A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE GENERALL ASSEMBLY AT GLASCOE IN THE KINGDOME Of SCOTLAND the tenth day of Iune 1610. By GEORGE MERITON Doctor of Diuinitie and one of his Matesties Chaplaines THOV SHALT LABOR FOR PEACE PLENTIE LONDON Printed by William Stansby for Henry Featherstone 1611. A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE GENERALL ASSEMBLY AT Glascoe in the Kingdome of SCOTLAND the tenth day of Iune 1610. 2. COR. 1. 12. For our reioycing is this the testimony of our conscience THis verse is not complete in it selfe but like the face of Ianê° it looketh two wayes backwards and forwards hauing a respect vnto that which went before and a reference also vnto the wordes which follow It is not my purpose to handle it by way of relation but to take it at large in the nature of a proposition Our reioycing is this the testimony of our conscience There are three kinde of people in the world which are Reioycers the first they reioyce but it is not in a conscience the second reioyce in a conscience as they call it but yet without a testimonie the third are like to Paul and Timathy in this place their reioycing is this the testimony of their Conscience Of the former sort there are multitudes euery where in euery Kingdome The world is full of Pro. 15. 21. Solomons foolish reioycers The ambitious minded man who may fiâ—ly be resembled vnto the empty ballance that will alwaies be alost he reioyceth in honour and it is happines to get aduancement Pro. 28. Luke 12. The wise foole that is the rich man and greedy miser whose eyes are blinded with the dust of the earth and who gathereth matter together with the Phoenix to consume himselfe hee sayth vnto his soule Liue at ease eate drinke glut thy selfe with pleasures his ioye is in those things which S. Paul accounteth but dongue It were too long a voyage for me to runne ouer the whole world and to prosecute particulars In one word all vngodly men reioyce in doing euill and take great delight in wicked things Pro 2. 14. But the ioy of these is but like the foppe of Iudas which made a wider way for the Diuell to enter into him Delectatio non gaudium saith Aquinas a delight not a ioy or if it be a ioy it is but gaudium vanitatis non veritatis saith S. Augustine a vain and an empty ioy without all sound and inward comfort much like the merry madnesse of drunken men who are very pleasant for a time but recompenced with loathsomnesse a long while after such are all the drunken delights of the world Naomi sweet at the first pleasant in the beginning Ruth 1. 20. but Mara and amara bitter at the last loathsome in the ending 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Philo Iudeus calleth them bitter sweet things not much vnlike the ioy of Dauid after his return from the slaughter of the Amalekites in Ziglag whose wine was mingled 2. Sam. â— with water whose mirth was turned into mourning with the sudden newes of the death of Saul and Ionathan All reioycing which proceedeth not from a good conscience is saith S. Paul but 2. Cor. 5. 12. the ioy of the face and not of the heart and it euermore concludeth with that same sentence of a foole Non pataram I had not thought For as true ioy hath his foundation in the Center and is spread from the Center of the heart throughout all the parts of the soule by the spirit so false ioy commeâ—h from the Circumference it is enforced vpon the affections by externall obiects it resteth not in the Center it is not seated in the heart And therefore though for a time it may cheere the face yet if the conscience be bad it can neuer fill the breast The ioy of a wicked man saith Iob it is Iob 20. 5. instar puncti like a little point or pricke First in respect of a Circle a little point is many times compassed with a very great Circle such is the ioy of the wicked like a point in a Circle compassed round about with a thousand euils He may haue the mappe of heauen in his face but he carrieth the mappe of holl in his heart He may haue Ierasalem the Citie of peace in his forehead but he beareth Babylon that is confusion in his soule Secondly it is instar puncti in regard of that point or minute of time which it lasteth Quâ—d incipiendo desinit esse desinendo incipit saith Gregory which is very short and suddenly endeth according to Job â—1 13. that of Iob They spend their dayes in wealth and in the turning of a hand they goe downe to hell Thirdly it is instar puncti in regard of the making of it for as a point or pricke is made with pricking so is the ioy of the wicked ioyned with mourning Risus eum dolore misâ—â—tur in laughing the Pro. 14. 13. heart is sorrowfull and the end of their mirth is much heaulnesse To conclude this point where there is Ignis and Vermis that is where there is a hellish and guilty conscience there suppose to be if you please the greatest ioy that can be eyther in honors or wealth or pleasures or knowledge or in any thing else of highest title and prerogatiue in the world yet is all but like the sacrifice of Prometheus which was nothing but drie bones besmeared with fat or like to gilded bookes full of bloudy Tragedies In the middest of all iollities the conssience many times crieth out not onely Exod. 8. 19. as the Magicians did Digitus Dei est hic the finger of God is here but also as it was said of Totilas the Gothe Flagellum Dei est hic the scourge of God is here and the Diuell affrighteth the soule as Haniball did the Romans Haniball ad port as the Diuell is at our doores Let no man therefore euer comfort himselfe in any worldly reioycing vnlesse it be ioyned with the testimony of a good conscience The second kinde of reioycers reioyce in a conscience as they call it but yet without a testimonie And as the former sort are vngodly and prophane so these are seeming-religious a conscience they say doth guide and admonish them Of whom I may well say as the olde man in the Comedy speaketh of certaine things which his yong sonne a yonker did ouermuch affect Nec optima haec sunt neque vt ego aequum censeo verum meltora sunt quem quae deterrima These are not of the best fashion nor as my selfe could wish yet better then those which are the worst of all So these are not of S. Pauls company the best kinde of reioycers nor yet neere that sound and sweete comfort which wee ought to seeke after sed meliores sunt quam qui deterrimi they are better then the sormer which make a Ship-wracke of conscience and are the worst of all those haue their consciences seared vp
this of conscience principally no one thing being of greater consequence in the life of man and wherunto as Baldus speaketh of Wils and Testaments there may soone be admitted vitium inuâ—sibile a secret and a hidden errour Here then at once are excluded as insufficient in the Court of Conscience for the dispatch of this office all opinions and variable conceits of men al conclusions which are onely probable and coniecturall for these are childish and in their nonage Againe the rebellious and vnbridled affections of the heart which by their condition are no freemen but in bondage vnto reason are like Knights of the post which abuse the Court and therefore good reason is there that when they be too forward they should bee reiected If Concupiscence would become Amica Curtae a bufie informer in the Court of Conscience trust her not she is as Informers are corrupt and infamous If Choler be stirring follow it not it is but a madde and bedlam passion like furious zeale without discretion and giue no fit testimony for a reioycing conscience Loue hatred enuy malice and the rest are womannish and vnfaithfull and he that trusteth his owne heart is not wise Prou. 28. ver 26. Abraham begat Isaac when as Sara was olde the spirit begetteth ioy when the affections are the weakest The testimony of our Conscience must be of good fame good yeares free faithfull discreet euermore ioyned with verity iudgement and iustice as Hierome obserueth vpon the fourth Chapter of Ieremie If all these then be insufficient and deceitfull whither shall we turne vs to get this able testimony Damascene in his Logique ascribeth this duety to knowledge in the vnderstanding which then it rightly performeth when as euery thought is brought into obedience and all imaginations are subdued vnto it 2. Cor. 10. ver 5. It is an vncontrouleable Axiome both in Philosophy and Diuinitie that there is nulla or dinata actio quae proficiscitur à voluntate in intellectum that there is no action wel ordered which commeth from the will to the vnderstanding but the vnderstanding must first beget it and then the will bring it forth he that will sing in the spirit must first haue his vnderstanding tuned Sing prayses vnto God saith Dauid euery one that hath vnderstanding It is a Psal 47. 7. speech that sauoureth of little learning to say that a man hath more conscience then science the contrary is too often true more science then conscience for Conscientia is concludens scientta a concluding knowledge which doth necessarily import a precedent vnderstanding There must be illumination in the braine light in the head before there can be sanctification in the will true heate in the heart and if there be no proportion betwixt heat and light the ouerplus of heate which is in many is but ignis fatâ—â—s a foolish fire Iohn Baptist is called a burning and a shining light first burning Job 5. 35. then shining It is true if he be considered with respect vnto others but take him in himselfe alone then was he Lucens ardens first enlightned then enflamed Lucere vanum ardere parum lucere ardere perfectum saith S. Bernard God alwayes beginneth to renue a man in his vnderstanding that which by our fall was first corrupted is first repaired The vnderstanding was first blinded by the Serpents subtlety and there doth God beginne to worke euery good action And therefore it is not will affection coniecture opinion or any inferior power of the soule but knowledge in the mind that must yeeld a testimony to a reioycing conscience And yet not all kinde of knowledge not naturall for then might the Pagan or Heathen man reioyce not Legall for then were there ioy in the bare killing letter of the Law but Euangelicall begotten in vs by the spirite of GOD and sowne in our hearts by the preaching of his Worde True it is that by our creation wee had a three-folde knowledge which was most excellent first of all things created secondly of our Creatour thirdly of our selues But by our transgression we are become like brute beasts voyde of vnderstanding We haue a threefold ignorance in stead of our knowledge First of all things created Secondly of God Thirdly of our selues Hence is it that sinnes are said by S. Augustine to be the soules darknesse that Gregory calleth offendors fooles and S. Paul the wisedome of the world enmity vnto God The Mappe of the whole world is wittily comprised in the compasse of a fooles hood and Nosce teipsum in the front thereof which may serue to tell vs what naturally we are Those Animalia sapientie as Tertullian stileth the Philosophers those profound wizards of the world though they had a slender ghesse that Minerua should come from the head of Iupiter true wisedome from God yet they feigned her to be a Virgin vnknowen of man Socrates who was esteemed the wisest amongst them confessed of himselfe that he knew nothing at all Many were of opinion that all things are but opinions Thus euen in naturall things are we ignorant in our knowledge not much vnlike a smoaking fornace which voideth vp plenty of fume yet is voide of light yea our foolish hearts are full of darknesse Rom. 1. vers 21. As therefore in certaine Cities among the Iewes as Philo reporteth it was not permitted to a man of a scandalous life to put vp his petition to the Senate by himselfe but was to moue by another whose life and fame was neuer impeached so standeth the case with our vnderstanding Naturally it is out of temper and defiled and therefore in the deliuery of this testimony it may not speake but by proxie who is vpright and Iohn 2 Epist 5. incorrupt euen the Spirit of God speaking by the word of God The conscience must beare me witnesse by the spirit saith S. Paul Rom. 9. vers 1. and then let iudgement and will and affections concurre we are sure to haue a true testimony and a reioycing conscience when as the Spirit of God doth testifie vnto our spirits that we are Saints and Sonnes of God Rom. 8. vers 16. And now are we come to that which was S. Paules reioycing not in any worldly or outward things nor yet in an erroneous or misinformed conscience but in the excusing sense of his soule in regard of God and in the integrity of his heart in respect of man Prouerb 10. Wisedome did guide him and therefore he walked Iohn 1. boldly the spirit did beare him witnesse and therefore he reioyced truly he built vp a Consistory in his soule with iudgement cleansed it with repentance and adorned it with loue and so reioyced in the testimony of his conscience This kinde of Conscience 1. Tim. 2. is called a good conscience and in the second to Tim. 1. a pure conscience not because it is free from the staine of Originall sinne for it is a certaine truth which S. Augustine setteth downe in the
â—a iudgement most fearefull and lamentable These haue them polluted and troubled 1. Tim. 4. sometimes perhappes like the raging Sea Tit. 1. 15. which cannot rest whose waters cast vp myre and Esay 57. 20. dirt blinded in their vnderstandings and erroneous in their wils and therefore as S. Iames speaketh vnstable in all their wayes I doe not denie Jam. 1. 8. but that these men haue their kindes of ioy yet let vs looke a while into the causes of errour in conscience the better to iudge of the manner of their reioycing The first cause of error is Ignorance and of this ranke are silly and simple men who out of ignorance and weakenesse being deluded eyther by themselues or by others do apprehend things for bad which are good and for good those which are bad which deceiueth their soules and causeth their willes for to sinne Lippientibus saith Tertullian singularis Lucerna numerosa videtur Bleare eyed men spie two Candles where there is but one Ignorant consciences are bleare-eyed yea sometimes stone blinde they cannot possibly discerne aright and the ioy of these it is but like a mans that walketh in a darke and cloudie Ioh. 12. night who knoweth not whither he wandereth full of errour of doubting of darkenesse for if the vnderstanding the light of a man be darkned how great is that darknes It is our Sauiour that putteth the question as being a darknes fitter to be admired then easie to be esteemed The second cause of errour in Conscience is Pride which Mat. 6. 13. worketh specially in those who as the wise man Pro. 1. 31. speaketh do eate of the fruit of their owne hands and are filled with their owne deuices Quibus res sordidâ— est saith Senâ—ca trita vulgari via viuere vnto whom the olde way of the Christian world so generally followed of all is either accounted none or nothing worth It is reported by the Poet of Chiron a new fangled fellow that he was wearie of immorrality and wished to die The Athenians hauing their fill of new wines for nouelties sake saith Plutarch would needes drinke oyles Zeuxes as Plinie relateth would not willingly paint any common picture but Centaures and deformed Monsters such giddy men are there in Gods Church iust of the stampe of these qui ex rebus nouis claritatem famae venantur saith Gregory who take delight by their mis-shapen opinions amongst the vulgar sort to magnifie themselues These are greatly puffed vp with a swelling ioy but yet without true substance like to their proud vnderstandings their peruerse wils and their misinformed consciences The third cause of error is inordinate affection euidently seene in those who yeelde to their owne desires and are therefore men of a large and a stretching conscience hauing their iudgements perished with a longing appetite because as Seneca saith truely perit omne Iudicium cum res transit in affectum when any thing is seated in the Pange and heat of affection the iudgement concerning that matter whatsoeuer it be is vtterly decayed These thinke it a part of good seruice done to God a meere case of conscience to follow so farre the sway of their vnbridled affections as eyther with Saul in the olde Testament to kill the Prophets because hee hated them or with Paul in the new Testament to make hauocke of the Church of Christ for loue vnto the Iewes Thus many according to their seuerall desires transported with passion and hauing their consciences and affections of equal breadth grow presumptuous in their actions and being deceiued by the slattery of their owne hearts haue a large but a very loose reioycing The last cause of errour is fearefulnesse of minde which contracteth the soule to an ouer-narrow and too strict a scantling entertayning cause of feare where no feare is Incident vnto this errour are men of perplexed mindes trembling at a shaddow and wounding their soules with strawes Vnto whom Mat. 8. 26. I may fitly speake as Christ did once to his Why are ye so fearefull O ye of little faith The auncient reuerend name of a Bishop is as a skarebug vnto them they start at it as at an Affrican Monster newly presented vnto the view of the world These abridge themselue in many things of Christian liberty their feare causeth misconstruction and their consciences being ful of cowardise their ioy is like vnto them alwayes pinching and ioyned with perplexity To conclude this point also that heauenly consolation which S. Paul felt and which euery one of vs is bound to seeke after it is not to be found in an ignorant a peruerse a presumptuous a perplexed conscience we may say of all these as the Angels said to the women Luke 24. concerning Christ Why seeke you the liuing among the dead a liuing ioy in a dying Conscience Non est hic it is not here But our reioycing saith the Apostle is this the restimony of our conscience Sith then this vnspeakeable ioy of heart cannot be had but where there is a testimony let vs now enquire what this testimony of conscience should be which is thus requisite to a sound and a hearty ioy Conscience by Diuines is defined to be a knowledge ioyned with a knowledge whereby we know what we know and vnderstand that of our selues which God knoweth of vs. By naturall condition it is placed betwixt man and God vnder God and therefore doth it yeelde all subiection vnto him aboue man and therefore hath it a power ouer him to accuse or excuse him to fill him full of sorrow or exceeding ioy In the exercising of which power it vseth a testimony Now euen in the Ciuill Law we are forbidden to admit of euery kind of Testimony promiscually Vox vnius est vox nullius saith Baldus one witnesse is no witnesse Vnitesti ne Catoni quidem credendum est saith Hierome If Cato himselfe should speake alone who for his integrity was feigned by the Poet Iuuenall to come down from heauen Tertius de Celo cecidit Cato he were not alone to bee beleeued In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall euery word stand Deu. 19. v. 15. First then in the cause of conscience especially there is required a competent number which must make a testimony Though one apple be enough to manifest the life of a tree yet doth not one Swallow make a Summer neyther is one good motion of the minde though it be of grace able to giue vnto vs a sound cause of ioy And as plurality of witnesses must concurre to make a testimony so againe is it needefull that they be duly qualified The Ciuilian telleth vs that vnto sufficient witnesses these things are required Aetas conditio sexus discretio fama Atque fortuna fides in testibus ista requiras Age condition sexe discretion fame estate and faith are to be obscrued in euery witnes And as good choyce ought to be made in any case in the world then in
of the mouth in a confused noise yet is not the mouth able to expresse that which the heart conceiueth What should I say more Put all the ioyes of the world together and they are not able to counteruaile a reioycing Conscience O blessed Paul then and most happy men and women are those whose reioycing is this the testimony of their conscience The Doctrines which I raise from hence are partly generall for our instruction partly speciall for the present occasion Generall Doctrine FIrst hereby we learne what a good Conscience is not a sorrowing conscience or one that tortureth the soule and teareth the hart in pieces proceeding from the sense of sinne and apprehension of the heauy wrath of God against vs for the same but Conscientia sine offendiculo a Act. 24. 16. cleere conscience is a good conscience which is not hindered from reioycing The conscience which accuseth may bee many times and is in Gods children a step vnto that which absolueth and feeleth ioy but where there is a sorrow for sinne without hope of grace where there is a killing by the olde man and not a quickening by the new if we feele the sentence of death in our soules and not of life in our Sauior although we should recount vnto God all our sinnes ouer and ouer againe in the anguish and bitternes of our soules though wee should lament like Dragons and mourne like Ostriches as the Prophet Micah speaketh Micah 1. 8. yet haue we but that part of conscience which euen the wicked and reprobates haue Cainc Saul Iudâ— were greatly grieued for their sinnes Esau Hebr. 12. 17. lift vp his voyce and wept bitterly yet could he find no place of repentance and so by consequent for peace of Conscience though he sought it with Apoc. 7. 13. teares The good conscience then excuseth absolueth reioyceth and the Saints in heauen follow the Lambe not in blacke but in white roabes the best men are no mourners but reioycers Reioyce Thes 1. 5. alwayes saith S. Paul to the Thessalonians and to the Philippians Reioyce in the Lord alwaies Phil. 4. and againe I say reioyce Secondly hence wee are taught that it is not lawfull to keepe our consciences to our selues but we must reioyce or glory in them for so the word signifieth S. Pauls conscience did appeare by his glorying in it tanta debâ—t esse eius plenitudo vt â—manet ab animo in habitum vt eructet è conscientia in superficiem as Tertullian writeth of the modesty of women it ought to appeare in outward behauiour Away then with all close and lurking consciences of which there is no certainty to what way they encline Conscientia proà re vult conspici It is not affraid of the light it â—oueth to be seene like Drusiss the Romane who had his house full of windows that all men might behold his conuerlation neither is it improbable but he that had seene S. Paul when he wrote this verse Our glorying is this the testimony of our conscience should haue perceiued the ioy of his heart euen in his cheerefull countenance For a ioyfull heart maketh a cheerefull countenance Pro. 15. ver 13. Thirdly we may hence learne what a wofull case all Heretickes Hypocrites Schismaticks and ignorant men and women are in whole knowledge is peruerted and who liue in errour They want the testimony of a good conscience and therefore a Christian ioy for there is no true testimony where there is no true knowledge no true knowledge vnlesse the soule be illuminated by the spirit no true illumination vnlesse it be guided by the word these therefore hauing neyther knowledge to leade them nor the spirit to enlighten them nor the word to direct them are voyde of a true testimony and so of a reioycing conscience This ought to stirre vp all with all diligence to pray for the spirit to seeke after the word of knowledge to say vnto it as Elisha said to Elias I will not forsake thee to meditate in it day and night The voyce of wisedome hath sounded in our streetes for the space of many yeares together And Lord we beseech thee to defend the Defender of the faith that by his religious care her voyce may long be heard amongst vs. If the Lion roareth all the beastes of the Forrest do tremble and quake and shall the Lion of the tribe of Iudah deliuer his word the Lion of the royall Tribe both of England and Scotland both loue and cherish the word Shall wisedome daily crie out vnto vs and not be regarded of vs When as Luk. 1. 41. the mother of this Word went vnto Iohn Baptists mother Iohn did skip in his mothers wombe for Ezech 37. 7. ioy when the Prophet prophesied to the drie 1. Thes 4. 16. bones You drie bones heare the word of the Lord the drie bones heard it and ranne together and at the end of the world the dead shall obey it and rise out of their graues O let vs not be worse then Babes in the wombe then bones vpon the earth then the dead in the graues It is the power of God vnto saluation it giueth an inheritance with the Saints it maketh a man wise vnto eternall life it rectisieth the conscience it is the ground of all true ioy Let vs take heed we be not non proficientes children in vnderstanding euer learning and neuer the wiser those that intend truely to reioyce let them looke into it for wee can neither haue a good conscience without the knowledge of the doctrine of faith nor yet keepe the doctrine of faith without a good Conscience Particular doctrine vpon the present occasion RIght Honourable right Reuerend and my beloued brethren of this Kingdome of Scotland attend I pray with patience So it is as you haue heard that there is no true ioy of conscience without a sufficient testimony no sufficient testimony without precedent knowledge no knowledge without illumination from the spirit and from the word This then ought to teach you that as all times and in all your actions so most especially at this time and in this great Assembly where there is a generall meeting for the good of Gods Church deeply to aduise and seriously to looke vnto the testimonies of your Conscience that the end of such a solemne action may be a sound reioycing Consult not I beseech you with opinion imbrace not Coniectures follow not affection let not will beare the swaye your loue your desires your zeale your hatred and such like passions of the minde subdue them vnto reason and there is no doubt but as you haue made a holy beginning so the conclusion will be with much reioycing But if opinion should proue head-strong it contectures should go for proofe if fierie zeale and blinde affection should dispute the cause if you wil retaine this because you desire it or reiect that because you hate it if rashnesse should be thought resolution and