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
A12099	Five pious and learned discourses 1. A sermon shewing how we ought to behave our selves in Gods house. 2. A sermon preferring holy charity before faith, hope, and knowledge. 3. A treatise shewing that Gods law, now qualified by the Gospel of Christ, is possible, and ought to be fulfilled of us in this life. 4. A treatise of the divine attributes. 5. A treatise shewing the Antichrist not to be yet come. By Robert Shelford of Ringsfield in Suffolk priest.	Shelford, Robert, 1562 or 3-1627.	1635 (1635)	STC 22400; ESTC S117202	172,818	340

Cyprian to which S. Augustine Absit autem ut sanctum Cyprianum aut avarum existimemus fuisse quia cum avaritia aut impudicum quia cum impudicitia aut irae subditum quia cum ira c. confligebat God forbid we should think S. Cyprian covetous because he strove with covetousnesse or unchaste because with unchastitie or subjected to anger ambition carnall delights worldly vanities lust pride and the like because he was therewith hourely molested Imò verò ideo nihil corum erat quia his malis motibus partim de origine partim de consuetudine venientibus fortiter resistebat non acquiescens esse quod eum esse cogebant Yea verily saith he he was none of these because he valiantly resisted these evil motions partly arising from nature partly from custome not yeelding to that they would have compelled him Furthermore if it had been possible for Adam in his puritie to have had these sudden ictus or blows of concupiscence in his soul yet had he not consented without question he should never have been turned out of paradise for not to consent to evil suggestions is so farre from the least demerit that by this means rather merit is highly increased for Ubi maxima pugna ibi maxima est victoria Lastly it may be objected that the very best works of the saints are unclean impure menstruous and mortall sinnes therefore it is impossible for any man to keep the law I answer They that say so cannot in my judgement be excused from extream blasphemie yet seeing it is out of ignorance they may happily obtain pardon as the Jews did that crucified our Saviour as S. Peter told them Can the works and fruits of the holy Ghost be impure Hath Christ purchased to himself nought but a filthy and impure generation which can do nothing but sinne and that mortally How can this but derogate from the grace and wisdome of God from grace in that it cannot purifie the heart from filthines from his wisdome and justice to reward menstruous rags for so they term them with heaven Can he reward sinnes how then shall he judge the world secundum judicium veritatem Now the least addition of evil we know in a good act makes it sinfull because bonum est ex integra causa malum ex quolibet defectu Seventhly King James upon the Lords prayer affirmeth it to be blasphemie to say that any of Christs precepts are impossible because this is to give him the lie who out of his own mouth told us that his yoke is easie and his burden light And his inward disciple S. John saith His commandments are not grievous From whence S. Basil the great averreth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Impious it is to say the precepts of Gods Spirit are impossible S. Augustine likewise thus Nunquam imperaret hoc Deus ut faceremus si impossibile judicaret ut hoc ab homine fieret Si considerans infirmitatem tuam deficis sub praecepto confortare exemplo utpote adest ille qui praebuit exemplum ut praebeat auxilium God would never command us to do this thing if he judged it impossible to be done of man If thou therefore considering thine infirmitie faintest under the precept be comforted by example for he that gave his example is at hand that he may also afford his aid Moreover this holy father abhorreth this doctrine as accursed in the hereticks of his time Execramur eorum blasphemiam qui dicunt impossibile aliquid homini à Deo esse praeceptum Dei mandata non à singulis sed ab omnibus in communi posse servari We detest their blasphemie that affirm God commanded any thing impossible to man and that Gods commandments cannot be kept of any man in particular but of all men taken together which erroneous doctrine is there much faulted Farre be it therefore from us to attribute that impietie to our heavenly Father which we cannot justifie to be in a tyrant or cruell governour Secondly in this doctrine of impossibilitie all exhortations to vertue and comminations against vice must needs be overthrown Cùm nemo ad impossibilia teneatur as the lawgivers have exprest it Thirdly if Gods law must be broken of us necessarily how shall God come to judge the world in righteousnesse and the people with his truth as holy David saith Psalme 96. 13. But this blessed Patriarch was doubtlesse of another minde when he said I will runne the way of thy commandments when thou hast set my heart at libertie I love them above gold and precious stones yea all the day long is my delight in them c. How then can these precepts be insupportable which are so easie lovely and delightfull And although as S. Augustine truely lex jubere novit cui succumbit infirmitas gratia tamen juvare quâ infunditur charitas For the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart good conscience and faith unfeigned And thus S. Leo is most true Justè instat praecepto qui praecurrit auxilio He may command what he will that makes man able to obey and not by enforcing the will but by infusing grace aids and elevates its actions to a higher end So where nature cometh short there grace supplies the defect Gods enemies and the unregenerate cannot possibly fulfill the law because S. Paul saith The naturall man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishnesse unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned But Gods sonnes and servants are able not onely to discern and know them but also to observe and fulfill them because S. John saith Whosoever is born of God sinneth not for his seed remaineth in him neither can he sinne because he is born of God Again Love cometh of God and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God This is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous or heavie To the unregenerate they are very heavy and grievous unsupportable but to sonnes and friends they are easie and light because Gods Spirit comes in to their aid Wherefore get to be friends with God and then you cannot stand out for any aid obtain to be his not in name but in deed and then you shall want nothing that is good O that the world knew how good and rich God is then every one would strive to be toward him for all things work together for the best to them that love him Again in the regenerate there are two men the old and the new the flesh and the spirit According to this we affirm that the old man cannot fulfill Gods law because S. Paul saith I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing Again I see another law in my members warring against the law of my minde and leading me

is thy preacher And to prove this see 1 John 2. 27. where it is written But that anointing which ye have received of him dwelleth in you and ye need not that any teach you but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things c. This anointing is nothing els but Gods Spirit and grace bestowed upon Christians in their Baptisme And of this Spirit and grace speaketh S. Paul 1. Cor. 2. 10. God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God Then if Gods word be true the Spirit of grace which he hath given to his children is another of thy preachers Sixthly thy conscience is thy preacher For assoon as thou hast done any thing amisse or left any thing undone that ought to be done that will by and by tell thee of it Thus Adam and Eves conscience when they had eaten of the forbidden fruit preached unto them that they had offended God and therefore they hid themselves and made them breeches of fig-leaves Who told thee said God that thou wast naked oh his conscience the first preacher had made a sermon unto him So again when David had cut off but a lap of Sauls garment privily his heart smote him for it and told him that he had wronged the Lords anointed And again when he had numbred the people his heart touched him for it Thus every mans conscience is his tutour to teach and govern him not onely after but before he hath done amisse Wouldest thou be thus dealt withall will it say Thou mayst bribe thy preacher with a gift and thou mayst stop the mouth of the parish-priest with a good tithe but nothing will stop the mouth of thy conscience that is a continuall preacher within thee And of this preacher the prophet Isaiah saith further in his 30 chapter vers 21. And thine eares shall heare a word behinde thee saying This is the way walk ye in it when thou turnest to the right hand and when thou turnest to the left This word behinde thee is the word of thy conscience thou canst turn thy self no way but that will speak unto thee If thou goest on thy left hand when thou shouldest go on thy right it will call to thee and tell thee Thou art out of thy way and when thou art in the way if thou goest too much to the right hand or too much to the left it will say to thee with the Preacher in the book of the Preacher Be not thou just overmuch neither make thy self over-wise play not the hypocrite nor the proud fellow for vertue is ever in the midst But how comes thy conscience to preach thus to thee from the law that is written in thine heart by the finger of Gods own hand as S. Paul teacheth Rom. 2. 15. Which shew the effect of the law written in their hearts their conscience bearing witnesse and their thoughts accusing one another or excusing If thou dost ill thy conscience will preach nothing to thee but the Law judgement but if thou dost well then nothing but the Gospel and mercie then thy conscience will be to thee a continuall feast as Solomon saith Besides thy conscience hath another law to inform thee and this is the new covenant of the Gospel spoken of Jer. 31. 33 34. This shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel After those dayes saith the Lord I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour and every man his brother saying Know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest saith the Lord. Is this word of God true then how canst thou complain for want of teaching except thou wilt make Gods word a liar And here you shall further understand that there be two kindes of teaching the one outward the other inward The outward is that which comes from the mouth of man the inward is that which comes from the mouth of the conscience And this inward teaching because it is next to the heart worketh farre more strongly upon it then the outward doth When men had more of this inward teaching and lesse of the outward then was there farre better living for then they lived alwayes in fear of offending and assoon as they had done any thing amisse their conscience by and by gave them a nip and a memento for it Then they confessed their sinnes to God and their Minister for spirituall comfort and counsell then they endeavoured to make the best temporall satisfaction they could by almes prayer and fasting and other good works of humiliation but now outward teaching being not rightly understood hath beaten away this Faith onely justifieth saith the vulgar preacher Then saith the Solifidian and loose liver what need I care how I live no sinne can hurt me so long as I beleeve Thy preacher and thou are both in an errour because Gods word no where teacheth this but the contrary Ye see saith S. James how a man is justified by works and not by faith onely Thou wilt say The Fathers taught this doctrine and our own Church too But how and in what sense to shut out works before faith be come and to acknowledge faith to be the onely beginning in the preparations of our justification but our young preachers and hearers shut up all in faith onely and stay at the beginning and thus verbo tenus they prove but half-Christians Thine own conscience will preach better to thee for that will exclude no vertue and admit no vice And as for thee which art an hearer though thy principles be good yet thy apprehension cannot well digest them because they be somewhat above thy reach Therefore the Church in all ages hath provided that the common people should be content with the common faith as S. Paul calleth it Titus 1. 4. and that deep mysteries should be reserved for the learned who have their wits exercised to discern both good and evil Seventhly good life and conversation of Christians is thy preacher by which very heathens may be wonne and converted to God But you will say How prove you that Turn to 1. Pet. 3. 1. where you shall finde it thus written Let wives be subject to their husbands that even they which obey not the word may without the word be wonne by the conversation of the wives while they behold your pure conversation coupled with fear Here see the force of this preaching when the preaching of the word cannot prevail then men may be wonne by good conversation without the word preached while they behold your pure conversation coupled with fear Good life my brethren is better then a good sermon for that with many goes in at one eare and out at the other but a good life is a sermon in print it

every day twelve measures of floure fourtie sheep and six great pots of wine But eating and drinking are no signes of Gods life which is not supported by means like the life of men and beasts but by its own acting for he is the first mover and the fountain of life to all things living First he moveth himself by begetting his onely Sonne of his own substance and by producing the holy Ghost of the same essence Secondly he moveth his creatures by giving to them life and breath and the order of their wayes according to that of Daniel to Belshazzar And the God in whose hand is thy breath and all thy wayes him hast thou not glorified And because God ever liveth therefore he continually acteth by begetting his Sonne and producing the holy Ghost while he alwaies understandeth himself and alwaies loveth himself And by this acting he continually enlightneth men and angels and enflameth them with love And the image of this continuall motion of God is mans breath and the pulse of his heart but especially his pulse which never ceaseth beating night nor day You may for a time retard and stay breath but by no means you can stay pulse no more may all the devils in hell interrupt the living welfare of Gods saints either in earth or in heaven because the Almighties pulse never leaves beating He is purus continuus actus he alwaies moveth and never ceaseth Therefore the Psalmist saith He that keepeth Israel neither slumbreth nor sleepeth And this life fountain of all lives is that which Philosophers call animam mundi naturam universi according to that of the Poet Spiritus intus alit totósque infusa per artus Mens agitat molem Gods Providence To Gods life allie two other attributes his providence and his power His providence is his foreknowledge by which he provideth for his creatures their ends and the means leading toward them Gods providence is his law by which he governeth his creatures for when he had made all things it was not fit then to leave them to themselves If he should not have made them to some end then he should have lost by his work if he should have provided them an end and no means to go toward it then both he and his creatures should fail wherefore after the creation it is fit that God should execute the law of his providence for the ordering of all things to their ends The end of the inferiour creature is to serve man who is Gods image and the end of man is to serve his Maker for making of him in his own image The order to these ends is to be seen in these three in the order of necessitie in the order of inclination in the order of free-will The order of necessity serves for creatures inanimate which are farthest remote from free-will Of these the Psalmist saith He hath made them an ordinance which none shall passe Thus the fire burneth and the water of necessitie quencheth except for his pleasure he dispenseth with his ordinance The order of inclination instinct is for sensitive creatures because they come nearest to free-will by this the bee gathereth hony and fish serve severall coasts at severall seasons as if they were sent upon a message The order of free-will is for man to which because it is the highest God addeth his speciall grace And by this man travelleth either to his home of happinesse or his home of heavinesse In this order though it be never so free and suggested by a sea of possibilities yet none can outflee Gods providence which the School calleth Fate for that the second cause cannot move out of the first no more then the lower orb can turn above the higher The reason is for that mans will is ordered by contingent objects and God is the commander and orderer of objects and applieth them as he please And thus God by causing a sound to be heard in the eares of Sennacherib of king Tirhakahs coming against him of free-will he brake up his siege against king Hezekiah Thus again by the light of lamps and the sound of trumpets God discomfited the great host of the Midianites Thus also God by leaving the wicked reprobates to their free-wil to grace sufficient and the objects of pleasure covetousnesse and pride for all their free-will power of nature they cannot free themselves from eternall sorrow Lastly thus God by mans free-will by his word and Sacraments and by grace habituall and influent to mans free-will added saveth his faithfull and elect and bringeth them to eternall life And this providence of God concerning mans will thus distinguished first by grace generall to all mankinde added next by meer free-will to which man is left in himself and lastly by grace habituall and effectuall by which onely the godly and elect are moved and governed this I say is answerable to the threefold motion of the heavens the first moving from east to west the next turning contrarie from west to east and the third moving sometimes to the south and sometimes to the north So the first degree of Gods providence moveth all men generally to grace and goodnesse and this is Gods motion onely answering to that of the primum mobile The second contrarie to this is the motion of nature and this is mans onely oppositely crossing God and his grace The third going both waies is the motion of Gods sonnes who are compounded of nature and grace and they move sometime to vertue and goodnesse and sometime to vice and wickednesse Again for the better knowledge of the state of free-will to which many doubts and questions are liable we are to understand that it runneth under two orbs subordinate to Gods providence The first and nearest is the orb of Contingencie the second and more supream is the orb of Fate The orb of Contingencie is decreed of God for the proper element of mans free-will to expatiate in as fishes swim in the water and fowls flie in the aire And were it not for this mans will could not be free but shut up as it were in a prison and so could neither be rewarded nor punished neither move to heaven nor go down to hell no more then the brute beasts which want understanding and the objects of contingencie To shew how man comes to have free-will it shal appeare by these foure particulars First because God hath given to man reason and understanding by which his will is not bound to one object but hath libertie to make a free choice among many Secondly because it hath an orb of contingencies or possibilities to elect in Thirdly whereas God hath made mans will in his own image by which it is capable of a spirituall good or a spirituall evil in this respect God hath given freedome to it by giving it a conscience wherein the rules of nature are written either to excuse it if it do well or to accuse it if