〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I do not speak this with my mouth and my conscience gives me the lye but Conscience speaks the same thing and joint with me in the testimony 2 Cor. 12. This is our rejoycing the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversation in the World but more especially to you-ward c. Conscience brings his carriage towards them to the rule and judges of it to agree and to be consonant thereunto and therefore gives testimony within him and into this Court the spirit of God commonly comes to assist conscience to pronounce the sentence For conscience is defiled and so over-awed and bribed and blinded by lust that it cannot many times pronounce a right sentence till the Spirit of God comes into the Court and acts Conscience and causeth it to judge aright of his estate and and wayes also and therefore Rom. 9.1 My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Ghost the Holy Ghost doth witness with Conscience and Conscience in the power of the Spirit does witness to the man so in a wicked man it is a Spirit of bondage that is does cause Conscience to witness bondage which else by reason of the self love and self flattery that is in the man it will never do and in a godly man it witnesseth grace and adoption which of it self it can never do and therefore the spirit is a witness in Heaven and in earth also even in a renewed Conscience the spirit does 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We come now to give the reasons or the grounds of the point which will be best done by answering these Questions First As inordinate love unto a mans self has been the great cause of all a mans sins 2 Tim. 3.2 So it is self loathing that is the cause of all a mans Torment a man shall be a burden to himself Job 7.20 A terror to himself Jer. 20 4. As by self love they have corrupted themselves so by self loathing they shall torment themselves for ever and so the Lord will take the same way in punishing that they have taken in sinning That the sin that a man hath here taken most pleasure in shal hereafter be to him the matter of his his greatest torment as we see it here immediately as soon as God does awaken the Conscience there is no sin so dreadful to a man as his darling and he fears nothing like that which he has most loved and desired so it will be hereafter in a mans punishment also as nothing was so loved admired and deifi'd as himself so there shall be nothing that he shall loath and abhor like himself for ever and answerable to a mans self love so will his self loathing be for Revel 8.8 so much pleasure so much torment No sin wil will pierce Herods heart like to his rodias And there is no sin that a man spares more here than his darling and there is none will be more cruel to them hereafter and as a worm feed upon their hearts and eat up their inward man for ever and so it is in it self also as there is nothing they have loved more and spared more here they have wholly been cruel unto others but unto themselves sparing they shall not be so hereafter but above all others they shall be cruel to themselves for ever Quest 2d Secondly Seeing God will torment a man by himself why is the main of a mans torment in his Conscience above all other faculties It is true that as every faculty hath been filled with the fruits of all unrighteousness so every faculty shall be a Vessel filled with wrath but above all others why the Worm in the Conscience Answ First Because it is the spirit of the man and that wherein his main strengh lyes Prov. 18.14 Secondly Because it is the tenderest part of the soul it 's resembled to the eye Matth. 7.3 And therefore most sensible it is capable of more torment than any other of the faculties and powers of the soul what soever Thirdly There the Lord will inflict the punishment where the sin mainly is now of all the faculties of the soul there is none so defiled as the Conscience Tit. 1.15 For the guilt of all the sins of the whole soul is there Jer. 17.1 Heb. 9.4 There are the Treasures of sin therefore there wil the Lord power out the Treasures of wrath c. Quest 3. Thirdly But if the Lord will torment the Conscience why doth not the torment rest there But he will make that the instrument to torment the whole man Why shall that do it rather than the wil or affections c. But the torment of the whole soul must come in by the Conscience this is the Flood gate or as I may call it the Funnel of wrath Answ First Because God has given unto Conscience he greatest honour in the soul and has exalted it above all other powers and abilities of the soul whatsoever The main of the Image of God was stampt upon it at first if we judge by the renewing of it for the great effect of redemption is there Heb. 9.14 And of renovation also Ephes 4 23. It is called the Spirit of the mind 1 Thes 5.23 The Spirit Pro. 18.14 It is to be referred ad illam partem que nobilissima est Calv And therefore the main work of Sanctification lies in the Conscience a pure Conscience Now the Image of God in Sanctification is renewed therefore where this Image is most renewed there it was most planted for we are renewed according to the Image of him that created us And the main thing that God respeâ—â—s in all Ordinances Heb. 9 8. is to make the man perfect according to his Conscience and that is Conscientiam puram pacatam râ—ddere to pacifie it and purifie it this is the perfection of the Conscience and the perfection of the Conscience is the perfection of the man Now that which was the great glory of the soul that shall be the shame of it God will turn a mans glory into shame and that which should have been his perfection that shall become his torment for ever Secondly Conscience has the greatest Office and power and authority in the soul it is Gods Vicegerent every man is as it were a petty Kingdome and as God has set Princes upon earth in their several Kingdomes so he has in the man also and he has committed unto Conscience the whole Law of God and the whole duty of man and Conscience is that in joyns it upon all the faculties and that sees it executed Rom. 13 5. You must be subject that is not only ratione externae coactionis but internae obligationis Conscience is subject unto none but God but the whole soul is put in subjection unto the Conscienceâ— and let men the greatest upon earth command yet if Coscience gives it non plaeet it is no law in the man it shall never be obeyed Dan.
for the loss of them at any time as Judas sought oppertunity to betray Christ Prov. 7. and the Harlot is glad of the opportunity The good man is gene fromhome and has taken a Sum of moneywith him and will not return till thetime appointed come let us take ourfill of Love and Joseph's Mistress when none of the men of the house were within and Judas when the Oyntment was poured out he was sorry for the wast that he lost such an opportunity and Gehazy my Master has let him go with all those fine things but as the Lord lives I will go and get something of him and what did he get but a foul disease c. Eightly When much means are used to keep men from sin and they avail not but men do break through all and will commit sin when men have been often admonished Pro. 29.1 and often afflicted Pro. 29.1 God will hedge up their way with thornes and yet they will follow after their Lovers Hos 2.6 God doth take many courses to make sin difficult unto a man a hedge of thornes and yet the man follows after it still Pro. 13.19 Balaam a man would have thought Gods forbidding him first and then the difficulties that lay in his way should have hindred him and though he would still be trying to displease God yet still God held a hand upon his Conscience nevertheless Balaam ran greedily after the wayes of unrighteousness when men cannot endure to be reproved Asa was a godly man yet his Conscience was in an evil frame he could not bear a reproof nay when men wait and lay snares for him that reproves in the gate c. It is a sign of a seared Conscience c. Ninthly When men grow impudent and shameless in evil for there is a shame that doth keep men from some sins some kind of awe and respects before men Gen. 15.16 but there is a fullness of sin and impudency and obstinacy makes it up when men have a Whores forehead that cannot blush they are not ashamed of sin nay they glory in their shame and speak of it with rejoycing pudet non esse impudentem the unjust know no shame Lastly When men are not affected with and not afraid of spiritual judgments it 's the highest and the greatest wrath that can befall a man vae illis ad quorum peccata connivet Deus Luther Ephraim is joyned to Idols Let him alone why should they be smiten any more they will revolt more and more I will not punish your daughters when they commit adultery saies the Lord non parcit propitius parcit iratus Aust O servum illum beatum Tertul. cui deus dignatur irasci The last sentence of the Church is Anathama Maranatha and so it is here also Now there is nothing the people of God are more affected with then spiritual judgment to be given up to a hard heart to a blind mind and a spirit of slumber they are troubled at nothing more wounds upon a mans estate or his name lyes not so heavy upon his spirit nay he would chuse all outward evils rather this is a strange and terrible work of God in judgment pouring out upon a man a spirit of a deep sleep and for men not to be troubled that they are not troubled it is an argument of a very polluted Conscience 1 Cor. Durum est quod seipsum non exhorret Bern. Secondly Now to give some rules how a man should do to keep a good Conscience in all things First Set a high price upon a good Conscience as being the excellency of the man which will bear up a man against all evils that men or devils can do to him 2 Cor. 1.12 says the Apostle this is our rejoycing that in godly simplicity we have had our conversation in the world and 't is this that gives a man boldness in the presence of God if our hearts condem us not we have boldness in his sight a man that has a good Conscience shall lift up his face without spot even before God a good Conscience it is a continual feast it cheers a man in the worst times and his Conscience can never be freed from guilt that is not in desire at least freed from defilement for Christ came by water and by bloud and upon our Consciences he sprinkles bloud and sprinkles upon them clean water also Secondly Come to the Laver repent dayly judg your selves dayly and apply the blood of Christ which can onely purge the Conscience and do it dayly for the longer any sin lyes upon the Conscience the more unclean that Conscience is it is compaired unto a Fountain that doth dayly work out the mud Mâ—t. 12.15 and doth not let it rest there at all but immediately works against it to a renewed Conscience all sin is as a mote in the eye and a beam he can have no quiet till it be out but sin in a natural Conscience it is not burthensome though men add iniquity to iniquity can easily slip into sin without any remorse whereas we are not to give place to the Devil no not one hour Peter after he had sin'd straightway he went out and wept bitterly Oh! when any sin lies upon the Conscience be sure that it will defile thee more therefore make hast and work it out this delay of purging the Conscience is an evil may be found in the best men it cost David broken bones and great perplexity thefore we should be the more careful to come to the Laver of regeneration Thirdly Do not despise the checks of Conscience but mind that Light within you when it reproves for fins either of omission or commission do not turn the deaf ear Davids heart smote him and he took notice of it and Christ himself my reins chasten me to instruct me in the Psal 16.7 night season c. For let me tell you that any motion of a mans Conscience slighted it is thereby defiled for it speaks in the name of God and not any word of God nor any admonition of Conscience should we pass by without regard for Conscience is in the place of God in the man Fourthly Let it be your constant desire and your dayly exercise to live honestly in all things according to that of the Apostle Heb. 13.18 And truly therein the goodness of a mans Conscience is seen and Acts 24.16 In this I exercise my self to have always a Conscience void of offence toward God and toward men Satan doth cast defilement into the Conscience dayly and therefore there is nothing that a man should be imployed in more then to keep a good Conscience dayly in all things and truly it is the great shame of many that will take upon them the name of Religion yet are defective in this in a great measure that it may be said of them they do not labour in all things to keep a good Conscience Fisthly Take
are as truly subordinate unto your good as they are unto Gods glory 〈◊〉 and the end of all is to take away the sin and to purge the Conscience that is defiled by sin and to perfect holiness in the fear of God Sixthly The blood of Christ doth purge their Consciences as it is now sprinkled in Heaven before the mercy Seat by the interception of Christ for there were under the Law two things that did perfect the sacrifice the offering of it the killing of it and the carrying the blood into the most holy place and sprinkling it upon the mercy Seat and the sacrifice was not perfect until both were done and the blood was to remain before the mercy Seat so the Lord Jesus has offer'd himself a sacrifice but his blood is sprinkled still upon us and remains and it is a speaking blood it speaks better things then the blood of Abel now it doth speak to us continually for the end of his blood and what is it but that we may be cleansed he gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie us to himself Tit. 2.14 c. and the cry of this blood still in Heaven is sanctifie them by thy truth keep them from the evil of the world father keep through thy own name them that thou hast given me c. But how shall I know my Conscience is purged by the blood of Christ c. First The more a mans Conscience is afflicted with the spiritual rising of lust and he loaths himself for it as Paul for the Law of his members warring against the Law of his mind and Job I have seen thee and therefore I abhor my self Secondly The more ready a man is to deny himself for God in any service and his Conscience puts him forth to the uttermost in it as Paul I am willing to spend my self or to dye for the name of the Lord Jesus and Abraham rose up early to obey the command of God even to sacrifice his only son for the more the glory of God and his commands do sway with a man the more cause he has to be assured that the blood of sprinkling has passed upon him c. Thirdly The more a mans Conscience keeps down h is lust in the presence of the object of it as Boaz the woman lay at his feet and yet his lust did not rise and as Job to make a Covenant with his eyes and not look upon a Maid not have eyes full of adultery a godly man may be tempted to sin it may be in the absence of the object but if it be present and lust have all the advantages that can be and yet it cannot prevail it s an argument of a pure Conscience and try all these with reference unto your darling lust for answerable as the Conscience is purged with respect unto that so it is unto all other sins whatsoever It will serve for exhortation unto all men to keep their Consciences pure Vse 2 being once cleansed in the blood of the Lamb and this was the Apostle Pauls labour and his dayly exercise Acts 24.16 in this I exercise my self to to keep 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Conscience void of offence before God and all men Now we have formerly heard that as there be two things in sin so there is a double defilement of the Conscience there is a guilt and a pollution and a mans Conscience can never be a good Conscience a pure Conscience without a stumbling block unless it be kept pure in both these and here I would speak of a pure Conscience according to the Apostles distinction First before God Secondly before men And first in reference unto the guilt of sin and a Conscience polluted therewith and this is a heart sprinkled from an evil Conscience Heb. 10.22 that is an accusing and a condemning Conscience 1 John 3.21 if our hearts condemn us not that is if they have the guilt of no sin lye upon them for which they draw us before the judgment Seat of Christ and pass upon us the sentence of condemnation and so Paul 2 Cor. 1.12 this is our rejoycing the testimony of our Conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our Conversation in the world and more especially towards you and 1 Cor. 4.4 I know nothing by my self it was a small thing to him to be judged of by man or in mans day for men have their day of judgment also as God has his and the reason why he doth despise the judgment of all men is this that he was conscious to himself of nothing wherein he had misbehaved himself in his Apostleship towards them many weaknesses there were which he owned in himself but yet the guilt of none of them did stick upon his Conscience and yet he refers himself unto the judgment of God who knows more then a mans Conscience can know by a mans self c. and this was the great care of Job that his heart might not reproach him all his dayes Job 27.6 In respect of God there is a two-fold good Conscience in regard of guilt one in truth and the other in shew and appearance only First There is a natural Conscience that may have a great shew of goodness in it not having the guilt of sin rising in it but may with a great deal of boldness appear before God and may lift up a mans face before him and yet this not be a Conscience truly good as we see in the Heathen Rom. 2.16 their thoughts do excuse as well as acâ—use and that in the day when God shall judge the secrets of all men c. therefore there is the guilt of some sins that Conscience will acquit a man from and will speak for him in the presence of the Lord and so some do apply that speech of Paul as Act. 23.1 I have lived in all good Conscience before God even unto this day it is conceived by some as Cajetan c. that it is spoken in reference unto all his dayes even those also before his Conversion in which he did never sin against his Conscience and therefore he saith bona Conscientia non bono opere for he thought that he did God good service in all that he did as Luther did say of himself Nec ita eram glacies frigus sicut Eccius alii qui propter ventrem Papam defendere videbantur sed ego rem seriam agebam ut qui diem extremum horribiliter timui salvus fieri ex intimis medullis cupiebam And the goodness of a mans Conscience in not witnessing guilt is but a seeming goodness it is sometimes from a mans uprightness and good intention in a particular act wherein though he doth ill yet he doth mean well and think also that he doth well as it is the manner of many a misled and deluded soul as Gen. 20.5.6 Abimelech answered God in the integrity of my heart and the
one potion and therefore it will be good for you to take that in time also Now what is this medicine that will purge the Conscience it is the blood of Christ onely Heb. 9.14 It shall purge your Conscience from dead works and Heb. 10.22 Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience Here is first the disease and that is dead works with the subject of it or the part of the evil affected that is the Conscience Secondly There is the medicine it 's the bloud of Christ who offered himself by the eternal spirit without spot to God Thirdly The manner how this blood doth it it is by sprinkling and therein the power of this medicine is put forth First The disease dead works in the Conscience are of two sorts Guilt and Lust c. But to awaken every mans Conscience to get it purged take these considerations First By nature every mans Conscience is defiled Tit. 1.15 Heb. 9.14 the blood of Christ comes upon no mans Conscience but it finds it polluted with dead works for whether we consider either the guilt or the defilement of sin it 's the Conscience that is the main receptacle of it the guilt is laid up there Jer. 17.1 The sin of Judah is written with a pen of Iron and with the point of a Diamond it is spoken de summo indelibili reatu it was written upon their Consciences and upon the horns of their Altars nec deleri potest nec latere for it did appear upon every Altar and every new act of sin adds unto the defilement of Conscience that 's the Tophet the Golgotha of the soul men of corrupt Consciences are graves though they appear not so Now when a man shall consider how our iniquities are gone over our heads and are more in number then the hairs of our head and even answerable to the sand upon the Sea shore innumerable What filthy polluted Consciences must such men needs have Secondly Consider what a miserable thing it is for a man to have a polluted Conscience First It breaks a mans peace the inward man is never quiet Isa 57.21 There is no peace says my God to the wicked It is as Austin compares it to a bad wife that when a man hath met with hard labour abroad trouble and afflictions from without and retires himself and hopes to find some comfort at home but there he has never a quiet hour this is more troublesome then any of his outward crosses can be for it is an evil Wife that 's a continual droping so is Conscience Fugiet ab agro ad civitatem à publico ad domum à domo ad cubiculum sequitur tribulatio Secondly It imbitters all a mans comforts a good Conscience will sweeten every cross Paul and Silas can sing in the stocks Ubi cunque alibipassus est tribulationes illuc confugiet ibi inveniet Deum c. and the Martyrs rejoyce a the stake for whensoever any man suffers tribulation for keeping a good Conscience thither God hastens and finds him and makes him rejoyce in the testimony of his Conscience so an evil Conscience will imbitter every comfort Paul can stand with boldness at the Barr when Felix doth tremble on the Bench there is no state can secure a man that has an evil Conscience his comforts will not secure him they will all be imbittered take the choycest pleasures of sin that any man of you doth injoy it is this adds Water to your Wine and adds a tincture of Gall and Wormwood to all your sweetness and delicacies There is an evil spirit that comes upon Saul from the Lord and what is that Turbatur iâ—i anima Conscientia immoderata tristitia a diabolo excitata and when God did suffer Satan to come in and disquiet his Conscience all the comforts of a kingdome could not sweeten such a mans spirit neither can he have any sweetness in them all Thirdly It takes away a mans courage a good Conscience makes a man to be as bold as a Lyon and he can set his face as a Rock let the storm come and yet the Rock shakes not and he is not afraid of evil tideings but the wicked flyes when none pursues them and indeed they need no other pursuer for there is within them Lethalis arundo as a Deer that is shot may run but still carries his misery with him and as Cain surely every one that meets me will slay me Gen. 11.4 Herod when he heard of the fame of Jesus he says surely it is John the Baptist he is risen from the dead and therefore mighty works shew forth themselves in him Fourthly It unfits a man for every duty for the guilt of it arising in the Conscience stops a mans mouth and shuts up his heart before the Lord brings him into the presence of God as a Malefactor into the presence of the Judg with a vail upon his face and pollutes all his services his prayer is turned into sin for all things are defiled unto them whose Consciences are defiled Tit. 1.15 Fifthly A man cannot promise himself any acceptance or success in any thing he does Mal. 3.4 He shall purge them as silver and then shall their sacrifices be pleasant unto the Lord c. and Psal 51.13 Open thou my lips then shall I teach transgressours thy way c. God may indeed work great things by men of polluted Consciences but they cannot promise themselves success in any thing that they undertake till their Consciences be purged Sixthly Thou art in a continual fear and expectation when God will awaken it as he surely will do for sin lyes at the dore but between a godly man and sin there is a wall that will never open but between a wicked man and sin there is a dore that though it may be shut long it will open at last and an evil Conscience it is that watcheth at the dore till the man dare look out miserrimum est talem habere janitorum Luther A Spirit of slumber upon a man and a seared Conscience is a great judgment but it will not last allways it is at farthest but for the time of this Life and then the callumne upon Conscience shall be worne off and the slumber cast away and it shall be awakened so as never to sleep again Read the story of Cain and Belteshazar of Judas and of Spira c. Nay Lay your ears to Hell a while and hear the clamours of polluted Consciences there and you shall see that the greatest plague that can befall a man in this life is to be left unto the power of an evil Conscience so that you had need to seek to have your Consciences purged and this is specially to be considered of you that are grown old in wickedness and whose bones are still full of the sins of your youth having been laying in defilement into your Consciences long surely all this filth the sink and sodoms of vanity
soul upon it self it 's own filthiness and wilfull folly What fair offers and opportunities he has had and neglected what fair hopes he had conceived and they are vanished and how all the pleasures of sin and the promises of Satan have deceived him as a Brook that passeth by and this will gnaw upon the soul with remediless and unconceivable torment for ever this is the Worm that never dyes and truly there is no consideration in the World will work upon the hearts of men if this dreadfull one does not That a man that lives and dyes in sin in a sinfull state shall be tormented for ever with fire that shall never be quenched and this nevever dying Worm shall gnaw upon him to all Eternity with remediless and unconceivable torments for ever This is the Worm that never dyes After this life a wicked mans own Conscience shall be his tormenter Doctrine The Worm dyes not it will be a great instrument that God will use in a mans destruction There are Four things to be spoken to in the Explication First to shew what Conscience is which is here resembled to a Worm Secondly To prove that this Conscience shall be a mans tormenter Thirdly To give the grounds and the reasons of it Fourthly To set forth some of those acts that Conscience as a Worm shall put forth the manner of the working of it in the gnawings of a Worm and then come to the Application Quest 1. First What is Conscience Answ It is an ability in the understanding to judge of a mans self his Estate and Actions according to the rule that God hath prescribed Here observe First It is an ability in the understanding for I make it not as some do a distinct faculty therefore it is in no Creatures but those that are reasonable Men and Angels other Creatures are directed to an end and they work by a rule thereunto but they neither know their end nor their rule neither are they able to reflect upon their actions whether they have done good or evil and therefore no Creature can sin but a reasonable Creature for sin must be a transgression of a Rule which a man doth or ought to know and to walk answerable unto and therefore it is made a proper act of a man Isa 46.8 Remember this and shew your selves men Secondly Conscience must have a rule indeed the Scripture doth require that men should walk according to their consciences and do as their Conscience doth dictate unto them Rom. 13.5 Wherefore ye must needs be subject not only for wrath but for Conscience sake ye must be subject 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and when Conscience requires one thing and Lust another and the man receives not the rule of Conscience but of Lust he doth then imprison the truth in unrighteousness where the Dictates of Conscience are called the truth Rom. 1.18 though it be but of a natural Conscience But yet here men mistake for Conscience is but regula regulata not the highest rule for it must it self have a Rule to judge by Gal 6.16 and he that doth not go by rule and hath no higher rule to regulate his Conscience and yet doth by his Conscience regulate his Actions Conscience being defiled Pit 1.15 He doth walk with God at a venture Lev. 26.21 And this rule of Conscience is the whole revealed wil of God whether ex principiis naturae or scripturae whatever God requires of a man as duty whether by his word or by his works and Conscience knows no other rule but the will of God revealed because it is subjected unto no other God only can command the Conscience and bind the Conscience because he only can judge the Conscience Now the understanding having nothing else but a principal of nature for it's rule we call that a natural Couscience and they that have the word of God for their rule or any special work of illumination from the Holy Ghost whether it be common or saving we call this an inlightned Conscience answerable unto the rule that it has to judge by either of mens states or wayes Thirdly The chief act of Conscience and that which is only proper and essential to it is to judge of the man according to this rule and to pronounce a sentence upon him whether good or evil and hence is the accusing and the excusing power of Conscience Rom. 2.14 15. if Conscience judge of an action to answer the rule then it excuseth and if that be different from the rule then it accuseth and therefore 't is said Joh. 8.9 They are consinced of their own Consciences that is their Consciences laid their acts to the rule and did tell them that they did not agree to it and they could not deny it and therefore went their way and therefore Conscience is alwayes in Scripture called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a knowing and judging of one thing with another a knowing and judging of a mans state or actions with the rule 2 Cor. 4.2 we approve our selves to every mans conscience says the Apostle in the sight of God and that is all our aim we seek not to approve our selves to your lusts your fancies we may sometime in our Ministerie reprove sin that you are not willing to leave and press to duty that you are not willing to practice we may cross your affections and provoke your lusts but yet we know that we have something within you that takes our part and doth approve the Doctrine that we teach and the duties that we practice all the while so that the main of Conscience lyes in judging or applying an action to the rule and pronouncing a sentence accordingly So that in 1 Cor. 11.31 Judge your selves c. and Isa 5.3 Judge I pray between me and my Vineyard So that Conscience is an ability in a man having a rule given him to reflect upon his actions and state and â—udge whether it agree with the rule that is given to it or no. 4thly That which is subjected to the judgement of Conscience is a mans state and wayes the whole man To judge other men is not properly our work either their actions or states unless we are called by special Office thereunto for thou judgest another mans servant he stands and falls to his own Master But a mans whole self is subjected to the judgement of Conscience First Conscience judges of a mans state 1 Joh. 3.20 If thy heart condemn thee or do not condemn thee and Jam. 1.24 The Word doth shew a man what manner of man he is and in what state he stands towards God whether he be one of the wise or foolish Virgins or builders whether he build upon a Rock or the Sand. Now consciscience takes this rule and lays a mans state to it and tels the man this is my condition Secondly Conscience judges of mens actions Rom. 9.1 I speak the truth I lye not my Conscience bearing me witness 〈◊〉