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
A79474	The man of honour, described in a sermon, preached before the Lords of Parliament, in the Abbey Church at Westminster, March 26. 1645. The solemn day of the publique monethly-fast. / By Francis Cheynell, minister of Gods Word. Die Jovis, 27. Martii, 1645. It is this day ordered by the Lords in Parliament, that this House doth hereby give thanks to Master Cheynell for his great pains, taken in the sermon, he preached on the 26. of this instant March, in the Abbey Church Westminster, before the Lords of Parliament, it being the day of the publique fast. John Brown, Cler. Parliament.	Cheynell, Francis, 1608-1665.	1645 (1645)	Wing C3812; Thomason E279_3; ESTC R200026	64,263	74

to live and harden it self into a stone Unnaturall sins are punished with unheard of plagues with miraculous judgements Those Heathens Rom. 1. 27. who left the naturall use of the woman and did burn with unnaturall lusts were given over to reprobate mindes and seared consciences Nay to speak higher yet These unnaturall Beasts are as perfect in their beastlinesse and brutishnesse as if they were naturall brute Beasts 2 Pet. 2. 10 12. And they who are thus perfect in sin will be perfectly thorowly tormented for these unnaturall perfections 4. Consider That beastly men are wilfull beasts They are not Beasts by nature but Beasts by choice and therefore they have as it were faln from reason to phantasie by a kinde of phantasticall choice their rationall will is changed into a sensuall appetite And it is all the reason in the world That they who have renounced their reason and chosen to be beasts rather then men should be deposed from their honour and made like the Beasts that perish 5. Consider That great men have great advantages and opportunities to serve God and his Church They are even lifted up to Heaven by priviledges Oh what a misery were it for such men to be cast down to Hell for the abuse of their priviledges Consider how hard it is for a rich man to be saved how few noble men are effectually savingly called Consider That the best estate of a wicked noble-man is worse then the worst estate of a poor godly man because the poor godly man in his worst estate is travelling towards Heaven But the best estate of a wicked noble-man leads him to his worst estate it ripens his sin and hastens his damnation Sure I am great men cannot plead any exemption at the day of judgement if Christ give them leave to be tried by their Peers those nobles which sit crowned in glorious Robes will condemn all impenitent and unbeleeving Peers My Lords I had rather turn your hearts then overturn your brains I had rather drive you out of your sins then out of your wits Yet these terrible considerations are enough to terrifie any man out of his little wits who doth ponder them enough to be convinced if God do not give him the grace to be converted My Lords you are not told often enough of Hell and damnation and therefore I do so often thunder out damnation that I might keep you from being damned Tell me ye sons of Nobles Whether your delicate sences can endure the touch of fire or smell of brimstone can your souls dwell with everlasting burnings can you wade thorow a River of brimstone kindled with the wrath of God Oh the diversitie and eternitie of Hellish torments is unutterable unconceiveable In Hell death ever lives the damned cannot die but do eternally suffer a kinde of living death and the consideration of the eternitie of their torment is to them the greatest torment and therefore they are ready to complain that there is a thousand Hels and ten thousand Devils in this word eternitie In Hell there are no degrees of honour but there are degrees of torment there 's a black Prince of flames and Nobles of darknesse there 's weeping and houling and gnashing of teeth out of desperate indignation The tongue is parched in the mouth the marrow fried in the bones the darknesse of the fire affright them the heat of the fire torments them and yet they are more tormented with the curse and wrath of God then the fire of Hell Hell were no Hell if it were not for the wrath of God But oh the losse of Honour the losse of Heaven the losse of Glory the losse of the Favour of an infinite God to a soul capable of Grace and Glory that 's an unspeakable losse because an infinite losse an infinite dishonour to be thus dishonoured to all eternitie Who can sound the depth of this bottomlesse Pit Sure the worst hell is in the conscience and the schorching of the fire is more tolerable then the gnawing of the worm And yet I have not done Hell is not onely the Center of torment but the Sink of sin and this consideration is most terrible to a religious soul To say I would not be in Hell because I would not be tormented that is the voice of self-love but to say I would not be in Hell because I would not hear my God blasphemed nor blaspheme him my self that is the voice of Noble love Let that consideration sweeten all the rest and work upon your Noble spirits to hate sin more then Hell and damnation Come then and take an holy revenge upon your selves to day be grieved in your hearts and pierced in your reins for all your ignoble practises against the God of Heaven repent with a kinde of indignation as David did and cry out Oh what a fool was I what a beast was I to dishonour him who is the fountain of Honour Look upon your patern Psal. 73 21 22. Thus my hears was grieved and I was pricked in my reins So foolish was I and ignorant I was a beast before thee My greatest task by far is yet behinde and therefore I passe on to an Use of Direction My Lords Honour is a tender fickle thing it is hard to get it and harder to keep it It may break a mans brains to get it his back to bear it and his heart to loose it We live in an age full of uncertainties and sick of jealousies I shall therefore adventure and I may well call it an adventure in this jealous age to give you faithfull counsell in some ticklish points If your Honour be any whit empaired I le shew you how to recover it if you enjoy your Honour I le shew you how to preserve nay increase it but if by an over-ruling providence you must part with your worldly honour and there is no resisting of providence I le shew you how you may gain a better honour an immortall glorious Honour in the highest Heavens Truely My Lords I am of no faction at all and therefore I may speak more freely and impartially in these weighty points First If your Honour be empaired I le do my best to shew you how to recover your Honour I know I touch upon a jarring string but consider that wise men and valiant men men that have done great service to their Countrey may quickly empair their honour in a jealous age Scipio Africanus had done very great service for his Countrey and yet he was called into * question more then once Moreover in times of civil war * there are so many perplexed cases propounded on the sudden that even the wariest man may over-shoot himself he may be sometimes circumvented and sometimes surprized and by either means dishonoured And in times of civil war most men are too censorious some out of a sober providence and cautelous circumspection not looking upon miscarriages as matters of course and casualtie but as a train laid to some

Men in Honour are extremely degraded and debased when they are made slaves Jere. 2. 14. Is Israel a servant is he a Hom●-born slave then he hath lost all his glory But consider I beseech you That a man of a slavish disposition is in a far more Honourable condition then a man of a bruitish disposition for a slave may be staved off from sin for fear of future evils but a Beast is not affected with things future Oh how many such Beasts do we meet with every day God threatens a man with Hell and damnation if they go on in any sinfull course and yet how common is it for men to practise these sins in the face of Heaven if they besins in request and fashion which God doth sentence and damn to the Pit of Hell Surely God will deal with these men according to their bruitish disposition he will powre some drops of his wrath scalding hot into their conscience or sting them to the quick with some present evil that they may be restrained by the smart and anguish of present evils since they will not be warned by the threatning of future evils Observe what a threatning message is sent to the house of Jeroboam 1 Kings 14. 14. Moreover the Lord shall raise him up a King over Israel who shall cut of the house of Jeroboam that day But what Even now very now As if he had said ye are not moved with the threats of future vengeance therefore I will spare you no longer but will cut you of presently even now very now It is a sad Text be pleased to think sadly of it in your cool blood and morning thoughts 5. As Beasts are not sensible of future evils so neither are they sensible of those traps and snares which are for the present laid to entrap and take them Men of Honour had need walk circumspectly there are traps and snares laid for them at their Tables in every tempting Dish nay in their Bedchambers in their very Closet every Counsellour Companion Friend Servant is made use of to ensnare them and how few are there that discover the snare before they are caught how many great men are surprized in this evill time and are as unexpectedly caught as fish in a net or birds in a snare Eccles. 9. 12. Nay as fish do catch at the bait and birds haste to the snare not knowing not suspecting that it is for their life so do men in Honour catch at those temptations whereby they are ensnared it is the comparison of the Wiseman the master of Similitudes Prov. 7. 22 23. Tell me are not these men as naturall bruit Beasts made to be taken and destroyed As the Apostle presses it home 2 Pet. 2. 12. 6. He is a Beast who hath the minde of a Beast though he hath the shape of a man It would be a foul disgrace for a man to be transformed into the shape of a Beast though he retained the minde and reason of a man Quanto miserius est in hominis figurâ animo esse efferato saith Lactantius Lib. 5. cap. ● It is far more dishonourable to have the shape of a man and the minde of a beast then the shape of a beest and the minde of a man Every carnall man mindes the things of the flesh Rom. 8. 5. Mindes earthly things as if he had no other God then his belly Phil. 3. 19. And therefore he hath the minde of a Beast nay I do the beasts wrong men that are carnally minded are enemies to God Rom. 8. 7. and enemies to the crosse of Christ Phil. 3. 18. A sad truth not to be spoken without tears I tell you even weeping saith the Apostle they are so far from being Christians that they are enemies of the Crosse of Christ They live as if they had been born ventri corruptioni inservire to serve their paunch and their lusts I beleeve you 'l easily grant that drunkards and unclean persons are very Beasts they have not the minde or heart of a man in them Whoredom and Wine take away the ●eart Hos. 4. 11. Oh ye sons of Nobles give not your strength to women nor your heart to that which destroyes Kings that is to wine and strong drink Prov. 30. 3 4. least ye loose your reason forget the Law and pervert the judgement of the afflicted verse 5. 7. They who adhere to the Antichristian faction in minde and heart though they do yet keep company with men are to be ranked among the Beasts for their heart goes after the Beast and they have a minde to follow him onely they want a more powerfull temptation and fairer opportunity upon every considerable defeat that is given us these men wonder after the Beast nay are even ready to worship him and to cry out Who is like unto the Beast Who is able to make war with him Revel. 13 3 4. I doubt not but all of this temper will in good time be discovered and driven from among men by the power of them that are truely Noble For it is not fit that Beasts should be suffered amongst men let them follow the Heard It is not for Noble Lords and Counsellours to seek unto them or comply with them till they have the heart of a man and their reason be returned unto them My Lords we live under the glorious Ministery of the Gospel and therefore I dare not put a vail over the beautifull face of Truth The face of truth must shine that it may appear lovely and remain glorious and therefore I use great freedom plainnesse boldnesse of speech as it becometh a Minister of the Gospel of Christ The Holy Ghost commands me to be thus faithfull by irresistible Arguments in the third Chapter of the second Epistle to the Corinthians especially in the eleventh twelfth and thirteen Verses you may read the whole Chapter at your leasure My Text is a kinde of Paradox an harsh truth and therefore I have laboured to clear this truth unto you I learnt to Preach of the Apostle who assures me that they Preach deceitfully wh● do not manifest the truth of God to the consciences of men 2 Cor. 4. 2. I● my Sermon seem too precise give me leave to say that your conscience is as precise as my Sermon I have a friend in your bosome that joyns with me I speak to your conscience your conscience will clear both God and me for all that I have spoken tends to this end That the saying of God in my Text may be justified My designe is the same with the wisest of Kings Eccles. 3. 18. That the sons of men might clear God and see that they themselves are Beasts You may see the translation corrected to that effect in the Margine of your Bibles Your conscience bids me proceed and so I passe to that which it is high time for us all to come to and that is a Use of Humiliation When an Ambassadour of Rhodes asked a Lacedaemonian Why Lycurgus was so

THE MAN OF HONOUR DESCRIBED In a SERMON Preached before the Lords of Parliament In the Abbey Church at Westminster March 26. 1645. The Solemn day of the Publique Monethly-Fast By FRANCIS CHEYNELL Minister of Gods Word Die Jovis 27. Martii 1645. IT is this day Ordered by the Lords in Parliament That this House doth hereby give thanks to Master Cheynell for his great pains taken in the Sermon he Preached on the 26. of this instant March in the Abbey Church Westminster before the Lords of Parliament it being the day of the Publique Fast John Brown Cler. Parliament PROV. 27. 5 6. Open rebuke is better then secret love Faithfull are the wounds of a friend but the kisses of an enemy are deceitfull PROV. 28. 23. He that rebukes a man shall finde more favour afterwards then he that flatters with his tongue London Printed by J. R. for Samuel Gellibrand dwelling in S. Pauls Church-yard at the sign of the Brasen-Serpent 1645. To the Right Honourable the House of PEERS Right Honourable GOd hath given us four Books to study The Book of Scriptures The Book of Conscience In which there are so many Errata's that all Books were Written to mend that one Book of Conscience The Book of Creation and therein the Treatise of Beasts deserves our sad consideration We may read such excellent things in Beasts and see such abhominable things in men That I may safely say All they who quarrell at the Language of the Holy Ghost in my Text think too highly of themselves and too cheaply of the Beasts Wise men may go to School to Ants Bees Elephants Serpents c. And most men to the Ox and Asse Isai. 1. 3 4. What strange things have Beasts done by phantasie and memory helped with experience Beleeve it The providence wit do●ilitie sagacitie meeknesse temperance chastitie diligence of Beasts set forth to the life by Basil Ambrose Chrysostome Augustine Aristotle Pliny Atheneus Elian Gesner and the rest may put too many Nobles to the blush The last Book is the Book of Providence and we are compelled to study this Book so often in these sad times that some 〈◊〉 feared our Divines will turn Statesmen But you know my Lords That he ●ho is to Preach a solemn Sermon doth not Preach conscionably unlesse he Preach seasonably We must study how to apply spirituall Remedies to our sick State and it is our duty to stir up you to apply some civill Remedies But for my part I had rather be Preaching of Faith and Love Christ and Heaven for I am not cut out for Court-work yet s●re I should have more Courtship then Conscience if I should crave your pardon or make any sneaking Apologie for pressing Scripture-notions and phra●… or any necessary trueths home upon your conscience You did command me to Preach before you and I was bold for to Preach to you Some passages of my Sermon were sharp and others bitter but if Pills be well acuted they will purge the better My roughnesse is like that of a file to smooth and polish my Auditours and if by that means you become more bright and pure I shall not repent that I was no smoother Ministers especially in times of war are instead of Drums and Trumpets we must not let you sleep in quiet but some expressions of mine may seem too blunt why a Whotstone's blunt yet serves to sharpen what was dull before though made of excellent mettall We are enjoyned by the Directory to give every one his own portion without neglecting the meanest or sparing the greatest in their sins 〈◊〉 moved your Honour 's almost in down right terms to passe that Self-denying Ordinance which bindes not onely Lords but Commons also to deny all private interests that you and they may unanimously promote the Publike Service Your Honour doth not depend on Wax and Parchment and it is clear that rebus sic stantibus You will gain more Honour by laying down your Commissions then by keeping them Your Lordships are pleased to approve what was delivered by a double Order the first of Thanks the second for Printing My Lords I understand and obey onely give me leave to present some humble requests to you which being granted will encrease your Honour Be pleased to consult how to relieve distressed Ireland and besieged Taunton How to purge the Committtee's in the Counties neer London in Essex Sussex Surrey Hampshire It is proper to give them Physick now at Spring you will thereby do your selves those Counties and the Citie right Consider how you may unstop the mouth of the other Fountain We fight for Learning as well as Pietie How to prefer able Divines that have spent their spirits and lost their voice and are by that means disabled for any Preaching Service but admirably qualified for Writing if they had leasure and encouragement to put Pen to Paper How to rebuke presumptuous Incendiaries who occasion the bloodshed of many hundreds plunder thousands and yet hope when they have done all the mischief they can to make their peace for 500 l. and get a Warrant from some Justice of Peace to receive the Sacrament Finally How to relieve the Orphans and Widows of them who have lost their lives and maintain such as have lost their limbs in this present Service Keep a precise watch my Lords over your own souls They who have the greatest temptations must allow themselves the least libertie Prepare and wait for the coming of our Saviour Christ will wait upon them that wait for him These are Honourable Services and you cannot desire a more Honourable reward then to be Honoured nay served by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Luk. 12. 37. That you may never be weary of doing him service who will never be weary of doing you good is the Prayer of your Honours most humble Servant Francis Cheynell A Sermon preached to the Right Honourable the House of Lords At the Monethly-Fast March 26. 1645. PSAL. 49. 20. Man that is in Honour and understandeth not is like the Beasts that perish A Sad Text fit to be considered by men of honour in these sad Times Hear ye this ye sons of Adam and sons of Ish ye sons of the earth and sons of Nobles the holy Ghost bespeaks your attention in the first and second verses of this Psalm My Lords this is Davids Metamorphosis it is not the Dream of a Poet but the Rapture of a Prophet the Rhetorique of a Psalm Most men in Honour are to their everlasting Dishonour turnedinto Beasts that perish It i● an hard Saying aswell as a dark Saying and therefore the Psalmist multiplies expressions in the foregoing verses for the mollifying of this hard Saying and the opening of this dark Saying Give me leave to glance over the Psalm by a smart Paraphrase Wherefore should I fear saith David when c. But though he might not others may have just cause to fear what will become of them when the iniquity o● their