Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	evil_a	sin_n	sprinkle_v	1,192	5	10.9545	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39673	Navigation spiritualiz'd: or, A new compass for seamen consisting of XXXII points of pleasant observations, profitable applications, and serious reflections: all concluded with so many spiritual poems. Whereunto is now added, I. A sober consideration of the sin of drunkenness. II. The harlots face in the Scripture-glass. III. The art of preserving the fruit of the lips. IV. The resurrection of buried mercies and promises. V. The sea-mans catechism. Being an essay toward their much desir'd reformation from the horrible and destable [sic] sins of drunkenness, swearing, uncleanness, forgetfulness of mercies, violation of promises, and atheistical contempt of death. Fit to be seriously recommmended to their profane relations, whether sea-men or others, by all such as unfeignedly desire their eternal welfare. By John Flavel, minister of the Gospel.	Flavel, John, 1630?-1691.	1698 (1698)	Wing F1173; ESTC R216243	137,316	227

enjoy it The business you have to do in it is of unspeakable weight and concernment this great work this Soul-work and Eternity-work lies upon your hands you are cast into streights of time about it And if so Oh what an evil is it in you to waste it away thus to no purpose Arg. 3. It 's a sin that few are sensible of as they are of other sins and therefore the more dangerous It 's commonly committed and that without checks of Conscience Other sins as Murther and Adultery though they be horrid sins yet are but seldom committed and when they are Conscience is startled at the horridness of them Few except they be prodigious wretches indeed dare make light of them But now for idle and vain words there are inumerable swarms of these every day and few regard them The intercourse betwixt the heart and tongue is quick they are quickly committed and as easily forgotten Arg. 4. And then 4thly They have mischievous effects upon others How long doth an idle word or foolish jest stick in mens minds and become an occasion of much sin to them The froath and vanity of thy Spirit which thy tongue so freely vents among thy vain Companions may be working in their minds when thou art in the dust and so be transmitted from one to another for unto that no more is requisite than an objective existence of those vain words in their memories And thus mayst thou be sinning in the persons of thy Companions when thou art turned into dust And this is one reason that Suarez gives for a general Judgment after men have past their particular judgment immediately after their death Because saith he after this multitudes of sins by their means will be committed in the world for which they must yet be judged to a fuller measure of wrath So that look as many of the precious Servants of God now in glory have left many weighty and holy Sayings behind them by which many thousands of souls have been benefitted and God glorified on Earth after they had left it So thou leavest that vanity upon the mind of others behind thee by which he may be dishonoured to many generations And then 2. For PROPHANE OATHES th● corrupt fruit of a graceless heart Oh how common are these among you yea the habit of swearing 〈◊〉 so strengthened in some that they have lost all Sens●●● and Conscience of the sin Now Oh that I migh● prevail with you to repent of this wickedness an● break the force of this customary evil among you Will you but give me the reading of a few page● more and weigh with the reason of men what yo● read If you will not hearken to counsel it is a fat● sign 2 Cor. 2. 15 16. and you shall mourn for th● obstinacy hereafter Prov. 5. 12 13. Desperate that evil that scorns the remedy And if you ha●● patience to read it the Lord give you an heart 〈◊〉 consider what you read and obey the Counsels of God or else it were better thine eyes had never ●een these lines Well then I beseech you consider Arg. 1. That prophane Oathes are an high abuse of the dreadful and sacred Name of God which should neither be spoken or thought of without the ●●eepest awe and reverence It is the taking of that ●acred Name in vain Exod. 20. 7. Now God is ●xceeding tender and jealous over his Name it is ●ear to him his Name is dreadful and glorious Malac. 1. 14. I am a great King and my Name is ●readful among the Heathens The Heathen would ●ot ordinarily mention the names of such as they ●everenced Suetonius saith that Augustus pro●ibited the common use of his name he thought it 〈◊〉 indignity to have his name tost up and down in ●very one's mouth Yea saies Dr. Willet on Exod. 〈◊〉 it was a use among them to keep secret such ●ames as they would have in reverence They durst ●ot mention the name of Demogorgon whom they ●eld to be the first God They thought when he ●as named the earth would tremble Also the ●●me of Murcurius Trismegistus was very sparingly ●ed because of that reverence the people had for 〈◊〉 Now consider shall poor worms be so tender 〈◊〉 preserving the reverence of their names Shall 〈◊〉 Heathens dare to use the names of their Idols 〈◊〉 shall the sacred and dreadful name of the true 〈◊〉 be thus bandied up and down by tongues of his 〈◊〉 Creatures Will not God be avenged for these ●ses of his Name Be confident it shall one day 〈◊〉 sanctified upon you in judgment because ye did 〈◊〉 sanctifie it according to your duty Arg. 2. Swearing is a part of the Worship of 〈◊〉 and therefore prophane swearing can be no less than the profanation of his worship and robbing●● him of all the glory he has thereby Deut. 6. 13. ● Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and serve him and shalt swear by his Name So Jer. 4. 2. Thou shal● swear the Lord liveth in Truth in Iudgment and 〈◊〉 Righteousness If a man swear by God after thi● manner God is exceedingly glorified thereby Now that you may see what revenue of Glory Go●●● hath from this part of his worship and how it be●omes a part of Divine Worship you must know That an Oath is nothing else but The asking o● desiring a Divine Testimony for the confirmation of th● truth of our testimony Heb. 6. 16. For men veril● swear by the greater and an Oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife The corruption o● humane nature by the fall has made man such a fals● and ●ickle creature that his single testimony canno● be sufficient Security for another especially i● weighty Cases to rest upon and therefore i● swearing he calleth ●od for a witness of the trut● of that he affirms or promiseth I say calleth Go● to be a witness of the truth of what he saith becau●● he is Truth it self and cannot lie Heb. 6. 18. No● this calling for or asking of a Testimony from Go● makes an Oath become a part of Gods Worshi● and gives him a great deal of Glory and Honour For hereby he that sweareth acknowledgeth 〈◊〉 Omnisciency and Infallible Truth and Righteousne●●● His Omnisciency is acknowledged for by this appe●● to Him we imply and acknowledge him to be 〈◊〉 Searcher of the hearts and reins that he knows 〈◊〉 secret intents and meaning of our spirits His 〈◊〉 preme and Infallible Truth is also acknowledged 〈◊〉 this is manifestly carried in an Oath That thoug● am a false and deceitful Creature and my affirmati●● cannot obtain universal and full credence yet that is greater than I by whose Name I swear cannot deceive And lastly his Righteousness is acknowledged in an Oath for he that sweareth doth either expresly or implicitly put himself under the curse and wrath of God if he swear falsely Every Oath hath ●n execration or imprecation in it Neh. 10. 29. They entered into a curse and an

houses it went out for want of matter but here the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone kindles it The pleasure was quickly gone but the sting and torment abide for ever Who knoweth the power of his anger Even according to his fear so is his wrath Psal. 90. 11. Oh consider how will his Almighty Power rack and torment thee Think on this when sin comes with a smiling face towards thee in the temptation Oh think If the humane nature of Christ recoyled when his cup of Wrath was given him to drink if he were fore amazed at it how shalt thou a poor worm bear and grapple with it for ever Arg. 9. Consider further how closely soever thou carriest thy wickedness in this world tho it should never be discovered here yet there is a day coming when all will out and that before Angels and men God will rip up thy secret sins in the face of that great Congregation at the day of judgment then that which was done in secret shall be proclaimed as upon the house-top Luke 12. 3. Then God will judge the secrets of men Rom. 2. 16. the hidden things of darkness will be brought into the open light Sinner there will be no sculking for thee in the Grave no declining this Bar thou refusedst indeed to come to the Throne of Grace when God invited thee but there will be no refusing to appear before the Bar of Iustice when Christ shall summon thee And as thou canst not decline appearance so neither canst thou then palliate and hide thy wickedness any longer for then shall the Books be opened the Book of God's Omniscience and the Book of thine own Conscience wherein all thy secret Villany is recorded for though it ceased to speak to thee yet it ceased not to write and record thy actions If thy shameful sins should be divulged now it would make thee tear off thy hair in indignation but then all will be discovered Angels and men shall point at thee and say Lo this is the Man this is he that carried it so smoothly in in the world Mr. Thomas Fuller relates a story of Ottocar King of Bohemia who refusing to do his homage to Rodolphus the first Emperour being at last sorely chastised with war condescended to do him homage privately in a Tent but the Tent was so contrived by the Emperours Servants saith the Historian that by drawing one cord it was all taken away and so Ottocar presented on his knees doing Homage to the Emperour in the view of three Armies O Sirs you think to carry it closely you wait for the Twilight that none may see you but alas it will be to no end this day will discover it and then what confusion and everlasting shame will cover thee Will not this work then Arg. 10. Lastly consider but one thing more and I have done By this sin thou dost not only damn thine own soul but drawest another to hell with thee This sin is not as a single bullet that kills but one but as a chain-shot it kills many two at least unless God give repentance And if he should give thee repentance yet the other party may never repent and so perish for ever through thy wickedness and oh what a sad consideration will that be to thee that such a poor soul is in Hell or likely to go thither by thy means Thou hast made fast a snare upon a Soul which now thou canst not untie thou hast done that which may be matter of sorrow to thee as long as thou livest but though thou canst grieve for it thou canst not remedy it In other sins it is not so If thou hadst stoll'n anothers Goods restitution might be made to the injured party but here can be none If thou hadst murthered another thy sin was thine own not his that was murthered by thee but this is a complicated sin defiling both at once and if neither repent then oh what a sad greeting will these poor wretches have in hell● h●w will they curse the day that ever they saw each others face Oh what an aggravation of their misery will this be For look as it will be matter of joy in Heaven to behold such there as we have been instrumental to save so must it needs be a stinging aggravation of the misery of the damned to look upon those that have been the instruments and means of their damnation Oh methinks if there be any tenderness at all in thy Conscience if this sin have not totally brawned and stupified thee these Arguments should pierce like a sword through thy Guilty Soul Reader I beseech thee by the mercies of God if thou hast defiled thy Soul by this abominable sin speedily to repent Oh get the blood of sprinkling upon thee there is yet mercy for such a wretch as thou art if thou wilt accept the terms of it Such were some of you but you are washed 1 Cor. 6. 11. Publicans and Harlots may enter into the Kingdom of God Matth. 21. 31. Though but few such are recovered yet how knowest thou but the hand of mercy may pull thee as a brand out of the fire if now thou wilt return and seek it with tears Though it be a fire that consumeth unto destruction as Iob calls it Iob 1. 12. yet it is not an unquenchable fire the blood of Christ can quench it And for you whom God hath kept hitherto from the contagion of it O bless the Lord and use all Gods means for the prevention of it The seeds of this sin are in thy nature no thank to thee but restraining grace that thou art not delivered up to it also And that thou mayest be kept out of this Pit conscionably practice these few Directions Direct 1. Beg of God a clean heart renewed and sanctified by saving grace all other endeavours do but palliate a cure the root of this is deep in thy nature Oh get that mortified Matth. 15. 9. Out of the heart proceed fornication adulteries 1 Pet. 2. 11 12. Abstain from fleshly lust having your Conversation honest The lust must first be subdued before the conversation can be honest Direct 2. Walk in the fear of God all the day long and in the sense of his Omniscient eye that is ever upon thee This kept Ioseph from this sin Gen 39. 9. How can I do this wickedness and sin agains● God Consider the darkness hideth not from him but shineth as the light If thou couldst find a place where the eye of God could not discover thee it were somewhat Thou darest not to act this wickedness in the presence of a Child and wilt thou adventure to commit it before the face of God See that Argument Prov. 5. 20 And why wilt thou my Son be ravisht with a strange woman and embrace the bosome of a stranger For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord and he pondereth all his goings Direct 3. Avoid lewd Company and the Society of unclean

of God The Obligation of it is by Casuists judged to be as great as that of an Oath It is a sacred and solemn bond wherein a Soul binds it self to God in lawful things and being once bound by it it is a most heinous evil to violate it It is an high piece of dishonesty to fail in what we have promised to men saith Dr. Hall but to disappoint God in our Vows is no less than Sacriledge The act is free and voluntary but if once a just and lawful vow or promise hath past your lips saith he you may not be false to God in keeping it It is with us for our vows as it was with Ananias and Saphirah for their substance VVhilst it remained saith Peter was it not thine own He needed not to sell and give it but if he will give he may not reserve it is death to save some he lies to the Holy Ghost that defalks from that which he engaged himself to bestow If thou have vowed to the mighty God of Iacob look to it that thou be faithful in thy performance for he is a great and jealous God and will not be mocked Now I am confident there be many among you that in your former distresses have solemnly engaged your Souls thus to God that if he would deliver you out of those dangers and spare your lives you would walk more strictly and live more holy lives than ever you did You have it may be engaged your Souls to the Lord against those sins as Drunkenness Lying Swearing Uncleanness or whatsoever evil it was that your Conscience then smote you for the vows of God I say are upon many of you But have you performed those vows that your lips have uttered Have you dealt truly with God or have you mocked him and lyed unto him with your lips and omitted those very duties you promised to perform and return'd to the self-same evils you promised to forsake I only put the question let your Consciences answer it But if it be so indeed that thou art a person that makest light of thy engagements to God as indeed Seamens Vows and Sick mens Promises are for the most part deceitful and slippery things being extorted from them by fear of Death and not from any deep resentment of the necessity and weight of those Duties to which they bind their Souls I say if this sin lie upon any of your Souls I advise you to go to God speedily and bewail it humble your self greatly before him admire his patience in forbearing you and pay unto him what your lips have promised And to move you thereunto let these Considerations among many other be laid to heart Consid. 1. Think seriously upon the greatness of that Majesty whom thou hast wronged by lying to him and falsifying thy engagements Oh think sadly on this It is not man whom thou hast abused but God even that God in whose hand thy life and breath is For although as one truly observes there be not in every vow a formal invocation of God God being the proper Correlate and as it were a party to every vow and therefore not formally to be invoked for the contestatio● of it yet there is in every vow an implicite calling God to witness so that certainly the Obligation of a Vow is not one jot beneath that of an Oath Now if God be as a party to whom thou hast past thy promise and its obligation on that ground be so great oh what hast thou done for a poor worm to mock with the most glorious majesty of Heaven and break Faith with God what a dreadful thing is that If it were but to thy fellow-creature though the sin would be great yet not like unto this Let me say to thee as the Prophet Isai. 7. 13. It is a small thing for you to weary men but you will weary my God also If you dare to deceive and abuse men dare you do so by God also Oh if the exceeding villanies of the sin do not affect thee yet methinks the danger of provoking so dreadful a Majesty against thee should And therefore consider Consid. 2. Secondly That the Lord will most certainly be avenged upon thee for these things except thou repent O read and tremble at the word of God Eccles. 5. 4. When thou vowest a vow unto God defer not to pay it for he hath no pleasure in fools pay that which thou hast vowed But better it is that thou shouldest not vow than that thou shouldest vow and not not pay Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin neithey say thou before the Angel that it was an errour wherefore should God be angry at thy vice and destroy the works of thy hands Mark God will be angry and in that anger he will destroy the Work of thy hand i. e. saith Diodate Bring thee and all thy actions to nought by reason af thy perjury Now the anger of God which thy breach of promise kindles as appears by this Text is a dreadful fire Oh what Creature can stand before it as Asaph speaks Psal. 76. 7. Thou even thou art to be feared and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry Consid. 3. Consider thirdly that all this while thou sinnest against knowledge and Conviction for did not thy Conscience plainly convince thee when imminent danger open'd its mouth that the matter of thy neglected vow was a most necessary duty If not why didst thou bind thy Soul to forsake such practises and to perform such duties Thou didst so look upon them then by which it appears thy Conscience is convinced of thy duty but Lust masters and over-rules And it so poor sinner what a case art thou in to go on from day to day sinning against Light and Knowledge Is not this a fearful rate of sinning And will not such sinners be plunged deeper into Hell than the poor Indians that never saw the evil of their ways as thou doest Ponder but two or three Scriptures in thy thoughts and see what a dreadful way of sinning this is Rom. 2. 9. ' Tribtlation anguish and wrath to every Soul of man that doth evil to the Iew first and also to the Gentile To the Jew first i. e. to the Jew especially and principally he had a precedency in means and light and so let him have in punishment So Iam. 4. 17. To him thrt knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is sin i. e. Sin with a witness horrid sin sin that surpasses the deeds of the wicked So Luke 12. 47. And that servant that knew his Lords will and prepared not himself neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes Which is a plain allusion to the Custom of the Iews in punishing an offender who being convicted the Judge was to see him bound fast to a Pillar his cloaths stript off and an Executioner with a Scourge to beat him with so many stripes But now those