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A09507
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The good conscience. Or, The soules banquet royall. In a sermon by T.P.
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Pestell, Thomas, 1584?-1659?
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1615
(1615)
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STC 19789; ESTC S114583
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21,753
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36
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carcase in the graue daily rotting and consuming away they shall sinne so long as they beare about flesh and blood wherein dwells corruption they that fall cannot but be subiect to many weakenesses yet if they haue a good Conscience their fall is not like the fall of the Elephant which being down cannot rise againe but contrarie their falls teach them better how to stand and their infirmitie serues to confirme the vertue of their Constancie And which is the soueraine ioy of Gods people in euery sinfull tentation they doe like Hercules exire maiores growe greater which S. Paul meanes where he sayes Become more then Conquerours 2. And as thus they are not depressed by this enemie so neither doe they stoope or stand in seare of the other which is affliction It is a bitter thing to looke into the manifolde distresses and incombiances to be met and encountred yet a good Consciences abides the iniurie and assault batterie of them all vnmoued and vnappalled Illisos fluctus rupes vt vasta refundit Like a rock against which a thousand Billows rise and roare yet the stone for all their chasing and foaming keepes his place and beates them in pieces So the soule of such a man is like Socrates who was euer in one countenance nay it is in affliction like fire in winde more enflamed as a Traueller meeting in hindrance wil be more eager on his iourney like golde in the furnace neither lessened in his weight through differeÌ„ce or distrust of Gods goodnes Though he kill mee yet still I will trust in him nor evaporates or goes away in fume impatient follie In all these things did not Iob sinne with his mouth nor charge God foolishly but shines out fresher and purer then before in an holie life and conuersation And after hee hath stood the shocke and passed the storme of many afflictions he can yet encourage and cheere his sorrowful Fortunes speaking of his good conscience as Hecuba of Polixena when the rest were dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Good men indeed seeme the poorest and most wretched things on earth and are counted as S. Paul speaketh of himselfe the very off-scowring of all things Dauid and Iob and hee had pretie shares in affliction And a man that should read Iobs book and Dauids Psalms and S Paules Epistles would maruell to heare that these men were so merrie There is plenteous mention of fasting of teares of bonds of cold imprisonment nakednes c But wher 's this ioy this continuall feast we talke of Let the man that moues such questions knowe for certaine that hee vnderstands not such mens estates aright For the true Christian man is a bundle and world of wonders running contrary courses like the Antipodes strong when they are weake as the Moon waining to the earthward waxeth towards heauen Therefore S. Paul saith I take pleasure in infirmities in reproches in necessities in persecutions in anguish c. 2. Cor. 12.10 Indeed the comfort of the wicked is like a compound Medicine There must be pâ—â—…ing and dancing and dallying or they cannot seeme merrie but the godly mans pleasure is of another straine a newe kinde like a light shining in the ayre when no matter is seene to nourish it We are mistaken then if we thinke such men vpon earth it is true we see them heare as we see the Moone and starres in water but they are in heauen S. Paul saith plainely our conuersation is in Heauen already Their soule is where it would be as Gregorie of Mary Magdalene Maria ubi nos erat vbi erat c. She was not where she was for she was wholly where her Master was Hence is it that when the worldlings shrinks and sinkes vnder a little trouble they beare it out brauely and with a kind of heauenly scorne trample on all encombrances So Paul speakes disdainefully of tribulation Who shall separate vs from the loue of Christ shall tribulation c. as though hee thought it vnworthy the naming And the reason of this is nothing but the testimony of these mens soules and consciences assuring them first that all afflictions are momentany for a night ioy returning in the morning or if they last longer yet the Prophet Osee tels vs After two daies hee will reuiue vs and the third day hee will raise vs vp Ose 6.2 Secondly theyr conscience tels them how iustly these things are inflicted that the store of corruption in them deserues not onely this fire of affliction to purge them but euen hell fire to consume them that as God alway rewards supra meritum aboue mans desert so he punisheth citra iustitiam on this side his iustice and then thirdly makes them know that they are needfull for wiping away all teares in heauen doth necessarily ptesuppose wet eyes on earth resting their toyle and labour here and also good for them Dona Dei admonentis the good gift of God admonishing vs sayeth Austin It is good for mee sayeth Dauid Nay they are not onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 medidicines of their health and safety but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 special tokeÌ„s of Gods fatherly loue and kindnesse as the Apostle reasons Heb. 12.8 If yee bee without correction then are yee bastards and not sonnes So that men being once armed with this armour and strength of a sound heart and good conscience like Dauid with his stone and sling no vncircumcised Philistine can dismay him nothing in the world can sound to his discomfort Vbi in altum delati sumus when wee are carried into the deepe of calamity and trouble it is then the anker of a good conscience saith Caluin that keepes vs fuse that preserues our soules from perishing in the waters If afflictions atise like a spring of bitter waters yet the salt of a good conscience will season this spring and the waters shall bee healed or is thy griefe yet greater risen to a flood euen as the flood of Iordane that thou mayest cry with the Psalmist The waters are come in Lord euen to my very soule yet faint not for the vertue of a good conscience like the spirite of God in Elias will cut this Iordane and thou shalt goe ouer it in safety or yet more if the course and confluence of thy afflictions be swolne and risen to a sea whose waues are madde and rage horribly yet thy good conscience shall like the Arke of Noah beare thee aboue the pride and power of all those surges ouer whose backes thou shalt ride like another Arion in mirth and triumph or last of all if it come to the worst of all terrible afflictions that they increase to a red and bloody sea of tribulation and persecution why yet feare not stand still and behold the saluation of the Lord the spirite of God in the testimony of thy good conscience will speake peace to thy affrighted soule nay like Moyses will stretch his hand and his rod ouer this sea and diuide
out of his experience beganne many Psalmes with prayer and ends them with thanksgiuing And the blessed Virgine My Soule doth magnifie the Lord and my spirite hath reioyced in God my Sauiour And Saint Paul is exemplum exemplorum all his speech of himselfe is but a comment on this Text and a large exposition of this point in hand Hee confesseth it Our reioysing is this the testimony of our conscience and in the 2. Cor. 7.4 I ouerflow exceedingly I abound with all ioy amidst our tribulations and that it is the generall condition of all Gods seruants Saint Peter tels vs where he sayeth that though they see him not yet beleeuing reioyce with ioy vnspeakeable and glorious This might easily be proued by shewing that such men haue all the true grounds foundations of ioy and contentment As first that they haue remission of sinnes in Christ and secondly adoption to become the Sonnes of God and in the thirde place haue â—ight and title to Heauen but t is Horaces counsell quaedam dicenda remittere not to amasse and heape vp all that might be said to any one point and therfore we come to the last part namely the fitting and applying of this resemblance heere vrged by Solomon wherin following the former Method I will first present to your consideration howe the wicked conscience is no Feast or if one not a continuall one and next that the good Conscience is one and secondly a continuall one A good Conscience is a continuall Feast First wicked men haue no feast For such men haue lost all tast of good and heauenly things They doe not relish or sauour the things that bee of God saith the Apostle as we see Swine neglect pasture and eat draffe So these men banquet but t' is with poyson like Tereus feast or rather t' is Scilicornium a funerall Feast for such a man as S. Paul speaks of a widow that liues in the pleasure of sinne is dead while he liues Their food breeds onely winde and froath and inflation no perfect or pure blood So that wee mistake iudging such a man full because Rich t is true he hath enough his bellyful but t' is with wind Eccles 5.16 or else theyr eating procures a corrosion and convulsion priuie gripings and qualmes stitches and aches wormes and distortion of the stotion of the stomacke that they cannot sleepe or take rest vpon it The satietie of the Rich will not suffer him to sleepe Or if hee doe hee shall spue soone after it as Iob saith hee hath deuoured substance and shall vomite it for God shall draw it out of his bellie Iob. 20. Or if it settle and stay with him then it inflames his soule and hart-burnes him For a practised sinner is saide to haue his soule singed and seared his Conscience burnt with an hotte yron 1. Tim. 4.2 or lastly as poyson if it kill not presently breakes out in tumors and byles so his wickednes doth occasion diseases and his bones are full of the sinne of his Youth Iob 20.11 and as he goeth on in vers 12. Though wickednes be sweet in his mouth and though he hide it vnder his tongue and keepe it like a delicate Epicure in the midst of his palate yet his meat in his bowels is turned it is the gall of Aspes within him And this is theyr viandes their cates theyr delicates of which Dauid desires to eate no part Psalm 141. If wee desire to knowe what they drinke at such a feast Iob tells vs they drinke iniquity like water Iob 15.16 and their wine the scripture saith is the wine of astonishment or else a certaine kind of compounded stuffe that Dauid speaks of ps 75.8 In the haÌ„d of the Lord ther is a cup it is red wine it is full mixt and hee powres out of the same Surely all the wicked of the earth shal wring out drink therof and in Psalm 11. he describes their burnt wine which seemes the very same that the Deuils drinke in hell God will raine snares fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest this shal be the portion of their cuppe As for the companie of these men what can it be but a noyse and sette of Diuells for Satan returning saith our Sauiour returning and finding such mens hearts like houses swept and garnished prepared for him enters with seuen worse then himselfe and the ende of that man is worse then the beginning It is not strange then that prophane and lewde men will fancie and conceite themselues the onely flourishing people vpon earth when wee see that their very banquetting stuffe is but gall poyson theyr drinke vengeance and their companie Diuells But let vs grant them that their seeming mirth and iollity they liue in may be tearmed a feast which is their portion vpon earth all they can looke for yet alasse it is not a continuall feast but exceeding fleet and momentanie Euen in laughter the heart is sorrowfull at that very instant They banquet as theeues in a caue or a wood alwayes in feare Esay tels vs that the Harpe the Violl the Tabret Pipe are in their feasts Esay 5.12 But this will not hold for hee addes in ver 14 Therefore Hell hath enlarged her selfe and opened her mouth wâ—de And their pompe and he that reioyceth shall descend into it So soone they are gone They breake off as it were in the middest of their meale and sinke into hel Nor can the damned soule thinke to take it out when hee comes there Indeed as hee in his life time made a feast of his soule to the Diuell and drest it for him to make his Helship merry for as the good Angels reioyce at a sinners conuersion so wee must thinke the Diuels mirth is his rebellion So now Sathan to bee quiet with him prepares him a feast a blacke banquet onely two dishes weeping serued in for the first course and gnashing of teeth for the second It is true it shall bee a continuall feast but worse to him then any feast for he shall bee so farre from receyuing pleasure in it that hee shall howle roare out with Diues for some drinke to his hote meate euen for a drop of water to coole his tongue And this for the first part of the comparison The second is that the goodman hath in his conscience a feast and not so onely but a continuall Feast First hee hath a Feast for a godly man like that vngodly one in the Gospell fares deliciously euery day keepes a spirituall Christmas alwayes drinkes deepe in the Wine-sellar as it seemes by the Spouse in Canticles 2.4.5 Hee brought mee into the Wine-seller and loue was his banner ouer mee Stay mee with flaggons and comfort me with apples for I am sicke of loue So it is in that song of the blessed Virgin Hee filles the hungry with good things fils them giues them enough feasts them Like a noble Lord God with his proper gifts and graces And in examining