not naturally offer up our bodies a sacrifice to sinne and to the Devil For meerly a natural man serveth sinne and the Devil with all the parts of his body Therefore the Apostle speaking to persons converted Rom. 7. 19. saith As ye have yeelded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity so now yeeld your members servants to righteousness Thy eye was once the Devils and sinnes thy tongue was thy ear was by all these sinne was constantly committed so now have a sanctified body an holy eye a godly ear an heavenly tongue a pure body And indeed we need not runne for Texts of Scripture experience doth abundantly confirm the preparedness and readiness of the body to all suitable and pleasing iniquity Consider likewise that pregnant place Heb. 10. 22. Let us draw near with a pure heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water As the heart must be cleansed from all sinnes that our consciences may condemn us for so our bodies likewise must be washed with pure water it is an allusive expression to the legal custom which was for all before they drew nigh to the service of God to sprinkle themselves with pure water to take off the legal uncleanness of the body And thus we must still in a spiritual way that so the body may be fitted for Gods service As it is said of Christ Heb. 10. 5. A body thou hast prepared for me because the Spirit of God did so purifie that corpulent mass of which Christs body was made that being without all sinne he was thereby fitted for the work of a Mediator For as for the Socinian Interpretation who would apply it to Christs body made immortal and glorious as if it were to be understood of Christ entring into Heaven the Context doth evidently confute it that which the Apostle following the Septuaginnt in the original calleth Preparing the body out of which it is alledged Ps 40. 6. It is my ears hast thou opened aliuding to the Jewish custom who when a servant would not leave his Master his ears were to be boared and so he was to continue for ever with him The ears were boared because they are the instrument of hearing and obedience and thereby was signified that he would diligently hearken to his Masters commands Thus it was with Christ his ears were opened his whole body prepared to do the will of God Now as it was thus with Christ so in some respect it must be with us God must prepare and fit a body for us till grace sanctifie and polish it there is no readiness to any holy duty The seeing eye and the hearing ear God is said to make both Prov. 20. 12. By these instances out of Scripture you see what a Leprosie of sin hath spread over the body as well as the soul Oh that therefore we were sensible of these sinfull bodies that are such clogs to us such burdens to us in the way to Heaven But let us proceed to shew the sinfulness thereof in particulars SECT IV. The Sinfulness of the Body discovered in particulars ¶ 1. It is not now Instrumental and serviceable to the Soul in holy Approches to God but is a clog and burden FIrst The Body is not now instrumental and serviceable to the soul in holy approaches to God but is a clog and burden whereas to Adam abiding in the state of innocency the body was exceeding usefull to glorifie God with The body was as wings to the soul or as wheels to the chariot though weighty in themselves yet they do ableviate and help to motion They are both Onera and adjumenta oneranda exonerant Thus did the body to Adam's soul but now such is the usefulness yet the hinderance of the body to the souls operations that the very Heathens have complained of it calling it Carcer animae and Sepulchrum animae the prison of the soul the very grave of the soul as if the soul were buried in the body How much more may Christianity complain of this weight of the body while it is to runne its race to Heaven Mezenius is noted for a cruel fact of binding dead bodies to live men that so by the noisom stink of those carkasses the men tied to them might at last die a miserable death Truly by this may be represented original sinne not fully purged away by sanctification The godly do complain of this body of sinne as a noisom carkass joyned to them and with Paul cry out Wretched men that we are who shall deliver us from this bondage ¶ 2. It doth positively affect and defile the Soul SEcondly The bodies sinfulness doth not only appear thus privatively in being not subservient and helpfull to the soul But it doth also positively affect and defile the soul not by way of any phisical contact for so a body cannot work upon a spirit but by way of sympathy for seeing the soul and body are two constituent part essentially of man and the soul doth inform the body by an immediate union hence it is that there is a mutual fellowship one with another there is a mutual and reciprocal acting as it were upon one another the soul greatly affected doth make a great change upon the body and the body greatly distempered doth also make a wonderfull change upon the mind and if thereby man fall into madness and distractions why not also into sinne and pollutions of the mind Thus the corrupt soul maketh the body more vile and the corrupt body maketh the soul more sinful and so they do advance sinne in a mutual circle of causality Even as vapours cause clouds and clouds again dislolving do make vapours Thy sinful soul makes thy body more wicked and thy sinful body heightens the impiety of thy soul ¶ 3. A man acts more according to the body and the inclinations thereof then the mind with the Dictates thereof THirdly Herein is the pollution of the body manifested In that a man doth act more according to the body and the inclinations thereof then the mind with the dictates thereof He is body rather then soul for whereas in mans Creation the soul had the dominion and the body was made only for the use of the soul now this order is inverted by original sinne the body prevaileth over the soul and the soul is enslaved to the propensities thereof Even Aristotle said that homo was magis sensus quam intellectus more sence then understanding and so more corporeal then spiritual man is compounded of two parts which do in their nature extraemly differ from each other the body that is of dust and vile matter and such materials God would have man formed of even at first he did not make mans body of some admirable quintessential matter as Philosophers say the heavens are made of but of that which was most vile and contemptible to teach man humility even in his very original and most absolute
extraordinary officer an Evangelist is not here to be disputed Paul writeth this Epistle to him concerning his end why he left him there and also exciteth him to a lively performance of his office especially in a sharp and severe rebuking of them because of their doting still about Jewish fables and ceremonies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 clearly without ambiguities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so Varinus or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so Hesychius or cuttingly as it were to go to the bottom of the putrified sore that no unsound core be left behind so Illyricus And to evidence the crime of the Cretians the more he brings a testimony from Epimenides whom he cals their Prophet by way of conception for they esteemed him so sacrificing to him for he pretended in furious fits to be like one acted with a divine spirit and rapture Now this famous brand he stigmatizeth the Cretians with That they were alwayes liars c. And although Epemenides being a Cretian it might be retorted that he lied in saying The Cretians were lyars yet the speech is to be understood not of every one but of the general part and therefore the Apostle saith This witnesse is true From whence Aquinas gathereth That wheresoever there is any truth a Doctor in the Church may make his use of it because all truth is of God The use here is not so much for confirmation as conviction if you ask Why must these Cretians be so sharply rebuked for their Doctrine about Jewish Ceremonies seeing Rom. 14. The Apostle doth there prescribe another deportment to such viz. of for bearance and condescension The Answer is Those that are there spoken of were such as did erre out of infirmity and weaknesse but these in Crete were such as did obstinately and pertinaciously defend these false Doctrines therefore they must be severely dealt with yet the end of this censure is medicinal That they may be sound in the faith all errour is a sicknesse and a disease The Apostle having thus informed about Titus his duty he proceedeth to some Doctrinal Instruction about those erroneous opinions instancing in one which was greatly controverted in the Infancy of the Church and that is about the choice of meats and abstinence from them To obviate any corrupt Doctrine herein he layeth down this weighty Proposition To the pure all things are pure that is to such who are sanctified by the Christan saith and are righly instructed in Christian liberty all things viz. of this kind not adultery fornication or such sinnes are pure to them they may lawfully use them Every creature as the Apostle elswhere being sanctified by the Word of God and prayer This Truth he amplifieth by the contrary Proposition To the defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure this is more then if he had said All things are unclean for that might have been limited as in the former to things of this kind but saying that nothing is pure to them is signified hereby that all is pitch as it were that the touch That like a Leper even good things do not purifie them but they defile them And then you have the cause and fountain of this Even their mind and conscience is defiled No wonder the streams are polluted when the fountains are By mind is meant the speculative part of our understanding by conscience the practical part and therefore having spoken of the pollution of the former we now proceed to the later This Text is deservedly brought by Protestant Authors to prove that all the actions of unregenerate persons and much more of Infidels are altogether sinne that there is not one truly-good action to be found amongst them and that because the mind and coscience is thus all over polluted The Popish Interpreters because they are for the Negative yea some going so farre as to plead for the salvation of Infidels though without the knowledge of Christ do limit the Text too much as if it were onely to be understood of those whose minds were not informed with true knowledge nor their consciences rightly guided in those Disputes about Judaical Ceremonies as if to such only all things were unclean but although these persons gave the occasion yet the Apostle maketh an universal Proposition and therefore he doth not onely say the defiled but unbehevers which comprehends all those that have no true knowledge of Christ and the reason is univocally belonging to every one for every mans mind and conscience without saith is polluted and cannot please God The Fountain thus cleared this streame of Doctrine floweth from it viz. That the consciences of all men by nature are polluted and defiled Even their mind and constience saith the Text signifying by that expression that there remaineth no hope as it were for them when the foundations are thus removed To this defiled conscience in Scripture is opposite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a good conscience 1 Pet. 3. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 3. 9 a pure or clean and that by the bloud of Christ Heb. 9. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 13. 18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 24. 16. And this kind of conscience onely those that are regenerate have But an evil conscience is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as here in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Heb. 9. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 4. 2. There is also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a weak conscience but that the godly may have The conscience were are to treat upon is the defiled one and that not so much as made more impure and sinfull by voluntary impieties as what it is by nature in evey one And before we come to demonstrate the pollution of it it is good to take notice of the nature of it The New Testament useth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 about thirty times and that for conscience In the Old Testament the Hebrew word Madani is once rendred Eccles 10. by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but most commonly that which in the New Testament is called conscience in the old is called Leb the heart of a man So Davia's heart is said to smite him apponere ad cor and redire and cor are nothing but the acts of conscience and thus sometimes in the New Testament 1 John 3. 20. If our heart condemn us It 's observed that the first signification of the word Leb is a conspersion or meal sprinkled with water Thus the heart of a man is a lump as it were watered and sprinkled with some common principles and apprehensions about God and what is good and evil As for the nature of conscience it self it is not good to be too nice in Scholastical Disputes about it remembring that of Bernard There was Multum seientiae but param conscientiae in the world It 's disputed Whether conscience be a power or an habit or an act onely that it is not a power Aquinas proveth because that can never be removed or laid aside or changed whereas conscience may
thy arms as Simeon did bodily but then spiritually thy conscience is to trouble thee and to accuse thee for it But how averse and froward is the troubled conscience in this particular How hardly instructed evangelically How unwilling to rest upon Christ onely Their conscience that is very tender about other sinnes thinketh it no sinne not to apply Christ yea it disputeth and argueth against it but at last such broken hearts know that they are to make conscience of the premisses as well as the precepts conscience of faith as well as repentance Heb 9. 14. The Apostle there teacheth us That it is the blood of Christ which purgeth the conscience Run not to any thing but to the bloud of Christ when thou art slung behold this Serpent Let thy conscience be Evangelical as well as Legal The Gospel is Gods Word as well as the Law and by that thy conscience is obliged to lay hold on Christ for pardon CHAP. III. Of the Pollution of the Memory SECT I. 2 PET. 1. 12. Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you alwayes in remembrance of these things though ye know them and be established in the present Truth THe original pollution of the Mind and Conscience hath at large been declared We proceed now to the Memory which belongeth also to the intellectual part of a man And as Philosophy informeth us That it is the treasurer which conserveth the species so Divinity will inform us That it is an evil treasure or shop wherein are stored up all kinds of evil The Text mentioned will suppeditate fit matter for this Doctrine And First We must diligently explain the words wherein we may take notice 1. Of the illative particle or note of inference Wherefore He had exhorted them To give all diligence to make their calling and election sure A necessary duty We strive to make our outward estate and the evidences of that sure but make sure of Heaven make sure of an interest in Christ for this assurance will be a cordial to thee in thy greatest extremities it will make thee above the love of life and the fear of death This duty he encourageth unto by the consequent benefit thereof Hereby an entrance shall be abundantly ministred unto you into the everlasting kingdome of Jesus Christ And having laid this foundation he brings in the infereâ—e in my Text Wherefore I will alwayes put you in remembrance of these things These truths are so necessary so excellent that you are to have them alwayes in your mind and withall your memories though regenerate are so weak and sinfull that you need perpetual Monitors and prompters to possesse your souls with these things In the second place we have the Apostle Peter's care purpose and diligence expressed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will not be negligent The Vulgar Latine renders it Incipiam I will begin Estius thinketh it did read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but that word is never used and therefore Estius doth from the Latine go to the Greek Copies which is a practice contrary to the Tridentine Doctrine The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used for to neglect to have no regard to slight and make no matter of a thing Heb. 2. 3. only when the Apostle expresseth his care negatively I will not we must remember that rule given by Interpreters that Adverbs of denying do often express the contrary with the greater Emphasis I will not be negligent that is I will be very diligent and industrious Thirdly You have the Object matter about which this diligence is exercised and that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word signifieth to bring to mind to cause to remember 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth any short writing whereby any thing is brought to our mind The word is used in other places which will be improved in pursuing the Doctrine This is enough for the present that the holy Apostle doth not disdain to become a Monitor and Remembrancer unto them being in this an instrument of the holy Ghost whose work it is to bring things to our mind which are forgotten Fourthly You have the aggravation of this from the time He will put them in remembrance alwayes He will be the good Prophet that will lift up his voice and not cease They must not think his importunity and frequent admonitions needlesse and uncivil They need this duty alwayes from him and therefore in season and out of season he will suggest it to them Lastly There is a further aggravation from the qualification of those he will thus remind Though ye know and be established is the truth This is considerable they had the true knowledge of these things if they had been ignorant if they had not yet understood these things none would wonder at this diligence but though they know these things yet he dare not omit this importunity Again though they did know yet they might be wavering and staggering ready to apostatize from this they did know No they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 established firmly setled and fixed and yet their minds and memories need many divine helps to excite and stirre them up yea this duty upon their memories is so great and necessary that the Apostle further amplifieth himself herein as if enough could not be said about it For at the next verse he giveth us a reason of this faithfulnesse and diligence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I think it fit or just and righteous It did belong to him as an Apostle he could not do what was his duty if he did fail herein and that not for once but continually as long as he was in this Tabernacle he calleth his body a Tabernacle that is Nomen pastorale and militare it denoteth the shortness and brevity of his abode in the world and then the great hardship and difficulty he was to conflict with It implieth he was but a stranger here as all the godly are and therefore whereas the Cretians called those places they had on purpose to receive and lodge strangers in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same word did the Church use and apply to the Burial places of believers signifying hereby that they were pilgrims and strangers He useth also a significant word for his death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is applied to the people of Israel when they came out of Egypt a place of bondage and the Ironsornace so is this world to the godly therefore death is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now in this expression also is couched a reason why he will not cease to put them in mind of these truths for he shall not be long with them he will work while he hath day he remembers that command of our Saviour Negotiamini work be diligent merchants to increase spiritual gain while I come Again There is another latent reason of this duty in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to stirre up It is used of those who awaken any out of sleep Luke 8.
Some say therefore it 's an habit others as Aquinas and Dr Ames answering Mr Perkins his Objection Why it cannot be an act that it is an act But certainly as scientia is sometimes taken for that which is by way of a principle or habit in man and sometimes for that which is by way of act So also it is with conscience it taketh into its nature both that practical habit called by Aristotle Intellectus or the habit of first principles and also the actual application of them for if conscience were not habitual as well as in act There were no conscience in men when they are asleep which yet cannot be denied unto regenerate persons So that as in Scripture saith and love are taken sometimes for the habit of those graces sometimes for the acts of them so also conscience is taken both for the principle and the act it self For to the acting of conscience there is required as all observe a practical Syllogisme Thus Whosoever is a fornicator a drunkard a curser cannot inherit the kingdom of God But I am such a sinner Therefore I cannot inherit the kingdom of God Or on the contrary To him that believeth and is of a broken contrite heart pardon of sinne is promised But I believe and am of a broken heart Therefore to me pardon of sinne is promised Thus conscience is well called the practical understanding for whereas the speculative hath for its object that which is meerly true this looketh upon it as ordinable to action as such a truth is to be brought into particular application To every acting then of conscience compleatly there is required a Syllogisme either interpretative or formal And as Dr. Ames saith well Conscience in the major Proposition is Lex in the Assumption it is Testis in the Conclusion it is Judex In the first Proposition there it is by way of a Law dictating such a thing to be true In the Minor it is a Witnesse bearing witness either against or for our selves And lastly it is a Judge passing sentence according to the premisses And in that it is called conscience it doth relate to another a knowledge with another that is either our selves so that conscience in its actings is conceived as a person as it were distinct from us and so that witnesseth with our hearts what we are and what we have done Hence if a mans conscience lay a sinne to his charge though all the world free him yet he beareth guilt and terrour about with him Quid proderit tibi non habere conscium habenti conscientiam or else which is more probable it is called conscience or knowledge with in respect of God So that in the actings of conscience there is a sense and apprehension of the knowledge of God and his presence Therefore conscience doth alwayes bear some aspect to God this God will see this God will punish this God hath forbidden and therefore let me betime take heed how I do it So that while conscience hath any stirrings and vigorous actings there is some hope in a man Although it be thus generally received by all that conscience belongs to the understanding yet Durand makes it something probable Lib. 2. Distinct 39. Quast 4. That if it be not the will yet the will is necessarily included in the workings of conscience so that conscience doth denote understanding and will also For that act of conscience which is called remordere to bite and sting a man to make him grieve and be sad upon the committing of sinne must flow from the will Secondly Although man hath lost the Image of God and be thus all over polluted Yet he hath not lest neither his soul or the faculties thereof with some imbred principles both speculative and practical which can no more be separated from the soul then the beams from the Sunne Hence that habit of practical principles such as that there is a God that he is to be worshipped that Parents are to be honoured is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à conservando because these are kept and preserved still or rather as Martinius in his Lexicon out of Hierom because these do instigate and incline to keep us from sinne in our actions The Scholmen commonly call it Synderisis and say It is as much as con-electio but this is because of their ignorance of the Greek tongue These Reliques of Gods Image are lest in us still even as after some great fire of a stately Pallace there remain some sparks long after or in the demolishing of glorious Towns there will some rudera some remnants appear of such a building It is true This is questioned by some Illyricus out of his vehement desire to aggravate sinne denieth there is any sense or knowledge of a God left in a man more then in a bruit and endeavoureth to answer those places of Scripture which are brought to prove those common principles or implanted knowledge in a man by nature The Socinians also though plowing with another heifer do deny any implanted knowledge by a God but that it comes by same and tradition On the other side Pelagians Arminians and some Papists fall into another extream for they hold such principles about God and what is good that they may be light enough to guide us to salvation It is not my work now to examine either of these for the truth is between these two There are some implanted practical notions in us about God and what is good agaist those that erre in the defect and yet they are no wayes able to conduct to eternal happiness against those that erre in the excesse To prove this will be to anticipate my self in the protract of this Discourse about original sinne Therefore here only we take it for granted That there are such principles as also a conscience to discern between good and evil which though it be greatly polluted Yet this candle of the Lord as it is called Prov 20. 27. searching the inward things of a man is not quite extinct Whether these common principles are naturally propagated as the body is as the Lutherans say who hold the Traduction of souls from parents or whether they are De Novo created in the creation of the soul as the dissentient party from that opinion must hold is not here to be debated we may conclude That the soul hath a natural testimony in it self about God and therefore in sudden calamities doth immediately cry out to him which made Tortullian say O anima naturaliter Christiana Thirdly Because conscience doth thus witnes with God and as it were in Gods stead Hence it is That is hath such a command and power over a man that we must not go against conscience We may go against our wils against our affection but we must not go against our consciences no not when they are erroneous and though they dictate sinne as Rom. 14. ult Whatsoever is not of faith is sinne and be that doubteth is condemned conscience is but an
inferior Judge God and the Scripture are superior to it so that when conscience prescribeth any thing and we come to know it is against Gods Word then we are to reject it as the inferior Magistrates command is made void when the superior doth countermand but while the practical dictate of conscience doth abide and we know not that God doth forbid it then we must not go against it and the reason is because it witnesseth to our apprehension with God and therefore to go against it though it may not be materially a sinne because in an error and in a delusion yet formally it is because we contemne God and his Authority over us The very Heathen could say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conscience is a God to every man It is true that Atheistical Writer lib de Cive As he doth most prophanely determine That it is a seditious opinion to hold faith and holiness are supernaturally infused and inspired so also to hold that to discern between good and bad just and unjust is a duty belonging to the conscience of private men in what they are to act What is this but to reach men Atheism by art and precepts As Logick and Philosophy are taught and doth it not condemne the whole Doctrine of the Gospel as being incompatible with obedience to Magistrates Seeing then that conscience is thus left in a man with so great power and authority seeing by it good is to be done and sinne avoided the pollution of it will be the more dreadfull and lamentable what hope is there of mans power to convert himself to God when the conscience is thus wasted by sinne If the watchman be blind if the witness be dumb if the judge be corrupted How can any saying reformation be upon us If the falt be unsavoury which is to season other things what is it good for but to be cast away this shipwrack of a good conscience which all made in Adam will undo us for ever were not grace interposing SECT II. A more particular Discovery of the Pollution of every Mans Conscience by Original Sinne. THe work next in order is to discover the pollution of every mans conscience by original sinne And First There is naturally a blindness and a veil upon it whereby it horribly misjudgeth and so deserveth the Prophets woe calling evil good and good evil light darkness and darkness light Take the conscience of an Heathen not inlightned by Gods Word and what darkness covereth the face of it how inthralled to Idols as if they were a god that could either damne of save yea the consciences of some Hereticks have had such Aegyptian darkness upon them that they have thought they have served God by doing most abominable and unnatural things Insomuch that had not some of the Ancients worthy of credit delivered such things about them we could never have believed that the conscience of a man could be so farre blinded as to think such things lawful much less a worship of God The Gnosticks taught That fornications and uncleaness were frequently to be exercised so as to avoid all conception and if a child did follow they would draw it from the womb beat it in a â—â—rter season it with honey and pepper and so eat it saying That in this manner they did celebrate the great Passover The Carpocratians also affirmed That every one was bound to commit sinne and that the soules were put into the bodies till they did fullfill the measure of their iniquities applying that in the parable to this purpose Thou shalt not go out till thou hast paid the last farthing So the Montonists made a sacrifice of the bloud of an infant a year old which they did with needles in a most cruel manner prick to death These also said That it was as great a sinne to pull a leaf off the tree as to kill a man The Donatists would throw themselves from steep mountaines and drown themselves in waters to make themselves Martyrs what horrid blindness was here upon their consciences It is true indeed these were not suddenly made thus abominable Therefore here was a voluntary contracted blindness upon their conscience and a judicial one inflicted upon them God giving them up to blindness yet had there not been such imbred error upon the conscience such natural blindness upon it it could never be improved to such height of impiety Oh then groan under this blindness that is naturally upon thy conscience That which should be the Pilot to guid the ship of thy soul and body to an eternal haven that knoweth no Compass beholdeth no Starre but being practically blinded carryeth thee to hell while thou art thinking thou art failing to heaven That which should be the rule to thy actions is all over crooked and perverted Thus every mans conscience is naturally in the dark and maketh us fall into every ditch because the blind leadeth us so that while the foundation is thus destroyed there is no hope either of conversion or salvation Thou that wallowest in thy sinnes thou that art upon the brinks of hell and yet rejoycest and makest thy self blessed Oh that thy conscience were inlightened Oh that the Lords candle within thee did give any light what a terrour and an amazement wouldst thou be to thy self thou art no better then a bruit till this conscience in thee is able to informe and direct thee Secondly Conscience is naturally polluted not only by the blindness but also by the senselessness and stupidity that is upon it This is the evil polluted conscience lying in every mans breast fast asleep so that though one sinne be committed after another Though lusts as so many thieves come to steal thy soul away yet this dog doth not so much as give one bark Doth not experience abundantly confirme this see you not most men going on in all evil and wickedness so that you would think they dare neither eat or drink or sleep lest so many Devils should come and carry them quick to hell yet they have a stupified conscience it never giveth them one blow or a check for it how cometh this serpent in thy breast to be thus benummed that it doth not give one hiss The expression you heard of an evil conscience was a feared one That is as some expound it a senseless hardened one like any part of the body that by burning is made insensible Others say That as a putrified part of the member of the body by incision is cut off so they say it 's a conscience cut off from a man that he hath none at all Others they allude thus it 's a conscience that is branded and noted by all whereby he is made infamous and a reproach where he liveth All these explications may well be taken in and although the Apostle speaketh there of some enormous wicked men more vile then ordinary yet as Paul Rom. 3. doth apply to all men by nature what the Psalmist had spoken of some
notorious and most ungodly enemies of the Church because the seed and root of these is in all so we may appropriate this feared conscience to every man naturally whereby a man commits gross and foul sinnes and yet finds not one prick or stab at his heart for it What made David when he had numbered the people to have his heart smite him presently but because his conscience was sanctified and made tender by God whereas thou canst a thousand times fall into the same gross-sinnes and thy conscience giveth thee not one lash for it Is not this because thy conscience is stupified so that it hath made thee in all thy sinnes as Lot was when made drunk by his daughters He knew not in the morning what he had done Thus with the same stupidity and sottishness dost thou act sinne it cometh from thee as excrements from a dying person and thou hast no apprehension of them as in sleep the stomack doth digest that meat which if waking would so molest it that there would be no ease till exonerated Thus while conscience is asleep those things are committed which if it were tender it would with fear and trembling fly from O men bitterly to be lamented and mourned over Conscience which is set as a schoolemaster to direct and reproove thee is become a flatterer or rather lieth stark dead within thee that the Devil and sinne in all the lusts thereof may hurry thee whether they please and conscience doth not contradict so that you may as well offer light to the blind speech to the deaf wisedome to the bruit beast as publish the great truths and commands of God to them while conscience is thus stupified within them Therefore in conversion the first work of grace is to make this tender and sensible even of the least sinne SECT III. The Blindness and Stupidity of Conscience discovered in the several Offices and actings of it THirdly Because this pollution of the conscience is expressed in the general viz. blindness and stupidity Let us examine how this sinfullness is seen in the several offices and actings of conscience for which God hath placed it in the soul And 1. One main work of conscience is to apply what we read in the Scripture as generally spoken conscience is to apply it in particular When it readeth the threatnings and cursings of the law to such sinnes as thou art guilty of then conscience is to say This belongeth to me This curse This burden is my curse it 's my burden Because David did not let his conscience do its duty in application David could condemne sinne in general His wrath is kindled against such sinners as himself in the general Nathan was forced to be in stead of conscience to him saying Thou art the man Thus conscience if not polluted when it heareth any woe denounced against such and such sinnes then that stands up and saith Thou art the man hence God giveth the commands by particular application Thou shalt not commit adultery Thou shalt not steal that conscience may say This Commandment belongs to me As natural bodies they act by a corporal contact so the Scripture worketh upon the soul by a spiritual contact and that is the application of conscience Insomuch that if we do a thousand times read over the Scriptures if we hear Sermons upon Sermons all our life if conscience doth not apply all becomes ineffectual And this may answer that Question How it cometh to pass that a man can commit those sinnes which he knoweth to be sinnes which his conscience tells him are sinnes Who are there so much stupified and besotted by sinne that do not in the general know that the waies they live in are wicked that they provoke God that they ought not to do so How then is it possible that they should close with those sinnes that they know to be so seeing the will cannot will evil as it is evil Now the Answer is This ariseth from the defect of conscience she doth not particularly make such a powerfull application pro hic nunc as it ought to do There is therefore a general knowledge an habitual knowledge of such things to be sinnes yea it may be a particular apprehension that they are now sinning and offending God but this is onely a speculative apprehension it 's not a practical one produced by conscience in thee Oh therefore that all our Auditors were delivered from this original pollution of conscience for therefore we preach in vain and you hear in vain because no application is made to your own hearts None brings the truth the command the threatning to his own soul saying This is my portion none so guilty as I am in this particular and thus as she said to the Prophet Thou hast brought my sinnes to my mind or as the woman of Samaria concerning Christ He had told her of all that she had done Thus faith the applying conscience This Sermon brings my sinnes to my mind This Sermon tels me of the wickednesse at such a time committed by me It was the Prophets complaint of his hearers None said What have I done They did not make a particular application Therefore till the grace of God quicken the conscience making thee to cry out What shall I do I have sinned Gods Word hath found me out It is me the Law condemneth It is me that the curses belong to as if I were mentioned and named as if I had heard a voice from Heaven saying Thou Thomas Thou John here is thy sin here is thy doom Till I say this be done all thy knowledge in the general all the Texts of Scripture in thy memory they have no influence at all Secondly Herein is the corruption of the conscience naturally seen That though it doth apply yet it is in so weak and cold a manner that it hath lost its activity and predominancy over the affections and the will of a man insomuch that though conscience do speak do rebuke do apply yet a man careth not for it The affections and the will are not kept in awe by it Thus although conscience in many doth not so much as stirre it is stark dead yet in many it doth sometimes apply bringing home the Word of God to the heart so that he cannot but confesse if he doth thus and thus he sinneth but then conscience is too weak affections and passions like Amnon to Tamar are too strong and consuperate her whether she will or no Is not this the dreadfull condition of many who frequent our Congregations whose consciences condemn them daily Thou art such a sinner thy wayes are damnable but they slight and despise these applications of conscience as rude Scholars the authority of their Master what care they for the Monitor in their breast Like Balaam they will press forward to their wickedness though conscience stand like an Angel with a sword in his hand to stop in the way Rom. 1. 18. The Apostle speaketh excellently to this
calmnesse and quietnesse upon the soul Dives who had his soul Take its ease found no gripes of conscience And thus it is the condition of all men whereas conscience would or should pierce them thorow and be like so many thorns not in the side only but all over the body now it is fallen asleep and the man is at rest in his sins though he be on the borders of hell Thou mayest call this a good conscience and blesse thy self because it doth not trouble thee it doth not accuse thee whereas indeed it 's a senslesse conscience like a dead member that will feel no pain if it were on the contrary then it would be a good conscience if it did accuse bear witnesse and condemn thee then it would be a good conscience for this is a Rule in Casuistical Divinity Conscience may be molestè mala and yet honestè bona and then on the other side it may be peccatè bona and yet honestè mala Conscience in respect of its troubling and condemning may be evil and yet in respect of its sanctification good being awakened by Gods Spirit and on the other side it may be good as sometimes we call it that is quiet not terrifying yet in its constitution be dead and unregenerate Do not then flatter thy self that good conscience thou boastest of is a bad and evil one a dead a senslesse one Can that be good which is not inlightned is not regenerated Oh how much better were thy conscience if it did smite thee terrifie thee make thee eat with trembling and drink with trembling This accusing conscience is farre better and more preparatory to true peace then that quiet secure conscience of thine so that thou art indeed to mourn over thy conscience as being dead within thee Lastly As was said of the understanding speculative so also the same is true of it as practical which is the conscience it is grosly defiled originally Both because it hath lost its subordination to God and his Word the true rule of conscience and also its superiority over the will and affections So that if we look both ad supra and ad infra it is greatly defiled Towards God it doth not keep its subordination but naturally fals into two extreams for sometimes it taketh other rules then the Scripture as we see in Popery How horribly is conscience inslaved by the meer commandments of men where there is no Scripture Or else on the other side rejecting the Word wholly as a rule as those Libertines who do presse it as a duty to be above conscience and that a man is perfect when he can sinne and his conscience never smite him for it Many Volumes would not serve to enlarge sufficiently upon conscience its pollution in both these extreams and as for the affections and will conscience hath now lost its power it cannot rule these beasts it cannot command these waves Hence you see so many live in sins against conscience their lusts are stronger then their conscience They sin and they know they sin and yet are not afraid to commit them How often in their addresses to sin doth conscience meet them as Abigail to David informing of the grief of heart yea the torments of hell that will be hereafter yet they will violently go forward Thus conscience in the croud of lusts is trodden down as that lord was when there was so much plenty SECT VII The Defilement of Conscience when troubled and awakened HItherto we have been declaring the defilement of conscience naturally by original sinne as it is quiet stupid and senseless The next thing to be done wherein shall be concluded both this Text and particular Subject of conscience is to discover how greatly it is polluted and that when troubled or awakened In this particular likewise it will appear devoid of true goodness and any spiritual qualifications conscience troubled for sinne without Evangelical principles is like the raging sea whose waves are tossed with tempests and stormes vomitting forth nothing but froth and foam And First Herein is the corruption of it manifested that when it doth accuse when it doth trouble is doth it preposterously not seasonably and opportunely For when is the fittest time for conscience to interpose to put forth its effectual operation but before the sinne is committed To meet a man as the Angel did Balaam with a drawen sword before he curse the people But this it seldome doth onely when the sinne is committed when God is dishonoured when guilt is contracted then it accuseth and that not so much as acting under God to bring about true peace by repentance and faith but as the Devils instrument to bring to despair and so from one sinne to plunge into a greater Thus it was with Judas how many powerfull and penetrating arguments did he meet with to awaken his conscience He had thunder-claps enough to raise and awaken his conscience though dead and yet for all that it never smiteth him it never accuseth him till he had committed that abominable and unnatural sin What predictions What warnings had Judas to make him fly from this sinne our Saviour told his Disciples One should betray him yea particularly he describeth Judas he telleth him He was the man our Saviour forewarned him of the fearfull estate of that man who should betray him that it had ben better he never had been born and if anger or threatning would not break him Our Saviour used love to melt him He washed his feet as well as the feet of other Disciples but still conscience in Judas is like an Adamant and when all this will not do any good but Judas cometh with a band of souldiers as the captain and head of them he seeth some fall down for astonishment and amazement at the presence of our Lord Christ yet this neither doth startle him he hath not so much as any regretting and remurmurating thoughts but goeth on desperately to accomplish his design and now when all is done when every thing his wicked heart desired was brought to pass then his conscience like a roaring Lyon beginneth to awaken out of sleep and to break its chaines in peices Then he cryeth out I have sinned in betraying of innocent bloud Oh had conscience suggested this before when the motions to this sinne were first kindled in his breast had he then cast them out of doores with indignation this is to betray the innocent this is to become guilty of bloud The very thoughts the very motions are damnable and abominable And he bolted them out with hatred as Ammon did his defloured Tamar then had conscience been regular and also prevvented his future confusion but it never pricketh never condemneth till the fact be past and then when it did so it was upon the Devils design to bring him to final despair This may be seen also in David a godly man though the issue of conscience its accusation was more comfortable when David out of vain and ambitious ends
if nothing aâ—led them many yeares after when they were in anguish of mind by Joseph's severe carriage towards them Gen. 42. 21. Then they said one to another We are very guilty concerning our brother in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us and we would not hear therefore is this distress come upon us so that some unexpected calamity may be to us as the hand-writing on the will to Belshazzar making conscience to tremble within us 3. God as a just Judge can command these Hornets and Bees to arise in thy conscience It is plain Cain when he set himselfe to build Townes thought to remove that trembling which was upon him but he could not do it how many have set themselves with all the might they could to be delivered from this anguish of conscience and could not because God is greater then our conscience if he command terror and trembling none can expell it This troubled conscience is threatned as a curse to such who did break the Law of God Deut. 29. 65 67. The Lord shall give thee a trembling heart and sorrow of mind In the morning thou shalt say would God it were day for the fear of thy heart Here we may observe that God can when he pleaseth strike the heart of the most jolly and prophane sinner with such a trembling conscience that he shall not have rest day or night and when God after much patience abused doth smite the soul with such horror and astonishment many times This never tendeth to a gracious and Evangelical humiliation but as in Cain and Judas is the beginning even of hell it self in this life So fearfull a thing is it to fall into the hands of the living God when provoked Heb. 10. 31. For in such as ver 27. there is a certain fearfull looking for the indignation and wrath of God which will devour the adversaries 4. This troubled conscience may and doth often come by the Spirit of God convincing and reprooving by the Word especially the law discovered in the exactness and condemning power of it Joh. 16. 8. The Spirit of God doth reproove or convince the world of sinne Now conviction belongs to the conscience principally and indeed this is the ordinary way for the conversion of any Gods Spirit doth by the Law convince and awaken conscience making it unquiet and restless finding no bottome to stand upon it hath nothing but sinne no righteousness to be justified by the law condemneth justice arraigneth and he is overwhelmed not knowing what to doe This is the worke of Gods Spirit and of this some do expound that place Rom. 8. 15. Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but of adoption It is the same spirit which is called the spirit of bondage and of Adoption onely it 's called so from different operations It 's the spirit of bondage while by the Law it humbleth us filleth the conscience with fear and trembling not that the sinfulnesse or slavishnesse of these fears opposing the way of faith are of the Spirit but the tremblings themselves and it is the Spirit of Adoption when it rebuketh all tormenting fears giving Evangelical principles of Faith Love and Assurance Now these fears thus wrought by the Spirit of God in the Ministry of the Word though they be not alwaies necessary antecedents of conversion yet are sometimes ordained by God to be as it were a John Baptist to make way for Christ Lastly These troubles of conscience may arise through Gods permission from the Devil For when God leaveth thee to Satan's kingdome as it was the case of the incestuous person to be buffeted by him tempted by him you see he did so farre prevail with him that he was almost swallowed up with too much grief Therefore when God will evangelically compose the conscience by faith in Christs bloud he taketh off Satan again and suffereth him not to cast his fiery darts into us any longer The false wayes that the wounded Conscience is prone to take THese things explained Let us return to consider the pollution of natural conscience in the two particulars mentioned whereof The first is That the wounded conscience for sinne is very ready to use false remedies for its cure These stings he seeleth are intollerable he cannot live and be thus he taketh no pleasure in any thing he hath but he cometh not to true peace for either they go to carnal and sinfull wayes of pleasure so to remove their troubles or to superstitions and uncommanded wayes of devotion thinking thereby to be healed The former too many take who when troubled for sinne their hearts frequently smite them they call this Melancholly and Pusillanimity Tush they will not give way to such checks of conscience but they will go to their merry company they will drink it away they will rant it away or else they will goe to their merry pastimes and sports Thus as Herod sought to kill Jesus as soon as he was borne so do these strive to suffocate and stifle the very beginnings and risings of conscience within them Oh wretched men prepared for hell torments Though now thou stoppest the mouth of conscience yet hereafter it will be the gnawing worme It 's this troubled conscience that makes hell to be chiefly hell It 's not the flaming fire it 's not the torments of the body that are the chiefest of hels misery but the griping and torturing of conscience to all eternity This is the hell of hels Others when none of these means will rebuke the stormes and waves of their soul but they think they must perish then they set themselves upon some superstitious austere waies as in Popery to go on Pilgrimage to enter into some Monastery to undertake some bodily affliction and penalty and by these means they think to get peace of conscience but Luther found by experience the insufficiency of all these courses That all their Casuists were unwise Physicians and that they gave gall to drinke in stead of honey In the next place therefore This pollution of a troubled conscience is seen In it's opposition to Christ to an Evangelical Righteousnesse and the sway of believing Conscience is farre more polluted about Christ and receiving of him then about the commands and obedience thereunto for naturally there is something in conscience to do the things of the Law but the Gospel and the Doctrine about Christ is wholly supernatural and by revelation Hence although it is clear That the conscience truly humbled for sinne ought to believe in Christ for expiation thereof Yet how long doth the broken heart continue ignorant of this duty Their conscience troubleth them accuseth them for other sins but not for this of not particularly applying Christ to thy self for comfort whereas thou art bound in conscience to believe in Christ as well as repent of sinne I say thou art bound in conscience and if thou doest not by particular acts of faith receive Christ in
covenant with his eyes because they would quickly carry sinne to the affections Vt vidi perii said he from seeing he came to perish but that was from seeing he came to be affected with the object and so perished This is notably expressed Jos 7. 20. 21 When Achan was tempted to steal the Babylonish garment he acknowledged that when he saw them that he coveted them and coveting of them made him steal them we may then conclude that there is scarce any sinne committed by thee but thy corrupt affections do begin it the frame as it were is first laid there all bodily sinnes of drunkenness and uncleaness It is plain that they are the product of sinful affections sinful love sinful desires sinful joyes and pleasures are the puddle as it were wherein these vermin are bred That as in muddy lakes frogs and toads are produced thus it is in these gross and polluted affections and it is no wonder that these come out from the affections seeing the sinnes of the more noble rational part are also procreated by these corrupt affections Heresies and Idolatry these are sinnes of the understanding yet they arise from sinful and inordinate affections The rushes grow in such miry places men seek after profit applause or other carnal advantages and thus these are like a bribe to blind the eies of wisdome so that it behooveth every one in the way of Religion that he professeth to consider whether they be pure conscientious grounds or corrupt affections that instigate therein There are very few that have the Scripture lay the first stone in the building of their faith their affections have first closed with an opinion their affections have secretly imbraced such a religious way and then they go to Scripture to confirme it Thus they bring Scripture to their affections not affections to Scripture thus as any little dust doth quickly hinder the eie in seeing so the least corrupting of the affections doth obnubilate the understanding and what the Sun and the Earth are in the great world the same is the sensitive part in man the little world and as their constant vapours and exhalations from the earth do frequently cloud the Sunne and deprive us of the comfortable light thereof so here our affections do continually ascend like so many smoaking vapours whereby we runne into dangerous wayes It is therefore a rare and a most blessed thing when a man is able to say O Lord it was no affection no passion no corrupt interest hath prevailed with me to take up this way to forsake my former opinions but the powerful light of the Scripture shining into my heart But these precious flowers are hardly to be found as affections corrupted do generally corrupt the understanding in matters of faith so also in matters of publique administration What is the reason of unjust Magistrates of unjust Officers that righteousness in places of judicatory is so often perverted is it not because affections do judge affections do determine how many times doth the Law say one thing conscience and righteousness say one thing but affections they cry another thing They were sinful and wicked affections that put the High Preist and Elders upon the condemning of Christ Pilate saw that they did it for envy and that is a compounded affection hence are those frequently commands to all that are concerned in righteous administrations to have covetousness to accept of no mens persons to do nothing for fear or favour what doth this signifie but that all justice and righteousness is perverted by sinful affections sinne is not punished offenders are not restrained wholesome Lawes are not put in execution because men are carried by sinneful affections Therefore in the Aereopagite Court which was so famous for integrity and their Decrees were reverenced like Oracles all causes were pleaded in the night in the dark that the Judge might not know who pleaded lest his affection might be pre-possessed and here all their pleadings were to be without any Preface or affectionate expressions all which shew how hardly it is to be a righteous man in his place while affections are not conquered SECT XVI The Privacy of the Affections ANother particular is The privacy of them they do inordinately impropriate all things to a mans self so that they are self-affections not affections for Gods glory or the publique good they are private affections not publique affections so that herein they are greatly distempered in that they are not carried out to the most common and universal good but to what is selfish and particular whereas if our affections did retain their primitive integrity they would have been in the first and most principal manner carried out to what is the chiefest and most principal object whereas naturally every man is a Nero and will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let Heaven and Earth be mingled together when I am dead And thus though God have no glory though the publique be ruined so as he have his self-affections promoted he mattereth not This is that which you have heard that man in his Apostasie from God did cadere à Deo in seipsum he fell from God into himself and hereupon referreth the whole world even God himself to his own welfare as if God were for him and he not made for God It was not thus from the beginning but as we see in natural things they all deny their particular motions to serve the publique or as Philosophers say about the Orbs they are carried on by the motion of the primum mobile even contrary to their particular motions Thus it was also in the first constitution of man yea better for the affections had no private particular propensity to any object which the rational part did not direct unto But oh the sad change that now sinne hath made upon our affections in this particular making them to monopolize all things and to preferre our selves more then the honour of God himself especially in two particulars we may greatly lament the sinne of our private affections in opposition to publique First The glory and honour of God is to be esteemed by us as infinitely more worthy then all the world then all Angels and men and therefore not to be affected to our selves more then that It will easily be granted That an infinite good is to be preferred before a finite one an univesal illimited one before what is particular and limited an ocean before a drop Now such is God comparatively to man yea to all the Nations of the world Isa 40. If then God be thus infinitely transcending us in goodnesse and our love is to be drawn out according to the goodnesse of the object if a greater good then a greater love if the greatest good then the greatest love then it followeth that our affections are to be carried out infinitely more to the honour of God then to our own glory If the people of Israel could say to their King because a publique person Thou art worth ten
more predominant then the understanding It is with man the little world as the great world God made in this two great lights the Sunne and Moon one to rule in the day the other in the night Thus man hath two lights created in him which are to direct him in all his operations the Sunne that is the Understanding the Moon is like the Imagination which giveth a glimmering light and that onely in particular and corporeal things Now as it would be an horrible confusion in the world if the Moon should shut out the Sunne and take upon it to rule in the day time all the light the Moon hath let it be supposed it hath some of its own would not suffice to make a day Thus it is in man his fancy which hath not light enough to guide him in his actions to his true end yet that usurpeth upon the understanding and doth in effect command all Thus the inferiour light prevaileth over the superiour Oh what groaning should the new creature be in till it be delivered from this bondage See then to thy self and examine all things that passe through thy soul more narrowly and exactly It may be thy imagination is the cause of all thy Religion of all thy opinions It may be it is not faith but fancy It may be it is not conscience but imagination that instigateth thee Those expressions me thinks and I imagine so are not high enough or becoming those glorious actings of faith in the soul which the Apostle calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 11. 1. The substance of things hoped for Aristotle opposeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to those apparitions that are made in the air as the Rain-bow which hath no real subsistency and truly such are the conceits and apprehensions many have in Religion and Piety They are not of a solid true and well-grounded knowledge but are like meteors in the air Thus do their opinions flie up and down in their head We may observe it a very ordinary thing in controversies and polemical writings that both parties will often charge one another with their fancies and their imaginations that there is no such thing in Scripture or in reason but a figment in the brain Yea the Pelagians and Socinians call this very Doctrine of original sinne Austin's fancy as if it were an evil imagination to hold That the thoughts and imaginations of the heart are only evil and that continually Thus you see in what confusion we are in when sometimes the solid Doctrine of the Scripture is traduced for a meer imagination And again meer fancies applauded and earnestly contended for as sundamental pillars of Religion and Piety Seeing then our imaginations are so apt to get into the chair of the understanding and as Athaliah destroyed the seed royal that she might reign so fancy bolteth out all solid reasons and arguments that it alone may do all it behoveth us the more to watch over our hearts in this respect and to be sure they are the solid works of faith and not the fickle motions of the fancy that do guide thee and the rather because it is the perpetual custome of wicked and ungodly men to brand and stigmatize both the true faith and all solid piety with the reproach of a meer fancy Do not Papists Arminians Socinians and the like exclaim against the Protestant Doctrine as if it were but an Idol of Calvins and Luthers making when they condemned the blessed Martyrs to burn at the stake they concluded such suffered but for their fancies and their humours It being therefore the constant charge by all enemies to truth that it is not thy faith thou pleadest for thou sufferest for but thy meer fancy it behoveth thee to be the more diligent in Scripture knowledge and to pray that the Spirit of God may thereby quicken thee up to a found and sure faith Thus also it is in practicals Let a man set himself to the power of godliness walk strictly in opposition to the loosness and profaneness of the world Let his soul mourn for sinne and his heart grieve for his evil wayes what do carnal people presently say This is your fancy these are your melancholly conceits they judge it to be some distemper in your imagination that it is a kind of a madness Now that we may withstand such accusations it behoveth us to seek after and pray for such a thorough work of sanctification that we may be assured it is no more fancy then that we live or have our being that if to be godly if to be converted be a fancy onely then to be a man or to be a wicked man is only a fancy also Well though we must take heed of calling faith a fancy and the work of grace a melancholly conceit for that is a kind of blaspheming the holy Ghost yet experience doth evidence That many have not faith have not true piety but meer empty shadows and imaginations in Religion witness the Scepticism of many in these dayes who are of no faith and no Religion who change it often as they do their garments who have no rooting or immovable foundation but are as the water which receiveth every impression but retaineth none that are Reeds shaken with every wind and are clean contrary to Christ for they are not the same yesterday and to day and for ever Can you say this is the work of Gods Spirit Can we say this is the Scripture-truth No you read the Character of such who have true faith and that in a sanctified manner If it were possible to deceive the very elect Matth. 24. 24. Certainly the prevalency of the imagination above the understanding in religious things is one of the sore evils which original sinne hath brought upon all mankind SECT IX In the Imagination are conceived for the most part all Actual Impieties SEventhly This also doth greatly manifest the sinfulness of the Imagination That as in the affections so likewise in it are conceived for the most part all actual impieties The Imagination and the Affections joyned together are commonly that dunghill wherein these serpents lay their eggs yea sinne many times lieth a long while breeding in the imagination before it be brought forth into action yea many times it is never brought forth but the womb of sinne is also the tomb it lived and died in the imagination We may observe the Scripture attributing the greatest works of impiety to the imagination as the cause of it Psal 21. Why do the people imagine a vain thing All the opposition of wicked men and their carnal policy to overthrow the wayes of Christ flow from this imagining Thus Psal 38. 12. They imagine deceits all the day long Zech. 7. 10. All the injustice oppression and fraud that may be used to other men is attributed to this Let none of you imagine evil against his brother in his heart It is true this Imagination spoken of in the Text comprehends also acts of the mind
gloried in humane literature 1 Cor. 1. 23. Though it is true God will by these weak things bring to nought the great admired things of the world Thus 2 Cor. 10. 5. The ministerial weapons of the Gospel are mighty through God to pull down strong holds and to cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self as Cannon-shot doth strong Castles By this of the Apostle you see the imaginations of men raise up strong and mighty opposition against the Word preached though the Word of God set home by his own power overcometh every thing that doth withstand it It is good then especially for men of quick parts and raised fancies to suspect themselves to fear lest from them arise all their destruction lest these be the bolts and barres that keep Christ out from possessing of their hearts SECT XIV It is more affected with Appearances then Realities TWelfthly The sinfulnesse of the Imagination is seen in that it is more affected with the appearance of things then the reality yea we do wholly satisfie our selves with things as they are in our fancy only and never attain to what is really good or happy Our comforts are but imaginary comforts our delights but imaginary delight yea our wealth our honours are but in imagination onely It 's usual with the Scripture to speak of the Nations of the world comparatively to God as a drop as a little dust How often is a mans life compared to a shadow Insomuch that neither our life and delight are worthy of the name All the things of this world are but in imagination What seemeth to be more substantial than wealth which is said to answer all things yet Solomon saith Why doest thou set thy eyes upon that which is not Prov. 23. 5. Wilt thou cause thine eyes to flie upon it is in the original It sheweth our ardent desires after that thing which is not Hence a wicked man in his greatest triumph and glory is compared but to a dream Job 20 8. He shall flee away as a dream and shall not be All the while we pursue riches honours all the while our hearts are hastening after the creatures we are but in a dream What is true riches What is true food What is true glory We misse and imbrace onely a shadow This is notably represented by the Prophet Isa 29. 8. The enemies of the Church that had in their hopes and expectations devoured Zion are compared to an hungry man that dreameth he eateth but when he is awakened his soul is empty Thus it is in all these worldly enjoyments this life is but a dream we are not awaked till we come within the borders of eternity Oh that this were truly considered how greatly would it mortifie that inordinacy in us to these sading things When the child rejoyceth in his bauble it is but his Imagination that is pleased his counters he taketh for money it is but his fancy that contents him and truly no more are all the great things of the world in respect of God and eternal things SECT XV. The sinfulness of the Imagination in respect of fear and the workings of Conscience 13. AS the Imagination makes us rejoyce and account our selves happy when there is no solid foundation for it so on the other side When the conscience is awakened for sinne many times the imagination doth work so terribly and filleth us with such sad apprehensions that we fear where no fear is we flee when none pursueth So that a disturbed imagination doth many times work with the troubles of conscience hindering both the working of our judgement and of faith representing God and Christ to us farre otherwise then they are Job complaineth Chap. 7. 14. that God did scare him with dreams Oh it is very sad and a grievous condition when God shall turn a mans fancy against his own self To have our conscience against us and our imaginations against us is an hell upon an earth and it is just with God to fill these Imaginations that once received nothing but lustfull and pleasant impressions with terrible and dreadfull ones and both these wayes draw from God both joyfull delights and terrible apprehensions That great change which we read made upon Nebuchadnezzar who from a great Monarch of the world is become like a beast living amongst them his haires being growne like Eagles feathers and his nailes like birds clawes was nothing else as many Expositours judge but a judgement brought upon his Reason and Imagination by a deep melancholly So that the terrours of a troubled Imagination especially when joyned with troubles of conscience doe drive from Christ oppose the comfortable way of the Gospel as well as proud and unclean motions do the pure and holy way thereof SECT XVI Of the Actings of the Imagination in Dreams IN the fourteenth place Herein the pollution of it doth manifest it self That when the senses and the rational part are bound up so that they cease from operation even then that is acting and most commonly in a sinfull manner by dreams Dreams are the proper work of the Imagination and Divines do make three sorts of them Natural Dreams which arise from natural causes and these commonly either have much sinfulness in them or great troublesomness Diabolical such as are cast into the imagination by the Devil or Divine such as are caused by God for the Spirit of God hath used the imagination in some operations thereof Thus Joseph and others were warned by God in a dream And Joel 2. the promise is That their young men should dream dreams These Divine dreams Tertullian Lib. 3. de animâ doth divide into Prophetica such as are meerly fore-telling things to come Revelatoria such as reveal something to be done as Peters vision concerning Cornelius Aedificatoria such as build up to any holy duty And Vocatoria that call to some spiritual service as that vision of Paul inviting him to come into Macedonia Concerning Diabolical Dreams they are not a mans sinnes but afflictions unless a man doth directly or indirectly consent thereunto or walk so that he deserveth God should leave him to such unclean or polluted apprehensions But we speak of Natural Dreams and not such as are meerly natural that arise from some natural cause but such as have had some voluntariness antecedent thereunto while waking such now are proud dreames malicious dreams unclean and unjust dreams All these do either expresly or virtually come from a polluted Imagination while we are awake though happily we cannot remember any such thoughts we had The sinfulness then of our dreams we are to be humbled under as coming from sinne the cause and being also sinnes in themselves No doubt but Adam would have dreamed it being common to all mankind onely it is said of Nero That he seldome or never dreamed till after the murder of Agrippina after which he was afrighted with terrible ones As also of the Atalantes that none dream amongst them Though
them dumb so also to make thy conscience dumb It is judged by Divines to be an exceeding great mercy of God that he hath left a conscience in a man for if that had not some actings there would be no humane societies the world would be like a Chaos as it was at first only conscience is a bridle to men and a curb to their impieties but when this is so corrupted that it cannot do its office though sinnes be committed yet conscience will not accuse will not condemn What hope doth then remain for such an one Conscience is called by Bernard Speculum animae the souls Looking glass by beholding thy conscience thou mayest see what are thy sinnes what are thy duties what is to be repented of what is to be reformed Oh that those who look often into the glass for their bodily faces so as to spie every spot and to mend an hair if it be not handsome would more consult with this spiritual glass their conscience would shew those deformities those corruptions that they are not willing to take notice of onely here is the difference the material glass will faithfully represent what thou art it will not flatter If thou art polluted deformed it will discover thy face as it is it will not flatter thee but conscience is a glass that may be corrupted to make thee appear fairer then thou art but if clean and pure then it will not favour thee But as you see it was with David when he had numbred his people presently his heart smote him such power it will also have over thee This accusation is called smiting because of the strong impression it maketh upon the soul Conscience is also called a Book and the Scripture may intend this as part Revel 20. 12. where at the Day of Judgement it is said Books shall be opened and the dead were to be judged according to what is written in those books One of these books that must be opened and by which men shall be judged is conscience that is the debt-book the Dooms-day-book There is no sinne committed but there it is set down and registred and one day it will be found there though now for the present thou takest no notice of it As conscience is a book so as Bernard said De Inferiori domo All books are to reform this book all other books that are written yea the Bible it self they are to amend this book of conscience This book thou art to read every day yea conscience is not only a book but it 's the Writer the Recorder also Conscience is the souls Secretary or Register and faithfully sets down every sinne Item This day such oaths such lies Item Such a drunken fit Item Such omission of duties Thus conscience should do its work But oh how negligent and sordid is conscience herein What foul acts may be committed and yet not the least sting or gripe of conscience We have a remarkable instance of this in Joseph's brethren when they had so cruelly and bloudily dealt with their brother throwing him in a pit and as to humane considerations ' fully destroyed him yet faith the Text They sate down to eat and drink What presently after such an unnatural sinne to find no Scorpions in their brests as it were but to sit down and eat Genes 37. 25. as if no evil had been perpetrated What an adamant or rock were these mens consciences turned into And is not this the state of many men and that after the commission of such sins which even nature may condemn for And as from the second act which is excusing here we have large matter to treat upon Who can comprehend the length and depth and breadth of the evil of conscience in this very thing To excuse to clear to justifie a mans self Did not conscience thus in the Jews of old Did not conscience thus in the Pharisees Doth not conscience thus in the breasts of all civil and moral men Whence is it that they can say God I thank thee I am not as this Publican I am no drunkard or swearer and therefore bid their souls Take all rest Is not this because conscience is turned into a Camelion to be like every object that it stands by Thus it is with their conscience excusing all they do flattering a man saying His estate is good and secure they are not such sinners as other men whereas if conscience were well enlightned and informed out of Gods Word in stead of excusing it would impartially accuse and condemn Thirdly Conscience is polluted in a further acting which it hath for when application witnessing and accusing will not do then it terrifieth which you heard was smiting Conscience fals from words to blows Acts 2. 37. It is there notably expressed They were pricked in heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was as if a dagger had been stabb'd into them and thus it did work upon Felix insomuch that it made him tremble Thus it did upon Cain and Judas Now conscience naturally is greatly polluted in this thing for either it doth not at all give any blows or if it do it is with slavish servile and tormenting thoughts that it maketh the sinner runne from Christ and doth indispose him for any mercy and comfort But of this more in it's time Fourthly Conscience hath a further and ultimate work or acting in a man and that is to judge It is a witnesse an accuser and a Judge also There is a Tribunal should be erected in every mans heart where conscience is to sit as Judge and this Court of conscience is daily to be kept This is no more then when Psal 4. we are commanded To commune with our own hearts and be still when we are commanded To search and try our wayes or 1 Cor. 11. To judge our selves that we be not judged This is the great duty which not onely Heathens commended Nosce teipsum and Tecum havita and which another complaineth of the neglect thereof In se nemo tentat descendere but it is very frequently commanded in the Scripture as the foundation and introduction into the state of conversion as a constant duty in persons converted to prevent Apostasie But who is there that doth keep a daily Court thus in himself That which Pythagoras Seneca and Heathens have admired To examine our selves What have I done to day Wherein have I sinned In what have I exceeded This Christians though inlightned by Gods Word are horribly sloathfull and carelesse about When is this examination this scruteny set up When are thy actions thy thoughts called to the barre and judgement given against them Now this judgement of conscience is seen about a two-fold object Our Actions and our Persons our Actions they are to be judged Whether they be agreeable with the Word of God or no Whatsoever thou undertakest and art not perswaded of in conscience as lawfull is a sinne Rom. 14. Whatsoever is not of faith is sinne Now examine thy actions thou
prophane man see whether they will bear the Touchstone or no Doth thy conscience tell thee such wayes are lawfull Art thou out of faith thus perswaded to do Look over all thy thoughts all thy words thy actions and weigh them in the balance of the Sanctuary See whether they be chaff or wheat Judge them before God cometh to judge them As our Actions so our Persons and the frame and constitution of our souls and here conscience is more unable to do its work then in the former For actions at least many of them may be condemned by the light of nature but when thou comest to search thy heart to judge that here is much heavenly skill and prudence required Did the hypocrite judge himself Did the civil pharisaical man rightly judge himself what a mighty change would you quickly see on those who now blesse themselves in their good condition Had Judas judged himself Did hypocrites judge themselves Oh the amazement and astonishment they would be in to see themselves so soul and rotten in the bottom when they were perswaded all had been well and happy with them Let conscience therefore set up her tribunal in thy heart often call thy self before thy self thy guilty sell before thy condemning self thy sinfull self before thy judging self for by reason of conscience a man cometh to have two selves God hath placed it in man as an Umpire or an Arbitrator to judge the matter impartially between God and thy own soul so that it may say that which Christ denied of himself God hath made me a Judge and a divider to give to man what belongs to him to God what belongs to God but conscience being polluted is not able to discharge this office Hence it is that this Court ceaseth conscience doth not keep any Assize at all There is no judgement executed within this spiritual society Therefore let us groan under the weight of original sinne in this respect also Fifthly Herein conscience is greatly defiled by original sinne That it is afraid of light it is not willing to come to the Word to be convinced but desireth rather to be in darkness that so a man may sinne the more quietly and never be disquieted John 3. 19. Christ saith This is the condemnation that light is come into the World and men love darknesse rather then light As it is with the wicked man He hateth the light as our Saviour John 3. 20. because his works are evil Truly thus it is conscience being naught and rotten therefore it is unwilling to be brought to the light Hence John 16. 7. It is the work of Gods spirit to convince the world of sinne but this is that the natural conscience cannot abide it is unwilling to be searched and tried to be ransacked This is the reason why men are most pleased with a formal drousie flattering Ministry they rage at that which is powerfull particular heart-searching preaching They do not love conscience should be touched upon to have that say Thou arr the man and all is because conscience is afraid of any light or conviction to come upon it for if that be enlightned then thou canst not with that delight and security commit thy sinnes as thou wouldst do Conscience then would belike Michaiah to Ahab Thou wilt not abide it because it alwayes prophesieth evil to thee and therefore this one thing may discover the vilenesse of every natural mans conscience in that it desireth to be in the dark and that which the Church saith to Christ Awake not my Beloved till he please They say to their conscience Let not that be awakened it will take away my comfort it will make me despair and thus because they wilfully keep a veil over their conscience it is no wonder if they die in their sins Sixthly Herein conscience is naturally defiled That it is subject to many multiforme shapes and disguises it doth appear under so many vizours that it is hard to know when it is conscience or when it is something else farre enough from conscience yet such is the guile and hypocrisie herein that a man doth easily flatter himself with the name of conscience when indeed it is corruption in him It is good to discover that which is a counterfeit conscience that which appeareth to be Samuel and in Samuel's cloaths but is indeed a Devil SECT V. A Discovery of a counterfeit Conscience FIrst It may not be conscientia but cupiditas not conscience but even a sinfull lust may put thee upon many things yet thou flatterest thy self with the scared title of conscience saying it 's thy conscience when if thou didst examine thy self it would appear to be some corruption A sad mistake and delusion it is to have conscience and so God himself abused but yet it is very often so We see it in Saul when he sacrificed and so was guilty of rebellion against God yet he pretended conscience that he had done well and all was to serve God thereby Absolom when he was contriving that unnatural rebellion against his Father he pretendeth a vow he had made and so he must out of conscience perform that Judas when he repined at the ointment poured out on Christs body pretended conscience and charity but it was lust and covetousnesse moved him Oh then take heed of treachery herein lest thou pretending conscience it appear to be thy lust only Secondly It may be thy Fancy and Imagination which perswadeth thee and not thy conscience man consisting of a body as well as a soul his imagination and phantasie hath great influence upon him especially when the body may be distempered as you see in melancholly persons when humbled for sinnes and greatly afflicted it is hard to discern when it is their fancy and when it is conscience that worketh in them It is true the prophasie ones of the world they judge all the trouble and wounds of conscience for sinne to be nothing but melancholly and a meer fancy because they never found the word of God kindly working upon them therefore they think there is no such thing in the world as a wounded spirit but such will one day find that troubles of conscience are more then melancholly that it is a worme alwayes gnawing yea that this is indeed hell for it is because of a tormented conscience that hell is so terrible yet though this be so it cannot be denied but that sometimes in humbled persons there may be conscience and melacholly working together for the Devil he loveth to move in troubled waters and melancholly is called Balneum Diaboli but this may be cured and removed by medicinal helps whereas conscience is only pacified and quieted by the blood of Christ Thirdly Custome education and prepossessed principles these may work upon a man as if they were conscience Many men are affected in religious things not out of any conscience but meerly by custome They have been used to such things brought up in such a way of serving of