Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A52426
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Practical discourses upon several divine subjects written by John Norris.
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Norris, John, 1657-1711.
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1691
(1691)
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Wing N1257; ESTC R26881
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131,759
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372
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and he is neither Reasonable nor Modest that either Desires or Pretends to more since the other is sufficient for a Satisfactory though not for an Infallible Judgment And yet there is something further in this matter yet for to this Moral Assurance grounded upon the general Terms of Salvation which are matter of Divine Faith and upon the inward Consciousness of our being qualified accordingly which is matter of Experimencal Knowledge we may further add that Obsignation so often mentioned in Scripture whereby the Spirit it self is said to bear Witness with our Spirit that we are the Children of God not by a clear and express Revelation for then the Assurance we have of our Salvation would be an Assurance of Divine Faith which is against what was before supposed but only by a secret Determination of our Minds to assent to this Comfortable Conclusion that we are in a state of Pardon and Salvation and by Confirming us in that Assent After what manner this Operation of God is performed I shall not be so curious as to inquire 't is enough to know that it is a certain impression of the Holy Spirit upon our Souls whereby we are inwardly perswaded beyond the force of Rational Conviction of our being interessed in the Divine Favour and in the Glory that shall be revealed This is the Seal of the Spirit and the Pledge or Earnest of our Inheritance which God often bestows upon the Children of Light in this Life as a Reward for their past and sometimes as an incouragement for their future Obedience For so says the Spirit to the Churches To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden Manna and I will give him a white Stone and in the Stone a new Name written which no Man knows saving he that receives it And now since Peace at the last is so valuable a Treasure and since a good life is a certain and the only way to obtain it what Consequence can be more natural and evident from these Premises than that it highly concerns us to keep Innocency and to take heed to the thing that is right in one word to Live well which was the Third and last Consideration Indeed were Peace at the last a thing of no great value or were not a good Life a sure and a necessary method to obtain it were there a failure in either of these Premises the Conclusion would fail with it and 't were no great matter how we Lived But since the quite contrary appears to be unquestionably true that Peace at the last is incomparably beyond any Temporal Interest we can propose and a good Life is a sure and necessary way to procure it nothing certainly in the World can be of such moment and consequence as to live well 'T is by infinite degrees the most important thing that can possibly imploy our Thoughts or our Time our Studies or our Endeavours nay indeed 't is the One thing needful Vain and Impertinent are all those other many things we are here troubled about all those Thoughts and Cares we have about Time and the things of Time which indeed would be of little value even to a Temporary Being much more to an Immortal Spirit who is to live in another State and there either Enjoy or Suffer to all Eternity To such a Being Time certainly can be no further considerable than as Eternity depends upon it no further than as it may serve as an Opportunity to secure the other which is all the use and all the value Time and this Mortal Life can have with a wise and considering Man The best use therefore we can make of our Time is to live well in it to spend it Innocently and Usefully Piously and Charitably in the Service of God and in doing good to Men. 'T is for this we have our Time and this is the right and proper use of it and that which will give the most Happy Conclusion to it This is that which will yield us Peace and Comfort when nothing else can and when we stand in most need of it in the Hour of Death and in the Day of Judgment in either of which there is no comfort like a good Conscience When I shall lie faint and languishing upon my Dying Bed with my Friends all sad about me and my Blood and Spirits waxing cold and slow within when I begin to reckon my Life not by the Striking of the Clock but by the throbbings of my Pulse every stroak of which beats a Surrender to the Pale Conqueror in this great Ebb of Nature when the Stream of Life runs low and the Wheel at the Cistern can hardly turn round its Circle it will be then no Pleasure or Comfort to my departing Soul to reflect upon the great Estate that I have got upon the Family and Name that I have raised or upon the Honours and Preferments that I have gone through No my Soul will then have a new Taste as well as my Body and these things will be as insipid to me as my Meat and Drink only the Conscience of having done well will then refresh me and yield me Peace and Consolation This is that Angel that must support and strengthen me in that great and last Agony nothing else is able to interpose for my relief in that dreadful juncture and this alone will be a sufficient Comforter and Assistant Many things there are that divert and ingage our Thoughts in the Course of our Life but at the end of it there is nothing that will be regarded by us or afford us any Satisfaction but a good Conscience Our rejoycing then will be this the Testimony of our Conscience that in Simplicity and Godly Sincerity we have had our Conversation in the World And how infinitely then are we concerned to take heed to our ways to walk circumspectly and heartily to apply our selves to that now which will stand us in such stead then Besides 't is our greatest Wisdom as well as Interest and the best Proof we can give of our being Rational Creatures We think it a great Commendation of our Reason to be able to Dispute well and Discourse well and we are generally more impatient of what reflects upon our Intellectuals than of what reflects upon our Morals But certainly to live well is the greatest argument of Wisdom and that which reflects upon our Morals reflects most of all upon our Understandings We live now in an Age wherein Craft and Worldly Policy nay and even downright Knavery has usurped the name of Wisdom and a Man is in danger of bringing his Parts in question by adhering to his Duty against his Worldly Interest But this is the Wisdom of Fools and Mad-men of those who either think not at all or else consider things by halves 't is in short the Wisdom of this World which the Apostle tells us is Foolishness with God But there is another Wisdom and that is the Wisdom of
inlarging upon this 't would be almost as ridiculous to go about to give Light to a thing that is of it so clear as 't is to disbelieve it and he that offers to make the least Question of so evident a Truth is much too absurd to be seriously argued with I shall therefore pass on to the Second Consideration that a good Life which the Psalmist here expresses by keeping Innocency and taking heed to the thing that is Right will certainly bring a Man this Peace at the last And First 't will bring him Everlasting Peace this is plain from the whole tenour of the new Covenant which establishes a standing and never failing connexion between Repentance and Pardon 'T is the very Purchase of Christ's Death that now Repentance may be unto Life and accordingly 't is not only matter of Hope and probable Expectation but 't is made one of the Articles of our Creed that we may obtain Forgiveness of Sins Indeed Repentance is now no where in vain but among Devils and Damned Spirits it would have been so with us too had not Christ died and satisfied the Curse of the Law and the Justice of the Lawgiver and upon that satisfaction erected a new Covenant For the Law knows no such thing as Repentance but the Soul that sinneth must Dye Penitent or Impenitent But 't is the benefit we have by the satisfaction of Christ that now if we repent we shall be forgiven and accepted with God to Salvation and Happiness We shall certainly be saved with it and not without it for Christ did not as some fancy so far undertake for us that we might not Repent and live well but that we might Repent to Purpose He did not design to make our Repentance unnecessary but only to render it useful and efficacious to the ends of Pardon and Reconciliation So that a good Life is not only the means but the only possible means to everlasting Peace and Happiness As it is Secondly to bring us Peace at the Hour of Death nothing else can do it but this and this can and most certainly will as a good life gives us a firm Title to Salvation and Happiness so will it give us a good comfortable Assurance of that Title which is always an unspeakable Peace and Satisfaction but especially at the approach of Death And this is the natural Consequence and Reward of a Life well spent a good Man does his Duty with great Pleasure and Satisfaction but he reflects upon it with greater his Present Joys are very savoury and refreshing but his After-Comforts are much more so But of all the Reviews of his Life none yields him so much Comfort and Satisfaction as that last general Review which he takes of it when he comes to Dye then he has most need of Comfort then he is most fit to relish it and then he has most of it With what strange Delight and Satisfaction does he then reflect upon his past Life and call to mind the good he has done in it those Joys and Consolations which before maintained a gentle course within their own Chanels now begin to swell above their Banks and overflow the Man A kind of Heavenly Light springs up in his Mind and shines forth into his Face and his Hopes and his Desires his Thoughts and his Affections his Presages and his Expectations his Body and his Soul yea the whole Man is full of Glory and Immortality he is conscious to himself of his Sincerity and Integrity that he has not been wilfully and deliberately wanting in any part of his Duty but has rather made this his Exercise and constant concern to keep a Conscience void of Offence towards God and towards Man And as he recollects this with Pleasure so he builds upon it with Confidence and accordingly resigns up his Soul into his Maker's Hands chearfully and couragiously nothing doubting but that that good God whom he has so faithfully served in his Life will take care of him and reward him after Death And for such an Assurance as this there is sufficient ground in Scripture Great is the Peace that they have who love thy Law says the Psalmist And the Righteous hath Hope in his Death says Solomon And says the Prophet The work of Righteousness shall be Peace and the effect of Righteousness Quietness and Assurance for ever And says the great Apostle Our Rejoycing is this the Testimony of our Conscience that in Simplicity and Godly Sincerity we have had our Conversation in the World And we know that we have passed from Death to Life because we love the Brethren says Saint John And again If our Hearts condemn us not then have we Confidence towards God There is indeed some Controversy between the Reformed and the Romish Doctors concerning this Matter the latter generally denying that a Man may be Assured or Certain of his Salvation now though it may and perhaps must be granted that he cannot have an Assurance of Divine Faith nothing being the Object of such an Assurance but for which we have an immediate Revelation from God which cannot ordinarily be said of any Man's Salvation in particular but only of the general and conditional Proposition of the Covenant upon which we build yet I think there is sufficient reason to conclude from the forementioned places of Scripture with many others too numerous and obvious to alledge that a Man upon the consideration of his past life may be so Morally assured of his Salvation as to be out of all reasonable Doubt or Irresolution about it and he that will deny this must oblige himself to maintain one of these Two Propositions either that a Man cannot understand what conditions are required of him in order to a Salvable State or that he can't with any measure of Certainty judge of himself whether he be qualified according to those Conditions The former of which would reflect upon the Sufficiency and Clearness of Scripture which must be allowed to be full and plain in necessary things and the latter would redound too much to the dishonour and disparagement of Human Reason and Understanding since according to this Proposition a Man must be supposed to be so great a Stranger to himself as not to know what passes within his own Breast contrary to which the Scripture supposes in that Question Who knows the things of a Man save the Spirit of Man which is in him It must be acknowledged that this is not a strict Certainty neither of Science nor of Divine Faith but only a Moral and Human Assurance for 't is certain that the Conclusion can be no stronger than the Premises and therefore since one of the Propositions that which contains my own Qualifications is matter only of Experimental Knowledge which is a Human and therefore fallible Testimony 't is certain that the Assurance that rises from the whole can be no more than an Human or Moral Assurance But that is enough