〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vel ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi Dei curam gerentes and the ships wherein they were sent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and their sacrifices 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And if any object and say That we are and ought to be obedient to the laws of men for conscience sake Rom. 13.5 And therefore humane laws bind conscience I answer That humane laws bind not conscience properly by inherent virtue in themselves but by virtue of the generall law of God which commandeth obedience unto men as water may burn or scald not by any naturall quality from it self but by heat received from fire and a breach is made in conscience not simply because mans law is neglected but because Gods law is broken For Whosoever resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God Rom. 13.2 Lastly Determining either with them or against them which is another act of conscience and that is after application of our actions to their rule to judge of their conformity or difformity thereunto But for the better understanding of conscience consider with me these distinct acts and offices of conscience First to know and keep the law and rule which a man thinketh himself bound to observe and conscience in this respect is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secondly To take notice of a mans actions before they are done to consider what he is about to do after to remember and bear witnesse of them upon occasion judging of the entity and existence of the action as whether done or not done whether with such and such circumstances or without Thirdly To apply the action to the rule and compare these two together which act is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and from it conscience in the Schoolmans opinion hath its name because it is a knowing of the action together with the rule or an applying of these two together Fourthly To judge of the quality of the action according to the rule or of its agreeing or disagreeing to the same and this act is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the last and perfectest act of reason or of conscience And because every law containeth two things 1. A command of obedience 2. A threatning of punishment in case obedience be not performed First conscience judgeth whether the command be kept or transgressed and consequently whether the action for quality be good or evil which is to excuse or accuse Secondly It judgeth of the guilt and desert whether the punishment threatned belong to the agent for this action or not and so absolveth or condemneth These are the intrinsecall acts of conscience which flow immediately from it but by reason of that influence which the understanding hath upon the affections there is a sift act of conscience which is to comfort and torment in respect of good and bad actions past to spurre on to bridle and restrain in respect of good and bad actions to come which it doth by stirring up those foure principall affections of the soul as Aquinas calleth them viz. Joy and Sorrow Hope and Fear but this is but an extrinsecall effect of conscience as I have already shewed All this is done by a practicall syllogisme thus Every one that committeth murder transgresseth the law of God and deserveth everlasting damnation But saith the conscience of him that is guiltie I have committed such an act at such a time in such a place which is murder Therefore I have transgressed the law of God c. He that committeth murder transgresseth the law of God and deserveth everlasting damnation there is the first act of conscience viz. knowledge of the command and of the punishment due to the transgression of it But I have committed such an act in such a place at such a time there is the second act of conscience which is to remember and bear witnesse of a mans actions whether done or not done whether with such and such circumstances or without Which is murder there is the third act application of the generall knowledge to this particular action Therefore I have transgrèssed the law of God there is accusation and deserved everlasting damnation there is sentence of condemnation And upon this sentence in the understanding followeth fear and terrour in the affections And thus much for the explication of the generall nature of conscience and the severall acts and offices thereof The next thing that I am to insist upon is the nature of good conscience and the severall kinds thereof Conscience thus described is either good or bad A good conscience is such a one as is conformable to that rule by which it ought to be guided A bad one is such a one as wants conformity thereunto Both may be distinguished according to their severall subjects into the good and bad conscience of men and of Angels Mans conscience for that onely we are to speak of now is good when conformable to the will of God revealed in the Scriptures Now because the Scripture hath two parts answering to the twofold estate of man before and since the fall viz. the Law and the Gospel hence it cometh to passe that good conscience is twofold either Legally good which hath that perfection which the law requireth or Evangelically good which hath that perfection which the Gospel accepteth unto salvation Of the former sort was the conscience of Adam before his fall of the latter sort was the conscience of Adam after his repentance I might be large in shewing the difference betwixt these two kinds of good conscience but I haste This latter may again be distinguished into an upright conscience and a peaceable conscience An upright conscience is a conscience sprinkled with the blood of Christ or a conscience purified by faith such as is in every man that hath repented him truly of his sinnes past being for the present carefull and willing above all things in all things to live honestly There are these things required to it First That it be well principled and know in some good measure Gods commandments accounting them the rule by which all action is to be guided According to that Psal 119. vers 105. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my paths For as it is necessarily required to the generall nature and working of conscience that it have some principles which it may upon occasion apply to particular actions so it is essentiall to a good or an upright conscience that it know the true rule and be informed with good and honest principles so that so farre as conscience is either ignorant of the true rule or guided by a false so farre it is not good but evil and corrupt and if it be either altogether ignorant of any of the main commandments the practice of which is necessarily required to a Christian life as namely that we must believe in Christ repent of our sinnes and the like or entertain any principle which doth by direct and immediate consequence overthrow any of these it is not
onely secundùm quid but simpliciter and absolutè mala and falleth short of that evangelicall goodnesse which is spoken of in my text And because knowledge of the commandment and things to be practiced doth necessarily presuppose knowledge of the creed and of things to be believed it being impossible he should not erre in principles of action who is ignorant of the fundamentall points of faith for example he that thinketh there is no God or no Christ or that they regard not mens actions to reward the good and punish the bad or that is ignorant of any of these three propositions he can never lay down this for a practicall conclusion That God is to be served or Christ to be obeyed For he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Heb. 11.6 hence it cometh to passe that a knowledge assent to the fundamentall points of faith at least generall and confused is necessarily required to integrity of conscience as being the foundation of that practicall knowledge which ought to be the rule of our actions Secondly As the second act of conscience in generall was to take notice of a mans actions so it is required in the second place to the nature of an upright conscience that out of a godly solicitude and fear to offend God it observe a mans carriage and take notice of his actions that it consider before his actions what he is about to do that it remember and bear witnesse afterward what he hath done that so they may be applyed to their rule And this is actio intellectûs imperaeta à voluntate And therefore those men that out of a naturall strength of memory or because of some extraordinary impression that some notorious sinnes have made in them remember their evil actions against their will whereas they would forget them that so they might be secure or those that out of carnall security take no notice of their actions but do things rashly hand over head afterward carelessely forget what they have done have not integrity of conscience I speak not here of that forgetfulnesse which proceedeth from a defect in memory but either from a custome of sinne as those that have got such a habit of swearing that they know not when they swear or from grosse security and want of fear of the Lord. Thirdly That it apply a mans actions to the right rule impartially And this likewise is actio intellectûs imperata à voluntate and proceedeth from that godly solicitude which I spake of before And therefore those men that apply not their actions at all to the law of God or if they do do it partially grossely favouring themselves in their sinnes as being loth to find them out or to part with them have not integritie of conscience Nay these are far from having it For Nemo periculosiùs peccat quà m qui peccata defendit None sinne more desperately then those that find out colours and excuses to cover and extenuate their sinne And this impartiall application must be before and after our actions before that sinne may be avoyded after that if we have sinned we may repent Of the former we have a notable example in Joseph who when his Mistresse tempted him to that wicked act consented not immediately unto her but out of a godly solicitude and fear to offend God applyeth the action to the law of God and upon impartiall application finding it to be unlawfull returneth her this answer How shall I do this great wickednesse and sinne against God Of the latter we have an example in the Prophet David Psalm 119.59 I thought on my wayes and turned my feet to thy testimonies And the want of this impartiall application as it is the cause of mens lying in sinne without repentance so it is the cause of their first fall into sinne Hoc nos pessimos facit quòd nemo vitam suam respicit saith Seneca For upon impartiall application necessarily followeth the fourth act of an upright conscience which is the conclusion of the former premisses to wit a true and sincere judgement of the action according to the commandment at least so farre as conscience shall be inlightned and inabled to judge or a determination that those particular actions are good which are indeed such and that those are evil which are in their nature evil And this likewise is either before or after our actions If this practicall judgement of an upright conscience be before our actions then the effect of it is cohibere à malo instigare ad bonum to spurre us on to the practice of good and to restrain us effectually from evil which efficacious power the understanding hath upon the will and affections and consequently upon the whole man virtute prioris actûs voluntatis by virtue of a former complete and peremptory resolution of the will whereby we are resolved to choose that which is good and refuse that which is evil where ever we meet with it which is that very desire in all things to live honestly which the Apostle speaketh of in my text For that desire which is the foundation of the Apostles trust is not a bare velleity but a completa voluntas which when he came to particulars put him upon action And therefore those men whose consciences put them not upon the practice of good nor restrain them effectually from evil but suffer them to live in the wilfull omission of good or commission of evil have not integritie of conscience If the action be past and bad for quality then the judgement of an upright conscience is to accuse and condemne that is to judge the sinne worthy damnation And the effect of this is grief and sorrow not onely for the punishment we have made our selves obnoxious to but for the sin it self And therefore seared consciences which never smite men for their sins and secure consciences which do it but sometimes and for grosser sinnes and on the other side wicked tormenting consciences which cause grief onely for the punishment and not for the offence such as was Cain's My sinne is greater then I can bear these kinds of consciences are not upright But if the action past be good for matter and manner then the act of conscience should be to excuse and absolve that is to pronounce it such as God is well pleased with and doth accept to salvation in Christ And the effect of this is joy and comfort such as none can expresse and such as a carnall man cannot conceive But because no action is accepted with this kind of acceptation unlesse it proceed from justifying faith For without faith it is impossible to please God to salvation Heb. 11.6 and consequently from an upright conscience which is a necessary attendant of faith For faith purifieth the heart hence it cometh to passe that a man cannot know that any act he doth is such unlesse he know his conscience to be upright
the creatour of all things having no superiour to impose a law upon him and consequently none that hath either right or power to inflict any punishment cannot be said properly to have a conscience yet we may conceive some analogy betwixt some acts of his understanding and the excusing acts of conscience properly so called For there being in him an eternall law or rule which he hath purposed from eternity in all his works of creation to observe his understanding may reflect upon the works of his hands compare them with this rule and judge them conformable thereunto Thus God saw every thing that he had made and behold it was exceeding good Gen. 1. that is very artificiall agreeable to that idea which God the most skilfull workman before the beginning had set down for himself to do all things by Nor onely doth the understanding of God reflecting upon his actions judge of that artificiall bonity which is in them but also of the morall For there being certain generall practicall notions of good and evil naturally seated in the understanding of God according to which his will the fountain of action is moved for his will is not properly to speak the rule of it self but is guided by counsel his understanding may reflect upon the morall acts of his will compare them with their rule and accordingly judge them just and good pronouncing an approving sentence upon them which hath much analogy and agreement with the excusing act of conscience properly so called Thirdly In all reasonable creatures because it is impossible that any reasonable creature should be without conscience it being a part of the understanding and if any seem to have lost it they have onely lost the use thereof as a mad man or a drunken man hath lost the use of reason and that but for a time For God will one day awake those consciences that were here asleep give mouths to those that here were dumbe so that they shall speak and never cease to speak judgement horrour confusion death For the condemning sentence of such a conscience doth but remain like letters written with the juice of Oranges to be made legible by the fire of Gods wrath Fourthly Applying their actions to some rule Here we have the proper act of conscience together with the object of it Where first we are to understand morall actions not such as are merely naturall For these latter cannot be comprehended in the object of conscience none being ever so mad as to think there was either virtue or vice in them they being the actions not of us but of nature in us and consequently conscience cannot to speak properly either excuse or accuse us for them Indeed it may tell us we have not done ill in them because they are neither good nor bad but this is not properly to excuse for to excuse properly is to judge that a man hath done well and virtuously either in a voluntary choosing of some good which he had power to have refused or in a voluntary refusing some evil which he might have chosen Secondly we are to take action not strictly for externall morall action onely but largely as it comprehendeth both words and thoughts For though mans law extend no further then the outward man Hominum leges non nisi externam honestatem requirunt nec penetrant usque ad internum cor animum ratio est quia neque corda vident legislatores nec ipsorum providentia extenditur ultra civilitatem externam yet Gods Law which is the rule of conscience is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart Heb. 4.12 And therefore the Psalmist calleth it a perfect law converting the soul Psal 19. Thirdly all omission of morall action is hither to be referred whether it be directè or indirectè volita whether it be a velle non agere or a non velle agere when we may and ought For conscience beareth witnesse of our omission as well as of our commission of our not doing as well as of our doing Fourthly their actions for the object of conscience is our own actions For conscience is a power that the soul hath to reflect upon it self and to judge it self And therefore not others actions but onely so farre as they are made ours either by imputation grounded upon nature as the sinne of Adam or else because we are some way a cause of the sinnes of others either positively by furthering them or privatively by not hindring them when we should and might And in this sense that saying of St Gregory is true Qui non corrigit resecanda committit so likewise in the same sense another prayeth Lord forgive me my other mens sinnes But otherwise the sinnes of others which we are no wayes guiltie of though they may be objects of our science and must be objects of our grief too if we see and know them yet they need not at all to trouble our conscience Fifthly Which it conceiveth to be the law of God These words I adde for a twofold reason 1. Because it is not necessarily required to the generall nature and working of conscience that the thing we make conscience of should be truly commanded it is sufficient if conscience apprehend it to be so Thus some out of an erroneous principle make conscience of worshiping reliques of adoring images of praying to Saints others again oppose those laudable ceremonies which tend to order decency and edification in the Church though God never required these things at their hands because they conceive themselves bound thereunto by a true and reall command 2. Because it is not necessary that are party commanding or giving the law should be truly and indeed God it is sufficient to the generall working of conscience that conscience conceive him so And therefore the Heathen made conscience of those commands which the Devil gave them in the Oracles because they thought that God spake by them and in them Virgil giveth us two examples of this in one place of his second book of his Aeneid Suspensi Eurypylum scitatum oracula Phoebi Mittimus Ãsque adytis haec tristia dicta reportat Sanguine placastis ventos virgine caesâ Cùm primùm Iliacas Danai venistis ad oras Sanguine quaerendi reditus animâque litandum Argolica vulgi quae vox ut venit ad aures Obstupuere animi gelidúsque per imacucurrit Ossa tremor cui fata parent quem poscat Apollo But it is necessary that conscience conceive both the command to be reall and the party commanding to be truly God else it cannot bind us to obey the command or to fear the commander For God onely who is creatour of conscience hath this priviledge to bind conscience And none can give this subjection to any but to such a one as he apprehendeth to be more then a creature And therefore the Heathen were wont to call those that were sent to inquire of their oracles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
and purged by faith which reflexed act because it necessarily presupposeth integrity of conscience for a man cannot know that his conscience is pure unlesse it be so therefore this is not essentiall to integrity but to peace of conscience And so I proceed to the second kind of good conscience which is a peaceable conscience A peaceable conscience includeth all that I have said of an upright conscience and superaddeth something more For though every peaceable conscience be an upright conscience yet every upright conscience is not alwayes able to speak peace That which it superaddeth is a power to reflect upon it self and to testifie that it is upright and purged with the bloud of Christ For as a man may be alive and not know that he is alive as a child in his mothers wombe or a man in some distemper so it is possible that a man may have faith and a good conscience and yet either through his own weaknesse or some other extraordinary distemper or temptation not know for the present that his conscience is good But when he is confidently perswaded upon good ground that all his sinnes are pardoned and that his person is justified and at peace with God then he hath not onely uprightnesse but peace of conscience And so I have done with the second thing I was to treat of the nature of good conscience in generall the kinds of it I passe unto the third And that is what kind of good conscience S. t Paul meaneth when he saith We trust we have a good conscience First His words are not to be understood of a conscience Legally good or at the barre of Justice For it implieth a contradiction that any sonne of fallen Adam should have such a conscience for then he should be fallen and not fallen faln because a son of fallen Adam not fallen because his conscience were legally good For this is the sentence of the law Cursed is every one that abideth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them it must therefore be understood of a conscience Evangelically good or at the barre of mercy Secondly An upright conscience must be understood and not a peaceable one For though without doubt St Paul had a peaceable conscience and these very words do imply as much because he was perswaded upon good ground that his conscience was good yet that goodnesse which is the object of his trust is goodnesse of integrity not of tranquillity because his trust is built upon this groūd that he was willing in all things to live honestly which necessarily inferreth integritie but not tranquillitie of conscience because a man may desire in all things to live honestly and yet sometime for the present not have peace of conscience Thus you see the meaning of the proposition St Paul had an upright conscience This I might demonstrate à priori from the causes of integritie as 1. The Spirit of God the chief authour thereof which was not wanting to St Paul 2. The word of God the externall instrument which St Paul was not ignorant of 3. Faith resting upon the promises of that word the internall instrument thereof wherewith he did abound I might likewise prove it à posteriori and shew you that St Pauls whole life after his conversion which lasted from the year of our Saviours passion till the fourth year before the destruction of Jerusalem in all about thirty seven years was nothing else but a continuall exercise of an upright conscience And here I might shew you what he did for conscience sake how he travelled to preach the word of God in Arabia in Galatia and phrygia in Syria Asia and Italy in France Spain and other countries and that in the mean time whereas he might as good reason he might waiting on the altar have been partaker with the altar he notwithstanding laboured working with his hands that he might not be burdensome to any 1. Cor. 4. He wronged no man corrupted no man defrauded no man 2. Cor. 7. 'T is not his own testimony of himself but the testimony of the spirit of truth by him and of him I might here shew likewise what he suffered for conscience sake of the Jews five times he received fourty stripes save one thrice he was beaten with rods once stoned he was stock'd at Philippi after again apprehended at Jerusalem kept prisoner two years at Caesarea from thence sent bound to Rome where he was put to death by Nero that sanguisuga that cruell and blood-thirstie tyrant But that time which is remaining bids me make haste First then it followeth from this proposition That every man is bound to get integrity of conscience For what St Paul saith here of himself is not proper to him but common to all believers And therefore if St. Paul not as St Paul but as a believer have an upright conscience it followeth secundùm id generis quod est in specie That every true believer hath an upright conscience and that every man is bound to get one Here likewise vanisheth like the morning dew before the sun the opinion of those that are so farre from goodnesse themselves that they think there is no such thing in rerum natura in the wide world as good conscience that the state of regeneration is but precisenesse that true holinesse is but an idea or an ens rationis a Plato's common-wealth or a mere phansie created in the heads of some fond and scrupulous men That think with the Thnetopsychitae that the souls of men are mortall and perish with their bodies or with the Sadduces and Simon Magus that there is no resurrection or with Pope Leo the tenth that the story of the birth death and resurrection of Christ is but futilis anilis fabula an old-wifes tale fit for nothing but to fear fools and keep people in awe or perhaps to be a bait to catch such fish as St Peter fished for that have their mouths full of silver or that think with the Atheist that there is no God or at least with Epicurus that there is no providence that forsooth it cannot stand with the majesty of God to regard what is done in this inferiour world scilicet is superis labor est making God as Tertullian complaineth Otiosum inexercitum neminem in rebus humanis But this web is not worth sweeping down I will not therefore honour the heresie pardon my mistake I cannot afford it so good a name because it is a universall revolt but the Apostacy the Atheism so much as to spend time to coufute it I will rather turn my arguments against them into prayers to God for them that if it be possible the thought of their hearts may be forgiven them for they are in the gall of bitternesse and in the bond of iniquitie And for our selves let it ever be our humble prayer to Almighty God that of all judgements he would keep from us spirituall judgements blindnesse of mind
hardnesse of heart a reprobate sense c. Ever praying as the Church Letany directeth us From all false doctrine heresie from hardnesse of heart and contempt of thy word and commandments good Lord deliver us And Grant we beseech the O Lord that we may never make shipwrack of faith and good conscience the Ark and ship wherein faith is preserved And so I proceed to a just censure of those that neglect integrity of conscience and here it is no lesse then a wonder to behold how conscience is neglected on every side which yet is not so wonderfull as lamentable The covetous man sells the integrity of his conscience for a little red and white earth one of the basest things in the world if we except the party that adores it and maketh it his God which when he hath got the Chest he putetth it into may be said to possesse it as truly as he For it keepeth it clausum possidet arca Jovem and he doth no more For he is afraid to use it Quaerit inventis miser abstinet timet uti The ambitious man selleth it for the thing called Honour which can neither be got nor enjoyed without labour and travail Fructus honos oneris fructus honoris onus And therefore the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth honour cometh à radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies ponderosum esse to be heavy or burthensome To which we may apply that of St. Augustine Qui te amat non te cognoscit qui te contemnunt ipsi te intelligunt The envious man for a little 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a short rejoycing at the misery of his brethren The vain glorious man for the breath of the multitude which he can enjoy no longer then he is every mans servant Vniversis singulisque servit servus gloriae The adulterer for a momentany dalliance which perhaps leaveth rottennesse behind it in his bones The proud person that doteth upon apparell the thing that blazons mans downfall and the devils conquest puts of integrity of conscience as a wear out of fashion to put on a phantastick garment which may force the beholders into wonder not so much at the strangenesse of the unwonted habit as the monstrous folly of the party that wears it Nazianzen affords these no better a name then silk-wormes or butterflies and doubtlesse such ridiculous creatures they are in the eyes of God and his Saints and Angels who value not the adorning of the outward man but the comely ornament of an upright and undefiled conscience The beastly intemperate drunkard and glutton pardon the weaknesse of the expression chops away the integrity of his conscience for a sinne which turnes men into swine with such devilish charms that they would not leave their bruitish nature for their former reason or if you will for a pleasure scarce two fingers long quae non durat nisi quantum durat transitus ille per gulam which continues but whilst the meat passeth from mouth to stomach and that too is but an anteambulo to usher in a thousand pains and distempers Such pleasures as these are but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deceitfull mistresses or rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bitter-sweet delights or pleasures mixt with pain Of which St. Cyprian excellently Voluptatem vicisse voluptas est maxima The greatest pleasure is to overcome these pleasures The sacrilegious Church-robber puts out the integrity of his conscience by putting forth his unhallowed hand to purloyn that which is sacred and to eat the forbidden fruit upon which God hath set a noli me tangere This stole a good conscience from Adam and cast him out of paradise whilst he robbed God of his forbidden fruit and I fear it hath deprived many a sonne of Adam not onely of the integrity of his conscience but of his earthly inheritance I le adde but one instance more and that is those restlesse spirits whose cheif study it is without call from God by wicked contrivement and sinfull practices to enervate and weaken that wholesome established government which through the provident care of vertuous kings and religious parliaments hath a longe time flourished and still doth flourish thanks be to God and a good King both in Church and state These sell integrity of conscience for swarms of discontented thoughts whereby they do but turn themselves into hives of unnumbred cares sorrows and passions make themselves in an especiall manner the outlawryes of heaven and sometimes procure their own just and deserved punishment Thus I have run through some sinnes no lesse dangerous then common it would not be hard were it not too tedious to do the like in all professions but I 'le onely instance in one without private spleen to place or person and that is the unconscionable tradesman And for the rest because time will not permit I leave their own consciences to make the application A man would blesse himself to think what a world of mysteries are found out in every trade what tricking and counterfesance to delude the sense what intricate devices of sophistry dissimulation what lying equivocating perhaps swearing and forswearing and all this for the getting of a little mony which when it is lawfully got is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 16.9 that is not Mamon about which the sonnes of men use to be unrighteous as some understand the words but Mamona fallax so Beza that is deceivable and uncertain riches when compassed by lawfull means and no fit objects for us to trust upon being such things as are but got out of the bowels of the earth and which they that have them are forced many times like Euclio in Plautus to hide there again And yet notwithstanding how ordinary is it with men for the getting of this trash to transgresse both against religion and reason as if they hoped that after this life there were nothing to be hoped for and to violate the laws of justice in their unequall weights and measures in their abusing ignorant and unskilfull chapmen whereas commutative justice observes proportionem arithmeticam an arithmeticall proportion which is immutably one and the same in respect of all persons of what quality soever Such as these sell integrity of conscience for gain and yet gain nothing by that bargain but the losse of their souls whilst with the golden book they swallow down the worm of conscience and barter away their own eternall happinesse for very trifles which if they did but like the good merchant buy that pearl our Saviour speaks of Matth. 13. should as farre as were convenient as a mantissa or an overplus be cast in at their bargain But if any shall make profession of religion profits stirrup to get up by and bait craft with humility rough casting his countenance as if by an hypocriticall monopoly he had ingrost all honesty and integrity of conscience that he may the more easily deceive his case is farre worse then the