Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heart_n	accuse_v	law_n	nature_n	2,158	5	6.6427	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A15704	Of the conscience A discourse wherein is playnely declared, the vnspeakeable ioye, and comfort of a good conscience, and the intollerable griefe and discomfort of an euill conscience. Made by Iohn Woolton, minister of the Gospell. Anno. 1576.	Woolton, John, 1535?-1594.	1576 (1576)	STC 25978; ESTC S106318	42,432	110

From Exceter the 20. of Mirche Your Worships humbly to com●●und Iohn Woolton ¶ OF THE CONSCIENCE a Treatise collected by Iohn Woolten THERE ARE TWO principall partes of mans Soule as I haue plainely declared in my Treatise of of the immortalitie thereof which of necessitie muste con●●●● in all exerutions and actions of vertue For although the naturs of the Soule be simple and without composition and deuision yet they vse to attribute vnto him certaine partes to witte according to hys sundry and dyuers operations As for example take we acknowledge in the fyre two powers or qualities the one ●●●ming or heating the other shewing or discouering from darkenesse all thi●● euen so when men speake of the partes of the Soule they ●●urpe that name for the functions and effectes of the same These 〈◊〉 partes are called Reason●and Wyll● wherof the 〈◊〉 sheweth what is seemely and conue●●ent to be 〈◊〉 or to be lest vndone and the seconde eyther coueteth and pursuith as good that which was proposed by reason eyther else declineth and auoydeth the same as euell Hereof came that apte and fine sentence All mortal actions are as ●● were ingendred and conceiue by Reason but are broughte foorth and 〈◊〉 by Wyll Now as brute beastes haue no sparke of reason whereby man both diffe●th most far from them and resembleth very neere an expresse Image of the diuine nature so haue they no Will but Sense and Appetite and with the one they are le●de to their naturall foode with the other they di●cerne thinges holsome from hurtfull Some there are that terme this Appetite in beute beastes Will without Reason for that domine creatures bo●d of minde and vidnerstanding are ledde toward thinges with a certain secrete motion and in stinct of nature rather shen with any free will choyse or vnderstanding For they in shee ●e of Reason haue giuen vnto them by Gods a certaine naturall ●kill to defend and to serue them selues This Will or Appetite which perseweth thinges conceiued by Sence is common to man with beastes euen as the Sences as well externall as internall from whence this Appetite ysseweth is unparted equally to man and beast sauing to the sence of all bruse beasts commonly is more quick and persite then that which is in man and in beastes this fence is the supreme and most excellent facultie In man it is but a seruaunte or handmayde to Intelligence or vnderstanding And Reason was geuen vnto man not onely to fearche after vertue that the Will should embrace the same but to ●●oderate carnall motions and to bridle their rage and furnes Albeit Reason very often as it were shadowed and ouerralle with darcknesse iudgeth peruersly and corruptly and not that alone but also is so infirme and weake that it cannot restrayne euill determined any thinge Will is either so ouerth wa●● or else so weake that she doeth not excute the same Whereof may ryse no small question seeing that the very obiect of will is vertue her selfe shewed and opened vnto her by Reason howe it commeth to pa●●e that we are ●●●●ed headlong as it were violently to mischiefe so that pernitious and deuilishe affections doe ouerrule that excelent faculty guien by God to couet that which is good honest whereof the Apostle himselfe complayneth That good thing which I woulde doe that I doe not and that euill which I would not that I doe And Medea burning in madde loue with Iason hauing wrastled with hir self much and long yet coulde she not ouercome that furor with Reason for thus shee talketh with hir selfe Video meliora proboque deteriora sequor But the scripture resolueth this doubt and telleth vs that through the fall of our first parentes and by originall sinne descending into all mankind from that route these diseases of the minde these swarmes of perturbations and these continuall conflictes betwene reason and luste doe budde out and spring Therfore great néede haue we to craue Gods ayde helpe by whose grace we maye vanquishe and ouercome that rebellion of desires and affections for without that neyther Reason nor Will is of power eyther to doe good or else to resist the crooked and frowarde mocions of man. In the chiefe and principall parte of the Soule which we call Reason they commonly place the Conscience that wonderfull workmanship of God being according to the prouerbe in steede of a thousand witnesses not onely commaunding things honest and diswading the contrary but more ouer asciting vs as it were before the Tribunall seate of the diuine Maiestie sometime accusing and someting excusing In this matter punishing and another acquyting Whereof as I minde to write somewhat at this time so will I not follow the subtyle and thornye maner of the Schoolemen who with great curiositie of definitions and deuisions haue altogether darkened rather then lightened this matter but so farre forth as my abiliti● will extende doe purpose with breuitie and perspicute to prosecute this matter Wherevnto if I cannot reach according to my earnest desire yet I trust at the least hereby to moue some happy witte to polish this enterprise for it were greate pitty that comfortable Conscience should be any longer mute and domme as a straunger but that shée might franckly and freely speake vnto our conntry men in our English tongue And that I maye keepe some certayne niethode in the translation hereof which they call Analysis seemeth most concienient for me to follow First I will put downe the definition comprehending and infolding as it were in one bundell the whole matter generally Then I will open and resolue into partes euerye porciorr of the same In the which Analysis besides fundry and diuers things a man may easely see the principles and groundes of the Conscience howe she is placed in the minde hir force and power in examining all morall actions This done I will speake of the difference betwene a sounde and a corrupt Conscience and of the effects of them both to wyt of the solace comfort of the one in aducrsitie and of the priuie woundes of the other euen in worldly felicitie Lastly I will discourse certaine questions incicent to this matter which being finished I trust that the knowledge of Conscience which hath bene secret and obscure shall shewe hir selfe somewhat plainely to the eyes and shall stirre vp in men a marueylous loue and desire of a sineere conscience The Apostle in that golden and excellent Epistle to the Romaines speaketh of the Gentils in this wise For when the Gentils which haue no lawe doe by nature the things conteyned in the lawe they hauing not the lawe are a lawe vnto themselues Which shewe the effect of the lawe written in their hartes their conscience also bearing witnesse and their thoughtes accusing one another or excusing In this sentence of saint Pause I obserue foure thinges firste he sayth that the worck of the law is written in their hartes

know sayth he that my redeemer liueth and that I shall rise agayne at the last day and shal be compassed agayn wish my skinne and shall see god in my flesh Ioseph that Godly and chaste young man being chayned in she stockes what solace had hee in the déepe dungeon but his sincere mind and vnspotted Conscience And euen so it was with Eliazarus with Paule and with all the Apostles in their distresse for Eliazarus sayth O lord I am piteously tormented in my body but I willingly suffer all these thinges for thy names sake Paule being certified by Agabus of the afflictions which he should suffer at Ierusalem I ●● he am ready not only to be bound but also to suffer death for the name of the Lord Iesus The Apostles likewise being scorged for preaching the Gospel Went away with Ioy that they were found worthy to beare infamy for the name of the Lord Iesus The principal cause of these thinges was doubtlesse a good conscience which writeth sorrowe into ioy calamity to felicity and to conclude death into lyfe it selfe OF THE EVELL AND CORrupt Conscience AS THERE IS IN GOD that supreme and nigh maiest is of God a wisedome descerning betwene good euil things and also a will wishing goodnesse with a deuine delectation pleasure contrariwise nylling that which is naught and with great indignation and anger reiecting and punishing the same Euen so hath he created the lyfe of man that there shoulde be certaine lawes as it were notices or admonitions of the mind commaunding thinges honest and forbidding the contrary besides these he hath appointed magistrats that they should defend the good and punishe the euill And to this ende were thinges thus ordered and disposed in the creation that men might learne that there is both a God being a wise and iust Iudge and there withall that manne should knowe and perceyde himselfe to be the ymage of God whome he ought to imitate and followe For God is neyther knowne of heauen nor of earth of plants neyther yet of beastes although they obey him in theire kinde but Aungelles and men onely hath he so created that he might he obeyed knowne worshipped of them and that they being fashioned lyke vnto God might not pyne away and dye wyth impietie and vexation of minde but hauing their hartes agréeable to right reason and iudgement might reioyce in good actions as well before as after the facte But in this corrupt and wounded nature mans hart burneth as it were wyth flames méere contrary to right iudgement and at the first trembleth not to runne into mischiefe Nowe for that it concerneth Gods iustice to punishe and route out obstinate and rebellious natures therefore hath he conioyned the dolor and anguishe of the Conscience following wicked and mischeuous deedes that might as it were an hangman punishe and execute offenders And although this sorrowe he somewhat dull nowe and then in persons yet at the last God doth so kindle it in the wicked that they tremble and quake and are oppressed as it were with the noyse of the thunder as it is sayde in the Psalme In thy anger thou shalt vexe and trouble them Whereof Plato wryteth excellently in this wise When an euill man draweth towarde his ende he is sodainely striken with a foure and care of such thinges as he once thought not of before and those talke of Deuils of Hell and of paynes which the wicked suffer there where of he made a scoffe and stale iest doe then miserablye encoumber his minde wherby he faleth into an examination of his former life And recording his vile and filthy actes hee is quyet neyther waking not sleeping often times he sturteth in his sleepe as it were a fearefull childe out of his dreame and so lyuing awhyle he droupeth away in euill hope Sophocles wryteth that Oedipus beyng olde and blynde was ledde to Athens by his daughter Antigona Who dying there was buried in the Temple of Erinnyus By the which fable he signifieth the vnquiet Conscience at the hower of death of all such as haue ledde an vnhonest lyfe For Erinnyus by interpretatiō are nothing else then contentious perturbations of the minde by reason of an euill Conscience which alwayes wayte vpon vnhonest actes and déeds And they are sayd to be mindestill for that condigne punishment for sinfull actes are neuer forgotten whiche although they be for a time prolonged yet this is the very property and effect of Eriunius that when mischiefe and payne is least looked for then it falleth moste gréeuously Thus much I thought good to note touching the occasions of doloures and gréefe in the euell conscience now lette vs consider the difinition of the same An euell Conscience is a heauy and vexing motion of the hart conioyned with perfect knowlege of a detestable fact For assuredly furies doe alwayes pursue and chase the wicked not with burning torches and fire brandes as inter Iudes and playes sette out but with hor●●res of Conscience and anguish of minde wayting alwayes vpon mischieuous men euen as the shade we foloweth the body not suffering them to beeath and as it were to pause one ●●●iuente from trembling and feare And for this cause onely Seneca commendeth that saying of the ●pienre The gilty man may happily hide himselfe sometime but he hath no assured confidence to escape Whiche thinges as they are true so are they confirmed with Histories through●ute all tymes and ages Tacitus reporteth that Tiberius vex●d with such torment●a 〈◊〉 vnto the Senat● in this wise What should I write vnto you my Lordes or how should I write or rather what shoulde I not wryte I at this instant All the Gods of heauen at ons rather distroy the then to pine awaye dayly thus as I doe Such plagues and tormentes had Tiberi●s inwardly by his monstrous ●dings Neyther is that ●odn● the purpose which a certayne man vt●ered If the wicket of Titaunts minds might be vnlocked ●●midsi shōld 〈◊〉 see their mangled wound● for as it fareth with the body by reason of ● stripes and blowes euen so it the minde at ●oil resite and torne with cruelty filthy lust f●●udo malice and such like For 〈◊〉 Tiberius had ●o wante of any● worldly thinges ●● that might serue to solace and comford 〈◊〉 afflicted mind yet was he hot able by any of meanes to ease or cons●ate the tormentes ●● and paynes of his Conscience Suetonitis wryteth of Caligula who seemed neyther to care for God nor man yet at the least roumbling and glauneing of thundering and lightning he would winke and couer hys face when with greater terror heauen and earth seemed both to shake to burne with f●●e he woulde runne into corners and hyde himselfe The same Author also noteth home Nero after he had murdered his naturall mother was so greeuouslye ve●ed in conscience that he could not be cōforted neyther with ioyfull show●es and acclamations of the

this worck of the lawe is the discelning betweene thinges honest and vnhonest Secondly he sayth the they shew it For in mainteyning of Religion they acknowledge that there is a God to be worshipped and in that they punish crimes and heynous offences they professe themselues defendors of honesty and Iustice Thirdly he maketh metion of the inward testimony of the conscience Fourthly he ●howeth what manner of Testes the Conscience is euen by ●uident Arguments accusing or exeusing out of the which this definitio is deduced The Conscience is a certaine naturall intelligence of the law ingrafted in the minde or power vnderstanding whereby we allow good actions and disalow euill actions Which iudgement planted in the internall man by God breedeth in the execution of vertue a quietnesse and reste of minde and in vice a wonderfull veration of the same punishing and afflicting the man guilty but there are thrée thinges in the minde which are to be obserued for the better vnderstanding of this matter The firste is the vnderstanding whiche they call contemplaty●e busied alwayes in the study and searching out of thinges and this is that better part of the minde which alway as the Philosophers saye aspireth to the beste In this they place Syn●res● which is the kéeper and conseruer of notices or vnderstandinges which are bredde with vs by nature examining what is and what is not expedient And therefore it is fayde that she ministreth propositions to reasons and argumentes which are called Sillogismes practical Such propisition are these that follow honest thinges are to bee done vnhonest thinges are not to be done Out of which two groundes or principles infinite singuler propositions are deriued seruing in arguments or as I called them Sillogismes practicall And it is so called for that it examineth and inquireth a reason out of the law of nature of the quality of all humaine accions In the second place of the minde is Intelligence practicall which consisteth in accion And therin is the Conscience properly placed for that of the difference of Accions she putteth down and as it were deliuereth the lesse proposition or assumtion in the Sillogisme or Argument in this wise Sinterisis or Vnderstanding minisereth this proposition in Hector Honest thinges are to be done Then Conscience apprehendeth this assumtion To defend a mans countrie and to die therefore is honest Agayne Sinterisis or Vnderstanding deliuereth this proposition in Oedipus Fil●hy and detostable deedes are to be eschewed Then the Conscience assumeth But Inceste with my mother and paricide are moste detestable deedes And so vnderstanding and Conscience reasoneth in all other accions Thirdly in the minde there is Iudgement pronouncing of all accions whether they be worthy of prayse or disprayse And as she serued in generality in the Maior or first proposition so as a witty Iudge shee descendeth vnto the special case in the conclusion and geueth sentence For examples sake Intelligence contemplat●ue in Hector deliuereth this proposition Honest deedes are praise worthy Thē the Conscience subsumeth To defend my countrie and to dye in defence of it is an honest dede lastly iudgment geueth sentence Therfore to defend my country and to die in defence of it is prayse worthy Agayne Intelligence deliuereth this proposition to Oedipus Moste vile and filthy actes deserue moste greucuse punishmentes Conscience addeth Inceste with my Mother and paricide are most vile and filthy actes Finally Iudgement geueth sentence Therefore inceste with my Mother and paricide deserue most greeuous punishmentes The former argument bredde in Hectors brest vnspeakeable courage in so much that he vtterly contemned death For Polidamas did aduise him not to goe out among the Erecians that day because the fliyng of Birdes did portend some heauy euent Hector aunswered stoutely whether the byrdes flye on the right hande towarde the East or on the left hande towarde the Weste I am resolued to obey great Iupiter his counsayle meaning that valyant mocion of his minde to be Iupiters counsayle whereby he was excyted to doe uoble and valyant deedes Neyther coulde supersticious obseruacion of tymes withholde him from doing his duetie especially in the common perill of his naturall countrye Contrariwise the latter Sillogisme kyndled such tormenting burning fyres that through impaciencie inwarde griefe for wickednesse by him committed he rent out his owne eyes Oedipus verily was a Noble fellowe and king of the Thebanes who albeit he contenmed Tiresias the Prophet casting in his teethe incestious mariage yet in the end he was so cōuerted with one testimonie of his owne conscience that he confessed himselfe guyltie and a cast away not worthie to beholde any longer the light of Heauen and euen so Iocasta hys mother with an halter strangled hir selfe There are infinite such examples of Syllogismes or argumentes practicall in holy scripture Ezechias knoweth that there is but one true God whoe onely is to be called vpon and worshipped which thing Synteresis or Intelligence telleth him out of the first cōmaundement Then Conscience aduoucheth the same last of all iudgement concludeth in this maner The true lyuing God euē the God of Israell is only to be worshiped But Idolatrie maintayneth manye Gods euen in despite of the lyuing God therefore Idolatrie is to be abolished Ezechias armed wyth thys iudgement of Conscience cutteth downe the Groues taketh downe the brasen Serpent ouerthroweth Idols and abolisheth Idolatry and committeth the euent to god And sayth For these are no Gods but woode and stone euen the worke of mens hande And in lyke maner Dauid stayeth his hande from slaying of Saule euen offered vnto hym in the Caue bicause he knoweth that he is Gods annoynted and a magistrate by his ordinance reasoning thus with himselfe No violence is to bee vsed towarde Gods magistrate But Saule is Gods magistrate therfore I must doe him no violence Examples also are worthy consideration as Regulus led euē wtth ciuill honesty kéepeth promise made vnto his enimy reasoning thus with himselfe There is nothing more seemely for a noble hart then to consider the end of his accions and his owne honesty But to keepe my oath made vnto my ennemie is the end of my accions and apperteineth to my honestie therefore I will keepe my oth made vnto my ennemie euen in the perrill of my life Such like examples are in deliberations counsayles and examples in all histories of the actes and deedes of mortall men I am not ignoraunt that some handle this matter otherwise deuiding Reason into two partes The Superiour and the inferioure Reason And that would haue that light of mans minde prescribing thinges deuine and eternall to be the higher Reason and that which is busied about temporall and profitable thinges to be the inferiour Moreouer some there be also that affirme that the Conscience putteth downe the Minor proposition and cōclusion And touching the diuision of Reason they vse such examples as follow Imagin