that you make your selves strange unto me and yet notwithstanding all as long as his Conscience did clear him his confidence is not shaken and he says the Righteous surely including himself shall hold on his way and he that hath clean hands shall wax stronger and stronger Job 17. 9. 2. Consciences excusing us is not to be checkt by Satan the Accuser of the Brethren As Job's Friends did censure him so Satan accused him of Mercenariness and selfishness in his Religion Doth Job fear God for nought But put forth thy hand now and touch what he hath and he will curse thee to thy Face These were the words of Satan Job 1. 9. 11. But instead of this when all was taken away Job blesses the Lord nay when his Bone and Flesh were touched he says Shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil Job 2. 10. Job's sincerity is proved and approved is evident to himself and Satan who 't is likely enough was busie to disturb him is demonstrated to be a Lyar. As the Devil does hide the faults of the profane and secure from their eyes so he is continually objecting to the sincere their failings and imperfections by his good will he would have us see no sin at all or nothing else but sin and from the remainders of Corruption he is bold to call the Saints Hypocrites though these remainders are never so much their burthen But if Conscience does give testimony that they delight in the Law of God after the inward Man and that the evil in themselves they hate and desire to be delivered from the Body of sin and Death Notwithstanding Satan's slanders they give thanks to God because there is now no condemnation to them being in Christ Jesus Rom. 7. latter end compared with Rom. 8. the beginning So much for this Office of Conscience which is bearing witness both by way of Accusing and Excusing 5. It follows in the Definition that 't is the Office of Conscience to Judge that is to acquit or to condemn us Judging lies in these two things in absolving and condemning The Judge if Righteous does acquit the Innocent does condemn the guilty Now condemning and not condemning or absolving are both ascribed unto Conscience by the Apostle 1 John 3. 20 21. For if our heart condemn us God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things beloved if our hearts condemn us not then have we confidence towards God There is a kind of a Tribunal erected in the Soul of Man and after Conscience has brought in Evidence and Acted the part of a Witness then it Acts the part of a Judge and passes Sentence which is two-fold A Sentence of Absolution a Sentence of Condemnation 1. Conscience as a Judge passes a Sentence of Absolution and if being rightly informed Conscience grounds its Sentence upon Scripture we may conclude that what it looses on Earth is loosed in Heaven When Conscience does declare to the true believer that he is justified by his Faith and has Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ it says no more than what God himself has plainly spoken Rom. 5. 1. When it declares unto humbled and penitent Souls who are humbled because they have sinned and perverted that which is right and see that it has not profited them and who also confess and are willing to forsake their Iniquities when it declares unto such that Mercy and abundant Pardon belongs to them truly there is plain and sufficient warrant from Scripture for this Declaration To be absolved in the Court of Conscience is matter of great consolation and if Conscience draw its conclusions from Scripture-premises it may be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strong consolation such as has a firm basis and Foundation When Conscience does absolve much is contained in this Sentence it pronounces us free from punishment and also sentences a reward unto us it shuts Hell and opens Heaven for a reward and the greatest that can be conceived nay how great cannot be at present conceived is surely though freely promised unto them that are sincere Believers 'T is indeed a reward of Grace not of Debt but because of Grace therefore the more sure Rom. 4. 16. Therefore it is of Faith that it might be by Grace to the end the promise might be sure to all the Seed Conscience in Judging does Act as Gods Vice-gerent He himself will Judge at last as it if it have light and purity does Judge at present And those who are now acquitted in the Court of Conscience shall be also absolved at the great Tribunal The Apostle having said We have known and believed the Love that God hath to us presently speaks concerning boldness in the day of Judgment 1 John 4. 16 17. 2. Conscience as a Judge passes a Sentence of Condemnation (i) Exemplo quodcunque malo committitur ipsi Displicet authori prima est haec ultio quod se Judicè ne mo nocens absolvitur Juvenal Satyr 13. and this Sentence is passed upon the Impenitent the Hypocrites and the Unbelievers and because the Scripture does condemn these we may truly say that what Conscience binds on Earth is bound in Heaven I grant indeed that if Conscience should pass Sentence according to the Law of works every Child of Adam the Holy Child Jesus excepted would be condemned Hark what that Man after Gods own heart said Psal 130. 3. If thou Lord shouldst mark Iniquity O Lord who shall stand And Psal 143. 2. Enter not into Judgment with thy Servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified His Conscience saw so much and God saw a great deal more of sin that in strictness of Law and Justice it told him he was a condemned Man But by the Law of Grace they who turn from sin and believe in Christ are acquitted But as for those who will not come to Christ that they may have Life but preferr their fleshly and worldly Lusts and those things wherewith these lusts are gratified before the Lord of Life and Glory as they are condemned by the Law of Works so likewise by the Law of Grace Conscience therefore doing its Office passes a dreadful Sentence upon them and tells them that the wrath of God abides on them John 3. ult But here 't will be needful to note a difference between Consciences condemning a sinner now and the Lords condemning him hereafter that Sentence which Christ will pronounce at the last day will be peremptory unalterable therefore that Judgment is called Eternal Judgment Heb. 6. 2. There is no appeal from that Tribunal no reversing of the Sentence but those that are then condemned Go they must and that immediately into everlasting punishment as the Righteous on the other hand into Life Eternal Mat. 25. ult But when Conscience does at present condemn a sinner it does not preclude and shut up the door of hope against him its Sentence of condemnation is but conditional in case
fellowship with him that we endeavour to do that which is good in his sight And as we would escape his anger and his smoaking jealousie which will utterly consume us that we beware of that which is worst of evils sinning against him 2. Consider the Power of Conscience if we take Power for Authority God has given great Authority unto the Conscience And a Man must rather disobey Kings and Emperours then disobey Conscience Nebuchadnezzar commanded the three Children to Worship the Golden Image that he had set up Conscience commanded them to refuse to Worship it They obey Conscience and rather than Conscience should fly in their faces for idolatry they venture to be cast into a fiery furnace Dan. 3. If we take Power for Ability Conscience is a thing of greater force and strength If it be good how can it sweeten any condition though in it self never so calamitous but if Conscience be bad 't is sufficient to put gall and bitternesse into all your Comforts 3. If you heed Conscience 't is the way to have you and your Consciences agree together Conscience will dwell with you and you cannot help it Oh therefore hearken to it and satisfie it for this will be much for your own peace and satisfaction There is a twofold Peace which it highly concerns us to look after Peace above and Peace within Peace above with God we should be sollicitous about there is no contending with Him that is Almighty Let the Potsherds strive with the Potsherds of the Earth but wo unto him that striveth with his Maker Esa 45. 9. How earnest then should we be that being justified by Faith we may have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ And next unto peace with God we should endeavour after peace within even peace of Conscience and if we hearken and do what an enlightned Conscience commands and walk before God in Truth Conscience will speak Peace and that peace it will be true 4. Consider That in the hour of distresse and especially at the time of your dissolution the good Word of Conscience will do more good to you than all the World A cleer Conscience makes a triumphant Saint before he does expire Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is Peace Psal 37. 37. How many have lookt death in the face undaunted because Conscience has born witnesse to their sincerity * Melch. Adamus in vitâ Lutheri pag. 154 155. When Luther was sick of his last distemper and grew towards his end he waked at midnight and perceiving his Earthly Tabernacle was falling to the ground he brake forth into Thanksgiving to God for revealing Christ to him whom he believed whom he professed whom he loved whom he celebrated and whom the Pope with the Company of the wicked did persecute Then he prayed to his Heavenly Father to receive his spirit and added though I must now lay down this Body yet I know most certainly that I shall ever be with the Lord and none shall pluck me out of his hand Here was a Conscience cleer a Death without Fear and an abundant entrance into the Everlasting Kingdom 5. Heed Conscience for 't will go with you to the bar of God (t) Quando Deus judex erit alius testis quà m Conscientia tua non erit Inter Judicem justum Conscientiam tuam noli timere nisi causam tuam Augustin Enarrat in Psal 37. pag. mihi 323. and certainly 't will be sad to be followed to that Tribunal by a guilty Conscience crying out against you If Conscience excuse you and plead for you before your Judge how sweet and comfortable will that be if it produce sincere obedience and the Righteousness of Christ apprehended by Faith to cover all your guilt and make up all your imperfections this will make you lift up your heads with joy and confidence But if Conscience does accuse you of impenitency in sin all your days though it often warned you to mourn and turn these accusations as they cannot be evaded so they will be unconceivably terrifying and confounding to you 6. Heed Conscience for 't will remain in you forever 't will be Eternally with the Saints in Glory After a Believer has fought the good fight has finished his course has kept the Faith has been acquitted at the judgement seat and has received the Crown of Righteousness then Conscience will be fully at rest Work is now done danger is now past and the possession of the inheritance is secured Rev. 3. 12. Him that overcometh will I make a Pillar in the Temple of my God and he shall go no more out Conscience also will be eternally with the reprobates in misery And as Job's Messengers did tell him that his Cattel were destroyed and his Substance taken away and they only were left alone to tell him So Conscience will speak after the same manner unto the damned O you self-destroying Sinners your consolation is all received your good things are come to an end your profits and Pleasures are quite fled away and gone And I only am left alone to tell you To tell you of your madness in loving sin in idolizing a vain World in slighting Salvation and bringing your selves notwithstanding all warnings into Eternal misery I have done with the first Doctrine That God has placed a Conscience in Man Doct. 2. The second Doctrine is this To have a good Conscience should be every one 's greatest care This is one end of the Commandement not onely that there may be Love a pure Heart and Faith unfeigned but also a good Conscience 1 Tim. 1. 5. so 1 Pet. 3. 16. Sanctifie the Lord God in your Hearts having a good Conscience that whereas they speak evil of you as of Evil doers they may be ashamed who falsly accuse your good Conversation in Christ 'T is the observation of Augustine (u) Ecce quid prodest plena bonis arca inanis Conscientia Bona vis habere bonus non vis esse Non vides te erubescere debere de bonis tuis si domus tua plena est bonis te habet malum Quid enim est quod velis habere malum Nihil omnino non uxorem non filium non filiam non servum non ancillam non villam non tunicam postremò non caligam tamen vis habere malam vitam August De verbis Domini Serm. 12. pagin mihi 57. Tom. 10. that Men are willing to have all things else good but their Consciences are bad and they themselves are Evil. There is no man but desires his Wife should be good his Children good his Servants good the House that he dwells in good the An he lives in good the Food he eats good the Clothes he wares good he does not care to have any thing bad about him How comes it to passe that he is too well content to have a bad Conscience within him This is our natural
open does not mince or extenuate but aggravate Iniquity It can appeal to God concerning its unwillingness to conceal any of his Enemies for Mens Lusts are Gods Enemies and their own too and it can challenge Satan to Name a sin which 't is not ready to acknowledge 2. When the Conscience is pure every sin is hated Hatred is never better placed than upon sin Our Brother is not to be hated nay we are forbid to hate our Enemy but sin we may hate without sparing David tells us that through Gods Precepts he got Vnderstanding therefore he hated every false way Psal 119. 104. By the Word his Conscience was Informed and Sanctified and this Universal Hatred of sin followed Hatred is an Affection which aims at Destruction and when 't is high 't is against the whole kind Thus Haman hated Mordecai and thought it scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone but sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole Kingdom of Ahasuerus even the People of Mordecai Esth 3. 6. The pure Conscience strikes at the whole kind of sin (k) Est intentio Odii nocere nec cessat in laesione peccati sed in exterminio verè poenitens juratus est in mortem peccatorum Guil. Parisiensi De Rhetor. divin c. 23. where-ever 't is whether in the Mind in the Will in the Affections in Word in the Actions What Moses speaks concerning Idolatry it does apply unto all sin Deut. 7. 26. Thou shalt utterly detest it and thou shalt utterly abhor it for it is a cursed thing 3. When the Conscience is pure The whole Image of God is desired and that the Soul may be like unto him in all things wherein 't is its Duty to resemble him What the Moral Philosophers say concerning the Mortal Vertues that they are inter se concatenatae that they are linked together holds certainly true concerning those Graces which are wrought by the Spirit of God they are so linked together that you cannot have one in truth but you must have all in some measure This is a sweet Truth to a pure Conscience for all Grace is longed after Therefore Christ's fulness is eyed and prized and application is made to him that out of that fulness we may receive and Grace for Grace John 1. 16. That is that we may receive Graces answerable to those Graces which Christ has received of his Father for us Thus the Wax does receive Character for Character from the Seal and the Child Member for Member from the Father though not of the same bigness and proportion The pure Conscience is not double minded 't is not partly for God and partly for Mammon partly for Christ and partly for Satan But this is the desire that the God of all Grace would work every Grace in Truth and make all Grace more and more to abound 4. When the Conscience is pure the Mystery of Faith is held fast The Apostle joyns Faith and a good Conscience together 1 Tim. 1. 19. Holding Faith and a good Conscience which some having put away concerning Faith have made ship-wrack And 1 Tim. 3. 9. Holding the Mystery of the Faith in a pure Conscience Whoever are truly purified do prize the Gospel and the Mysteries of it they admire the contrivance of Mans Redemption by Christ Jesus and are perswaded since his Blood is the Blood of God that 't is sufficient to purchase lost Souls and to purchase the lost Inheritance The Mystery of Regeneration they are acquainted with and the absolute Necessity of it And though Justification by the Imputed Righteousness of Christ be Argued against as absurd by deluded Papists and their wretched followers though the work of the Spirit in renewing changing of the Heart be derided by Profane Wits nay by some that would be accounted Masters in Israel A pure Conscience notwithstanding retains these Mysteries Thus the Church of Pergamus though they dwelt where Satans Seat was yet they held fast Christs Name and did not deny his Faith and that even in those days wherein the Faithful Martyr Antipas was slain among them Rev. 2. 13. 5. Where Conscience is pure God is Served in sincerity and there is a willingness to live honestly The Apostle tells us that he Served God from his Fore-Fathers with a pure Conscience 2 Tim. 1. 3. he did not Preach a new God but the same which Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets were the Servants of This God he Served with a perfect Heart and with a willing Mind his Conscience did bear him witness that his very Soul was engaged in the Lords Work and that he was very well pleased both with his Master and with that business which his Master had Employed him in and they were not his own things but the things of his Lord which were sought by him And as a pure Conscience engages to the Service of God so to the living honestly Heb. 13. 18. We trust we have a good Conscience in all things willing to live honestly Where such a Conscience is that of the Apostle is heeded Rom. 13. 12 13. The night is far spent the day is at hand that is the present time which is compared to the night because most are asleep in it and much wickedness lies hid and is not yet disclosed the present time is far spent is almost come to an end and the day is at Hand that is the day of Judgement when all secrets will be brought to Light Let us therefore cast off the works of Darkness and let us put on the Armour of Light let us walk honestly as in the day not in Rioting and Drunkenness not in Chambering and Wantonness not in strife and Envying and make no Provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof 6. VVhere Conscience is pure a greater measure of Holiness is aspired unto and endeavoured after Though sin does remain in a sanctified Heart yet does it not remain quietly Conscience deals hardly with it as Sarah did with Hagar Abrahams Egyptian Concubine and is not satisfied till 't is turned out of doors though Grace is incompleat yet compleatness is desired the promises of Sanctification are lookt upon as very great and precious and they are pleaded that the Divine Nature may more and more be partaken of by them the Corruption that is in the world through lust more fully escaped A pure Conscience will not suffer us to rest in that Grace which is already attained but causes us to presse towards the mark and to cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of the Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the fear of God 2 Cor. 7. 1. But now it is to be inquired How Conscience may be made thus pure unto which I answer 1. The Word of God is like a fire to purifie Jer. 23. 29. Is not my Word like Fire saith the Lord and like an Hammer that breaketh the Rock in pieces the word is compared to an Hammer because as the hammer does
of this Judge at that day be Every mouth shall be stopt and every sinner speechlesse Oh then the Evil of sin will be made Manifest and how Righteous 't is for the Lord to Sentence the Wicked unto Everlasting Fire Whom He Condemns every one will Condemn and they shall not choose but Condemn themselves 4. After the Judge has past Sentence he will be inexorable no Cryes no Tears will prevail with him to Repeal it Those that then are Condemned can never be Justified can never be saved Oh what is that Misery which is Extream as to the Measure and as to the Duration of it Everlasting 5. Thou in Particular must give Account of thy self unto this Judge All must appear before the Judgement seat of Christ and that All includes thee Every one of us must give account of himself to God Rom. 14. 12. And Oh secure sinner if all must be judged according to their Works begin now to tremble that thy works have been all so bad what kind of Sentence is likely to be past upon thee Is thy Worldliness and Uncleanness and neglect of God and Christ and Duty and thy stupidness of Conscience notwithstanding all this likely to be rewarded with Heaven No no that which is thy due and thy due shall be given thee is everlasting Destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his Power 10. Take some encouragement that 't is not too late to awake as yet though Conscience hitherto has slept securely Thy Glasse is not yet run thy Sun is not yet set thy Day is not yet ended there may be possibly an Inch of thy Span of time remaining Oh sleep no longer but up and be doing thy main business When the ship was drowning the Marriners come to Jonah with a just rebuke What meanest thou O sleeper Jon. 1. 6. When Souls are sinking and when sinners are damning there is much more reason to say to Conscience what meanest Oh Sleeper Awake before it be quite too late Call upon God to awaken you throughly he can make the sleepy nay the dead to hear his voice Joh. 5. 25. Verily verily I say unto you the hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the Voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live So much be spoken and Lord make what has been spoken Effectual to awaken secure Consciences In the second place I am to shew how wounded and awakened Consciences may be Cured and Comforted And here it will be needfull first to shew you some mistakes about trouble of Conscience which are very common Secondly to discover when Conscience is troubled after a right manner Thirdly how Comfort is to be applied in that trouble For the first of these namely the mistakes about trouble of Conscience they are these following 1. That is not right trouble of Conscience which is onely the product of and lasts no longer than Affliction When Pharoah was under the smart of the Rod he cryed out I have sinned but this was not real trouble for sin for as soon as ever the Rod is taken off Pharoah is as resolved to sin as ever The mettal while the Fire burns is Liquid and you may cast it into any form but take away the Fire and it becomes hard as ever Such kind of mettall are many hearts while in the Furnace of Affliction how melted and tender do they seem but when taken out of that Furnace then they quickly cool and become perhaps more obdurate than before Who would have thought though so indeed it was that the Israelites who when God slew them did seek him and returned and enquired early after him and remembred that he was their Redeemer and their Rock should all this while onely flatter him with their Lips and that their Hearts should not be right with him nor stedfast in his Covenant 2. That is not right trouble of Conscience which is onely sorrow after the world (*) Tristitia mundi est quum propter terrenas afflictiones animos despondent luctu opprimuntur tristitia autem secundum Deum quae Deum respicit dum unicam miseriam ducunt excidisse à Dei gratiâ ac timore judicii ejus perculsi peccata sua lugent Calvin this kind of sorrow is so far from having a promise of life made to it that the Apostle affirms it works death 2 Cor. 7. 10. There is a great sorrow in thy Heart and it appears in thy very looks but what is the cause of it If hard times trouble thee but an hard Heart is no affliction if crosses and losses in the World perplex thee but the losse of thy Soul is not at all feared neither is there any care taken to prevent it if thy poverty in the World do grieve thee but thou dost not sorrow at all because destitute of the true Riches how canst thou call any of this a right trouble The Israelites did weep and Howl but the cause was they wanted Corn and Wine and so they had but these things in Plenty they could be well contented to live without God Hos 7. 13 14. Every pensive sinner is not penitent nor fit to be comforted their very pensiveness is a very great sin as long as sin is not but only worldly crosses the cause of it 3. That is not right trouble of Conscience where there is onely a slavish fear of punishment but love to sin does still remain in strength Where there is slavish fear and no more there is an hatred of God and a secret wish to get from under his Power the slave you know hates his Master and wishes he might be at liberty and never see or serve him more there is also an hatred of the Commands of God and a repining and murmuring at the strictness of them Sin is dear as ever a grief there is because of those threats which terrifie and hinder the free commission of it If such a Soul might have its wish It should not be Oh that I might be turned to God and that my wayes were directed to keep his Statutes but it should be Oh that I might have liberty to do as I list and that there were no such thing as the Word and Will of God to be observed where such a Spirit is which the Heart-searching God perfectly understands abstaining from the outward act of sin signifies not much The Merchant in a Storm cannot be said to hate his goods because he flings them overboard he is sorry because driven to such a strait and when he comes ashore wishes as much for his goods as ever 4. That is not right trouble of Conscience which Sinners being impatient under do fly for Comfort to the Creatures If thou art indeed wounded the same hand that gave the wound must bind it up I wound and I heal says God Deut. 32. 39. If sensual delights if Sports and Pastimes if carnal Company if immersing thy self in worldly business can divert
things willing to live honestly Such a Conscience is well instructed in that lesson Tit. 2. 11. 12. For the Grace of God which bringeth Salvation hath appeared unto all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly and Righteously and Godly in this present world In the handling of this Doctrine I shall first shew how a good Conscience is concerned in the Life and Conversation Secondly Instance in several kinds of Actions that a good Conscience has an influence upon Lastly Conclude with the Application In the first place I am to shew how a good Conscience is concerned in the Life and Conversation This will appear in these following particulars 1. There is no action but Conscience is to examine Every action is a step one way or other and Conscience is to see which way every step has a tendency whether upward towards the Hill of the Lord or downward towards the lake of Fire There is no action but Conscience will be wounded with it if it be a work of darkness and Conscience may reap satisfaction from it if it be a work of Righteousness 2. Conscience if good will not admit of loose principles It will not argue licentiously from the Righteousness of Christ which alone is imputed to us for our justification that therefore there is no necessity of inherent Holyness It will not argue from the superabundant Grace of God that therefore we may safely continue in sin Rom. 6. 15 16. What then shall we sin because we are not under the Law but under Grace God forbid Know ye not that to whom ye yeild your selves Servants to obey his Servants ye are to whom you obey whether of sin unto Death or obedience unto Righteousness A good Conscience will not argue from the falls of Saints recorded in Scripture that we may venture to fall as they did but contrarily concludes since such eminent Saints have fallen it does concern us to look to our standing and not to be high minded but fear Finally it does not argue because Gods Covenant is Everlasting and his love unchangeable that therefore we may live as we list but on the contrary it tells us that because the Lords love is so great and unchangeable he is to be loved the more by us and followed more fully and more willingly obeyed 3. Conscience if good will not abuse Christian liberty The nature of this is not to be mistaken 't is not a liberty to make provision for the Flesh nor to walk after the course of the World nor to mispend your precious time nor to omit or do the work of the Lord negligently They that take such a liberty take that which God never gave them and by this liberty they become slaves and vassals to the Devil who employes and leads them captive at his pleasure But Christian liberty lies in being free from the bondage of Corruption from the Curse of the Law and the Power of Darkness and in having freedom of accesse to God through Christ and in being enlarged by the Spirit to run the wayes of his Commandements Christian liberty is an holy thing A good Conscience therefore is the more watchful lest we go beyond the bounds of Christian liberty and venture upon what is unlawful or use lawful things unlawfully for so 't is possible nay usual licitis perire even in these things to perish To Eat to Drink to Buy to Sell to Plant to Build to Marry and to be given in Marriage were none of them in themselves unlawful yet when the old world and Sodom were thus employed and these things were only minded and spiritual things neglected a Flood came and swept away the one and Fire and Brimstone did destroy the other Luk. 17. 26 27 28 29. 4. A good Conscience looks well to the Principles of our Obedience That it springs from a renewed nature for unless we are made good Trees how can we bring forth good Fruit that it proceeds from Faith for by Faith we must believe what we do to be according to the will of God and by Faith we must desire strength from our Lord Jesus to do that will which is discovered to us Our Obedience also must flow from love 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. The love of Christ constraineth us to love not unto our selves but unto him that died for us Love is the first and great Command and that which makes us to yeild obedience to all the rest And we must be acted by Fear as well as Love a childlike reverence and awe of God how circumspectly will it make us walk Job feared God and eschewed evil Finally our Obedience must spring from gratitude and a sense of our obligation to serve the Lord who hath so loaded us with innumerable benefits All the mercies and deliverances which God did work for and extend to Israel were to induce them to observe his Statutes and to keep his Laws Psal 105. 45. 5. A good Conscience has a regard unto the matter of our actions That this be agreeable unto the Word of God This word is the rule we are to walk by that peace and mercy may be upon us There is a word which God will do his word of Promise he will accomplish his word of Threatning he will execute and his word of Prophecy he will fulfill There is a word which he will have us to do and that 's the word of Precept A good Conscience respects the precepts of the Law the sum of which is to Love the Lord with all our Heart and Soul and Mind and Strength and our Neighbour as our Selves Mat. 22. 37. 39. This Law is not made void but establish'd by Faith even in the Covenant of Grace the Lord promises to write this Law in our Hearts and sayes he will put his spirit within us to cause us to walk in his Statutes and to observe his Judgements and do them The Gospel has precepts also as well as the Law which a good Conscience knowes are to be obeyed And if we will indeed obey the Gospel we must believe on Jesus we must repent from dead works we must live by Faith we must give all diligence to make our Calling and Election sure we must love our Brethren as love is a new command and enjoyned upon a new motive namely the great love of Christ We must engage in all the Ordinances and Institutions of our Lord Jesus finally we must hold fast our profession without wavering whatever troubles upon that score do overtake us 6. A good Conscience Eyes the Manner of our Obedience That it be out of choice David did chuse the way of the Lords Precepts he considered these precepts esteemed them concerning all things to be right and preferred them before all the False and destructive wayes of sin Obedience must not only be out of choice but it must be universal in regard of the object all the commands be respected and in regard of the Subject the whole man must