The booke of conscience opened and read in a sermon preached at the Spittle on Easter-Tuesday, being April 12, 1642 / by John Jackson.

¶ The Application of this first Point.

It were very incongruous not to use Application, while we are treating of Conscience, whose vigor and force consists in Ap∣plication, and the best im∣provement and use of it is to provoke every man to take out the lesson of that wise Greeke,d Know thy selfe; which short saying doe but Christianize, and there can be no better di∣vinity: O Christian man know and consider thy selfe, learne not to under∣value even man in thee; know thine owne dignity and excellencie; know that

within the narrow roome of thy brest there is seated a facultie which is both a law, a witness, and a judge; which can make unanswe∣rable Syllogismes, and can out of strong premisses bring undeniable conclu∣sions. cPythagoras his rule was truly divine, to bid a man in the first place re∣vere himself, and be most∣ly ashamed of himselfe: andf another of the same ranke and classis, He that is not ashamed of himselfe, how shall he blush before him who knows nothing? And reason enforceth thus much: for every man is most wronged by his own

offence, and every man must be arraigned both by and before his own Con∣science, and therefore surely no tribunall next the judgement seat of God himselfe, ought to be so dreadfull to a man, as the Areopagita of his owne heart, which can at once alledge and plead Law, produce witnesse and give judgement.

A learned Gentleman in a project of his conjoyneth and subordinateth these two propositions; the for∣mer is this, that Chastity makes a man reverence him∣selfe; the latter is this, that selfe awe or reverence, next

true Religion and the feare of God, is the chiefest bridle to hold us in from villanie and sinne. Which certainly is most true: for if we did not shamefully underprize our selves, how could we by lust, covetousnesse, in∣temperance, and the like, so degrade man in our selves, and defile that hu∣mane nature which God vouchsafed to take into u∣nion with his owne divini∣ty? how could we give a birth-right for a messe of Lentils, transgresse for a morsell of bread, stake gold to a counter, put down an eternall, and im∣mortall soule to a blast of

fame, an huske of pleasure, a glow-worme of know∣ledge? But now though this be very true of chasti∣ty, yet change the subject of the first proposition, and enunciate it of Con∣science and see how it ap∣pears; first then, Consci∣ence, that lawyer, and wit∣nesse, and judge of consci∣ence, that Triumvir, and Trismegist of Conscience makes a man reverence and fear himself. Second∣ly, this selfe-reverence, which proceeds from con∣science, and the trinity of offices in it, is a threefold cord to whip us from sin, and a threefold bond to tie us to vertue▪

That which Salomon speaketh Eccles. 10. ver. 20. may be hither fitly apply∣ed, Curse not the King, &c. for a bird of the aire shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter; What bird may this be, but the little brest-bird and chest-bird of Conscience? There is this story in Diogenes Laertius, Xenocrates was one day walking in his garden, when a sparrow pursued by some hawke or bird of the prey, for shelter flew into the bosome of the Philosopher, and being bid to put out his little fo∣ster-bird, he answered, no:

for it is a most unworthy thing to betray a guest. Moralize it thus, this Fal∣con or hawke represents every sinner, and wicked person which hunts and pursues poor Conscience; this sparrow thus pursued, representeth Conscience, which whilst the foxes have holes, and the birds nests, hath not where to roust it self, till it take shel∣ter in the brest of Xenocra∣tes, of some pious and con∣scientious person, which holds it an unworthy thing to chase thence such a guest. And hitherto of this.

Notes

• d

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Solo••
• c

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• f

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉;
• Sr. Fran∣cis Bacon in his new At∣lantis.
• Turpissi∣mum est prodere hospitem.