Selected quad for the lemma: mind_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mind_n	conscience_n	defile_v	renew_v	1,707	5	12.6648	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30895	An apology for the true Christian divinity, as the same is held forth, and preached by the people, called, in scorn, Quakers being a full explanation and vindication of their principles and doctrines, by many arguments, deduced from Scripture and right reason, and the testimony of famous authors, both ancient and modern, with a full answer to the strongest objections usually made against them, presented to the King / written and published in Latine, for the information of strangers, by Robert Barclay ; and now put into our own language, for the benefit of his country-men.; Theologiae verè Christianae apologia. English	Barclay, Robert, 1648-1690.	1678 (1678)	Wing B721; ESTC R1740	415,337	436

and rule man in things Natural For as God gave two great Lights to rule the outward World the Sun and Moon the greater Light to rule the Day and the lesser Light to rule the Night So hath he given Man the Light of his Son a Spiritual Divine Light to rule him in the things Spiritual and the light of Reason to rule him in things Natural And even as the Moon borrows her Light from the Sun so ought Men if they would be rightly and comfortably ordered in natural things to have their Reason inlightned by this Divine and pure Light Which inlightned Reason in those that obey and follow this true Light we confess may be useful to man even in Spiritual things as it is still subservient and subject to the other even as the animal life in man regulated and ordered by his Reason helps him in going about things that are rational We do further rightly distinguish this from man's natural Conscience for Conscience being that in man which ariseth from the natural faculties of man's Soul may be defiled and corrupted it is said expresly of the Impure Tit. 1.15 That even their mind and conscience is defiled But this Light can never be corrupted nor defiled neither did it ever consent to evil or wickedness in any for it is said expresly that it makes all things manifest that are proveable Eph. 5.13 and so is a faithful witness for God against every unrighteousness in Man Now Conscience to define it truely comes from conscire and is that knowledg which ariseth in man's heart from what agreeth contradicteth or is contrary to any thing believed by him whereby he becomes conscious to himself that he transgresseth by doing that which he is perswaded he ought not to do So that the mind being once blinded or defiled with a wrong belief there ariseth a conscience from that belief which troubles him when he goes against it As for Example a Turk who hath possess'd himself with a false belief that it is unlawful for him to drink Wine if he do it his conscience smites him for it But though he keep many Concubines his conscience troubles him not because that his judgment is already defiled with a false Opinion that is lawful for him to do the one and unlawful to do the other Whereas if the Light of Christ in him were minded it would reprove him not only for committing Fornication but also as he became obedient thereunto inform him that Mahomet is an Impostor as well as Socrates was informed by it in his day of the falsity of the Heathens Gods So if a Papist eat Flesh in Lent or be not dilligent enough in adoration of Saints and Images or if he should contemn Images his Conscience would smite him for it because his judgment is already blinded with a false belief concerning these things whereas the Light of Christ never consented to any of those Abominations Thus then man's Natural Conscience is sufficiently distinguished from it for Conscience followeth the judgment doth not inform it But this Light as it is received removes the blindness of the judgment opens the understanding and rectifies both the Judgment and Conscience So we confess also that Conscience is an excellent thing where it is rightly inform'd and inlightened Whereof some of us have fitly compared it to a Lanthorn and the Light of Christ to the Candle A Lanthorn is useful when a clear Candle burns and shines in it but otherwise of no use To the Light of Christ then in the Conscience and not to man 's Natural Conscience it is that we continually commend men this not that is it which we preach up and direct people to as to a most certain Guide unto Life Eternal Lastly this Light Seed c. appears to be no power or natural faculty of man's mind because a man that 's in his health can when he pleases stir up move and exercise the Faculties of his Soul he is absolute master of them and except there be some Natural cause or impediment in the way he can use them at his pleasure But this Light and Seed of God in man he cannot move and stir up when he pleaseth but it moves blows and strives with man as the Lord seeth meet For though there be a possibility of Salvation to every man during the day of his Visitation yet cannot a man at any time when he pleaseth or hath some sense of his misery stir up that Light and Grace so as to procure to himself tenderness of heart but he must wait for it which comes upon all at certain times and seasons wherein it works powerfully upon the Soul mightily tenders it and breaks it at which time if man resist it not but close with it he comes to know Salvation by it Even as the Lake of Bethsaida did not cure all those that washed in it but such only as washed first after the Angel had moved upon the Waters so God moves in love to mankind in this Seed in his heart at some singular times setting his Sins in order before him and seriously inviting him to repentance offering to him remission of Sins and Salvation which if man accept of he may be Saved Now there is no man alive and I am confident there shall be none to whom this Paper shall come who if they will deal faithfully and honestly with their own hearts will not be forced to acknowledg but they have been sensible of this in some measure less or more which is a thing that man cannot bring upon himself with all his pains and industry This then O Man and Woman is the day of God's gracious Visitation to thy Soul which thou shalt be happy for ever if thou resist not This is the day of the Lord which as Christ saith is like the Lightening which shineth from the East unto the West And the Wind or Spirit which blows upon the heart and no man knows whither it goes nor whence it comes § XVII And lastly this leads me to speak concerning the manner of this Seed or Lights operation in the Hearts of all men which will shew yet more manifestly how we differ vastly from all those that exalt a natural power or light in man and how our Principle leads above all others to attribute our whole Salvation to the meer Power Spirit and Grace of God To them then that ask us after this manner How do ye differ from the Pelagians and Armenians For if two men have equal sufficient Light and Grace and the one be saved by it and the other not is it not because the one improves it the other not is not then the will of man the cause of the one's Salvation beyond the other I say to such we thus answer that as the Grace and Light in all is sufficient to save all and of its own Nature would save all so it strives and wrestles with all for to save them he that resists its striving is the cause of his

that hid his Talent and did not improve it Cast ye the unprofitable Servant into utter darkness If then their not improving of the Talent made the man unprofitable and he was therefore cast into utter darkness it will follow by the Rule of Contraries so far at least that the improving made the other profitable seeing if our Adversaries will allow us to believe Christ's Words this is made a reason and so at left a cause instrumental of their acceptance Well done good and faithful Servant thou hast been faithful over a few things I will make thee ruler over many things enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Obj. Secondly they object those sayings of the Apostle where he excludes the deeds of the Law from Justification as first Rom. 3.20 because by the deeds of the Law there shall be no flesh justified in his sight And ver 28. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by Faith without the deeds of the Law Answ. Answ. We have shewn already what place we give to works even to the best of works in justification and how we ascribe its immediate and formal cause to the worker brought forth in us but not to the works But in answer to this objection I say there is a great difference betwixt the works of the Law and those of Grace or of the Gospel The first are excluded the second not but are necessary The first are those which are performed in man's own will and by his strength in a conformity to the outward Law and Letter and therefore are men's own imperfect works or works of the Law which makes nothing perfect And to this belong all the Ceremonies Purifications Washings and Traditions of the Jews The second are the works of the Spirit of Grace wrought in the Heart wrought in conformity to the Inward and Spiritual Law which works are not wrought in man's will nor by his power and ability but in and by the Power and Spirit of Christ in us and therefore are pure and perfect in their kind as shall hereafter be proved and may be called Christ's works for that he is the immediate author and worker of them Such works we affirm absolutely necessary to justification so that a man cannot be justified without them and all faith without them is dead and useless as the Apostle James saith Now that such a distinction is to be admitted and that the works excluded by the Apostle in the matter of Justification are of the first kind will appear if we consider the occasion of the Apostle mentioning this as well here as throughout in his Epistle to the Galatians where he speaks of this matter and to this purpose at large which was this That whereas many of the Gentiles that were not of the Race nor Seed of Abraham as concerning the Flesh were come to be converted to the Christian Faith and believe in him some of those that were of the Jewish Proselites thought to subject the faithful and believing Gentiles to the legal Ceremonies and Observations as necessary to their Justification This gave the Apostle Paul occasion at length in his Epistle to the Romans Galatians and elsewhere to shew the use and tendency of the Law and of its works and to contradistinguish them from the Faith of Christ and Righteousness thereof shewing how the former was ceased and become ineffectual the other remaining and yet necessary And that the works excluded by the Apostle are of this kind of works of the Law appears by the whole strain of his Epistle to the Galatians chap. 1 2 3 and 4. for after in the 4 chapter he upbraideth them for their returning unto the observation of daies and times and that in the beginning of the 5 chapter he sheweth them their folly and the evil consequence of adhering to the Ceremonies of Circumcision then he adds v. 6. For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision nor Vncircumcision availeth but Faith which worketh by love and thus he concludes again chap. 6. v. 15. For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth nor Vncircumcision but a new Creature From which places appeareth that distinction of works aforementioned whereof the one is excluded the other necessary to Justification For the Apostle sheweth here that Circumcision which word is often used to comprehend the whole Ceremonies and legal Performances of the Jews is not necessary nor doth avail Here are then the works which are excluded by which no man is justified but Faith which worketh by love but the new Creature this is that which availeth which is absolutely necessary for Faith that worketh by love cannot be without works for as is said in the same 5 chapter v. 22. Love is a work of the Spirit Also the New Creature if it avail and be necessary cannot be without works seeing it is natural for it to bring forth works of Righteousness Again that the Apostle no waies intends to exclude such good works appears in that in the same Epistle he exhorts the Galatians to them and holds forth the usefulness and necessity of them and that very plainly c. 6. v. 7 8 9. Be not deceived saith he God is not mocked for what soever man soweth that shall he also reap for he that soweth to the Flesh shall of the Flesh reap Corruption but he that soweth in the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap Life everlasting And let us not be weary of well doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not Doth it not hereby appear how necessary the Apostle would have the Galatians know that he esteemed good works to be to wit not the outward testimony and tradition of the Law but the fruits of the Spirit mentioned a little before by which Spirit he would have them to be led and walk in those good works As also how much he ascribed to these good works by which he affirms Life Everlasting is reaped Now that cannot be useless to man's Justification which capaciates him to reap so rich a harvest But lastly for a full answer to this objection and for the establishing of this Doctrin of good works I shall instance another saying of the same Apostle Paul which our adversaries also in the blindness of their minds make use of against us to wit Tit. 3.5 Not by works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost It is generally granted by all that saved is here all one as if it had been said justified Now there are two kinds of works here mentioned one by which we are not saved that is not justified and another by which we are saved or justified The first the works of Righteousness which we have wrought that is which we in our first faln nature by our own strength have wrought our own legal performances and therefore may truly and properly be called ours whatever specious appearances they may seem to have And that it must needs

us in the time of our ignorance providing always they did not seek to obtrude them upon others nor judg such as found themselves delivered or that they do not pertinaciously adhere to them For we certainly know that the day is dawned in which God hath arisen and hath dismissed all those ceremonies and rites and is only to be worshipped in Spirit and that he appears to them who wait upon him and that to seek God in these things is with Mary at the Sepulchre to seek the living among the dead for we know that he is arisen and revealed in Spirit leading his Children out of these rudiments that they may walk with him in his Light to whom be Glory for ever Amen The Fourteenth Proposition Concerning the Power of the Civil Magistrate in matters purely Religious and pertaining to the Conscience Since God hath assumed to himself the Power and Dominion of the Conscience who alone can rightly instruct and govern it therefore it is not lawful for any whosoever by vertue of any Authority or Principality they bear in the Government of this World to force the Consciences of others and therefore all killing banishing fining imprisoning and other such things which are inflicted upon men for the alone exercise of their Conscience or difference in Worship or Opinion proceedeth from the Spirit of Cain the Murtherer and is contrary to the Truth providing always that no man under the pretence of Conscience prejudice his Neighbour in this life or estate or do any thing destructive to or inconsistent with humane Society in which case the Law is for the transgressor and Justice is to be administred upon all without respect of persons § I. LIBERTY of Conscience from the power of the Civil Magistrate hath been of late years so largely and learnedly handled that I shall not need but to be brief in it yet it is to be lamented that few have walked answerably to this principle each pleading it for themselves but scarce allowing it to others as hereafter I shall have occasion more at length to observe It will be fit in the first place for clearing of mistakes to say something of the state of the controversie that what follows may be the more clearly understood By Conscience then as in the explanation of the 5 and 6 Propositions I have observed is to be understood that perswasion of the mind which arises from the understandings being possessed with the belief of the Truth or Falsity of any thing which though it may be false or evil upon the matter yet if a man should go against his perswasion or Conscience he should commit a sin because what a man doth contrary to his Faith though his Faith be wrong is no ways acceptable to God hence the Apostle saith whatsoever is not of Faith is sin and he that doubteth is damned if he eat though the thing might have been lawful to another and that this doubting to eat some kind of meats since all the creatures of God are good and for the use of man if received with thanksgiving might be a superstition or at lest a weakness which were better removed Hence Ames De Cas. Cons. saith The Conscience although erring doth evermore bind so as that he sinneth who doth contrary to his Conscience because he doth contrary to the will of God although not materially and truly yet formally and interpretatively So the question is First Whether the Civil Magistrate hath power to force men in things religious to do contrary to their Conscience and if they will not to punish them in their goods liberties or lives this we hold in the negative But secondly as we would have the Magistrate avoiding this extream of incroaching upon men's Consciences so on the other hand we are far from joyning with or strengthening such libertines as would stretch the liberty of their Consciences to the prejudice of their Neighbours or to the ruin of humane Society We understand therefore by matters of Conscience such as immediately relate betwixt God and man or men and men that are under the same perswasion as to meet together and worship God in that way which they judg is most acceptable unto him and not to incroach upon or seek to force their neighbours otherwise than by reason or such other means as Christ and his Apostles used viz. preaching and instructing such as will hear and receive it but not at all for men under the notion of Conscience to do any thing contrary to the moral and perpetual statutes generally acknowledged by all Christians in which case the Magistrate may very lawfully use his Authority as on those who under a pretence of Conscience make it a principle to kill and destroy all the wicked id est all that differ from them that they to wit the Saints may rule and that therefore seek to make all things common and would force their neighbours to share their Estates with them and many such wild notions as is reported of the Anabaptists of Munster which evidently appears to proceed from pride and covetousness and not from purity or Conscience and therefore I have sufficiently guarded against that in the latter part of the Proposition But the Liberty we lay claim to is such as the primitive Church justly sought under the Heathen Emperors to wit for men of sobriety honesty and a peaceable conversation to enjoy the liberty and exercise of their Conscience towards God and among themselves and to admit among them such as by their perswasion and influence come to be convinced of the same Truth with them without being therefore molested by the Civil Magistrate Thirdly though we would not have men hurt in their Temporals nor robbed of their Priviledges as men and members of the Common-wealth because of their inward perswasion yet we are far from judging that in the Church of God there should not be censures exercised against such as fall into error as well as such as commit open evils and therefore we believe it may be very lawful for a Christian Church if she find any of her Members fall into any error after due admonitions and instructions according to Gospel order if she find them pertinacious to cut them off from her fellowship by the Sword of the Spirit and denude them of these priviledges which they had as fellow-members but not to cut them off from the world by the temporal Sword or rob them of their common priviledges as men seeing they enjoy not these as Christians or under such a fellowship but as men and members of the Creation Hence Chrysostom saith well de Anath We must condemn and reprove the evil Doctrins that proceed from Hereticks but spare the men and pray for their Salvation § II. But that no man by vertue of any Power or Principality he hath in the Government of this World hath power over the Consciences of men is apparent because the Conscience of man is the Seat and Throne of God in him of