Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	spirit_n	testimony_n	witness_v	1,787	5	10.0023	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19506	Three heavenly treatises, concerning Christ [brace] 1. His genealogie, 2. His baptisme, 3. His combat with Sathan : together vvith deuout meditations, for Christian consolation and instruction / by Mr. William Cowper ...	Cowper, William, 1568-1619.	1612 (1612)	STC 5936; ESTC S1075	105,109	365

could make bread no other way but of stones onely and therefore neyther will our Sauiour graunt the first nor yet doe the second though otherwise hee could haue done it because both of them were proponed to vrge him to diffidence If thou be the Sonne of God SAthan knew that Iesus was the Sonne of God and afterwards hee confesseth it yet such is the malice of his nature that hee fighteth against his knowne light Hee knew that God had forbidden Adam and Euah to eate of the Tree hee knew that if they did eate they should die yet was hee bold to perswade them the contrary And that which by an Historicall Faith he beleeueth himselfe hee perswadeth his wretched captiues eyther to deny it as a false thing or to doubt of it as an vncertaine thing Hee beleeueth there is a God and trembleth but how many Fooles are there in the world blinded by him who haue said in their harts There is no God Hee beleeueth there is a Iudgement to come wherein greater torment abideth him then yet is laid vpon him and yet he perswadeth his Infidels to scorne and mocke at it as a thing which neuer will be Thus as the Pharisies made their Proselytes tenne times more the children of the Diuell then themselues so Sathan makes his schollers professe points of Atheisme which himselfe durst neuer auouch and to misbeleeue some points of Religion which hee himselfe beleeueth to be true Now if Sathan durst call this in doubt to Christ whether or no hee was the Sonne of God what maruell if he dare call the like in doubt vnto vs His principall care is to impugne our Election for this cause tempts hee man to sinne that man may furnish him arguments to proue that man is not the Son of God He could not be content that the first Adam should liue in Paradise and farre lesse that Adams posteritie should be exalted to inherit those heauenly places which hee lost by pride and therefore eyther by tempting him to sinne doth he prease to hold him backe from the dignitie of the Sonne of God or if so hee cannot then troubles hee him with doubting of his Calling and Election making him to mis-conceiue that such a miserable man as hee cannot be the Sonne of God And the reasons which in this tentation commonly he vseth are taken from our wants spirituall or corporall for concerning spirituall desertions wherein wee are troubled with the sight of our sins and want for the present the sense of mercy then his reasoning is It cannot be that thou art one of Gods Elect for they are not ordained to wrath but to mercy if thou wert so then should the fauorable face of God be toward thee and thou shouldest not be vexed as thou art with the sense of his wrath In all this he is but a false deceiuer for was not the Lord Iesus troubled with the same temporall desertion when hee cryed My God my God why hast thou forsaken me and yet notwithstanding he was the beloued Sonne of God and that this many times is the manner of his working with his owne children hee declares himselfe For a little time in mine anger haue I forsaken thee but with euerlasting compassion will I imbrace thee Again out of the want of worldly necessaries so he reasons with many thou hast beene so long in sicknes daily crying for deliuerance yet the Lord hath not heard thee thou art vexed with pouertie and prayest euery day for daily bread but it is not giuen vnto thee surely this is because thou art none of his hee is not thy Father neyther hath he any fauour towards thee nor cares hee for thee but herein also hee is a deceiuer For the dignitie of Gods Sons stands not in the aboundance of these worldly things neyther is his fauour or anger to be measured by them for so he might haue proued the rich Glutton to haue beene the Sonne of God and Lazarus an abiect and therefore let vs beware vpon our wants to inferre any such Conclusion as this Sophist would enforce that wee are not beloued of God if wee be hungry and haue not to eare remember so was it with Christ if we haue no earthly possession wherein to rest vs no more had Christ if our friends be turned into foes so did Christs familiar betray him if our kindred despise vs for our pouertie so was it with our Lord Hee came among his owne and his owne receiued him not It is enough for vs that the Lord is become our portion what euer he doe with his moueables which hee dispenseth to his Children more or lesse as he sees may doe them good let vs giue him glory and rest in him what can we want that enioyes him as our Father in Christ Iesus Now seeing this is the point wherein Sathan labours chiefly to impugne vs to wit that wee are not the sonnes of God we should by the contrary la●or most carefully to confirme our selues in it which wee shall doe if wee finde in our selues these two things first the Seale next the testimonie of the Spirit for if wee be the Sonnes of God wee are sealed by the holy spirit of promise vnto the day of redemption and as a Signet leaues such an impression in the Waxe as is in it selfe so the Spirit of God imprints in vs the Image and similitude of GOD. Naturally we beare the Image of the first Adam but being by grace made the Sonne of God then do wee beare the Image of the second another minde another heart other affections words and actions are giuen vnto vs then those which wee had by Nature whereupon will follow the other to wit the testimonie of the Spirit not onely witnessing but also perswading our Consciences that wee are the sonnes of God Command THis which Sathan requireth was such a thing as our Sauiour might haue done but he will not learning vs neuer to doe any thing for Sathans command no though in appearance it seeme neuer so tollerable for Sathan can transforme himselfe into an Angell of light and sometime speake a truth or giue a plausible counsell or a reasonable command yea doe some good indeede as it seemes to men but hee neuer doth any of these but for a greater euill And lastly how Sathan in his temptations aymes at this to make the Sonnes of God earthly minded caring for things of this earth with distrust of God If thou be the Sonne of God command that these stones may be made bread as if no more were to be sought for by the Sonne of God but bread bread to haue the things of this World in abundance And alas how many are so snared with the loue of things pertaining to this life that they forget all care of the life to come no thought no speech no labour but all for bread A lamentable thing wee professe the hope of an eternall life and

grace of the Gospell but if grace be despised also and the more thou heare the Gospel the more thou grow in prophanenes wherewith then shall thy disease be amended may we looke for an other Sauiour or is there a new sacrifice to be made for sinne No it is the last age God hath sent his last message and hath applied to men his last and strongest medicine if this mend thee not there remaines nothing but a looking for of fearefull iudgement and violent fire which shall deuoure thee Thamars reueuge THamar to be reuenged vpon Iuda her father in law allured him to commit incestuous adulterie with her Like vnto this is all the reuenge of carnall men who to the ende they may hurt others who hath offended them spare not to hurt themselues first and sinne against their owne soule hee shall be soonest and best reuenged who remits vengeance vnto the Lord. True life ALl men naturally loue life but true life is only knowne to the sonnes of God In the Vegetatiue life whereby creatures grow from a small estate to an higher the trees of the field ouercomes man In the sensitiue life many beasts excels him they see they smell they heare c. better then hee And as for the reasonable life do we not see many reprobates hath it who shall neuer see the face of God Yea Heathen Philosophers hath excelled Christians in the vse of reason Oh that men did consider this who now know no life but this to eate and drinke and grow why doest thou place thy life in that wherein beasts and reprobates are thy companions Let vs seeke that life which none can haue but the sonnes of God Let thy tender mercy come vnto me that I may liue for thy law is my delight Sufficiencie of eternall life IF one Sunne set by God in the firmament giues by course sufficient light to all the inhabitants of the earth and yet neither diuided nor diminished in himselfe May wee not thinke much more how that glorious light shall illuminate all and comfort all the elect of God not being the lesse to any one that many are partakers of it Pleasures of this world MAny things bewrayes the vanitie of worldly pleasures but this aboue all that if they did continue they would turne into intollerable paines Let the worldling make his choise what best pleases him let him haue it without any exchange a short time shall force him to confesse it is a vexation Beginnings of sinne should be resisted IT is a notable precept euer to be remembred in all our actions keepe your selues in your spirit if the fountaine be dryed the riuer decaies and if sinne be stopped in the heart the flux thereof is easily dryed vp for out of the heart comes murther and adulteries c. As a cockatrice is most easily slaine in the shell so sinne in the first conception before it gather strength but here is our folly we fight not with it when it is weake and therefore cannot withstand it when it is strong Vanitie of this life IT is strange that men should loue to liue here where beasts are partakers with him of all that he hath and not long to ascend where hee shall liue a companion to Angels where wee dwell the Spider builds in our most lightsome lodgings the Rats vsurpes a residence in our carued seelings the flyes partakes of our meates and drinke yea the wormes with in vs feede vpon our selues and yet it is strange that man called to a liuely hope of a better life should not long to enioy it The cursed condition of the wicked IN the same field wherein Absalon raised battell against his father stood the Oake that was his gibbet the mulet whereon hee rode was his hangman for the mulet carried him to the Tree and the haire wherein he gloried serued for a rope to hang. Little know the wicked how euery thing which now they haue shall be a snare to trap them when God begins to punish them An euill conscience THere are many euills flowing from an euill conscience this is one it bindes vp the mouth of the soule that it dares not cry for mercy for it is saith S. Peter a good conscience that makes request to God Euen among men amitie makes libertie and man dares not speake to his brother offended before reconciliation with that boldnes then shall hee that stands a rebell to God make supplication to him If wee aske not how shall it be giuen vs If we repent not how shall we aske Let vs therefore by daily repentance purge our heart from an euill conscience that so in our neede wee may finde accesse to God As the defects of a ruinous house that is not water-tight is not knowne in faire weather but in foule so an euill conscience seemes oft-times to be good enough till the day of trouble come Iacobs sonnes counted little of the selling of Ioseph till twenty yeares after it they were hardly handled in Egypt Let vs try our selfe entirely and be loth to harbour this guest which will not faile to trouble vs within so soone as trouble shall arise vnto vs without Men of honour AS finest garments are consumed by mothes and gold if it rest by rust and most excellent trees want not their own wormes which by time destroy them so honourable men hath their owne corruptions but this for common is the disease of them all that they looke more narrowly to that seruice which their inferiours are bound to doe to them then to their duties which they are bound to doe to their superiours looking downe to take from men and not vp to giue to the Lord that honour which is due vnto him The profit of spirituall exercises HEe who would entertaine fellowship with God should aboue all delight in the spirituall exercises of the word and prayer The word is as the Mother and prayer as the nurse of euery grace in Gods children by the one God speakes vnto man by the other man speakes vnto God and therefore is it that Sathan who enuies the fellowship of man with God troubles man especially in these two tempting him most craftily then when hee goes to the word and prayer Bodily exercises BOdily exercise saith the Apostle profits little and therefore should be sparingly vsed Many vnder pretense of the recreation of their bodies if they quench not the spirit at least grieues it like as if one to coole his body of vehement heate should runne so farre in the water that hee drownes himselfe Experience may tell such as make conscience of their actions that immoderate externall exercise encreases guiltinesse and diminishes grace It is a point of great wisedome here to keepe moderation Friendship of the world IT is the surest estate suppose somewhat sharpe to liue contemned of the world wanting her friendship and allurements it makes vs more humble in our selfe more wise toward others The deceite of sinne HE who will looke to the