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	sin_n	transgression_n	2,525	5	10.8527	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42271	A vindication of the conforming clergy from the unjust aspersions of heresie, &c. in answer to some part of Mr. Jenkyn's funeral sermon upon Dr. Seaman : with short reflexions on some passages in a sermon preached by Mr. J.S. upon 2 Cor. 5:20 : in a letter to a friend.	Grove, Robert, 1634-1696.	1676 (1676)	Wing G2161; ESTC R21762	47,478	87

improve it to their best advantage And now we can hear of nothing but Heresie and wonderful jealousies of a new Edition of the Cracovian Catechism to be shortly printed at London And here they have secured a good retreat if they should ever chance any more to be worsted in the field They cannot but suppose as unaccomplished as we may be that we are not ignorant how often they have been forced to change their Plea a great sign of a bad Cause Sometimes the things in debate betwixt us are unlawful in themselves sometimes they are allowed to be indifferent but then it is absolutely unlawful to impose them or to submit unto them being imposed sometimes they are bitter enemies to Toleration and sometimes there is nothing so good as Liberty and Indulgence And when men do thus shift their opinions and face about so many times as their circumstances alter there is none so weak but must needs suspect that they never stood upon any very solid foundations Besides most of the matters that have always made the greatest noise are such as cannot likely create a scruple of any long continuance in any mans breast For how can it be thought that God should be angry with us for the doing of that which he never forbad us to do This is not any transgression of the Law and therefore may not be esteemed a sin For who can have the least Reason to imagine that his conscience can possibly be defiled by seeing another wear a Surplice or by kneeling himself when he partakes of the holy Eucharist or by beholding a sign of the Cross made upon the forehead of an Infant after Baptism He that has been a little terrified and discomposed by the hideous cryes that have been made concerning Popery and Superstition may be like enough to have some doubts within himself for a time when he shall hear these things so vehemently accused as they have been for Idolatrous and Antichristian practices But when he shall begin seriously to examine himself by the standing Rules and Measures of Good and Evil he cannot reasonably take them to be sinful because it cannot be made appear that they are repugnant to any Law of God or Nature So that when once the fright is over these cannot be effectual any longer to keep any great numbers of the more considerative part of the People from returning to the Obedience and Communion of the Church And therefore I guess but will not be peremptory that those Dissenters who are unwilling to be convinced may have a design to twist in some Doctrinal Controversies with those of Discipline which now begin to be less odious than once they were If it were not so I cannot understand what should make them so ready as some of them have been to fix a charge of no less than Heresie where they have so little occasion for it When all their ancient Ramparts and Bullworks are either taken from them or battered to the ground they must throw up something to defend themselves in case of assault till fresh succours can arrive and be put into the place And now methinks I see Mr. Jenkyn again standing within the Breach with his Doublet off and his Pickaxe lying by and his Shovel in his hand and casting up Dirt as hard as he can drive and crying out once more What a company of uncatechised Vpstarts do we now behold venting as confidently their heretical Notions as I do throw this Dirt in their Faces Never fear their malapart and saucy Ignorance these empty and unaccomplished Predicants that preach our Sermons if we should chance to fall into the hands of this young brood of Theologues they 'll certainly plunder us of all that we have to say no worse Therefore come on my brave Boys let us fight gallantly and resolve to stand it out to the last Man and whatever you do be sure to cry out Heresie Heresie as loud as ever you are able that 's the thing must do our business when all is done Therefore c. I cannot tell what influence the Rhetorick and Example of so great a Commander may have upon the common Men to put them into a desperate fit but this I dare assure you that if they had no abler Souldiers in the Garrison than he you would hear of a surrender very shortly Non tali auxilio However Good Man he was willing to do the best he could and hearing it may be from some or other that it might be of excellent use towards the support of the Good Old Cause if the people could be perswaded that the Conformists were a company of uncatechised Vpstarts that did confidently vent their heretical Notions c. as he is I guess a Man of something a hottish temper he presently takes the Alarm and away he runs with it and the next occasion he rattles it out but with so little artifice and cunning and so very impertinently and without the least shadow of a Reason that I believe hereafter we shall be esteemed very sober and orthodox persons and he will never be accounted by those that know him a Man of a sound judgment more But still there is need of all Devices imaginable to maintain a tottering Cause and there is none more effectual than to lay Heresie to the charge of their Adversaries For whether they be guilty or no it is but to affirm it boldly as Mr. Jenkyn has done and there will be always some wise enough to believe whatever is said And this I take to be one occasion that this scandalous Report has spread so far Another may possibly be the calmness and moderation which the greatest part of the Conforming Clergy are wont to use when they happen to discourse of a controverted point They do not confute their Opponent with a rude and insignificant noise nor think that they shall ever convince him by hard words and ill names which are the only Arguments that some Men are able to manage But they consider and are willing to make allowances for the common infirmities of Humane Understandings and the strong prejudices of Education and therefore they treat all Men gently and are not rudely clamorous in their Discourses but hope the best and think as charitably as they can of those that are of a different Perswasion This you know to be the judgment and practice of great numbers of the Conformable Divines They aim at the peace and good of the World And this is that that hath raised them so many Enemies of all sorts this is that which hath made them Hereticks If it were not too sad a thing to think that so excellent and Christian a design as this of theirs seems to be should meet with such violent and bitter opposition it were no unpleasant sight to behold how eagerly they are pursued by the several petty interests that agree in nothing else and how quietly they do stand their ground and receive the shock of them all with as much

People should be told and made to know the great Excellency of Christianity and the most solid and undeniable Evidences upon which we have received it For if they do not competently understand these things they can neither praise God for the great blessing of the Gospel of his Grace nor are they like to continue constant in the Exercise and Profession of our Holy Religion if they be not taught how far it excels all others and what solid Foundations it is built upon But what an easie matter is it to question the Prudence of the very best of any Man's actions If I were desirous to find fault with this Sermon the first thing I would do should be to say that it was not Prudently written that it argued not a more than common Sagacity and Judgment to join with the adverse Party in accusing his Brethren and to put Arms into their hands when there are so many Enemies of several sorts that wait but an opportunity to ruine the Church Others might be apt to pretend that in this Discourse concerning Ambassadors his design was either to shew his own skill in the Mysteries of State or to advise his Majesty how those he employed abroad ought to be qualified or to tell those Reverend Persons that might chance to hear him what subjects were most proper to be treated of or to remind the rest of his Auditors when their Preachers were to be blamed And they might be like enough to say that it was altogether as Prudently done to shew an ordinary Congregation the true grounds of their Belief as for any one to vaunt himself for being a great Politician or to teach his Majesty how to chuse his Foreign Ministers or to instruct the Clergy how to Preach or to acquaint the People how to pick quarrels with their spiritual Guides As for that particular with which he seems not to be satisfied I have heard many as good weighty and solid Discourses upon it as this of his is but I never knew any Man that was wont to preach of nothing else Or if there be any such as this reproof that is given them seems to imply I think it may be altogether as Prudent and to as good purpose to be continually magnifying of our Religion as to be frequently sowing of groundless jealousies in the Minds of Men to the great scandal and dishonour of our Christian Profession The other place that I shall take notice of is where he says he cannot but animadvert a while upon those false Apostles and deceitful Workers who instead of building are ever pecking at the Foundation of our Faith with their Axes and Hammers in great Blasphemies and lesser Criticisms to change the old sound word of Reconciliation for new Ideas and devices of their own and other mens brains I am not able to conceive whom he describes by this Character he gives But he goes on That would supplant Christian Religion with Natural Theologie And who these should be too I cannot conjecture There is undoubtedly a Reverence of our Maker that is required by those Principles and common Notions that are imprinted upon our Souls And we are no more absolved from the obligation that lyes upon us to worship him on this account than we are from Justice and Temperance or any other Duty which the same Law of Nature does most strictly enjoin And I do not apprehend how this should be so much a supplanting as a confirmation of the Christian Religion when it shall be made appear to be extremely consonant and agreeable to the Dictates of our own minds and that in very many Instances of our obedience to Almighty God we have a double tye by which we are bound that of Nature and that of his written and most Holy Word But it follows And turn the Grace of God into a wanton Notion of Morality I know of no Offenders in this kind But there are many Duties of the Gospel which may methinks without any scandal be called moral Virtues in respect of the matter of them and Graces with reference to the Divine Power by which we are inabled to perform them And this I take to be as much as any Man amongst us will contend for But let Men call things by what Names they please if they be but conscientious to practise as they should I shall move no controversie about a word But he proceeds to the heaviest part of the charge That impiously deny both the Lord that bought them and his Holy Spirit that should seal them to the day of Redemption This is as much as can be said unless he will accuse us of professed Atheism And if he know of any such as he mentions let him discover them let them be openly branded for the worst of Hereticks and let them suffer the utmost rigour and severity of the Law But if he be not able to convince us of the truth of what he has said how will he answer it to his own Conscience and what Recompence will he make to the Church of God that has been highly scandalized by this bold affront that he has offered unto it But let us see how he goes on Making Reason Reason Reason their only Trinity This is as much as to say that they are Socinians and utterly deny the Doctrine of the blessed Trinity This is a thing that I have spoken of before and I need say no more of it here But what if I should say that some Men make Applause Applause Applause their only Trinity there are more I fear that would be found guilty of this error than of the other and it is not Reason but a vain-glorious humour and a desire of being admired that is wont to destroy Mens Principles and to incline them to Heretical Opinions All considerative Men of all Perswasions do grant us a sober use of our Reason in matters of Religion but I have not been acquainted with any that do Idolize and adore it in such a manner as is pretended I have yet heard of none in this Church who do not firmly believe that it is necessary to have our Understandings illuminated by Divine Revelation and to have all our Faculties strengthened by the efficacious Assistances of the Holy Ghost Which is far enough sure from preaching up Natural and Moral Religion without the Grace of God and Faith in Christ as this Gentleman tells us they do After this amongst other things he has a good saying of Socrates and he might have gathered a great many of other Mens to the same purpose but then he brings in his cutting Epiphonema so far do they outstrip a very Heathen that teach a good life will carry men to Heaven though they be Jews Turks Antichristians or never such damnable Hereticks in point of Faith This is strange Doctrine indeed but the best of it is I never knew any Man so bold that durst maintain it Then he tells us what need there is of a Test for such as