Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	holy_a	sin_n	sin_v	2,051	5	9.4946	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A90367	A practical discourse concerning the redeeming of time by Edward Pelling, D.D. chaplain in ordinary to Their Majesties, and rector of Petworth in Sussex.	Pelling, Edward, d. 1718.	1695 (1695)	Wing P1085; ESTC R42376	51,075	127

compared himself to one that was running a Race to obtain a Garland at the Mark or Goal or Race-end Those which are engaged in such an Athletick Course are not wont to stop and loiter away their Minutes or to stand looking behind them to see what lengths and distances they have ran and how far they have out-stript the Cumbatants that are short of them but strive and stretch forward each straining every Sinew to overtake and out-run the foremost that he may receive the Prize first And thus did St. Paul proceed with Constancy Zeal and Earnestness in that Spiritual Course wherein he was a Combatant though a late one for a Crown that withereth not nor fadeth away He was on the pursuit he made as much speed as was possible strove hard and went on vigorously from one labor and difficulty to another he fetch'd up and recover'd the Time he had mis-spent by Toiling and Working and Travelling more abundantly than the rest impatient Day and Night till he had out-gone and out-done those that had been called before him and still pressing forward and stretching on for the Prize he had in his Eye that Eternal weight of Glory which was laid up for him in the Heavens By this instance we see what a warm and well govern'd Zeal is how powerful in its Influence what Life and Vigour it creates and what wonderful Works it can do in a little Time when a Man is resolved to Redeem it indeed And that we may follow St. Paul's Example 't is necessary to set up as he did a serious and obstinate Resolution to do God Service from our Hearts and our selves and others all the good we can while we have fair Opportunities before us Such a Christian Zeal will make Us too active and nimble in running the Race that is set before us 't will carry us with Patience and Constancy through All so that no Pains will be begrudged no thoughts of Difficulty will put us to a stand no apprehensions of Danger will make us faint no sense of Discouragements will cast us down 't will help us to go on still from Vertue to Vertue fearful of nothing but of losing Time till at last we come to that great pitch St. Paul attained to I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the Faith henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but to all them also that love his appearing 2 Tim. 4. 7 8. CHAP. VI. A second way is to consider what Sins we have acted and to make all possible amends for them Secondly THis zealous Disposition being form'd in our Minds the next way to Redeem our time is to consider what Sins we have acted and to make all possible amends for them The time that is flung away upon vice is not meerly lost but consumed wickedly and in this case there is as much difference between losing and wasting as there is between Idleness and mischief or between doing nothing at all and doing that which is Evil. Now here the way of Redeeming ones time is as far as 't is possible to undoe that which hath been done and to perform such acts of repentance as are declarative of our hearty wishes that the things had never been done at all For to continue in a wicked Course or not to make some Reparation for a wicked Act is a spending of time as Ill as at the first because it carries with it a tacit Approbation of mind which is Tantamount to the Committing it again over and over Nay Sins continued in or un-repented are more pernicious in their Consequence than they were in the original because they harden the heart and by degrees draw such a crusty temper upon the Conscience as makes it insensate so that the losing of time on is the ready means of making one uncapable at last of Redeeming it at all This shews that by persisting in that which is evil instead of recovering the hours that were wickedly spent men misemploy them still and make the matter daily worse and worse Therefore when an ill thing is acted they should endeavour to obliterate it by a very speedy repentance and the sooner they come to it the more time and Innocence they save and the quicklier they make all Right again An instance to this purpose we read of in the Church of Corinth upon St. Paul's laying the Ecclesiastical Censures on those who had committed some Scandalous Enormities 2 Cor. 7 9 11. Ye were made Sorry saith the Apostle after a godly manner And that your Sorrow what carefulness it wrought in you Yea what clearing of your selves Yea what Indignation Yea what Fear Yea what vehement Desire Yea what Zeal Yea what Revenge That is their speedy Repentance had such great effects upon them that they were very Solicitous to expiate their offences they purged themselves presently of the crimes committed they exprest their Displeasure and vexation for the commssion of them they were afraid of offending God any more they shewed all readiness to give the Church Satisfaction for what had been done among them they declared their firm Resolutions of Reforming for the time to come and they used all possible severities to inflict Punishment upon themselves for the wrongs they had done their own souls and for the Reproach they had brought upon their most holy Profession This is a Right way for people to Redeem their time because it is in effect to destroy and spoil the works of their hands to make the days perish wherein they did amiss and to begin their lives a new as if those days had never been Though strictly speaking we cannot utterly Null our works so as to make those things never to have been which are actually Past yet Moraly and by Interpretation we may Annihilate our actions and Revoke what is gone if our Repentance be Hearty and opperative like that which those Corinthians exprest Now here men should examine the Quality and Condition of their crimes past that they may redeem their time by such Indignation for them and such holy revenges upon themselves as are suitable Some sins are Injurious to the Souls of the Actors only such as a man committeth alone and by himself without any witness of them but his own Conscience and God In this case the right course is to betake ones self to Private but sincere humiliations to deprecate God's wrath to chasten the Soul by Fasting and severe mortifications to bestow more time than usual upon meditation and Prayer to break off ones sins by Righteousness and ones iniquities by shewing mercy to the Poor and above all to leave the sin or sins entirely off and by the continual exercise of contrary vertues to bring the mind to a regular frame and temper This is to undoe an Evil action to cancel all that Guilt which is Private Personal and Single to

actually fix'd upon them already imployed and Engaged in those Exercises which are the Life of Angels and of the Spirits of Just Men made Perfect To admire and adore and love and praise God is the everlasting business of the Blessed above And this we do here below though not in that intense Degree when we worship him in Truth and in the Beauty of Holiness when we prostrate our selves before him under a profound and awful Sense of his super-excellent Majesty when our Minds are fix'd upon him as the Glorious and Ravishing Object of our Contemplations when the Faculties of our Souls are acting vigorously upon him when we Exalt and Magnifie him in our Hearts when our Desires stream out after him as the only Good we long for when our Thoughts are full of rapturous Idea's of his Perfections when we celebrate and set him forth as the greatest wisest and best of all Beings when our Hearts are inflamed with the Love of him and when we offer up our Prayers and Praises to him with Affections as high as Heaven and as large as the Universe And can any time be better or so well spent as that which is thus employed This is to Redeem ones Time to the best purpose and in some Sense to live it over again by following the great Work of ones whole life close and so by living much in a little And the design of this Consideration is to stir you up to the Love and Practice of Devotion as a proper way of making your Life up wherein soever you may have been hitherto defective To recover what hath been mis-spent and to fit your self for God and Heaven without frequent Acts of Piety is impossible Rather it is a way to lose on and spend amiss still and to make your Condition every day worse and worse And this is one great Reason that there are so many Evil People in the World because they neglect a Course of Devotion which if diligently and rightly followed could not chuse but make them better I do not mean that every one is a Saint that resorts to the Church or that the repeating of so many good Prayers is enough to dispose and qualifie People for Eternal Happiness No there are some that content themselves with the bare performance of the outward Work and there are others that go to the Temple rather in compliance with a Custom or out of Compliment and Civility to the Laws than for Conscience sake towards God But this is my meaning that when Men apply their Souls to the use of God's Ordinances as a necessary Duty and seriously intend to do themselves good by the use of them and go about it with Sincerity of Mind and Exercise themselves in it with attentive Zeal and with Humble Fervent and Devout Spirits when their Hearts are thus Honestly dispos'd they take such a ready Course to fit themselves for Heaven as God will be sure to Bless and Prosper with success if they persevere unto the end in so doing They are then in God's way and in the way of the Holy Spirit to enlighten their Understandings to guide them into the Truth to renew their Minds to sanctifie their Affections to direct their Wills to improve and perfect their Natures and to assist and strengthen them unto every good work And by this means as they obtain pardon for their past Miscarriages so they gradually retrieve their former Losses and make the time past their own again by their extraordinary Husbandry of the remainder and by filling up an Hiatus with a proportionable Supplement 2. Secondly As the diligent attendance upon God's Ordinances helps us to redeem the time that is Gone so it serves to keep us from Losing more for the Future We may reckon that time to be Lost which is spent either after a Wicked or after a Vain manner That is when the Conscience contracteth some great Guilt in the spending of it or when the Man gets no solid Benefit or Satisfaction by it though strictly speaking we cannot affirm it is sinned away and in both these respects we shall see that a course of Devotion secures us from being any considerable Losers 1. First That time is to be accounted Lost which is spent in Wickedness When Vice takes it up so much of our Life is gone to our eternal Prejudice and Hurt unless the Wickedness be retracted by timely Repentance And when it is retracted a Man doth what he can to undo his Actions and to unlive his former Life and so begins as it were his days again To be sure he himself reckons so much of his time quite thrown oway is willing to rase it out of his own Memory and heartily wisheth that the just Judge of all the Earth would forget it too and never impute or account it unto him Now People that are ever mindful of their Devotions are not in danger of losing their time This way because they are assured that if they regard Iniquity in their Hearts the Lord will not hear them Psal 66. 18. Nay that their Sacrifice will be an Abomination Prov. 15. 8. Upon which account 't is morally impossible for them to Sin and Pray too lest instead of Mercies they should draw down a Thunderbolt and instead of Bread should receive a Stone or a Scorpion They who have a sense of God must needs be shie of offering up such Prayers as are enough to put them out of Countenance and out of Hope too such Prayers as they know will Recoil upon them and not only fly in their faces but terrifie and gall their very Consciences also But in truth we cannot suppose Men of Pious Minds to spend their precious Time to such bad purposes as these because the Notions they have of God's Majesty of his Omnipresence and Omniscience of his Justice Holiness and the like are a continual check upon them to govern their natural Inclinations and to restrain them from those evil Courses into which others run without Fear or Wit as the Horse rusheth into the Battel as the Prophet speaks Jer. 8. 6. Besides as they have not the Heart or Face to Sin so neither have they those Temptations and Opportunities which the Devil Ministreth daily to those who are such Strangers to the Throne of Grace as if they lived Without God in the World Such Men are never out of the Devil's road and therefore it is no wonder if Vice be the trade they bestow their Time upon no wonder if a Luxurious Table or a Dalilah's Lap or a Drunken Society or Prophane Discourse or the study of Mischief or the Drudgery of Covetousness or the Pride of Life taketh up those Hours which God hath a right to Ungodly Principles and Contempt of things Sacred do always betray Men to some wickedness or other nor cannot be but Irreligion and Vice must go together so that ' mongst other Arguments that might be heaped up to encourage us to a life of Devotion this is one that