Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	faith_n	good_a	timothy_n	1,872	5	11.8568	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A70803	A decad of caveats to the people of England of general use in all times, but most seasonable in these, as having a tendency to the satisfying such as are not content with the present government as it is by law establish'd, an aptitude to the setling the minds of such as are but seekers and erraticks in religion an aim at the uniting of our Protestant-dissenters in church and state : whereby the worst of all conspiracies lately rais'd against both, may be the greatest blessing, which could have happen'd to either of them : to which is added an appendix in order to the conviction of those three enemies to the deity, the atheist, the infidel and the setter up of science to the prejudice of religion / by Thomas Pierce ...	Pierce, Thomas, 1622-1691.	1679 (1679)	Wing P2176; Wing P2196; ESTC R18054	221,635	492

shall apostatize from the Faith of Christ A very evident opposition unto final perseverance in Both those Places and 't is as evident that the Apostasie there prophesied of is from a State of Sanctification For the Love waxing cold and the Faith departed from That expressed by our Saviour and This by our Apostle are the same in both Texts in which they ought to have persever'd So again in the first Chapter of the same Epistle to Timothy S. Paul exhorts him to hold fast faith and a good Conscience which some says He having put away concerning Faith have made shipwrack That This was justifying Faith which was thus put away and suffer'd shipwrack may appear by two reasons clearly arising out of the Text First because it was That to the holding fast of which S. Paul does there exhort Timothy next because it was That which was attended with a good Conscience If a man saith our Saviour abide not in Me he is cast forth as a Branch and is withered and cast into the Fire clearly spoken of a Reprobate who had formerly been in Christ but abideth not in him and was therefore cast forth as a wither'd branch A Text to which our Apostle in probability does allude where he tells us of certain Branches broken off from The Olive Tree though once partakers of the Root and Fatness of it and broken off they were for their unbelief From whence he exhorts his Believing Romans to beware lest they who now stand by Faith do also fall into infidelity and They be also broken off who are grafted in There are that hear the word of God and receive it with Joy and indure for a while in that good Course and yet in time of Persecution they are offended and fall away saith our blessed Lord. Some have erred from the Faith through the Love of money saith S. Paul to his Son Timothy and in the Eighteenth of S. Matthew the Servant forgiven v. 32. was yet condemn'd v. 35. The same is signified by the Parable of an unclean Spirit cast out by Repentance or regeneration and re-entring by a Relapse into the House of a man's Heart well swept and garnish'd and that with 7 Devils worse if possible than himself so as the Person he repossesseth is worse than ever Which very Parable of our Saviour S. Peter seems to point at in the plainest terms whilst he tells us of some so intangled and overcome by those pollutions of the world which before they had escap'd as that their later end was very much worse then their beginning Again 't is said by the same Apostle in the Chapter going before that He who lacketh those things by which he is to make his Election sure has forgotten that he was purged from his old Sins that is to say that he was regenerate § 8. Whosoever is not satisfied with what I have hitherto alledg'd out of holy writ let him tell me what he thinks of That unpardonable Sin The Sin against the Holy Ghost Let him say whether that Sin can ever be possibly committed unless by one who was once enlightned and had tasted of the heavenly Gift had been made a partaker of the Holy Ghost and of the good word of God and the powers of the World to come Let him weigh the fourth Verse and compare it with the Sixth of the Sixth Chapter to the Hebrews and Both together with the Comment of learned Calvin thereupon if he will not trust That of our most learned Dr. Hammond Let him consider if 't is not possible for such a man to fall away who is so enlightned and if 't is not impossible for such a man falling away from such a Station and State of Grace to be renew'd again unto repentance But above all let him consider the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the sixth verse of That Chapter which signifies expresly a second regeneration and every second implies a first The Apostle does not say barely it is impossible to renew them if such as they fall away but that 't is impossible to renew them again clearly intimating unto us these two Illations First that a man may so fall from a State of Grace as not to be able to rise again Next that the Grace he falls from was such as gave him a Salvability or such as by which he was in a State of Regeneration § 9. Being about to carry my proof from Vniversals to Individuals I shall not instance in Saul with S. Cyprian and S. Austin much less in Ahab with S. Jerom and S. Chrysostom much less yet in Cain and Esau nor yet in Alexander and Demas Philetus and Hymenaeus Phygellus and Hermogenes who were Deserters of Christ in his Apostles Wasters of Conscience and Shipwrackers of Faith I shall not instance in Dorotheus who fell away to serve Idols at Thessalonica nor yet in Nicolaus who though one of the seven Deacons was yet the Author of that old Haeresie which carries the Name of The Nicolaitans much less shall I instance in the most excellent of the Haeresiarchs Nestorius Photinus Apollinaris and Pelagius for these last may be the subjects of great Dispute and whatsoever may be true in the Judgment of Faith yet the Judgment of Charity forbids me to affirm that These did finally fall away But of Judas I suppose there is no Dispute For He was chosen by Christ as one of the Twelve select Apostles Joh. 6. 70. and is said to have been given by God the Father to God The Son whose word he kept for some time Joh. 17. 6. and was justified by Faith v. 8. prayed for by Christ not as one of the World but as His peculiar v. 9. He confess'd and taught Christ and did Miracles in his Name Matth. 10. 5 7 8. He was one of Christ's Sheep v. 16. had been grafted into Christ Joh. 15. 2. notwithstanding all which he did not onely fall from but betray his Master hang'd himself as a man Lost and is call'd by our Lord expresly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Son of Perdition § 10. I would not here be so mistaken as if I meant that God's Elect can fall away finally from Grace I am so very far from That that I affirm it to be impossible and to imply a Contradiction For They and They onely are God's Elect who do finally persevere in a Christian Course who being delivered out of the hands of their Enemies do not onely serve God in holiness and righteousness for so do many that are called and are not chosen but they serve him in Both together All the days of their Lives as Zachary goes on in his Benedictus We must therefore so distinguish in our Discourse of this subject between The Regenerate and The Elect as still to carry in our minds as well their Difference as their Agreement In This they agree that all The Elect are still Regenerate In This they differ that all The

its Prosecution § 5. But being seriously desirous to speak as usefully as I can and that within the Time allow'd I am to take and give notice of three sorts of Libertines in these our days who either have wilfully transcrib'd or else have stumbl'd accidentally upon some of the worst of Haeresies in the Primitive Times and are as dangerous to others as destructive to Themselves Some are of opinion that if Vessels of Election they cannot Sin do what they can They are placed in such a state of Impeccability that on a supposal of their willingness they are not able to do amiss And This expresly was the Haeresie of The infamous Manichaeus as S. Jerome tells Ctesiphon adding also that Priscilian was a Bird of that Feather Others are of opinion that though they can commit Sin God cannot see it in his Elect. And This expresly was the Haeresie of Marcus who taught the poor and rich Women whom he debauch'd and made His that they might fearlesly and freely be as voluptuous as they pleas'd because by vertue of their Redemption they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at once inapprehensible and invisible to the Judge Just as Homer feign'd Pallas to have cover'd her self with Pluto's Helmet that so she might not be seen by Mars A Privilege as sensless as That which was allow'd to the Ring of Gyges There is a Third sort of Thinkers who say that God can see Sin but cannot punish it in his Elect or impute it to them and that they are so sure-footed that though they slip never so grosly or stumble never so often yet for all That they can never fall not only not finally but but not so much as for a Time And This expresly was the Haeresie of Jovinian which S. Jerome in a whole Book has very effectually confuted that They who once have been regenerate in the Laver of Baptism cannot be tempted by the Devil so as to cease being regenerate We have the Sum of all Three and the Sequel too in the one Valentinian Haeresie which was one of the first and the worst of all as the holy Father and Martyr Irenaeus shews it at large What the Malignity of it is and to how deep a degree of Wickedness 't is apt at least in its nature to betray them that own it They Themselves have best told us by This Similitude That as a Mass of pure Gold in the foulest Dirt does not lose so much as its beauty much less its nature but still retains the whole goodness and worth of Gold so let the Saints that is Themselves lie and wallow whilst they will in the Mire of Sins and in those Sins especially whereof the Scripture saith plainly that they who do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God yet they cannot thereby lose their spirituality and perfection They cannot cease from being Branches of That true Vine into which they were once ingrafted § 6. Now that other mens Dangers may be employ'd to keep us safe and that other mens real Miseries may be improv'd to our being Happy we must convince our selves throughly of the Truth of this Doctrin which in my Text is most clearly and unavoidably imply'd To wit that He who now stands in a Christian State of Repentance and Conversion and a blotting out of Sins which is Justification may possibly fall into a dangerous yea and a damnable Condition unless he takes such strict heed as our blessed Apostle does here injoyn And here I cannot but be sorry that so clear a Text as This should stand in need of any Sermon to give it Evidence That our Apostle's Exhortation should be so little argumentative in some mens minds that we must light up our Candles to shew his Sun I much admire that those Libertines who think they stand in no need of this holy Caveat are not sufficiently convinc'd by their own Experience that since their having been regenerate in the Sacrament of Baptism which is no less than Circumcision a Seal of the righteousness of Faith they have faln into deadly and wasting Sins Lord how many Sons and Daughters of our one Common Mother the Church of England have renounced the very Baptism by which alone they were Christianiz'd have abandon'd the House of Prayer and in it the Lord's Table and on it the outward Sign of invisible Grace have fallen away before our faces into the scandalous commissions of Schism and Haeresie have turn'd apostates from the Faith which was once deliver'd unto the Saints have indulgently marched on in the ways of Corah in the Sins of Sacrilege and Rebellion and still are snoring in the Impieties of being heady high-minded Despisers of Dominion and Evil speakers of Dignities ever Opposers of Authority ordain'd by God which is to be a worse Thing than a Common Drunkard § 7. How many Examples are there in Scripture of final Apostasie from Grace or from a State of Regeneration enough to dit the widest Mouth of the daring'st Gnostick How many of God's peculiar people under the Law did fall away from their acknowledgment of the onely true God into the worst of all Sins which is Idolatry and into the worst of all Idolatries which is the worshipping of Devils and into the worst of that worst too not by offering their Sheep and Oxen but their own Sons and their own Daughters unto Devils How did the faithfull City become an Harlot how did her Silver become arrant Dross She was once full of Judgment Righteousness lodged in her but now Murtherers Be astonished O ye Heavens at this and be horribly afraid as God himself spake by the Prophet Jeremy for my People have committed two evils forsaken me the fountain of living waters and bewn them out Cisterns broken Cisterns which hold no water Hast thou not procured this unto thy self in that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God I had planted thee a noble Vine wholly a right seed How then art thou turned into the degenerate Plant of a strange Vine unto me Nor is it onely under the Legal but under the Gospel Dispensation that many begin to build well on a good foundation but do not finish Many end in the flesh who began in the Spirit and Many are called but few are chosen Many are sanctified but few are sav'd Many are justified for a time but very few in comparison do persevere unto the End That saying of our Saviour Matth. 24. 12 13. The love of many shall wax cold but he that indureth unto the end shall be saved S. Paul reflecting on has explained Thus That some in the later times shall depart from the Faith giving heed to seducing Spirits and doctrines of Devils speaking lyes in hypocrisie having their Conscience seared with an hot iron There the word in the Original is very observable They shall depart saith the English 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Greek They

And seeing 't is one of God's Attributes to be by Nature Incomprehensible who were he not so could not be God 'T is fit the learnedst of his Creatures should be contentedly in the Dark as to many things the firm Belief of which things they stick not to testifie with their Blood If we believe the Will of God to be revealed in his Word and therein the Three Subsistences in but one and the same Substance we may not be vext with the Experience of our being yet unqualify'd to comprehend how it should be For whatsoever things they are we are commanded but to Believe it cannot possibly be a Sin not to be able to know exactly But 't is a Sin to be disquieted that the sublimest Things of God do exceed our Reach and that whilst we are finite Infinite Things will be above us To comprehend what is finite a finite Intellect is sufficient and as sufficient also it is to Apprehend what is Infinite though not at all to comprehend it so great and wide the difference is between an Apprehensive and a Comprehensive knowledge but an Adaequate knowledge of God is onely competent to God As for Certainty and Knowledge God has wisely dealt to us such fit Proportions that we have Ground enough given us in God's own Word to want with comfort what we have not and to injoy what we have with Moderation 'T is there we are assured of a threefold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Full assurance A Full assurance of Faith Heb. 10. 22. A Full assurance of Hope Heb. 6. 11. A Full assurance of Vnderstanding Col. 2. 2. The last imports a full Knowledge of what is Knowable in God and fit or good for us to Know which leads us on to an Acknowledgement of the Mysteries of God in whom are hid all the Treasures of Wisedom and Knowledge And this does prompt me to observe S. Paul's Distinction between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Things of God which may be known Rom. 1. 19. and the other Things of God which are Hidden from us Col. 2. 3. As for God's Existence from everlasting to everlasting his omnipresence his omnipotence his all-sufficience and his omniscience his Truth and Justice his Love and Goodness and the like in respect of all These we perfectly Know whom we Believe We have literally speaking a Full assurance of Vnderstanding But for the Trinity of Persons the Incarnation of God the Son his Circumcision his Crucifixion his Satisfaction for all our Sins the Resurrection of our Bodies and Immortality of our Souls in respect of all These we rather Believe whom we have known We have in These a Full assurance of Faith and Hope onely And the perfection of our knowing the things of God which may be known is Ground enough for our Believing the things of God which are Hidden from us § 19. Of what has hitherto been said Two good Vses may here be made The one of Confutation the other of Comfort That belongs to Those men who are affectedly Vnbelievers This will redound unto our selves when in meer humane frailty we sometimes waver And Both together will be an Answer to the Third Quaere which I propos'd touching the Powers and the Effects and the great Benefits of Believing as well as of knowing whom we believe clearly implied in the Text by the Causal For as That imports S. Paul's Reason why he was not asham'd of the things he suffer'd For this Cause says He to Timothy I suffer these things But I am not asham'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For I know whom I have believed § 20. First to the Wilfull Vnbeliever who does affect being Incredulous and casts about for all Colours to nourish the humour in himself I shall argue Thus. That He who is so thick-headed as to alledge he is not sure there is a Life after Death and a Day of Judgement must needs confess himself so Dull too as not to be surer that there is None And 't is sufficient to oblige a prudent Person to live exactly upon the account of Prudence onely that a life after Death and so a Judgment if he does not yet fully know it may happen to him for ought he Knows And that Aeternity of Punishments as well as of Rewards is barely Possible And that the Negative is not Demonstrable any more than the Affirmative Yea that the Negative cannot be possibly because a Negative but the Affirmative as it is such has a passive power at least which the Negative has not of being the subject of Demonstration For thus the Existence of a Deity may be demonstrated by a Person who is of greater Perspicuity than the man who Doubts of it though not by Him who is so stupid and in a manner so unman'd as to be able to make a Doubt in so clear a Case Whereas the Negative to This that a Deity does not exsist can be demonstrated by None how acute soever nor was ever yet pretended to be Demonstrable by Any The most insipid of Fools is able to say there is no God and it can be but said by the wittiest Atheist But to return to That Instance which was of an Article of our Faith and of Faith alone to wit a Punishment Aeternal or a Life after Death or a Day of Judgment I say an Evil which is uncertain and by consequence so contingent as that it may or may not be must be provided against in Policy if not in Conscience or Religion by one who would not be a Fool as well as an Epicure or an Atheist A Lazarus may be sent out of Abraham's Bosom though de facto none is and a Dives out of the Deep too to certifie the Truth of an Heaven and Hell upon a supposal that such there are But on a supposal that there are not nor an Existence after Death 'T is plain that None can be sent to us with a Certificate that there is None From whence 't is evident that the Believer must needs be much on the safest side because the Object of his Belief is under an evident Possibility of Demonstration whereas the Contrary to This is flatly Impossible to be prov'd Besides there is This great Difference too that if the Believer is deceiv'd he does but lose the short pleasures of vitious living but if the Incredulous is deceiv'd He incurs the long Torments or rather endless and so not long which will be one day the Wages of it § 21. But in dealing as I now do with the obstinate Skeptick or the affected Vnbeliever I onely argue from his own Principles of carnal Reason and common Sense And have spoken onely of Faith as the Child of Fear which is of the Flesh Not a word of That Faith which is the Fruit of Spirit and is not acquired but infus'd nor the product of Art but a work of Grace The Faith imported in my Text is of a far more sublime and transcendent