Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A25469
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The life and funeral sermon of the Reverend Mr. Thomas Brand Dr. Samuel Annesley.
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Annesley, Samuel, 1620?-1696.
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1692
(1692)
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Wing A3230; ESTC R16341
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41,890
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202
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'll begin with a word of Information But I fear the Belialists will call it a Use of Consolation That Mr. Brand is dead What was said of the two Witnesses may in its measure be said of him Rev. 11.10 They that dwell upon the Earth shall rejoice over them and make merry and shall send gifts one to another because these two Prophets tormented them that dwelt upon the Earth We shall never be troubled with his Zeal more we were uneasie whenever we came where he was tho' he said nothing to us we were in fear he would awaken our sleeping Consciences and make them fall upon us that we should have much ado to quiet them but now he will never disturb us more I will not stay with these only leave one word with them That though they would not hear it from him yet unless by some other hand they take the Counsel he did or would have given them viz. To turn from sin to God they will never go whither he is gone But the little Application I intend shall be to those who will receive it I. To my Brethren therefore let me address my self And seeing God by his Providence hath singled out the meanest amongst you to be your Remembrancer do not slight the Message for the Messenger's sake but receive it for its moment's sake God speaks to you by shall I call it a visible voice and should we not answer as Paul did to Christ upon his first powerful speaking to him Acts 9.6 Lord what wilt thou have us to do 1. Reflect upon what you have heard and seen of Mr. Brand. This will requite your second thoughts the most sedate thoughts and till they present you with a better Method make use of this viz. Withdraw your selves as you do for secret Devotion and there with awful Apprehensions of God's special Presence thus or in a more transporting manner bespeak your own Souls O my Soul here 's an Employment worthy of thy self Here a Minister of Christ indeed Isa 42.2 Here 's one that made no noise in the World but did his Master's work in his Master's way Here 's one whose Body and Soul and Estate and Interest were all vigorously laid out for Christ Is not this Example worthy thy Imitation shall no more use be made of this then of a Squib to be thrown away for a blaze and a noise and there 's an end of it or to use a better Metaphor shall it be only looked upon as a Prodigy to be talkt of for a while and nothing more No my Soul God requires another kind of Improvement God's giving me notice of such a Person is a Talent I must account for Brethren are you in good earnest will you do thus much If so I am sure your Consciences will not be quiet till you do more 2. Put down in writing what in his Life your Consciences charge upon you to be your Duty to imitate I 'll suppose you now in the Secrets of God's presence wholly taken up with such as more spiritual Soliloquies This and that he did which I do not This and that he did otherwise than I do I cannot but say 'T is my Duty as much as his to fulfil my Ministry where he had gracious Ability to discharge his Office I may have the like to discharge mine I 'll therefore put down my present Sentiments of these things and lay them by for further Meditation and Prayer 3. Every day review what you have written do it with Meditation and Prayer Where you left it the day before endeavour to take it up with the same or greater Sense of being concern'd for the Souls of those to whom God sends you he hath done much it cannot be denied but what hath been done may be done Here 's one gave up himself more entirely to God and to do good than I have yet done What though his worldly Estate was better than mine shall I therefore imitate him in nothing What! do nothing more than I did before Think of it and pray over it again and lay it by again till it be ripe for a Resolution 4. Take it up again and read it over and pray it over and think it over with substracting adding altering as upon the most mature deliberation the Matter requires and then bring it to a serious humble and temporary Resolution and whether you will bring that Resolution under another refining I submit it to you but when it hath come under your last hand mould it into a Cautious Self-dying Temporary Vow You know my Brethren better than I that well composed Vows are extraordinarily helpful for the doing of extraordinary Service and they are ordinarily blessed with more than ordinary Success but the Success depends much upon the manner of their composition I have named three Qualifications which must be inseparable namely Cautious for rash Vows involve the Soul in dreadful Perplexities that many gracious Persons never extricate themselves while they live And they must not only be Cautious but Self-denying I think I may say 't is universally true without so much as one exception that a Self confident Vow is always broken What we undertake in our own strength God not only in Justice but in Mercy shews us our folly the more we live at a Dependance upon God in every thing in a way of Duty not of Sloth the more infallible is our Success Add one Qualification more and that is Temporary not perpetual mistake me not I am not speaking of Baptismal Vows or of those that make up as it were the Substantials of Religion but of prudential Vows that help us to the better performance of some special Duties it is superfluous to speak here against Popish Vows the word Temporary excludes them and well may they be excluded who exclude all but themselves from being religious they call all their own Clergy Secular i. e. worldly that are not under some of their perpetual Vows to them they appropriate the Title of Regular and count their Votaries the only Religious among them but all I aim at is this Many whose hearts are set for God whose Judgments are newly informed whose affections are warmly engaged and whose Consciences are tenderly convinced that they must do their utmost to get assurance of their own Salvation and then their utmost to promore the Salvation of others and they would fain have the same Impression abide upon their Spirits without any abatement and therefore they bind themselves to such Severities of Religion that the Change of Providence render impracticable and so what they intended to be a furtherance proves a hindrance of the end they designed Therefore let your Vow be Temporary and do by it as you do by a Lease near its expiration renew it again with what alteration of Circumstances is necessary without any abatement of the substance of your vow My Brethren I pretend not to teach you this is all I aim at I beg of you to do
under rates And he gave not only the Writings of Non-Conformists but of Conformists namely Pink's Tryal of Sincere Love to Christ Caley of Eternity Wade of Redemption of Time Dent's Plain-man's Path-way to Heaven Scudder's Daily-walk Reiner's Precepts c. But he gave Books of greater price As the Books of Martyrs in Three Volumes Charnock's Works in Two Volumes several Annotators on the Bible several Commentators on the Holy Scriptures several necessary Libraries to young Students and Candidates for the Ministry There was no place where he came and he was providentially drawn or driven into many Counties but he stored the Houses of all that would accept of his kindness with Books of Devotion I know not whether ever he gave away any one Book of Controversie unless it were Pool's Nullity of the Roman Faith and his Dialogue between a Popish Priest and an English Protestant He was always for Promoting down right Practical Godliness But above all his Stratagems to disperse goods Books I cannot but prefer his Device for the spreading of the Bible I cannot say how many hundreds if not thousands he gave away But he found this would not reach his end many would rather be without Bibles than put him upon the Charge of giving them Therefore he took this course which succeeded to his heart's desire by himself or Friends he sold Bibles at Eighteen Pence a Bible to all that desired them for themselves or their Children or Servants provided not to sell them again And by this means very many who refus'd them gratis Catcht at them at this under rate whereby they were furnished with Bibles and something returned towards the buying of more and this is the only trade he ever drove with Books He saw comfortable Fruits of his Liberality in giving Books some were converted more were edified by this spiritual Charity though he did not confine these Gifts to the Poor but gave also to the Rich both Bibles and other Books which he had extraordinarily bound that they might be the more generally accepted and he contrived such Books to such Persons that he was seldom disappointed of Success though sometimes he was to give one instance He once gave Wade's Treatise of the Redemption of Time curiously bound to a young Minister who at first received it kindly but when he began to read it he finding Mr. Baxter quoted in it he hastily returned it not enduring to read any thing that Mr. Baxter had written But I 'll close the Narrative of his giving Books with this Story Some Years since when the times were more hazardous to Dissenters A. N. C. Minister of his acquaintance being unavoidably necessitated to undertake a Journey of above Two hundred Miles in length when he could not at any reasonable rates get any Lawyer or other to go with him to advise him in the Difficulties he foresaw he should meet with Mr. Brand surprizingly offered what could not be impudently askt charitably to go with him and give him his best assistance 'T was not then safe to be known to be a Dissenting Minister he therefore concealed himself though his Friend must venture being known in the Place whither he went but carried down a considerable quantity of Catechisms and good Books in the Coach with him And in every Inn where he lodged or but baited at Noon he would not be many Minutes there before 't was so familiar to him to insinuate something for the good of Souls he would be fishing out whether any was and who was capable and pliable to receive Instruction and if he found any he would presently fasten upon their Consciences given them Counsel and Catechisms or other Books according as their case required At one place a Servant was so affected as to go after him the Town being scituate upon an Hill while he walked down hill before he went into the Coach begging to be taken with him to London having never heard so much about Soul-concerns before nor ever expecting the like again unless this request were granted He promised to call there at his return but the Coach-man without his knowledge went back another way At another Inn when he met with a Youth that he found capable he gave him a Catechism and promised if he would learn it by his return which would be about a week he would give him five Shillings which he did and had his reward At another Inn where he met with a School-master he perswaded and encouraged him to season his Scholars with the knowledge of those things whereby they might be saved The Stock of Books he carried down did not hold out all his Journey but he sent down upon his return up at once as many as cost above eight Pounds At one Inn where he gave Books in his going down some of them fell into those hands who way-laid his coming up at the time he said he should return that they might clap him in Prison for spreading of Seditious Books that is the Character they put upon Mr. Baxter's Call to the Vnconverted of which there hath been printed as some guess a Hundred Thousand so generally acceptable and profitable hath it been 't is impossible for me to tell you how many have been Converted by it but here I must not conceal the chief Contrivance was against the Minister he accompanied and their Design against him failing a design more full of base Ingratitude and Treachery than ever any you heard of but that is foreign to this account they contrived this design against Mr. Brand but God disappointed them in this also for the Night before they were to set out to return one of the Coach-Horses fell so lame not known how that in the Morning he could hardly be led to watering and so continued two or three days till they were weary of waiting for his return so that he past the place unmolested Thus Eâ— 8 31. the Hand of God was upon him to deliver him from the hand of his Enemies and of such as laid wait by the way God delivered him without his knowing that he needed any such deliverance I know not whether ever he knew of the main Contrivance for that lay undiscovered several Years till the chief Contriver revealed it under horror of Conscience for that and other unsuspected Abominations only this was at present plainly remarkable that a Horse should be suddainly so lame as scarce to bear being dragg'd to watering and suddainly so well as to go above Two hundred Miles without halting One as soon as he came into his Inn where they intended to have seized upon him askt him Why he came not the day in the former week as he mentioned in his going down and another dropt it afterwards that if he had come then some were ready to apprehend him for the Books he gave away Should I add more instances 't would be more than need I 'll therefore mention some of his Infirmities which may serve as a Shadow to his ill drawn