Selected quad for the lemma: nature_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	humane_a	law_n	positive_a	2,470	5	10.9031	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30579	Gospel-conversation: wherein is shewed, I. How the conversation of believers must be above what could be by the light of nature. II. Beyond those that lived under the law. III. And suitable to what truths the Gospel holds forth. By Jeremiah Burroughs, preacher of the Gospel to Stepney and Criplegate, London. Being the third book published by Thomas Goodwyn, William Greenhil, Sydrach Simpson, Philip Nye, William Bridge, John Yates, William Adderly.	Burroughs, Jeremiah, 1599-1646.; Goodwin, Thomas, 1600-1680.	1650 (1650)	Wing B6076A; ESTC R213106	221,498	277

bitterness that original corruption and this makes me cry out Oh wretched man Oh wretched woman who shall deliver me from this body of death and Oh that I could find this mortified in me this is that that is the strength and endeavor of my soul to get this bodie of sin to be mortified I this is as becomes the Gospel so to live in your Conversations as it may appear that you are not content meerly to keep from actual sins though in secret but it is your great care and endeavour to mortifie this verie bodie of death that is within you and by this a great manie of your Civil men and meer moral men will or at least may be convinced that their Conversations comes short of that that becomes the Gospel of Jesus Christ for they are not acquainted with this Lastly If you would have your Conversations such as becomes the Gospel of Christ you must not only think to make conscience of secret sins but that which you do you must manifest that it doth proceed out of Love not only that you do obey but that you love the Commandement that you do obey Now this neither any hypocrit or meer moral man doth if you take it universallie one Commandement as well as another Obj. You will say Love is a secret thing Ans But as you may know in your family the difference between your childrens obedience to you and your servants so there may appear a difference between the obedience of one that is meerly moral or doth it out of conscience and the other that doth it out of love therefore you must know that you do not rise beyond the light of Nature except that you do love the Command as well as obey the Command and so carrie things in your Conversations as you may make it appear that all those waie of God that you make conscience of that you likewise have a love unto them and do them out of a principle of love and thus you come beyond the light of Nature and in some measure it is as becomes the Gospel of Christ And that 's the first thing how we should walk in our Conversations as becomes the Gospel of Christ But now this is the lowest of all The second is That our Conversations must be such as is beyond such as live under the Law for the Law of God goes higher than the light of Nature for there 's more reveal'd there than in the light of Nature It 's true that that you call the moral Law the light of Nature if it be cleer it is sutable to it to the most part of it only there is some part that is positive but most part is but sutable to the principles of Nature if they were cleer and pure but now because since the fall of Man the light of Nature is darkned and the principles of Nature are much corrupted therefore God hath given His Law that is as it were a glass of His Will that is the cleer glass of what was written in the heart of man in Innocencie that 's the Law Only there is that of the limitation of the seventh Day particularly from the Creation that hath somewhat positive in it but take all the other and I say it is nothing but as a glass of what was written in the heart of man in the time of Innocency There was written in mans heart to keep some solemn time for the worship of God only the specification was by revelation but the substance of all those ten Commandements I say is the glass of what was written in the heart of man in Innocency And because God saw that this writing was so much blotted out almost all obliterated therefore God wrote it in Tables of stone whereas it was written in the Table of mans heart at first But now when He comes to bring men to the Gospel there He writes over that Law again in the Tables of their hearts At first it was written in the heart of Adam but he falling doth blot it out in a great measure then God writes it over fair again but how He writes it over in a fair Copie but it is in Tables of stone but when God receives any soul in the Gospel He writes it over again in the Tables of their hearts Now this gives you a little hint of the difference between the Law and the Gospel between the Conversations of men that were meerly Legal and the Conversation that is Evangelical but the opening of it to shew the difference between the Law and the Gospel in reference to this and to shew how low the Conversation was that was meerly Legal and how high raised the Conversation of a Christian ought to be if he would make it Evangelical such as becomes the Gospel of Christ would ask more time and therefore we must defer that to the next day SERMON III. PHIL. 1. 27. Only let your Conversation be as becomes the Gospel of Christ A Conversation becoming the Gospel of Christ it must be beyond what the Law can inable one to attain to or else it doth not become the Gospel I have shewed you already what the Gospel of Christ is But now we are upon the point of Conversation That it must be higher than can be by the Law those that live under the Gospel must live in a higher way of holiness than those that lived under the Law Now for this we are to consider of the Law under these two considerations First As it is a Covenant of works for life so it was made at first to Adam It was a Covenant of works for eternal life to Adam and so to man kind in him Secondly We are to consider the Law as in the Ministration of it by Moses Take it either of these two waies Those that live under the Gospel and profess the Gospel must live in a more holy Conversation or aim or endeavour at least after a more holy Conversation than that Conversation could be that was under the Law As now I say thus the Law as the Covenant of life to Adam But what was his Conversation First It was obedience to God meerly as Creator no further Adam in innocency he lookt upon God as Creator of al things as the First being of all and so Adam tendered up his service to God meerly as the Creator and First-being That was his obedience Secondly The Law to Adam had promise only of natural things of a natural life to be continued We do not reade of Gods promising Adam to live in Heaven if he had obeyed but Do this and live that was the Tenour of the Covenant with him that is he should have continued in Paradise and so have lived a natural life but yet continued eternally God would have upheld that natural life of his that 's all we reade of that ever God promised to Adam if he had stood by vertue of that Covenant of the Law That 's the second thing considerable in

His subjects every subject of Christ hath his will and heart subdued to Jesus Christ It is not so in this world men may be subject to the Kings of this world meerly by constraint because they dare not do otherwise many Kings in this world have subjects whose hearts are not with them who love them not the Kings of this world they rule only the outward man But Christs Kingdom is another kind of Kingdom He rules in the hearts of men there is His Throne in the wills in the affections of men in the consciences of men Christ swaies His Scepter in mens souls men by conquest they subdue subjects to themselves Christ he subdues too in a way of conquest but he doth not subdue the outward man so much as the inward man the will is subdued to Christ He swaies His Scepter in their hearts this is a great mystery of godliness the swaying of the Scepter of Jesus Christ in the hearts of the Saints and therefore the Scripture tels us That the Kingdom of God is within us it is an inward Kingdom That 's the third thing wherein the difference between Christs Kingdom and the Kingdoms of the world consists Fourthly The Laws of Christ are Spiritual Observe the difference between the Laws of Christ in the government of His Church and the Laws that are for the government of the world it will be of very great use for you to know The Lord in His Providential Kingdom appointing Magistrates to govern here in the world in His room He leaves them to make Laws according to the general rules of prudence and justice such Laws are sufficient for the governing of the outward man and for the attaining to a Civil end for which their government is appointed But now Jesus Christ in His Mediatory Kingdom in His Church He makes all the Laws Himself He doth not leave it unto the Church to make new Laws according to the rules of their own prudence what they conceive to be fit in way of prudence no but they must fetch the Laws out of His Word and impose none but the same Laws that are in His Word they must have a Scriptum est it is written here are these and these texts of Scripture for what is enjoyned nothing must be added unto what He hath in His Word revealed only there are Divine Laws for the government of His Church now 't is true that the Church because they are a society of men they have some things natural and some things civil among them so far as they have need of natural and civil helps so far there may be Laws made according to rules of prudence and justice and Magistrates may come in to be helpful to the Church so far as they have need here of natural and civil helps as a society of men But now to speak properly to that which belongs to them meerly as they are the Church of Christ besides that that they have need of as they are men and natural and civil societies I say what belongs to them meerly considered as a Church of Christ they are to be governed only by the Laws of Jesus Christ who is the only Law-giver only by the Laws of the Word and there is not that liberty of making new Laws in the Church as there is of making new Laws in the Common-wealth and State and that 's a great difference between the Kingdom of Christ and the Kingdoms of this world That 's a fourth The Laws are different The Laws are different not only that they are by Divine revelation in the one and left to humane prudence in the other But 2 ly in the one the Laws bind conscience in the other they do not they do not bind conscience any further than the nature of the thing that is required binds except it be in case of scandal and contempt so our Divines that have been the most orthodox have gone that the Laws of men in the State they bind not conscience that is if a man should not do the thing that is required he should in conscience be bound over to eternal death for not doing it this is a very hard bondage a cruel yoke but thus if the thing that is required be right and just then the nature of the thing may bind conscience for then there comes in a Law of God if the thing be just and right that is required or however if I know nothing to the contrary but it may be just and right I must not break the Laws of man so as to give scandal or in a way of contempt but if it be privatly so as it be no scandal nor no contempt and the nature of the thing bind me not then my conscience is not bound over as guilty of eternal death if so be I do not every thing that man requires But now the Laws of Christ they are such as bind conscience as they come from him he is such a King that I say because they come from him and from his Will though we see no reason in the matter of the thing though they have nothing in the nature of the thing but meerly the Will of Christ it 's enough to tye conscience and to bind us even upon pain of eternal death to obedience Fiftly Christs Kingdom is not of this world That homage that the Saints do unto Christ it is not worldly but spiritual the Worship of Christ and the Ordinances of Christ they are not worldly but spiritual Now the Kings of this world they may appoint what kind of worship they please that is what Ceremonies they will whereby their subject should tender up their homage to them and now men have ventured to be so bold with Christ the King because men may tender up their homage unto their earthly Kings by any waies invented of their own therefore they have thought that they might presume to tender up their homage to Christ their spiritual King by any waies of invented worship and therein was a great error they lookt upon the Kingdom of Christ only in a carnal way whereas the Kingdom of Christ is such as all our homage that we tender up to Him must be Spiritual it must be Heavenly it must be from Heaven it must be from Christ Himself it must be from some Institution and Appointment of Jesus Christ and the more the kingdom of Christ doth prevail the more Spiritual shall that homage be that the subjects tender up to Him therefore you shall find that when the holy Ghost speaks of the Kingdom of Christ in the new Testament with reference unto that which was then in the old Testament He calls even those waies of worship in the old Testament worldly in comparison of the worship and homage that the Saints tender to Christ in the new Testament as in Gal. 4. 3. Even so we when we were children were in bondage under the elements of the world The ceremonies of the Law are call'd here the elements of

The Gospel discovers unto us the great honor that God hath put upon humane Nature above the Angels This could never have been known but by the Gospel this is as proper a thing to the Gospel as any I have spoken of And one special design that God had in the Gospel was To reveal those thoughts and counsels that he had from al eternity to put mighty and great Excellencies upon our humane Nature in these two particulars First In the Personal Vnion of Mans Nature to the second Person in Trinity That 's the first and great way of honor that God hath crowned human Nature with Hence the Apostle in 1 Tim. 1. 6. Without controversie great is the mysterie of godliness What is it God was manifested in the flesh God manifested in the flesh that 's a great mystery of godliness Now it could not be such a mystery if God had only taken an humane shape upon Him for so it was in the time of the Law Jesus Christ often took humane shape as when He strove with Jacob it was Jesus Christ as might easily appear But great is the mysterie of godliness without controversie it 's great God manifested in the flesh that is God taking flesh of man into a personal union which is more fully exprest in John 1. 4. The Word was made flesh This was a strange speech but proper to the Gospel An Heathen would have thought this a strange speech and especially if he knew that by the Word was meant He that was true and eternal God And then in Heb. 2. 16. it is said That Christ did not take the Nature of Angels upon him but the seed of Abraham So that it appears by the personal union of our Natures to the Son of God God hath advanced human Nature above Angels above all creatures Truly my Brethren in Christs taking our Nature upon Him which the Gospel holds forth to us me thinks we may see God as it were resolving to do a work from Himself to the uttermost to manifest the uttermost of his glory in a work out of Himself the work of God within Himself it is His eternal generation and the possession of the holy Ghost but now God would work out of Himself and work out of Himself to the uttermost extent I 'le make a world saith God Heavens and Earth by my Word But this is not such a glorious work as I am able to do I could make ten thousand worlds and when I have made them I could make as many more and more glorious But I would do some work wherein I might manifest even the uttermost of my glory What work is that that is The work that God pitcht upon He would do one work from without to manifest the uttermost of his glory and the Lord rather pitches upon this To take the nature of Man into a personal union with His Son that 's the uttermost And it is impossible that Men or Angels if they were left to all eternity to imagin could think of a work that it were possible for God to express more of His power wisdom and glory in but we know but little of it now but we shall know more in Heaven Now Oh how hath God honored humane Nature in this That when He would do a work to the utmost of His Excellency that He would pitch upon Mans Nature to take it into Personal Union with Himself here 's the mystery of the Gospel now this is indeed the marrow of the mysterie of the Gospel The Word made flesh the second Person in Trinity taking Mans Nature upon Him This is the mystery of the Gospel that Angels and Saints admire at and shall be taken up to all eternity in admiring and praising and magnifying God for That 's the first way of Gods honoring Mans Nature And then there is a second thing which the Gospel reveals and that 's this In putting honor not only upon the Nature of Man as having soul and body but putting a mighty honor upon the very Body of Man the meanest and the very lowest part of Man the very shel outside rine and case of Man that you have in 1 Cor. 6. 19. What know ye not that your bodie is the temple of the holy Ghost which is in you Your body is the Temple of the holy Ghost You have no such thing revealed in the old Testament this comes by the light of the Gospel that the Lord hath made the bodies of the Saints to be Temples to the holy Ghost that the holy Ghost dwels in their very Bodies as in a Temple as the King in his Pallace so the holy Ghost in His Temple Now these two are great things revealed in the Gospel and had we but a cleer understanding of these two things Oh! it would mightily elevate our spirits And Conversations sutable to these two particulars surely must needs be a high raised Conversation As now for instance 3. In the personal union of our natures with the second Person in Trinity Oh how should this raise up our hearts and we should manifest the elevation of our spirits in our Conversation so as it becomes those that may expect great things from God surely that God that hath honoured our natures so as to be personally united to his Son he doth intend great things to some of the children of men as now Suppose you that are the poorest and meanest here in this Congregation you had a Sister that were married to the greatest Emperor in the world yea to one that were Emperor of all the whol Earth now you would think to live another kind of life than you did before were it beseeming such a man to live now upon scraping of Chanels or wiping of horse heels or any mean imployment when his Sister is married to the only Monarch of all the whol earth surely he may think now I must live at a higher rate for I may expect something by this So should every one of the children of men think thus indeed I have liv'd in a mean base way the humane nature of mine hath been basely subject to filthy lusts all my daies I have been a bondslave to sin and Satan but when I come to hear of the Gospel I hear that the second Person in Trinity God blessed for ever equal with the Father that is the Heir of all things that he hath not married my humane nature but hath taken it into a personal union with himself and is become my kinsman my neer kinsman hath taken this into the neerest union as is possible for a creature to be taken into with God Oh let us be raised then in our thoughts to think surely God intends higher things for some of the children of men than to eat and drink and satisfie the flesh and be brutish here in the world there are higher things that God will do for mankind and why not for me I am not excluded no more than others It was a speech I remember of

Seneca though a Heathen I am greater saith he and I am born to greater things than to be a slave to my body A Heathen could say so Oh but when we hear of humane nature so advanced and enthroned in Christ we should think with our selves that any one that hath humanity in them is born to higher things than to make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof What wilt thou be a slave to the Devil now Thou hearest how God hath dignified the nature of man into so neer a union with himself Oh doth not this mysterie of the Gospel call to all the children of men Oh all you children of men Behold what God hath done for man kind surely the thoughts of God for man-kind are great and glorious there be higher things you may attain unto and will you yet perish and chuse your portion here in this world and be groveling on the ground as if there were no higher thoughts that God had for your good than meerly to live as brute beasts to eat and drink and then rise up to play Oh if God hath advanced mans nature so do not despise it in the meanest of the children of men the lowest servant or poorest boy that lies begging at your door for a piece of bread for it is of the same kind that is united in a personal union with the second Person in Trinity of the same nature which this poor boy that lies begging at your door for broken bread and meat therefore honor humane nature in every one and do not vilifie it in thy self those men that live under the Gospel and vilifie humane nature they put a dishonour upon Jesus Christ And even reverence thy self in private when thou art alone I say reverence thy self do not abuse thy body it is the Temple of the holy Ghost Oh remember this all you that are professors of Religion that these bodies of yours this flesh of yours if you be godly and walk answerable to your profession I say this flesh of yours it is the very Temple of the holy Ghost do not abuse it it 's the Apostles argument Therefore fly fornication and be not joyned to whores for your bodies are the temples of the holy Ghost Oh it makes the sin of uncleanness to one that professes the Gospel of Christ a cursed sin the sin of uncleaness in a professor of the Gospel it 's a thousand thousand times more abominable than the sin of uncleanness in another why Because they know how God hath advanced humane nature into a personal union with himself and how their bodies are the Temples of the holy Ghost What shal I make the Temple of God a ●●y for the unclean spirit a cage of unclean birds God forbid There hath been a great deal of do about stony Churches and Temples and you should have a great many base whoremasters plead for the Whore of Rome the Mistris of all fornications in bowing and cringing with Cap and knee as soon as they set their foot in some of our meeting places and in the mean time abuse the Saints which are the Temples of the holy Ghost and abuse their own bodies and yet they profess themselves Christians Oh now either deny thy Christianity or do not abuse thy body to any filthy lust for it is the Temple of the holy Ghost This the Gospel holds forth And let thy Conversation be now as becomes the Gospel of Jesus Christ not abusing thy body so For we see that the Gospel cals for bodily cleanness as well as spiritual cleanness and truly I do not know stronger arguments to godliness than these that we have mentioned here in the Gospel We have gone through three Gods infinit hatred of sin The price of souls And the honor that the Gospel shews that God hath put upon humane nature Conversations but becoming these three would be other manner of Conversations than you have I shall only speak of a fourth and that 's this 4. The Gospel holds forth the greatest example of self-denial that ever was in the world by all waies that ever God hath made known his mind he never hath revealed his will in an example of self-denial so as he hath done in the Gospel and that is in the example of the Lord Jesus Christ God evidenceth there such a work of self-denial as never was and 't is impossible to apprehend a greater example of self-denial than that is though Christ thought it no robbery to be equal with God reade but the second of the Philippians vers 7 8. and there you may see what Christ was and yet how he emptied himself how he denied himself in his honor how vile he was made in the world though he was the brightness of his fathers glory yet he was made of no reputation how he denied himself in riches Christ that was the Heir of all things though he were rich yet he was made poor for us how he denied himself in his pleasures he was the delight of the Father from all eternity and yet he was made a man of sorrows he denied himself in his life for he was the Lord of life and yet he subjected himself to death to a cursed death for us Oh the example of Christ in self-denial is the greatest that ever was and this seems to be one great end of the humiliation of Jesus Christ to hold forth a preaching pattern of self-denial to the world And there 's a great deal more power in the pattern and example of self-denial then in the commands of self-denial I only present this to shew you that it is the most unbeseeming the Gospel for any one that professes the Gospel to be selvish altogether scraping for themselves and whatsoever service they are put upon except self may have an oare in it they have no mind to it Oh 't is becoming the Gospel of Jesus Christ for men and women to be emprtied of themselves no matter what becomes of our selves but be willing to give up our selves for publick good to venture your estates and lives and all your comforts yea to be swallowed up in the glory of God to be nothing that Christ may be all In the Gospel of Christ we find that Christ he was swallowed up with the glory of his Father and he came not to do his own will but the will of his father that sent him and though he was one that had infinitely more excellency than all men and Angels in Heaven and Earth yet he was content for the honor of his Father to be made as a worm and no man to be trampled under foot to endure the greatest extremities of all sorts this holds out an example to us that while we live in this world we should be taken off from our selves Oh this self-love sticks much in the hearts of men and women now upon the example of Christs self-denial we are required to deny our selves and it is the proper lesson of the Gospel

God did make all things by Christ so He doth govern all things by Him if God had not deputed the second Person in Trinity God man the Mediator to have been the Governor of all things the holiness and justice of God according to the Covenant of works by which he had to deal with man would have destroyed the world upon mans sin had not the ordering and governing of the world been put into the hand of the second Person in Trinity God-man the Mediator for though he was not manifested in the flesh He had not actually taken our humane Nature upon Him yet He was look'd upon as God-man with the Father even before the foundation of the world was laid and so all things were committed to Him And hence the world notwithstanding the sin that hath been in it hath been preserved so as it hath been to this day Christ therefore hath a Providential Kingdom together with the Father and so he is King not over the Churches only the King of the Saints but He is over all the Heathen over all the world from the rising of the Sun to the setting thereof And the Civil Magistrate as I may so say is the Deputy of Christ in this his Providential Kingdom Gods Vicegerent upon Earth all Magistrates whatsoever are Officers subordinate under Him But now there 's another Kingdom of Christ that this Scripture speaks of My Kingdom is not of this world That is the Kingdom of the Mediator as Divines calls it that more properly concerns His Church in the execution of His Mediatory Office Now this Kingdom of Christ it was ever since there was a Church but it was very dark under clouds and curtains the glory of it was little till the second Person came to be manifested in the flesh then indeed this Mediatory Kingdom of Christ came to be revealed abundantly more cleerly than before and Christ exercised it more fully this is that which the Scripture so often in the Gospel cals the Kingdom of Heaven Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand 't is not of this world but it 's cal'd the Kingdom of Heaven the Mediatory Kingdom of Christ is not of this world there 's a great deal of difference between a worldly kingdom and this Kingdom of Christ And that 's the subject that I am now to open to you How Christs Kingdom is not of this world the vast difference between worldly kingdoms and Christs Kingdom which you will find to be a point of very great use First Christs Kingdom hath not that pomp and glory that bravery and galantry that the Kingdoms of the world have you know in the Kingdoms of the world there 's a great deal of outward pomp and glory Bernice and Agrippa they came in great pomp the text saith the Kings of the earth have glorious attendance Christ hath no such thing His attendance was a few poor Fisher-men Kings have great Courts and crouded with Courtiers His Court was but small only a few of such kind of men mean and contemptible taken from the hedges and out of the high waies They have sumptuous Pallaces Christ had not a place to hide His head here in this world He saith himself that the Foxes have holes and the Birds of the air have nests but the Son of Man hath not wherewithal to hide His head and yet a great King for all that Surely it was not of this world The Kings of the earth have all kind of delicates that this world can afford they carry things in great state It was not so with Christ Zech. 9. 9. Rejoyce greatly Oh Daughter of Zion shout Oh Daughter of Jerusalem behold thy King cometh unto thee He is just and having salvation lowly and riding upon an Ass and upon a Colt the foal of an Ass He comes lowly and mean the way of Christ in this His kindom is a way of humility and outward meanness and lowliness it is a way of outward contempt scorn and dirision this is the way of the kingdom of Christ by poverty and lowliness He would overcome the world not by bravery and magnificence nor by great pomp and glory He doth not dazle the eyes of men by such means but His glory consists in self-denial in emptying of Himself in becoming poor therfore His Kingdom is not of this world Luke 17. 20. The Kingdom of God saith the text there comes not with observation that 's the word the meaning of it is this It is not a thing that by any outward pompous Ceremonies can be observed Now Kings when they go from one place to another by their attendance and by a great many ceremonies that are used for the setting out of their pomp and glory they are taken notice of and observed you may know the King comes here say the people when they see such things But saith the text there The Kingdom of God comes not by observation there 's no such outward pomp and glory there 's nothing but outward meaness and baseness to the eye of the flesh in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ He that is in Himself the most glorious King and from whom all other Kings have their power yet He hath a Kingdom that is not of this world that hath nothing but meaness poverty and lowliness that doth appear in it to the eyes of men Secondly The Kingdom of Christ is not of this world in regard of His Subjects Look what subjects Christ hath they are such as are not of this world So Christ tels His Disciples as you may find in the 17. of John I am not of the world and you are not of the world Kings they have for their subjects Nobles Peers and great Personages especially those that are near about them but now the subjects that Christ hath for His Kingdom for the generality of them they are of the poor mean base contemptible men of the world such as are look'd upon as the off-scouring of all things these are His subjects as in the second of James 5. verse Hearken my beloved brethren Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom The poor of this world rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom they are the great hears even the poor of this world You know what an offence it was unto the Jews say they Do any of the Rulers beleeve in him but this multitude which is accursed A company of poor women illiterat people they flock after Jesus Christ The subjects of Christ are men chosen out of this world he himself appeared not with the glory of the world And secondly His subjects are men chosen out of the world Thirdly The Kingdom of Christ is not of this world that is the rule that Christ hath in His subjects and over these His subjects in this His Kingdom it is not of this world the rule it is spiritual It is principally upon the hearts the wills the consciences of those that are