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	unfeigned_a	2,423	5	11.0927	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09386	A C[hristian] and [plain]e treatise of the manner and order of predestination and of the largenes of Gods grace. First written in Latine by that reuerend and faithfull seruant of God, Master William Perkins, late preacher of the word in Cambridge. And carefully translated into English by Francis Cacot, and Thomas Tuke.; De prædestinationis modo et ordine. English	Perkins, William, 1558-1602.; Cacot, Francis.; Tuke, Thomas, d. 1657.	1606 (1606)	STC 19683; ESTC S103581	116,285	285

hope we expect and wait for that saluation Rom. 8. 24. which by faith we apprehend and assure our selues of for the ●●ualuable merits of Christ. Now this grace is not giuen to any besides the Elect. For how can the Reprobate hope to be saued seeing they are appointed for the day of euill and are reserued to the day Prou. 16. 4. Iob. 21. 30. 〈◊〉 Tim. 1 5 of destruction and shall be brought foorth to the day of wrath Thirdly Loue which springeth out of a pure heart and floweth from a good conscience and faith vnfeigned is giuen only to Gods Elect. For it is not possible for the Reprobate to loue God to that end and in that manner which God requireth seeing he hath cast them off from all eternity and purposed not to giue them any sauing grace considering also that they are by nature voyd of pu●itie and do liue and dye in sinne Now this priuiledge is the greater because this grace is very rare and excellent Loue is as it were a knife wherewith faith shareth and cutteth out the duties which we doe owe vnto God and man in some good and acceptable manner Loue is the cock which letteth out the water of Gods graces out of the cisterne of our hearts Loue is the nurse of humanitie the mother of equitie the maintainer of vertue the daughter of faith the preseruer of pietie the mistresse of modestie the badge of Christianitie the bane of discord the staffe of concord Col. 3. 14. Iob. 13. 35. 1. Cor. 1● 13. the keeper of the Crowne the bond of perfection and the note of a true disciple Saint Paul in some sort prefers it to faith and hope when he saith Now abideth faith hope and loue but the chiesest of these is Loue. By which we see that the Lord hath highly honoured vs in that hee conferreth this glorious grace vnto none but vs. Lastly that filiall Prou. 9. 10. Prou. 1● 27. feare which is the beginning of wisdome and the well-spring of life to auoyd the snares of death and which makes a man to keepe the golden rule of mediocritie is giuen onely to Gods Elect. For how can the Reprobate who doe loue sinne and doe not loue God how I say can they feare to displease him because they hate sinne and loue him or how can the Reprobate who are all ordeined to ineuitable and eternall perdition be sayd to feare God as a Sonne feareth his louing Father seeing they be slaues and considering that the word of God pronounceth him happy and blessed who standeth Psa. 112 〈◊〉 in awe of GOD and feareth to offend him If the Reprobate be blessed then of all men the Elect are most accursed But wee shall say that those are blessed whom the Lord hath accursed if we shall say that the Reprobate doe feare God with that feare whereof I now speake Priuil 14. 〈◊〉 Chron. 14. 11. Nahum 1. 9. Act. 〈◊〉 4 GOD accounteth those iniuries as done vnto himselfe which the wicked offer vnto his faithfull seruants Saul persecuted the true professors of Christ yet Christ told him from heauen that he persecuted him The afflictions of Gods children are called in the Scriptures Col. 1. 24 Christs afflictions For such is the vnion and communion betwixt the head and the members that if any of Reuel 11 8. them smart the head is partaker of the griefe If any part be crazed or annoyed the heart is ready to mourne the head to consult the tongue to bewayle and vtter it the foot to run to the Surgeon and the hand is ready to do her duety Euen so it is betweene Christ and his members If any of them bee iniuriously vexed and troubled hee takes the wrong as done vnto himselfe And so Christ may be sayd to be crucified in that great city which is mystically called Sodom and Babylon that is Rome because hee is there put to death in his members and is in them as it were slayne continually by * Romish authority is either heathenish or Popish Christ died by the former but in hi● members he hath died by both and yet doth by the latter Zach. 〈◊〉 8. Math. 25 Romish authority as hee was by it if wee speake properly crucifyed and put to death So in lyke manner the Lord sayeth He which toucheth you toucheth the apple of mine eye And as Christ esteemeth of those good deeds which men do vnto them as done vnto himselfe euen so hee accounteth the bare neglecting and the not relieuing of them in their wants as if the wicked had been in this kind of duety faultie vnto himselfe God will shorten the World and hasten the comming of his Sonne for the Priui 15 Elect. And so that speach of Christ may be vnderstood For the Elects sake those Math. 24 22. euill dayes shall be shortened Moreouer such is the patience and good wil of God vnto his Elect as that hee stayeth his comming for a time because he would as Peter affirmeth haue none of them to perish but come vnto repentance 2. Pet. 3. 9. that when hee commeth they may bee welcome vnto him and hee to them God doth effectually call the Elect and none besides them and they alone Priui 16 are iustifyed in his sight For hee doth pardon them alone and they only are Rom. 8. 30. clothed with the spotlesse roabes of Christs perfect righteousnes Therefore the Prophet saith The ch●stisement of our Isa. 53. 5 6. peace was vpon him The Lord hath layed vpon him the iniquitie of vs all For the 〈◊〉 transgression of my people was he plagued By his knowledge shall my righteous seruant 11. 12. Math. 1. 21. Iohn 17. 9. iustifie many He bare the sinne of many He doth not say all For he came to saue his owne people only from their sinnes He did not so much as pray for the Reprobate Now this is a very great and admirable priuiledge and honour that God should send his only Sonne to dye for vs few despicable wretches and that Christ should lose his life and shead his heart blood for vs only whereas it was in Act 20. 28. it selfe being the blood of God sufficiēt to haue redeemed a thousand thousand worlds of sinners If a man had a medicine able to cure all diseases and would not giue it any sauing some few they were wonderfully indebted to him The blood of Christ is able to heale all our soule-sicknesses and to deliuer vs from all our sinnes and it hath pleased him to wash vs alone in it and to withhold it from the far greater part of mankind By which we see how highly hee hath honoured vs and how deep we are in his debt If three men were in danger of drowning or burning and a man should come and deliuer one of them and leaue the other two to the danger all men might well say that he fauoured him more then the other By our sinnes we

to worse maketh a necessitie to sinne and yet the necessitie although it be voluntarie is not able to excuse the will nor the will although it bee enticed to exclude necessitie If any man shall say that by this our platforme many are tied by an ineuitable necessitie to bee damned I would haue him giue care to Augustine who saith Hold this most stedfastly and doubt not in De fide ad Pet. cap. 35. any wise that any can perish whom God before the creation of the world hath of his free goodnesse made vessels of mercie or that any of them whom he hath not predestinated to eternall life can by any meanes be saued And yet I say that the decree of reprobation doth not cause a necessitie of damnation in any man For the first act thereof which is a purpose not to shew mercie causeth not this necessitie in men but goeth before it as an antecedent and man himselfe verily hath brought vpon himselfe this necessitie with his owne most free yet rebelling will Now the second act of Reprobation which is a purpose of condemning causeth not any necessitie of damnation but by the sinne of man comming betweene Moreouer the necessitie of damnation followeth after the same manner by the foreknowledge of God and yet this neuer seemed a thing strange vnto any one But some will say that the foreknowledge of God doth neuer cause in men any necessitie of damnation although it doe assuredly foresee the same And I say also that Reprobation doth either not at all cause damnation in man or that it doth not cause it but for sinne But it may be obiected They that are predestinated vnto damnation cannot be freed by repentance although they would Whereto I answere with Augustine As they did fall by their will so by their will they are content to lie and he that turneth himselfe Ar● 15. away from God hath both depriued himselfe of will to doe that which is good and also of power It doth not therefore follow as they imagine which obiect such things that God hath taken repentance from those to whom he gaue it not and hath throwne downe those whom he hath not taken vp Moreouer the selfe same necessitie followeth of their hypothesis who affirme a bare permission For that which God permitteth the selfe same thing will hee not hinder and euill if God hinder not cannot bee auoyded and that which cannot be auoyded shall come to passe infallibly And therfore euill permission being once graunted of necessitie cōmeth to passe although most freely on mans part Whereupon it is plaine that the decree of God is not more ineuitable than is the very permission separated from the decree I doe wish that they would well weigh and cōsider this who obiect vnto vs either the Stoicall fate or the do●ages of the Manichees For we differ from them as much in certaine iudgement opinion as whosoeuer doe differ most For first the Stoickes doe tie God vnto the second causes so that he cannot doe otherwise then the nature of them will suffer wee on the other side doe hold that all second causes do depend vpon and are ordered by God Secondly the Stoickes say that neither God nor second causes can doe otherwise by their nature than they doe wee say that some second causes are by Gods ordinance mutable othersome immutable and that God himselfe can either not doe that which hee doth or else doe it otherwise But now to come to the Manichees who make two coeternall gods we but one They of their two Gods make one good and another euill we say that there is one absolutely good iust God Thirdly they wil haue one of their Gods to bee the cause and worker of good things and the other of euil we make one true God the creatour and ruler of all things and working nothing but that which is most good and most iust Fourthly they say that they which are created by their good God cannot sinne we say that God doth most freely conuert whom hee will and when they are conuerted they can neuer in this life perfectly be free frō sinnes but doe sometimes run into such sinnes as doe grieuously wound the conscience Fiftly they say that they that are created by the euil God simply cannot be conuerted wee say that vncleane spirites and men were created both good and holy but yet they fell by their owne will and fault and not by any fault but the iust permission of the Creatour and brought vpon themselues a necessitie of sinning And although it be true that man cannot withhold himselfe from sinning vnlesse God giue him that grace yet doth he not sin of necessitie that is of compulsiō but willingly And the will hath sufficient libertie if by it selfe or the nature therof it be inclinable to the cōtrary of that which it chooseth and doth of the owne accord choose that which it chooseth although the same liberty bee gouerned and one way limited by God Wherefore I am flat of Anselmus opinion who saith Although Lib. de concor grat lib. arbitr it bee of necessity that those things do come to passe which are foreknowne and predestinated yet some things foreknowne and predestinated doe not come to passe by that necessitie which goeth before a thing and causeth is but by the same necessitie which followeth a thing For God doth not cause although he doth praedestinate them by forcing the will as by resisting it but by leauing them in the power thereof And I am also of Gaudentius his opinion who saith The Iewes Ser. 3. ad Neophy were willing to doe that euill which they did And verily if they had bin vnwilling to doe it they had not done it And it is a grosse sinne but to thinke that God who is not onely good and righteous but also goodnesse and righteousnesse it selfe doth either command or compel any thing to be done which he condemneth when it is done But that I may in a word fully deliuer my opinion if it bee demanded how the will of God carrieth it selfe to good or euill I answere that in a good act God carrieth himselfe positiuely For first he determineth the euent of good by willing effectually to worke it and secondly hee inwardly inclineth the will of the creature to doe that good which it doth Thirdly he sometimes laieth a necessitie of immutabilitie on him that doth well but yet it is ioyned with an exceeding freedome After this sort the elect Angels doe necessarily obey God yet not by constraint but greatly coueting and with all the strength of their will desiring it not being thereunto compelled In an euill act I say that God carrieth himselfe priuatiuely not by a logical but a natural priuation foregoing the habit For first he willeth that euill come to passe not by doing it himselfe but by willing not to hinder it to be done by others Secondly he doth not inwardly incline the will to doe euill but