Generousness scorn to prostitute their Consciences and to barter their precious Souls for the Gain of any of these fading and perishing Riches here below Riches that perish in the using If therefore you would keep good Consciences learn to despise the Threats and Frowns the Flatterings and Fawnings of this World look upon it as of no great concernment to you whatever in Adversity or Prosperity can happen to you in this short and frail Life Reflect upon those who groan under the Terrors of a wounded Conscience all the World cannot give them one moments Ease or Comfort yea had they the whole World at their dispose they would give it all to procure Peace yea but a Truce for a while with their own Consciences such a vain and contemptible Thing is the World in comparison of inward Tranquility and Serenity of Mind Why now thus to rate the World below the Peace and Quietness of our own Consciences is an excellent Means to preserve them clear and peaceable Fourthly 4. Strengthen your Faith If you would keep Conscience clear labour above all things to strengthen your Faith Faith is a purifying Grace Acts 15.9 Purifying their Hearts by Faith Now Faith hath a double Influence to purifie the Heart or Conscience Faith purifies the Conscience two ways First 1. As it is a dogmatical Faith and so it doth it morally A dogmatical Faith keeps the Conscience clear and pure and that morally Secondly A justifying and a saving Faith purifies the Conscience and that mystically First 1. What a dogmatical Faith is A dogmatical Faith keeps the Conscience clear and pure A dogmatical Faith I call that which hath for its Object the whole revealed Truth of God and it is nothing but a firm undoubting Assent to the Verity and Certainty of whatever is contained in the Holy Scriptures upon no other Account and Reason than meerly the Authority and Veracity of God who is the Author of it This is a dogmatical or an historical Faith which though it be not Justifying as the Papists hold yet is it of a mighty Influence to sanctifie the Heart and to keep the Conscience and Conversation inoffensive and this it doth in a moral way For did but Men believe that Heaven is so unconceivably glorious sparkling with Light flowing with Pleasure resounding with Praises a Place where Joy and Bliss ever dwells and where we shall dwell too in an endless Eternity in the Smiles and Love of God if now but for a few short Years we strive to live holily did we but as really believe these Things to be true and certain as we know those Things to be true and certain that we see with our very Eyes what manner of Christians would this force us to be in all Holiness and Godliness of Conversation cleansing our selves from all Pollutions both of Flesh and Spirit Wherefore is it that the Promise of some temporal Reward the hopes of some mean Preferment from some great Person is of Force sufficient to make Men obsequious to them And yet the Promises that God himself hath made of Heaven and Glory in comparison of which to promise Crowns and Scepters is but to promise Pebbles and Gugaws work so little effect upon the generality of Men to allure them from Sin to a holy Life Whence is it but that Men believe not that Heaven is so glorious as the Scripture describes it to be Nay indeed if they would speak their Minds they are not yet sure whether there be a Heaven or not it is from their Unbelief Did Men but believe the insupportable Wrath of God those Horrors and Torments that Fire and Sulphur that Stench and Darkness those burning Chains and those fiery Whips the Woe and Anguish of the Damned in Hell which are as far from being utterable as they are from being tollerable did they as certainly believe these Things as if they believe them not they shall certainly feel them would they dare still to venture on to treasure up Wrath to themselves against the day of Wrath Would they still dare by wounding their Consciences now enrage them to their own Wounding and Smart for ever hereafter Would they dare to do it did they believe these Things Did they but believe that Conscience will be revenged seven fold on them for all the Wrongs and Violence that they have done it This Worm that they now carry in their Breasts frozen and benum'd shall be heated by the Fire of Hell and fly upon them and sting their Souls with a burning and flaming Anguish Did they believe this would they not be careful to give no Offence to their Consciences Would they not be as careful to avoid all Sin that arms the Terrors of Hell against them as they have Reason to think a damned Wretch in Hell who hath had the Experience of these Things would do if God would release him out of it with a Promise that he shall for ever escape it upon the same Terms that he hath promised us Think with your selves what effect the Sense and Feeling of those dreadful Things would have upon such a one to make him rigorously conscientious that in nothing he provoke so terrible a God or offend and irritate a revenging Conscience that will be sure to repay him home sevenfold into his own Bosom why the same carefulness and circumspection would it work in all of us did we as firmly and strongly believe those Things to be true as God hath evidently and clearly revealed them to be true in his Word It is true these Things we all know and we persuade our selves that we do believe them Do we not profess to believe that Jesus Christ shall judge both Quick and Dead and that all shall receive Rewards according to their Works those that have done Well shall receive the Reward of eternal Life and those that have done Ill the Reward of eternal Death These Things we may indeed profess to believe and these Things we may frequently represent to our own Thoughts but the weak and small Influence that these Things have to over-awe our Consciences evinceth clearly that this is not Faith but Fancy It is a wavering unevident Opinion that we have taken up and that we call by the Name of Faith for did we live in the Belief of these Truths we should no more dare to sin against our Consciences than if we saw Hell flaming before these Eyes of ours and knew that upon the next Sin we commit we were to be cast into it And thus you see a dogmatical Faith is a great Help to purifie the Heart and to keep the Conscience clear and inoffensive 2. As Faith justifies so it purifies the Conscience mystically 2. A justifying Faith also is of great use to purifie the Conscience And this it doth not morally by any natural Influence or Efficacy of its own but only mystically as it applies to the Soul the Blood of Jesus Christ that Blood that alone takes away
to think that God should make you the first Example of a Soul that did endeavour strive and work for Salvation and yet came short of it when you never heard or read of any that put forth themselves to the utmost for the obtaining of Grace and yet fell short of Grace or Glory Thus in these six Particulars put together you have a full and an abundant Answer and Satisfaction to this Objection concerning our Impotency to work out our own Salvation Object 2 Secondly Another Objection against this Doctrin is this Thus to press Men to Obedience and Working is prejudicial and derogatory unto Christ's Merits by which alone we are saved and not by our own Works Hath not Christ already done all for us Hath not he finished and wrought out our Salvation himself And is not this to render his Work as insufficient to go and piece it out by our Obedience Is not this to set up our Works as Antichrist in flat opposition and defiance to the gracious Vndertaking and perfect Accomplishment of Jesus Christ when all that we have now to do is to believe in him and to get a Right and Title to him and saving Interest in him Answ To this I Answer the Merit of Jesus Christ and our Working are not inconsistent but there is a sweet Harmony and Agreement betwixt them in carrying on the Work of our Salvation And to make this evident I shall lay down the due Bounds and Limits of each of them that so it may appear what Christ hath done for us and what he expects we should do for our selves Christ therefore hath done Two Things in order to the carrying on of our Salvation First He hath purchased and procured eternal Happiness to be conferred upon us hereafter Secondly he hath merited Grace to be conferred upon us here to prepare us for that Happiness First He hath purchased Happiness and eternal Life for all that do believe in him I give unto them eternal Life says he himself to John John 10.28 Heb. 5.9 And says the Apostle He is the Author of eternal Salvation to them that Obey him Now as there are two things that must be done for us before we could be brought unto a state of Salvation namely a freeing us from our liableness unto Death and a bestowing upon us a right unto Life eternal so Jesus Christ that he might bring us into this State hath performed both these things for us First He hath satisfied Divine Justice for us snatching us from under the vengeance of God substituting himself in our room and stead bearing the Load of all that Wrath and Punishment that must otherwise have fallen insupportably heavy upon us His Soul Isa 53.10 says the Prophet was made an Offering for Sin And He was made Sin for us 2 Cor. 5.23 says the Apostle that is he was punished as a Sinner for us Who knew no Sin And Secondly He hath perfectly fulfilled the Commands of the Law by his active Obedience that the Life promised by God in the Law to the doers of it doth now undoubtedly belong to all those for whom Christ did obey the Law that is for all those that believe in him And by both these bearing the penalty of the Law and fulfilling the Duties of the Law God is attoned Justice is satisfied Vengeance is pacified and we are reconciled Adopted and made Heirs of Glory according to the Promise But what shall Glory and Happiness be presently bestowed upon us shall we be installed into it without any more Circumstance must nothing intervene betwixt Christs purchase and our actual possession Yes that there must For Secondly Christ hath purchased Grace to be bestowed upon them upon whom he bestows Salvation Eph. 4 8. When he Ascended up on high he led Captivity Captive and gave Gifts unto Men and among others especially the Gifts of Grace For of his fulness John 1.16 says the Apostle have we all received and Grace for Grace And why did Christ make this purchase Why did he merit Grace for us Was it not that we might act it in Obedience And if Christ merited Grace that we might Obey is it sense to Object that our Obedience is derogatory to Christ's Merit If one end of Christ's doing all that he did for us was to inable us to do for our selves will any Man say now I am bound to do nothing because Christ hath done all How lost are such Men both to Reason and Religion who undertake so to argue No Salvation was purchased and Grace was procured that by the acting and exercise of that Grace we might attain to that Salvation and both these are to be preserved entirely as things most Sacred ascribing them solely to the Merits of our Saviour So far are we from Exhorting Men to work out their Salvation by way of Merit and Purchase as that we conclude them guilty of the highest Sacriledg and practical Blasphemy against the Priestly Office of Jesus Christ who think by their own works to Merit the one or the other And therefore though Jesus Christ hath done thus much for us yet that he might leave us also some work to do I shall now shew what he expects from us in order to the working out of our own Salvation And as he hath done two things for us so he requires two things from us As. First He requires we should put forth all the Strength and Power of Nature in labouring after Grace And Secondly He requires that we should put forth the power of Grace in labouring for Salvation purchased for us First He requires that all those who are void of Grace should labour for it with that Power and Strength that they have Those that are void of Grace must labour for it and in so doing they do not at all intrench upon the Work of Christ neither is it at all derogatory to his Merits See how the Prophet expresseth this Ezekiel 18. Ezek. 18.31 Make you a new heart and a new spirit He speaks to those that were in a state of Nature and he bids them make them a new heart and a new spirit for why will you die Noting that if they did not labour after a new Heart and a new Spirit they would certainly die the Death Let every Sinner know that this is it that he is called upon for this is that God expects from him it is his Work to repent and return that he may live It is his Work to labour to change his own Heart and to renew his own Spirit It is true it is God's Work also Ezek. 11.19 for he hath promised to give a new Heart and a new Spirit and it is Christ's Work also as he is God but yet it is not Christ's Work as Mediator And therefore to endeavour the working of a new Heart in us is not at all to intrench upon the Mediatory Office of Jesus Christ for so his Office is not to work Grace but
Labour under the Sun how wavering how uncertain and how unsuccessful Things are how Means run one way and the End another they might hereby be induced to turn their Labours into another Channel and to work for their Souls and for eternal Happiness and Salvation that are as far above the reach of Disappointment as they are far above the rate of earthly Concernments Mine Elect says God Isa 52.22 shall long enjoy the Work of their Hands they shall not labour in vain And this is the great Argument urged by the Apostle upon the Corinthians Be stedfast 2 Cor. 15.58 unmoveable always abounding in the Work of the Lord and why so industrious and constant knowing this says he that your Labour is not in vain in the Lord. Two Things there are that make a Labour to be in vain First When it doth not accomplish its End Secondly When that End it doth accomplish is not worth the Cost and Pains Now in neither of these respects is your Labour in vain For First It shall not fail to accomplish the end to which it is ordained and that is eternal Salvation Three Things there are that make Men come short in the accomplishment of an End propounded First When Men propound to themselves Ends that are in themselves simply impossible Secondly When though the End be possible yet the Means that are used are unfit and improbable Thirdly When though the Means are rightly suited to the attainment of the end yet we do not persevere in the use of them Now none of these ways shall a laborious Christian fail of his end For First The End Christians work for is not impossible The End that you work for is not in it self simply impossible Should you propound to your selves to become Angels should you strive to sublimate your selves into spiritual Essences your attempts herein were all but vain because it is impossible you should ever be refined into Angels But if your end be to be like Angels to be equal to Angels this is possible and may be attained When they arise from the dead Mark 12.25 they are as the Angels that are in Heaven which another Evangelist renders Luke 20.36 they are equal to the Angels If in this Life you propose to your selves a state of perfection and freedom both from Sin and Sorrow a state of consummate Bliss and Happiness this End is impossible But if you make it your End to enjoy such a state as this is hereafter this is attainable and Labour may atchieve it yea aim at what degree of Glory you please next below God and Christ be it as high as Cherubims and Seraphims I cannot say you think of an impossibility your Labour may raise you to such a pitch and advance you to such Glory as shall dazle the Sun in its brightness It is true there was once a time when Salvation might well be reckoned among those Things that were impossible and that was in that sad interval between the Fall and the Promise of Christ when all Mankind lay in the shadow and in the valley of Death under the Breach and yet under the Bond of the Covenant of Works when it had indeed been in vain so much as once to have thought of Happiness or to have laboured for it But since Christ's undertaking We who were once without Hope have now obtained good Hope through Grace the Partition-Wall that then we could neither climb over nor break through is now taken away the Gate of Heaven is now set open and with striving we may enter for our Saviour Jesus Christ hath abolished Death and brought Life and Immortality to Light through the Gospel And therefore though it may seem an impossibility to dejected and despairing Souls that ever such vile Wretches should receive so great a Dignity that those who are sunk so low in Misery should ever be raised to Happiness that those who are so loaden with Sin and Iniquity should ever feel the weight of Mercy and beaten Glory that those whose best Works deserve the lowest Hell should though not for yet upon the performance of those Works obtain the highest Heavens Though this may seem to be an impossibility yet believe it while you think of any Glory lower than the Glory of the Godhead you think of nothing above a possibility and the reach of Industry There are none of you excluded from a possibility of being saved the Covenant of Grace runs in most large and comprehensive Terms Who ever believeth shall obtain eternal Life The Death of Christ and his Blood is a most sovereign Medicine applicable not only to all Maladies but to all Men if they will believe Tho' it is true none shall be saved but the Elect yet is it true also that a possibility of Salvation extends farther than Election Election gives the infallibility of Salvation as Reprobation doth the infallibility of Damnation but yet as there is a possibility for those that shall infallibly be saved to perish if they do not believe so is it possible for those that shall infallibly perish to be saved if they will believe The possibility of Salvation therefore stands not upon Election but upon two other Grounds First The meritorious and all-sufficient procurement of Christ whereby he hath procured Salvation for all the World and for all in the World upon condition of their Faith for that must still be taken in for were it not so how could we preach Remission of Sins in his Name to every Creature were not his Death applicable to all Then though some should believe yet for want of a Sacrifice offered up and a Price paid down for them they should not be saved though they should believe How then is it that we seriously call all Men to repent and believe that their Sins may be pardon'd and their Souls saved Certainly unless the death of Christ hath procured Salvation for all Men upon condition of Faith and Repentance such Calls would be false in us and vain to them for so we should promise Salvation upon believing to those to whom though they should believe Salvation should be denied because they want a Covenant made with them and a Surety to undertake for them Therefore I say Christ's procurement is general so far that whoever believes shall receive the Benefit of his Death Secondly As the Death of Christ is applicable to all for Salvation if they believe so Faith that alone applies this Death is attainable by you all if you be not wanting to your selves you are none of you under an impossibility of believing and therefore not under an impossibility of Salvation Though it be certain that some shall infallibly persevere in Infidelity yet there is none that hears the sound of the Gospel and the outward Call of God in his Word but may believe and obey if they be not wanting to themselves Neither is this Doctrin Arminianism nor is it prejudicial to the efficacious Grace of God whereby the Will
is the only Time and Season for working Secondly As you must work speedily without delay so you must work constantly without cessation or intermission To stand still is to backslide and to cease working is to undo and unravel what you have wrought You are not like Men that row in a still Water that tho' they slack their Course yet they find themselves in the same station but you are to go against Tide and Stream the Tide of your own Corruptions and the Stream of other Mens Actions and Examples and the least intermission here will be to your Loss hereby you will be carried down the Tide much yea and much Pains and Labour will scarce suffice to regain what a little Sloth hath lost So much for this Text. The Lord make what hath been spoken profitable Amen THE ASSURANCE OF Heaven and Salvation A Powerful MOTIVE TO Serve God with Fear IN A DISCOURSE ON HEBREWS xii 28. By EZEKIEL HOPKINS Late Lord Bishop of London-derry LONDON Printed for Jonathan Robinson A. and J. Churchill John Taylor and John Wyat. 1696. THE ASSURANCE OF Heaven and Salvation A Powerful MOTIVE TO Serve God with Fear Heb. 12.28 29. Wherefore we having received a Kingdom that cannot be moved let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear For our God is a consuming fire THIS Text contains in it a Doctrin a Use and a Motive The Doctrin is We have received a Kingdom that cannot be moved The Use or Inference from thence is this Therefore let us serve God And the Motive to enforce this Exhortation is in these Words For our God is a consuming fire In the first part which is the Thesis or Position We have received a Kingdom that cannot be moved We must know there is a twofold Kingdom a Kingdom of Grace set up in the Heart of a Saint where Christ alone reigns as sole Monarch and Sovereign and a Kingdom of Glory prepared for us in the highest Heavens where we shall reign as Kings with Christ for ever Saints have a Kingdom in a fourfold Respect If we take it in the former sense for the Kingdom of Grace so the Apostle saith we have a Kingdom that is we have it already in Possession Christ hath established his Dominion over every Believer and though he sits personally upon his Throne in Heaven yet he rules in us by the Vice-gerency and Deputation of his Spirit that received Commission from him and also by the Law of his Word enacted by it If we understand it in the latter sense for the Kingdom of Glory which seems most congruous to the Design of the Apostle so also we have a Kingdom and that in a fourfold sense First By Grace giving us the earnest of it by Faith realizing of it by Hope embracing it and by the Promises assuring of it First 1. Saints have a Kingdom in the first Fruits of it We have a Kingdom of Glory in the Earnest and first Fruits of it The Comforts and Graces of the Spirit are very often in Scripture called the Earnest of our Inheritance So you have it in 2 Cor. 1.22 and in Eph. 1.14 Now an Earnest you know is always part of the Bargain So God to assure us that he is in earnest when he promiseth Heaven and Glory to us hath already given us part of it in the Graces of his Spirit Grace and Glory are one and the same thing in a different Print in a smaller and a greater Letter here we have Heaven in seminal Inchoation hereafter we shall have it in consummate Perfection Glory lies couched and and compacted in Grace as the beauty of a Flower lies couched and eclipsed in the Seed therefore the Psalmist saith Psal 97. That Light is sown for the Righteous that is Psal 97. the Light of Joy and of a future Life are in the Graces of Gods Children as in their Seed and they shall certainly bud and sprout forth into perfect Happiness Secondly We have a Kingdom of Glory 2. Faith realizeth it because Faith realizeth things future and gives an existence and being to things that are not This is that Grace to which nothing is past nor nothing future it contracts all things into present time and makes all actually existent it draws Things that are at a great distance from it near to it self and thus the Galatians Faith represented the death of Christ so visibly to them that the Apostle told them He was crucified among them Gal. 3.1 Gal. 3.1 It dives down into the gulf of future times and fetcheth up things that as yet are not It is much at one to a strong Faith to have Heaven or to believe it this Grace makes Heaven as really present as if it were already in Possession and therefore it is called in Heb. 11.1 The evidence of things not seen and the substance of things hoped for it is the very being of things hoped for the being of those things that as yet have no being Thirdly 3. Hope embraceth it We have a Kingdom as in the view of Faith so also in the embraces of Hope And therefore Hope is called The Anchor of the Soul that entreth into that within the Vail Heb. 6.19 that is Heb. 6.19 into Heaven it lays hold on all that Glory that is there laid up and kept in reversion for us Hope is in it self a solid and substantial Possession for it stirs up the same Affections it excites the same Joy Delight and Complacency as Fruition it self doth It is the Taster of all our Comforts and if they be but temporal it not only tasts them but sometimes quite devours them and leaves us in suspence whether it be not better to be Expectants than Enjoyers Heavenly Hope gives the same real contentment and satisfaction that antedates our Glory and puts us into the Possession of our Inheritance whilst we are yet in our Nonage only it doth not spend and devour its Object before Hand as earthly Hope doth Fourthly 4. God hath assured them of it by Promise We have a Kingdom of Glory because God hath assured to us the possession of it by his immutable word of Promise And therefore it is called Eternal Life which God that cannot lie hath promised Tit. 1.2 Gods Word is as good Security as actual Possession It is this Word that gives us Right and Title to it and this Right we may well call ours Hence we have it and it is observable Mark 16.16 He that believeth shall be saved Here is assurance of Salvation for the future But in John 3.18 Joh. 3.18 there it is He that believeth not is condemned already He that believeth shall be saved he that believeth not is condemned already why Unbelievers are no more actually condemned than Believers are actually saved only what God promiseth or what God threatneth it is all one whether he saith it is done or it shall be done for Damnation is
the Defilement of our Sins An historical Faith may keep the Soul from contracting Defilement but this justifying this saving Faith washes out the Stains and Defilements that we have contracted and makes us white and spotless in the Blood of the Lamb. Faith is that Conveyance that God hath appointed to bring the Blood of Christ to stream forth upon the defiled Soul and Conscience and upon every renewed Act of Sin we ought by a renewed Act of Faith to lay our spotted and defiled Souls under the fall of that Fountain that is set open to wash and cleanse us from our Filth and Pollution Thus Faith cleanseth the Conscience mystically and by the Actings of Faith we may thus get and keep our Consciences clear and inoffensive Fifthly 5. Set a strict Watch and Guard upon your selves If you would keep your Consciences clear then set a strict Watch and Guard upon your selves both upon your inward and upon your outward Man Set a Guard to your Heart and to all the Approaches to your Heart 1. Keep a narrow Guard upon your Heart 1. Set a Guard upon your Heart The Heart is the great meeting Place where Objects Thoughts and Affections do swarm and crowd together And as much Concourse leaves Dirt behind it upon the Place so this great Heart-Assembly usually leaves it foul and polluted Our Saviour Mark 9. tells the Jews That it was that which was within them that Wickedness which lay latent in their Hearts that which proceedeth from the Heart that defiles the Man There is a Defilement in the Thoughts and in the Desires as well as in the more gross and bulky Sins of the Life Hence the Prophet Jeremy speaks Jer. 4.14 O Jerusalem wash thine Heart from Wickedness Why wherewith is it polluted Why the next Words shew it How long shall thy vain Thoughts lodge within thee Vain Thoughts leave a Stain and Contagion upon the Soul and certainly if a vain Thought that is such a fleeting and volitary Thing breaths a kind of Contagion and Taint upon the Heart they certainly then must have foul Hearts indeed and their Spots in Grain who lie soaking and stewing themselves in Unclean Malicious and Covetous Thoughts and Designs Since then that Conscience is apt to receive Taint but with the breathing of a vain and sinful Thought upon it how doth it concern us then to keep a watchful and circumspect Eye over every Motion of our Hearts It is the wise Man's Counsel as you have heard Keep thy Heart with all diligence for out of it are the Issues of Life Look to it therefore that you suffer not your Hearts to be defiled with sinful Thoughts or sinful Affections by those inward and invisible Corruptions that settle at the bottom of it though the Life be never so clear and cristal yet if that Mud be but stirred and raised Conscience becomes thereby defiled and an evil Conscience And therefore the Apostle 1 Tim. 1.5 1 Tim. 1.5 joins them together speaking of a pure Heart and a good Conscience but if the steems of Lust rise up thick in the Heart they defile and pollute the Conscience Hence the Apostle again joins them together Tit. 1.15 Tit. 1.15 a defiled Mind and a defiled Conscience The Mind and Conscience says he is defiled How can the Mind be defiled unless it be with Sins of the Mind Evil Thoughts and evil Affections which as sprightly and aerial as they seem to be yet they leave a Stain upon the Conscience As the breathing upon a Glass sullies it and dims the Representation of the Face that looks into it so the breathing of evil Cogitations upon Conscience the Glass of the Soul leaves a Mist and Cloud upon it that it can but dimly and darkly represent to us our true State 2. Watch diligently as the Heart it self so all the Approaches unto the Heart 2. Watch diligently all the Approaches to the Heart The Approaches to the Heart are like your Roads to a great City which are full of Passengers and usually full of Dirt also And these are the Senses by which and through which Objects are continually travelling to the Heart and carry with them a World of Wickedness These are Sluces which instead of letting in pleasant Streams to refresh commonly they let in nothing but Mud which pollutes the Soul There is no actual Filthiness in the Hearts of any but what enters in by these Inlets through these the Devil casts in abundance of Filth stirs up and increaseth indwelling Lust and by sinful Objects that the Senses convey to the Soul dungs that Ground that is of it self but too too fruitful Thus the Devil makes use of the Ear through it he blows up the Bladder of Pride by the Breath of popular Applause and Praise And thus he makes use of the lascivious Eye as a burning Glass to set the Heart on Fire and so also he makes use of the other Senses as Sinks of Luxury and Intemperance Now if you would keep your Consciences clear and undefiled set a strict Guard and narrow Watch upon all these Passages to your Hearts critically examin every Thing that goes in and every Thing that comes out by these Gates arrest whatever cannot produce its Pass and Warrant from the Word of God keep the same Watch upon these Gates that God would keep on the Gate of the Heavenly City the New Jerusalem It is said Rev. 21.27 Rev. 21.27 That there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth Why so let us who would keep our Consciences clear guard all the Approaches to them with the same strictness and let nothing that defileth enter in by these Approaches to our Hearts Sixthly and Lastly 6. Listen to the Voice of Conscience take this Direction Be sure to listen to the Voice of Conscience Those that stop their Ears and will not hear Conscience when it directs and reproves shall be sure to hear it loud enough when it shall accuse and condemn them Conscience is the Voice of God in the Soul why now if this Voice be slighted beware lest the next time it speak to you in Thunder Do nothing contrary to the Dictates of your Consciences for this will provoke God to give you up to a reprobate Sense and judicially to harden you in your Sins for if sinning against your Consciences doth not corrupt them by making them insensible and stupid it will certainly corrupt them by making them enraging and despairing Well now for your Encouragement let me tell you while you are careful by following these Directions to keep your Consciences clear you shall also keep them peaceable It is the foulness of a Gun that makes it recoil in discharging And so it is the foulness of Men's Consciences that makes them recoil back again upon them in discharging of their Offices But while Conscience is kept clear and void of Offence it will be also kept free from quarrelling with you and