Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	knowledge_n	sin_n	sin_v	2,885	5	9.7377	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59036	The doubting beleever, or, A treatise containing 1. the nature, 2. the kinds, 3. the springs, 4. the remedies of doubtings, incident to weak beleevers by Obadiah Sedgwick ...	Sedgwick, Obadiah, 1600?-1658.	1641 (1641)	Wing S2369; ESTC R19426	113,906	390

Conscience condemns thy person I confesse thou hast no reason to beleeve mercy for thy selfe If thy conscience tels thee to the face of God thou art in a foule sinfull course and hast been called upon by the voice of the Word and its voice to come out of it and thou dost not leave it nay art resolved to pursue it and to insist on it now God is greater then thy conscience and will assuredly condemne thee 2. If conscience condemns thy actions onely then thou mayest notwithstanding that condemnation beleeve on mercy My meaning is this Though the conscience by its discerming light represents unto thee much sinfulnesse in thy nature and former course and though it doth condemne these to be vile and most fit to be crucified abhorred and forsaken this condemnation hinders not the right of beleeving Nay no man indeed should beleeve unlesse his conscience doth condemne sin in him not onely shew him his sinnes but assure him that they are evill and unworthy his love nay most worthy of his detestation and mortification 2. Secondly you must distinguish of times when conscience doth condemne a man there are two times of a Christian 1. Some are open and free He is himselfe and besides that he heares both parties as well what is for himselfe as what is against himselfe yea and weighs matters in controversie in the right ballance of Gods Sanctuary not in Satans ballance of cunning suggestions Will conscience condemne thy person at such a time and under such circumstances Nay will not the Word of God acquit thee at such a time against all feares for the substance and reality of a pious condition 2. Some are clouded darkned either with melancholy or afflictions or temptations wherein the Christian seeth his face through a false glasse just as a Title is made by a deceitfull cunning Lawyer not according to truth not all of it but some of it What is past heretofore for action and affection or what hath falne out not in the course of life since a mans conversion but onely in case of surprisall and captivity Now perhaps conscience may condemne thee but this is an illegall sentence it is a corrupted judgement and is reversible God will not judge of thee as Conscience in such a case doth Nay he will repeale it and disanull it 4. A fourth cause of doubtings is a feare lest a man hath sinned that great sin against the holy Ghost And the main inducement to credit this is a sinning against cleare knowledge which is one ingredient in that sinne Now this is my condition saith a troubled soul I have not onely sinned but sinned against light shining in the Ministery and working on my conscience therefore I may rather conclude then question it Mercy belongs not to me To help a conscience thus Sol. inthralled I would wish that such a person would 1. Be informed 2. Be directed 1. The Information which I would commend in this case is fourefold First that the sinne against the holy Ghost is not any sin which a man commits through ignorance Whatsoever the sinne or sinnes have beene whereof the party stands guilty whether against the Law or against the Gospel suppose it be one or many hainous sinnes yet if the person be in a state of blindnesse and ignorance if there is a nescience of the fact if hee knowes not what he doth this ignorance priviledgeth the sinnings thus far that therefore they are not the sin against the holy Ghost Secondly the sin against the holy Ghost is not any sinne against the Gospel which is elicited and acted through a mis-beliefe or mis-perswasion If the sinne be a sleighting of Euangelicall doctrines nay a persecuting of them and of the professors of them yet if these acts of opposition depend totally on error in the judgment on a judgement mis-perswaded i. rather beleeving them not to be truths rather thinking those wayes to be false wayes I say this mis-beliefe preserves such sinnings yet from being sins against the holy 1 Tim. 1. 13. Ghost because the sinne against the holy Ghost supposeth light even to conviction and approbation See Heb. 6. 4. 5. Thirdly the sin against the holy Ghost is not every sinning against knowledge These are not reciprocall propositions every sin against the holy Ghost is against knowledg and every sinne against knowledge is the sin against the holy Ghost The former is true but the latter is not for many a converted man sinneth against knowledge who yet never sinneth the sin against the holy Ghost In two cases a man sinning against knowledge doth not yet sin that sin against the holy Ghost One is the case of a strong and violent temptation Another is the case of a sudden and turbulent passion It is the same with Peters case against his knowledg denying and forswearing his Master If Paul before his conversion had had Peters knowledge he had sinned this sin against the holy Ghost And if Peter in his denyall had had Pauls malice joyned with his knowledge he had also sinned that sinne but the mis-beliefe of the one before his conversion and the infirmity of the other after it preserved from this sinne Error mis-led the one and sudden feare surprised the other Fourthly there are three horrible sinnings which doe attend that sinne against the holy Ghost and the Scripture which wee were best exceeding warily to follow in resolving this case expresly delivers them 1. One is totall Apostasie from the truths of Jesus Christ knowne and tasted The truths of Christ must 1. be knowne and apprehended 2. knowne and tasted they must be approved 3. And then the person falls from these 4. Nay his fal is not particular which is incident to the best it is a totall fall not a falling in the way but a falling from the way of truth Heb. 6. 4. If they were once inlightned and tasted c. If ver 6. they shall fall away 2. A second is a malicious oppugnation of that truth which was once knowne and tasted and from which now the person is falne called Heb. 6. 6. A crueifying of the Sonne of God afresh And Heb. 10. 26. A And despiting the spirit of Grace wilfull sinning after that we have received the knowledge of the truth And it was evident in the Pharisees who saw and knew the light but hated and persecuted it unto the death 3. A third is finall impenitencie Whosoever sinnes the sin against the holy Ghost he neither doth repent nor can repent He is so justly and for ever forsaken of God and given up to a reprobate sense and a seared conscience that he cannot repent though perhaps he may see his course to be evill yet it is impossible saith the Apostle in Heb. 6. 6. to renew him to repentance FINIS

How to know whether Satan revives former sins your sins are revived by Satan from two effects 1. One is from the desperate issues of their reviving you may know whether a man be a friend or a malicious enemy who doth revive the errors and failings amongst men a friend hee revives them that you may be bettered either to reforme if the thing be evill or to be circumspect whether the thing be true or false but the malicious enemy he revives them onely to make you odious and loathsome Now Satans reviving of former sins is ever odious it is of evill for evill his end is desperate What is that That is that we might give up all possible interests in mercy all hope of pardon and acceptance Whence it is where he revives sins former sins hee bends the heart to some present mischiefe to renounce all hope of mercy and to selfe-murder and such desperate issues both which are against the ends of God and the desires of an holy heart which upon their reviving of sinne doe ever propose mercy and betterment unto the soule 2. Another is from the filthy issues which is this Hee revives the sting of sinne that he may make us more bold and mad in sinning He revives sin unto sin there is no hope of mercy of recovery therefore as good to goe on as not Whence he inclines the heart to a leaping into the water to a wallowing in the mire to a greedinesse in the course of sinning which hee doth the more easily win from the evill hearts of evill men by those temporary allayments and cessations of stinging guilt which they observe in themselves by their furiousnesse constant and hardning revolutions or exercise of the same sins So that if you whose hearts are tender have been humbled for former sins and are so upright as still to hate them if former g●●ilts be revived with an inclination either to give up all mercy or to give over your selves now with licentiousnesse to the same or other sins here is Satan in this Satan now revives thy guilt and now another course is to be taken 2. The course then is this and I beseech you mark it 1. Strengthen thy heart with more detestations of the sins The more he revives the guilty accusation the more doe thou revive thy upright detestations And as he poures out malice to disturb thy conscience so doe thou poure out revenge to sub due the grounds of it And if he vexeth thee doe thou goe and vexe thy sinnes 2. Beleeve not a malicious Thy case is not wicked because a wicked devill saith so accuser Satan doth oft times serve a Writ in the Kings name without the Kings seale he forgives where God doth not and he binds where God hath released And this know It is God that justifieth who then shall condemne If the King himselfe hath pardoned thee how unjust is it for the under-officer to arrest and challenge 3. But in case of frequent inquietations when Satan will not be answered but still chargeth now make thine appeale The Christian must appeale from him to God and if he charge thee in the Court of Conscience remove it wisely to the higher court of heaven let God once more have the hearing and the deciding And now Satan what hast thou to say unto me Thou hast sinned heretofore saith Satan and thy Judge doth know the truth of this indictment I have Satan I confesse it and my God doth know the truth of my sorrow and repentance Lord dost thou not know my teares my returnings my judgings of my self my feeling of mercy grace Lord thou hast knowne it and hast knowne my soule with thy pardoning and accepting mercy 4. Rest the soule and fasten it unto the bloud of Christ which will alwayes cry downe the testimonies and clamours of guilt Nothing but that wil satisfie God and vanquish Satan and then by faith not onely lay hand on mercy but hold out the stability of mercy The Kings pardon will serve twenty years hence in case of suit Satan may often trouble question but Gods accepting of thee into mercy will I am sure it may quiet and uphold thee 14. The last spring of doubtings was silence in the conscience long silence there For the closing of this spring and with it this subject of doubtings observe these particulars in a word 1. The speech of conscience what that is 2. The speechlesnesse of conscience what and how 3. To make conscience speak againe what required 4. To support our selves in the times of its silence what can and may 1. The speech of conscience The speech of conscience what This is no more then its testimony for us or against us for conscience is intimate with our secret frames and intentions and motives and actions By its naturall light it can tell much by implanted light more by renewed and sanctified light most of all Now the speech of conscience for us is nothing else but an approbation of our estate answerable to the Word acquiting us against all feares and objections that we are the sons of God that we are truly changed that we sincerely love him beleeve in Christ and walk before him for really the voice of Conscience is but the eccho of the voice of the Word and saith that unto us touching our particular what the Word delivers in the generall It s voice is but the Assumption and the voice of the Word is but the Proposition The Word saith that should be and Conscience saith here it is The Word requires such and such things in a man to be saved and who is in favour with God and Conscience brings them out and answers for the person 2. The speechlesnesse or silence The speechlesnesse of conscience what it is of conscience is the suspension of its determining and acquiting acts touching our estate in generall or touching some particular doubts Sometimes conscience calls upon us and sometimes we call upon conscience In matters of direction to practise or forbearance we usually heare a reall and inward word Do it not or Thou mayst do it In after doubts we call upon conscience for its testimony In the uprightnesse of my heart did I it and my conscience doth beare me witnesse Now of all the silences of conscience that is heaviest which befalls us in our spirituall combats and tryals wherein our gracious condition is questioned but cannot be issued because conscience holds up and doth not testifie for us by any sensible approbation and acquitance which is caused diversly 1. Sometimes through particular Silence in conscience diversly caused mis-behaviours against the directing voice of conscience these hold in the acquiting voice of conscience for conscience will not speak for us if we presume to sinne against it 2. Sometimes through disregard to the voice of God in the Ministery for Conscience takes not that well which the Word takes ill and therefore God doth usually make us know our

groane under it cry out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me And surely neither the sense of this nor the resistance of this nor second desires of deliverance from this can be any evill signs of thy condition 5. Lastly in the sense of inward rebellions and workings thy way is not to nourish doubting but thy duty it is to stir up beleeving When Paul felt that agony twixt the law of his members and the law of his minde indeed he was much troubled at it but yet he did not conclude against his condition in grace No but he acquits that Rom. 7. 25. So then with the mind I my self serve the Law of God though with the flesh the law of sinne and sets his faith to worke ver 24. Who shall deliver mee ver 25. I thanke God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Mark his practise This is my condition I feele rebellious lusts yea I feele them sometimes captivating of me what course shall I now take to be delivered of them to vanquish them I conflict with them but I cannot conquer them I cannot conquer them yea but Jesus Christ can conquer them and deliver me from them and to him will I goe by faith Thus must thou doe in the sense of that native rebellion and vile operation of thy flesh Thou must by faith goe unto Christ thou must acknowledge thy vilenesse and thy insufficiency and also his sufficiency Thou must exalt Jesus Christ by faith in his Mediatorship and trust on him that he will by his Almighty Spirit crucifie thy sinfull flesh more and which was one end of his comming into the world destroy those works of sin and Satan 2. Another cause of doubting in a Christian may be the sense of wrath O! saith such a one would you have me to beleeve or imagine you that I can doe so I who feele the very wrath of God in my soule and the terrors of the Almighty wounding me for my transgressions What can or 〈◊〉 I beleeve mercy for me who now feele wrath upon me can I beleeve that God will be mercifull whom I sensibly apprehend to be wrathfull This is a notable case and Sol. needs a wary and circumspect resolution Neverthelesse I shall at least endeavour to ungirt this burden for a troubled soule 1. There are two sorts of persons who in this life may feele the wrath of God First such as are unquestionably wicked of whom some of them feele the wrath of God as the beginning of their everlasting perdition That wrath inflicted on them is but the beginning of a just hell due unto them Thus Judas felt the wrath of God And some of them feele the wrath of God as a meanes for their humiliation and conversion 〈◊〉 they in Acts 2. 37. who were pricked in their hearts and thereupon cryed out What shall we doe felt the wrath of God Secondly such as are unquestionably good of whom some have felt Gods wrath in case of desertion as Heman Ezra Job and others and some in case of notorious corruption or sinning as David whose bones were broken for it and Gods face hid from him for it and his moisture turned into the drought of summer 2. Againe you must distinguish of those effects which appeare in persons under the sense of divine wrath for they are twofold 1. Some feele the wrath of God and are either onely inraged against God with blasphemies or inraging their hearts the more to goe on in sinning against God thinking at least by the pleasure of sinne to drowne the sense of wrath or running into absolute despaire of Gods mercy and therefore never attempting any course of repentance because they give up all hope of mercy Where there is such a sense of wrath as this in all respects and for ever the condition is very fearfull 2. Some feele the wrath of God and are hereupon occasionally induced either to the study and care of an holy reformation of their sinful hearts and wayes or to a particular restauration of themselves from grosse sins into which they are falne and for which now they feele the sore displeasures of an angry Father If thy condition be either of these that thou feelest wrath and that hath driven thee to a search of thy naturall estate and to the discovery of it and to an humbling for it and to all the meanes by which thou mayst be delivered as well and rather from thy sinfulnesse as from Gods wrath or if this wrath felt awakens thy conscience and hath been a meanes to scourge thee out of some particular sinning to thy former and better walkings with God thou mayst now safely beleeve on mercy yea though thou as yet feelest wrath yet mayst thou beleeve mercy And my reason is this because now mercy is thy portion thy condition now is right under many promises of mercy to pardon thee for it is a truly penitentiall condition See Esay 55. 7. Ezek. 18. 21 22 Hos 14. 1 2 4. 3. Though mercy be thy portion yet know thou that the sense of wrath will not off untill thou dost beleeve actually on that mercy It is not mercy in the Promise which alone can remove the sense of wrath but it must be mercy applyed by faith for till faith works in the soule of a man till the poore soule looks on God through the Perspective of faith God appeares not as a mercifull but as a wrath full God to it And therefore thou being in such a condition as I have delivered thou mayst safely venture on mercy though thou feelest wrath the forenamed Saints did so and upon beleeving thou shalt in due time feele the sense of mercy to take off the sense of wrath Thy faith will see a reconciled God and then thou shalt enjoy a pacified conscience 3. A third cause of doubting may be a condemning conscience But saith the trembling Christian My conscience tels me of my sinnings and of wonderfull sinfulnesse within me and God is greater then my conscience who will assuredly condemne me O I may not beleeve This seemes to be a knotty Sol. case Whether a person may beleeve Gods absolving of him though Conscience in him be condemning I will deliver my opinion thus 1. First you must distinguish of a condemning conscience Conscience may either condemne 1. A mans action Or 2. His person 1. A mans actions are condemned by Conscience when Conscience being rightly inlightned and informed by the Word of God pronounceth of them that they are evill and damnable that they are contrary to Gods holinesse and glory and therefore are to be abhorred and crucified and forsaken 2. A mans person is condemned by conscience not onely when conscience findes sins in the person but likewise the person in sins i. not onely such corruptions in the heart but also the heart approving and loving of them and resolved to keep them and goe on in them Now observe me in two Conclusions answerable to these two Propositions 1. If