Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	godly_a	rejoice_v	simplicity_n	1,031	5	9.5439	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51266	The grand inquiry who is the righteous man: or, The character of a true beleever in his approaches towards heaven. Whereunto is added The resolution of a case of separation betwixt man and wife, propounded to the author by a party much concerned. By William Moore rector at Whalley in Lancashire.	Moore, William, rector of Whalley, Lancashire.	1658 (1658)	Wing M2612; ESTC R214225	54,012	181

in the blackest ignominy a comfort in the saddest misery Nay then when all other delights fail us when the evil daies come upon us and the years draw nigh wherein we say I have no pleasure in them When the keepers of the house begin to tremble and the grinders cease because they are few and those that look out at the window are darkned and the daughters of musick are brought low Can thy servant taste either what I eat or what I drink saith old Barzillai Can I hear any more the voice of singing men or singing women But then especially when we lie upon our death-beds what are all the Kingdoms of the world and the glory of them Ah miserable comforters are ye all In stead of rejoycing perhaps they affright us Ah woe worth the day that ever mine heart hankered after riches that ever mine eyes dazled upon honours that ever my teeth watered after pleasures these these are they for which I first wounded conscience and now they stare in my face worse then either hell or devil But our righteousness stands by us and an upright heart it speaks comfort to us and when we are to go out of the world 2 Cor. 1.12 This is our rejoycing even the testimony of a good conscience that in sincerity and godly simplicity we have had our conversation in the world In this way there 's joy both in life and death and at the day of judgement and your joy shall no man take away from you Rejoyce ye righteous 3. An Exhortation Be righteous and Rejoyce 1. Be righteous As you are made righteous through the righteousnesse of Christ imputed so exercise your selves in the waies of righteousnesse as ever you expect true joyes I have shew'd you before what this righteous man is As one that is cloathed in the righteousnesse of God through faith in Christ Jesus so one that receives this righteousnesse into his head he knows it into his heart he loves it and into his life he works it 1 Joh. 3.7 He that doth righteousnesse is righteous In a word he is a man of an honest and an upright heart So you have him in this verse the latter part explains the former Rejoyce ye righteous and shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart This is the man that hath solid and true joy And the more we exercise our selves in this way the greater is our rejoycing Oh what a sweet encouragement So let it stir us up to exercise our selves in the waies of righteousnesse righteousnesse toward God righteousnesse toward men It is that of the Apostle Act. 24.16 Herein do I exercise my self to have alwaies a conscience void of offence toward God and toward men 1. In the way of righteousnesse toward God that is in the way of his Commandements The way of Gods Commandements that is a right way and it is a heart-rejoycing way Psal 19.8 The statutes of the Lord are right rejoycing the heart Do ye not finde it by experience I appeal to your own consciences When ye have spent the day in Gods service and sit down at night and review the works that ye have done doth it not afford a more solid and sweet contentment to your souls then if you had surfeited your selves in the vain empty pleasures of the world Rom. 6.19 As therefore ye have yeelded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity so now yeeld your members servants to righteousnesse unto holinesse The Apostle presses it with arguments pro and con vers 21. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed for the end of those things is death But now being made free from sin ye have your fruit unto holinesse and the end thereof everlasting life It will be your eternal joy 2. In the way of righteousnesse toward men Nor can you indeed be righteous before God except ye make conscience of your waies with men Because God requires both Ps 15.1 Lord who shal dwel in thy tabernacle who shall rest in thy holy hill even he that leadeth an uncorrupt life and doth the thing which is right and speaketh the truth from his heart he that hath used no deceit with his tongue nor done evil to his neighbour That just and faithful servant it is he that shall enter into the joy of his Lord. Oh then do no wrong to any man neither by word nor deed Though you have it in your power and might be gainers by it yet what you get by fraud will it not be your sorrow in the end So will it breed a worm in your consciences that ever gnawing never dying worm yea a moth in your estates and a curse upon your posterity Psal 37.35 I have seen the wicked in great prosperity and spreading himself like a green bay tree yet he passed away and lo he was not yea I sought him but he could not be found But mark the righteous man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace Oh what a joyful end Nay in the way when troubles come upon us what a brest-plate is righteousnesse to ward off the blow But think with your selves what a rejoycing it was to Samuel when the people had cast off his government that yet he could challenge them 1 Sam. 12.3 Behold I am here witnesse against me before the Lord and before his Anointed whose oxe have I taken or whose asse have I taken or whom have I defrauded This is our encouragement and so we shall finde it in the day of trouble at least when we lie upon our death-beds the rejoycing of our souls Learn we therefore not only not to wrong but to give every man his due even honour to whom honour is due nay to the very meanest nor only in a way of equity but in a way of charity for this also is a part of the righteousnesse of Saints So Daniel gives the counsel to Nebuchadnezzar Dan. 4.27 Break off thy sins by righteousnesse and thine inquities by shewing mercy to the poor The more we lay out our selves in the righteousnesse of charity the more shall be our joy at that great day Psal 112.9 He hath dispersed abroad he hath given to the poor his righteousnesse endureth for ever his horn shall be exalted with honour For we must know that our works they follow us not what we have gotten but what we have given I was hungry and ye gave me meat Come ye blessed And so will God judge us according to our works According to the measure of this righteousnesse so shall be our measure and degree of joy Thus to awaken us to the waies of righteousnesse both before God and man But 3. Whatsoever we do to do it with an honest and an upright heart This is that which gives us pure and unmixed joy when we do it in the integrity and uprightnesse of our souls Many are discouraged in the waies of righteousnesse because they finde not those joyes in them they expected

It is because they act not with that uprightnesse as the righteous doth Perhaps there is too much of self-pleasing and vain-glory in it So the hypocrites give almes to be seen of men verily I say unto you they have their reward But do it as you ought to do it and ye shall finde the incouragement and joy in it And 1. Do it as in the sight of God setting him still before your eyes as spectator witnesse and the judge of all your actions Gen. 17.1 I am God all-sufficient walk before me and be upright So to walk before God as alwaies in his sight this is to be upright in the eyes of God Thus Abraham walked before God that is he walked uprightly And thus Jotham prepared his way before the Lord that is in the sincerity and uprightnesse of his soul he set himself to seek the Lord. Thus Paul 2 Cor. 2.17 We are not as many which corrupt the word of God but as of sincerity but as of God in the sight of God speak we in Christ Jesus Whilst we corrupt our waies in darknesse we darken and corrupt our joyes but when we act openly as alwaies in Gods eyes then we have our rejoycings before God 2 Do it with the whole heart Ps 119.7 I will praise thee with uprightnesse of heart when I shall have learn'd thy righteous judgements And then vers 10. With my whole heart have I sought thee So to seek God with an upright heart is to seek God with the whole heart Thus Samuel exhorts the people to fear the Lord and to serve him in truth and with all their heart He that serves God in the truth of his heart will serve him with all his heart So Josiah and the people made a covenant before the Lord to walk after the Lord with all their heart and with all their soul And David's Worthies are commended that they were not of a double heart a heart and a heart where there is a divided heart there can be no settled joy A double minded man is unstable in all his waies as a wave of the sea driven to and fro and tossed Whilest as those Samaritans that feared the Lord and served their own Gods so our hearts are divided and our joy to seek Psal 12.2 They spake vanity every one with his neighbour with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak A double heart speaks vanity and so his rejoycings are but vanity It is an entire heart that gives us an entire joy 3. Do it with a pure heart a heart cleansed from the filth of sin I do not expect that ye should be without sin whilest you carry flesh about you For who can say I have cleansed my heart I am pure from my sin But keep your hearts from the love of sin 1 Tim. 1.5 The end of the commandement is charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience Where there is a good conscience an honest and an upright heart there is a pure heart O do not deceive your selves with the love of any filthy lust but pluck out that right eye your darling and beloved sin Though it be but one and as Lot concerning Zoar Is it not a little one That little sin as a thief in the chest will rob you of your comforts If the fountain be defiled must not the streams be muddy and your rejoycings like the troubled waters so they lose their clearnesse But Mat. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God It is the pure heart that intitles to th●se pure joyes 4. Do it in truth and in sincerity Heb. 10.22 Let us draw more with a pure heart An upright heart that is a true heart and a true heart is a sincere heart without fraud and without guile Sincera quasi sine cora As honey without wax or as bread without leaven so without that leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisie Thus Hezekiah wrought that which was good and right and true before the Lord his God To walk uprightly is to walk truly So David walked before God in truth in righteousnesse and uprightnesse of heart And it is the prayer of Hezekiah I beseech thee O Lord remember how I have walked before thee in truth and with an upright heart There 's a truth in our words opposed to lying and a truth in our works opposed to hypocrisie A saying in truth and a doing in truth But O damnable hypocrisie The hypocrite you know is a painted sepulchre fair without but full of rottennesse within such is their joy but a rotten joy as the summer Pear mellow to the eye but rotten at the core Job 8.13 The hope of the hypocrite shall perish Nay Cut him asunder and appoint him his portion with hypocrites as if for them God had provided 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a greater damnation But as before so I tell you again 2 Cor. 1.12 Our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversation in the world Thus you have had the motion to perswade you to the love of the waies of righteousnesse both toward God and toward men and to exercise your selves in them with an upright heart It will be your joy Now I come to the 2. Rejoyce Let such as are righteous such as are upright in heart remember that it is their duty and God cals upon them Rejoyce ye righteous Oh be not awanting to your selves but consider that happy condition wherein God hath set you maugre the malice of men or devils and let not any take away your glory Rejoyce in the Lord alwaies and again I say rejoyce Beloved though it may seem easie yet this is a duty of much difficulty It is easier for me to preach then either for you or me to practise especially in such times as these A voice of wailing is heard in our streets How are we spoiled Had we no more to look upon but only the ruines of a glorious Church to see our cattle engendring with divers kindes and begetting such monsters in Religion to see our ground sown with several seeds and the tares so choaking the good wheat to see our garments mingled of linnen and woollen and this grown so much into fashion that many follow their pernicious waies by reason of whom the way of truth is evill spoken on Are we priviledged beyond the Angel of the Church of Thy●tira Rev. 2.20 I have somewhat against thee Because thou sufferest the woman Jesabel who calleh her self a Prophetesse to teach and to seduce my people And how sad is the doom Jer. 12.9 Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird the birds round about are against her Come ye assemble all the beasts of the field come to devour And now how shall we sing the Lords song thus in a strange land But why not were the times worse then blessed be God they as yet are yet there 's joy for the righteous