Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	heaven_n	hell_n	worm_n	1,015	5	11.0094	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A64956	The conversion of the soul, or, A discourse explaining the nature of that conversion which is sincere and directing and perswading all to cease their loving sin and death, and to turn to God and live / by Nathanael Vincent ...	Vincent, Nathanael, 1639?-1697.; White, Robert, 1645-1703.	1688 (1688)	Wing V403; ESTC R38014	195,915	409

But when Sinners have sinn'd away the day of Grace and ended all their days on Earth and by their final Impenitency brought themselves to Hell then the same Chains are clapt on them in which the Reprobate Angelsly fetter'd and Christ will no more save them than these Oh dreadful to lose all hope in Jesus never to be called to come to him more Astonishingly fearful to be in a place where the glad tidings of the Gospel are never heard where the Spirit never strives and where the Redeemer never stretches forth an hand to save 4. They in Hell are deprived of the glory of the new Jerusalem 'T is a mighty loss to lose such a weighty thing as a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory 2 Cor. 4. 17. Suppose a Rich Man worth Millions should break and not be worth a Farthing suppose all the Kings and Emperors breathing should lose their Crowns in one day this would be but a petty Loss compared with the loss of a Crown of Life In Heaven there is such a Crown and the Damned might have had it if they had but valued it but alas that Crown they must never wear In Heaven there is a Kingdom where they in Hell must never reign When they see what they have lose and how foolishly wilfully and for the s●ke of what poor things they lost it how will they be fill'd with Heart●earing vexation and be quite over whelmed with sorrow Luk. 13. 28. There shall be weeping and gnashing of ●eeth when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of Heaven and you your selves thrust out 2. As in Hell there is a Deprivation of good so there is an Infliction of evil pain and torment 1. There is in Hell great torment in the Conscience A wounded Conscience in this World has been found intolerable Spira he signifies that Racks Gibbets Flames of Martyrdom were nothing to what he felt and in a Pang of Despair attempts Self-murthering but being hindred he breaks out into Blasphemy I wish I were above God for I know he will not have Mercy on me here was Hells language in his Mouth and much of Hell-torment in his Heart Judas his Conscience was wounded could he bear it No he becomes his own Executioner with his own hand ends his Life and sends his Soul to his appointed place And yet the torment of Conscience in this World is but the Praludium the beginning of sorrows Every Conscience in Hell will be thoroughly awake and keep it self for ever waking it will be exactly sensible not a Sin that has been Committed all the life-time but will have made a Wound in the Conscience and not a Wound but will be intolerably smarting without hope of any ease Conscience will be in a perpetual Agony in this Agony 't will rage and raging it will reproach the Damned It will tell them of their presumptuous sinning of their rejecting Christ their neglecting great Salvation and how all its cheeking of them was in vain And now 't is incurably wounded it can never be quiet but they shall always find it a tormented a tormenting Fury within th●● 2. There is in Hell not only torment i● th● Conscience but also torment in the Mind and Heart What rueful thoughts will posses● their Minds whatever they think of will be torturing a pleasing a delightful thought can never enter into them more If they think of Sin it will be bitter to consider how they have been deceived and ruin'd by it If they think of their present Misery and the remedilesness of it and that themselves had the greatest hand in bringing themselves into it these thoughts like daggers must needs pierce their Souls If they think of God Oh how will they be troubled how will his Justice Jealousie Fury Holiness Truth irresistible Power and Vnchangableness terrifie them Thoughts on Earth were their Sins and Thoughts in Hell will be their Racks and Sorrows their Hearts will always be brim full of Grief Shame and Confusion of face will add to their Misery when all their wickedness shall be known to all which will make the justness of their Punishment evident And how will they be tormented with Anger at the very heart and Indignation against themselves because though the Devil was their great Enemy yet they themselves were far greater Enemies to themselves than he 3. There will in Hell be torment in Sinners Memories I wish that none of you that hear me this day may in that place of Woe remember the Warning now given you to your Confusion because you would not take it heark what was said Luk. 16. 25. Son remember thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things and Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented Really the remembrance of what he had what he was and what he did on Earth was in Hell very tormenting to this wretched Rich Man. The Damned there will remember their delicious Fare and how sensual and bruitish they were in pleasing of their Appetites they will remember the time they spent in Adorning of themselves taking much Pains to dress and trick the Carkass but no Pains at all to purge the Heart they will remember their Feasts their Mirth their carnal Jollity which quite stupified their Hearts and banished all thoughts and care about another World and Eternity they will remember all the Mercies they enjoyed which they did nothing but abuse to their own harm as well as to the dishonour of that God who gave them Above all they will remember what Pains were taken to have prevented their Destruction The Lord was unwilling they should Perish but Death was that which themselves preferr'd before Life Oh how long did Christ come Sabbath after Sabbath and knock at the door but they would not open How often did the Spirit strive with them to stop them in Hells road and to turn them into the way of Peace but they were stiff-necked and always resisted the Holy Ghost They will remember their Preachers Pains and Prayers and labour and travel of Soul how they lifted up their Voices to awaken them out of their Sin and Security how they intreated them to be reconciled to God and to turn into the safe and blessed Paths of Righteousness but they were Deaf and obstinate nothing would prevail with them and the remembrance of all this will be bitter 〈◊〉 bitter to them 4. In Hell there will be torment in the Body and the Members of it and such as no body ever felt or was capable of bearing here on Earth The Stone the Cholick and the Strangury the greatest Torture that ever the hand of Man inflicted are no more comparable to the Pains of Hell than the smallest Prick of a Pin is to a Dagger that strikes quite through and gives the Heart a deadly Wound The Senses of the Damned shall have that which will be exceedingly afflicting What woful Spectacles will their Eyes behold

had and bought it Matth. 13. 46. 2. When the Soul is Converted the Judgment is rectified The Judgment of the natural Man is wofully perverted He judges aright of nothing he judges amiss of every thing Wo to him he calls evil good and good evil he puts darkness for Light and Light for darkness bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter as the Prophet speaks Isa 5. 20. The Wisdom of God he ealls by the Name of foolishness and the folly of the VVorld he will needs have to be the shrewdest and best sort of wisdom He errs on both hands valuing what is vile and sleighting what is excellent But the Apostle in 1 Cor. 2. 15. telleth us That he that is spiritual judgeth all things yet he himself is judged of no Man. The Convert hath a faculty of spiritual discerning and can pass a right judgment upon things One Angel can see another though the bodily Eye can see neither One that is a Convert having a spiritual faculty of discerning can see the excellency of spiritual things which the natural Man cannot behold And when it is said that the Spiritual Man is judged of no Man the meaning is this that no natural Man is a competent judge concerning him Censure him he may as if he were regardless of and beside himself but really this Censure is without reason Not judging but missjudging this is to be called The Converts judgment is very sound he takes the right ballance even those of the Sanctuary to weigh all things in He compares God and the Creature together the righteousness and strength of Man and the righteousness and strength of Christ together things temporal and things eternal together and weighing these things together the difference between them is apparent He writes Takel upon what is Mammons and upon what is Mans and the weightiest and most excellent things he doth approve as such especially a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory 2 Cor. 4. 17. And as the Converts Judgment is sound so let me tell you it is very grave and serious in propounding what is good unto the Will. It is deliberate in its determination what is good and then with greatest evidence and strength of Reason nay with Demonstration of the Spirit it urges the Soul that this which is so good may be followed and embraced My beloved a Judgment thus rectified and set right it is one of the greatest Blessings from Heaven and comes down from the Father of Lights who manifests himself to be the Father of Mercies in bestowing such a Gift Now the Soul is Light when the Judgment is rectified and the whole Man is under better conduct and this Light proves Armour and Defence against the Works of Darkness Rom. 13. 12 13 14. Let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light Let us walk honestly as in the day not in rioting and drunkenness not in chambering and wantonness not in strife and envying but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof 3. When the Soul is converted the Conscience is made very faithful and very tender The Soul of Man is endued with a Power of Self-reflection it can with a great deal of delight take notice of what of God and what of good is in it self and it can terribly recoyl upon it self and prove a selfpunisher at the commission of what is evil The Conscience of an unconverted Sinner is usually in a dead sleep How many sleepy Consciences are here God awaken them to day Usually the Conscience of an unconverted Sinner is in a dead sleep He takes little or no notice at all of that God that is by him of his Presence of the Purity of his Law and of the Sinners obligation to obey it And Conscience being thus asleep talks in its sleep and what doth it talk in its sleep it doth say Peace and it doth dream of Safety and thus it goes on crying Peace and dreaming of Safety untill suddain destruction doth prove that Peace and that Safety to be nothing else but a meer delusion 1 Thess 5. 3. When men shall say Peace and Safety then suddain destruction cometh upon them as travel upon a woman with Child and they shall not escape But the Convert his Conscience is awakened it is awakened so thoroughly that it keeps more or less awake ever after The Conscience doth understand the Authority that it hath from God. And it doth improve that Authority for God. The Conscience of a Convert doth understand the Authority that it hath from God. The God of Heaven hath allowed the Conscience a Negative Voice To sin contrary to the Light and to the Dictates of Conscience it is to sin with a great Aggravation and it is to incurr great danger 1 Joh. 3. 20. If our hearts condemn us God is greater than our hearts and knows all things Nay supposing that Conscience doth but doubt concerning an Action that Action must not be ventured upon untill Conscience be fully satisfied about it Rom. 14. ult He that doubts of the lawfulness of a Meat is damned if he eats because he eateth not of Faith that is being not fully perswaded of the lawfulness of what he eats he eats not of Faith and that which is not of Faith is sin And as Conscience knows the Authority it hath of God so it doth improve and exercise this Authority that it hath from God for Him. The Converts Conscience urges that the Will of God may be done still tho' it never so much thwarts the inclination and grain of mans it urges that God may be alwayes pleased whoever is offended and herein it does consult the Converts truest Interest The sharper the Sight the clearer the Light the greater the force of Conscience is there will be a departing from evil with the greater fear and care and hatred and there will be a doing of good with the greater diligence exactness and perseverance and all this is for the good of Converts in more Worlds than one Psal 37. 27. Depart from evil and do good and dwell for evermore 4. When the Soul is Converted the Thoughts have not a lawless Liberty allowed them but there is a Conflict with them and great care to govern them well The Mind of Man is a busie and an Active thing thoughts are continually issuing from it as Sparks from a Furnace or Waters from a Fountain and naturally all these are evil Gen. 6. 5. God saw that the wickedness of Man was great upon the Earth and every Imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually When the Soul is converted the nature of the Thoughts is changed vain and sinful thoughts presently become burthensome The Heart is made new and a new heart will have new kind of thoughts The thoughts will be pure and clean if the Heart be sanctified and cleansed Jerusalem did shew her self a Stranger to Conversion

to the Throne of Grace that has the Judgment-seat also in his Eye How will he hear and practise that remembers he must be called to an account how he has done both He will take care to be ready whensoever his Lord calls and that whensoever his Lord comes he may find him doing the Work he set him about and so doing it as He commands 2. The other word of Counsel is this Be sure in time to prepare for Eternal Judgment Do this seriously do it presently and as your main business That you may prepare indeed 1. Be Accusers and Judges of your selves take notice of your Sins with Grief with Hatred and holy Indignation accuse your selves of them before God with self-loathing and self-abhorrency Look down by Faith into the lowest Hell and see the terrible but righteous Severity that is shewn there against obstinate workers of Iniquity then look up to God and judge your selves in his sight acknowledging that you have deserved one of the hottest places in that Lake of Fire Acknowledge he would be clear in the forest judgment he should pronounce upon you and that He would be justified tho you should be damn'd eternally Psal 51. 4. This judging of your selves is the way to prevent Condemnation with the World 1 Cor. 11. 31 32. 2. If you would be prepared for Judgment believe in Jesus that you may be justified before God at present Receive Christ who is offer'd in the Gospel rely upon his Obedience and Sufferings for justifi●ation of life And being justified by Faith you shall ●ave Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 15. 1. Being justified by his Bloud you shall ●e Saved from wrath through him Rom. 5. 9. What does ponere obicem put a Bar before Hell Gate and hinder us from falling into that place of Woe The Cross of Christ that 's the Bar you are to place your Confidence in Christ Crucified If justified by him now he will ratifie the justification at the last day and you shall not be condemned then Rom. 8. 33 34. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is God that justifieth Who is he that Condemneth It is Christ that dyed yea rather that is risen again who is at the Right Hand of God and maketh Intercession for us 3. Would you be prepared for Judgment Repent and be converted let your minds be changed and turn to God with your whole Heart This is the way indeed to stand before him Acts 3. 19. Repent and be converted that your Sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. The Apostle looks as far as the last day Blotting out of Sins is Christ's absolving and acquitting them from all Trespasses The time of refreshing is that great day of compleat and glorious Redemption when all that are Christs shall lift up their Heads with Joy Repent and be converts in Truth if you would have that a day of refreshing and not of confusion Walk after the Flesh no longer but after the Spirit then you need not be afraid of Condemnation your being guided by his Spirit will shew you are in Christ and safe in Him Rom. 8. 1. There is therefore now no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit to be carnally minded is Death but to be Spiritually minded is life and peace USE III. Of Terrour to the ungodly the Hypocrite and the Vnbelievers Christ will judge them all and they may tremble to think what kind of judgment they shall have what sharp and piercing words are those which declare before-hand what will be their Doom Mat. 23. 33. Ye Serpents ye Generation of Vipers how can ye escape the Damnation of Hell That I may if it be possible awaken such I would lay before them these terrifying considerations 1. When they appear at Christ's Bar all their secret wickedness will be made known How many will then be found what they were not in the least suspected Thy secret wantonness and Self-pollutions thy secret injustice and defrauding thy secret abominations of all kinds will then be as visible to every Eye as if written in Capital Letters with the brightest Sun-beam And what sname and confusion will cover the wicked Mans Face they that are impudent and cannot blush now how will they be confounded then The truth is as the Prophet Daniel speaks They will rise to shame and everlasting contempt Dan. 12. 2. 2. At the day of Judgment it will be too late and in vain for the wicked to pray and cry for Mercy they will find the Lord eternally removed from the Throne of Grace and to their Terrour behold him on the Judgment Seat. If the Ungodly roar out then Lord pity Lord pardon Lord send us not away into that flaming Furnace that we see before us it will be altogether in vain But 't is not in vain to cry thus now Oh seek the Lord while he may be found and call ye upon him whilst he is near Isa 55. 6. 3. It will add to the Terrour of the Wicked That the Sentence of Condemnation is pronounced by the Only Saviour The merciful and faithful High Priest that now is so forward to make Reconciliation for Si● that is so ready to give rest to them that labour 〈◊〉 are heavy laden The Man Christ Jesus will have no pity at all no compassion towards the Reprobate Children of Men but deal with them as with the Apostate Angels whose Nature he never took upon him The only Peace-maker will himself be so incensed and full of Wrath as not to be intreated not to be appeased The Sentence of Eternal Death and enduring everlasting Burnings will be confounding but 't will add to the Confusion that a Redeemer does pronounce it 4. After the Judge has pass'd the Sentence Conscience will pronounce it over again and will be a Judge to the Wicked always condemning them Conscience will be filled with unspeakable remorse it will continually be upbraiding them with their madness and folly in keeping their Sins and losing their Souls and will ever be telling them that the Lords ways towards them are equal but their own ways according to which they are judged have been unequal and full of Iniquity Ezek. 18. 29 30. The Conscience of Sinners will side with their Judge against them It will tell the most wretched among the Damned that they cannot complain of God or of the least injury he has done them all that they suffer they suffer justly and what they suffer they have brought upon themselves The horrible and perpetual remorse of Conscience will prove that the Worm never dies that does torment them 5. When Sinners come to be condemn'd at the last day how many things will rise up in judgment against them pray mind this and minding tremble and trembling turn to God this very instant Thousands of Mercies will come and as it were