so much that we should do thus or thus upon other grounds and inducements it starteth not at that except it be convinced by the word of God that it is Gods will the commandment of the great God of heaven the God of the spirits of all flesh who will look for our obedience This maketh conscience to startle this affecteth it and bindeth it S t Paul when he said that he approved himself and his preaching to mens consciences what followeth If our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that perish c. As if he had said This maketh all the world to startle except they be reprobates and men delivered over to Satan It is easie to see what ministerie affecteth most and doeth the most good in the hearts of the people namely that which bringeth the clearest voice of Gods Spirit calling to obedience and binding the conscience They can heare with ease and great pleasure the sermons of those whose doctrines are stuffed with humane discourses Learning and policie never pierce conscience Nay let carnall preachers preach never so much against peoples sinnes they can make a sport of it though they heare their sinnes with humane learning declaimed against When the preacher doth not clearly preach the Lords voyce though he rip up sinne yet if it be not in the demonstration of the Spirit of God and shewing his clear authority the heart will not be affected Conscience knoweth when it is bound and when it is but dallied and jested with And therefore if Ministers desire to have their ministerie work upon the hearts of their people they must shew them Gods authority and confirm it by his word and let them see that it is the commandment of the Lord that which will one day judge them Let him know saith Paul that the things that I write are the commandments of the Lord. It is the Lord of heaven and earth that biddeth thee yield and commandeth thee to give over thy base lusts It is he in whose hands thy breath is thou hadst best be obedient I tell thee thy conscience observeth it and if thou wilt not obey it will rore like the roring of the sea one day against thee and sting thee like a scorpion The things that thou hearest know thou that they are the commandments of God and if thou disobey thou dost disobey not men but God 2. Is it so that the word of God onely is the supreme bond of conscience Then this teacheth us to have an eye to Gods word in that which we do if we would satisfie conscience I say have an eye to Gods word not onely to do that which it may be is in Gods word conscience counteth that to be nothing but to have an eye to Gods word Conscience will not be satisfied with any obedience that we do if we have not an eye to Gods word Whatever we have an eye to besides conscience knoweth it is nothing if in all we have not an eye to the commandment of God Though we do obey it conscience looketh upon it as if we did not obey it It is onely Gods commandment and authoritie that bindeth conscience and therefore nothing satisfieth conscience unlesse we have an eye unto that If we do not aim at Gods will in doing what we do conscience counteth our obedience as no obedience at all As for example Ye that are husbands ye love your wives but is it because God commandeth it It may be ye love them because they love you or because your affections are to them Alas this is nothing Pagans and reprobates can do so But do ye aim at the doing of Gods will who commandeth you O say you The Lord doth command me I do it What of that Do ye look at his commandment when ye do it If not be humbled and know ye must get grace to do so or ye are not obedient to God neither will conscience set it down for obedience Ye that are servants ye serve your masters but do ye aim at Gods will thus O the Lord hath commanded me to be faithfull and painfull in my service Doth your soul look to this It may be ye serve them because they are kind and because they pay you your wages and the like This is nothing to conscience conscience looketh at the commandment of God and if your souls do not aim at the commandment of God it will not satisfie conscience Ye that are neighbours it may be ye love one another and be friends one with another but doth your soul look at Gods commandment is it because God hath commanded us to love one another People seldome aim at God in these cases They are friends with their neighbours why Their neighbours are friends with them But they do not trouble their thoughts to aim at Gods commandment in it Let me tell you Conscience will not count this obedience For conscience feeleth no bond but Gods word and if ye do not look at that it is no obedience with conscience conscience will never acquit you or absolve you for this it accounteth of this obedience as no obedience at all See 1. Cor. 10.25 and so forward There the Apostle handling that question of conscience at last concludeth Whether ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do do all to the glorie of God vers 31. Let your hearts look at that and aim at that in whatsoever ye do still look at God all is lost with conscience else Though ye eat never so soberly and drink never so moderately pray never so duly conscience counteth it all nothing if ye do not look at God It is God onely and his word that doth bind it and it will never give a discharge except your hearts look at him 3. This serveth to confute our Antinomists such as say the law of God bindeth not the conscience of the regenerate Ye see here that the law of God bindeth the conscience and therefore if the regenerate have any conscience at all as certainly they have the best conscience of all men then it must needs bind their conscience We confesse the conscience of the regenerate is freed from many things by Christ First it is freed from the yoke and bondage of the ceremoniall law Gal. 5.1 Stand fast in the libertie wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not entangled with the yoke of bondage Every mans conscience is freed from that yoke of the ceremoniall law because it ended in Christ Secondly the conscience of the regenerate is freed from seeking justification by the deeds of the law Indeed the first covenant was by the works of the law He that doeth them shall live in them But the second covenant speaketh better things He that believeth shall be saved It is true if God had not sent his Sonne we must have sought justification by the works of the law Though it were impossible to find it by reason of our sinnes yet conscience was bound that way But now that
a conscience 23 Why the Lord did plant a conscience in every man 25 II. Proposition The light that conscience acts by is knowledge 1. of Gods law 28 The light that conscience acts by is knowledge 2. of our selves 28 The great necessity of knowledge 29 III. Proposition The office of conscience is to bear witnesse accusing or excusing 33 1. Foure properties of this witnesse-bearing It is 1. Supreme 34 2. Impartiall 35 3. Faithfull 36 4. Privie 37 2. The parts of this witnesse-bearing I. It s single witnessing 1. What we have done 38 2. What we intend to do ibid. 3. What is the bent of our hearts ibid. II. It s judiciall bearing witnesse 42 1. About things to be done or omitted Where are considered 1. It s Office 1. To judge 45 2. To counsel 46 2. Its Adjuncts It is either 1. Illightned 51 2. Erroneus 56 3. Doubting 52 4. Scrupulous 58 5. Faithfull 63. or 6. Unfaithfull 69 2. About things alreadie done or omitted and here also 1. It is Office is 1. To approve 77 2. To absolve 78 3. To mislike 79 4. To condemne 80 2. Its Affections It is either 1. Tender 83 2. Sleepie ibid. 3. Benumbed 84 or 4. Seared 85 From all thâ—se proceed two other Adjuncts I. A quiet conscience concerning which is considered 1. What it is 87 2. How that in the godly differeth from that in the wicked 90 3. How to know whether we have it or no 100 Where is handled Whether a child of God may fear death and how farre 105 Whether a wicked man may be desirous to die and in what cases 108 The great benefit of peace of conscience 110 II. An unquiet conscience What it is and the causes of it 114 The degrees of it 117 The difference of it in the Godly and in the wicked 121 How a man may keep peace of conscience 131 How it dependeth upon obedience 135 What manner of obedience that is which peace of conscience dependeth upon 139 What a man must do to be freed from a burdened and troubled conscience 141 As conscience beareth witnesse of our actions so of our persons 146 It can and doth inform every man what estate he is in 147 How it doth this 150 When it doth this 153 Why many neverthelesse are deluded about their estate 157 What a good conscience soundly renewed is 162 What a weak and infirm good conscience is 168 IV. Proposition The bond of conscience is the law of God 175 1. The Primarie and supreme is Gods word 177 Gods law bindeth the consciences of the regenerate 184 2. The Secondarie and relative others or our selves 194 1. Others may bind our conscience as Magistrates Superiours and how farre ibid. 2. We may bind our own consciences by lawfull vows and promises 207 What vows are unlawfull and not binding ibid. Of the vow made to God in baptisme how great it is and how much to be regarded 209 An Enquiry after a mans Estate before God COLOSS. 4.8 Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose that he may know your estate and comfort your hearts THE estate of a man before God is the relation that he standeth in unto God as God is the free fountain of all spirituall life and salvation and the determiner of mens everlasting conditions either in heaven or in hell So that when we question about a mans estate we question Whether he be in Christ or not Whether he have true grace yea or no Whether he be one of Gods children or no or whether he be yet no better then a reprobate There be three things to be considered in this definition of every mans estate First it is a relation unto God not as a man is in himself it may be rich it may be poore in the world but I speak here as he is in relation towards God Whether he be rich towards God yea or no. I do not speak as a man is in regard of others it may be he is a father or a sonne a master or a servant a king or a subject but in relation to God Whether Gods sevant or no Gods child or no. Salute Apelles saith Paul and he telleth us in what estate Apelles was in before God namely in an estate of approbation approved in Christ And the same Apostle speaketh on the contrary of the unconverted Gentiles that they were strangers from the life of God Ephes 4 18. Secondly As it is a relation unto God so it is a standing relation That wherein he standeth towards God that is a mans estate before God There is a difference between one that doth sin and one that is in the state of sinne A child of God may sinne but he is not in a state of sinne you cannot call him a wicked man So also there is difference between one that doeth some good actions and one that is in a good estate A carnall man may do some good things but he is not in a good estate The estate of a man is a standing thing it is the relation that he standeth in towards God Thirdly It is the relation that a man standeth in towards God as he is the free fountain of spirituall life and salvation It is not every standing relation towards God For a man may be considered in relation to God as a Creatour and so the heavens and the earth and the very brute beasts stand in relation to God as they are his creatures but they have not this estate that we speak of which is a relation to God as the free giver of spirituall life and salvation He is free he may choose whether he will give it or no. Now this is a mans estate the relation he standeth in unto God Whether the Lord hath given him his saving grace yea or no spirituall life in Christ Jesus yea or no title to heaven and salvation yea or no this is the meaning when we speak of a mans estate It is said of Sodom They were sinners before God that is they were in a bad estate a state of sinne It is said of Zachary and Elisabeth They were both righteous before God that is they were both in a very good state All Christians believe that there is a God It behoveth every one now to consider in what estate he standeth to his God This is a great question that we which are ministers ought to demand of our people to know their estates First because we are shepherds and are bound to look well how it standeth with our flock If we do not labour to know your estates we can never look well to your souls Consider that place in the Proverbs Be diligent to know the state of thy flock and look well to thy herds Where the wise man first requireth that we should look well to our flocks and then directeth us in the manner how viz. by being diligent to know their estate how it standeth with them Secondly we are Gods
upon heaven Phil. 4.7 The peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds This doth the peace and quiet of a good conscience but the quiet of a wicked mans conscience doth not do thus it keepeth not his mind in this manner but it is upon earthly things for all that IV. They differ in respect of duration and continuance The quiet of a good conscience is settled and grounded in the godly it never faileth them nor forsaketh them the other peace is fading Let a feeling sermon come and rifle carnall men it taketh away their peace from them their consciences then flie in their faces and then they see they are not right Let losse of outward things come aâ—â— light upon them or any other affliction it taketh their peace from them conscience then breaketh out upon them and sheweth them how they have deceived themselves with false peace especially at their death then an evil conscience that hath been quiet before in stead of comforting will affright and amaze them But if we have the quiet of a good conscience it will make us heare the word with comfort and not be troubled and disquieted by a searching sermon or the threatnings of Gods judgements Nay if we be in trouble this will quiet us if in affliction this will comfort us It will endure all our life and be present at our death then especially it will shew it self a friend unto us in standing by us to chear and refresh us Great peace have they which love thy law nothing shall offend them saith David nothing shall offend them or take away their peace it is an eternall and everlasting peace Thus you have seen how the true and false peace of conscience differ But here cometh a question to be answered it is this Have all Gods children this peace of conscience I dare say some of you look for this question and long to have it answered I answer therefore No they have it not alwayes Job seemed one while not to have it I have sinned saith his conscience what shall I do unto thee O thou preserver of men David seemed one while not to have it Mine iniquities are gone over my head as a heavie burden they are too heavie for me Psal 38.4 His sinnes lay heavie upon his conscience for a fit Hezekiah one while seemed not to have it Behold for peace I had great bitternesse And therefore I say the children of God have it not alwayes But let me tell you They might have it alwayes 1. It is possible they should have it alwayes Their sinnes of ignorance and infirmitie do not break the peace of their consciences cannot for if they could then no man should have true peace of conscience at any time Nothing but willing and witting sinnes sinnes against conscience can break the peace of conscience and as it is possible for the children of God to live without these so it is possible for them alwayes to have peace yea they may have daily more and more peace 2. As it is possible for the children of God alwayes to have peace so they are commanded to keep their peace alwayes and it is their own fault if at any time they lose it Acquaint thy self with God and be at peace saith Eliphas So Let the peace of God rule in your hearts unto which ye are called We are not onely commanded to have peace in our hearts but also that it may rule there that no corruption perk over it to hinder it we are called to this peace and commanded to have it and therefore as it is a sinne in the common-wealth when one breaketh the peace so it is a sinne in the spirit to break the peace of conscience we are all bound to the peace 3. If the children of God have it not alwayes then they feel the want of it and in the want of that comfort nothing else will comfort them It is not all the peace and prosperitie of the world that can comfort their hearts as long as they have not this peace not all the mirth in the world can content them untill they enjoy this peace again the peace and quiet of a good conscience they faint for it and long after it they can have no strength without it The Lord will give strength unto his people the Lord will blesse his people with peace It is not so with corrupt hearts they can be without peace and yet never faint they can eat and drink for all that and sleep and be merry for all that yea and go about their profits and their earthly businesses as roundly as ever for all that But the children of God if they want the peace of conscience they have no strength to do any thing almost they faint till they have it again 4. The godly alwayes have the seeds of it in them Lâ—ght is sown for the rightâ—ous and gladnesse for the upright in heart Mark it is sown in their hearts and it will spring up at one time or other to chear them and to comfort them As it is with the wicked they may seem now and then to have true peace but they have the seeds of horrour alwayes in them which will sprout forth at last and then they shall find the worm of an evil conscience again so on the contrarie side the godly may seem now and then to have no peace but yet they have alwayes the seeds of true peace in them which will in time shew themselves and solace their souls for ever 5. They never want peace as the wicked do want it The wicked want it and have no possibility of having it they go in such paths as wherein they shall never know peace such paths as will never lead them unto it still their conscience is able to say they are not right they are carnall and not spirituall they know no true peace of conscience neither can they But the children of God walk in such wayes as will bring them to true peace of conscience ere they have done By this ye see what a good and quiet conscience is It cannot be but that all must like it and wish O that we had it Beloved let us labour to get it and the assurance of it No blessing under heaven is like it It is a heaven upon earth Happie are they who can shew they have it and miserable are they who have it not Dulce nomen pacis Sweet and pleasant is the very name of peace especially of the peace of a good conscience If ye have it no misery can make you miserable and if ye have it not no happinesse can make you happie It is Christs legacy which he bequeathed to his Church Peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you It is glorious and honourable Beest thou never so mean in the world thou art glorious if thou hast this peace beest thou never so despised and disgraced among
should not be so apt to think themselves forsaken of God by reason of temptations as sometimes they are they should rather count it joy as James speaketh chap. 1.2 But yet many of the wicked despair finally by this means Because they do so often fall into temptations therefore they conclude they are forsaken of God 3. Ignorance of Gods word When the guiltinesse of sinne meeteth with minds not instructed in the doctrine of free grace and reconciliation by Christ this is a cause of despair 4. So also inured custome of sinning is another cause When men are often quickned and grow dead again then quickned again for a fit and then hardned again in the end they fall to despair These and the like are the causes of despairing consciences And thus I have shewed also the second thing propounded to be handled namely the sundry degrees of troubled consciences III. The third thing is the difference between the troubled conscience in the godly and in the wicked The consciences of Gods children may be troubled and are many times and the consciences of the wicked they are troubled too now the question is How do they differ I answer 1. That trouble in the conscience of wicked men is accompanied with impenitency and sometimes with blasphemy I would I were able to resist God saith Francis Spira like those in the Revelation who blasphemed God because of their torments Sometimes it is accompanied with cursings as Isai 8.21 sometimes with infinite murmuring But in Gods children it is not so When their conscience is troubled they justifie God and clear God and give him the glory of all and submit under his hand and subdue their hearts unto him as David in his trouble did not fret and murmure against God but saith he If God have no pleasure in me lo here I am let him do with me what seemeth him good So that the trouble of conscience in the children of God and in the wicked doth much differ in this first respect 2. The trouble of conscience in the wicked ariseth onely from the apprehension of Gods wrath and fear of judgement for sinne not for the sinne it self and from the love of holinesse But that in Gods children ariseth chiefly for sinne and the want of the apprehension of Gods love unto them How long wilt thou forget me O Lord for ever how long wilt thou hide thy face from me Psal 13.1 Mark whence the trouble of the Psalmist came This was his trouble that God did hide his face 3. Trouble of conscience in the wicked never maketh them part with sinne never breedeth a hatred of sinne in them but that in Gods children doth True it is that a wicked mans troubled conscience may make him vomit up his sinne like a dog that vomiteth up his troublesome meat but he doth not vomit up his stomach to that meat for when the trouble is over he returneth to his vomit again So a carnall man returneth to his deadnesse of heart again and to his securitie again when the trouble is over Pharaoh whilest his conscience was troubled at the sense of Gods judgements O then saith he I have sinned I pray Moses let me have your prayers and I will let you go If the children of Israel could have packed up and departed while this trouble had lasted they might have been gone But when he saw there was respite he hardned his heart again Mark His trouble of conscience did not make him part with his sinne But that in Gods children doth 4. That in the wicked driveth them from God They have little heart to come unto him They see nothing but wrath and they rather go about to seek ease in other things then to seek his favour as Saul sought ease in musick and Cain in building castles and cities and Judas in a desperate course Their trouble fetcheth them not to God But the trouble in Gods children worketh otherwise In the midst of trouble of conscience they rest upon God as Heman crieth O Lord God of my salvation in the midst of the troubles of his soul The eyes of Gods children are still towards heaven they think still they should have some help from God They pray and cry and though God seemeth to neglect them yet they cannot give over They will not be beaten off from waiting on God when he will speak comfort to them 5. That trouble that is in the wicked maketh their heart sullen but that in the godly melteth their heart My soul is like melting wax saith David in his troubles of conscience His soul melted before God and was even poured out before him Psal 22.13 This is a kindly working Thus ye see the difference Vses 1. BY this we see what a miserable thing it is to have such a troubled conscience It is the greatest misery that can be it is even a hell to men here upon earth it is like a dismall ghost to terrifie the soul it is like a burning furnace in the bosome it maketh the life bitter In a word the spirit of man is not able to bear it The spirit of man will sustein its infirmities but a wounded spirit who can bear As long as a mans spirit is sound it will bear any thing Some have born agues fevers stones colicks convulsions rackings torturings as long as a mans spirit is sound he is able to bear any of them all of them but a wounded spirit who can bear Never was there man that was able to bear a wounded spirit We may see by many of Gods children how heavy it is David rored with the anguish of it a strange phrase Heman was ready even to runne out of his wits with it While I suffer thy terrours saith he I am distracted Psal 88.15 Moses putteth himself into the number We are even consumed by thine anger Psal 90.7 Ethan complaineth that it was like a burning fever How long O Lord wilt thou hide thy face for ever shall thy wrath burn like fire Psal 89.46 If it be thus with Gods children what may we think of the wicked If we could search into the bosomes of some wicked men who are enemies to God then we might see and understand the true weight and burden of this troubled conscience Cain crieth out of more then he can bear Judas thought to find more ease in hell then in his own heart So terrible was the torture of his troubled conscience that he murdered himself thinking verily that hell could not be worse 2. See here what an infinite misery every sinner shall one day be in Though he be not troubled with this harpye for the present though he be not yet gastered with this furious hag yet the day will come when he shall I say the time will come when all ye that are wicked shall be haunted with this hellish agony of a troubled conscience either here before ye die or when ye die or at the furthest when your souls are
1. For the first That every mans conscience may inform him what estate he is in whether good or bad I speak especially of such as live under the light of the Gospel of Christ There are two rules the one is Gods word which pointeth out both estates and the other is every mans conscience which is privy to the frame and standing of every mans own heart and which of these estates his estate is conscience is privy to this I will instance in some sorts of men 1. The Jews who contented themselves with formality they sacrificed they offered they payed their tithes they did that which Moses commanded them for the letter of it now ye shall see their conscience could tell them that they were not perfect nor upright with God All their duties and formalities and gifts and sacrifices could not make them that did the service perfect as perteining to the conscience Heb. 9.9 Mark Their consciences could say they were not upright for all this As they were not upright so their conscience could tell them they were not upright 2. Another instance we have in the Scribes and Pharisees When they would have condemned the woman taken in adultery their own conscience was privy that they were sinners themselves John 18.9 So also it is with a child of God His conscience is able to inform him that he is a child of God and that he doth truly serve God I thank God saith Paul whom I serve with a pure conscience His conscience told him he was a true servant of God and that he was Gods whose I am saith he So Davids conscience I am thine save me for I have sought thy commandments So the church My beloved is mine and I am his Ye see then how conscience can inform and tell us what estate we are in whether we be godly or carnall whether our conversation be in heaven or on earth whether we be in Christ or out of him The spirit of man knoweth what is in him It is easie to know what our great thoughts of heart are upon what our greatest purposes and projects and studies be whether about God or the world the spirit of a man must needs know it And therefore every man may draw out from conscience a true conclusion how it is with him The reasons are these 1. The first is taken from the nature of conscience The nature of conscience is such that it must needs be able to know what is with a man Now his welldoings or his illdoings are with him he was with himself when he did them When thou art proud or impatient or carelesse in any duty thou art with thy self when thou art so All thy illdoings are with thee and therefore thy conscience must needs know what thou art Our transgressions are with us and as for our iniquities we know them Take a curser and as Solomon saith Thine own heart knoweth that thou hast used to curse others So it is with a godly soul Thine obedience is with thee and thy self-deniall is with thee and thy care to walk before God all is with thee and therefore thou must needs know it This is the nature of conscience It is privy to what is with one 2. The second reason is taken from the equity of Gods judgements on the wicked The Lord he will judge none to hell but his conscience shall confesse he was one that walked in the way to hell and death Ye may reade it in the man that had not on the wedding-garment When Christ did charge him with his not having on a wedding-garment and did condemne him to utter darknesse the text saith he was speechlesse that is his conscience confessed that Christs judgement was just I have not on a wedding-garment saith his conscience and it is my fault that I have none and I am rightly condemned Thus his conscience did know it otherwise he could not have been speechlesse in his own desense As Festus told Agrippa that he answered the Priests It is not the manner of the Romanes to deliver any man to dye before that he who is accused have his accusers face to face and have licence to answer for himself concerning the crime laid against him So may I say that the great Judge of quick and dead will not judge any man to hell but he will have his accusers face to face and if he can answer for himself he may Now if conscience be not privy to what estate soever a wicked man is in his conscience could never accuse him face to face at the last day nor justifie the Lord Jesus and make the sinner stand speechlesse before God He might answer Lord I do not know any such thing as is laid to my charge I am not convinced that the case is thus and thus with me that I am in such an estate as I am accused of No wicked man shall be able to say thus Therefore conscience can inform a man in what estate he is 3. The third reason is taken from the Lords manner of judging the godly He will judge them and absolve them secundùm allegata probata as we say according to the word and their own consciences Ye may see the true form of judgement which the Lord will go by Matth. 25. Where the Lord convinceth the whole world who were righteous and who not who to be judged to punishment and who to life for ever at last he concludeth The wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment but the righteous into life eternall As if he had said Your consciences can say ye are wicked ye did not feed nor clothe nor visit me Go your wayes to hell So for the righteous Your consciences can say ye are righteous Go ye to heaven Thus the Lord will do Now this could not be if conscience could not inform every one that is godly that he is so If conscience could not witnesse what estate they are in this could not be Thus ye see the truth of the first thing II. The second thing that I promised to shew you is How conscience doth this Ye have heard that it is able to inform every one what estate he is in before God Now it followeth to consider How conscience doth it This it doth by comparing the word of God with our hearts and our hearts with the word As for example They who have respect to all Gods commandments shall never be ashamed saith the word But saith conscience I desire to know all my dutie to God and man and to perform all that I know and therefore I shall not be ashamed To him that soweth righteousnesse shall be a sure reward saith the word But saith conscience I plough up my nature and all the fallow-ground of my heart and I sow righteousnesse and therefore to me shall be a sure reward So To be spiritually minded is life and peace saith the word But saith conscience I am spiritually minded my mind is
Christ Jesus hath sealed up a new covenant in his own bloud conscience is freed from that former Rom. 3.28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law For though justifying faith never be without the sincere doing of the law yet the deeds of the law have no influence into justification Conscience is freed from seeking justification thereby Thirdly the conscience of the regenerate is freed from the rigour of the law They are bound in conscience to use the law as a rule of their life and in sinceritie to obey it but are not bound by the gospel to the rigour of it that they are freed from and so they are not under the law but under grace I grant that all carnall people who are yet out of Christ do all lie under the rigour of the law and as long as they submit not to Jesus Christ nor get into him they are bound in conscience to keep it though they cannot They cannot sinne in one tittle but conscience will condemne them before God They shall be condemned for every vain thought for every idle word for every the least sinne for every the least lust for any the least omission of good They lie under the rigour of the law and they are bound in conscience to keep it and they shall be countable for every transgression because they are under the law But the conscience of the regenerate is free from this rigour because they are under grace and therefore they are delivered from the law The Lord hath deliverd them by the body of Christ and therefore they are not bound by the gospel to all that obedience that the law in rigour requireth Fourthly the conscience of the regenerate is freed from the curse of the morall law For though the law doth condemne yet their conscience needeth not fear it because they are in Christ There is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus which walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Indeed those that are not regenerate not ingraffed into Christ they are still in the mouth of the gunshot the law doth condemne them and they have no shelter and their conscience is bound by it and they shall find one day that by it their conscience will condemne them to hell It may be now for the present their conscience is quiet and they choke it and so it letteth them alone yet they are condemned in conscience and one day they shall find it But the regenerate are by Christ freed in conscience from all this condemnation Thus farre we grant But the Antinomists and I know not what Marcionites would have more They cannot abide to heare that a regenerate person is bound to any sincere obedience to Gods law as the rule of their life They crie out against the morall law as once the Babylonians did against Jerusalem Down with it down with it even to the ground O ye do not preach Christ if ye talk of the law Beloved these are drunken opinions fitter to be preached among drunkards and Epicures and monsters then among the peculiar ones of God The law of God doth bind the conscience of all the people of God so that they are bound to make it a rule of life Nay the Scripture calleth it Christs bond whereby he bindeth his people to him The Kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his Anointed saying Let us break their bonds and cast away their cords from us Tush we will not be tied by his laws nor be so precisely strait-laced with such commandments as these Here the laws of the Lord are called bonds and cords Gods people are bound to him by them But the wicked they stand out and refuse to be bound Now if the law be called a bond I pray what bond is it but of conscience It is not a bond like a prisoners fetters to be put about their legs This is a spirituall bond that bindeth the conscience But let me prove it to you by arguments There be sundrie arguments to prove it First That which hath power to say to the conscience of the regenerate This is thy dutie and this must be done that bindeth the conscience But the law of God hath power to say thus to the conscience This is your dutie Who can tell better then Christ When ye have done all these things that are commanded you say We are unprofitable servants we have done that which was our dutie to do Mark He speaketh of Gods law things commanded now the law is nothing else but a â—atalogue of those things that God hath commanded us When ye have done all these things saith our Saviour know it is your dutie Here ye see the law hath power to say to the conscience This is your dutie But ye will object We are under faith and do ye tell us of law I answer as Chrysostome answereth out of Paul Do we then make void the law through faith God forbid Yea we establish the law See how the Apostle doth abhorre this thought God forbid saith he As if he had said Farre be it from me to teach such an abominable doctrine No no we establish the law Heare what Christ saith himself Think not that I am come to destroy the law I am not come to destroy but to fulfill it O thought some If we believe in Christ then we hope we shall have done with the law No no saith Christ ye shall as soon pull the heavens and the earth out of their place as disannull one tittle of the law Secondly That which hath this authoritie that the breach of it is a sinne bindeth conscience but the law hath this authoritie that neither regenerate nor unregenerate can transgresse it but they sinne therefore the law bindeth their consciences For the regenerate and all are bound in conscience to take heed of sinne Whosoever committeth sinne transgresseth also the law David was a regenerate man yet when he had defiled Bathsheba I have sinned saith he Joseph was a regenerate man yet confesseth if he should transgresse the Lords commandment he should sinne How shall I do this great wickednesse and so sinne against God But ye will object This is old testament What of that I hope you will not take up the old damned heresie again of the Cerdonians and Cainites and Apellites and Manichees and Severians and other such cursed hereticks condemned by the Church of God Their heresie was To hedge out the regenerate from the old testament And S t Augustine proved it against them That the morall law of God was ever the rule of obedience and shall so continue with the gospel to the end of the world and every transgression thereof is sinne The breach of the ceremoniall law was a sinne once but now it is not because once it bound the conscience now it doth not But the breach of the
morall law is still sinne therefore still it bindeth the conscience Do ye not remember what St James saith now under the Gospel he presseth it yet on mens consciences He that said Do not commit adultery said also Do not kill Now though thou commit no adultery yet if thou kill thou art become a transgressour of the law And though ye may call it a law of liberty in what sense ye please yet he telleth you Ye had best look to your words and deeds for ye must be judged by this law of liberty So speak ye and so do as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty Thirdly That which being observed doth cause the conscience of the regenerate to excuse and being transgressed to accuse that bindeth their conscience For what else do you make binding of conscience but this But the law of God being observed doth cause the conscience to excuse being transgressed to accuse In many things we sinne all saith the Apostle Mark Our consciences do accuse us as we do sinne in many things so our consciences do accuse us when we do so I am a sinfull man saith S t Peter Luke 5.8 His conscience did accuse him of sinne Fourthly That which is the condition of Gods covenant of grace bindeth the conscience yea of the regenerate but sincere obedience to Gods law is a condition of Gods covenant of grace See Luke 1.72 To remember his holy covenant and the oath that he sware that he would give us That being delivered out of the hands of our enemies we might serve him without fear in holinesse and righteousnesse before him all the dayes of our life Mark Sincere and universall obedience is a condition of the covenant of grace not onely for a manifestation to our selves that we are truly justified as these upstart patritians do hold but it is the condition of the covenant of grace Every covenant hath its conditions annexed and therefore it is called the book of the covenant Exod. 24.7 the words of the covenant Exod. 34.28 the tables of the covenant Deut. 9.11 The reason is this Because when a covenant is made the conditions are put into a book or a table and expressed in words Onely here is the difference between the first covenant of works and the second covenant of grace Both have conditions but here I say is the difference In the one grace giveth the covenant and grace giveth the condition of the covenant but a condition is annexed though Now hence we may argue and none but enemies to the Gospel can denie it If the covenant of grace do bind a mans conscience then certainly the condition of the covenant bindeth a mans conscience too But the covenant of grace bindeth the conscience of the regenerate and therefore the condition of it bindeth If you ask What is this to obedience the answer is That obedience is the condition of the covenant of grace as the forenamed Scripture expresseth Luke 1.72 Thus ye see the law of God bindeth the conscience of all the regenerate This is the third Use 4. Hath the word of God supreme power to bind conscience Then hence we may learn that no creature can dispense with it nor free conscience from guilt when a man transgresseth the word What a damned usurpation is it in the Pope to offer to dispense The Canonists say he may dispense de praeceptis veteris novi testamenti They are their own words he may dispense with the commandments of the old and new testament He dispensed with king Henry the eighth and undertook to free his conscience from guilt though he married his own brothers wife Gregorie the second undertook to free subjects from being bound in their consciences to keep their oaths of allegeance to Leo the Emperour O these are damned aspirings and they plainly declare him to be Antichrist who exalteth himself in this manner The word of God is the supreme binder of conscience And therefore not all the Angels in heaven can dispense with one idle word For ever O Lord thy word is settled in heaven Gods word is settled for ever in heaven and therefore ye may assoon remove the heaven from its place as one tittle of the word from binding conscience Doth the word say thus or thus thou hadst best do it If thou wilt not all the whole world cannot help thee thy conscience will condemne thee at the day of judgement without remedie Hath the word convinced thee of thy sinnes and made thy conscience say I am a sinner and am guiltie before God I tell thee then Thy conscience is bound and all the world cannot loose it But hast thou been humbled and emptied of thy self and doth the word pronounce pardon of thy sinnes in Christs name that thy conscience can say The Lord speaketh peace to my soul I tell thee Thou art loosed and nor hell nor devil nor sinne nor flesh nor any thing can bind thee Ye may see the power of Gods word in that speech of our Saviour Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven Matth. 18.18 That is My word which ye preach is of that nature that if that loose your conscience it is loosed indeed and nothing can bind it if that do bind it it is bound soundly indeed and nothing can loose it O this is a terrour to the wicked Doth the word of God say He that hardneth his neck being often rebuked shall suddenly be destroyed and cannot be cured O fear and tremble ye that harden your necks against the reproofs of the Almightie his word bindeth over your consciences to Christs barre Doth the word say Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge If thou beest such an one thy conscience is bound with this word and it will apply it to the soul before the tribunal-seat of Christ Doth the word crie out against any of thy courses thy conscience is bound as with chains and it is not all thy vain hopes and excuses can loose thee Again this is comfort to the godly Gods word is the supreme binder of conscience O ye blessed of the Lord the word of God tieth such a fast knot to your comforts that all hell cannot open it with their teeth The word of the Lord Jesus is with you who hath the key of David that openeth and no man shutteth and shutteth and no man openeth Yea but sayest thou My sinnes are against me What then mark what the word saith We have an Advocate with the Father Thy conscience is bound to believe that Yea but I have a very naughtie heart and I cannot tell what to do with it Mark what the word saith Believe in the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved This bindeth thy conscience But I offend dayly Mark still what the word saith Christ bringeth in everlasting righteousnesse If thou beest unworthy to day there is righteousnesse for thee to day if unworthy worthy to morrow there is righteousnesse