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conscience_n law_n sin_n transgression_n 2,525 5 10.8527 5 true
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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A26158 Ten sermons preach'd before Her Royal Highness, the Princess Ann of Denmark at the chappel at St. James by Lewis Atterbury ... LL.D. and one of the six preachers to Her Royal Highness. Atterbury, Lewis, 1656-1731. 1699 (1699) Wing A4157; ESTC R35290 112,085 264

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Damnation and such as only deserve some Temporary Punishment Especially since under the Head of venial Sins they rank the grossest Enormities so that even Murder shall become a venial Sin if committed to maintain a Man's Honour or under Pretence of returning some trivial Affront A Box on the Ear has been made by some Jesuitical Casuists a justifiable Provocation for a Man to imbrue his hands in the Blood of his Neighbour tho' our Saviour has in express Terms determin'd the quite contrary so plainly do these Men make void the Law of God by their Traditions and Distinctions But 2. We must abstain even from lawful and justifiable Actions if they appear Evil to us For we are told That whatsoever is not of Faith is sin i. e. Rom. 14.23 whosoever doth any Action without that perswasion and assurance of Mind of the Lawfulness of his doings which is here call'd Faith he sins in so doing 'T is therefore our Duty to Act according to the present Perswasion of our own Minds and having us'd the best means to inform our Consciences of what is good and lawful convenient and most expedient to be done and by consequence most pleasing unto God to walk according to our knowledge in Uprightness and Integrity And there is no Question but he who thus Acts according to the Light of his own Conscience and performs what he sincerely believes to be his Duty will be more excusable when he doth amiss than that Man who thinks he Acts in Contradiction to the Divine Will and his own Knowledge tho' he should happen to be in the right For no Actions are good without the rectitude of the Will of him who performs them and therefore he who resolves upon an Action which he believes to be a Transgression of the Divine Law doth violence to his own Conscience and commits a very heinous Sin tho' the Action in it self should be lawful and Praise-worthy For our Conscience is God's Vicegerent in our Souls and sustains the part of a Judge as well as a Witness and Accuser and supposing our Conscience duly inform'd whilst we follow its Determinations we cannot do amiss But yet this is not so to be understood as if we were hereby excus'd from performing a known and absolutely necessary Duty only because we are not fully satisfy'd in the Lawfulness of every minute Circumstance which is requir'd to the performance of it This would administer Fuel to such perplexity and scruples in the Service of God as would render Christ's easie Yoke far more Burthensome than all the Rites and Ceremonies of the jewish-Jewish-Law If therefore we are commanded by an unquestionable Authority to perform an Action which our Consciences tell us is lawful and necessary to be done our Christian Prudence will direct us not to be too nice in weighing every particular Circumstance but in this Case to prefer our Submission to a known Law of God or our lawful Governours before the trivial Doubts of an unsetled and wavering Conscience And the Reason is plain because the willful Omission of a known Duty is certainly a grievous Sin whereas we are not certain whether the performing of it with that questionable Circumstance is so or no and therefore common Prudence will direct us rather to venture upon some Circumstances of an Action we are not so fully satisfy'd in than on the Omission of a known Duty which is certainly a Sin and to abstain from those Actions which are manifestly Evil rather than from those which have only the Appearance of it Thus a common Soldier is oblig'd to execute the Commands of his Superiour Officer a Servant of his Master without playing the Casuist and nicely enquiring into the Reason of them they are only the hands which are to execute what the Head Commands and if the Action is not plainly Contradictory to the known Laws of God or the Land they ought to Obey Their Superiours will be answerable for all the lesser Defects whilst there will be great Allowances made to that Man who for the maintenance of Order and Discipline Peace and Charity not only Sacrifices his own private Opinions but squares his Actions in things of lesser moment so as to comply with the great Ends of Government But 3. We must abstain from such Actions as have any Tendency to incite ensnare and tempt us unto Sin and avoid as far as possibly we can all such things as are the necessary Occasions and Incentives unto Evil For he that wills the Cause wills the necessary Effects and Consequences which follow thereupon he that exposes himself to Temptation is Blame-worthy tho' he doth not fall into it nor is over-power'd thereby 'T is the Business and Duty of a reasonable Being by reflecting on its past Actions to collect from thence what will be the necessary Effects and Consequences of things and to avoid not only those things which are Evil in the least Degree but also all those which were the Inlets and Inducements to it The true spiritual Warrior will not have any Parley with his Enemy he stands continually on his Guard and will not suffer him to make the least Approaches towards him well knowing that he is only then secure when his Enemies have not the Power and Ability to hurt him and that the first step towards his Ruin is to be secure Psal 30.6 and to fansie he stands so fast that he can never be moved It will be therefore the wisest Course for every one to consider what Sins he is most addicted to what Vices bear the greatest sway in his Temper and Constitution how he comes to be betray'd into these Sins what were the Occasions the Motives and Inducements to them and let him take up the Resolution of the Psalmist I will set no wicked thing before mine Eyes Psal 101.3 I will remove far from me all such Objects and Examples Shews and Appearances as may prove a snare to me and betray me into Sin Thus for Example If he finds himself of a malicious and revengeful Temper let him as much as possibly he can avoid being Angry let him endeavour to subdue and keep under his Passion when first rais'd and throw these Coals out of his Bosom as soon as he can for 't is impossible that he should retain them long the●e and not be burnt Anger maintain'd and encourag'd turns naturally either into Fury or Malice and when once it degenerates into either of these Devilish Tempers of Mind who knows what will be the mischievous Effects of it That spark which might easily have been suppress'd will be ungovernable when blown up into a Flame and therefore 't is the safest way either to bring our selves to such a meek and humble Temper of Mind as not to be angry at all Or to restrain it within its due Bounds and hereby prevent its being criminal and sinful If he finds himself addicted to Uncleanness and Lust let him make a Covenant with his Eyes Rom. 13.14