Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A58787
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The Christian life from its beginning, to its consummation in glory : together with the several means and instruments of Christianity conducing thereunto : with directions for private devotion and forms of prayer fitted to the several states of Christians / by John Scott ...
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Scott, John, 1639-1695.
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1681
(1681)
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Wing S2043; ESTC R38893
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261,748
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609
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infests us all over with continual Anguish and Pain how when he hath tired and exhausted us with his continued Batteries and worn out our Strength with a succession of wearisom Nights to sorrowful Days he at last storms the Soul out of all the Out-works of Nature and forces it to retire into the Heart and how when he hath marked us for dead with a Baptism of clammy and fatal Sweats he summons our weeping Friends to assist him to grieve and vex us with their parting Kisses and sorrowful Adieus and how at length when he is weary of Tormenting us any more he rushes into our Hearts and with a few Mortal Pangs and Convulsions tears the Soul from thence and turns it out to seek its Fortune in the wide World of Spirits where 't is either seized on by Devils and carried away to their dark Prisons of Sorrow and Despair there to languish out its life in a dismal Expectation of that dreadful Day wherein it must change its bad Condition for a worse or be conducted by Angels to some blessed Abode there to remain in unspeakable Pleasure and Tranquillity till 't is Crown'd with a glorious Resurrection Now since 't is most certain that we must all one time or other experience these things but most uncertain how soon how much doth it concern us to think of them before-hand and to forecast such Provisions and Preparations for them as that whensoever they happen we may not be surprized For besides that the frequent Meditation of death will familiarize its Terrors to us so that whensoever it comes our Minds which have been so long accustomed to converse with it will be much less startled and amazed at it besides that it will wean us from the inordinate Desire and over-eager Prosecution of the things of this World which as I told you before are the Snares with which our Vices do too often intangle us besides all this I say it will put us upon laying in a Store of spiritual Provisions against that great day of Expence For he that often considers the dreadful Approaches the concomitant Terrors and the momentous Issues and Consequents of Death must be strangely stupified if he be not thereby vigorously excited to fore-arm and fortifie himself with all those Graces and Defences that are necessary to render it easie safe and prosperous VIII To our final perseverance in the Christian Warfare it is also necessary that in order to the putting our selves into a good Posture to die we should discharge our Consciences of all the Reliques and Remains of our past guilt For so we are commanded to take care that our hearts be sprinkled from an evil conscience Heb. x. 22 and to hold faith and a good conscience 1 Tim. i. 19 and to make this our rejoycing the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversation in the world 2 Cor. i. 12 in a word to live in all good conscience Acts xxiii 1 and to have a conscience void of offence towards God and towards men Acts xxiv 16 Which though they are General Duties do necessarily imply this Particular that we should very nicely and curiously examin our Consciences those faithful Records and Registers of our Actions and where-ever we find the least Item of an uncancel'd Guilt immediately cross it out by a hearty Sorrow for and moral Revocation of it For notwithstanding we may have in the general repented of all our past Sins yet there are some Siins which notwithstanding we react no more do leave a lasting Guilt upon the Mind which nothing can cancel but our actual revoking and unsinning them As supposing that I have heretofore either by my bad Counsels or Example seduced other men into wicked Courses it is not sufficient for the Expiation of my Fault that I my self abstain from those wicked Courses for the future but I must indeavour to undo the Mischief which I have done to others by them and by a solemn Recantation of my past Follies by Persuasion and good Counsel and the Application of all other pious and prudent Means indeavour to reduce those whom I have formerly perverted For till I have done this I wilfully permit the mischievous Effect of my Sin to remain and if when I have wounded another I suffer him to perish without taking any care of his Cure I am guilty of his Murder though I never wound him more Suppose again that I have injured another by any malicious Slander or Calumny it is not enough to acquit me of the Guilt of it that I cease to scandalize him for the future but I must also indeavour by a free Retractation to vindicate his injur'd Name from the ill Surmises of those to whom I have asperst him for so long as his Reputation suffers through my not Retracting the Calumnies I have cast upon it I wilfully persist to defame and calumniate him and so long the Guilt of it must stick and abide upon my Conscience Once more suppose I have injur'd another in his Estate either by Theft or Fraud or Oppression it will not be sufficient to acquit me that for the future I forbear defrauding forcing or stealing from him any more but if it be in my Power I must make Restitution of all that I have wrongfully deprived him of and that to himself if he be living or if not to those that succeed him in his Rights and for want of such to the Poor who by Gods Donation have the Propriety of all such Wefts and Strays as have no other Owner surviving For it 's certain that my wrongful Seizure of what is another Mans doth not alienate his Right to it so that he hath the same Right to it while I keep it from him as he had at first when I took it from him and consequently till I restore it back to him I continue to wrong him of it and my detaining it is a continued Repetition of that Fraud or Theft or Oppression by which I wrongfully seized it and whilst I thus continue the Sin 't is impossible but the Guilt of it must still abide upon me In these Cases therefore it concerns us to be very nice and curious in examining our Accounts to see if there be any of these Scores yet uncancel'd any of these bad Effects of our Sin yet remaining For if any such matter appear in our Accounts it concerns us as much as our everlasting Interest amounts to to use all present Care and Diligence to discharge it that so before Death summons us to give up our Accounts to the great Auditor of the World all Scores between him and us may be even'd and adjusted And indeed if we would be safe it vastly imports us to leave as little as may be to do upon a Death-bed for that is most commonly a very improper State for religious Action since for all we know we may be distracted in it by a Feaver or stupified by an Apoplexy or deprived
piercing sense of my Sins as may cause the floods of unfeigned Grief and Contrition to gush forth from it Cause me to bleed for my sins now that I may not bleed for them for ever and that having felt the Smart and Anguish of them I may utterly detest and abhor them and never be reconciled to them more Thus do thou assist me O good God in the Exercise of all these Duties till thou hast throughly conquered my Will by them and prepared it for a firm Resolution to forsake all ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world And now that I am going into the world among those very Temptations that have hitherto so miserably captivated and inslaved me O let thy blessed Spirit be present with me to keep my drousie Conscience awake and arm me against them with his holy Inspirations that so those good Thoughts and Desires which thou hast at present excited in me may stick fast upon my Soul in the midst of my worldly Occasions and never cease importuning my Conscience Will and Affections till they have produc'd in me the happy Effect of a serious and hearty Repentance All which I most earnestly beseech of thee even for pity sake to a poor perishing Soul and for Jesus Christ his sake in whose name and words I farther pray Our Father c. In the Evening when you find your self most sit for serious Thoughts go into your Closet again and consider cooly with your self whether you are heartily willing to part with every Sin and particularly with your beloved Sin and to submit to every Duty and even to those that are most contrary to your vicious Inclination if you are not as it 's very probable you will not for some time or if you find the least reason to suspect you are not press your self anew with such divine Reasons as are most apt to affect you with the Hope of Heaven and the Fear of Hell with the love of God and of your Saviour represent your Obstinacy to your self with all its Baseness and Disingenuity Madness and Folly till you find your self affected with a sorrowful Sense of it and then offer up this following Prayer O Father of Mercies and God of all Grace and Consolation who art a ready help in time of need look down upon me I beseech thee a miserable and forlorn Wretch that have wilfully sold my self Captive to the Devil and am now strugling to get loose from this my wretched Bondage into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God I know O Lord that I am striving for my immortal Life and accordingly as I succeed I expect to be happy or miserable for ever I have seriously considered the Reasons on both sides and am fully satisfied in my mind that there is infinitely more Force in thy Promises and Threats than in all the Difficulties of my Duty and the Pleasures of my sin But after all this I find a law in my Members warring against the law in my Mind a perverse Will that rejects the counsels of my Reason that makes obstinate Reservations of some beloved Sins and Exceptions to some particular Duties in despite of all the persuasion of my Reason and Religion So that after all my Endeavours I am still detain'd in Captivity to the law of sin that is in my Members and am not able to incline my self to an intire Resolution of Amendment O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of Sin and Death I know O Lord though I am weak and impotent and of my self unable to shake off the Chains and Fetters of my Lusts yet thy Grace is abundantly sufficient to rescue and deliver me from them and thou hast promised to assist with it my honest Endeavours and crown them with a blessed Success Wherefore for thy Truth and Mercies sake suffer not thy poor Creature who with pitiful and bemoaning Looks cries out for help to thee to spend himself in weary and fruitless Struglings against this violent Torrent of my sinful Nature which without thy aid will quickly overcome my poor Endeavours and drive me down into eternal Perdition My sole Dependence is upon thee my Hope of Success is wholly in thee help Lord help or else I perish stretch forth thy powerful Arm to my sinking Soul and let not this Deep swallow me up but do thou so quicken my faint Endeavours so strengthen my weak and doubting Faith so enliven my cold and languid Considerations so clear up my Convictions of my need of a Saviour and of the Danger and Odiousness of my Sins and thereby so increase my penitential Sorrows and Remorses as that by all these means together my obstinate Will may at last be conquered and effectually persuaded to part with every Sin be it never so dear to me and to comply with every Duty be it never so cross to my vile Inclinations Then shall I freely resign up my self unto thee and with a firm Resolution devote all my Powers to thy Service And that I may do so and by so doing be reconciled to thee O my offended God before I go hence and be no more seen receive me I beseech thee into thy protection this Night that I may yet see the light of another Day and have a longer space to finish my Repentance All which I humbly implore even for Jesus Christ his sake in whose name and words I farther pray Our Father c. If upon searching your own Heart you find that after you have fairly represented to your self what sinful Pleasures you must part with what Duties you must submit to and what Difficulties you must ingage with you are willing without any Reserve or Exception to submit your self to God beware you be not too hasty to form your Resolution but take some little time to try your self see whether you will continue to morrow of the same mind you are in now and if then you perceive you have reason to suspect your self try a little longer and at the present indeavour as much as in you lies to confirm and settle your self in the good Mind you are in by pressing and urging your self with all those Arguments of your Religion by which you have been thus far convinced and persuaded and while you are thus trying your self instead of the former let this be your Evening Prayer O Blessed Lord and most merciful Father thou art a God hearing Prayer and to thee shall all flesh come I admire thy Goodness I adore thy Grace that after so many heinous provocations I have given thee for which thou mightest have justly shut thine ears against me for ever thou hast heard my Cries and pitied my Misery and thus far contributed towards my Recovery I acknowledg 't is by thy Grace that I am what I am that this stubborn Heart begins at last to relent this perverse Will to bow and stoop these lewd Affections to hunger and thirst after