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	love_n	unfeigned_a	1,422	5	11.0683	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A08025	Iacob's ladder consisting of fifteene degrees or ascents to the knowledge of God by the consideration of his creatures and attributes.; De ascensione mentis in Deum per scalas rerum creatorum opusculum. English	Bellarmino, Roberto Francesco Romolo, Saint, 1542-1621.; Isaacson, Henry, 1581-1654, attributed name.; H. I., fl. 1638.; Marshall, William, fl. 1617-1650, engraver.	1638 (1638)	STC 1839.5; ESTC S122555	138,468	472

a resemblance with GOD his Creator that I know not whether a Man may ascend with more facility to the knowledge of GOD any other way then by the consideration of his owne soule And therefore man is inexcusable if he have not knowledge of him seeing he may attaine to it Gods grace assisting without difficulty by knowing his owne soule First then Mans soule is a spirit for so doe the holy Fathers expound those words in Genesis And the LORD formed Man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nosthrils the breath of life and Man became a living soule and that of Tobias Command my spirit to be taken from me and that of the Preacher Then shall the dust returne to the earth as it was and the spirit shall returne to GOD that gave it For although the word spirit agreeth to the wind also of which it is said in the Gospel Spiritus spirat ubi vult The wind bloweth where it listeth and in the Psalmes Spiritus procellarum as S. Ierome Wind and storme as our translation yet without doubt that spirit the wind is a most thinne body which for its great subtilty and raritie doth more imitate and resemble the spirituall nature then any other body But the soule of man is properly a spirit not a body neither is it produced or made of any matter but is immediately created by GOD. And here begins the excellencie of the soule in the resemblance to GOD for GOD is a spirit as our Saviour saith and they which worship him must worship him in spirit and truth But though GOD be a spirit and mans soule be a spirit also yet GOD is a spirit uncreated and the Creator and mans but a spirit created by which it followes that there is a great disproportion betweene the spirit which is the soule and the spirit which is GOD. And in this respect how greatly may the soule rejoyce that it is in the kind of a spirituall substance and so of a higher and more noble nature then heaven or the Starres and againe it should be the more humble and obedient to GOD because it was made of nothing and of it selfe is nothing Againe the soule of man because it is a simple spirit is also immortall for it hath nothing in it from whence it may be divided or severed And in this regard how much may it boast above the soules of bruit animals which die with their bodies and so behold and admire the great excellencie of the creator who is not onely immortall but everlasting For the soule of man sometime was not and came to a being by the onely will of GOD and by the will of the same GOD may againe be reduced to nothing although in it selfe it have no beginning of corruption therfore truly said the Apostle of GOD Who onely hath immortality for he onely cannot be dissolved neither by force chance or ought else because it is his property to be he is life it selfe and the fountaine of being and life Thirdly mans soule is endued with the light of understanding for it is not onely able to know and distinguish of colours tasts smells and sounds heate cold hard soft and other things of the like kind which are plaine to the sences of the body but is able to judge of substantialls and of things singular and universall and knoweth not onely things present but can conjecture at things to come transcends the heavens dives into the deep searches effects from causes and from effects hath recourse to causes Lastly by the eye of the mind it comes to the knowledge of GOD himselfe which dwelleth in inaccessible light and this is the light of which Saint John speakes This was the true light which enlightneth every man that cometh into the World which David calls the light of Gods countenance Of the light of the understanding the same Kingly Prophet saith Be ye not like to horse and mule who have no understanding Certainely this is a great priviledge and dignity of the soule by which man becomes like to GOD and unlike the beasts and by this a man may also conjecture of the excellent sublimity of his cre●●●● for though the soule of man be endued with this light of understanding yet GOD is the light and understanding The so●l● as is said runnes from causes to effects and againe from effects to causes and therby hunts as it were with great labour to attain this knowledge but GOD with one aspect and at the first sight knoweth all things The soule understandeth those things which are so that his knowledge depends upon things GOD by his understanding bringeth to passe that things are so that the existence or being of things depends upon his knowledge The soule doth but conjecture of things to come GOD beholds all things past and to come as perspicuously and plainely as if they were present The soule wants many things to exercise the office of its understanding as the object forme fancie and the like GOD wants nothing for essence it selfe is his all things even his owne essence is his understanding Lastly the soule whi●e it is in the body neither seeth GOD the Angels nor it selfe nor any substance though corporeall properly and is deceived in many things is ignorant in many of many things he hath but an opinion and of few things the true knowledge but GOD is ignorant of nothing thinks nothing is never deceived never erreth All things are naked and opened c. Therefore if Man hath such an opinion and esteemeth so much of his knowledge as that according to the Apostle his knowledge puffe him up how much ought he to admire the knowledge of his Creator to whose if mans be compared it is no knowledge but ignorance There is also another kind of knowledge in the soule of Man which consists not in speculation but in action from whence it cometh that there are so many Bookes of Philosophers which treat if vices and vertues so many Lawes of Princes Lawyers and others so many institutions to acquire the art of living well In which appe●●eth mans admirable light of reason by which alone he differs farre from beasts in excellencie but all this is nothing to the eternall Law which is powerfull in the mind of the Creator from whence as from a most plentifull fountaine all other Lawes flow and are derived for there is one Law giver and Iudge which is GOD as St. Iames tells us He is Truth Justice and Wisedome By whom Kings raigne and Princes decree Iustice So that we shall never find out the Art of living well and happily till we come to the Schoole of CHRIST who is the true and onely Master by whose word and example we shall learne that righteousnesse which exceeds the righteousnes of the Scribes and Pharisees yea and of Philosophers too whose end is love out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and

of Faith unfained Againe the soule of Man hath a third kind of knowledge which consisteth in artificiall manufactures you will say that other creatures have the like faculty as the Spider in weaving her web Birds in making nests and Bees hony and combs and Foxes their deunes for houses but it may be answered that these creatures by the instinct of nature make them and those they make are but of one and the same fashion but mans soule endued with reason and judgement invents many Arts by which he hath dominion over other creatures will they nill they for neither doe the wings of a Bird helpe her nor the depth of waters availe the fish nor s●rength profit the Lion or Beare nor wildnesse preserve the Horse or M●le nor swiftnesse advantage the Hart and Goate for we see even little Children catch Birds with nets s●ares and lime-twigges and Fishermen take Fish with net● Hunters by wit and art take Lions and Beares leading them about the Countrey Bores and Deere either taken with stalls or slain with bowes and speares Horses and M●les made gentle with the bit and subject to the service of Man What shall I say of the Art of navigation what light of wit shined in the soule of Man when he invented and taught great Ships and heavily ●aden to cut the Seas not onely Boats and Galleys to runne with ●ares as it were with feet but great vessels to ●ly as it were through the vast Seas with their sailes as with wings What shall I further say of husbandry who wonders not at the severall inventions of Man if he seriously consider after what manner the earth is tilled vines dressed orchards planted gardens trimmed ponds for fish aqueducts to service gardens fields and cities What may be said of architecture in stately Palaces Temples Cities Towers Amphitheaters Pyramides and Obeliskes To omit the excellent Arts of painting and graving by which as by another History things are so expressed to the life as though they were not painted or graved but living things indeed Leaving all other Arts either for pleasure or necessity let us give humble and hearty thankes to GOD that hath made so great difference betweene the nature of Man and other living creatures and withall let us lift up the eyes of our minds to the same GOD Creator of all things in whom is the true fountaine of wit and invention for from him flowes whatsoever is derived to our nature And if we admire the wit of man in that he hath learned by industry and art to tame and have dominion over other creatures which want reason then let us admire the wisedome of GOD to whom all things are obedient and subject not onely things that have but those which want life And if it seeme so great a thing to us that the wit of Man hath found out the Arts of navigation tillage and architecture why should it not rather seeme greater to us that the wisedome of GOD hath made the fabrique of the universe the heavens ●●rth sea and all things in them and by his power and providence governeth and preserveth them all Lastly if we admire the Arts of painting and graving after the life why wonder we not at the art of the Creator which of the earth made a true and living Man and of the rib of that Man a true and living Woman especially if we take this into our consideration that the things which are made by man cannot be done without Gods cooperating and those which GOD doth are done by his owne power without the helpe of any other Sixthly mans soule is endued with free will onely common to him with GOD and the Angels and wherein he differeth farre from other things created This is a great priviledge and honour yet the liberty and will of GOD the Creator so farre transcends that of mans that if they be compared together mans will is scarse a shadow of Gods For first the liberty even of a regenerate Mans will is weake and prone and facile to choose evill things and hurtfull to him the liberty of Gods will is most strong that it cannot faile or encline at all to that which is evill for as it is the infir●ity of a mortallbody that it is subject to dye and the soundnesse of a glorified body that it cannot dye so also it is the weaknesse of free-will to be in subjection to sinning and perfection or strength not to be able to sinne which will come to passe when GOD in our celestiall Countrey shall conferre this power upon us by grace which he alwaies hath by nature Againe our free-will is free indeed so that it can will and not will or to will and nill but it is not able to doe what it wills you may heare the Apopostle lamenting his case in this very point I doe not the good thing which I would but the evill which I would not that doe I. And is not this every mans case I will and desire to pray attentively and seriously to GOD and I command my imagination not to wander while I am at my prayers nor to draw me to any other cogitations yet I cannot containe it in its duty for while I am lesse sollicitous of this I finde my selfe abused by my imagination and instead of praying I fall into other thoughts Againe I will not to covet and not to be angry without reason and I command by my will the irascible and concupiscible faculty which is in me should be by right subject to reason to submit them selves wholly to reason and not suffer themselves to be seduced by any senses of the body but I am oftentimes not obeyed neither is that done which I will but what I will not But that which is admirable and miserable the mind commands the body and presently it obeys but the mind commands it selfe and is disobedient from whence comes this merveilous thing to passe saith St. Augustine The mind commands that the hand move and it doth it with such facility that the distance betweene the execution and the command is hardly perceived and the mind is and the hand is the body The mind commands that the mind would doe somewhat yet though it be the same it doth it not but it wills not wholly therefore commands not fully It is not then a monster but a sicknesse of the mind because it riseth not wholly levated or lifted up by the truth being over burdened before by custome But the freedome of the will of GOD is so joyned to full and absolute power as that it is said of it He doth whatsoever he will and There is none that resist thy will Wherefore if thou be wise boast not too much of the strength of thy free-will untill thou comest to the glorions liberty of the Sonnes of GOD when the heavenly Physicion shall heale all thine infirmities and satisfie thee with good things In the meane time pray daily and fervently