Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	humane_a	law_n	obligation_n	1,134	5	9.8189	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A71315	Several sermons upon the fifth of St. Matthew .... [vol. 2] being part of Christ's Sermon on the mount / by Anthony Horneck ... ; to which is added, the life of the author, by Richard Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells.	Horneck, Anthony, 1641-1697.	1698 (1698)	Wing H2852; ESTC R40468	254,482	530

in some Cases by quitting our Right we prejudice the right of others but this cannot be said of so small a thing as a Coat which is a Man 's own to a Proverb or a Cloak or something like it 2. This is to shew a good Example to others and to teach them what they should do Our Actions are the best School-Masters and as we see Men learn from ill Example so they may I am sure ought to learn from good ones By not hearkening to a Temptation of Injustice by not defrauding a Child or ignorant Person by not speaking Evil of him that speaks ill of me by being Conscientious in my Duty I teach another and direct him how he is to govern himself This was the Method our great Master took He taught nothing but what he practis'd himself And indeed all the Oratory which a Man uses to another to persuade him to a Virtue is insignificant except his own Conscientiousness in the thing leads the way He that would sue us at Law for our Coat if rather than fall into a Passion with him we let him have our Cloak too we instruct him how he is to behave himself to others if the like should happen to him It 's true he may not be so considerate as to learn his Duty from our Example yet still our Intention in the Self-denial was good and commendable and shall not go without a Recompence and the Person who would not learn his Duty from what he saw in us shall give an Account to God for his Untractableness and Indocility 3. This is an excellent way to prevent great Vexation both in our selves and others The Rage of the Enemy will not only be restrain'd by it but hereby our own quiet and ease will be promoted To fill our Souls with Rage and Disorder upon such a force offer'd to us is to punish our selves for another Man's Weakness and Folly and to increase the Trouble and Affliction which befalls us The loss of the Cloak or Coat was outward only but if together with that loss I join the loss of quietness and calmness of Mind I increase it and become my own Tormentor and to the Injury that another doth me I add doing Injury to my self which is highly Irrational 4. Hereby we do certainly glorifie God who is ever best glorified by our Obedience and conforming to his Will Whatever the loss or inconvenience may be that may happen to us upon the account of that Obedience This is to glorify him in our Souls and Bodies according to the Rule 1 Cor. vi 20 i. e. in our Thoughts and Actions For this is a manifest sign that my Spirit stands in awe of the Supream Being that his Law is in my Heart and that my Mind is govern'd by his Will By resigning actually my Cloak to him that would take away my Coat here is an Action that brings Glory to God and declares that God is in me and gives me Strength and Power to overcome the Flesh and the sinful Motions of it And from hence arise not only Thanksgivings in my self but all good Men who see it will glorifie God for my professed Subjection to the Gospel of Christ 2 Cor. ix 12 13. 5. And this must needs endear God to us and move him to have kind Thoughts of us Not that we deserve his Love by such an Act but so gracious and condescending he is that upon decessions from our right for his Honour and Glory he is willing to look upon us with a very favourable Aspect This is Goodness that hath some Substance in it This looks like imitation of his Goodness who in his Dispensations decedes infinitely from his own right for our good What was the giving of his Son but a miraculous deceding from his own right of punishing us according to our Deserts And indeed there is not an act of Mercy to poor Sinners but God decedes from his Right even from the right of his Justice And when he who parts with his Cloak to him that would by force of Law deprive him of his Coat doth express the goodness of God in so lively a manner that God so great in Goodness cannot but say as he did to his People under Nebuchadnezzar Jer. xxix 11 I know the thoughts that I think towards you thoughts of Peace and not of Evil. But you will say may not a Man go to Law for his own and may not a Man justly defend himself by Law when he is wrong'd by another which leads me to the II. Query Whether it be in no case lawful for a Christian to go to Law with his Brother or defend his Right by Law when wrong'd by another Man 1. It is certain that Humane Laws permit a great many things which a Pious Christian cannot in Conscience make use of and which do not become him as he is a profess'd Disciple of such an humble self-denying Master as Christ Jesus Humane Laws to prevent greater Evils in a Common-wealth permit several things which a Christian who is chiefly to be guided by the Law of Christ doth wave as having a greater Law in his Heart And therefore though Humane Laws or the Laws of the Land permit you to go to Law with a Man that wrongs you yet that 's not the strict measure of your Actions Not that a Christian can safely disobey the Laws of the Land he inhabits when they do not clash with the Law of God But there is a great difference betwixt disobeying the Law of the Land and not making use of it upon all occasions 2. Our Saviour consider'd and all reasonable Men must grant it what Wrath what Malice what Abusing Slandering Disparaging of our Neighbours what Partiality what base Arts what Tricks are made use of by Persons who implead one another How Law-Suits are prolong'd to the loss of our Time and Quiet and better Employments What needless Charges Men involve themselves in to their own Vexation and Discontent And what a lasting Hatred is settled in the Hearts of Antagonists by such Doings And therefore to prevent the occasions of Evil he forbids going to Law And that Person that takes no care to shun the occasions of Evil can never be fit for the Kingdom of God So that 3. In lesser Injuries such as Mens taking or offering to take from us by force a Cloak or upper Garment a thing which we can spare without any great damage to our selves he doth absolutely forbid this Remedy which is indeed more than the Disease Insomuch that he who delights in going to Law upon every trifling occasion a small Summ of Money or a thing amounting to the Value of a Cloak or Coat most certainly knows not understands not the Principles of that Religion he professes but acts against them and hath no sense of the Love Christ Jesus bore to him and which ought to constrain him to forbear any thing he hath forbid 4. Going to Law in any case is forbid and

in taking an Oath in most Nations do import and why they are used V. Whether an Oath may in no case be broken I. What an Oath or taking an Oath or Swearing is 1. Whether with Tully we say it is a Religious Asseveration or with others That it is a Religious act in which for the confirmation of a thing doubtful God is call'd in as a Witness or whether with the Inspir'd Writers we call it a binding of the Soul with a band or whether we define it to be a solemn appealing to God as a Witness and Judge the difference is not great for all this is included in the notion of an Oath or Swearing and when the Apostle Heb. vi 16 saith Men verily swear by the greater meaning God who is over all the supream Judge and Law-giver who is able to save and destroy he points at all that I have said and intimates That Men in an Oath do solemnly and religiously call God to witness the Truth or in case they swear falsly or do not perform their Oath imprecate to themselves the heavy Judgments of God and this is also the import of that Saying Deut. vi 13 where God directs the Israelites that if there be a necessity for their Swearing That they should Swear by his Name And for this reason it 's call'd The Oath of God or The Oath of the Lord Exod. xxii 10 2. To omit other Distinctions An Oath is either Assertory or Promissory i. e. in an Oath we either assert and affirm the Truth of what is past or of what is present or we Promise to say or do or not to say or do a thing The former is commonly made use of in Courts of Judicature the latter in Contracts Commerce and Compacts Of the former we have an Instance in the Woman suspected of Adultery who was to take an Oath that she was not Guilty Numb v. 19 Of the other in Abraham's Steward Gen. xxiv 9 in the chief Men and Princes of Israel swearing to the Gibeonites to protect them as their Confederates Josh. ix 15 and in others The words of the Text though they include the Assertory yet do chiefly relate to a Promissory Oath 3. In every Oath a Man hath to deal with two Parties God and Man with God as the searcher of Hearts and the grand Witness and with Man for whose Satisfaction and Acquiescence in the matter the Oath is taken which shews the difference betwixt an Oath and a Vow In a formal Vow a Man addresses himself directly to God and God and he are the only Parties concern'd but in an Oath Man as well as God is made a Party though the Obligation be the same in both which is the reason why they are promiscuously used Numb xxx 2 4. In every Oath a Man obliges and ties himself to the manifestation of the Truth whether the Oath be Assertory or Promissory whether it be concerning something past or present or to come and therefore 't is call'd a binding of the Soul or Conscience by a band which a Man cannot escape or slip away from but he must leap into Hell Numb xxx 2 so that a Person Swearing is bound to stand to what he has said and to perform what his Lips have utter'd and the Obligation rises not only from hence because it is a voluntary Act and Promise without the performance of which he cannot be Just but because he engages the most Sacred Being in the Promise and gives God for his Security God who hath not only Power but is concern'd in justice to avenge the Perjury So much of the nature of an Oath Let 's consider II. Whether an Oath or Swearing even in a modest serious and judicial way be lawful 1. That taking an Oath is not unlawful in it self is evident from hence because God himself hath upon occasion used it By my self have I sworn saith the Lord Gen. xxii 16 upon which Passage the Apostle makes this Remark Heb. vi 13 When God made Promise to Abraham because he could swear by no greater he sware by himself and again Psal. xcv 11 so I sware in my Wrath that they should not enter into my rest And the like we find practised by the Angel of God Dan. xii 7 who lift up his hand to Heaven and sware by him that lives for ever and ever Nor can it be absolutely unlawful if we consider the end of an Oath which is a confirmation of the Truth in things doubtful where other Proofs and Evidences fail The End being necessary in Humane Affairs the Means which is an Oath must at least be Lawful And this will farther appear from the nature of an Oath which contains nothing in it self unlawful A Religious Act cannot be unlawful nor Confirmation of the Truth in things doubtful unlawful in it self nor the Invocation of the Divine Testimony unlawful and if the Parts which make up and constitute an Oath be not unlawful an Oath cannot be unlawful Add to all this the consent of all Nations which in other Cases particularly in asserting the Being of a God is counted a considerable Proof where-ever any Civility or orderly Government takes place Men led by the Light of Nature make use of an Oath in doubtful Cases to which universal Custom the Apostle alludes in saying Heb. vi 16 For Men verily swear by the greater and an Oath for Confirmation is to them an end of all strife 2. That the use of an Oath was Lawful to the Jews is so evident that it needs no Proof The Patriarchs used it Abraham Gen. xiv 22 23. Isaac Gen. xxvi 31 Jacob Gen. xxxi 53 And Moses by the Command of God orders that if a Controversie did arise that an Oath should decide it Exod. xxii 11 It was an express Command of God given to the Israelites Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and serve him and shalt swear by his Name i. e. If there be occasion to take an Oath thou shalt not swear by Idols or by Heathen Deities but by the Name of thy God who is Omniscient and Omnipresent and will not hold him guiltless that takes his Name in vain and to this purpose it is that the Prophets give Directions how the Jews should swear in what manner and with what Limitations as we see Jer. iv 2 And Punishments severe and dreadful are threatned to him that despises his Oath Ezek xvi 59 But 3. The greatest Difficulty is whether it be lawful for a Christian to take an Oath for not only Christ in the following Verse saith But I say unto you swear not at all but we find the Primitive Christians were very cautious how they ventur'd upon an Oath they not only dreaded those vain and light Oaths so common among the Children of the Devil but they had a reluctancy to Swearing even on solemn and serious Occasions thinking a Christian ought to be believ'd upon his bare Word and Affirmation And indeed many of the sober Heathens by a