Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	law_n	obedience_n	obligation_n	1,036	5	9.4199	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A63895	A discourse on fornication shewing the greatness of that sin, and examining the excuses pleaded for it, from the examples of antient times : to which is added an appendix concerning concubinage : as also a remark on Mr. Butler's explication of Hebr. xiii, 4 in his late book on that subject / by J. Turner ...	Turner, John, b. 1649 or 50.	1698 (1698)	Wing T3297; ESTC R10983	44,117	68

extenuate the Guilt of his own Ill-Manners And this I think is his Case He would excuse his Adultery under the soft Name of Concubinage and endeavours to prove such Concubinage Innocent from Heb. xiii 4. Marriage is honourable in all and the Bed undefiled but Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge From which words the Argument is formed thus The Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a Particle Copulative and therefore the Words so joined ought to be of a different and distinct Signification This Bed undefiled according to plain Gramatical Construction must be aptly Significant of some certain Bed distinct from the Marriage Bed and that he says must be Concubinage or the Words must start a Riddle hard to be Vnderstood In this is the force of his Argument if it has any but indeed it has none 'T is mere fallacy and sham I will not dispute with him whether the Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be Copulative or Exegetical Let that pass The Determination of this Debate does not turn on so nice a Point I will suppose then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Marriage and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Bed to have distinct Significations But why must this needs mean his Concubinage What will he say if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies here the Marriage Contract and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Consummation of it What Riddle is started by this Meaning Or what Hardship in it to be Understood And this I think is very evidently the Apostles Sense and this Interpretation agreable to Scripture-Phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used for a Marriage or Wedding Matth. xxii 2 3. Jo. ii 1. And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Bed in the Sense I now alledge Rom. ix 10. which our Translators have modestly Translated thus When Rebecca also had conceived 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by one even our Father Isaac And that I may not stand alone in this let Dr. Hammond be consulted on that Place and Grotius on this of Heb. xiii 4. who shews what his Opinion was by that notion of the Essens which he cites as agreable to the Apostles meaning They he says abstained from Marriage attamen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet they neither disallowed Marriage nor the Procreation of Children The purport of the Text then as I take it is this Marriage is honourable and the Consummation of it without Vncleanness The rest of all that fulsom Pamphlet may easily be answered from the foregoing Discourse The next thing therefore to be consider'd is the Concubinage of unmarried Persons that is when a Man and a Woman consociate on promise of Fidelity and Constancy to each other But do not solemnly Marry according to the Laws of their Country In which if it be pleaded that they fulfil the design of God's Institution altho they do not make any solemn Matrimonial Contract as the Laws of the Land require I would offer these things to be seriously consider'd 1. Whether in this pretended Fidelity and Constancy to each other they be truly and conscienciously Sincere i. e. Whether they are so firmly resolved to be thus Constant as to esteem their Seperation to be a Sin and all Consociation with any other to be Adultery This we have seen the Original Institution of Marriage most certainly requires And if Men would examine themselves carefully in this Matter I doubt it would come close to all Persons that live in such a Practice For I doubt it is a thirst for Liberty and an unwillingness to be under so strict a Confinement and Restraint that is the chief Inducement to such Practices For if Men resolve and think themselves bound in Conscience to observe such inseperable Union and Cohabitation as God's Law requires What should hinder them from confirming this Obligation by Legal Solemnities If they do not think themselves thus bound it is certain they are guilty of Fornication But 2. There is a Conscientious Obedience due to all the Civil Constitutions and Laws of the Country where we live This is one of the chief Acts of Subjection which we owe to the Supreme Magistrates and Powers And as God has commanded us to be Obedient to them So to despise their Good Laws is to Sin against God And this is the more Considerable because in a great many Cases the Good or Evil of Humane Actions is to be determined wholly by Municipal Laws As for Example the Laws of Religion oblige us to be Just to all Men and to do no wrong But the Laws of our Country are in a great many Cases the only Standard whereby to discover what is Just and Right and what is not So also in the Case before us The Design of the Gospel as I take it is to condemn all Consociation of Man and Woman as Fornication but in the State of Marriage But then it must be the Laws of our Country that must determine what is Marriage and what is not Which consideration will yet have more Force if we add 3. That Marriage must suppose a Communion of Estates and Fortunes For it cannot be that Persons so united as to be accounted but One Flesh should have divided Interests and separate Estates They are the nearest Relations to each other which the World affords Our Parents from whom we derive our Being and whose Flesh and Blood we are must yet according to God's Command yield to this closer Bond of Unity Man and Wife should be united in Heart and Life and Properties This is agreable to the common Reason of Mankind and therefore the Roman Law declared Marriage to imply a perpetual Consortship of Life with a Communication of all Divine and Humane Rights Nuptiae sunt conjunctio maris feminae consortium omnis vitae divini humani juris communicatio In order to this perpetual Consortship of Life their Law required that the Man should take the Woman to his own House and this was necessary to constitute a Marriage For thus it was enacted Mulierem absenti per litter as ejus vel per nuntium posse nubere placet si in domum ejus deduceretur A Woman might be married to a Man that was absent either by his Letters or by a Messenger provided that she was brought into his House Public Cohabitation was always required And the Communication of their Rights and Interests is by all Nations esteem'd so Natural and Necessary that the Wife whether she brought any Dowry or no has a Right to Maintenance out of the Husbands Estate tho' there preceded no Deed of Settlement And the Husband by Marriage becomes Proprietor of all that Fortune and Estate that before could properly he call'd her own To which end our Liturgy has properly inserted into the Form of Marriage with all my worldly Goods I thee endow For this reason a Public Solemnizing of Marriage according to the Laws of the Land becomes as Necessary to make their Cohabitation Lawful and Innocent as it is to

and countenance and embolden Men in Iniquity but they have the first Original and Source from vicious Practices and are commonly first Devis'd and Broach'd by wicked Men of Immoral Lives to defend their Crimes and quell and stifle the sharp Convictions of a guilty Conscience And these are the Men to whom they prove extreamly pernicious and mischievous So that the most effectual Prevention and Suppression of Blasphemy and Profanceness is to strike at the Root of them and prevent and suppress those Vices that have occasion'd them Had it been in the Power of strong Arguments and sound Reasons and the Authority of Divine Revelation well attested to do this Neither the one or the other could ever have come to that scandalous Height in a Church and a Nation where the Gospel has had the best the most sound and judicious Defence of its Principles and Doctrine that the Christian World ever saw since the Primitive Times of immediate Inspiration But how little force has the brightest Object where the Humours of the Eyes are mudded and clouded when the Power of Reflection is lost and the Medium of Perception so obstructed that it cannot at all affect the Sense How little signifie the strongest Arguments in Spirituals when the Heart is sensual and a Vail cast before the Understanding When the Mind is corrupt the Judgment prejudic'd and byass'd and brib'd to reject their Force and oppose the Truth And this is the Influence which Adultery Fornication and all sensual Uncleanness naturally have on the Mind These in a word are usually the Consequences that attend this Unchristian Practice and when both Character and Fortune Reputation and Estate Body and Soul and that both of themselves and their Posterity are at stake is it not high time to complain And may we not be allow'd to expostulate with Men why they will blind their Eyes and stop their Ears and cherish such gross and palpable Delusions A Vice that is a certain Violation of God's Original Institution and Law made at the first Creation of the World directly contrary to the repeated Commands and Precepts of the Gospel and which besides the other Mischiefs corrupts the Soul debauches Men's Spirits destroys their Consciences and creates great Enmity and strong Aversions to God and to Religion What can be sinful what can be offensive or what can be dangerous to Men's Souls if this be not But how wretched a thing it is to be hardned in Iniquity and debauch'd to a deplorable degree of Inconsideration and Insensibility Wou'd Men calmly and cooly reflect The Shame and Infamy the Beggary and Putrefaction that almost universally attend it might prove a sufficient and effectual Restraint But if Temporal Considerations are not enough yet those who have any Esteem for the Christian Faith and the Doctrines of the Gospel are bound in Tenderness and Compassion to their Souls to have a care Man may allege what they please and there was never yet any Vice but the Parties concern'd in it would plead Not guilty and offer something for its Excuse But there is no withstanding these Reproofs but by direct Apostacy from the Faith nor any way to evade the Force of these Convictions but by throwing aside the whole Authority of Christianity at once There is indeed a Christian Church that wou'd extenuate the Guilt of this Sin by the soft Name of Venial and that I think is the only Plea now left to be made in its Defence But alas what Defence is to be made from the Authority of a Church so notoriously Corrupt both in Faith and Manners and so far degenerated from the Primitive Spirit of Christianity Especially what a Plea is this to those who are not of that Communion Their Opinions are as good a Defence for praying to Images and worshipping of Saints And indeed instead of countenancing this Vice should rather convince us that according to the Universal Blindness which by the Judgment of God has happen'd to them Idolatry and Sensuality must needs go Hand in Hand and as inseparable Companions mutually support and assist each other Be not deceiv'd then with vain Words nor imposed on by such Delusions and frivolous Excuses But fear and tremble at the heavy Judgments which God has threatned and denounc'd Abstain from and avoid so great so dangerous a Sin and so pernicious in its Consequences with as earnest Care as you would Death it self or the very Gates of Hell Deliver thy self therefore from the strange Woman even from the Stranger that flattereth with her Words which forsaketh the Guide of her Youth and forgetteth the Covenant of her God For her House inclineth to Death and her Paths unto the Dead None that go unto her return again neither take they hold of the Paths of Life And especially remember that Faith into which you have been baptiz'd know what manner of Spirit you are of and consider the end of your Conversation God has not call'd you to Vncleanness but to Holiness Your Conversation is in Heaven Mortisie therefore your Members that are on the Earth Fornication Vncleaness Inordinate Affection Evil Concupiscence and Covetousness which is Idolatry For which things sake the Wrath of God cometh on the Children of Disobedience Be ye not therefore partakers with them but as he who hath call'd you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of Conversation AN APPENDIX CONCERNING Concubinage THO the foregoing Discourse does I hope in some measure prove that Fornication is both a great and dangerous Sin yet I have taken notice of such a Modern Distinction between Whoredom and Concubinage as if not rightly understood and cleared may be thought to evade the Force of most if not all of my Arguments It may not therefore be improper to add somewhat by way of Appendix upon that Subject As for Concubinage in a Married State i. e. when either the Man who keeps or the Woman who is kept as a Concubine are married this comes so near the Concubinage of Antient Times that what has been said already may be sufficient to the Determination of that Question For if according to Christ's Interpretation of the Original Institution of Marriage Polygamy be Adultery such Concubinage must be Adultery also let the Pretence be what it will Nor can the Examples of Abraham or Isaac or any other justify us in such things For however God was pleased to Connive at them this Original Institution is a new revealed in the Gospel and our strict Observance of it necessary to Salvation But there is one Argument I have lately met with that indeed did at first surprise me because it came as I suppose from a Graduate in Divinity and pretended the Authority of an Apostle no less than St. Paul or St Barnabas to Vindicate the lawfulness of such a Practise But a little Reflection serves to discover that a disorderly Man of any Profession may easily pervert the meaning of Holy Scripture to excuse or