Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	heart_n	pure_a	unfeigned_a	1,824	5	10.8138	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45500	The right way of seeking God a sermon preach'd at Great Yarmouth on the 11th of May, 1692, being the day of the monthly fast / by James Hannott ...	Hannott, James.	1692 (1692)	Wing H659A; ESTC R40939	23,535	40

what you have received And for your Direction as to the whole 1. Be convinced that your duty lies in these things that they are not things indifferent but indispensibly incumbent upon you If any thing be necessary for us to attend unto the things here propos'd to us are so To make light and little account of them is to cashier all practical Obedience for what remains to be done by you if doing justly and shewing mercy and walking humbly with God be not your duty Yea these are the great and weighty duties of the Gospel that claim our primary regard and attendance to them And yet how many professing the Christian Religion act as if Christianity were nothing at all concern'd therein which is and ought to be for a Lamentation Persons that are unjust and unmerciful to men and disobedient to God and that oftentimes without finding any Remorse or Regret in themselves whose Religion has nothing of substance in it but lies in some speculative notions only which they have taken up these have a form of Godliness but deny the power thereof from such they that would walk with God in a course of Obedience must turn away 2. Make sure of a Being in Christ by Faith that in him you may hear and bring forth this fruit unto God such an Interest in and Union with the Lord Jesus by a Faith that is of the Operation of God is absolutely necessary to a right discharge of any and every duty For tho' some of the things that God requires may be done as to the external part and what is so done may be materially good without any such special Grace received and exerted in the doing of them yet are they formally defective as not proceeding from a pure Heart and a good Conscience and Faith unfeigned which are the declared Principles necessary to constitute and denominate an action Evangelically good Humane Nature indeed refin'd from the more dreggy and sensual part of it by Precepts of Morality may raise it self to a practice of That that is purely moral in these things So some of the Heathens have not only been strictly just but largely beneficent and have done much good both in their publick capacities and private stations But in as much as our Evangelical Walking and Conversing with God is concern'd in these actions that they be done thro' a Divine Strength and directed to the Glory of God this the Mind of Man is altogether ignorant of whilst estranged from the Light and Power of that Faith whereby we come to be in Christ and to be one with him For as it is thro his Mediation only that we are and can be accepted in any good we do so there is a Divine Grace communicated from him to us that alone can strengthen us to do and persevere in the doing these things and also direct our hearts to intend the Glory of God therein And which is that Qualification that specificates duties of Evangelical Obedience from acts of Moral Virtue Thus the fruit ever answers the species and kind of the Tree it grows upon is corrupt or good according as that is and nothing less than such a supernatural Grace receiv'd in Union with Christ is sufficient to make this Evil Tree good so to alter the Corrupt Nature of Man to dethrone the Dominion of Sin and to bring the Soul under the power of a Principle of Righteousness and Holiness whereby it becomes disposed sanctified and meet for the Master's use and prepared unto every good work Then think it not enough that you are Christians by Name by an outward Baptism and visible Profession but make sure of a real spiritual In-being in Jesus Christ in whom only it is that we can do any thing that is good so as to be accepted with God in it and without whom we can do nothing that is a bringing forth fruit unto God 3. Possess your selves with as lively apprehensions as you can get of the worth and excellency of the things God requires of you And these to do justly to love mercy and to walk humbly with God are all of them things that have a real and transcendent worth in them such things as do approve themselves to be Good and excellent to an enlightened mind and a well-disposed heart They are such things wherein the Perfection of our Nature as it lies in a conformity to God and subjection to him does consist They are also Lovely in the Eyes of others and things of good Report that cause Religion to be well spoken of None but the debaucht and such whose Consciences are sear'd as with a hot Iron will open their mouths against them to all others that have any sense of Humanity and Conscience left they commend themselves as things that are good and excellent worthy to be practis'd and imitated by others Having such a lively apprehension of the worth of these things we shall not look upon them as a task and imposition upon us but do them with delight as things that are most suitable and agreeable to us 4. Read study and in all things consult the Word of God to regulate your doings to God and dealings with Men. This written Word is the Revealed Will of God This shews us all things we are commanded and all we are forbidden This Word is able to make the Man of God perfect throughly furnish'd unto all good works And what can more commend it to us to be the Book of our daily Converse and Meditation I don't wonder that David speaks so much in the praise and commendation of it when he declares it was a Lamp unto his feet and a Light unto his path Whether it were night or day with him whatever state of Life he pass'd through the Word of God was his Rule his Counsellor that never fail'd him and never misled him How much is it then our wisdom to have a constant Regard to this Word to see that warranting our actions guiding us in our difficulties and reclaiming us when we go astray Such is the promise for our direction consulting with the Word and seeking God to enable us by his Spirit to understand it Isa 30.21 Thine Ears shall hear a word behind thee saying This is the way walk ye in it when ye turn to the right hand and when ye turn to the left 5. Awe your hearts with the Authority of God in his Commands when Temptations would bribe your Affections to turn out of the path of Duty We need something to check those inclinations there are in us to comply with Temptations which those that are ingag'd in a course of Obedience are wont to meet with And nothing so effectual to that purpose as to consider that the Lord who hath shewed us where our duty lies has also Requir'd that we should walk therein That his Precepts are not only Counsels but Commands which we cannot violate without being guilty of a high Contempt of God and exposing our selves to his displeasure If the Charge of an Earthly Superiour has so mnch force as to restrain Men from those things that their Natural Appetites incline them to as the Rechabites who would not drink Wine because their Father had commanded them to forbear how much more should the Command of the Great God of Heaven and Earth influence us to a vigorous Resistance of all those Temptations that would divert us from our Duty to Him 'T is enough to oppose and silence any Temptation when we are in the way of our Duty to charge our selves with this that God has commanded us to keep his Precepts diligently 6. And lastly Take heed and beware of Covetousness which is that Evil in the heart from whence Temptations ordinarily do proceed or which they strive to work upon to turn us aside from doing justly loving mercy and walking humbly with God Whosoever indulges this Evil in himself and is govern'd more by a worldly Interest than the Concernments of God's Glory his own present Peace and Eternal Happiness will often halt in the practice of these things Opportunities to be unjust and unmerciful when they present will inflame his Lust and cause him to break with God Pray that God would mortifie this Evil in your heart Arm your self with all the considerations of the vanity and insufficiency that there is in the greatest worldly affluence to make you happy and especially think often of that mortifying Question that our Lord and Saviour has put to us Matth. 16.26 What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole World and lose his own Soul Or what shall a man give in exchange for his Soul No gains of Unrighteousness can countervail the loss of the Soul Wherefore knowing the terrour of the Lord let us take heed that we be not overcome by this Secret Evil in our own bosom Mortifie the Love of the World in you and set up the Love of God as the Ruling and Governing Principle in all your actions THE END ver 2. ver 4. ver 5. ●●ek 18.29 ●●r 6. ver 7. Jer. 32.35 Rom. 12.1 * Owen on the Spirit p. 331. Rom. 6.23 Gal. 2.16 Heb. 7 22. 1 Cor. 5.21 Heb. 9.26 ●om 14.9 Heb. 10.4 Quod pro vitâ bominis nisrvitd bominis reddatur nonposse aliter Deorum Inmortalium numen plat● arbitrantur ●erse 3. ● 〈…〉 〈…〉 4. ver 16 77. ver 18 19 20. 2● 〈…〉 11. 〈…〉 3. There are in these ver 14. ●xpressions a●ainst formality Burr on Hose ver 14 Assem A●not Patrick's Epit. pag. 527. ver 28 〈…〉 30. 〈…〉 31. 〈…〉 32 〈…〉 34. 〈…〉 11. Ps 119.165 1. Tim. 4.8 Ps 4.6 Jam. 4.12 ●s 12.4 Exod. 5.2 Cor. 6.9.20 ●●s 84.11 ●ohn 8.12 Jam. 5.17 Luk. 12.47 Gal. 6.7 ver 6.7 v. 10. v. 11. 1 Joh. 3.7 Luk. 20.25 Rom. 13.7 Exod. 34. Mat. 25.24 ad sin Jam. 4.6 Isa 57.19 1 Per. 5.5 1 Cor. 4.7 1 Tim. 3.5 1 Tim. 1.5 Mat. 7.17 2 Tim. 2.21 Joh. 15.5 1 Tim. 4.2 2 Tim. 3.17 Psal 119.105 ●er 35.14 ●●l 119.5 2 Cor. 5.11

frequent experiences of his goodness and yet has greater things in reserve to bestow what is it that he requires of thee as a grateful return for all these benefits but that thou do justly and love mercy and walk humbly with thy God consider then who it is that requires these things of you and how reasonable and equitable is it that we should answer His requirements in the most punctual manner Especially if we add 3. The last consideration that the Lord who hath required these things hath shewed and made known the same has promulg'd and declared his will very plainly and expressly in these things to the understanding and capacity of all persons He hath shewed thee Oh man what is good and what the Lord doth require of thee He requires nothing of thee but what He has shewed thee These things are common to man as man and therefore requir'd of every man He has spoke them to thy ear he has made them visible to thy Eye they are such things as do approve themselves to thy Rational Faculties These are not Mysteries but plain discoveries of the mind and will of God He has set thy duty in a clear light which whosoever attends unto may attain to the understanding of it He hath shewed thee Oh man Partly by the Light of Nature that some of these things at least as to do justly and to Love mercy are pleasing and acceptable to him He has ingrav'd them upon thy very Heart so that reflecting upon the Original principles of thy Nature and by conversing with thy self asking thy Conscience questions and harkning to the Answers and dictates of it this thou mayst know and understand that to do justly is good and injustice is evil to love mercy is pleasing to God and the contrary to it as displeasing to him Did the Heathens of old and do they still at this day know it and art thou a stranger to it Read what is said of them Rom. 2.14 15. the Gentiles which have not the written Law do by nature the things contained in the law these having not the Law are a law unto themselves which shews the work of the Law written in their hearts But principally He hath shewed it thee by the light of his Word that contains a more explicite and full Revelation of man's duty All the lines of it are there drawn at length all the particulars of it clearly stated If thou goest to the Law and to the Testimony thou may'st have a sufficient direction how to act in all thy concerns how to order thy steps in every path what it is God requires of thee every day in every place and in every condition what thy duty towards God and what thy duty towards man is And what cause have we to adore the goodness of God that has furnish'd us with such a clear light to direct us in our walking with him that we have not only a Law light but a Gospel-light that shines so brightly Jesus Christ is come a light into the World He hath reveal'd God unto us He is the way the truth and the life that both by his Preaching and by his Example has opened the mind of God to us and He that followeth Him shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life And because God hath shewed it unto thee thou art inexcusable oh man who livest in the neglect or contempt of these requirements of His. Thou canst not plead ignorance or say when thou dost an unjust action that thou didst not know better or be unmerciful and say thou didst not know it to be a fault or be proud and disobedient against God and ask what evil there is in 't oh take heed that thou dost not sin against Light and Knowledge for to him that knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is sin sin with an aggravation that will be attended with a sorer punishment on them that are guilty of it even to be beaten with many stripes So much for the confirmation of the Doctrine that which follows is The APPLICATION 1. This Doctrine yields at all times a useful but on this day a very seasonable caution to us to take heed that we rest not in mere outward duties of Worship as if that were all that God required and as it is to be feared many persons do to the deceiving of themselves They are very exact very frequent and very punctual in these things but guilty of a woful neglect of the moral duties of Religion and so are but partial and consequently unsincere in their obedience Let us take heed that we deceive not our selves in the same way If we halve it with God in the matter of our duty He will cut us short in the matter of his mercy What if such a Religion should obtain a temporal reward 't is insufficient to evidence a real interest in the saving love of God There is no doubt but God has requir'd these things of us All the true methods means and ways of Worship are of God's appointment Praying and Hearing and Fasting are his Ordinances but he never intended that we should rest in these and go no further To do this and no more to attend unto these and neglect other things is a Badge of loathsom Hypocrisie in the sight of God and branded in Scripture as the guise of an unsound Heart Hypocrites and unsound Professors know they must do something in Religion Something they would do to appease God when He is Angry something to continue His favour when Providence is easie and comfortable to them something to keep up a Credit and Reputation with others for Religion and something to quiet the importunities of their own Conscience but then they resolve to do as little as they can and because a slight and heedless performance of the Worship of God is the easiest part of Religion and most consistent with their unmortified lusts they pitch upon this course 'T is indeed much easier to confess a hundred sins than to forsake one 't is easier to spend a whole day in publick Worship than to deny the enticement of a Lust or to withstand a Temptation when it opportunely presents because the one is only the labour of the body the other requires the exercise of the Soul the one may be a weariness to the Flesh but the other is cross and opposite to the beloved interests of it and carnal Hearts may make shift to brook the one tho' they cannot bear the other A little outward Pennance and Mortification of the body they can undergo but a true Repentance of sin that consists in deserting the practice and mortifying the principle of sin is utterly distasteful to them Oh then as we would acquit our selves of the charge and guilt of Hypocrisie let us take heed of resting in the outward duties of Worship Tho' your Eyes be lifted up to Heaven if your affections be fix'd upon Earthly objects tho you bow