THE BOOKE OF CONSCIENCE opened and read In a Sermon preached at the Spittle on Easter-Tuesday being April 12. 1642. By JOHN JACKSON LONDON Printed by F. K. for R. M. and are to be sold by Daniel Milbourne at the New Exchange and at the holy Lambe in little Britaine 1642. TO THE RIGHT Honourable Sr RICHARD GURNY Knight and Baronet Lord Major of the City of London together with the Right Worshipfull the Sheriffes and Aldermen of the same City The continuall feast of a good Conscience be ever multiplyed SIRS MAy it please you The Scottish King being imprisoned in Mortimers hole comforted himself and deceived the sorrowes of his bondage by scraping the Story of Christ crucified upon the wals with his nailes Even so God writeth the lawes and dictates of Conscience upon a wall the wall of Conscience Murus aheneus so as all the rules of Divinity of nature of nations and of positive lawes as they relate to Conscience are like the hand-writing Dan. 5. herbae Parietariae wall-flowers And they are written and sculptured with a naile too but a more stiffe and potent naile then that of the Scottish King Judge not ex ungue c. but by a retrograde crisis judge the naile by the finger which is expresly called digitus Dei Exod. 31. 18. and what can the naile of such a finger be but unguis adamantinus as it is adjuncted Jer. 17. 1 and need it hath to be no lesse unlesse the pen be more soft then the paper for if our hearts be hearts of adamant Zech. 7. 12. then the stile that writes characters upon them had need be a pen of iron and the naile of an Adamant I present here your Worthinesses with a booke a booke as St Bernard ingeniously for the rectifying whereof all other bookes are written I except not the very Booke of bookes it self For there are foure Bookes written by God for the sons of men which are thus to be classed and ordered They are either the Bookes of Grace or of Nature The Bookes of Grace are either outwarâ— or inward The outward Booke of Grace is the holy Bible The inward Book of Grace is the holy Spirit the great Doctor of the Church The outward booke of nature is the world or book of the Creatures which is God unfolded The inward Booke of nature is this very booke whose seales I have in the ensuing Traâ—â—aâ—e broke open the Book of Conscience so called Apoc. 20. 12. That which one likes another will dislike some have been such grosse flatterers as to commend Nero and some againe such detractors as to dispraise Trajan one mans pottage will be anothers coloquintida the same son was Rachels Ben-oni Jacob's Benjamin The same in scription on the plaister which made Belshazzar quiver for feare made Darius his successor quavâ—r for joy The very same facultie of Conscience which entertaines and feasts one starves or choakes another And the Commentary must not looke for a better lot then the Text nor the Sermon then the Theame I know too well the wayes of this towne to expect other but for the publishing hereof I have this excuse which must prevaile with an ingenuous nature that I have beene mastered by entreaties thereunto so as if there be any errour in that regard their burthen must be my case Now I pray God keep your Honour and Worships in grace unto glory and that as the best meanes conducing to that end you here exercise your selves to keep a good Conscience in all things both towards God and towards man Your Hon. and Wor. humble and faithfull Servant in the things of God and Christ JOHN JACKSON The readings of the Text of Prov. 15. ver. 15. Hebr. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Graec. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Sept. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Symmacâ— Lat. Secura mens quasi juge convivium Vulg. Cujus bilaris est animus convivium est continuum Transl. Chald. Paraphr Cor bonum quasi juge covivium Munst. Secura mens hoc est bona conscientia c. Stephanus Jucundus corde convivio jugi Vataâ—â— Jociâ—dus corde c. Pagniu Laeta mens perpetuum 〈◊〉 Câ—stalio c. Angl. A good Conscience is a continuall feast He that is of a merry heaâ—t hath a continuall feast THE BOOKE OF CONSCIENCE opened and read Tho Text PROV. 15. 15. A good Conscience is a continuall feast THe reading of this Text must first be set straight ere any progresse can be made lest we seeme to make a Sermon upon a text which will not beare the burden of the discourse It was read long in our English Bibles thus A good conscience is a continuall feast till King James of blessed memory as another Ptolomy Philadelphus assembled together above 40. rare Linguists and Divines to perfect us a new translation where it is read thus He that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast Which reading is subordinate to the former for there can be no sincere or lasting mirth of heart but such as proceeds from and is superstructed upon the foundation of a good conscience Besides if we will drinke water out of the fount it is in the Hebrew neither a merry heart nor a good conscience a but a good heart is a continuall feast nor can it otherwise be because there is no peculiar word in the Hebrew tongue to denote this particular facultie of soule which we call Conscience but the generall word b HEART And even in the now Testament where there are proper words for it yet the generall word HEART is used 1 John Epist. chap. 3. and 20. c If our heart condemne us c. there HEART stands for CONSCIENCE for we know it to be the proper effect of conscience to condemne or absolve which of it selfe seems to determine that Conscience is not a peculiar and distinct faculty of the soul as understanding will memory c. are but the soul reflecting and recoyling upon it self Which being prefaced we may safely read it as you have heard A good Conscience is a continuall feast Wherein every word doth fitly constitute a part for first here is the subject Conscience Secondly and adjunct of excellencie joyned unto it Good Thirdly the praedicate A Feast Lastly an adjunct of perpetuity joyned to that Continuall And in the orderly pursuance of these foure parts there will fall out to be handled foure points of very high and necessary concernment in the life and conversation of every Christian namely First this That every man hath a certaine Genius associated to his soul to wit Conscience Secondly this That by the grace of conversion there is a divine quality stamped and imprinted upon the naturall Conscience which is Goodnesse Thirdly this That Conscience thus qualified with goodnesse is a Feast Lastly this That this feast of a good Conscience is not onely for a time but for eternity not only a long but a
continuall feast These ought to be handled plainly but Theologically And this will we doe if God permit as the Apostle speaks Heb. 6. 3. The first Point There is a certaine inmate placed by God and associated to the soule called Conscience We say indeed in vulgar speech that such a man hath no conscience or is a man of no conscience but that is but a Catechrestical form of language like that of the Italians who when they speake of some notable deperdite wretch say He 's a man without a soul and like that of holy Scripture which saith of some men that a they have no heart But to speak properly and as the thing is there is no man be he never so lost and reprobate minded but hath a naturalâ— Conscience A natural body may as easily walkâ— in the Sun without a shadow as the soul can in the light of naturall reason or of the word of God without the reverberations and ecchoings of Conscience Heare b Tullies divinity in this point We have each of us received from the immortall God a conscience which can by no means be separated from us Many for the more wholsome aire or better soyle have changed their place of abode and others to converse with God and themselves have abandoned the societie of men and dwelt in wildernesses and solitary retiremeÌ„ts where Satyres have danced and Ostriches dwelt yea and many have been so hacknied and tired out with the miseries of this life which like an heavy pack and an ill saddle have wrung their backs that they have leaped out of the pan into the fire and shifted their souls from their bodies but there was never any yet could shift Conscience from the soul Nero shifted from chamber to chamber but still his mother Agrippina's ghost seemed to pursue him Bessus in Plutarch was chased by himselfe too but still the swallows seemed to charter his crime There 's scarce any thing in nature so small and contemptible but can make a separation betwixt the soule and the body a hair in a draught of milke did it to Lucâ—â— a â—â—ie to Adrian a kick of Nero's heel to Poppea lice to Herod wormes to Antiochus mice and rats to Hatto Bishop of Mentz a meere conceit a thought a fancie to thousands but there is no gulph so deep no precipice so steepe no sword so sharpe no not that sword which can divide between the marrow and the bone which can make the conscience sever it selfe from the soul but still c Nocte dieque suum gestant in pectore testem That is Wake men or rest Within their brest Conscience will be a guest To proceed then What is this thing we call Conscience and wherein doth the power and efficacie of it consist Answ. It hath been long said Conscience is a thousand witnesses and it s as truly said Conscience hath a thousand definitions and descriptions A man would thinke there were much Conscience in the world to consider all the books that are written of the nature and cases of Conscience It may be said of them as S. John closeth up his Gospel The world would scarce containe the books that should be written if all were printed that hath been said talked disputed preached written of Conscience And yet as little may be spread and dilated into much so may much also be contracted into little As a great mountaine may produce only a little mouse so a little nut-shell may hold great Iliads Whosoever then understands these three Greeke words {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} or these three Latine words Lex Index and Judex or these three English words a Law a Witnesse a Judge is in a good way of proficiencie to understand the nature and essence of Conscience for in the execution of these three acts Conscience officiateth and dispatches its whole duty For first Conscience is a Law or a fair tablet wheâ— in is engraven by a divinâ— hand those truths anâ— principles which move iâ— set it a working Whicâ— principles are either naturall or acquired and hereupon comes in the distinction of Conscience naturall and illuminated And these principles being preserved and kept in the Conscience they are as Land-marks to her to saile by and as a law to her to live by in which regard this first act of Conscience is by the Greekes called {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} that is the records or conservation of right 〈◊〉 â—om â— ver. â—5 the Apostle cals it Lex scripta in cordibus The law written in our hearts For the second Conscience is a Witnesse or Evidence declaring and proving the truth whether the party standing at the barâ—e hath done contrary or according to that law for if the fact agree and hold measure with that law which Conscience tendered then it is Excusing witnesse or a witnesse pro if otherwise then it is an Accusing witness or a witness con in which regard this second act of Conscience is by the Greekes called {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} that is a Science with or together and Saint Paul in the same text Rom. 2. 15. expresseth both these testimonies Their Conscience also bearing witnesse and their thoughts ACCUSING or EXCUSING and thus Conscience is Index a signe or token For the third Conscience is also Judex an upright and impartiall Judge comparing together the law and the fact in the pursuance of a right sentence and out of that collation causing to result either a sentence of absolution the white stone Revel. 2. 17. if the fact agree with the law or a sentence of condemnation a the black stone if the law and fact jar and disagree This act the Greeks call {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and to this judiciary act of Conscience belongs that text of Saint John 1. epist. 3. chap. 20. ver. If our hearts condemne us c. and Saint Chrysostome glossing upon Psal. 4. 4. Commune with your owne hearts c. bids us b Erect the tribunall of Conscience The summe thus farre is thus much Conscience is a Law propounding the rule to walk by a Witnesse to give in evidence for matter of fact a Judge to give sentence according to the evidence Another way to find out the very quidditative nature and being of Conscience may take the rise and hint from that Text 1 Pet. 3. 21. c The answer of a good Conscience as there the Apostle phraseth it so as Conscience is a response or returne to three severall queries The first question is de jure touching the Law or right as What is the rule or principle by which I am to be directed in this or that case what to do and what not to doe Unto which question Conscience is an answer by reading the letter of the Law and opening the code or booke Apoc. 20. 12. and declaring the law written in the heart
uprightnesse quietness What S. James affirmeth of supernall wisedome chap. 3. vers. 17. That it is first pure then peaceable The very same two properties are the essentiall adjuncts of a good conscience A Conscience quietly good may be viciously evil and a Conscience troubledly evill may be honestly good and therefore to constitute a conscience perfectly and fully good both purity and peace are required the violation of the purity and integrity of conscience is to be referred to the evill of sinne and the violation of the calme and tranquillity of conscience is to be referred to the evill of punishment yea the greater the light of conscience the greater is the sinne and the greater trouble of conscience the greater is the misery The point you see is a clear truth wee will therefore be briefe in the explication of it that we may be large in the application The application of the Doctrine Follow therefore either S. Pauls rule or S. Pauls example his rule shews what should be done and his example what may be done His rule we have 1 Tim. 1. 19. Have faith and a good conscience And againe Chap. 3. ver. 9. Having the mystery of faith in a pure conscience His practice we have frequently inculcated both in the Acts and his Epistles hear a harmony or little concordance I have in all good conscience served God untill this day Acts 23. 1. Again And herein doe I exercise my self to have a conscience without offence towards God and towards man Acts 24. 16. And again I speake the truth in Christ I lye not my conscience bearing me witnesse Rom. 9. 1. And again For our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience 2 Cor. 1. 12. And again I thank God whom I serve from mine Elders with a pure conscience 2 Tim. 1. 3. And yet again Pray for us for we are assured we have a good conscience in all things Hebr. 13. 18. A good conscience you see is S. Pauls recognizance it is his boasting for twâ— things he is observed moâ—â— to glory in his Sufferingâ— and his Conscience to raâ—tle his chains and displaâ— his conscience it is hâ—â— flag he hangs out o his sige in every Epistle so 〈◊〉 writes 2 Thess. 3. 17. Now this exercise keeping a good conscienâ— stands in two things according to the premiseâ— distinction of a good coâ—science into pure and peacâ—able which distinction 〈◊〉 as a key-stone to this arcra The former is how to ractifie the vicious conscience and the latter how to pacifie the troubled conscience or how to clense the impure and how to salve the wounded conscience two points of most necessary and dayly use in practicall divinity And in rectifying of conscience due regard must be had to two things first Jus the right or law of conscience Secondly Vis the force or strength of conscience two severall words made up and elemented of the same three letters by an easie metathesis or transposition of letters First then let a man acquaint himselfe throughly with that which must be the rule and law of conscience for it is no matter how strong and active conscience be if it be not first right informed and then the stronger the better otherwise the stronger the worse a lame man who keeps his way shall outgâ— a swift runner that wanders out of his way he who once hath strayed the more he hastens the more he wanders and errs Every science and art proceeds by a rule the noble and liberall sciences of Arithmetick Geometry Astronâ—my Musick have their numbers figures ballances squires compasses lines even the poor sweaty mechanicks cannot be without their rules yards squares c. much lesse can conscience dainty precise exact conscience which ought to be as levell-handed in her cases as the men of Gibeah in the book of Judges who could throw stones at an haire-breadth can she I say want her rule and measure to proceed by when in the circumstancing and individuation of every action she must lay judgement to the line and righteousnesse to the plumb-line Isai. 28. 17. This law or line of conscience is foure-fold 1. Divine law which is the will of God revealed in Scripture is the proper and adequate rule of conscience it hath of it self an adnate priviledge to bind conscience and wheresoever it holds out to man a light to shew him his duty it doth withall tie such a bond of obedience upon the conscience as no creature is able to release 2. The law of Nature is also a good rule of conscience for that naturall light and engraffed instinct written in our hearts shews us also what is to be done and what to be avoided That there is a God that this God is to be worshiped that we ought to live honestly hurt no body give every one his owne doe as we would be done to these and such like are the dictates and statutes of the law of nature and doe bind conscience 3. The law of Nations also which is brought in by the common consent of all people for that was never false or wrong which all the whole world cals truth and right Humane nature was yet never so much at a losse as that a right opinion of what is just equall should quite perish from the earth The division of things and appropriation of them to their owner the faire usage of Embassadours c. are draughts of the law of all nations and doe likewise binde conscience Lastly Positive lawes whether they be Ecclesiasticall or Civill doe lye strong bands and tyes upon Conscience as well as either the lawes of God or of nature or of nations A thing is said to be of positive law when it is thus or so not of any intrinsecall necessity arising out of the particular essence of the thing but may either be or not be and when it is may either continue or cease by humane imposition And even such lawes as these while they are not contrary but subordinate unto and commensurate with the divine law have an obligatory power over Conscience not that any law of man hath of and from it self any connate power to over-awe Conscience nor can the Conscience subject her selfe to the jurisdiction of any creature without Idolatry but it hath an adnate power rather to wit as it receives influence and vertue from Gods law which commands us to obey every lawfull ordinance of man for Conscience sake Next regard thus had to the Law of Conscience the second respect must be to the force of Conscience for though Conscience be never so well principled and illuminated yet if it be dull and slegmatick without vigor and force to put things in execution it is but as a fire of straw which hath light without heat or as a wel-shap'd horse without mettall Now the force of Conscience consists in Obligation both in tying a man from that which Conscience judgeth sinfull and tying him to
grievous disease of Conscience is upon me Now contrarily for a good conscience Fifthly Bias the Philosopher and one of the wise men of Greece being asked the way to a p life without feare and trouble gave this answer A q right conscience Sixthly Periander who was one of them being asked what was the r greatest freedome and liberty answered thus A s good conscience Seventhly Socrates the wisest man of them all all three mentioned by Stobaeus being asked how men might most live without t disquiet and trouble answered If they were conscious of no evill within themselves Now these all were Grecians Let us enquire into the Latines and see what they say Even the very same Eighthly then Horace u Hic â—urus aheneus este Nil conscire sibi A wall of brasse it is To be conscious of nâ—ught amisse Ninthly let Tully speak for all the rest * An upright Conscience is the greatest consolation in adversitie to his friend Torquatus in his familiar Epistles Again x To be innocent and without fault is the greatest solace And again y Conscience of a well-spent life and of many good deeds is the sweetest thing in the world Let us heare him speake once more z Great is the force of Conscience both wayes so as neither can they feare who have done nothing amisse nor those that have sinned want punishment ever before their eyes Thus have I gathered you some few instances out of many from the mouths of the very heathen who also must be heard when they speake truth to declare that the dictates of the law of Nature and Divinitie are all one in averring that An ill conscience and facinorous is an * heavie burthen a ‖ lash an a ulcer in the flesh b a worme And that a good conscience is a c great Theater a d wall of brasse a continuall feast â— Application Let us e keep the feast as the Apostle exhorteth us You know how ill it was taken in the Gospel that those that were bid to the feast did make f excuses and did not come And how ill alos it was taken that Vasthi refused to g come to Ahasueruâ— his feast It is no better then rude unmannerliness to sit sullen at a feast and not to feed liberally A man may have great riches and yet not use them but only live poorely that he may die rich so may a man questionlesse have a good and upright Conscience and yet not feed and feast so on it as he might do if the fault was not wholly his owne Why what is this feasting and how is it performed It is when a man by thinking and meditating and praying and such like doth * stir up those heartâ— cheering joyes of a good conscience which lie consopite and buryed under the ashes either of naturall or religious melancholy and which do as duly belong and of right appertain to a good Conscience as an inheritance to the owner And therefore on the other side if God measure out earthly contents unto us with a more thrifty and sparing hand and deny us our desires in some and perhaps many things yet if he have given unto us upright and peacefull consciences we have reasonâ— acknowledge that Goâ— hath dealt bountifully and gratiously with his servants for that is a thing worthy of all acceptance although it should come alone it is a feast and what repining nature is that which will not be satisfied with a feast A good conscience hath all the chiefe requisites to a feast in it for First Jesus Christ is the i Master and Governour of this feast and so deserves to be for by his bloud is the Conscience both h purified and pacified Secondly the Ministers of the Word such as to whom God hath given the â—ongue of the Learned to minister a word in due season are those appointed by God to invite to this feast and to attend the guests called the l Maydens in Wisdomes feast and m Servants in the Mariage-feast Thirdly the Viands and dishes to feed on are such as these a plerophory of Faith a holy complacence with a mans estate divine consolations peace which passeth all understanding sweet raptures and admirations that God should so regard us fixed hopes and longings for further both purity and peace of conscience trust in God joyned with watchfulnesse in our selves that the conscience so established be not againe either defiled or disquieted with sinne flaming affections of love and thankfulnesse to God who hath given us sense of a present and hope of a future good Conscience Lastly singular delight which it takes in Saint Pauls n exercise to keep a good conscience in all things c. Fourthly the musick oâ— minstrelsie of this feast is not upon the o harp-strings but upon the heart-strings This is our p rejoycing even the testimony of a good Conscience So that in all things it holds the condition of a feast Which being so what art thou O more then desperate man who canst or darest account either the least sin small or one sin few seeing that as one leak sinks a ship one fly spoiles a box of oyntment one gourd a whole pot of pottage one Achan trouble all Israel one lick of hony endanger the life of Jonathan one would kill Goliah as well as three and twenty did Caesar one Dalilah doe Sampson as much despight as all the Philistines so one sin wittingly and willingly committed may exceedingly both defile and disquiet the Conscience And of such an one though it be but one may truly be said that of the q Poet No number but more then a number yet Potentially in all and all in it Root of all number and of infinite Cases of Conscience It remaines now that I satisfie two cases that may here be put the one by a wicked the other by a godly man The former saith My conscience I am sure is wicked and yet for all that it is not troubled I use not to sticke at those sinnes which are called r sins wasting Conscience and yet I feele not this worme The latter saith I labour with Saint Paul to have a conscience void of offence both towards God and towards men and yet I taste not of this feast The former boasts of the calmenesse of a vitious conscience and the other complaines of the trouble of an honest Conscience I will satisfie both First then to the Hardy-Cnute whose heart Leviathan-like Job 41. 22. is as hard as stone and as firme as the nether milstone esteeming iron as straw and brasse as rotten wood that is either feeles not or acknowledgeth not the worm of Conscience To him I say First he counteth that a favour which is a punishment let him think what he will I am sure an hard heart is reputed a great punishment by * Moses
The second question is de facto touching the fact thus The law indeed appeares but how hast thou complyed in practice with this Law by doing according to it Unto which question Conscience is an answer in the language of Achan Josh. 7. 20. Thus and thus have I done The third question is de applicatione juris facti touching the commensuration of the fact with the law and the application of the one to the other thus what reward now remaines or what retribution is to be expected and unto this question Conscience is an Answer in the words of God to Cain Gen. 4. 7. If thou hast done well shalt thou not be accepted and if ill sin lies at the doore The last way to find out the nature of Conscience is by defining it to a practicall reasoning or argumentation in which are all the three parts of a formall Syllogisme in the major proposition is the law of Conscience in the minor or assumption lies the evidence or witnesse in the conclusion lies the sentence or judgement Examples What rule or precept teacheth in generall that instances and examples illustrate in speciall to which end let us here subnect two examples the former of an evill and accusing Conscience the latter of a good and accusing one Let Adam the first of men be substituted for the former 1. In the day thou eatest of the tree of knowledge thou shalt surely die Gen. 2. 17. There 's the law or proposition of this practicall Syllogisme there Conscience is an answer to question touching right 2. But I did eate thereof so runnes his confession Gen. 3 ver. 12. there Conscience is a witnesse a thousand witnesses That 's the assumption of the Syllogisme or an answer to the question touching the fact 3. Therefore I am become mortall I must dye Gen. 5. 5. there his Conscience was a Judge giving sentence of condemnation That 's the Conclusion of the Syllogisme or an answer to the question touching the application of the law and fact together The Application of this first Point It were very incongruous not to use Application while we are treating of Conscience whose vigor and force consists in Application and the best improvement and use of it is to provoke every man to take out the lesson of that wise Greeke d Know thy selfe which short saying doe but Christianize and there can be no better divinity O Christian man know and consider thy selfe learne not to undervalue even man in thee know thine owne dignity and excellencie know that within the narrow roome of thy brest there is seated a facultie which is both a law a witness and a judge which can make unanswerable Syllogismes and can out of strong premisses bring undeniable conclusions c Pythagoras his rule was truly divine to bid a man in the first place revere himself and be mostly ashamed of himselfe and f another of the same ranke and classis He that is not ashamed of himselfe how shall he blush before him who knows nothing And reason enforceth thus much for every man is most wronged by his own offence and every man must be arraigned both by and before his own Conscience and therefore surely no tribunall next the judgement seat of God himselfe ought to be so dreadfull to a man as the Areopagita of his owne heart which can at once alledge and plead Law produce witnesse and give judgement A learned Gentleman in a project of his conjoyneth and subordinateth these two propositions the former is this that Chastity makes a man reverence himselfe the latter is this that selfe awe or reverence next true Religion and the feare of God is the chiefest bridle to hold us in from villanie and sinne Which certainly is most true for if we did not shamefully underprize our selves how could we by lust covetousnesse intemperance and the like so degrade man in our selves and defile that humane nature which God vouchsafed to take into union with his owne divinity how could we give a birth-right for a messe of Lentils transgresse for a morsell of bread stake gold to a counter put down an eternall and immortall soule to a blast of fame an huske of pleasure a glow-worme of knowledge But now though this be very true of chastity yet change the subject of the first proposition and enunciate it of Conscience and see how it appears first then Conscience that lawyer and witnesse and judge of conscience that Triumvir and Trismegist of Conscience makes a man reverence and fear himself Secondly this selfe-reverence which proceeds from conscience and the trinity of offices in it is a threefold cord to whip us from sin and a threefold bond to tie us to vertue That which Salomon speaketh Eccles. 10. ver. 20. may be hither fitly applyed Curse not the King c. for a bird of the aire shall carry the voice and that which hath wings shall tell the matter What bird may this be but the little brest-bird and chest-bird of Conscience There is this story in Diogenes Laertius Xenocrates was one day walking in his garden when a sparrow pursued by some hawke or bird of the prey for shelter flew into the bosome of the Philosopher and being bid to put out his little foster-bird he answered no for it is a most unworthy thing to betray a guest Moralize it thus this Falcon or hawke represents every sinner and wicked person which hunts and pursues poor Conscience this sparrow thus pursued representeth Conscience which whilst the foxes have holes and the birds nests hath not where to roust it self till it take shelter in the brest of Xenocrates of some pious and conscientious person which holds it an unworthy thing to chase thence such a guest And hitherto of this The second Point ☜ By Grace and regeneration there is a divine quality and character imprinted upon the naturall Conscience which is Goodnesse AS a noble and vertuous woman giving lawes to her owne sexe enacted that a woman when she came to the age of thirty years should then lay down the title of fair and take up the title of good so when any man or woman is actually called and sanctified their Conscience then ought to be devested of the title of a naturall Conscience and assume the title of a good Conscience Therefore ye shall scarcely observe the name and word of Conscience stand alone in Scripture but commonly there is some title and Epithet of excellency joyned with it as i either a pure Conscience 2 Tim. 1. 3. or a k faire and beautifull Conscience Heb. 13. 18. or a l Conscience without offence Acts 24. 16. or a m good Conscience as here and else where 1 Pet. 3. 21. Now a good Conscience is either n honestly good or peaceably good for Goodnesse imprints its character upon the Conscience in these two qualities purity and peace or integrity and tranquillity or which still is the same in
that which Conscience judgeth right In which respect take notice what high language the Scripture adapteth to expresse this thing as calling a man in relation to this work of Conscience a debtor Rom. 1. 14. a servant Rom. 6. 16. bound Acts 20. 22. constrained â— Cor. 5. 14. necessitated 1 Cor. 9. 17. so as a man cannot otherwise doâ— Acts 4. 20. Such is the strength and vertue of Conscience that an action by its owne nature indifferent it can make bad or good and an Action in it selfe good it can corrupt and make naught Only an action which is ill and naught in it self it cannot make good Yea such is the validity of Conscience that it binds in some cases even when it erres for Conscience judging that to be unlawfull which is lawfull bindeth to abstaine from that lawfull Rom. 14. 14. and Conscience judging that to be debt and necessary which is only allowable and arbitrary bindeth to doe that arbitrary thing Rom. 14. 5. So as both these requisites taken in together and a due proportionable contemperation made therof to wit of both jâ—s and vis the light and heat the good eyes and lustly limbs of Conscience do constitute a rectified conscience fit to goe about that work and labour for which God created such a faculty and seated it in the soul of man A law without sufficient force to execute it is but a dead letter and lets a man lye like the lame creeple at the pooles side seeing the bath but wanting strength to step into it And force without law is but a riot serving for no better use then Sampsons brawny wrists without his eyes to pull an old house over our head to crush us Only a Conscience informedly strong is shee When then O Christian man or woman thou perceivest thy Conscience to be in this frame plight that it is legalâ—y valiant silence not her voyce muzzle not her mouth Say rather as Cant. 2. 1â— Let me see thy countenance let me heare thy voyce for sweet is thy voyce and thy countenâ—nce is comely Shake off that dull and lethargick sloth and stupidity which is upon it either in stimulation to good or repression from evill Cry aloud and say Hoe Conscience conscience up and be doing and the Lord shall be with thee To day is a Chancery-day to thine office Tell me first what 's the law in such and such a point Secondly tell me what correspondence for matter of fact have I held with that law Be a true witnesse either to excuse me if I have done well or accuse me if evill Lastly give right sentence and play the part of a just Judge in either condemning or absolving me that thus judging my self I may not be judged of the Lord And having thus shewed the method of rectifying the erring conscience let us now also declare the right order of pacifying the troubled conscience Upon which point before we fall directly we must needs put a difference for a difference there is betwixt sicknesse of fancie when the thoughts are distracted and drawne aside from off pleasing and contenting objects and doe wholly fasten and sit abrood on sad and dreadfull things and true formall trouble of minde which alwaies gathers to an head either by reason of solicitation to sin or remorse for sin distemper of fancie is commonly a wild and unreasonable thing and swerves from that we call judgement or recta ratio Or if it fasten upon sinne which sometimes it doth it s troubled either with scruples which is no sin or with some generall notions and idea's of transgression without due shame and sorrow for particular lapses or with motes and gnats more then with beames and camels Now rationall and congruous trouble of Conscience when God wounds and will heale is charactered by this that it is neither so superficiall for sin in generall as not to have an aspect upon particular miscarriages and misdemeanours nor so superstitious of particulars as not to regard the generall taint and depravednesse of nature also The best report or book-case hereof is in Psal. 51. which is * the chiefe of the seven penitentials There DAVID rightly pressed in his spirit and panged in his Conscience in deed layes the ponitentiall axe first to the root of the tree confessiâ—â— that which was the spawne and brood-mother of all his actuall wickednesse Behold I was shapen in iniquite and in sin did my mother conceive me ver. 5. and then that very sin in particular which had been as a thiefe in the candle or an obstruction in the liver to gangrene and waste all the quiet and peace of his minde Deliver me from bloud-guiltiness O God c vers. 14. This being premised by way of a praecognitum the Method it selfe now followes which consists in a certaine Scale or Ladder The severall grades or steps whereof are these 1. There can be no sound peace of Conscience till we be atoned and reconciled to God for Conscience is as Gods setting-dog or as his Serjeant which will not take off the arrest till its Master be satisfyed 2. Neither can there be any agreement or atonement with God without pardon of sin God will not be reconciled to any man lite pendente till the fault which caused the variance be forgiven 3. Nor can there be any remission without satisfaction for if the Salvation or damnation of all mankinde lay'd thereupon God will not cannot be unjust to himselfe to be kind to us 4. No satisfaction neither will serve the turne but such as is porportionable to the sault for t is the very Motto of Justice * Let the punishment be equall to the damage the payment to the debt 5. No satisfaction can be proportionable which is not infinite because our sins are committed against a Majestie absolutely infinite and they also are as neere infinite as number or hainousnesse can make them and if there could be another infinite besides God I would say it were the sinnes of the world 6. No infinite satisfaction can be made but by a person of infinite excellencie and worth whose personall dignitie must give such a tincture of price and value to his sufferings as what he suffered in a short time was equivalent to what all the world should have suffered for ever and ever 7. We never knew nor heard of never did any Historian tell or Prophet foretell of any such worthy person but JESUS CHRIST who was God-man man to suffer God to overcome in suffering man to dye God to rise againe 8. That price though most sufficient in it selfe yet not effectuall to us if not applyed and made our owne The best cordiall comforts not if not taken The most magisterial plaister heales not if not applyed to the fore 9. As that Application is made on Gods part by imputation so on our part by faith God must impute the righteousness of Christ unto us and we must receive it from God by the hand of faith 10.
And that faith is but equivocall faith and no true justifying salvificall faith which doth not work by love love to God in holinesse love to man in righteousnesse and love to our selves in sobrietie These are the severall ingredients into this balme of Gilead according to the dispensatory of Divinity These are the severall degrees of this Ladder whose foot like Jacob's standeth upon earth and the top reacheth heaven Let us recollect them by an analyticall methode and so conclude this point I. Practise charity and that 's a signe of true faith 2. Have faith and you shall be able to apply on your part what God imputes on his 3. Apply and what is sufficient in it selfe shall be effectuall to you 4. Nothing is sufficient but Jesus Christ 5. The reason of his sufficiencie is from the dignitie and excellencie of his person 6. Nor yet were his person of sufficient dignity if it were not in him an infinite dignity 7. And being infinite the ransome and satisfaction is proportion to the fault 8. And upon this satisfaction must needs follow remission 9. And having remission there followes also reconciliation with God 10. And being reconciled with God we shall have tranquillity of mind and peace of Conscience passing all understanding The third Point Conscience thus qualified with the goodnesse both of Integritie and tranquillitie is a Feast NOt any phantasticall feast as if a man should dreame of a furnished table and be hungry when he wakens nor any Tropologicall Metaphoricall feast a feast by way of similitude and proportion onely as Christ is called the a bread of Life and the holy Ghost the b water of Life but a true reall feast a feast properly so called junketting both the minde and the body and presenting them both with cheer becoming a feast First it feasteth the mind with the desireable food of Contentation Peace Joy Comfort Hope and the like Secondly it feasteth and fatneth the body also for as Conscience of evill done causeth feare and expectation of some evill to be suffered and that feare againe causeth many a thought-sick houre indigestive meale lancke cheekes trembling joynts marrowless bones restless nights c. so Conscience of good done makes a c cheerfull and a merry heart and a cheerfull heart causeth good health Prov. 17. 22. and maketh a cheerfull countenance Pro. 15. 13. and not onely this but when night comes which is the one d halfe of our life that we are to lay us downe and take our rest then also consciousnesse of a day well spent rocks us and drops a sleepy silence upon our eyes and sleep you know is the stay the prop of the Microcosme it is thoughts charme it is digestions carefull nurse c. It is a rule in Art and we see it true in hourely Experience Contraries placed together do mutually illustrate each other Venus her mole was a foile to her beauty The tender eyes of Leah did the more commend the beauty of Rachel unto Jacob The seven leane kine in Pharaoh's dreame did eate up the seven fat kine So the ill-favoured raw-bon'd leanenesse the biting and gnawing of an ill Conscience will let us better see the festivity of a good Conscience An evill Conscience is a e WORME a brest-worm gnawing upon the soule with the teeth of bloodless fear of wrinckled sorrow of self-consuming care and of sad despaire and this worme is not like that which St Paul shooke off into the fire it is a Salamander and will live and gnaw in the fire of hell it s a worme that never dyeth a continuall worme and that 's the gall of bitternesse wormewooding even hell it self Well were it with wicked men if as Herod Acts 12. 23. and Antiochus a Macc. 9. 9â— were devoured and eaten up with wormes this worme would dispatch them But it is that f sanguisuga ever sucking and never full ever gnawing but never killing ever eating but never devouring and that with a deadly tooth too every bit worse then ten thousand deaths and yet g not unto death Compare now these two texts together A good Conscience is a FEAST An ill one is a WORME a good one a plentifull feast an ill one an hungry gnawing worme a good one a continuall feast an ill one a continuall a never dying worme and do they not answer one another as in water face answereth faceâ— And these two points 1. That an ill Conscience is a worme and 2. a good Conscience a feast being thus entorted wreathed together Let us stretch out the further illustration of them by enquiring into the learning and Confessions of the Heathen who had no inky Divinity no other books of Theologie but the books of Conscience no other law but the Law written in their hearts For be it granted that the word is best when it is pure and not dilute or mingled or if mingled then with nothing but h faith and that humane learning being brought to illustrate divine is for the most part but as painture in Church-windowes making the glasse lesse cleare and transparent yet some points there are and this is one of those some wherin it perswades much to shew that Divinity is the same with the law of nature 〈◊〉 will only gleane an handfull out of an whole field And I will begin with the greek proverbe {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} i. conscience is the strappado and bastinado of the soule it doth whip and lash her with secret but more smarting stroaks the whip of cords that Christ made is not to be compared to it all the discipline on a good Friday in the Church of Rome comes short of it before sinne it is k fraenum a bridle after sinne it is flagrum a whip Secondly the significant fable of Prometheus may have the next place Prometheus stole fire from heaven his punishment was that he was tied to the mountaine Caucasus where a rapacious Eagle did day and night feed upon his heart The morall is Prometheus represents every sinner that is injurious against heaven his affixing to the mountaine Caucasus sheweth that it is as possible to carry away the mountaine as to escape the vengeance of God when he will punish the Eagle feeding upon his heart is the angor of conscience which doâ—h l eate and devoure the very heart of man as a Gangrene in the flesh Thirdly let us remember the three m snake-tressed sisters Alecto Megera and Tisiphone three dismall Elves which the Poets make the daughters of Nox and Acheron and call them Furies which indeed are nothing else but the n torments of a wicked mind when the pains and throws of conscience are upon it Fourthly we will call in the example of Orestes in the Tragedy o O wretched Orestes saith an interlocutor in the Tragedy what disease afflicteth thee Orestes makes answer upon the stage Conscience quoth he O the
in the Old Testament and a Cauterized Conscience by Saint Paul in the New Testament The sick man is then in a deplorable condition when he feeles no pain and so is the Conscience of a sinner when it feeles not the worm Secondly I say Doe not a boast till the putting off thine armour No man b knowes what the evening of his life may bring forth I have seene the wicked flourish like a greene bay-tree both in outward prosperity and inward peace and I have seen him also ere he have gone off the stage not able to put to silence the voice of despaire Thirdly thou that with thy loud musick of carnall mirth canst deafe and out-voy Conscience tell me truly Is not sometimes even in laughter thy heart sorrowfull doth not the flea of Conscience sometime awaken thee yes I warrant thee If Democritus had but the anatomizing of thee he would find melancholy in thee too that is c Conscience Now these more light and seldome gnawings are but as a Prologue before a Tragedie or the first fruits before the whole or as some drops before a showre Fourthly if God deal so severely with thee mercifully thou callest it and laughest at me for thinking otherwise as to let thee have thine heaven here that thou maiest have thine hell hereafter know that as women which commonly breed the best beare the worst so conscience c. It is then in its owne sphere of activity of that place it is properly spoken the worme that never dyeth and the fire that never goeth out Fifthly and lastly I exhort thee with that holy Father Mordeat hic ut moriatur illic muzzle not the mouth of the oxe silence not the voice of Conscience either by the pleasures or employments of the world which as the fall of Nilus doth the adjacent inhabitants deafeâ—â—â— conscience but let it admonish here that it condemne not hereafter let it bite here that it devoure not hereafter let it live here that it may dye hereafter Thus have I according to Salomons counsell answered a fool according to his folly lest he were wise in his one conceit The second Case Secondly now to satisfie the godly mans complaint whose objection pincheth upon himselfe thus I endeavour my selfe constantly both to refuse the evill and choose the good I set before mine eyes ever the word of God the law of conscience There is no sinne so small but I account it to defile and none of Gods commandements so little but I hold necessary to be done I both desire and endeavour to sly the very appearances of evill and yet I find not these sugred joyes and divine consolations whereon conscience feasteth but goe on in a kind of drinesse of spirit and fear I shall doe so ever not knowing well what to think of mine own estate To him I say First that as before a conscience may be troubledly evill and yet honestly good A certaine man some years afflicted in conscience said his continuall agonie were as great as a mans ready to dye and then he felt such small comfort in Gods countenance that he would willingly have suffered his body to have lived in burning fire till the appearance of Christ so he might then be assured of Gods favour towards him yea his greatest comfort was that though God should condemne him yet he hoped therein of Gods favour to have his torments mitigated with those that suffered least in all which troubles notwithstanding no world of reward nor terrour of tyranny could cause him willingly doe the least thing displeasing God so there is a conscience most troubledly evill and yet vertuously good Secondly absence of sensiblenesse of devotion and wonted consolations is often without any fault of ours or at least may be so as no other cause may be assigned but divine dispensation which being an infinite vertue worketh not alwayes after the same manner but that his providence might the more appeare after very many sundry wayes I opened to my Beloved but my Beloved was gone I sought him but I could not find him I called him but he answered me not Cant. 5. 6. signifying as S. Gregory on that place that she did both what she could and what she ought and yet she found him not because God so often disposeth it and that for good and holy ends Thirdly Absence of spirituall consolations are to be referred to the evill of smart rather then of sin they are our crosses and afflictions not our sins and offences and the having of them is rather part of Gods reward then our duty Fourthly God doth this oftentimes to lead on his children to a further degree of perfection for spirituall consolations are the â—ood of infants and milke for babes by the sweetnesse whereof God calleth us from the pleasures and allurements of this world For such is our weaknesse that we could never be brought to renounce one love unlesse we found another more sweet for which cause we see often that the comforts of yong beginners and probationers in Religion are often greater and more sensible then greater proficients are but afterward God leaves us or rather promotes us from an estate more sweet to an estaâ—e more strong from one more fervent to one more stedfast from one greater after the flesh to another greater after the spirit And yet fifthly know it is dangerous to dis-esteem and contemn divine consolations for though for the sustaining of those that are religious and of scrupulous consciences it be said truly that Grace consists not in spirituall consolations but in vertue that they are rather part of our reward then of our duty yet if there be any that through negligence sloâ—h doe make small account of spirituall consolations to them be it as truly said That it is a miserable thing not to taste how sweet the Lord is and the Saints have thought more bitter then death these tedious absences of the Comforter And though Sanctity and Godlinesse consist not in them yet are both of them great encouragements to a reformed life great helps therein And therefore we are to walke betweene two extremes viz. when they are absent not to discourage our selves nor distrust God nor on the other hand to be too secure and carelesse This is to be knowne Now what is to be done or practised in the absence of spirituall consolations â— Thus First still be exercising thy self in keeping a good Conscience though thou finde no sweetnesse therein The sick man must eate though he find no savour take heed of crying at the gates of the flesh for ayde that is in the want of spirituall consolations to fly to the support of worldly and carnall as Saul to the witch and Cain to building of Cities It is easie to follow CHRIST for the Loaves it is easie to love a good Conscience for its good cheere but when it feasts nor then to exercise the keeping of it is truly praise-worthy Secondly
practise patience and resolve with as little distemper as thou canst to wait on the Lord till light break forth and till he give thee the garments of joy for the spirit of heavinesse Thirdly practise fervent and frequent prayer that God will restore to thee the comfort of thy salvation againe and stablish thee with his free Spirit Fourthly the Sun may be risen and yet not seen because under a cloud there may bee fire for blowing so may there be the Comforter come and yet not perceived or felt for want of stirring up divine consolations by meditation and prayer and therefore 2 Tim. 1. 6. Stirre up the grace of God that is in thee Fifthly and lastly observe diligently whether the absence of divine consolations have befallen thee through divine dispensation onely to preserve thy humility and to try thee and which if it be so then thou canst doe no more but in the use of holy meanes and constant walking with God waite still for the season of his Grace not appointing a time for the mercy of the Lord nor setting downe a day when he should deliver thee as the holy widow Judith Chap. 8. If otherwise that thou hast been a cause thereof by provoking the Lord to anger then art thou to the former rules to adde the practise of true repentance 1. Seeking out as diligently as Joshua did for Achan that sin which did occasion thy woe and then washing that staine out of thy soule with the Fullers Sope of Contrition remembring ever to follow the streame up to the fountaines head that is to bewaile the generall corruption of thy nature as well as that particular sin Thus have I laboured to minister a word in due season to him that is ready to perish If I have been long in this point of the festivals of a good Conscience let this excuse me that men use not to eate feasts as the Israelites the Passeover with a staffe in their hand and shoes on their feet but to stay at them And so much concerning the third point viz. That a Conscience thus qualified with the goodnesse both of Integritie and tranquillitie is a Feast The fourth Point This feast of Conscience ☜ is a continuall feast AS Goodnesse was the Adjunct of Conscience so Continuance is the Adjunct of the FEAST Wherein this Feast excels all the sumptuous and prodigall feasts of Nero Heliogabalus Caesar Bargia Mark Anthony Cleopatra or whosoever else either divine or humane pennes have storyed on for their most prodigious and luxurious riots when they made both sea and land contribute their utmost to furnish their tables The longest feast that I find recorded any were is that of Ahasucrus which he made in the third yeare of his raigne to all his Princes and Servants a feast of an hundred and fourescore dayes but what 's that to a continuall feast how much short is that to him who like the rich glutton in the Gospell fareth deliciously every day Let us state the point The Theame to be spoken on is this that The testimony of a good Conscience comforteth and refresheth a man at all times and in all conditions of life A good Conscience is a Pillow if a man lye down a Cushion if a man sit a Staffe if a man walke an Arbour or Gourd if a man would shade himselfe If a man be sick 't is a Physician if in suit it is a Lawyer if wrongfully accused it is a true witnesse if unjustly condemned it is a righteous Judge If a man bee thirsty it is a refreshing river if hungry it is a plentifull feast In a word it is a mans Sun by day and his Moone by night There is no state or condition of life can befall a man either so prosperous or so adverse but in it a man shall find the joyes and delights of a good Conscience Consult the Oracle and you shall find instances in the severall stations and conditions of life as First in inward tentation by the Examples of Moses Exod. 14. 15. and of Hannah 1 Sam. 1. 17. Secondly in outward trouble by the Example of Job Chap. 27. ver. 5. and of Abimelech Gen. 20. 5. Thirdly in life by the Example of Saint Paul 2 Cor. 1. 12. Fourthly in death by the Example of Hezekiah 2 Kings 20. 3. Fifthly at judgment when Conscience shall be triumphant upon the word of admission Come good and faithfull Servant receive the prepared Kingdome Enter into thy Masters joy Lastly after judgement in heaven for then and there all imperfections of the Peace of Conscience shall be taken away all perfection thereof shall be added There shall be no more interruptions intermissions or intercisions of tranquillity of mind but as in hell to the wicked their ill Conscience shall be a most perfect and continuall worme so to the godly their good Conscience shall be a most perfect and continuall feast It was a good Conscience made the three Children rejoyce in their fiery fornace Daniel in the Lions den Paul and Silas in the stocks the Martyrs at the stake and those Primitive Worthies catalogued Heb. 11. 35. which would not be delivered That they might obtaine a better resurrection In summe if Conscience be truly good that is first honestly good and then peaceably good accordingly as was before distinguished it feasteth and banquetteth the heart at all places and at all times Contiguously and Continually Yet are there certaine speciall seasons of God's comfortable Visitation wherein hee doth more fully and largely dispense Divine Consolation then he doth at other times namely 1. At a Christians first Conversion unto God as we may see in both those famous Converts Lydia and the Jaylor Act. 16. And this God doth to set and knit the weake joynts of a Christian and to give him a taste and antepast that he shall not lose but only exchange joyes such as are dilute and grosse for such as are sincere and pure 2. After some good performed especially if it have come off well in regard of matter manner and end After a good worke so done God useth extraordinarily to cheere the Conscience which is both part of the Performers Merces and Reward and withall an earnest and pledge that the whole shal follow and be all paid in 3. Upon evill suffered also no lesse then upon good done for under the crosse God hath often after a very eminent manner shed his consolations into the heart Paul and Silas sung in the Jayle Philip Landgrave of Hess long a prisoner under Charles the fift for the cause of Religion being asked what had supported him during his whole trouble answered he had felt the divine consolations even of the Martyrs themselves all that while And a cloud of witnesses have said the like that under the crosse suffered for a good Conscience they have felt those sensible comforts which they were never partakers of all their life besides either before or after 4. After the brunt of some sore tentation
is over Satan out-wrestled a spirituall conflict ended a desertion over-blowne then God also useth to refocillate the minde and supple the nerves and weary joynts of the Christian Combatant upon consideration that his Grace was sufficient for him that he had taught his hands to war his fingers to fight and that the soule had marched valiantly 5. Lastly at the houre of death after a good and well-spent life then the Conscience begins to lift up his Crests and to boast in the putting off of his armour Then will Adolphus Clarebachius say I beleeve there is not a merrier heart in the world then mine this day Then will Fannius answer to one objecting CHRISTS sadnesse against his mirth I Christ was sad that I might be merry Then will St Cyprian say Amen when the sentence of death is pronounced against him Then will St Paul say I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith Henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of glory c. Application of the Point Labour not therefore for the meat that perisheth but for that which endureth for ever for a continuall feast If a poore mendicant Lazarus who had been accustomed all his life to cleannesse of teeth were taken from the rich mans gate and carried to as great a feast as ever plenty and curiositie devised served up in Dishes of Achate studded with gold and pretious stones what better were he to morrow save that the remembrance of it would aggravate his present hunger and be as sauce to his appetite which now standeth in need of meat I had rather have everlasting brasse then fading gold If I were to goe a journey of a thousand miles I had rather have onely necessaries till my journeys end then be carried in coaches and have all abundance and superfluities nine hundred miles and be put to beg my viaticum the last hundred If I were as sure to live an hundred yeeres as Hezâ—kiah was of his fifteene I would choose rather for the whole terme to have no more then a lowly cottage to sleep in be clad with course and home-spun cloth feed upon Lentils and green herbs then to have for fourescore of those yeeres Manna from heaven for my food apparell as rich as Aarons Ephod a house as stately as Nebuchadnezzars Palace and then like him for the last twenty be driven out of all naked poore and hungry and harbourlesse I had rather live for ever here on earth in this vale of teares where even those we call happy live under an equinoctiall of sorrow and joy then now presently be rapt up into heaven as Elias was and after a thousand yeeres fall from thence with the lapsed Angels Oh! t is these words Eternall Everlasting Perpetuall Continuall For ever c. which in evils make light things heavie and heavie things insupportable and in good things make small things great and great things incomprehensible Hell were not hâ—ll if the torments of it were not as endlesse as they are easlesse And Heaven were not Heaven if the joyes thereof were not lasting as they are incomprehensible I whet my stile on purpose both to bring you out of taste with carnall and mundane pleasures which are but transitory and to raise up the appetite to this feast of a good Conscience which is Continuall It were then likely to be well with us indeed if we did not prize things temporall as if they were eternall nor undervalue things eternall as if they were temporall I am just now in Demosthenes his strait * who was troubled with a short breath and yet used long Periods So in the last gasp of time allotted for this Sermon I am fallen to discourse of Duration and Eternity I will close up this short speech of Eternity with a very patheticall expressioÌ„ of this thing which I will translate hither both out of a another booke and another language And this it is Thinke with thy selfe a thousand thousand thousand thousand thousand thousand thousand thousands of millions of yeeres Think so many yeeres were to be transacted in fire but withall thinke that though this whole space of time were doubled tribled c. yea centuplicated that it is not so much as the very beginning of Eternity neither after the revolution of so many yeeres can Eternity be said to have a beginning Except these thoughts make us more holy we are no better then beasts and stones yea even then steele it self Nothing will move him which is not moved by Eternitie Eternitie I say that immensurate interminate everlasting perpetuall infinite enduring from age to age as long as God shall live so long the damned shall dye But oh immortall death oh mortiferous life I know not whether I shall call thee by the name of death or of life If thou beest life why art thou more cruell then death if thou beest death why dost thou not end thy cruelty I will not honour thee with either the Name of life or death for even they both have some goodnesse in them There 's rest in life ‖ and in death an end these two affords comfort in all evils But thou eternity neither hast rest nor end What art thou therefore thou art both the evill of life and the evill of death from death thou hast torments without end and from life thou hast immortality without rest The particular Application to the City of LONDON I have done serving up the severall courses of this feast of Conscience and would now take away if it were not the solemne custome of these {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} EASTER-Spittle-Sermons That the Preacher should in speciall manner address himself to this great City-Audience 'T is said John chap. 7. ver. 37. that Jesus stood up in the great and last day of the feast and cryed saying If any man thirst let him come unto me and drinke This is the last day of this {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Lo I stand up in the roome of my Lord and Master and cry Ho if any here be an hungry let them come to this feast of a good conscience and feed freely My Lord Major and all you the rest of the Citizens of this famous City from the Scarlet to the Blue give me leave I pray you to use that liberty and freedome of speech which becomes a faithfull Preacher of the Gospel 'T is true we are called Ministers that is Servants and so we are but it is because we are Servants of God not of men or if of men it is to serve your Salvation not your humours Here is no danger in these Sermons of the Silver-Squinancie or bos in lingua The Preacher may here speake rashly and unadvisedly but not corruptly for it is well known these Spittle-Sermons differ from those at the Crosse and others about this City that these are
without any fee or reward other then that of Honour and good Acceptance They are the farre better to be liked for that They are the more hopefull for you the Auditors because all danger of our merchandizing the Word is hereby taken away And they are nor the lesse hopefull to us the Preachers for if we be faithfull in this our dispensation we shall have a greater reward then any you can give us And here I doe pause a little and not rashly but upon due deliberation do wish with all my heart both for my selfe and all my brethren of the Ministerie that the portion of the Clergie were so set out and their maintenance so provided for that it might prove Balaams wages for any one either to accept or expect any recompence Shekell or talent Homer or Epha great or small from the hand of any person whether high or low for any part of the worke of the Ministery whether publique or private Then should you see sinners otherwise reproved the wounds of Conscience which are but now skinned over with sweet words otherwise searched into and healed up great persons otherwise over-awed the Ladies spots and the Lords blots otherwise pointed at death-beds and sick couches otherwise visited then to give the decumbent such a peace as he may carry along to hell with him funerall Sermons otherwise preached then to be meere Panegyricks and commendatory orations of them whom the whole Congregation knowes were no such persons as the Mercenary tongue of the Preacher pourtrayes forth Then certainely this City would not have been so much wronged as of late especially it hath with so many of such Sermons as Saint Paul cals * wind of doctrine whereby Christians are blown and carried about from the stedfastness of the truth The Authour of the Epistle to the Hebrewes Chap. 13. and 9. censures them to be new and strange doctrines and implies that the hearts of them who preach and abet them are not established with grace Doctrines of devils they are 1 Tim. 4. 1. in regard of him who inspires them doctrines of men they are in respect of the instruments by which he breaths them That Noble and Learned Gentleman before mentioned one of the standing Honours of the Law in generall and of Grayes-Inne in particular observes that if the choyce and best of those observations that have been made dispersedly in Sermons within this Kingdome by the space of fortie yeeres and more had beene set downe in a continuance it had been the best work in Divinitie which had been written since the Apostles time I am about to say another thing That if men of undoubted judgement and integrity were but to bring in all those absurdities which they have heard vented in Pulpits within and about this Citie for these 18. months last past they would make such Miscellanies of Divinitie as your Pulpits had need of all their rich Velvet and Embroydered cloths which they have to cover their shame And I wish that Ignorance were the worst root from which these things have sprung but I doubt much that when some of these mens Consciences are awakened they shall be as a thousand witnesses to tell them that out of designe and out of wry and by-ends they * have led captive simple women laden with sins and led away with divers lusts women ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth And therefore I cannot but much commend the ingenuity of Mr Alexander Hendersam who whilst he was here a Commissioner did with great liberty of speech taxe and reprove what in this kind he both saw and heard of in this City But to divert no further I will in speaking unto you labour to keepe an even path betwixt detraction and flattery and first briefly but faithfully reprove what I think at this time most reproveable and then as candidly commend what is in you commendable that so those faults amended and these vertues being retained you may partake of this feast of a good Conscience And for the first of these twaine I will search none of your old sores at this time but onely note unto you two faults which have of late rendered this City blame-worthy both to God and man The first is the great schismes and dis-unions which have lately burst forth amongst you one of you being very Ishmaels to another whereas a City should be at unitie in it selfe and is the very Prototype and Copie of Concord and Unitie That Vnitie is omnipotent is one of Scaligers subtleties to be undevided and indivisible is the chiefe and first Excellencie of the blessed Trinitie Therefore the Pythagoreans call the number of two an infamous number because it first discedeth from Unitie Nothing more divine then Vnitie nothing more â—atanicall then division The second is your City-tumults tumults in the City and tumults from the City just like that Ephesian-tumult Acts 19. Confused and the more part not knowing wherefore they were come together Concerning which I will only aske you this one question What fruit have you now of those things Have you thereby trow ye pleased God No sure but rather highly offended him for God is the God of Order not of confusion Have you pleased the King you know how high his complaints runne Have you pleased the Parliament they doe by no meanes own your disorders Have you helped trade I trow not and pity it were it should be helped by these wayes lest prosperous folly should be accounted wisdome and prosperous wickednesse be accounted vertue Let me but aske one question more Have you hereby got the feast of a good Conscience I think there is a great deale more cause why in this case Conscience should be a WORME then a FEAST I have done my reprehension and comming to you with a rod I will now come to you with the spirit of meeknesse and praise you where you are truly praise-worthy for your Charity towards orphans the poore the blind the lame the self-lame sluggard c. or rather praise the Grace of God who hath made you both valentes and volentes able and willing hereunto And here I wil limit your attention to these three heads viz. 1. To shew you a good Rule of Almes and Charitie 2. A good Embleme thereof And lastly a good Example For the first all the best Rules of Almes are united and concentred in that one Text of the Preacher Eccles. 11. 1. Cast thy bread upon the waters for thou shalt finde it after many dayes Let us such the Text 1. In the first word CAST lye closely three distinct Eleemosynarie Rules that is 1. We ought to give Almes bountifully and liberally to sow plentifully 2. Cheerfully also and with a ready alâ— critie of minde 3. Speedily and seasonably whilest now the necessity presseth the receiver and summoneth the Almoner for without all these we doe but drop or sprinkle or lay down we do not sow or cast our Almes 2. In the