Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	good_a	heart_n	merry_a	1,048	5	9.9107	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A46725	Peace and love, recommended and perswaded in two sermons, preached at Bristol, January the 31, 1674/5 / by Tho. Jekyll ...	Jekyll, Thomas, 1646-1698.	1675 (1675)	Wing J533; ESTC R1429	32,018	39

hand the peaceable-minded Christian who intends and does no evil neither feels nor fears any but in the well grounded hopes of another World freely enjoys this nay takes all afflictions not only patiently but joyfully too not biting but rather kissing the Rod because he knows ther 's Hony at the end of it and that these light Afflictions work for him a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory So that doubtless if there be any Heaven upon Earth it 's this especially too when the practice of Holiness accompanies the pursuit of Peace and the man has learnt to be good as well as kind Then he lives and fares well yea more Deliciously every day than the Rich Glutton himself it 's the good Conscience only that makes the merry heart keep a continual Feast The good man says Solomon Pro. 14.14 shall be satisfied from himself the loving disposition of his mind and the Innocence of his life affording him all the satisfaction that his heart can wish Nay though the World frown and Men and Devils rage and threaten yet nothing can alter this happy state This is a joy that no man takes away any more than the Ratling of a storm upon the Tiles can put an end to the mirth that may be in the House It was upon this account that Job resolved to hold fast his integrity and not let it go my heart says he Job 27.6 shall not reproach me so long as I live It 's true the wicked and ungodly wretch may please himself for a time with his wickedness and be in love with his own Folly and Extravagance but yet all his jollity is but like that of Witches in their Transportations who feed upon nothing but Air and Fancy and return from their Diabolical Entertainments with tyr'd Carkasses and hungry Bellies For even in the midst of all their Laughter the heart is sorrowful and sure I am the end of that mirth is heaviness Whilst on the other hand the good man is not beholden to his Imagination only for his Entertainment but is really full and well liking and has this advantage too beyond the other that he is made happy with less trouble and at an easier Rate than the other is made miserable The one must pass through a cruel Purgatory of malice and wickedness before he can get to Hell whilst the other in his search after Heaven finds in the tranquillity of his mind a pleasant Paradise all the way Thirdly The proposition will more fully appear to be true if we consider the nature of these excellent Duties in themselves it 's the priviledg which the true Christian only enjoys above all other persons in the World that those things that are his Duty are both his Interest and his glory too and at once contribute both to his present future welfare What therefore are all the Duties of Religion enjoyn'd him here on Earth but so many accomplishments to make him fit for Heaven What are all the Graces of the Gospel but so many Jewels to enrich and beautifie a Crown of Glory VVhy is he bid to deny ungodliness and worldly Lusts and to live Righteously and soberly and Godly in this present evil VVorld but only that thereby he may be capable of an Inheritance amongst those that are thus Sanctified To what end are we Required to be Renewed in the Spirit of our minds after the Image of him that Created us but that by our being thus like him we may be able to see him as he is and to enjoy him too And indeed what is that happiness which the Saints enjoy in Heaven but only a priviledg of partaking of the Divine nature What else is glory but only the highest perfection of Grace And therefore if we do but consider the nature and imployment of just men made perfect in Heaven we shall find them so exactly Transformed into the Image of God as if their Converse with and Resemblance unto him made up the happiness and perfection of that place It was this that made the Garden of Eden a pleasant Paradise unto Adam And it 's this that makes Heaven it self to be Heaven to the Saints whilst they are here on Earth their purest Gold has some Dross but there it 's throughly Refin'd and purified from all Here the exactest holiness has somewhat in it that requires a pardon but there it 's so perfect that it wants none which Innocent and therefore happy condition must necessarily produce an everlasting Peace and that not only with God and their own Consciences but with all the World besides The chief part of our Religion consists in acts of Piety unto God and charity unto Men nay such stress has the Scripture laid upon the latter as without it wholly to exclude the former By this says our Saviour John 13.35 shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye love one another And St. John tells us expresly 1 John 4.20 That if a man say I love God and hateth his Brother he is a Lyar. Now this excellent Grace which is so much our Duty here makes up the chiefest part of our happiness hereafter and doth the most of any thing else improve our natures into an absolute perfection And therefore that which is in St. Luke's Phrase styled Mercy is in St. Mathews styled Perfection In the one it is Be ye merciful even as your Heavenly Father is merciful in the other it is Be ye perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect as may be seen by comparing Math. 5.48 with Luke 6.36 thereby teaching us that we are made perfect only in Love And indeed if we do but consider what the imployment of the Saints in Heaven is we shall find it to consist wholly in the highest acts of love that can be in which they are continually exercised for there they not only contemplate the excellencies of their Maker and praise and magnifie him but also shew some acts of love unto their fellow-creatures here below for though they do not become Mediators and Intercessors for them as some fondly Dream yet they Rejoyce to meet them in Heaven and would gladly welcome their greatest Enemies thither For if there be joy in Heaven over one Sinner that Repenteth that joy is doubled when that Penitence is Crown'd with perseverance and eternal life So that it 's not only Religion but the end of it too it 's the way that leads to everlasting life and it is that life it self All which consider'd our Apostle may well press Peace and Holiness upon us above all other things in the World For if these be the things that the nearest resemble the nature of God and by consequence best please him if these are the things that not only tend to but make up and compleat our happiness what can be more necessary for us to believe and practice and therefore certainly we must needs do our selves an unspeakable deal of mischief not to follow