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
hath made thee a child of such special favour and mercy SECT IX Of the state of Infants that die in their Infancy before they are capable of any Actual Transgressions and that die before Baptisme THe next particular in order to be treated upon is concerning the state of those Infants who die in their Infancy before they are capable of any actual transgression These having only original sinne upon them what may we conclude about their final estate for we will take for granted that the Doctrine of the Lutherans is to be exploded who hold that Infants have actual sinnes and that some do partake of actual grace this is repugnant to reason and experience Now to proceed more orderly in this point we are to take notice of these ensuing particulars First That it is one thing to be a child of wrath by nature and another thing to be reprobated for ever by God never to be admitted into his favour When the Apostle calleth us children of wrath the meaning is not as if there were a final and total rejection from all grace for then the meaning would be that all men are damned which is manifestly contradicted by many places in Scripture Though therefore all Infants are by nature the children of wrath yet all are not reprobated though all deserve to be damned yet all are not actually damned Secondly We are to know that those who hold some Infants dying in their original sinne to be damned do yet acknowledge that it is as Austin calleth it mitissima omnium poena the mildest of all punishments because they have no actual sinnes joyned with their original to encrease the torments of hell It is true we told you original sinne in the nature of it is very great and hainous even so great that none are able to express the loathsomness thereof yet because it hath this diminishing circumstance that it is not voluntary personally in an Infant therefore we may conclude that they have lesser torments in hell then Adult persons For that there are degrees of torments in hell some punished more extreamly then others is acknowledged by all though some learned men question whether there be any degrees of glory in heaven Thirdly As for the Doctrine of the learned about the state of Infants dying in their Infancy there are several opinions Some hold that all Infants dying so whether in the Church or out of the Church whether of believing or unbelieving parents are saved They think this opinion doth most suit with the goodness and mercy of God of this opinion are not only the Heterodox Doctors but even learned Junius in his answer to Puccius Zuinglius also is alledged for this Others they make a distinction of Infants dying in their Infancy For either they die without Baptisme or with Baptisme if without Baptisme then they conclude of their damnation and in this rigid way Austin went and many follow him yea Austin thought that if they died without the Sacrament of the Lords Supper also for at that age it was generally held that both the Sacraments were necessary to salvation and therefore both to be applyed to Infants But then for these Infants who die partakers of Baptisme they concluded undoubtedly of their salvation this being their Doctrine that Baptisme doth wash away original sinne The Papists they all agreeing in this likewise that Baptism is necessary necessitate medii to salvation either really or in voto in desire and because an Infant dying without Baptisme cannot have a desire thereunto Hence they conclude of eternal death as a punishment unto such yet Elisius a Papist in his piorum clypeus c. Quest 10. Art 3. is very bold saying that opinion which many Divines and the Church holdeth concerning the state of Infants dying without Baptisme according to the ordinary law est saâ—â—dura onerosa is very hard and burdensome and not conformable to the precepts of Christ which are sweet and easy and therefore he alledgeth Gerson and Cajetan for this opinion which he is so farre from judging heretical that he calls it pietati conformis but generally the Papists go otherwise But then they differ amongst themselves Some of them as Catharinus place Infants so dying in a terrestrial Paradise where they have a natural though not a supernatural happiness Opus de statu parv Others make their condition more miserable viz. that they have the privative part of eternal death though not the positive they have the poena damni the punishment of loss though not of sense they are shut out from enjoying God but yet they say this will not work any sorrow in them because they know that they were not in a capacity for enjoying the face of God as say they a Country Peasant is not grieved because he is not a King because he never was in any probability for such a dignity But as a Popish Writer Flor. Conrius Archip. Thuani observeth confuting his own party and rigidly following Austin in a Tractate joyned to Jansenius his Works These Infants saith he knowing that they are shut from the face of God must needs be exceedingly grieved because in Adam they had a capacity to enjoy God even as a poor man may mourn that he is not a King when his ancestors had a right to it but sinfully lost it and this is the case of all Infants so that it is a meer figment that many Papists have to make an half hell and a semi-damnation as if we might be deprived of Gods favour and not be positively damned It is true here also the Papists are divided Bellarmine maketh five divers opinions concerning the state of dying Infants and he joyneth with those that hold they have inward sorrow in that eternal death but yet not so great as to be called hell fire or the worm of conscience For this end they write and speak so much of a limbus Infantum a border or fringe as it were in hell where Infants are all disposed being without the Vision of God yet not tormented with boddy pain but there is no Scripture for such a place and therefore we leave this limbus to these limbatis pontificiis who love to enlarge their limbos and simbrias as one saith Lastly There are others and they distinguish of Infants dying either they are such as are within the Covenant and are of believing parents and of such they conclude their salvation for they look upon their federation as an external sign of their election but then for all such as die without the Covenant the children of Pagans they say that by the Scripture they cannot conclude of any hope of salvation for them Thus you see into how many divers wayes they go who handle this Question I might adde another opinion mentioned by Vorstius Anti Bellar. in Quâ—rt Tom. Censur ad Thes Duodes of some who affirm Infants do wholly perish as beasts but saith he these are not to be accounted inter Evangelicos amongst the Evangelical Churches
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
purpose They detain the truth in unrighteousnesse they keep conscience a prisoner gladly would that do its duty but they imprison and shackle it now this weaknesse is come upon conscience by original sinne otherwise Samson like nothing could bind that but it would command the will and affections yea the whole man to obey it Oh the pitifull estate then of such men who are sinners against conscience prophane against conscience whose lusts are stronger then their conscience As it is with some poor prisoners they go up and down with their Keeper Thus do these men they go from place to place from company to company to commit their sins and conscience as their keeper followeth them up and down only they despise and contemn the dictates of it which will be wofull in the later end Thirdly Though conscience may apply Yet as it doth it weakly and faintly so also seldom and not constantly nor daily The Cock crew once or twice before Peter remembred himself Conscience may apply once or twice yet the noise of lusts drown the voice of it Therefore unlesse it speak frequently unless it be applying often as the Prophet did three times to the dead child there will not be any spiritual life procured Thus you have the consciences even of natural men in some fits under the expectations of some great and eminent judgements They finde the power of conscience upon them as Pharaoh Ahab and Felix who trembled under Paul's preaching but then this is a flash only it 's like a sudden clap of Thunder that terrifieth for the present but when past is presently forgotten Thus in fears of death under some powerfull Sermon thy conscience giveth a blow a sharp prick into thy heart for the while thou art in some agony in some terror but because conscience doth it not often never giving thee over till it hath recovered thee hence it is that thou returnest to thy old stupidity again Fourthly As conscience naturally doth not its duty in applying So neither in witnessing in bearing testimony to our actions which yet is one great end why conscience is put into a man It is ordinarily said Conscientia est mille testes conscience is a thousand witnesses and so indeed when it doth bear testimony to a mans action it 's more then a thousand it 's more then all the world yea it is not only mille testes but mille tortores a thousand tormentors but alas it 's so defiled that in many things if not in all things it faileth and giveth at least no true witness at all For if there were not this pollution upon it With what a loud voice would it cry to thee saying I know and God knoweth what are the sinnes that thou daily livest in What little regard this witness hath appeareth That if men can accomplish their impieties and none behold them if there be no witnesses to confirm it before men they matter not at all for the witness that conscience and God can bear against them Oh this vileness of thy heart that thou runnest from the eyes of men but not considerest the eyes of God and of thy own conscience that behold thee Though indeed thy conscience is for the most part mute and speechless le ts thee alone do what thou wilt it will not witness against thee but is bribed rather and speaks for thee and flattereth thee Bewail then the sinfulnesse upon conscience even in this very particular that it doth not bear witnesse to thy evil actions or when it doth it is so coldly and languidly that thou canst hardly hear the voice of it whereas as the Prophet which is like an external conscience in the Church is To lift up his voice like a Trumpet to inform of transgressions and not to spare Thus it should be with conscience in thee And as there is a woe to that people whose Pastor is a dumb dog no lesse is it to those whose conscience also is a dumb dog So that though the witnesses and testimonies of conscience against thy self and actions be troublesom and vexatious thou canst not eat or drink or sleep for them yet this is more hopefull and may be more preparatory to conversion then when thy conscience will say nothing or is corruptly bribed saying to thee in all thy actions as Absolom did to every one that came to him That his cause was good but above all these cold and soft whisperings of conscience as if that were afraid of thee more then thou of it are notoriously discovered in the actings of secret sinne For if thy iniquities be committed secretly though thou livest in secret uncleanness in secret thieving and cosening in thy dealings so that the world doth not know it thou thinkest all is well with thee Now how could this be if conscience did roundly bear witness to these secret sinnes This would as much shame affect and torment thee as if all the world did know what thou hast done in private Oh but this conscience is muzzled Or as was said of Demosthenei when he would not plead for a Clyent but pretended a Quinsie in his throat he did Argentanginam pati Thus thy conscience hath swallowed a Camel into its throat and so spareth thee and lets it alone Otherwise if conscience did his office thou who livest in secret sins wouldst be more molested and disquieted by its continual testimonies against thee then if all the Congregation had been spectators of thy private wickedness Therefore the pollution of the conscience by original sinne is fully proclaimed by all the hidden works of dishonesty by all the close secret sinnes committed in the world For were conscience ready to testifie it would follow thee as close as the shadow to the body as Asahel did Joah Oh then let such clandestine sinners be afraid for though conscience be now stupified yet this will one day be the gnawing worme in thee that will never die SECT IV. The Corruption of Conscience in accusing and excusing THe next particular is That in those actings of conscience which are said to be accusation and excusing even herein will appear wonderfull pollution It is as you heard grosly defiled in application and in bearing witnesse now we may hold it grievously wounded also in regard of these actings Rom. 2. 15. The Apostle speaking of conscience which is even in Heathens themselves he saith It beareth witnesse with them and thereupon their thoughts are accusing or excusing one another But if we do consider how naturally conscience behaveth it self in these workings we shall have cause to be astonished at all the evil which is come upon us For in the duty of accusing is it not wholly silent Do not men runne into all excess of riot Do they not imbrace any wickedness suggested Yet where is that Murmuratio and remorsus as they express it Where is that regreting that smiting of conscience which ought to be Oh how busie is the Devil as when he possessed some bodies to make
that solid judgement as to know its liberty and its freedome from Judaical rites and all other Commandments of men about the worship of God Indeed the notion of Christian-liberty may quickly be abused to prophane dissoluteness but yet the true Doctrine about that was one of the greatest mercies brought to the Church in the first reformation for there the conscienees of all were grossely intangled and miserably inthralled yea their Casuists who took upon them to resolve and direct conscience they were the greatest tormentors of all insomuch that they then seemed to be in a wilderness or rather under an Aegyptian bondage wherein were many lawes and Canons many Doctrines and opinions that were as Luther expresseth it about one homicidissimae Now to this bondage the conscience of a man is more naturally prone then unto any obedience to the true commands of God Indeed the conscience of man naturally is miserably polluted about the knowledg of those tyes and obligations that are upon it for sometimes it contracteth and limiteth them more then it ought Hence it is that a man yea a godly man may live in the omission of many duties in the commission of many sinnes and yet not know that he doth so and all because we do not study the extent of the obligation of conscience and from this it is that many good men have endeavoured to grow in more knowledge to study the commands of God obliging of them and upon enquiry have found cause to do those things they never did before and also they would not for a world walk in the same paths they once did Thus Melancthon remembring his superstitition while a Papist Quoties cohorrui c. How often doth horror take bold on me when I think with what boldness I went and fell down before Images worshipping of them This is one great pollution of conscience not to know its divine obligations that are upon it But then on the other side the conscience smitten about sinne is many times prone to stretch its obligations beyond the due line they judge sinnes to be where there are none They make duties where God hath not required and all because the troubled conscience is like a troubled fountain a man cannot see clearly the face neither are we then able to judge of any thing truly It is a rule in Philosophy Quicquid per humidum videtur majtu apparet Every object through an humid ormoist medium appeareth greater then it is thus also doth sinne and duties through a grieved wounded conscience therefore for want of the true knowledge of our Christian-liberty there is a scrupulous conscience called so because as little stones in the shoe hinder the feet in going so doth the scrupulousness and timerated thoughts much annoy in a Christian walking These commonly are without end as one circle in the water begets another or as Gerson resembleth it like one Dog that barketh setteth all the Dogs in the Town on barking so doth one scruple beget another and that many more Now although a scrupulous conscience may be for the main tender and good yet the scrupulousness of it ariseth from the infirmity and weakness thereof and maketh the soul paralytical in all its actions These scruples make a man very unserviceable and to live very uncomfortably and although God in great mercy doth many times exercise the truly godly sadly with them thereby to humble them to keep them low to say with Agur they have not the understanding of a man to be kept hereby from gross and foul sinnes yet they are to be prayed against for these scruples are like the Aegyptian Frogs alwaies croaking coming into the chamber and in at every window thereby disturbing thee in thy duty If thy conscience were sound and clear the light thereof would quickly dispell these mists Again From the blindness of a troubled conscience cometh also the sad and great doubtings upon the heart whereby the soul of a man is distracted and divided pulled this way and haled that way Rom 1. 14. The Apostle speaketh at large about a doubting conscience and sheweth how damnable a thing it is to do any thing doubting whether it be a sinne or not A doubting conscience is more then a scrupulous for Divines say a man may go against a a scrupulous conscience because the conscience is for the main resolved that such a thing may lawfully be done only he hath some feares and some jealousies moving in him to the contrary But a doubting conscience is when Arguments are not clear but a man stands as it were at the end of two waies and knoweth not what to do now if conscience were well inlightned and informed out of Gods Word it would not be subject to such distracting doubts but because of its natural blindness therefore it is at a stand so often Hence In the last place it becomes from a scrupulous doubting to a perplexed conscience so insnared that what way soever he taketh he cannot but sinne if he do such a thing he sinneth and if he doth it not he sinneth as in Paul who thought himself bound to set himself against Christians if he did persecute them it is plain he did sinne if he did not he thought he sinned It is true Casuists say Non datur casus perplexus there cannot be any case wherein there is a necessity of sinning because a man is bound to remove the error upon his conscience but yet the ignorance and blindness of man doth bring him often into that perplexed estate There remain two chief particulars wherein the pollution of a natural and troubled conscience is observable which are In the sixth place A proneness to use all unlawfull meanes and to apply false remedies for the removall of this trouble Seventhly A direct and open opposition to what is the true evangelical way appointed by God for to give true peace and tranquillity to such a conscience Before we descend to these particulars It is good to take notice of some general Observations which will greatly conduce to clear the particulars What a blessed Thing it is to come well out of the pain of a troubled Conscience FIrst That it is a most blessed and happy thing to come out of a troubled conscience in a goood safe and soul-establishing way For this womb of conscience when in pain and travail is apt to make many miscarriages yea sometimes it is so farre from having any joy that a man-child is born I mean the true fruit of holiness produced that there is a monster brought forth in the stead thereof Doth not experience and Scripture confirme this that many have come out of their troubles of conscience with more obstinacy and willfullness to sinne again That as the wind blowing upon coales of fire which might seem to extinguish the fire doth indeed encrease it Thus these pangs these gripes of conscience which sometimes they have felt that made godly friends say Now there is hope blessed be God that maketh them
feel the burden of sinne These hopefull workings I say do at last end in a sensless stupidity Pharaoh for a while and so also Belshazzar and Felix trembled Conscience in these did give some sharp stings but alas it came to no good use so rare a thing is it to come in a gracious manner out of these waves and stormes upon thy soul Experience also doth give in full testimony to this How many do we see that for some time yea it may be yeares have had as it were an hell within them They have eat their bread and drunk their drink with trembling and astonishment They have been even distracted with the terrors of the Lord but if you observe the later end of such they have at last grown secure and stupid as if the Spirit of God had never visited them in such a dreadfull manner So that we may say to many What is become of those troubles thou didst once groan under Where are those feares those cries those agonies thou hadst then Where are those zealous and fervent workings of heart which did so burn within thee once Alas after these meltings and thawings a greater frost and cold hath come upon them That as sometimes frequent and constant aguish fits do at last end in a consumption Thus frequent troubles of conscience upon some fits and seasons do sometimes end in a plain dedolency and stupidity of conscience never to be troubled more God hath left thee to be like an Adaman◠and stone so that though thou sinnest never so grosly yet now thy conscience is seared and thou canst be bold and rejoycing in the midst of thy impieties Thus you see it 's a great consequence for any one labouring under the troubles of conscience diligently to consider how he cometh out of them for now is the time of saving or damning of thee now is the time thou art in the fire either to be purged and refined or to be consumed Oh pray and get all thy godly friends to pray that these troubles may be sanctifie that they may be blessed to make a through change upon thee Better never have had such a wounded conscience such a troubled heart and then to returne to thy vomit again for every sinne committed by thee after these troubles hath an high and bloudy aggravation Thou knowest how bitter sinne is Thou hast tasted what gall and wormewood is in it Thou hast been in the very jawes of hell hast had some experience of what even the damned feel and wilt thou go to such sinnes again wilt thou put these Adders into thy breast again that have almost stung thee even to despair Therefore set a Selah an accent as it were upon this particular thou who hast been a troubled sinner and see how thou comest to be freed from this spiritual pain A great Difference between a troubled Conscience and a regenerate Conscience IN the second place You must know That there is a great difference between a troubled conscience and a regenerated or sanstified conscience The conscience may be exceedingly troubled about sinne have no peace or rest because of sinne yet be in the state of original pollution yet be destitute of the Spirit of Christ This mistake is very frequent many judging the troubles of conscience they once had to be the time of their conversion to God though ever since they have lived very negligently and carelesly without the strict and lively conformity of their lives to the rule whereas we see in Cain in Judas these had even earthquakes as it were upon their consciences They had more trouble then they could bear yet none can say they had a regenerated conscience It is true indeed these troubles of conscience may be introductory and preparatory to the work of conversion but if ye stay in these and think to have had these is enough ye grosly deceive your own soules Act. 2. 37 38. When Peter did in such a particular and powerfull manner set home upon the Jews that grievous sinne of killing the Lord Christ it is said They were pricked in heart Here their consciences were awakened here were nailes as it were fastened by the Master of their Assembly into their soules yet when they cry out saying What shall we do Peter doth direct them to a further duty which is to repent Those troubles then those feares and agonies were not enough a further thing was requisite for their conversion Thou then who art troubled rest not in these think not this is all but Press forward for regeneration without this though these troubles did fill thy soul as much as the Lecusts did Aegypt yet thou wouldst go from begun torments here to consummate torments hereafter It is true a gracious regenerated conscience may have its great troubles and agonies be in unspeakable disquietings but I speak of such who are yet only in innitiatory troubles who are as yet but in the wilderness journying towards Canaan all these troubles do not inferre regeneration but are therefore brought upon thee that thou maist be provoked to inquire after this new creature What may be the Causes of the trouble of Conscience which yet are short of true saving Motives IN the third place take notice of what may be the cause and motives which may make thy conscience awakened and troubled which yet are not from true saving principles 1. The commission of some gross and hainous sinne against conscience this may work much terror The very natural light of consciene in this particular is able to fill the soul with feares Rom. 2. The Heathens had their consciences acusing of them We read of Nero that after he had killed his mother Agrippina he was so terrified in his conscience that he never dared to offer sacrifices to the Gods because of the guilt upon him yea and as Tertullian lib. de animâ cap. 44. observeth from Suetonius after this parricide he who in his former times never used to dreame it 's noted of him as a rare and strange thing was constantly terrified in his dreames with sad imaginations Thus you see natural conscience upon the committing of some gross sinne hath power of it self to recoil and with heavy terror to overwhelm a man Some also do relate of Constantine that having been the cause of the death of his eldest sonne Crispus upon groundless suspicious was greatly tormented in his conscience not knowing what to do and thereupon was advised to receive the Christian Religion in which alone there could be found an expiation for so foul an offence 2. The trouble of conscience may arise from some heavy and grievous judgement that hath overtaken us Conscience may lie asleep may yeares the sinnes thou hast committed long agoe may be almost forgotten and yet some judgement and calamity falling upon thee afterwards may bring them to mind Thus Joseph's brethren whose consciences were so stupid as you heard that upon the throwing of their brother into the pit they could sit down as