to speak otherwise then it knoweth the matter is 4. It is most privy to what it doth witnesse It is more privy to what we have done then all the world It can say more for us or against us then all the world Thou knowest all the wickednesse that thy heart is privy unto saith Solomon to Shimei 1. Kings 2.44 The use of all this is Seeing conscience is so supreme so impartiall so saithfull so privy we should take heed how we do any thing that might give it advantage against us If we were to appear before an earthly judge to answer for our behaviour and should have a companion present continually with us marking every thing in us telling us of every fault and witnessing it against us unto the judge how carefull would we be of doing any thing that might give him advantage against us Lo we have conscience as a continuall watch-man espying out all our wayes setting down whatever we do amisse checking us for it for the present and one day accusing us before God and setting all things in order before our faces Oh how should we then labour to get into Christ Jesus that our consciences may be purged in his bloud and study all our life long to keep peace and friendship with them Wo be to them who live in their sinneâ— They will need no other witnesse to come against them to condemne them for ever but this witnesse conscience which lieth continually in their bosomes This I have spoken for the office of conscience which is to bear witnesse either with us or against us Now the parts of this bearing witnesse are first its single witnessing secondly its judiciall witnessing By single bearing witnesse I mean that conscience beareth witnesse what we have done and what we do and what we intend to do and what we are By judiciall bearing witnesse I mean that conâ—cience doth passe sentence on the same whether it be good or evil whether it be concerning the action or the person First therefore of the single bearing witnesse of conscience And that is about three things 1. What we have done 2. What we intend to do 3. What is the frame and bent of our heart 1. It beareth witnesse what we have done what in our childhood what in our youth what in ouâ— riper age what openly what secretly Those things which seem to be forgotten conscience will remember them to us Like a writing in marble though it may be filled and choked with dust and covered with rubbish yet when that is done away and the stone svvept clean then the vvriting vvill appear legible so though mens deeds may for the present seem to be forgotten yet they are vvritten in their hearts vvith a pen of iron and the point of a diamond as Origen observeth upon Jer. 17.1 Novv the thoughts and careâ— of this life put them out of our minds but the time vvill come vvhen all vvorldly businesse shall cease and the onely businesse shall be to look into the records of conscience We use to say Conscience hath a very good memory The chief buttler had forgot his promise unto Joseph but his conscience remembred him of it two years after I remember my faults this day saith his conscience Adonibezek had forgot his cruelty but his conscience brought it to his mind As I have done so God hath requited me saith his conscience 2. Conscience beareth witnesse of what we intend and purpose to do whether against God or man It will testifie every purpose and project of the heart though it be never acted though it die in the heart and never come to light Men little think of this Tush saith one I never did such a thing though I once intended it or had some thoughts â—bout it Mark those very thoughts
will conscience bring forth and testifie what they were Heare the Apostle in that day God shall judge the secrets of men c. The most hidden things conscience shall bring to light and Christ shall judge them 3. Conscience beareth witnesse of the bent and frame of our hearts what we affect most and love most and rejoyce and delight in most and desire most and grieve for most what our affections runne upon most whether upon God or the world whether upon heaven or the things of this life Conscience bare witnesse to David that his delight was in the law of the Lord that God was his portion that Gods statutes were his counsellours Conscience bare witnesse to the false teachers in Christs time that they affected vain glory and the praise of men more then the praise of God Conscience bare witnesse to Demas that notwithstanding his fair profession his heart was set upon the world Conscience bare witnesse to Jehu that for all his seeming zeal his heart was not upright But it may be objected How can this be The heart is deceitfull above all things who can know it Who can know it That is Who else can know it but a man himself None under God can know the heart of man but a mans own conscience the spirit of man that is in him I confesse a man may be ignorant of some secret and particular deceit in his heart but who knoweth not the generall standing of his own heart or may know the chief bent of his own soul David in a particular deceit was ignorant I said in my prosperitie I shall never be moved never distrust God more never be disquieted in my mind more He was deceived in that particular but he knew very well the generall and chief bent of his heart that it was truly set upon God and upon holinesse 2. It is true many men take it that their hearts are set upon God when they are not but what is the reason Not because they do not or may not know the contrary that they love the world most but because they will not know it they are unwilling to believe it they are loth to have any bad conceit of themselves So that when Jeremy saith The heart is deceitfull above all things who can know it his meaning is What carnall man can abide to know the worst of himself 3. It is not because they know it not but because they will not heare the testimony of conscience but when it telleth them truly how the case is with them they gather all the rotten and broken pieces of arguments together to stop the mouth of conscience and to perswade themselves to think well of themselves 4. Men seem not to know their own hearts not because they do not know what they are but because they are ignorant of Gods law whereby they should judge of themselves They know their hearts are set on the world and that the bent and frame of their affections are placed on earthly things but they hope an under-affection to God will be accepted to love God in the second place will serve the turn They know they are carnall but they hope such carnality may be in a man and yet he be right Yea but a mans heart may say on the contrary side that he loveth the world more then he loveth God when he doth not how then doth conscience bear right witnesse I answer This ariseth either from the strength of corruption and weaknesse of grace We look into our selves and see our corruptions violent and our love to God small and so we are deceived not seeing the radicall power of this love of God which in regard of its virtue is stronger then the other As a fool if he should feel hot water would conclude that there is no cold at all in it whereas there is radicall cold in that water such as will expell all that heat in a little space Or else this ariseth from anguish of spirit which so disturbeth the mind that it cannot see its own condition nor be capable of the comforts belonging unto it as it was with the Israelites Exod. 6.9 otherwise doubtlesse we may know our own hearts and when our conscience beareth witnesse its witnesse is right I. Use of reproof to those who stand out against the witnesse of their conscience and like hard-hearted felons plead still Not guiltie though never so much evidence come against them though conscience oft tell them this they have done thus they do such they are Oh stop not your eares against conscience stand not out against it but believe its testimony and make use of it to repent of the evil it accuseth of while mercy may be had before God himself cometh and joyneth with conscience to condemne for ever II. It serveth for singular encouragement to all to abound in good works Conscience will bear witnesse of them all to our unspeakable comfort in the time of afflictions yea at death and judgement Job felt it a sweet thing to have conscience give in testimony of his integrity and uprightnesse When his friends proved miserable comforters and God himself seemed to write bitter things against him yet his conscience witnessed that he had been eyes to the blind and feet to the lame he had fed the hungry and clothed the naked and comforted the fatheâ—lesse There is not a good thing that ever we do but conscience will afford us the sweetnesse and comfort of it in our toubles Remember O Lord saith Hezekiah that I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart We have spoken of consciences single bearing witnesse Now followeth its judiciall bearing witnesse which is when it passeth sentence upon on the morall of our actions whether they be good or evil whether blessed or cursed This is performed by a Logicall discourse by way of reasoning on this manner The word saith Whoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adulterie in his heart That is the synteresis Now the assumption But I have had wanton eyes and lustfull lookings after a woman That is the single bearing witnesse of conscience Therefore I have committed adultery in my heart That is the judiciary sentence of conscience which it passeth on a mans self So again Whosoever crucifieth the flesh with the affections and lusts he is in Christ But saith conscience I crucifie the flesh with its affections and lusts Therefore I am in Christ Though there be not the form of this discourse in our consciences yet there is the force of it for when conscience doth judicially witnesse against any man or for any man it doth it by the word and proceedeth in the way which is propounded The use of this is First for comfort to the godly who may hence gather the assurance of their salvation from the rule of Gods word and the witnesse of their conscience that they walk by this rule The word
saith He that hungreth and thirsteth after righteousnesse shall be filled He that doeth these things shall never fall c. Get the rule of your hearts and lives to meet and ye have what ye desire O what infinite mercy is this to all godly souls that the Lord hath planted this conscience in their bosomes that they need not go farre for their comfort their own consciences and the rule may preach it to them Secondly The wicked on the other side if they continue as they are may hence gather arguments for their own damnation If the rule and conscience might be heard they would speak bitter things against them and give a fearfull sentence on them It may be they can smother their consciences now for a time but they will one day reade them a fearfull lecture I speak not now onely of those who drown their consciences in their cups and fear their consciences by their grosse sinnes but of those who would seem godly and perform good duties but with hypocriticall hearts and carnall minds O that they would heare but conscience argue a little in this manner To be carnally minded is death that is is an evident signe of a man that is in the state of death and damnation But saith conscience I am carnally minded or we are carnally minded Therefore we have an argument about us of death and damnation And so also for all other sinnes There is not a wicked man under heaven but he may argue out of his own miserable estate by his conscience or he might if it were awaked as one day it will be Thirdly this may serve for instruction No matter what opinions men have of us in the world The question is What is the judgement of our own consciences upon us It may be thou art taken for a man of great knowledge and a forward man in godlinesse it may be the godly dare not judge otherwise of thee but the question is What is the judgement of conscience Doth not thy conscience tell thee thou art but a proud fool conceited of thy knowledge and lovest to heare thy self talk And so for thy performance of good duties what testimony doth conscience give of the manner of doing of them The testimoniall of conscience is above all testimonials in the world all the good opinions of the world are not worth a rush without this If conscienâ—â— can say that in our wayes we seek to please God and allow not our selves in any evil vvay this testimony is full and satisfactory and onely this Yet further concerning this judiciall vvitnesse of conscience It is either about things to be done or omitted or things already done or omitted The judiciall vvitnesse of conscience about things to be done or omitted is double 1. To judge out of Gods lavv vvhether it be good or evil 2 To counsel out of our ovvn judgements either to do it or forbear it according as the nature of the action is If it be good conscience vvill counsel us to do it if bad to forbear it The judiciall vvitnesse of conscience about things already done is fourefold 1. To approve 2. To absolve 3. To mislike 4. To condemne I begin vvith the first the judiciall vvitnesse of conscience about things to be done or omitted vvhere I shall consider first the Office of conscience in this behalf viz. 1. To judge 2. To counsel and then the Adjuncts of conscience in discharging this office 1. Conscience judgeth of the thing to be done vvhether it be good or evil lavvfull or unlavvfull As vve trie the vveight of gold by a pair of balances so conscience trieth all our actions by Gods vvord It is the oracle of God As the Jevvs vvent to Gods oracle to enquire of the Lord so our conscience is Gods oracle to enquire of and to determine of things whether they be good or evil It is a judge in the bosome When the question in Corinth was whether women should be uncovered when they pray the Apostle sendeth them to conscience for judgement Judge in your selves saith he whether it be comely or no that is Put it to the judgement of your own consciences So say the disciples to the Jews Whether it be better to obey God or man judge ye Put it to your own consciences Thus ye see it is the office of conscience to judge of an action to be done whether it be good or bad lawfull or unlawfull 2. The second office of conscience is to counsel for the doing of that which is good and forbearing of that which is evil This is that faithfull friend in our bosome that voyce within us and behind us saying This is the way walk in it Mark the words there ye see these two offices of conscience This is the way there is the judgement of conscience and walk in it there is the counsel of conscience Nay conscience doth not onely give good counsel but if it have leave it will bring arguments to perswade to follow it it will tell us the thing is well-pleasing to God of good report that which will bring peace to our hearts And so on the contrary if it be evil conscience will counsell us to forbear yea bring arguments to disswade O do it not it will tend to the dishonour of God and be offensive to others and wound our souls c. It was conscience that withheld David from killing Saul and prest him from it by a strong argument O he is the Lords Anointed It was conscience that withheld Joseph from yielding to the enticings of his mistresse and yielded him an argument to disswade him from it How shall I do this great wickednesse and so sinne against God It was conscience that disswaded Nehemiah from flying Should such a man as I flie And if one argument will not serve conscience will use more The use of this may be first for Instruction Hence we learn that naturall men may have a conscience urging to good and restraining from evil There is no man so evil or ignorant but he hath naturally some light with him by which conscience is set on work to advise and to counsel and to say This is very good do it This is very sinfull forbear it This therefore is no signe of grace in any man to have his conscience calling upon him to do good or disswading him from evil The very heathen had so according to their light yea and in many of them it was forcible to restrain them from many sinnes which they were inclined unto And so may many men be put upon many good duties not for any love or liking of that which is good but because they would please and satisfie conscience which otherwise will not suffer them to be quiet It was conscience that kept Abimelech from defiling Sarah and yet a carnall man Here then a question may be asked Whether a mere naturall man can avoid sinne for conscience sake I
if thou hast not light in thy conscience to direct thee what wilt thou do II. An erroneous conscience SEcondly an erroneous conscience is vvhen conscience not understanding Gods lavv or misapplying it doth judge amisse and direct amisse So Josephs conscience for a while was in an errour when Mary was found vvith child His conscience informed him that he must either make her a publick example or put her away privily Here his conscience erred about this particular untill the Angel had better informed him There is a question here raised by Divines and it is Whether we ought to follow conscience erring or no A question very necessary to be handled partly because of mens ignorance in this kind and partly because of the frequency of the case I answer thus First vve must not obey conscience erring or counselling to that vvhich is evil For our errour of conscience doth not make the transgression of the lavv to be no sinne though an erroneous conscience lead us to transgresse it 1. Because the lavv of God is above conscience and therefore the commandment of Gods lavv standeth in full force though conscience command contrary to it Suppose a man should think in his conscience he might not take an oath though never so lawfully called thereunto by the magistrate and in never so necessary a case when as the word of God commandeth us to swear in truth in righteousnesse and in judgement I must follow the commandment of God rather then conscience because Gods law is above conscience 2. Because if I follovv my conscience vvhen it is in an errour I offend not onely against Gods lavv but I offend also my conscience For though for the present while conscience is erroneous it doth not take offense yet vvhen it cometh to see its ovvn errour then it will Therefore this is our first ansvver We must not obey conscience erring or counselling to that which is evil If our conscience should counsel us to tell a lie to help our neighbour that is evil and against Gods lavv and therefore if in doing it vve do obey conscience vve sinne Secondly vve answer That an erroneous conscience vvhatever it commandeth though the lavv of God commandeth the clean contrary yet vve cannot disobey it vvithout sinne For this is a constant rule We alwayes sinne vvhen vve disobey conscience If conscience erre not then in disobeying it vve sinne double against the law and against conscience if conscience do erre and vve disobey it vve sinne too for though vve do not sinne against the lavv yet vve sinne against conscience and so against the lavv too not as though vve vvere bound to obey conscience vvhen it erreth and yet vve sinne if vve disobey it Thirdly Albeit it be alvvayes a sinne to disobey conscience though it erre yet it is not alvvayes a sinne to obey conscience when it erreth Let us consider three propositions and you shall see vvhat I mean First If conscience think that to be commanded which is absolutely forbidden or that to be forbidden vvhich is expressely commanded then vve sinne vvhich side soever we take As if an ignorant man thinks in his conscience that he is bound to pray to Saints departed which thing the Lord hath expressely forbidden if this man do pray unto Saints he sinneth because the Lord hath expressely forbid him to do it if he do not pray unto Saints he sinneth too because his conscience telleth him he is commanded to pray unto them The second proposition is this If conscience hold a thing indifferent to do or not to do which yet is not indifferent but absolutely commanded then it is alwayes a sinne not to do it but it is no sinne to do it The third proposition is this If conscience hold a thing necessarie which God hath left indifferent as if a man in conscience thought that he oâ—ght to pray foure times a day which thing yet God hath left indifferent in this he is bound to obey conscience though it erre And it is no sinne to obey conscience thus erring though it be a sinne in conscience thus to erre The use of this is I. To let us see vvhat a sacred sovereigne thing a mans conscience is It is alvvayes a sinne to disobey conscience vvhether it erre or no as it is alvvayes a sinne to disobey God A man can never go against his conscience but he sinneth 1. Because conscience is our guide It is our invvard and our inseparable guide vve can never come by any direction but by conscience vve can never let in the commandment of God but onely by conscience and therefore the Lord hath made it a very sovereigne thing 2. Because vve break a commandment through the loyns of a sinne vvhen vve go against conscience Ajax light upon a beast and slevv it his conscience thought verily it vvas a man Kill it not saith conscience it is a man he goeth against his conscience and killeth it His conscience here vvas in an errour yet he as truly guilty of murder before God as if he had indeed slain a man because he slevv a man through the loyns of this beast His bloudy mind looked at a man and smote at a man and slevv a man So vvhen conscience is erroneous and thinketh this is a commandment of God it is not so but he thinketh it so in his conscience if he do contrary he breaketh a commandment though it be none because the errour of his conscience made it one to him Was not Herod truly guilty of the murder of Christ He thought in his conscience that Christ had been among the infants slain at Bethlehem Thus conscience is a sovereigne thing It is alvvayes a sinne to go against it erre or not erre and if it be a sinne to go against conscience vvhen it erreth vvhat a sinne is it to go against it vvhen it doth not erre II. This may serve for a vvord of exhortation to exhort men to bevvare lest they sinne against conscience especially vvhen conscience is in the right Conscience is as Gods face in a man when conscience looketh on thee the Lord looketh on thee It is true the Lord looketh on thee alvvayes but thou mayest see the Lords looking upon thee vvhen conscience looketh on thee And therefore thou never sinnest against conscience but thou provokest the Lord to his face vvhen not onely God seeth thee but thou seest him Thy conscience shevveth thee the Lord it presenteth God before thine eyes commanding or forbidding Wilt thou do the evil now Wilt thou omit the good duty now When conscience findeth fault thou dost novv provoke the Lord to his face If it be such a sinne to sinne against conscience in an errour it is much more a sinne to sinne against conscience it being in the right Thus much of a conscience erring III. A doubting conscience A Doubting conscience is such a conscience as so hangeth in suspense that it knoweth not which way
humble God will teach Pride and self-conceitednesse blindeth exceedingly 3. We must seek with sobriety alwayes contenting our selves with that knowledge which is most necessary and not be curious about vain and idle-brained questions or solicitous to answer every objection that shall be raised up against the truth A lover of the truth should not be ready to entertain all objections against it and never be settled till he can answer all that can be cast in which will be never It is not expected that there should be in every man such a ripenesse of judgement and such a measure of illumination as that he should be able to dispute with the most learned or answer every objection that can be raised But we must with that good Martyr say Though I cannot dispute for Christ I can die for him We must be content with our measure to be wise unto sobriety III. Those godly souls that have weak consciences must use them very gently Scrupulosi non sunt rigidè tractandi Those that are scrupulous are not to be handled rigidly When a mote is in the eye it is not boistrously to be dealt withall that will make it worse The eye is a tender part and so is the conscience Again we must take heed of offending weak consciences It may be thou knovvest thine ovvn liberty that thou mayst do this or that but thy brother is vveak and he doth not knovv it to be lavvfull O take heed of giving offense Consider the Apostles vvords 1. Cor. 8.12 When ye sinne against your brethren and wound their weak consciences ye sinne against Christ Consider also the practice of the Apostle and the resolution that he had If meat offend my brother I will eat no flesh while the world standeth vers 13. It is a grievous offense to offend the conscience of the vveak and therefore bevvare of it They are very unchristian speeches I know mine own liberty If others be offended what care I Why should I prejudice my self for them It is true another mans conscience cannot abbridge me of my liberty but yet I in charity ought to suspend the act of my liberty vvhen I knovv the using it vvill give offense to the vveak IV. To admonish our selves if conscience be so tender a thing to be carefull that we offend not our own consciences Conscience is quickly offended but it is not so soon pacified Every notorious step into evil or neglect in duty offendeth conscience and conscience will keep a grudge a long time and vvill give many a secret wound deading the heart to duty making faith and confidence in God dull we cannot pray with courage nor come before God with boldnesse If our hearts condemne us not we have confidence saith John An erroneous conscience will defile you a doubting conscience distract you a scrupulous conscience unsettle you but above all other an illightened conscience if it have any thing against you will exceedingly disable you this stabbeth at the heart your confidence towards God Go then and labour to purge conscience else conscience will hinder you whether you pray or heare or receive the Sacrament c. it will deprive you of comfort If thou bring thy gift to the altar and there remembrest that thy brother hath ought against thee leave there thy gift before the altar first go and be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift The case is greater and more dangerous when conscience hath something against us there is no offering will be accepted untill conscience be satisfied If thou shouldst be about to pray and conscience should stand up against thee as an adversary and tell thee thou hast been vain and loose and carnall all this day thou hast not set thy self to keep close to God this day thou hast fallen into this and that sinne this day thou art not fit to pray till thou hast reconciled thy self to conscience Alas thy conscience will secretly undermine all thy praying First therefore reconcile conscience by humbling thy self and breaking thy heart and resolving I have sinned I will do no more When conscience can say thy sorrow and repentance and resolution for new obedience is sincere then thou art fit to pray but not before So whatever other duty thou goest about be sure to reconcile conscience else all will miscarry V. A faithfull conscience THus I have expounded the adjuncts of conscience which shew themselves in the discharge of its duty namely such as respect consciences ability to the doing of it Which as ye have heard are foure 1. an illightened conscience 2. an erroneous conscience 3. a doubting conscience 4. a scrupulous conscience Now followeth those which do accompany it in the doing of its duty And they are two 1. a faithfull conscience 2. an unfaithfull conscience A faithfull conscience is that which doth alwayes advise and counsel aright when need is This is a very rare conscience It is rare to find a conscience every way faithfull For to say the truth conscience is alwayes faithfull in it self for it knoweth not how to deal deceitfully with any man but yet I may say as Solomon A faithfull man who can find so A faithfull conscience who can find It is a very rare thing Not for any deceit that is in conscience it self but because men commonly would have it unfaithfull therefore a conscience that will not let men make it unfaithfull though they would such a conscience I call a faithfull conscience and I say it is rare But such a conscience there is and it hath three properties 1. It is watchfull 2. It is rigid and severe 3. It is importunate 1. A faithfull conscience is watchfull alwayes awake to apprehend every opportunity of doing and receiving good or resisting evil As when there is an opportunity to pray to heare to shew mercie a faithfull conscience will remember us of it and put us upon it as also when there is any opportunity of quickning and edifying our selves or others It was a watchfull conscience that made David say I will never forget thy precepts that is I will never omit any opportunity to remember them to do them It was a watchfull conscience that made Paul say I became all things to all men that by all means I might save some that is by taking all opportunities and advantages to do good It was a watchfull conscience that made Peter say I will not be negligent to put you alwayes in remembrance of these things that is I will neglect no opportunity Again a watchfull conscience taketh notice of every motion and inclination to evil it is awake to see when evil is conceived to tell us of it to oppose it and to disswade us from it like a watchman on the top of a tower alwayes awake to see when any danger approcheth It is Gods minister with eyes on every side to espie seasons of good and stirre up to make use of
them and of evil and give warning to avoid them 2. As a faithfull conscience is watchfull so also it is rigid and severe In every cause it delivereth its judgement nothing can escape its sentence it will not favour our lusts in any particular If there be any opportunity of duty to God or man it maketh us to heare of it though it be such a duty as none other will call upon us for or it may be dare not put us in mind of as of love and care and help towards inferiours yet conscience will It titheth mint and cumine and will tell us of the least duty And so on the other side it will not swallow the least sinne As it will not swallow a camel so it will strain at a gâ—at A faithfull conscience is faithfull in the least If David sinne but in the lap of a garment conscience smiteth him for it It made Abraham so precise to a thread or a shoe-latchet he would not take so much as that of the king of Sodom It made Moses strict to a very hoof It made Paul find fault with the Corinthians about their hair It made Augustine condemne himself for an apple 3. As a faithfull conscience is watchfull and severe so also it is importunate in all its counsels It doth not onely deliver its judgement but doth with importunitie urge the following of its counsel It will have no nay but will be obeyed Iâ— leadeth us bound in the spirit to do it as Paul said I go bound in the spirit See how importunate this faithfull conscience was with the Psalmist I will not give sleep to mine eyes nor slumber to mine eye-lids untill I find out a place for the Lord. It will not take any nay say we whaâ— we will say we be sleepie say we be busie say we be loth and full of excuses it will be importunate and that with vehemencie It will follow a man if he will not heare it with a hue and crie of inward checks It will sometime promise sometimes threaten urge us with hope fear danger c. As we would be saved we must dâ— this As we would escape the wrath to come we must forbear that Thus importunate is a faithfull conscience I. We see here what a great blessing it is to have such a faithfull conscience such a faithfull friend in our bosome which will be carefull to tell us of all our dutie and perswade us to it and of every evil and disswade us from it It will not flatter us in any thing but tell us plainly This ye should do This ye should not do It regardeth not what pleaseth us but what is good for us that it looketh to and that it perswadeth to and that it urgeth O what a blessing is this This blessing had those willing Israelites who gave so freely and largely towards the building of the tabernacle The text saith that their heart stirred them up and their spirit made them willing Mark their heart that is their conscience stirred them up Ye have bracelets offer them saith conscience Ye have ear-rings and jewels c. part with them too saith conscience to further this pious work in hand Their spirit made them willing their faithfull friend in their bosome conscience overcame them with arguments and strong perswasions This is a great blessing to have such a faithfull conscience It will make a man part with all his lusts pride self-love covetousnesse carnall delights for Gods glorie and our own true good II. It is a signe that God meaneth well to that man to whom he hath given a faithfull conscience O this is an Angel keeper indeed Did not Christ mean well to his Church in the Canticles when he gave her such a conscience as carried her on wheels unto him Or ever I was aware my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib Return return O Shulamite return return Return return saith conscience and again Return return Hath the Lord given thee such an importunate conscience as will have no nay will not let thee alone in omitting good or committing evil will not let thee slumber and sleep in securitie but continually joggeth and awaketh thee Hath he given thee a severe a precise conscience that will not favour thee in the least evil It is a most comfortable signe that the Lord meaneth well unto thy soul III. Labour to be a friend unto conscience that it may continue faithfull unto thee True friends will deal faithfully and plainly one with another and will be importunate to do one another good Conscience will not deal thus with thee unlesse thou be a friend unto conscience Now then are we friends unto conscience when we do what conscience requireth As our Saviour said to the Disciples Ye are my friends if ye do whatever I command you So I may say of conscience For conscience if it be truly illightned will command nothing but what Christ commandeth If we deal so in our constant course with conscience be willing to hearken to it and be ruled by it then if we be out of the way now and then conscience will be true to us and be importunate with us for our good IV. Be sure thou stand not out against conscience when once it is importunate It is a great sinne to stand out against conscience though it be not importunate but it is a sinne a thousand times greater to stand out against it when it is importunate The greatest standing out against conscience is the greatest sinne it is a sinne which cometh nearest that against the holy Ghost which accompanied with some other adjuncts is the greatest standing out against conscience There is no sinne that doth more harden the heart then to do evil when conscience is importunate to disswade from it This sinne was the cause why Saul was rejected of God I forced my self saith he He forced his conscience his conscience was importunate to have him stay according to the commandment of God but he forced himself to the contrary I confesse if conscience be importunate to the utmost as it is with Gods children men cannot with any force put it by it will have no nay Sometimes it is so with the wicked in some particular thing but often conscience in them is importunate and yet will suffer it self to be born down Now to bear conscience down is a very high sinne and exceedingly hardeneth the heart therefore take heed of it VI. An Vnfaithfull conscience THus I have handled a faithfull conscience The second affection now followeth which is an Unfaithfull conscience I do not mean such an one as is overtaken with evil for the best conscience hath its failings but such a conscience as so giveth in that it suffereth a man to forsake God and to serve the devil and his own lusts This is an unfaithfull conscience and it also hath three properties 1. It is a silent
silence 2. A second cause is often slighting of conscience It may be conscience speaketh not or but coldly and remissely because when it hath advised and counselled and admonished thou hast neglected it and disregarded it from time to time Though it judge and counsel yet thou wilt not listen Like Cassandra the prophetesse who though her predictions were true and certain yet were they never believed so though conscience speaketh true yet men follow it not and therefore it becometh silent when it is not regarded but all its counsel and advise and perswasions slighted and neglected Hence I say it cometh to passe that for want of imployment it is still and falleth asleep till the time come that it must be awaked 3. The third cause is that violence that is often offered unto it Many times when conscience perswadeth to any good duty or disswadeth from any evil course men will do against it and withstand it violently and put off the wholesome advise of it hence it cometh to passe that conscience having so many injuries offered unto it beginneth to provide for its own ease and so either it is silent and saith nothing or else is soon answered and rebuked as it was with Moses When Pharaoh would never hearken unto Moses but still fell to excuses and at last to deny all he would not let Israel go notwithstanding all that Moses could urge but said to Moses Get thee from me take heed to thy self see my face no more Moses then answered Thou hast spoken well I will see thy face no more So it is with conscience When men have been obstinate and have refused to heare it and would have it speak no more Thou hast well spoken saith conscience henceforth I will trouble you no more but let you alone to take your course I will advise you no more or if I do I will not be any more importunate 4. A fourth cause is that men do wilfully stop the mouth of conscience If it beginneth to speak presently they busie themselves about other things or if that will not do they runne into companie and there spend their time that the howlings of conscience may not be heard and if still it be loud they strike up the drumme and ring all the bells that the voice of it may be utterly drowned and so conscience at last is content to stand by to heare and see and say nothing By this means many times it falleth out that those who have had very turbulent and clamourous consciences not suffering them to be quiet have at last tamed them and put them quite to silence or if they do speak it is so coldly and remissely that they care not whether they be obeyed or no. Oh these are damnable and devilish devises Whoever ye be that do thus ye are in a dangerous estate and ye carry the brands of hell and damnation upon you If ever you desire to avoid this dangerous estate then shun the cause Labour to have your conscience throughly illightned and informed by the word of God that it may reade you your duty A friend that knoweth but little can give but little counsel Again give heed evermore to the counsel of conscience You know Achitophel took it ill that his counsel was not followed therefore he made away himself in displeasure So conscience will take it very ill if its counsel be not followed it will strangle it self and smother it self you shall heare no more of it Especially take heed you do not reject conscience nor offer violence to it If you do you will make it unfaithfull and remisse and then you lose the best means under heaven of your good Then deadnesse of spirit succeedeth and hardnesse of heart taketh place and you deprive your souls of all possibility of cure As long as a sickman hath any possibility of cure he is still under hope but if ever he lose that he is gone Conscience is the possibilitie of the soul to amendment and therefore if you dull conscience and make conscience remisse and unfaithfull you take the ready way to deprive your selves of all possibility of rising again Consider these things and have a care of your consciences And thus we have handled the office of conscience about things to be done and omitted with its adjuncts affections and properties in that behalf I come now to consider the office of conscience about things already done or omitted together with the affections of conscience in the discharge of that office The office of conscience about things already done or omitted THis hath foure parts 1. To approve 2. To absolve 3. To mislike 4. To condemne according to the good or evil of our actions or omissions The judgement is not onely of the things what they are but whither they tend and what they will produce I. An approving conscience FIrst when that vvhich is done is good conscience approveth it as Paul saith This is our rejoycing the testimony of our conscience 2. Cor. 1.12 When he had lived uprightly and sincerely his conscience approved of it so when he had great sorrow and heavinesse for his brethren his conscience approved it my conscience bearing me witnesse saith he So at his latter end we may see how his conscience approved the vvhole course of his life I have finished my course I have kept the faith c. there is consciences approbation of him from henceforth saith he is laid up for me a crown of righteousnesse there is consciences judgement concerning the issue of it Conscience so approveth every particular good action done by a faithfull man that by it he may gather a testimony of the uprightnesse of his heart as Hezekiah Remember Lord that I have walked uprightly before thee Hereby we know that we are translated from death to life because we love the brethren Mark Love to Gods children is a sufficient testimony not onely of our uprightnesse in that particular act but also of the simplicity of our hearts in the generall and that vve are translated from death to life So when good old Simeon had now even finished his dayes see what an approbation his conscience gave of him Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word His conscience here gave a threefold blessed approbation of him 1. That he had been Gods faithfull servant thy servant 2. That he had walked in the wayes of true peace and comfort depart in peace 3. That the promise of Gods word was his in particular according to thy word II. An absolving conscience THe second part of the office of conscience is to absolve and acquit Thus Samuel pleading his innocency had his conscience testifying for him Whose ox have I taken or whom have I defrauded and his conscience absolved him as clear and free from those sinnes Thus also Job If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherlesse when I saw my help in the gate If I rejoyced because my wealth
upon heaven Phil. 4.7 The peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds This doth the peace and quiet of a good conscience but the quiet of a wicked mans conscience doth not do thus it keepeth not his mind in this manner but it is upon earthly things for all that IV. They differ in respect of duration and continuance The quiet of a good conscience is settled and grounded in the godly it never faileth them nor forsaketh them the other peace is fading Let a feeling sermon come and rifle carnall men it taketh away their peace from them their consciences then flie in their faces and then they see they are not right Let losse of outward things come aâ—â— light upon them or any other affliction it taketh their peace from them conscience then breaketh out upon them and sheweth them how they have deceived themselves with false peace especially at their death then an evil conscience that hath been quiet before in stead of comforting will affright and amaze them But if we have the quiet of a good conscience it will make us heare the word with comfort and not be troubled and disquieted by a searching sermon or the threatnings of Gods judgements Nay if we be in trouble this will quiet us if in affliction this will comfort us It will endure all our life and be present at our death then especially it will shew it self a friend unto us in standing by us to chear and refresh us Great peace have they which love thy law nothing shall offend them saith David nothing shall offend them or take away their peace it is an eternall and everlasting peace Thus you have seen how the true and false peace of conscience differ But here cometh a question to be answered it is this Have all Gods children this peace of conscience I dare say some of you look for this question and long to have it answered I answer therefore No they have it not alwayes Job seemed one while not to have it I have sinned saith his conscience what shall I do unto thee O thou preserver of men David seemed one while not to have it Mine iniquities are gone over my head as a heavie burden they are too heavie for me Psal 38.4 His sinnes lay heavie upon his conscience for a fit Hezekiah one while seemed not to have it Behold for peace I had great bitternesse And therefore I say the children of God have it not alwayes But let me tell you They might have it alwayes 1. It is possible they should have it alwayes Their sinnes of ignorance and infirmitie do not break the peace of their consciences cannot for if they could then no man should have true peace of conscience at any time Nothing but willing and witting sinnes sinnes against conscience can break the peace of conscience and as it is possible for the children of God to live without these so it is possible for them alwayes to have peace yea they may have daily more and more peace 2. As it is possible for the children of God alwayes to have peace so they are commanded to keep their peace alwayes and it is their own fault if at any time they lose it Acquaint thy self with God and be at peace saith Eliphas So Let the peace of God rule in your hearts unto which ye are called We are not onely commanded to have peace in our hearts but also that it may rule there that no corruption perk over it to hinder it we are called to this peace and commanded to have it and therefore as it is a sinne in the common-wealth when one breaketh the peace so it is a sinne in the spirit to break the peace of conscience we are all bound to the peace 3. If the children of God have it not alwayes then they feel the want of it and in the want of that comfort nothing else will comfort them It is not all the peace and prosperitie of the world that can comfort their hearts as long as they have not this peace not all the mirth in the world can content them untill they enjoy this peace again the peace and quiet of a good conscience they faint for it and long after it they can have no strength without it The Lord will give strength unto his people the Lord will blesse his people with peace It is not so with corrupt hearts they can be without peace and yet never faint they can eat and drink for all that and sleep and be merry for all that yea and go about their profits and their earthly businesses as roundly as ever for all that But the children of God if they want the peace of conscience they have no strength to do any thing almost they faint till they have it again 4. The godly alwayes have the seeds of it in them Lâ—ght is sown for the rightâ—ous and gladnesse for the upright in heart Mark it is sown in their hearts and it will spring up at one time or other to chear them and to comfort them As it is with the wicked they may seem now and then to have true peace but they have the seeds of horrour alwayes in them which will sprout forth at last and then they shall find the worm of an evil conscience again so on the contrarie side the godly may seem now and then to have no peace but yet they have alwayes the seeds of true peace in them which will in time shew themselves and solace their souls for ever 5. They never want peace as the wicked do want it The wicked want it and have no possibility of having it they go in such paths as wherein they shall never know peace such paths as will never lead them unto it still their conscience is able to say they are not right they are carnall and not spirituall they know no true peace of conscience neither can they But the children of God walk in such wayes as will bring them to true peace of conscience ere they have done By this ye see what a good and quiet conscience is It cannot be but that all must like it and wish O that we had it Beloved let us labour to get it and the assurance of it No blessing under heaven is like it It is a heaven upon earth Happie are they who can shew they have it and miserable are they who have it not Dulce nomen pacis Sweet and pleasant is the very name of peace especially of the peace of a good conscience If ye have it no misery can make you miserable and if ye have it not no happinesse can make you happie It is Christs legacy which he bequeathed to his Church Peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you It is glorious and honourable Beest thou never so mean in the world thou art glorious if thou hast this peace beest thou never so despised and disgraced among
they were convicted of their consciences their consciences dealt honestly with them and told them the truth that they were wicked sinners themselves This is the naturall goodnesse in conscience 2. A renewed good conscience I call it a renewed good conscience because when a man is renewed all the man is renewed all his mind and the spirit of it is renewed Ephes 4.23 That ye may be renewed in the spirit of your mind If the man be renewed all the mind must be renewed and therefore the conscience must be renewed too for the mind and the conscience ever go together nay conscience is mainly seated in the mind and therefore if the mind be renewed so is the conscience and if the mind be defiled so is the conscience To them that are defiled is nothing pure but their minds and consciences are defiled Mark When they are defiled they are defiled together so when they are washed and renewed they are washed and renewed together Now this renewed conscience is either perfect or defective 1. Perfect I mean not perfect in every degree of goodnesse For so no mans conscience in the world is perfect But I mean perfect in every part and condition of goodnesse 2. A defective good renewed conscience is that which faileth in some conditions of goodnesse We call it a weak conscience which is apt to be polluted and defiled again 1. Cor. 8.7 Their conscience being weak is defiled This is a defective good conscience a conscience renewed but imperfectly renewed I. To a good conscience that is soundly renewed five things are necessary 1. Knowledge of Gods will and that which doth follow the true knowledge of his will namely true humiliation and fear By nature the conscience is blind and sturdy and venturous and therefore it is necessary that it should be illightened to understand the will of God and to presse it and again it is necessary that the heart should be humbled or else it will not stoop to Gods will and it is necessary also that this holy fear should fall upon the heart that it may not dare to transgresse S t Peter being to speak of a good conscience premiseth all these as necessarie thereunto First he adviseth that Christians have knowledge to be able to give a reason of the hope that is in them and then that they should have meeknesse and fear for to do it with meeknesse and fear saith he having a good conscience Mark Knowledge and meeknesse and fear are required to make a good conscience without them the conscience cannot be good By nature we are all blind and stubborn and fearlesse of sinning and therefore till we be cured of these evils our consciences cannot be good 2. The second thing is a watchfulnesse and warfare against sinne This is required too to a renewed good conscience By nature we are drowsie and carelesse and secure and do not stand upon our guard to wage warre against our lusts and the desires of our flesh and so long our consciences can never be good and therefore this spirituall watchfulnesse and mainteining warre against sinne is required to the having a good conscience That thou maist warre a good warrefare saith Paul to Timothie having faith and a good conscience 1. Tim. 1.18 19. Some who seemed to have a good conscience because they did not maintein this holy warfare against sinne and the flesh they have lost it Therefore this is another requisite required to a good conscience 3. The third is tendernesse of conscience By nature our hearts are seared and dead and unclean and therefore we must get us tender and pure hearts if we would have good renewed consciences The end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart and good conscience and faith unfeigned 1. Tim. 1.5 See how the Apostle compoundeth them together a pure heart and a good conscience We must get our hearts purged and quickened that they may be sensible of the least evil and then our consciences will be good and be as a bridle to hold us from evil A hard heart and a good conscience can never stand together 4. The fourth is the cleannesse of conscience by the washing of Christs bloud This is the main and the principall of all Yea indeed the bloud of Christ is the sole and onely cause of a good conscience I would not be mistaken I named indeed other causes Knowledge and Humbling and a holy Fear a Combat against sinne and Tendernesse but I do not mean as though a good conscience were partly beholding to them and partly to Christs bloud For it is wholly and onely beholding to Christs bloud for its goodnesse his bloud is the onely price of it But my meaning is this That though Christs bloud be the one onely cause of redemption yet in the application of redemption the Lord useth all those forenamed graces while he applieth it to the conscience Therefore this now I adde The washing of Christs bloud this is chiefly required to the goodnesse of conscience We have two places of Scripture to prove it The one Heb. 9.14 How much more shall the bloud of Christ purge your consciences from dead works It is that onely can do it The other text is 1. Pet. 3.21 The answer of a good conscience towards God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ Where the Apostle first giveth this title to a renewed conscience to be called a good conscience Secondly he nameth the cause that maketh it to be good the power of Christs resurrection When the resurrection of Christ Jesus is powerfull upon us then conscience becometh good 5. The fifth is quietnesse By nature nothing is so fierce and violent if it be once awaked as conscience is O it is unspeakably furious Thus is conscience by nature and therefore it can never be good untill we get it appeased with the assurance of the pardon of our sinnes and so true peace and comfort established in it This is the reason why the Scripture joyneth a good conscience and faith so often together as 1. Tim. 3.9 Holding the mysterie of faith in a pure conscience It cannot be a pure or good conscience if faith be not held in it As long as the conscience is not underpropped by faith the conscience must needs be in a wildernesse Perhaps my sinnes are imputed unto me perhaps they are pardoned Perhaps they are covered perhaps not As long as the conscience lieth under these uncertainties it cannot be firm and soundly good indeed therefore we must labour for assurance of pardon by faith Thus much of a good renewed conscience that is perfectly and soundly renewed II. Secondly There is a good conscience renewed but not soundly renewed very much as yet defective and imperfect The former conscience is called conscientia firma a firm conscience This is called conscientia infirma an infirm conscience Rom. 15.1 We that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak This infirm conscience is a good
that the authoritie of Magistrates is secondarie and secondarie obedience is to be given unto them The Papists speak blasphemie in saying their Pope can make laws under pain of damnation to be kept Our Saviour Christ maketh this a propertie onely of God Fear not him that can kill the bodie and there is all that he can do but fear him who can cast both bodie and soul into hell I say unto you Fear him Luke 12.4 As if he had said Men can reach no further then the bodie and their punishments can go no further then the death of the bodie 2. This teacheth us what to do if men should command any thing which is unlawfull for us to perform Suppose there should be any such humane commands as are repugnant to Gods In this case ye see we must obey God rather then men nay suffer losse of goods losse of libertie yea losse of life rather then obey the commandments of men in case they be contrarie to the commandments of God Ye may reade a lamentable example in Ephraim They were utterly destroyed for obeying their King rather then their God The King commanded to worship the calves and to go unto Bethel and not to Jerusalem to worship they yielded to his commandment and did so O thought they We shall displease the King if we do not For this sinne of theirs they were broken in judgement Hos 5.11 Ephraim is destroyed and broken in judgement because he willingly walked after the commandment Beloved Gods commandment is sovereigne and the supreme binder of conscience Whatever commandment is repugnant to Gods word wo to us if we do it nay though it be to save our goods or our lives It is true we must give to Cesar the things that are Cesars but so as withall we must be sure to give to God the things that are Gods 3. This comforteth Gods people against the calumnies and slanders of wicked and ungodly men that upbraid them for their obedience to God O say they Ye are irregular and despisers of authoritie I say this is comfort to the godly that God is able to bear them out in obeying him rather then men Gods word is the supreme binder of conscience and therefore whatever men think of such they are absolutely bound to obey God If men command us against the word of God we know their authoritie is the ordinance of God and therefore if they go beyond that they do not bind us in conscience If God had not bound us in conscience to him others might have taken it ill if we should not obey them but now what cause have others to think ill of us What folly were it in us to seek to please men and to displease God If we were at libertie then we might choose whom we would obey but now we are bound unto God and must be obedient unto God whatever men command to the contrarie let us do it therefore with chearfulnesse By this we shew our submission to God by this we satisfie conscience which being bound unto God doth continually urge us to obey him Why should we omit part of the exactnesse of our obedience which the word of God doth require We have more to do then ever we shall be able to perform we should therefore be carefull to do all that we may By our obedience to God in this kind we convince the conscience of others of our uprightnesse towards God Though through the overruling dominion of their lusts and passions they rage at us and their mouthes speak evil of us yet we may have an evidence in their consciences within which may testifie for us their consciences will whisper within them Surely they do well to please God rather then men their consciences will be on our side though their actions and tongues be against us We have a notable example of this Acts 4.15 16. When the rulers of the Jews had threatned the Apostles and had reviled them with many bitter words and had bidden them go aside for a while then they concluded among themselves Surely an evident signe is done by them and we cannot deny it So that their consciences acquitted them for good men So when the wicked of this world have spoken evil of the wayes of the righteous and blasphemed the holy name after which they are named yet when they are alone and their consciences at counsel within themselves then they conclude Indeed they do well Thus their consciences give a good evidence of us and accuse them for not doing the like And thus much shall suffice to be spoken of other mens binding of conscience II. We may bind our own consciences II. We our selves may bind our own consciences And that is by those vows and promises which we make to God of any thing lawfull and in our power Those vows and promises which we make unto God according to the warrant of his word they do bind our conscience They are our own before we have made them as Ananias and Sapphira their gift was their own before they vowed it to the church While it remained was it not thine own and when it was sold was it not in thine own power Acts 5.4 We need not vow unlesse we will but after we have vowed our vows are Gods bonds and do bind the conscience to the performance of them Nay we lie unto God as the text saith they did if we do not stand to the performance of them But it may be demanded What vows are they which are unlawfull and do not bind conscience I answer 1. Such as we make of things impossible and beyond our power These are unlawfull and do not bind conscience 2. Such as we make of things unlawfull when we vow to do that which is contrarie to Gods law such as Davids was when he vowed the destruction of Nabals familie This doth not bind conscience nay we are bound in conscience to break it 3. Such as though they be of things lawfull and possible yet we want freedome in the performance of them as for a wife or a servant or a child to make a vow when their relation to such as are over them will not suffer them to perform it This bindeth not conscience Nothing bindeth conscience but that which hath Gods seal upon it but this hath not Gods seal on it and therefore it doth not bind conscience indeed it bindeth us in conscience to repent of it 4. Such as though they be lawfull and profitable and in our own freedome yet if there fall a greater consequence before the time of performance we are not bound in conscience to perform them as if a man upon the receit of some mercie should in testimonie of his thankfulnesse vow a hundred pounds to good uses in the mean time his estate so decayeth as that he shall undo himself and his familie if he perform it this is so great a consequence and contingently hapned that it freeth his conscience from performing
bringeth forth deadnesse earthlinesse impatience evil conversation c these are corrupt fruits and signes of a very bad estate 2. Ye may know what estates ye are in by your inclinations and dispositions from whence these actions proceed Are your hearts inclined heavenward and God-ward as Davids are ye bent to holinesse and self-deniall c. as a bow is bent to shoot the arrow This is a signe of a good estate as 1. Chron. 22.19 there is speech of setting the heart to seek God Ye know when a man will do a thing indeed we say he is set on 't It may be ye do some good duties make some fair offers of seeking God but are your hearts set on 't or are they set on the world and inclined earth-vvard The inclinations of every creature in the vvorld do ever shevv vvhat the creature is Hovv do vve knovv that a stone is heavy Because it inclineth dovvnvvard Hovv do vve knovv a man is cholerick Because he is inclined unto vvrath So a mans estate may be knovvn by his constant inclination either to good or evil 3. One may knovv vvhat estate he is in by that reflexive act which is proper onely to man There is an act in mans soul vve call it a reflex act vvhich no creature hath but onely man vvhereby he can perceive vvhat himself is and doeth When a man thinketh or speaketh he can reflect upon himself and perceive vvhat he thinketh or speaketh vvhen he prayeth he can reflect upon his ovvn heart and perceive hovv it carrieth it self all along in his prayers I say no creature in the vvorld hath in it this reflexive act but onely man The fire burneth but it cannot reflect upon its ovvn burning Oculus non videt se videre The eye seeth but it doth not see that it doth see that is That creature doth not perceive vvhat it doeth vvhen it seeth But every man hath this reflexive act in him vvhereby he is privie to vvhat himself thinketh doeth is None knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of a man that is in him This is the reason vvhy some knovv not vvhat estate they are in because they choke their ovvn spirit and hoodwink their consciences Thine ovvn heart knovveth hovv it is vvith thee and vvould faithfully tell thee if thou vvouldst enquire of it and hearken unto it Search vvith Gods candle and thou mayst easily find vvhat is in thee The spirit of a man is the candle of the Lord searching all the inward parts of the belly 4. Ye may knovv vvhat estate ye are in by a certain kind of feeling As there is a kind of bodily feeling vvhereby every man knovveth the estate of his body whether he be sick or in health so there is a spirituall feeling The tvvo disciples did feel their hearts burn Paul did feel a great combat in him betvveen the flesh and the spirit So if men be covetous and vvorldly they may feel it Yet indeed some men be past feeling Their case is the vvorse because they cannot feel hovv bad it is But for the most they may easily feel what their estate is The third use is to shevv you the impediments that hinder this knovvledge If you vvould attein to knovv vvhat estate you are in then remove the impediments vvhich are 1. Vain thoughts Men vvho are in a state of sinne and vvrath yet have many vain thoughts lodging within them keeping them from knowing it God is mercifull and Christ died for sinners and There be worse sinners then they why should they think so ill of themselves and they may be better all in good time These vain thoughts hoodvvink their eyes that they cannot see their estate nor resolve that it is so dangerous as indeed it is O Jerusalem wash thy heart from wickednesse how long shall these vain thoughts lodge within thee They were in a very bad estate and yet they had such vain thoughts that they could not see it 2. Presumption is another impediment Men pray and heare and do other good duties and so take all to be well without serious examining This was the case of the Laodicean people They thought they had that in them which they had not and that their estate was good when it was nothing so 3 Another let are the Cares of this life Whereby the heart is so occupied that it doth not find time to search its own estate Therefore our Saviour saith Take heed that your hearts be not overcharged with the cares of this life lest that day come upon you unawares intimating that these cares are great lets from considering our estates 4. Another let is an Evil conscience which affrighteth a man so soon as he beginneth to stirre and maketh him afraid to go on to look soundly into his estate He that doeth evil hateth the light 5. Another let is Ignorance There is none that understandeth none that seâ—keth after God Mark they did not seek in what case they stood before God because they did not understand 6. Another let is Spirituall sloth and sluggishnesse of heart Men cannot endure to take pains with their own hearts till they have made out a true judgement in what case they are They begin and quickly give over and so for want of diligence and pains-taking make nothing sure The last use is for exhortation That all men would bestirre themselves and set in earnest upon this enquirie That we may every one know in what state we stand 1. Consider this is an enquiry about our souls We enquire about our outward man about the estate of our bodyes and vvorldly affairs c. oh let us not neglect this main enquiry Am I in Christ yea or no Am I a new creature yea or no Doth my soul live to God or no 2. Consider this is a question about our everlasting estate We can never have comfort untill we have put this out of question and therefore this is a question which all questions must give way unto If ye be not in Christ ye had need lay aside all and look about it onely Hovv can men eat drink sleep c. sith the wrath of God abideth upon all unbelievers Methinks our souls should take no content do nothing else but faint after Christ untill we know our interest in him I say again This is the grand enquiry that businesse which all businesses must give place unto Oh the sloth of our souls Let us in time awake and rouse them up and never rest untill we know our own estate to be good before God that so our hearts may have comfort and that with God A Treatise of Conscience ROM 2.15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts their consciences also bearing them witnesse and their thoughts in the mean while accusing or else excusing one another I Have shewed you That every man is in an estate before God And that hath
made way now to a treatise of conscience which will shew us what estate we are in before God I desire to handle it common-place-wise And first I will tell you in brief what the conscience of every man is I say of every man For Angels and devils have a conscience too ye may see it in the speech of the Angel to John when John would have worshipped him I am thy fellow-servant saith he see thou do it not Mark He had a conscience that could say I am a servant and therefore must not take worship to me So for the devils When our Saviour bade them come forth of the possessed they say Art thou come to torment us before our time See they had a conscience that told them there would be a time when they should be further tormented But I am not to speak of such consciences but of the conscience of man Now the conscience of man is the judgement of man upon himself as he is subject to Gods judgement Divines use to expresse it in this Syllogisme He that truly believeth in Christ shall be saved My conscience telleth me this is Gods word But I believe truly in Christ My conscience telleth me this also Therefore I shall be saved And so also on the contrary side So that conscience is a mans true judgement of himself If we would judge our selves that is If we would bring our selves before the tribunal of conscience to receive its judgement Foure propositions are conteined in that portion of Scripture which I have chosen to make the subject of this ensuing treatise Rom. 2.15 1. That there is in every man a conscience Their consciences bearing them witnesse Every one of them had a conscience bearing them witnesse 2. That the light which conscience is directed to work by is knowledge written in their hearts 3. That the bond that bindeth a mans conscience is Gods law which shew the effect of the law written in their hearts 4. That the office and duty of conscience is to bear witnesse either with our selves or against our selves accusing or excusing our selves or actions bearing witnesse and their thoughts accusing or excusing one another I begin with the first Proposition I. There is in every man a conscience THere was a conscience in all these heathen in the text their consciences bearing them witnesse There was a conscience in the Scribes and Pharisees being convicted of their own consciences There is a conscience in good men as in Paul Our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience There is a conscience in wicked men their mind and conscience is defiled As it is impossible the fire should be without heat so it is impossible that any man should be without a conscience Indeed we use to say Such an one hath no conscience but our meaning is that he hath no good conscience But every one hath a conscience either good or bad The Lord engraved conscience in man when he created him at first True it is since the fall of man conscience is miserably corrupted but man can never put it off Conscience continueth for ever in every man whether he be in earth or heaven or hell The most base and devilish profanelings in the world have a conscience Let them choke it or smother it as much as they can let them whore it or game it or drink it away as much as they are able for their hearts yet conscience will continue in spite of their teeth 1. No length of time can wear this conscience out What made Josephs brethren to remember the cruel usage they shewed him but conscience It was about tvventy years before yet they could not vvear it out 2. No violence nor force is able to suppresse conscience but that one day or other it will shew it self What made Judas go and carry back the money that he betrayed our Saviour for and also to cry out I have sinned but conscience No question but he laboured to suppresse it but he could not 3. No greatnesse nor power is able to stifle conscience but that it will one day like a band-dog flie in a sinners face What made Pharaoh crie out I am wicked but conscience He vvas a great King and yet he vvas not able to over-povver conscience 4. No musick mirth or jovializing can charm conscience but it vvill play the devil to a vvretched soul for all that What vvas the evil spirit of melancholy that came upon Saul but conscience He thought to allay it with instruments of musick but it still came again 5. Death it self is not able to part conscience from a sinner What is that vvorm that shall never die but onely conscience and in hell conscience is as that fire that never goeth out I confesse some seem to have lost conscience quite They can omit good duties as though they had no conscience at all they can deferre repentance and turning to God as though they had no more conscience then a beast but one day conscience vvill appear and shevv plainly that it vvas present vvith them every moment of their lives and privie to all their thoughts and all their vvayes and set before them all the things that they have done Be men never so secure and senselesse and seared for the present conscience vvill break out either first or last Either here or in hell it vvill appear to every man That he hath and ever had a conscience Novv the reasons vvhy the Lord did plant a conscience in every man living are 1. Because the Lord is a very righteous Judge And as he commandeth earthly judges not to judge vvithout vvitnesse so he himself vvill not judge vvithout vvitnesse and therefore he planteth a conscience in every one to bring in evidence for him or against him at Gods tribunall 2. Because the Lord is very mercifull We are vvonderous forgetfull and mindlesse of God and of our ovvn souls and have need to be quickned up to our duties therefore the Lord hath given every one of us a conscience to be a continuall monitour Sometime vve forget to pray and then conscience putteth us in mind to go to God sometime vve are dull in the duty and conscience is as a prick to quicken us Sometime our passions are distempered and then conscience checketh and commandeth us to bridle them We should never be kept in any order if it vvere not for conscience Therefore hath the Lord in mercy given us a conscience The first use is to condemne that diabolical proverb common among men Conscience is hanged a great while ago No no Achitophel may hang himself but he cannot hang his conscience Saul may kill himself but conscience cannot be killed It is a worm that never dieth As the reasonable soul of man is immortall so conscience also is immortall Secondly this condemneth such as go about to suppresse conscience Their conscience maketh them melancholick and lumpish now and
then and they go about to shake it off Alas why do ye go about that which is utterly impossible Ye may suppresse it for a while and gagge it for a while but ye can never shake it off Conscience sticketh so close that a man may as soon shake off himself as his conscience And indeed his conscience is himself Let a man examine himself that is his conscience Judge in your selves that is Judge in your consciences Thirdly this confuteth that drunken opinion That conscience is nothing but a present fit of melancholy No It causeth it may be the present melancholick fit but it is not it Conscience is a standing power in a man that is evermore with him and will evermore judge him and condemne him if he be guiltie before God It will be with him when his dumpish fit is over Let him laugh and be merry yet conscience lies at the bottome of all and will spoyl all the mirth Let the drunkard be never so joviall I will not believe but conscience in the midst of that drunken mirth causeth some sadnesse within and telleth him this is a very wicked life Let the carnall hypocrite daub up the matter with good duties and good prayers and good hopes I cannot believe but there is a conscience lieth at the bottome and telleth him he is rotten for all this You may see this in Cain He had been at a good duty sacrificing to the Lord but his countenance fell when he had done conscience did lie at the bottome and did tell him God did not accept him Conscience is with evil men at church at sermon at sacrament and telleth them secretly that they are not the persons to whom the blessing of these ordinances belong Lastly this may be for exhortation to the godly That they would consider this that they have ever a conscience within them and that therefore they would labour alwayes to keep it void of offence which was Pauls exercise Acts 24.16 Take head you offend not your consciences in duties of piety towards God in your prayings hearings c. no nor in your callings eatings drinkings liberties recreations Look alwayes to your consciences that you offend them not because they are ever with you When two live ever together they had need not offend one another else there will be no quiet You and your consciences must ever live together if ye offend them ye are like to have very ill lives Better live with a curst scold then live with an offended conscience ye had better offend the whole world then offend conscience There are none whom ye are alwayes to live with but conscience ye are alwayes to live with Ye are not alwayes to live with your husbands nor alwayes with your wives nor alwayes with your parents or masters there is a time when you must part but conscience and you will never part Therefore labour to keep it void of offence And thus much of the first proposition There is in every man a conscience Proposition II. The light that conscience acteth by is knowledge THis knowledge is twofold 1. Of Gods law 2. Of our selves 1. The knowledge of Gods law To know Gods will what is good what is bad whaâ— God commandeth what he forbiddeth Every man under heaven hath this law of God in some measure writ in his conscience I confesse Gods children onely know Gods law to purpose as it is a light to guide them in the way oâ— salvation but all the world have some measure of knowledge whereby they may gather thaâ— there is a God and that he ought to be worshipped and obeyed and that he hath poweâ— over life and death All the world have knowledge in some measure what is good and what is not what is to be done and what not what is according to conscience and what not All the world have this knowledge in some measure I do not say enough for salvation but enough to make them inexcusable before God for not following that light and not living according to that knowledge which they have If there were not some light in this behalf some knowledge of the law of God in every man conscience could do nothing 2. Knowledge of our selves This also is the light that conscience acteth by There is in every man some measure of knowledge of himself according to the measure of knowledge that he hath of Gods law Our consciences look backward and forward forward to Gods law and backward on our selves Whether we be such as Gods law requireth yea or no. First ye may find this in good men This light did the conscience of David go by I was upright before God saith his conscience and I kept my self from mine own iniquitie His conscience had a light whereby he knew what he did Secondly ye shall find this in wicked men This light the conscience of Achan went by I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel and thus and thus have I done These are the two lights that every mans conscience goes by It hath light in some measure to know the law of God what he should do and what he should not do and it hath light in some measure to know himself what he hath done or not done whether he hath done as he should yea or no. Now these two lights are necessary as thus I prove First the knowledge of Gods law is necessary For else conscience cannot work A drunkard might be drunk every day in the yeare and yet conscience could not trouble him nor condemne him of sinne unlesse he knew the law That God hath forbid drunkennesse And so the swearer And so evil words and bad thoughts conscience cannot accuse for unlesse there be so much light as to know they are forbidden And therefore Divines do all say that the Synteresis is necessarie to the exercise of conscience The Synteresis is this When a man keeps in his mind the knowledge of the things conteined in Gods law namely That we must obey God honour our parents not commit adultery not kill not steal not lie not covet c. Unlesse the knowledge of these be kept in mind conscience cannot work And therefore when we would stirre a mans conscience we appeal to his knowledge Know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdome of God As if he had said Your own consciences may condemne you to the pit of hell if ye be unrighteous because your Synteresis can tell you that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdome of God This is the reason why we say that there is a naturall conscience and there is an illuminated conscience because some have no light but onely the light of nature some have besides the light of Gods word which sheweth that which nature sheweth and much more clearly and teacheth many things more which nature cannot teach And hence the conscience of the illightned condemneth for such things as the naturall
conscience 2. It is a large conscience 3. It is a remisse conscience 1. A silent conscience that conscience which knoweth how to judge how to counsel how to direct yet is silent and saith nothing is an unfaithfull conscience that knoweth what duties we ow to God and man yet putteth us not upon them nor is importunate for the performance of them and so for sinnes what we ought not to do telleth not of the evil disswadeth not from it urgeth not arguments to cause forbearance this is an unfaithfull conscience It is like to a sleepy carelesse coachman who giveth the horses the rains and letteth them runne whither they will So this unfaithfull conscience leaveth the rains on a mans neck and letteth him runne whither he will into any danger any mischief that he may do evil with both hands Do ye not think Ahabs conscience was fast asleep which let him sell himself to work wickednesse and so Manasseh's conscience 2. A large conscience vvhich maketh conscience it may be of some great duties but taketh liberty in other vvhich it counteth lesser Thus Doâ—g's conscience would not suffer him to break his vow to depart on the sabbath day but yet it suffered him to accuse David Jehu's conscience made him zealous in Gods cause against the house of Ahab and the priests of Baal but it suffered him to maintain the high places which Jeroboam had set up Thus Gamaliel's conscience made him speak well for Paul and yet continue it seemeth in much other evil This conscience will restrain from great staring sinnes or from such sinnes as the man hath no naturall propensity unto but others which seem of a lower nature or vvhich are suitable to a mans particular desires these conscience will swallow without remorse As civil people that cannot swallow down couzenage and injustice and yet neglect of prayer and other religious duties never troubleth them And so some professours who cannot omit hearing sermons and talking of religion and yet can rest without the power thereof 3. It is remisse that is though it doth counsel and direct yet it doth it with such coldnesse and remissenesse that it is easily answered and put off Thus it was with David It cannot be thought but his conscience said Plot not against Vriah's life But he would and so conscience let him do it This conscience will be answered with every slight and idle excuse As when conscience telleth one Your wayes are not good I wish you to repent and make your peace with God it may be the man answereth Yea so I mean to do but I cannot yet intend it when I have dispatched such and such businesse then I will do it If conscience speak again Yea but you were best to do it now True saith he I know it I know it If God would give me repentance I would repent It is his gift of my self I cannot do it Or when it telleth him of family-duties it may be he answereth I have no leisure so long as I go to God by my self I hope it will serve turn Or when it telleth him of his wickednesse it may be he answereth Many worse then I have found mercy and I hope so shall I. This is the conscience that letteth a mans heart say I shall have peace Now conscience being remisse and cold it is easily put off and answered with these idle and foolish excuses or with some other pretenses like these and so letteth the man go and live as before This conscience is like Eli which said Ye do not well my sonnes but exercised no severity to cause them to do otherwise By this we see the dangerous estate of those men who have such a conscience There be many who live in many sinnes in carnall courses some in company-keeping and drunkennesse some in hatred and variance some in chambering and wantonnesse some in covetousnesse and love of this present world your consciences no question can say Ye should do well to be more godly to look more after Christ and after heaven and ye should do well to get the truth of saving grace yet it may be they say nothing or nothing to the purpose in this behalf Therefore is these mens case so dangerous because their consciences are so silent and so remisse They have lost the most sovereigne remedy namely conscience Conscience is the most sovereigne means under God and his holy Spirit to work repentance in men that can be and is it not dangerous to have it prove traiterous and unfaithfull What good can the ministerie of the word do unto you when every idle and false excuse or pretense which the wisdome of the flesh can devise can stop the mouth of your conscience when it calleth upon you to do what the word requireth It must needs be dangerous and so much the more because it is so pleasing unto you ye take delight in such silent and large and remisse unfaithfull consciences ye love not to have your consciences too busie with you ye like not that your consciences should be too clamorous and importunate with you ye would have them not too rigid and vehement against your sinnes It fareth with you as with many young men who have sold themselves unto folly and think none their friends but parasites that flatter them or those who connive and wink at their folly but such friends will soon prove foes and so will such moderate and quiet consciences It is a dangerous thing to have such a silent conscience to want the chief means under God of doing a man good It was conscience that told the lepers We do not well to hold our peace It was conscience that never would let the prodigall sonne be quiet till he returned to his father and said unto him I have sinned against heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy sonne It is conscience that is the most powerfull means under God to quicken a man up to repentance and obedience and therefore they are in a miserable case that want this great help But what are the causes why mens consciences be so evil and unfaithfull The causes hereof are chiefly these foure 1. Ignorance is one cause why a mans conscience is unfaithfull when we do not labour to have conscience throughly illightened and informed Who are more carelesse and negligent of their duties both to God and man who can with more freedome lye steal covet sinne c. then those that are ignorant of the law of God They know not that they do so much hurt to their own souls as they do An ignorant mind hath alwayes an evil conscience It is impossible conscience should be faithfull where it is not illightened and hence it cometh to passe that conscience is so negligent and unfaithfull because we have been so carelesse of informing it Thy conscience must needs be silent as long as thou art ignorant Ignorance is soon put to
is great If I have not given my bread to the hungry or if I have rejoyced at the misery of mine enemie then let it be thus and thus to me His conscience absolved him as clear of those sinnes Nay the conscience of a child of God doth not onely absolve him from the guilt of those sinnes which he never committed but also from the guilt of those sinnes which he hath committed against God or against man It can tell him he hath truly repented and truly been humbled and truly got pardon Ye know David had committed divers sinnes yet when he had humbled his soul before God and obtained pardon his conscience telleth him as much and absolveth him Psal 103.3 Blesse the Lord O my soul c. who forgiveth all thy sinnes Nay though a child of God have many infirmities dayly and hourly yet his conscience doth absolve him It is no more I that do it saith his conscience but sinne that dwelleth in me If I distrust it is no more I for I fight against it If I be overtaken by any weaknesse it is no more I for I laboured against it and do bewail it III. A misliking conscience THe third part of consciences office in things done is to mislike if we have done ill There be imperfections in the best obedience of Gods dearest servants What I do I allow not saith Paul His conscience misliked something done by him But that mislike of conscience which now I speak of is of things that are ill done that is not done in truth and sincerity Thus it is in all that are not renewed by the holy Ghost The office of their conscience indeed is to mislike what they do When they have prayed their conscience can mislike it and say I have not prayed with a heavenly mind a holy heart When they have been at a Sacrament conscience can truly mislike it and say I have not been a fit guest at Christs table c. When they are crossed and tempted their consciences truly mislike their carriage and say I do not fight and resist but readily and willingly yield to every invitation to evil Do ye not think that Jeroboams conscience misliked his altering Gods worship his innovating religion his making Israel to sinne do not ye think his conscience misliked him for these things Do not ye think that Nabals conscience misliked his griping and Doegs conscience misliked his slandering and Pashurs conscience misliked his opposing and misusing Jeremie and the old prophets conscience misliked his lying Who would have thought but Balaam said well Whatsoever the Lord saith unto me that will I speak and I cannot go beyond the commandment of the Lord to do lesse or more no not for Balaks house full of gold who vvould have thought but that this was well said yet his own conscience could not choose but mislike it being not spoken in sinceritie Many a man hath gone for a Christian twentie or thirtie years and every one liketh him and yet it may be his conscience hath disliked him all the while IV. A condemning conscience THe fourth part of consciences office in this behalf is to condemne if we have done evil and contrarie to Gods law Conscience hath an office not onely to mislike us but also to condemne us nay it will hasten more to condemne us then God We see it in Adam When Adam had sinned his conscience condemned him before God did he knew he was naked that he had made his soul shamefully naked his conscience condemned him for an apostate before the Lord came to passe sentence upon him Nay it condemneth us oftner then God God will condemne a sinner but once for all viz. at the last day but conscience condemneth him many thousand times before that Many men and women who do seem godly in the worlds eyes God knoweth how many of them have condemning consciences in their bosomes for all their civilities and formalities and crying God mercie and patched up hopes many who would say that man were uncharitable who should condemne them for such and such who it may be find conscience within so uncharitable and saying plainly Ye are so like the conscience of Pauls heretick who is said to be condemned of himself I. This serveth for the praise of the justice of God That he may be just when he judgeth the Lord needeth no other witnesse against us but our own consciences they make way for the just judgement of God Ye may see this in this portion of Scripture which we have in hand wherein is shewed both that God hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world vers 16. In the day when God shall judge the secrets of all men according to my Gospel and then in the verse going before the Apostle sheweth that now in the mean while every mans conscience maketh way for this just judgement of God their conscience bearing witnesse and their thoughts in the mean time accusing or excusing one another At the last day every man shall be judged according to his conscience a child of God according to his a carnall man according to his The Lord shall absolve all his children and their own consciences shall absolve them The Lord shall condemne all the rest and their own consciences shall condemne them This is the book that every mans life is set down in Every passage of conversation both of the godly and the wicked is recorded dayly in this book And according to what is written therein will the Lord judge every soul at the last day as Rev. 20.12 The dead were judged out of those things which were written in the book according to their works The Apostle there speaketh prophetically and putteth the past time for the future they were judged that is they shall be judged So that ye see that by the judgement of conscience way is made for the just judgement of God II. This should be a means to keep us from sinne and to keep us in a holy life for according to our works so will be the evidences of our consciences whether they be good or evil We had need to take heed what we write in our consciences for according to what is written there so shall we be judged Therefore if any sinne standeth upon record in our consciences we had need get it blotted out by the bloud of Christ Repent be humbled beg for pardon rest not till thou seest this debt-book conscience crossed and thy sinnes stand there cancelled and discharged THus I have shewed you the offices of conscience about things heretofore done Now let me shew you the affections of conscience in the discharge of these offices Ye have heard that conscience hath foure offices in things heretofore done 1. an office to approve 2. an office to absolve 3. an office to dislike 4. an office to condemne The two former when we have done well and lived well then the office of conscience is to approve and absolve The
two latter when we have done ill and lived ill then the office of conscience is to mislike and to condemne Now followeth the affections of conscience in the discharge of these offices and they are foure 1. A tender conscience 2. A sleepie conscience 3. A benumbed conscience 4. A seared conscience First a tender conscience that is a conscience touched with the least sinne and checking us for the least sinne as for vain thoughts exorbitant passions idle words and the like Such was Davids conscience which smote him for cutting off the lap of Sauls garment Such was Zaccheus his conscience which troubled him for supposed sinnes If I have wronged any man saith he He did not know but his conscience was so tender that it made him carefull of Ifs. This tender conscience is a singular blessing of God And if we desire to attain unto it we must labour to see the odiousnesse of sinne yea the malignity and exceeding evil there is in the least sinne this will make us tender of it Secondly we must labour to mourn for every sinne though it seem little this also will keep our consciences tender And we have great cause to prize a tender conscience What got the Bethshemites by not being tender in conscience They looked into the Ark and because they durst venture upon it the Lord smote fifty thousand of them at once What got the man that gathered sticks on the Sabbath for not being tender in conscience He was stoned to death Conscience should tender the least commandment of God and so be tender of the committing the least sinne This conscience is a great blessing The second affection of conscience is sleepinesse A sleepy conscience is not so quick in smiting us as it ought either it checks not or else with such faintnesse that it worketh not upon us it maketh us never the more watchfull against sinne This we see by many who can commit such sinnes without trouble or disquiet as would bring others on their knees and make them walk heavily long after This sleepy conscience is very dangerous it maketh men as ready to fall into the same sinnes to morrow as to day and next day as to morrow it letteth them see their faults but amendeth none because this is such a conscience as doth not cause men to feel the burden of their sinnes A man can never come to Christ as long as he hath a sleepy conscience because it doth not cause sinne to be burdensome They who have this conscience can sleep for all it and eat and drink and be merry for all it Now a man can never come to Christ that is not burdened with his sinne that he cannot bear it cannot be quiet for it cannot sleep for it then Christ calleth him Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will ease you A benumbed conscience that is such a conscience as is in a deep sleep This differs from the former in degree You know there is a lesse sleep and there is a greater sleep There is a lesse sleep when onely the outward senses are bound and there is a sleep when the inward senses are bound too Now a benumbed conscience is a conscience that is in a deep sleep Preach to it it mourneth not cry to it it listeneth not This is a benumbed conscience Nor the greatnesse of sinne nor the wrath of God denounced against it can move it Men can know themselves guilty of such and such sinnes and yet not lay them to heart conscience never telleth them about it Thus the Apostle speaketh of those who knew the judgement of God that they which commit such things are worthy of death yet not onely do the same but have pleasure in them that do them Their consciences though informed and in some measure knowing the evil of their courses and the severitie of Gods judgement yet let them go on still and not onely commit the evil themselves but delight to see others as bad as themselves Such are our swearers and drunkards and company-keepers c. This is a very wretched conscience the Lord deliver us from it Fourthly a seared conscience that is such a conscience as speaketh not a jote seared with a hot iron as the Apostles phrase is 1. Tim. 4.2 a senselesse conscience a past-feeling conscience when men can swallow down sinne like drink oathes contempt of God his word and worship mockage of Gods servants hating to be reformed such as sinne without any remorse This kind of conscience is in foure sorts of men 1. In dissolute and profligate persons who like common strumpets have their souls lie open to every sinne that cometh by 2. In obstinate sinners such as like Ahab have sold themselves to work wickednesse in the sight of the Lord. 3. In scoffers and jeerers who speak evil of them who runne not in the same excesse of riot with themselves and nickname the godly 4. In Apostates and backsliders who speak lies through hypocrisie and have fallen from the profession of the truth All these men have a conscience seared with a red-hot iron This is a great judgement of God greater then this there cannot be No outward judgement that can fall upon us is like unto it not the plague nor shame nor beggery no nor any curse besides hell it self is equall to it By this the onely means under God of repentance is taken away Such may come to repent but it is a thousand to one if ever they do It is like a gravestone lying upon their consciences which keepeth them under untill the day of judgement at which time God will awaken their consciences and then they will be more furious in tormenting then the very devils themselves Ye that are not yet fallen upon this wretched conscience I beseech you take heed that ye never do But ye will ask me How may we avoid it Avoid it alas ye may avoid it if ye be carefull for conscience never seareth it self If ever it be seared it is ye your selves that do fear it Indeed the mind of man may blind its own self and the heart of man may corrupt its own self and the affections of man may defile their own selves but conscience never corrupteth it self never seareth it self But you will say What must I do to avoid this searing of conscience First listen to conscience well that whatever it saith to thee from God thou maist do it This was the course of the Psalmist I will hearken what the Lord God will say in me so some translate it Heare then and listen what the Lord God will say in thee what thy conscience illightened saith in thee and do it Secondly whenever this conscience is quick follow it Nothing more seareth conscience then suffering quicknings to die Blow the coles if they do but smoke As the Apostle saith Quench not the Spirit so quench not conscience I have hitherto shewed you that every
man hath a conscience and the reasons why God hath given us a conscience the light that it acteth by the offices of it and the affections of it Now from all these proceed two other adjuncts of conscience 1. A quiet conscience 2. An unquiet conscience A quiet conscience COncerning a quiet conscience three things are to be considered 1. What a quiet conscience is 2. How it differeth from that quiet conscience which is in the wicked 3. The examination whether we have this quiet conscience or no. I. For the first What a quiet conscience is It is that which neither doth nor can accuse us but giveth an honourable testimony of us in the course of our lives and conversations ever since we were regenerate I put that in too for 1. we do not begin to live till we be regenerate and 2. we can never have a true quiet conscience till then Such a quiet conscience had good Obadiah I fear the Lord from my youth saith his conscience This was a very honourable testimony that his conscience gave him Such a quiet conscience had Enoch Before his translation he received this testimony that he pleased God Haymo saith this testimony was the testimony of Scripture Gen. 5.24 where it is said that he walked with God This is true but this is not all The text saith not there was such a testimony given of him but he had it and that before his translation but the testimony of Moses was after his translation Therefore it was the testimony of his conscience that bore witnesse within that he pleased God So that this is a quiet conscience which neither doth nor can accuse us but giveth an honourable testimony of us in the whole course of our life and conversation Now to such a quiet conscience there be three things necessary 1. Uprightnesse 2. Puritie 3. Assurance of Gods love and favour First uprightnesse is when a man is obedient indeed Many will be obedient but they are not obedient indeed not humbled indeed not reformed indeed What it is to be obedient indeed ye may see Exod. 23.22 But if thou shalt indeed obey his voyce and do all that I shall speak c. Mark that is obedience indeed when we do all that God speaketh and are obedient in all things This is an upright conscience when the heart is bent to obedience in all things An example we meet with in Paul I have lived in all good conscience before God untill this day His conscience could not accuse him of any root of wickednesse and corruption allowed and cherished in him That is an upright conscience Hast thou such a conscience as this My conscience can truly bear witnesse there is no sinne I favour my self in allow my self in but condemne all strive against all Thus David proveth that his conscience was upright If I regard iniquitie in my heart the Lord will not heare my prayer The regarding of any iniquity will not stand with uprightnesse A second thing required to a true quiet conscience is puritie Though our heart be upright and stand generally bent to the Lords will yet if we be guiltie of some particular sinne this will hinder the quiet of our conscience Therefore saith Paul I know nothing by my self that is nothing to accuse me no corruption no root of unbelief reigning in him Infirmities he had many and frailties he had many and he knew them but be knew nothing to accuse him Whatever was amisse in him his conscience told him he used all holy means against it If thy conscience can truly say thus also of thee then hast thou a truly quiet conscience Thirdly Assurance of Gods love favour and pardon Though we have fallen into great sins yet our consciences may have quiet if we can be truly assured of Gods love and favour in the pardon of them The Apostle proveth that the sacrifices of the law could not purge away sinne but onely Christs bloud can do it His argument to prove it is this Because those sacrifices could not free a man from having conscience of sinne they could not purge the conscience but Christs bloud can After assurance of pardon in Christs bloud conscience can no more condemne for sinne how many or how great soever the sinnes were which have been committed These are the three things required to a true quiet conscience Furthermore a quiet conscience implieth two things 1. A calmnesse of spirit 2. A chearfull merry and comfortable heart These two I mean when I speak of a quiet conscience 1. A calmnesse of spirit or a quietnesse of mind not troubled with the burden of sinne nor the wrath of God nor terrified with the judgements due unto sinne This quietnesse and calmnesse of spirit is promised to all them that truly hearken unto Christ and obey him Who so hearkeneth to me shall be quiet from fear of evil 2. A chearfull merry and joyfull heart When our conscience giveth a comfortable testimonie of us it cannot but make our hearts joyfull This is our rejoycing the testimony of our conscience saith Paul The comfortable testimony which his conscience gave of him made him to rejoyce A wicked man cannot truly rejoyce no though he be merrie and joviall and laugh yet his carnall estate is a snare he can have no true joy but the righteous sing and rejoyce Prov. 29.6 No mirth like the mirth of a good conscience All other joy is but outside painted seeming joy That is onely true joy that is rooted in the comfortable testimonie of an upright good conscience which telleth a man his peace is made with God and that whether he be in sicknesse or in health God loveth him whether he live or die he is the Lords Thus ye see what a quiet conscience is How a quiet conscience in the godly differeth from the quiet conscience that is in the wicked THe second thing propounded to be considered about a quiet conscience is How it differeth from that quiet conscience which is in the wicked 1. I confesse that the wicked seem to have a very quiet conscience Many thousands of carnall people seem to live and die in quiet Look into alehouses lewd houses into all places who so merrie and brisk and heart-whole as they say as they who have no saving grace Yet 2. this quiet conscience in them must needs differ from the quiet conscience of the children of God Certainly the Lord will not give the childrens bread unto dogs neither will he smile upon their souls neither doth he pardon the sinnes nor accept the persons of the ungodly And therefore if they have a quiet conscience it must needs differ from that in the godly Must not copper needs differ from gold And we who are the Lords messengers must teach you the difference They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the profane Now the question is this Wherein lieth the difference between the quiet conscience
conscience will be worth then When Paul was accused and hardly thought of by some of the Corinthians this was his comfort I know nothing by my self saith his conscience I count it a very sâ—all thing to be judged of you Nay he goeth further His conscience telleth him he hath the Lord Jesus who justifieth him to judge him he hath a sweeter Judge then his own conscience even his Saviour to judge him O there is no created comfort in the world like the comfort of a peaceable conscience The heathen Menaâ—der could say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Conscience is a little pettie god We may not give it such a big title but this is most certain The conscience is Gods echo of peace to the soul in life in death in judgement it is unspeakable comfort Is there any then that want this Let them above all things labour to get it It is more worth then all things else Whatever we neglect let us not neglect this It is safer to neglect bodie health means maintenance friends and all that ever we have in the world then to neglect this The more we have the worse it is for us if we have not this Had we all this worlds good it is like a stone in a serpents head or a toads head or a pearl in an oyster not our perfection but our disease Again you who have a peaceable conscience 1. Labour to maintain it Be often in communion with God be not strangers to him the light of whose countenance is the peace of your souls It is the walking with God that breedeth true peace and preserveth it It is said of Levi that he walked with God in peace O let us stirre up our selves to walk close with God that so we may have peace No sweet peace but in so doing 2. We must take heed we do not trouble nor disquiet it that we do not resist it or offer violence unto it by committing sinne against the peace of it but endeavour to maintain the peace of it by obeying the voyce of it Get the fear of God which is wisdome and to depart from evil which is true understanding All her paths are peace Prov. 3 17. We cannot walk in any one path of true wisdome but we shall find in it peace There is peace in humilitie and peace in charity and peace in godlinesse and peace in obedience c. Break any of these things and ye break the peace Ye heare what an admirable thing the peace of conscience is O then if ye have it make much of it nay if ye have it ye will for certain make much of it The very having of it will teach you the worth of it and learn you to prize it and make you above all things unwilling to leave it And thus much of the first viz. a quiet conscience An unquiet conscience I Have already handled a quiet conscience I come now to speak of a troubled and unquiet conscience Concerning which I shall shew you three things 1. What it is 2. The degrees of it 3. The difference of the trouble that may be in a good and that may be in a bad conscience I. What a troubled conscience is It is a conscience accusing for sinne and affrighting with apprehensions of Gods wrath And here I would have you consider two things 1. What are the causes of it 2. Wherein it consisteth First The causes of it are these five 1. The guilt of sinne When a man hath done evil and his conscience doth know it then doth the conscience crie guiltie when he knoweth it saith the text then he shall be guilty This is it which woundeth and pierceth conscience this is the sad voyce of conscience Like Judas I have sinned in betraying the innocent bloud Like Cain My sinne is greater then can be forgiven So the brethren of Joseph We are guilty say they concerning our brother It is like the head of an arrow sticking in the flesh or like a dreadfull object continually presenting it self before our eyes My sinne is ever before me saith David When we have transgressed Gods law and our conscience can cry guiltie when the guilt of sinne lieth upon conscience this is one cause of the trouble of it 2. Another cause is the apprehension of Gods wrath for sinne When knowing that we have sinned and offended God we apprehend his wrath in our minds and behold the revenging eye of his justice against us This is a very grievous thing so terrible that no man or angel is able to abide it As we see the kings and potentates the mighty men of the earth call for the mountains to fall upon them and the hills to cover them from the wrath of God Rev. 6.15 16. When we have incurred Gods displeasure and our consciences see it when his anger resteth upon us and our consciences feel it this is another cause of the trouble of conscience 3. A third cause of the trouble of conscience is the fear of death and of hell When we know we have offended Gods law and we know also what our sinnes do deserve namely death and judgement aad damnation for ever this doth most trouble and disquiet conscience when it fastneth on the apprehension of it The Apostle calleth it a fearfull looking for of judgement When conscience looketh for nothing else but for hell and damnation this must needs trouble conscience 4. Another cause is privative want of supportance when God doth withhold from conscience the help of his Spirit Ye know the Spirit can inable conscience to undergo all its troubles the Spirit can prompt it with mercies and the promises of God and hold it up but when the Lord bereaveth the conscience of this help and doth not at all support it this must needs also trouble conscience 5. When God doth fasten on the conscience such thoughts as may affright and terrifie it as thus God doth not love me Christ will not own me I have sinned I am a reprobate past hope c. When such thoughts as these fasten on the conscience it cannot choose then but be troubled Thus I have shewed you what are the causes of the trouble of conscience Secondly This trouble of conscience consisteth in two things First in want of comfort It cannot apply to it self neither the promises of this life nor of that which is to come Conscience crieth This belongeth not to me This mercy this comfort is not my portion Secondly In a terrour and anguish of mind from these three heads 1. From the guilt of sinne 2. From the apprehension of Gods wrath 3. From fear of death and of judgement This is the three-stringed whip wherewith conscience is lashed These ye shall find upon the conscience of Adam and Eve when they had sinned against God Their conscience was whipped 1. With the guilt of sinne they saw they were naked Gen. 3.7 2. With the apprehension of Gods wrath they hid themselves from the
presence of God vers 8. 3. With the fear of some vengeance which they began to look for I was afraid saith Adam verse 10. This three-stringed whip ye may see also was upon the conscience of Cain after he had slain his brother His conscience was whipt 1. With the guilt of sinne My sinne is greater then can be forgiven 2. With the apprehension of Gods wrath From thy face O Lord am I hid 3. With the expectation of death and of judgement It shall come to passe that every one that findeth me shall slay me Thus I have shewed you what a troubled conscience is The degrees of a troubled conscience II. THe next thing I promised to shew is the degrees of a troubled conscience A troubled conscience hath divers degrees For some consciences are more troubled then other some 1. The first degree is such a degree as may be in Gods children and this ariseth not so much from the apprehension of Gods wrath as from the guilt of sinne Their consciences grieve and are troubled to think that they have sinned and offended the Lord God Thus we see David could not be at quiet Although Nathan had told him from God that his sinne was forgiven yet his conscience still troubled him Against thee onely have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight saith he I grant the consciences of Gods children are troubled at the apprehension of Gods anger but then it is his fatherly anger not the anger of an enemy Though for a fit they may seem to apprehend thâ—â— too yet mostly it is for that they have provoked their loving Father to anger against them A father may be angry with his child out of love and so the Lord may be with his dear children The Lord was angry with me too saith Moses Deut. 1.37 O let not my Lord be angry saith Abraham the father of the faithfull O God of hosts how long wilt thou be angry with thy people that prayeth saith the Psalmist Sometimes the Lord is angry with the prayers of his people but it is in love because he would have them pray better and obey better and look to their standing better Now the consciences of Gods people are very much troubled when the Lord is thus angry with them 2. The second degree of trouble of conscience is such as is in the wicked and yet not altogether without hope The conscience is troubled but yet so as it conceiveth hope God is mercifull and Christ died for poore sinners c. Thus many a wicked man is troubled and affrighted in conscience nor for sinne but for the wrath of God against it yet he conceiveth for the present that the sinne is pardonable and may be forgiven Christ may forgive God may pardon It is indeed but a poore ground of hope and comfort upon possibilities but yet this lightneth the trouble in the mean time and it may be within a while shaketh it quite off Like the wicked Jews Isa 57.10 who were worried and wearied most grievously yet they said not There is no hope There may be much horrour and disquiet in these consciences for a time but therâ— is a higher degree yet a worse troubled conscience 〈◊〉 this 3. The third degree of a troubled conscience is when it is for the present altogether hopelesse such a conscience as is swallowed up in despair when men thinking of their manifold sinnes of the direfull wrath of God of the dreadfull torments of hell for ever their consciences make them despair of all hope or possibilitie of avoiding this bringing such thoughts as these What a deal of time have I spent in sinne wherein I might have made my peace with God and have prevented all this What a great and omnipotent God have I offended What an infinite Judge have I provoked who is able to revenge himself on me and who will be my foe to eternitie conscience also bringing in thoughts of the torments and unsufferable pains to be endured in hell and such swallow up in despair without all hope for the present or the future Like the wicked man which Eliphaz speaketh of He believeth not that he shall return out of darknesse Job 15.22 So these have no hope of escaping expect to perish as Spira O saith he I envy Cain and Judas I would I were in their cases They are damned but I shall be worse for evermore Now though to these all hopes be gone for the present yet some of these troubled consciences scramble up again with vain hopes and some do not Cain got up again it should seem but Judas did not Those that never get up again either 1. they live in intolerable horrour and vexation of spirit as if they had a devil in them to put them to anguish and often being weary of their lives do make away themselves and so leap quick into hell or else 2. they runne desperately into all abominable courses Their consciences telling them there is nothing to be expected but damnation they give themselves desperately to commit sinne with greedinesse saying with them in Jeremie There is no hope therefore we will walk after our own devises Jer. 18.12 Or else 3. they grow senselesse of it They see they are wrong but they are not sensible of it It may be they pray and reade and heare but their consciences secretly whisper All is to no purpose Conscience eateth and eateth like a worm and they pine away in their iniquities as the prophet speaketh A kind of sorrow they have but they cannot mourn a kind of sad dolour but they cannot weep Ye shall not mone nor weep but pine away in your sinnes saith the text I confesse there be more presumers in the world who promise themselves that all shall be well with them but yet there be despairers too and very many whose consciences are troubled with secret despair though it may be not apparently to others Now the causes of these despairing consciences are these 1. The greatnesse of sinne when the heart thinketh secretly thus Certainly the Lord cannot find in his heart to forgive me As it was with Cain When he had lived in earthly-mindednesse and then in formality and then in discontent and in hatred and then in hardnesse of heart the Lord rebuked him and yet his heart was so hard that still he went on in evil then he murdered his brother and lastly he despaireth My sinnes are greater saith his conscience then can be forgiven He thought God could not find in his heart to forgive him So when men sinne and sinne and the Lord doth rebuke them and yet they do sinne and their consciences do check them and yet they go on at last they come to have secret despairs in their heart that God now will not look towards them whereas if yet they had a mind to stoop to Jesus Christ they might be forgiven 2. A second cause of despairing is multitude of temptations Indeed the godly
of the Gospel of peace Mark he compareth it to a shoe which he would have us shod with and then it will be the Gospel of peace to us and our peace shall be in safety Fourthly our peace dependeth upon our obedience not onely as a signe of true peace nor onely as a guard to it but as a thing pleasing to God without the which we displease God For though God be pleased with his children alwayes in Christ yet he is not pleased that any in Christ should be disobedient to him Ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God saith the Apostle When Gods children walk in obedience that is pleasing unto God So that peace of conscience doth greatly depend on obedience For otherwise conscience will be troubled O I do not please God This is displeasing unto God and This doth provoke God Not as though there were any such perfection in our obedience that can satisfie any tittle of Gods law but because when our persons are pleasing to God in Jesus Christ then our obedience to God is pleasing too in Jesus Christ and conscience will say it Thus much shall suffice for answer to the second question III. Question What manner of obedience it is that peace of conscience dependeth upon The reason of this question is this Because it should seem there is no such obedience in this life as any peace of conscience should depend on Doth not James say In many things we sinne all Doth not our Saviour say When ye have done all that ye can say We are unprofitable servants If our conscience can still say that we are unprofitable and that we do sinne in every thing that we do yea in many things in all the duties we go about if our consciences can say thus How can any peace depend upon obedience What obedience do you mean that peace of conscience dependeth upon I answer 1. Absolute perfection in obedience is not required unto evangelicall peace For if it were no man could have peace no not Paul nor Abraham nor any of the holiest of Gods children and therefore absolute perfection is not required If we say we have not sinned we make Christ a liar and his word is not in us 1. John 1.10 Our conscience can still say we have sinned and it can still say our obedience is imperfect A halting leg can never go perfectly A Jacob is called he that halteth and every godly soul halteth Though he do not halt between two as wicked people do yet he halteth in following after God What purblind eye can see perfectly or thick eare heare perfectly He that hath these imperfections of body can neither go nor see nor heare perfectly So the best of Gods children have imperfections of heart and spirit and mind their faith is imperfect their love is imperfect and therefore their obedience must needs be imperfect But absolute perfection is not required to true peace of conscience and therefore this doth not hinder it 2. Though absolute perfection be not required to peace yet such obedience is required as may be acceptable to God So saith the Apostle We labour that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him Such obedience we must shew as may be accepted of him or we cannot have true peace If our endeavours be not acceptable our conscience will quickly heare of it and tell us so If we pray coldly or heare unprofitably or live loosely if we do not do that which is acceptable to God our consciences will soon complain Nay though we do do the duties if we do not do them in an acceptable manner conscience will have matter against us still 3. This acceptablenesse of obedience lieth in this when our obedience is sincere universall and totall and proceeding from the spirit of Christ Jesus dwelling in us The Apostle giveth it this phrase When we walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8.4 That is our fulfilling the law when Christ hath fulfilled the law for us and maketh us sincerely to walk by it not after the flesh but after the Spirit when we do not favour our selves in one lust nor suffer our selves in any beloved sinne but whatever it be that is evil our conscience can say we truly do hate it and labour to avoid it whatever it be that is commanded us be it never so contrary to our nature yet our conscience can say we sincerely set our selves to do it So walking not after the flesh but after the Spirit this is sincerity of obedience and this is required unto peace 4. This sincerity of obedience maketh us to bewail our very infirmities and to be humbled for them not onely to be humbled for greater sinnes but also to be humbled for our infirmities If we be not soundly humbled for our very infirmities also they will hinder the peace of our conscience We can have no peace except our conscience can witnesse that our infirmities do humble us and drive us to Christ and cause us to sue out a pardon If conscience have not a pardon sealed for infirmities also it will not be at peace Christ bare our very infirmities therefore we must be humbled for them and go to him for pardon of them too or conscience will not be at peace Thus I have answered also this third question IV. Question How if a man have a burdened and troubled conscience what must he do to be freed from it The reason of this question is this Because men are ignorant about it When men are troubled in conscience and burdened a little that way presently they daub all with peace and go a wrong way to work This course the Lord doth complain of in the false prophets who preached too much peace They have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly saying Peace peace when there is no peace And so they do more hurt then good Like a chirurgion that skinneth the wound before he giveth searching salves to kill the matter of it afterwards it breaketh out worse and it is a hundred to one but it will cost the patient his life So it is with many men A man cannot rore a little for his sinnes I have been a sinner and what shall I do I have been a beast c. But O say they believe man Christ died for thee and the promise is to thee and God will pardon thee Thus they heal him slightly with Peace peace and it may be there is no peace to him yet he had need to be searched more deeply they skinne the wound and it is a thousand to one but it loseth the mans soul by giving a cordiall where a corrosive was necessarie And therefore great reason that this question should be answered If a man have a burdened troubled conscience what must such a man do to be freed from it I answer 1. Let him take heed that he meddle not too much with the secret will of God
what his decree and purpose is from eternitie As soon as an arrow is shot into the conscience and the conscience cometh to be humbled commonly the heart layeth about it Anâ— how if God have reprobated me and what if he have appointed me to wrath how then Beloved ye must take heed of this If your hearts fasten upon reprobation that will marre all that will quite discourage a poore soul from going to God 2. Understand the word right Do not think that because God hath not in particular named thee therefore he hath excluded thee Gods promises are made in generall to all that believe and they are to be applyed in particular to all them that believe why then shouldst thou exclude thy self when God doth not exclude thee Wouldst thou have Christ Christ to justifie thee Christ to sanctifie thee Christ to rule thee Wouldst thou be under Christs regiment and live at his will Come and welcome no soul is excepted Whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely Ye see there is a Quicunque vult Whosoever will Indeed if thou hast not a will to be in Christ but thou wilt do thus and thus and thou wilt have thy will and this lust and that friend and such a course and Tush this is too strict nay if you be there thou art not for Christ I have nothing for thee but hell and damnation But if thou wouldst have Christ indeed and be in Christ indeed thy heart in Christ thy will in Christ thy whole self in Christ then arise he calleth thee Thus understand the word right the gospel doth not exclude thee whosoever thou art 3. Thou must not for fear of shame or losse c. keep from restitution wheresoever thou hast done wrong or satisfaction wheresoever thou hast cozened or reformation wheresoever thou art accustomed to any evil or the doing any thing that may procure ease and quiet to thy conscience It may be one is troubled in conscience for his wronging his neighbour in twentie pounds and if he would make restitution he might have sound peace but he will not no he daubeth up his conscience some other way Another it may be suffereth disorders in his familie and foul abuses which if he would redresse he might have peace but he will not Another if he would down with his pride another if he would be acquainted with Gods servants or if he would take any pains in good duties be more diligent for the work of repentance c. but these things will not be done Men plaister up their consciences I know not how some other way and so go to hell for not taking the right way But if any of you be troubled in conscience keep back nothing hold back nothing that may make for your true peace and quiet 4. Thou must wait on God Cast thy self at his feet humbly desire him to give thee the true peace of conscience But wait Gods leisure knowing thou hast deserved to be utterly deprived of it and thus doing thou shalt find it to thy great comfort at last Blessed are all they that wait for him that is when the Lord will be mercifull He will do it with judgement he will do it when it may do thee the most good when it may bring himself most glorie therefore it is fit thou shouldst wait for his time of comforting Now because many do misconstrue this waiting Gods leisure As for example one is dead to all good duties O â—aith he I wait the Lords leisure till he quicken me My heart is much hardned saith another but I wait the Lords leisure till he be pleased to soften it Thus men are lazie in the mean while and yet they think they wait the Lords leisure O beloved this is not the waiting the Lord meaneth this will not stay conscience conscience is guiltie for all this waiting therefore I beseech you consider what waiting I mean 1. Wait upon the Lord and keep his way thou dost not wait else unlesse thou keep praying and striving and meditating and enquiring and watching thine own heart lest it should slip aside 2. Thou must wait as a servant waiteth upon his master If his master calleth he cometh if he sendeth he goeth if he beckeneth he taketh notice So thou must wait As servants wait upon their masters so our eyes wait upon the Lord till he have mercie upon us Be obedient in the mean time go when he sendeth come when he calleth observe when he beckeneth be diligent to be doing his pleasure 3. Thou must wait onely upon God not upon thy lusts too and upon other things too but thou must wait onely upon God My soul wait thou onely upon God saith David Psal 62.5 If thou wait upon any thing else this is not to wait upon God One waiteth a time to be revenged another waiteth a time to satisfie this or that lust this is not to wait upon God at all 4. Take heed of healing thy self and comforting thy self or daubing up thy conscience thy self If thou dost so thou dost not wait upon God to do it If thou dost it thy self and snatchest at comfort thy self before he do give it then thou dost not wait till he give it Suppose a man hath done thee an injury the Lord he will right thee if thou wilt wait but if thou go and recompense evil for evil and right thy self thou dost not wait upon God as Solomon adviseth Say not thou I will recompense evil but wait on the Lord and he will save thee Mark thou must not save thy self thine own credit c. by revenging but wait on God for all So here if thy conscience be troubled thou must wait upon God to comfort it If thou goest and daubest up the matter thy self and criest Peace peace to thy self thou dost not wait upon God Thus I have answered the last question How if a man have a burdened and troubled conscience what must such a man do to be freed from it And hitherto we have spoken of the two last adjuncts of conscience a Quiet conscience and an Unquiet conscience What they be and How they differ and we have resolved and answered the questions and difficulties about them Conscience beareth witnesse of our persons COncerning the witnesse of conscience I told you that conscience beareth witnesse of two things 1. It beareth witnesse of our actions 2. It beareth witnesse of our persons The former hath been declared unto you at large I come now to the latter Conscience beareth witnesse also of our persons whether we be good or evil whether in Christ or in sinne And here I will shew you foure things 1. That every mans conscience may inform him what state he is in whether of salvation or damnation whether of grace or of nature 2. How conscience doth it 3. When conscience doth it 4. How it cometh to passe then that so many thousands mistake and are ignorant and deluded about their estates
set upon things that are spirituall therefore I have life and peace So conscience also judgeth of the state of sinne Those that live after the flesh shall die saith the word But saith conscience my life is led after the flesh and the lusts of it therefore I shall die He that believeth not is condemned already saith the word But saith conscience I do not believe therefore I am in the state of condemnation The word saith A good tree bringeth forth good fruit and a corrupt tree bringeth forth corrupt fruit But saith conscience my works and my courses are corrupt and naught therefore so is my heart Thus ye see that conscience doth it by reasoning And this conscience can very well do 1. Because conscience hath a very good judgement It is a very wise and judicious facultie in the soul of man Some make it an act of judgement We do not take it so It is not an act of judgement but it is a reflexive facultie of the soul having a very good judgement Whether it be right to obey you rather then God judge ye saith Peter Acts 4.19 appealing to their own consciences to judge in the point So that conscience is a facultie of a good judgement Now if it be judicious it must needs be able to reason and to argue about our estates and find out whether they be good or no. It is the judgement of man that is able to argue and able to hold an argument We thus judge saith the Apostle that if one died for all then are all dead 2. Cor. 5.14 Mark His proposition he would prove was That all the believers in Christ are dead to themselves and alive unto God Now ye may see how his judgement maketh here an argument If Christ died for them all then they are all dead but Christ died for them all therefore they are all dead Judgement is able to make arguments and therefore if conscience be a reflexive faculty that hath a very good judgement it must needs be able to frame arguments and so make out what our estates are 2. Because there is naturall logick in every mans conscience It can frame syllogismes thus As many as be led by the spirit of God are the sonnes of God saith the word But saith a godly mans conscience I am led by Gods spirit and I am carefull to follow the leading of Gods holy spirit therefore I am one of Gods sonnes And so on the other side Ye will say How can a countrey-mans conscience make syllogismes It is onely for scholars and such as have studied logick in the schools to make syllogismes I answer It is true Artificiall logick is onely among scholars But there is naturall logick in conscience which doth not stand upon forms The godly people at Rome were never brought up at Universitie yet the Apostle telleth them they had logick enough to argue themselves to be dead unto sinne and alive unto God through Christ Likewise also saith he reckon ye your selves to be dead indeed unto sinne but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. The originall is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exercise so much logick in your selves Like good logicians prove your selves to be dead unto sinne and alive to God So that ye see there is naturall logick in conscience and therefore conscience is able to frame arguments about our estate and to inform us what it is III. The third thing I propounded to consider is When conscience doth this This is a very necessarie point and indeed so they are all but this more especially I have shewed that conscience is able to inform us what estate we are in whether of grace or nature but when doth it perform this I answer I need not so much speak of the godly because they do mark conscience But let me speak of such as are foolish disobedient serving divers lusts who never had yet the washing of regeneration nor the renewing of the holy Ghost I answer about them 1. Their conscience must needs have a time when to do it I do remember my faults this day saith Pharaohs butler Gen. 41.9 His conscience did inform him and there was a time when his conscience did inform him 2. Conscience would choose a time by it self it would inform a wicked man solemnly and punctually of his rotten and cursed estate he is in I say it would have a solemn time by it self for this if it could have it but a wicked man taketh an order with his conscience that it shall not tell him solemnly how it is with him neither will he find a time to suffer it As it was with Felix When his conscience began to grumble against him when Paul had told him of righteousnesse and of judgement he trembled his conscience began to stirre and would then have solemnly dealt with him indeed but he shuffled it off and would not find time Go thy way at this time saith he to Paul I will heare thee at a more convenient time And so he said to his conscience too Conscience would take a solemn and set time to inform men what their estates are but men will not suffer them and therefore conscience is fain to take such sudden times as it can get Ye will ask What times be they I answer First when conscience interlineth As for example in the hearing of the word While men are hearing the word it may be the preacher preacheth of holinesse and a wicked man heareth it But I have it not saith his conscience Mark his conscience interlineth It may be the preacher is preaching how desperately carelesse men are of their souls how they look to every thing more then to them conscience interlineth This is my case It may be he is preaching against adulterie This sinne I have committed saith a guiltie conscience or against rushing upon Gods ordinances without preparation This is my constant course saith an evil mans conscience It may be the preacher is preaching of conversion and becoming a new creature in Christ This I am yet to seek in saith conscience Thus conscience interlineth Though the man heareth on and it may be taketh little to heart yet conscience interlineth a sudden information of his wretched estate Like a biâ—d that flieth by or like a swift-shot arrow that is presently out of sight so it may be a man taketh very litâ—le notice of it Like the forenamed Felix as Paul was preaching of righteousnesse and temperance I have it not saith his conscience and of judgement to come What shall I do then saith his conscience Thus conscience interlined and made him tremble on a sudden like a sudden shivering of a cold or a sudden startle of a man affrighted and away it was gone quickly I beseech you observe your own bosomes Do ye not feel this now and then at a sermon when ye heare it do not your consciences interline our sermons and put in parentheses now and then When ye
heare such and such a sinne reproved condemned And this is my sinne saith conscience when ye heare these and these graces commended And I never had these saith conscience when ye heare these and these marks of a carnall estate And these or some of these are in me saith conscience do not your consciences interline in this manner As Paul was speaking to the shipmen concerning God his conscience did sweetly interline thus There stood by me this night an Angel of God whose I am saith his conscience And as he was writing to the Romanes God is my witnesse saith he whom I serve in my spirit But do not your consciences interline otherwise with you If they do I beseech you consider it Your consciences do then truly inform you of your rotten estates listen to them Secondly when conscience falleth a choking As for example in prayer a wicked man prayeth But I do not pray right saith his conscience I humbly beseech thee O Lord Nay but I do not beseech humbly saith his conscience I desire to be sanctified purged from my sins Nay but I do not hunger after any such thing saith conscience I do not confesse my sinnes right nor beg for grace right Do your consciences choke you thus Now your consciences inform you of your estates Peradventure ye hardly perceive this choking at all It is done in a moment and it presently ceaseth because ye are not willing to heare it and therefore it may be conscience doth it by sudden flashes It is said the Lord spake suddenly to Moses so often conscience speaketh suddenly to men a word and away As David saith of the wicked God shall shoot an arrow at them and they shall be wounded on a sudden So conscience shooteth a quick arrow and it woundeth men in the twinkling of an eye and it is gone Lord have mercy upon us said one But I should not say so vainly and in ordinary talk saith conscience I do not hate this man for his holinesse and strictnesse But you do saith conscience And so when men are defending evil by arguments But this is false saith conscience Thus conscience choketh on a sudden and is gone I confesse generally the men of the world mark not these things They are such sudden sparklings of conscience that men for the most part do not heed them But these are Gods witnesses and men shall know one day they were truly informed of their estates by these instantaneous Items of conscience Thirdly when conscience shooteth like a stitch in a mans side As for example Sometimes when men are about their callinâ—s and their wordly businesse then cometh conscience like a sudden stitch in ones side and giveth them a twitch O how worldly am I saith conscience Shall I never get this worldly-mindednes cured Many times conscience speaketh while men are working or playing or eating or buying or selling Fourthly so likewise when conscience commenteth upon the judgements of God Let an adulterer fall sick Yea this is for mine adulterie saith his conscience Let a company-keeper be in want of outward things Yea this is my drunkennesse saith conscience This is my wickednesse my way my doings which have procured me these things this ague this poverty this shame this discomfort Thus I have shewed you how conscience doth inform the wicked of their wretched estate and when it doth it It remaineth now that I speak something of the fourth point IV. How cometh it to passe then that so many thousands mistake and are ignorant and deluded about their estates The reason of this doubt is this Seeing conscience is able to inform every one what his estate is whether it be blessed or cursed and seeing also that conscience doth it and doth it by argument and hath its time when it doth it a man now would wonder that any should be ignorant of his estate when his own conscience doth tell him how it is with him For answer I will explain unto you two things 1. The reasons why men are mistaken 2. The reasons why they are mistaken though conscience inform them First They build upon false grounds which are not in Gods word Some are so foolish that they build upon outward things as health peace prosperitie successe and the like They prosper and all things go well with them and therefore sure God is at peace with them This is not so but they think so though Some again build upon grounds which men of corrupt minds do give them or which they take from the common opinion of most thinking that to be faith and repentance which the most take so to be or which a teacher fit for their palate taketh so to be On the contrarie side weak Christians oftentimes mistake themselves by judging their estates to be bad because God letteth them be poore and mean comfortlesse in the world Therefore they conclude God is angrie with them or that they are not that which they seem to themselves to be because they are so crossed in all outward things This is the first reason of errour in this kind 2. A second reason is the not-right understanding of Gods word As when men judge of themselves by such places of Scripture as were not inteÌ„ded to be rules to be of use to such ends as they apply them as Whosoever calleth upon the Lord shall be saved Rom. 10.13 Hence the wicked may falsely conclude I call upon the Lord and I pray unto him therefore I shall be saved And so on the contrarie a weak Christian who findeth not in himself those degrees of grace which some places of Scripture seem to require concludeth from thence against himself Therefore I have no grace at all This is a second cause of mistaking 3. A third cause is the not trying and examining our own hearts Some are loth to trouble themselves about it They are loth to think so bad of themselves as that they are in such a course as wherein God will not love them Nay they cannot endure that others should discover their hearts unto them They had as lieve they should shew them the pit of hell as shew them themselves They look to some common gifts and graces that are in them such gifts and graces may be in a reprobate but they will not think so as illumination knowledge the gift of prayer of temperance c. These they look to and these they speak of though they have reigning lusts within in their hearts As Jehu Come see my zeal saith he 2. Kings 10.16 He doth not say Come see my pride and hypocrisie but my zeal Jehu looked at his zeal and so thought he was right So on the contrarie weak Christians may sometimes look onely at their sinnes and infirmities and take no notice of Gods graces that are in them so may mistake their own selves conclude amisse of their estates Thus I have shewed you the reasons why men are mistaken about their
for thee to morrow if unworthy for ever there is righteousnesse for thee for ever This is Gods word and thy portion this bindeth thy conscience to lay hold on it But I have abundantly sinned What saith Christs word I will abundantly pardon O what comfort is this to every poore soul which the Lord Jesus hath humbled His word is the supreme binder of conscience above the law above justice above threatnings above all the world besides His promising word is the supreme binder of thy conscience if thou beest one of Christs And therefore fear not onely believe and be thankfull and give glory to God This is the childrens bread no stranger can intermeddle with it The secondary bond of conscience YE have heard that the bonds of conscience are of two sorts First there is a supreme bond of conscience and that is Gods word of which I have already spoken Secondly there is a relative bond of conscience which bindeth conscience indeed but it is onely in relation to Gods word because Gods word putteth authority upon it And this latter is also of two sorts 1. Others may bind conscience 2. We our selves may bind our own consciences 1. Others may bind our consciences 1. Others may bind our consciences namely when they have authority conferred upon them from God and so their laws and commands receive vigour and force from Gods laws Thus the laws and commands of Magistrates bind the conscience of People of Parents bind the conscience of Children of Masters bind the conscience of Servants For though they do not bind conscience as they are the commandments of men yet having Gods seal and authority upon them they do I will set down some conclusions whereby ye may know how farre the laws and commandments of others bind or not bind conscience 1. Conclusion 1. Magistrates have power to command us Let every soul be subject to the higher powers for there is no power but of God and the powers that be are ordained of God Rom. 13.1 That chapter doth most clearly prove this conclusion unto us Out of the first part of the chapter we learn 1. That Magistrates have power and authority to make laws and to establish orders among men and therefore they are called powers 2. We learn that these laws of Magistrates receive strength and force from the law of God For the powers that be are ordained of God saith the text 3. Those laws made by the Magistrate and confirmed by God have power to bind conscience vers 5. Wherefore we must be subject not onely because of wrath but also for conscience sake And the violating of them is sinne When their authority is confirmed by God we cannot resist them but we resist the ordinance of God saith the Apostle nay we may pull condemnation upon us if we do They that resist shall receive to themselves condemnation vers 2. So that this first conclusion telleth us what laws of men are to be obeyed viz. 1. Such as do virtually flow from Gods word though not expressely commanded in it 2. Such as are good and wholesome and profitable for the common-wealth These though they are not particularly commanded in Gods word yet are they by virtue of it injoyned and therefore to neglect them and be disobedient unto them is to neglect and be disobedient to God Again so farre onely are they to be obeyed so farre onely I say as they virtually do flow from Gods word for so farre onely they receive force from Gods law This is the first conclusion 2. Conclusion 2. The commandments of Magistrates and those that are in authoritie lose their power of binding the conscience in foure cases 1. When they command that which though in it self it be not simply and absolutely sinfull and unlawfull yet it doth put us upon a necessity of sinning As for example If a Magistrate command single life to all Ministers this thing is not in it self simply unlawfull for it is lawfull to marry and it is lawfull not to marry yet this commandment is unlawfull because it would put Ministers upon a necessity of sinning The reason is because all have not this power And therefore such a commandment as this would not bind conscience For the conscience cannot be bound to impurity or an apparent danger of impurity and therefore though the thing be not simply unlawfull yet the commandment is simply unlawfull and doth not bind conscience The Apostle maketh such a commandment to argue a seared conscience in the commander and therefore none but a seared conscience can think it is bound by it 1. Tim. 4.2 3. 2. The commandments of Magistrates lose their power of binding the conscience when they command things that are unlawfull in themselves and contrary to the word of God In this case they do not bind conscience because Gods seal is not on them We have an example of this in the three blessed children Who when the king commanded them to worship the image that he had set up they did not conceive themselves bound in conscience to obey they would rather suffer torment then obey it So also Daniel when he was commanded not to ask any petition of God for thirty dayes space but onely of the king Daniel did not conceive himself bound in conscience nay he chose rather to be cast into the den of lions then obey In this case the answer of the Apostles is necessary who when they were commanded not to preach any more in the name of the Lord Jesus thus they answered Whether it be right in the sight of God to obey men rather then God judge ye 3. When mens laws and commands overthrow the libertie of Christianitie that Christian libertie which Christ hath purchased for us then they lose their power of binding the conscience But here I must tell you of a caution viz. That this libertie may be considered in a double respect 1. In regard of it self the libertie it self 2. In regard of the exercise or use of this libertie Now there is a very great difference between these two considerations as there is a great difference between a mans having a sword and a mans wearing a sword The Magistrate may restrain a man from wearing a sword at such or such a time though he do not take his sword from him so there is difference between the having our libertie and the using our libertie There is a libertie purchased for Gods children whereby all things are become lawfull unto them All things are lawfull unto me saith Paul 1. Cor. 6.12 and there is nothing evil in it self he speaketh of indifferent things Gods children are freed from the observation of meats and drinks and times and garments Now whatsoever commandment is made by the Magistrate contrarie to this libertie doth not bind conscience for nothing can bind conscience when Christ doth loose it Yet there may be a restraint of the use of this libertie as for example the Magistrate may command us to