estate before God And that hath made way now to a treatise of conâ—cience which will shew us what estate â—e are in before God I desire to handle common-place-wise And first I will â—â—l you in brief what the conscience of â—ery man is I say of every man For â—ngels and devils have a conscience â—o ye may see it in the speech of the â—ngel to John when John would have â—orshipped him Rev. 19.10 I am thy fellow-serâ—ant saith he see thou do it not Mark He had a conscience that could say I am a servant and therefore must not taâ—â— worship to me So for the devils Wheâ— our Saviour bade them come forth oâ— the possessed Matth. 8.29 they say Art thou comâ— to torment us before our time See theâ— had a conscience that told them therâ— would be a time when they should bâ— further tormented But I am not tâ— speak of such consciences but of thâ— conscience of man Now the conscience of man is the judgement of maâ— upon himself as he is subject to God judgement Divines use to expresse iâ— in this Syllogisme He that truly believeth in Christ shall be saved My conscience telleth me this is Gods word But I believe truly in Christ My conscience telleth me this also Therefore I shall be saved And so also on the contrary side So that conscience is a mans true judgement of himself 1. Cor. 11.31 If we would judge our selves that is If we would bring our selves before the tribunal of conscience to receive its judgement Foure propositions are conteined in that portion of Scripture which I have chosen to make the subject of this ensuâ—ng treatise Rom. 2.15 1. Foure Propositions That there is in every man a conscience Their consciences bearing them â—itnesse Every one of them had a â—onscience bearing them witnesse 2. That the light which conscience directed to work by is knowledge written in their hearts 3. That the bond that bindeth a mans conscience is Gods law which â—hew the effect of the law written in their â—â—arts 4. That the office and duty of conâ—â—â—ence is to bear witnesse either with our selves or against our selves accusing or excusing our selves or actions bearing witnesse and their thoughts acâ—using or excusing one another I begin â—ith the first Proposition I. There is in every man a conscience THere was a conscience in all these heathen in the text 1. There is in every man a conscience their consciences â—ring them witnesse There was a conscience in the Scribes and Pharisees John 8.9 being convicted of their own consciences There is a conscience in good men as in Paul 2. Cor. 1.12 Our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience There is a conscience in wicked men Tit. 1.15 their mind and conscience is defiled As it is impossible the fire should be without heat so it is impossible that any man should be without â— conscience Indeed we use to say Such an one hath no conscience buâ— our meaning is that he hath no good conscience But every one hath a conscience either good or bad The Lord engraved conscience in man when he created him at first True it is since the fall of man conscience is miserably corrupted but man can never put it off Conscience continueth for ever in every man whether he be in earth or heaven or hell The most base and devilish profanelings in the world have a conscience Let them choke it or smother it as much as they can let them whore it or game it or drink it away as much as they are able for their hearts yet conscience will continue in spite of their teeth 1. No length of time can wear this conscience out What made Josephs brethren to remember the cruel usage they shewed him but conscience It was about twenty years before yet â—hey could not wear it out 2. No violence nor force is able to â—uppresse conscience but that one day â—â—r other it will shew it self What made Judas go and carry back the money that he betrayed our Saviour for â—nd also to cry out I have sinned but conscience No question but he laâ—oured to suppresse it but he could â—ot 3. No greatnesse nor power is able do stifle conscience but that it will one â—ay like a band-dog flie in a sinners face What made Pharaoh crie out I am â—icked but conscience He was a great King and yet he was not able to overâ—ower conscience 4. No musick mirth or jovializing â—an charm conscience but it will play â—he devil to a wretched soul for all â—hat What was the evil spirit of meâ—ancholy that came upon Saul but conscience He thought to allay it with instruments of musick but it still came again 5. Death it self is not able to part conscience from a sinner What is that worm that shall never die but onely conscience and in hell conscience is as that fire that never goeth out I confesse some seem to have lost conscience quite They can omit good duties as though they had no conscience at all they can deferre repentance and turning to God as though they had no more conscience then a beast but one day conscience will appear and shew plainly that it was present with them every moment of their lives and privie to all their thoughts and all their wayes and set before them all the things that they have done Be men never so secure and senselesse and seared for the present conscience will break out either first or last Either here or in hell it will appear to every man That he hath and ever had a conscience Reasons Now the reasons why the Lord did plant a conscience in every man living are 1. Because the Lord is a very righâ—ous Judge And as he commandeth â—rthly judges not to judge without â—itnesse so he himself will not judge â—ithout witnes and therefore he planteth a conscience in every one to bring in evidence for him or against him at Gods tribunall 2. Because the Lord is very merciâ—â—ll We are wonderous forgetfull and â—ndlesse of God and of our own souls and have need to be quickned up to our duties therefore the Lord hath â—iven every one of us a conscience to â—â—e a continuall monitour Sometime â—e forget to pray and then conscience â—â—tteth us in mind to go to God someâ—â—me we are dull in the duty and conâ—â—â—ence is as a prick to quicken us someâ—ne our passions are distempered and â—en conscience checketh commandâ—â—h us to bridle them We should neâ—r be kept in any order if it were not â—r conscience Therefore hath the â—ord in mercy given us a conscience Vse 1 The first use is to condemn that diabolical proverb common among men Conscience is hanged a great while ago No no Achitophel may hang himself buâ— he cannot hang his conscience Saâ— may kill himself but conscience cannoâ— be killed Mar 9.44 It is a worm that never dieth As the reasonable soul of man
it self neither the promises of this life nor of that which is to come Conscience crieth This belongeth not to me This mercy this comfort is not my portion Secondly In a terrour and anguish of mind from these three heads 1. From the guilt of sin 2. From the apprehension of Gods wrath 3. From fear of death and of judgement This is the three-stringed whip wherewith conscience is lashed These ye shall find upon the conscience of Adam and Eve when they had sinned against God Their conscience was whipped 1. With the guilt of sinne they saw they were naked Gen. 3.7 2. With the apprehension of Gods wrath they hid themselves from the presence of God verse 8. 3. With the fear of some vengeance which they began to look for I was afraid saith Adam verse 10. This three-stringed whip ye may see also was upon the conscience of Cain after he had slain his brother His conscience was whipt 1. With the guilt of sinne My sinne is greater â—hen can be forgiven 2. With the apprehension of Gods wrath From thy face O Lord am I hid 3. With the expectation of death and of judgement It shall come to passe that every one that findeth me shall slay me Thus I have shewed you what a troubled conscience is The degrees of a troubled conscience II. THe next thing I promised to shew is the degrees of a troubled conscience A troubled conscience hath divers degrees For some conscience are more troubled then other some 1. The first degree is such a degree as may be in Gods children and this ariseth not so much from the apprehension of Gods wrath as from the guilt of sinne Their consciences grieve anâ— are troubled to think that they have sinned and offended the Lord God Thuâ— we see David could not be at quiet Although Nathan had told him from Goâ— that his sinne was forgiven yet his conscience still troubled him Psal 51.4 Against the onely have I sinned and done this evil iâ— thy sight saith he I grant the consciences of Gods children are troubled aâ— the apprehension of Gods anger but then it is his fatherly anger not the anger of an enemy Though for a sâ—â— they may seem to apprehend that too yet mostly it is for that they have provoked their loving Father to anger against them A father may be angry with his child out of love and so the Lord may be with his dear children The Lord was angry with me too saith Moses Deut. 1.37 O let not my Lord be angry saith Abraham the father of the faithfull O God of hosts Psal 80.4 how long wilt thou be angry with thy people that prayeth saith the Psalmist Sometimes â—he Lord is angry with the prayers of his people but it is in love because he would have them pray better and obey better and look to their standing â—etter Now the consciences of Gods â—eople are very much troubled when â—he Lord is thus angry with them 2. The second degree of trouble of â—onscience is such as is in the wicked â—nd yet not altogether without hope The conscience is troubled but yet so â—s it conceiveth hope God is merciâ—ull and Christ died for poore sinners â—c Thus many a wicked man is trouâ—led and affrighted in conscience not â—or sinne but for the wrath of God against it yet he conceiveth for the present that the sinne is pardonable and may be forgiven Christ may forgive God may pardon It is indeed but a poore ground of hope comfort upon possibilities but yet this lightneth the trouble in the mean time and it may be within a while shaketh it quite off Like the wicked Jews Isa 57.10 who were worried and wearied most grievously yet they said not There is no hope There may be much horrour and disquiet in these consciences for a time but there is a higher degree yet a worse troubled conscience then this 3. The third degree of a troubled conscience is when it is for the present altogether hopelesse such a conscience as is swallowed up in despair when men thinking of their manifold sinnes of the direfull wrath of God of the dreadfull torments of hell for everâ— their consciences make them despair of all hope or possibilitie of avoyding this bringing such thoughts as these Whaâ— a deal of time have I spent in sinne wherein I might have made my peace with God anâ— have prevented all this What a great and omnipotent God have I offended What an infinite Judge have I provoked who is able to revenge himself on me and who will be my foe to eternitie conscience also bringing in thoughts of the torments and unsufferable pains to be endured in hell and such swallow up in despair without all hope for the present or the future Like the wicked man which Eliphaz speaketh of Desperatio est homicida animae Aug. He believeth not that he shall return out of darknesse Job 15.22 So these have no hope of escaping expect to perish as Spira O saith he I envy Cain and Judas I vvould I vvere in their cases They are damned but I shall be vvorse for evermore Now though to these all hopes be gone for the present yet some of these troubled consciences scramble up again with vain hopes and some do not Cain got â—p again it should seem but Judas did not Those that never get up again eiâ—her 1. they live in intolerable horrour and vexation of spirit Desperare est in infernum descendere Isid as if they had a devil in them to put them to anguish and often being weary of their lives do make away themselves and so leap quick into hell or else 2. they runne desperately into all abominable courses Their consciences telling them there is nothing to be expected but damnation they give themselves desperately to commit sinne with greedinesse saying with them in Jeremie There is no hope therefore we will wall after our owne devises Jer. 18.12 Or else 3. they grow senselesse of it They see they are wrong but they are not sensible of it It may be they pray and reade and heare but their consciences secretly whisper All is to no purpose Conscience eateth and eateth like a worm and they pine away in their iniquities Ezek. 4.23 as thâ— prophet speaketh A kind of sorroâ— they have but they cannot mourn â— kind of sad dolour but they cannoâ— weep Ye shall not mone nor weep bâ—â— pine away in your sinnes saith the text I confesse there be more presumers iâ— the world who promise themselves that all shall be well with them but yet there be despairers too and very many whose consciences are troubled with secret despair though it may be not apparently to others Now the causes of these despairing consciences are these 1. The greatnesse of sinne when the heart thinketh secretly thus Certainly the Lord cannot find in his heart to forgive me As it was with Cain When he had lived in earthly-mindednesse and then in formality
of some wicked men who are enemies to God then we might see and understand the true weight and burden of this troubled conscience Cain crieth out of more then he can bear Judas thought to find more ease in hell then in his own heart So terrible was the torture of his troubled conscience that he murdered himself thinking verily that hell could not be worse Vse 2 2. See here what an infinite misery every sinner shall one day be in Though he be not troubled with this harpye for the present though he be not yet gastered with this furious hag yet the day will come when he shall I say the time will come when all ye that are wicked shall be haunted with this hellish agony of a troubled conscience either here before ye die or when ye die or at furthest when your souls are departed out of your bodies This is unavoydable to all that live and continue in sinne Though for a while ye live in mirth and pleasure and securitie and conscience letteth you alone though like Nabal to day ye feast and make merry yet there is a conscience within you an Abigail which to morrow will tell you of it and then your hearts will die within you and be like stones 1. Sam. 25.37 as cold and as heavie as a stone within you As Samuel met with Saul 1 Sam. 15.26 Because thou hast forsaken the Lord the Lord also hath forsaken thee so conscience will find you out However for a while ye slight and neglect it or else perhaps suppresse it yet it will find you out as Eliah did Ahab and then ye will say as he did Hast thou found me 1. Kings 21.20 O mine enemy yea I have found thee Thou hast sold thy self to work wickednesse in the sight of the Lord thou hast been a profane beast thou hast run against heaven and against God and Christ and thy life hath been full of rebellions c. now I have found thee out The day will come when thy conscience shall be like Jobs messenger Ye know what news the messengers brought Job first news of one great evil and then of another greater and then of a third worst of all cattel and goods taken away servants dead sonnes and daughters dead I onely am left alive to tell thee So I say the time will come when conscience shall thus report Thy pleasures are dead thy profits are dead thy comforts are dead thy heart is dead thy soul is cursed and must die for ever and I onely am left alive to tell thee And then he shall crie our Cursed was I that ever I was born and cursed be the womb that bare me and the paps that gave me suck Then shalt thou mourn at the last when thy flesh and thy bodie are consumed and thy conscience shall say How have I hated instruction and my heart despised reproof I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers nor enclined mine ears to them that instructed me Such dolefull messages conscience will bring in one day and then it shall hisse like a snake in thy bosome Know now that for all these things thou shalt come to judgement And so thy conscience shall bray thee like a fool in a mortar as it were with a pestill and it shall pounce thee and beat thee and distresse thee for evermore This is the moth that getteth into the cloth and doth eat it Psal 39.11 When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquitie thou makest his beautie to consume away like as when a moth fretteth a garment This will make thy face gather blacknesse and thy spirit be overwhelmed for evermore I must adde another use yet For all this is the law and untill ye be in Christ ye are all under the law the curse of it the rigour of it And we are bound to tell you how ye shall find it if ye do not submit to the righteousnesse of Christ But though we do preach the law yet we do preach it in the hand of a mediatour saith Paul Gal. 8.19 a terrible killing law but yet in a mercifull hand in the hand of a mediatour to drive us to seek for mercie and therefore Vse 3 The third use shall be to call upon you to be humbled and to see that there is no living for you in your sinnes Go and stoop to Christ Jesus who onely can purge your guiltie consciences by his bloud I beseech you consider ye who yet abide in your sinfull estates and are yet in the flesh I beseech you consider what the event will one day be If ye will not look out your consciences will find you out at the last and then wo be to you Your consciences will make all things grievous and bitter to you even those things which in themselves are most sweet and good When ye heare of heaven of mercie of the bloud of Christ these will but encrease your miserie conscience will say You have no part in them When you heare the word any promise or comfortable passage in it your conscience will say Yea this is my miserie I have no share in these things This will be a hell unto you and will torment you before your time This will also make all outward good things bitter unto you When you see wife and children and friends then conscience will whisper and say I shall not have these long ere long I shall have none but damned companie When you see your goods estates and the like conscience will mutter Alas ere long I shall be in a place where a drop of water shall not be afforded me to cool my tongue When you see the light and other comfortable objects O wo is me I shall shortly be in a place where I shall see nothing but darknesse utter and everlasting darknesse Conscience will make your afflictions intolerable your sicknesse intolerable your death-bed intolerable the face of death intolerable I beseech you brethren consider these things you that have not felt a troubled conscience untill this houre Ye hardly know yet what it is ye will know it to your sorrow if you do not consider it There is a phrase in Ezek. 30.24 where God saith he will make Pharaoh grone with the gronings of a man deadly wounded So it will be with you if you will not hearken and submit to Jesus Christ conscience will make you grone with fearfull grones O wo is me I am undone without hope without remedie Consider this therefore and be wise before the things which concern your peace be hidden from you And let me the rather exhort Exhortation you to this in regard of the danger of the times The Lords wrath is gone out and his judgements do flie through the earth and his plagues do fall on every side of us What will your guiltie consciences do now oh you can never endure them Ye had need of purged consciences now lest ye be quite comfortlesse in the day of visitation
Whosoever calleth upon the Lord shall be saved Rom. 10.13 Hence the wicked may falseâ—y conclude I call upon the Lord and I pray unto him therefore I shall be saved And so on the contrarie a weak Christian who findeth not in himself those degrees of grace which some places of Scripture seem to require concludeth from thence against himself Therefore I have no grace at all This is a second â—cause of mistaking Reas 3 3. A third cause is the not trying â—nd examining our own hearts Some â—re loth to trouble themselves about it They are loth to think so bad of themselves as that they are in such a course as wherein God will not love them Nay they cannot endure that others should discover their hearts unto them They had as lieve they should shew them the pit of hell as shew them themselves They look to some common gifts and graces that are in them such gifts and graces as may be in a reprobate but they will not think so as illumination knowledge the gift of prayer of temperance c. These they look to and these they speak of though they have reigning lusts within in their hearts As Jehu Come see my zeal saith he 2. Kings 10.16 He doth not say Come see my pride and hypocrisie but my zeal Jehu looked at his zeal and so thought he was right So on the contrarie weak Christians may sometimes look onely at their sinnes and infirmities and take no notice of Gods graces that are in them and so may mistake their own selves and conclude amisse of their estates Thus I have shewed you the reasons why men are mistaken about their estates Now I will shew you the reasons why men are mistaken though conscience do tell them 1. Because the speeches of conscience in the wicked many times yea most times are low speeches The gnawings of conscience whereby they are told they are in a bad and a damned estate are like the gnawings of a very little worm that a man can hardly feel Where their worm dieth not Isa 66.24 The word in the originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth a very little worm that breedeth in scarlet that a man can very hardly see or perceive so men sometimes do hardly see or perceive the condemning and gnawing of conscience Again conscience biteth suddenly as I told you it giveth a little nip and away Like a sparrow that flieth by it flieth so fast by a mans eye that he can scarce tell whether it be a sparrow or no So it is not easily perceived whether it be a condemning conscience or no it giveth such sudden nips and away that men seldome take notice Beloved there is never a wicked man under heaven unlesse he be delivered up absolutely to a reprobate sense but hath a thousand of these sudden momentany nips every day in the yeare Had he the heart to observe them but he hath not he might see his wretched estate to trouble him and provoke him to Christ and to be converted that God might heal him I say had he a heart he might see it but these nips are so secret and sudden that he doth not So likewise it is with the godly in regard of true comfort Their conscience suddenly flasheth in comfort and they many times do not observe it As Job speaketh of God Lo Job 9.11 he goeth by me and I see him not he passeth on also and I perceive him not So doth the Lord go by his children in the sudden flashes of comfort in their conscience but many times they see him not perceive him not 2. Because the devil blindeth mens eyes therefore they do not see what their consciences do shew them Ye may reade this of the wicked people in Corinth 2. Cor. 4.2 St Paul saith he commended himself and the Gospel to every mans conscience in the sight of God that is He did so preach and so live that every mans conscience could not choose but say Certainly Paul preacheth the truth and Paul liveth right and we must live as he speaketh and doeth He made their consciences say thus and to tell them they were not right if they did not But mark what followeth Some did not see this Why The god of this world saith he hath blinded their eyes So the god of this world blindeth the eyes of the wicked that what their consciences shew them they do not see it nor observe it So for Gods people Though they be in a good and a blessed estate and their consciences can say it yet Satan oftentimes hindreth them that they do not perceive their own comfort 3. Men do not love conscience We should love conscience better then the dearest friend we have under heaven We would do much for a friends sake but we should do a thousand times more for conscience sake Rom. 13.5 Obey Magistrates for conscience sake suffer disgrace reproches any thing for conscience sake It is better then all the friends in the world But the wicked they do not love conscience let conscience speak they care not to heare it They will heare friends but they will not heare conscience Let their lusts call and their profits and pleasures call for this and that thing they heare all but they love not to heare conscience Nay many wicked men are angry to heare talk of it When Paul had made mention of conscience Ananias commanded he should be smitten Acts 23.1 Men and brethren saith Paul I have lived in all good conscience before God untill this day Smite him on the mouth saith the high Priest Ananias He was angry to heare him talk of a good conscience This is most certain men do not love conscience nor to be curbed by conscience nor informed by conscience They had as lieve see the devil as that their consciences should inform them of their estates and tell them thus and thus they are They are told rightly and yet they are mistaken because they do not love to heare conscience of that theme Of a good and bad conscience YE have heard concerning the witnesse-bearing of conscience about our estates The next thing to be spoken of is that welknown distinction of â— Good and a Bad conscience This diâ—tinction we reade of in Scripture Concerning a good conscience see Heb. 13.18 We trust we have a good conscience Concerning a bad conscience see Heb. â—0 22 Having our hearts sprinkled from â—n evil conscience There be both the members Of the distinction of them both briefly and in order and first of a good conscience The goodnesse of conscience is two-fold naturall and renewed Concerning a good conscience 1. The naturall goodnesse of conscience consisteth in those reliques of goodnesse which it reteineth since the creation Ye know man depraved and corrupted his conscience by his fall yet there be some reliques left as reason and knowledge and reflexion I do not mean reliques of any spiritual goodnesse in conscience For as there is no
and then in discontent and in hatred and then in hardnesse of heart the Lord rebuked him and yet his heart was so hard that still he went on in evil then he murdered his brother and lastly he despaireth Gen. 4.13 My sinnes are greater saith his conscience then can be forgiven He thought God could not find in his heart to forgive him So when men sinne and sinne and the Lord doth rebuke them and yet they do sinne and their consciences do check them and yet they go on at last they come to have secret despairs in their heart that God now will not look towards them whereas if yet they had a mind to stoop to Jesus Christ they might be forgiven 2. A second cause of despairing is multitude of temptations Indeed the godly should not be so apt to think themselves forsaken of God by reason of temptations as sometimes they are they should rather count it joy as James speaketh chap. 1.2 But yet many of the wicked despair finally by this means Because they do so often fall into temptations therefore they conclude they are forsaken of God 3. Ignorance of Gods word When the guiltinesse of sin meeteth with minds not instructed in the doctrine of free grace and reconciliation by Christ this is a cause of despair 4. So also inured custome of sinning is another cause When men are often quickned and grow dead again then quickned again for a fit and then hardned again in the end they fall to despair These and the like are the causes of despairing consciences And thus I have shewed also the second thing propounded to be handled namely the sundry degrees of troubled consciences III. The third thing is the difference between the troubled conscience in the godly and in the wicked The consciences of Gods children may be troubled and are many times and the consciences of the wicked they are troubled too now the question is How do they differ I answer 1. That trouble in the conscience of wicked men is accompanied with impenitency and sometimes with blasphemy I would I were able to resist God saith Francis Spira like those in the Revelation who blasphemed God because of their torments Sometimes it is accompanied with cursings as Isai 8.21 sometimes with infinite murmuring But in Gods children it is not so When their conscience is troubled they justifie God and clear God and give him the glory of all and submit under his hand and subdue their hearts unto him as David in his trouble did not fret and murmure against God but saith he If God have no pleasure in me lo 2. Sam. 15.26 here I am let him do with me what seemeth him good So that the trouble of conscience in the children of God and in the wicked doth much differ in this first respect 2. The trouble of conscience in the wicked ariseth onely from the apprehension of Gods wrath and fear of judgement for sinne not for the sinne it self and from the love of holinesse But that in Gods children ariseth chiefly for sinne and the want of the apprehension of Gods love unto them How long wilt thou forget me O Lord for ever how long wilt thou hide thy face from me Psal 13.1 Mark whence the trouble of the Psalmist came This was his trouble that God did hide his face 3. Trouble of conscience in the wicked never maketh them part with sinne never breedeth a hatred of sin in them but that in Gods children doth True it is that a wicked mans troubled conscience may make him vomit up his sin like a dog that vomiteth up his troublesome meat but he doth not vomit up his stomach to that meat for when the trouble is over he returneth to his vomit again So a carnall man returneth to his deadnesse of heart again and to his securitie again when the trouble is over Pharaoh whilest his conscience was troubled at the sense of Gods judgements O then saith he I have sinned I pray Moses let me have your prayers and I will let you go If the children of Israel could have packed up and departed while this trouble had lasted they might have been gone But when he saw there was respite Exod. 8.15 he hardned his heart again Mark His trouble of conscience did not make him part with his sinne But that in Gods children doth 4. That in the wicked driveth them from God They have little heart to come unto him They see nothing but wrath and they rather go about to seek ease in other things then to seek his favour as Saul sought ease in musick and Cain in building castles and cities and Judas in a desperate course Their trouble fetcheth them not to God But the trouble in Gods children worketh otherwise In the midst of trouble of conscience they rest upon God as Heman crieth Psal 88.1 O Lord God of my salvation in the midst of the troubles of his soul The eyes of Gods children are still towards heaven they think still they should have some help from God They pray and cry and though God seemeth to neglect them yet they cannot give over They will not be beaten off from waiting on God when he will speak comfort to them 5. That trouble that is in the wicked maketh their heart sullen but that in the godly melteth their heart My soul is like melting wax saith David in his troubles of conscience His soul melted before God and was even poured out before him Psal 22.13 This is a kindly working Thus ye see the difference Vses Vse 1 1. BY this we see what a miserable thing it is to have such a troubled conscience It is the greatest misery that can be it is even a hell to men here upon earth it is like a dismall ghost to terrifie the soul it is like a burning furnace in the bosome it maketh the life bitter In a word the spirit of man is not able to bear it The spirit of man will sustein its infirmities Prov. 18.14 but â—a wounded spirit who can bear As long as a mans spirit is sound it will bear any thing Some have born agues fevers stones colicks convulsions rackings torturings as long as a mans spirit is sound he is able to bear any of them all of them but a wounded spirit who can bear Never was there man that was able to bear a wounded spirit We may see by many of Gods children how heavy it is David rored with the anguish of it a strange phrase He man was ready even to runne out of his wits with it While I suffer thy terrours saith â—he I am distracted Psal 88.15 Moses putteth himself into the number We are even consumed by thine anger Psal 90.7 Ethan complaineth that it was like a burning fever How long O Lord wilt thou hide thy face for ever shall thy wrath burn like fire Psal 89.46 If it be thus with Gods children what may we think of the wicked If we could search into the bosomes