Ductor dubitantium, or, The rule of conscience in all her generall measures serving as a great instrument for the determination of cases of conscience : in four books / by Jeremy Taylor ...

CHAP. I. The Rule of Conscience in general.

RULE 1. Conscience is the minde of a Man governed by a Rule, and measured by the proportions of good and evil, in order to practice; viz. to conduct all our relations, and all our entercourse between God, our Neighbours, and our Selves: that is, in all moral actions.

GOD governs the world by several attributes and ema∣nations from himself. The nature of things is supported by his power, the events of things are ordered by his providence, and the actions of reasonable creatures are governed by Laws, and these Laws are put into a mans soul or minde as into a Treasury or Repository: some in his very nature, some by after actions, by education and positive sanction, by learning and custome: so that it was well said of S. Bernard, Conscientia candor est lucis aeternae, & speculum sine macula Dei Majestatis, & imago bonitatis illius. Conscience is the bright∣ness and splendor of the eternal light, a spotless mirror of the Divine Maje∣sty, and the image of the goodness of God. It is higher which Tatianus said of Conscience, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Conscience is God unto us; which saying he had from Menander,

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,

and it had in it this truth, That God who is every where in several manners, hath the appellative of his own attributes and effects in the several manners of his presence.

Jupiter est quodcunque vides, quocunque moveris.

That providence which governs all the world is nothing else but God pre∣sent by his providence: and God is in our hearts by his Laws: he rules in us by his Substitu••e our conscience. God sits there and gives us laws; and as God said to Moses, I have made thee a God to Pharaoh, that is, to give him Laws, and to minister in the exec••tion of those Laws, and to inflict angry sentences upon him; so hath God done to us. He hath given us Conscience to be in Gods stead to us, to give us Laws, and to exact obedience to those Laws, to punish them that prevaricate, and to reward the obedient. And therefore Consci∣ence is called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, The Houshold Guardian, The Domestick God, The Spirit or Angel of the place: and when we call god to witness, we onely mean, that our conscience is right, and that God and Gods Vicar, our conscience knows it. So Lactantius: Meminerit Deum se habere testem, id est, ut ego arbitror, mentem suam, quâ nihil homini dedit Deus ipse divinius. Let him remember that he hath God for his witness, that is, as I suppose, his mind; then which God hath given to man nothing that is more divine. In summe, It is the image of God; and as in the mysterious Tri∣nity, we adore the will, memory and understanding, and Theology contemplates three persons in the analogies, proportions and correspondencies of them: so in this also we see plainly that Conscience is that likeness of God in which he was pleased to make man. For although conscience be primarly founded in the understanding, as it is the Lawgiver, and Dictator; and the rule and domini∣on of conscience fundatur in intellectu, is established in the understanding part; yet it is also Memory, when it accuses or excuses, when it makes joyful and sorrowful; and there is in it some mixture of will, as I shall discourse in the sequel; so that conscience is a result of all, of Understanding, Will, and Memory.

But these high and great expressions are better in the Spirit then in the let∣ter; they have in them some••hing of institution, and some••hing of design, they tell us that Conscience is a guard and a guide, a rule and a law set over us by God, and they are spoken to m••ke us afraid to sin against our conscience, because by so doing we sin against God; he having put a double bridle upon us, society and solitude, that is, company, and our selves, or rather, God and Man; it being now impossible for us to sin in any circumstances, but we shall have a reprover: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as Hierocles said well; that neith••r company may g••ve countena••ce or excuse to sin, or solitariness may give confidence or war∣ranty; for ••s we are ashamed to sin in company, so we ought to fear our con∣science, which is Gods Watchman and Intelligencer.

To which purpose it was soberly spoken of Tertullian, Conscientia optima testis Divinitatis; our conscience is the best argument in the world to prove there is a God: For conscience is Gods deputy; and the inferiour must sup∣pose a superiour; and God and our conscience are like relative terms, it not being imaginable why some persons in some cases should be am••z'd and troubled in their minds for their having done a secret turp••tude, o•• cruelty; but that conscience is present with a message from God, and the men feel in∣ward causes of fear, when they are secure from without; that is, they are forc'd to fear God, when they are safe from men. And it is impossible that any man should be an Atheist, if he have any conscience: and for this reason it is, there have been so few Atheists in the world, because it is so hard for men to lose their conscience wholly.

Quest.

SOme dispute whether it be possible or no for any man to be totally with∣out conscience. Tertullians sentence in this article is this, Potest obumbrari quia non est Deus: extingui non potest quia à Deo est. It is not God, and there∣fore may be clouded: but it is from God, and therefore cannot be destroyed. But I know a man may wholly lose the use of his reason; some men are mad, and some are natural fools, and some are sots, and stupid; such men as these lose their conscience, as they lose their reason: and as some mad men may have a fancy that there is no Sun; so some fools may say there is no God; and as they can believe that, so they can lose their conscience, and be∣lieve this. But as he that hath reason or his eyes cannot deny but there is such a thing as the Sun, so neither can he that hath conscience deny there is a God. For as the Sun is present by his light which we see daily, so is God by our conscience which we feel continually: we feel one as certainly as the other.

But it is to be observed, that conscience is sometimes taken for the pra∣ctical intellective faculty; so we say the law of nature, and the fear of God is written in the conscience of every man.

2. Sometimes it is taken for the habitual perswasion and belief of the principles written there; so we say, He is a good man, and makes conscience of his ways. And thus we also say, and it is true, that a wicked person is of a profligate and lost conscience. He hath no conscience in him. That is, he hath lost the habit, or that usual perswasion and recourse to conscience by which good men govern their actions.

3. Or the word conscience is used effectively, for any single operation and action of conscience: so we speak of particulars, I make a conscience of taking up arms in this cause. Of the first and last acceptation of the word Consci∣ence, there is no doubt; for the last may, and the first can never be lost: But for the second, it may be lost more or less, as any other habit can; though this with more difficulty then any thing else, because it is founded so immediately in nature, and is so exercised in all the actions and entercourses of our life, and is so assisted by the grace of God, that it is next to impossible to lose the habit intirely; and that faculty that shall to eternal ages doe the offices which are the last, and such as suppose some preceding actions, I mean to tor∣ment and afflict them for not having obeyed the former acts of dictate and command, cannot be supposed to die in the principle, when it shall be eternal in the emanation; for the worm shall never die.

For, that men doe things against their conscience, is no otherwise then as they doe things against their reason; but a man may as well cease to be a man, as to be wholly without conscience. For the drunkard will be sober, and his conscience will be awake next morning: This is a perpetual pulse, and though it may be interrupted, yet if the man be alive, it will beat before he dies; and so long as we beleeve a God, so long our conscience will at least teach us, if it does not also smite us: But as God sometimes lets a man go on in sin and does not punish him, so does conscience; but in this case, unless the man be smitten and awakened before he dies, both God & the conscience reserve their wrath to be inflicted in hell. It is one and the same thing; Gods wrath, and an evil guilty conscience: For by the same hand by which God gives his law, by the same he punishes them that transgress the law. God gave the old law by the ministery of Angels, and when the people broke it, he sent evil angels among

them; now God gives us a law in our consciences, and there he hath establi∣shed the penalty; This is the worm that never dies; let it be trod upon never so much here, it will turn again. It cannot die here, and it shall be alive for ever.

But by explicating the parts of the Rule, we shall the best understand the Nature, Use, and Offices of Conscience.

Conscience is the minde of a Man—

When God sent the B. Jesus into the world to perfect all righteousness, and to teach the world all his Fathers will, it was said, and done, I will give my laws in your hearts, and in your mindes will I write them; that is, you shall be governed by the law of natural and essential equity and reason, by that law which is put into every mans nature: and besides this, whatsoever else shall be superinduc'd shall be written in your minds by the Spirit, who shall write all the laws of Christianity in the Tables of your consciences. He shall make you to understand them, to perceive their relish, to remember them because you love them, and because you need them, and cannot be happy without them: he shall call them to your minde, and inspire new arguments and in∣ducements to their observation, and make it all as naturall to us, as what we were born with.

Our minde being thus furnished with a holy Rule, and conducted by a divine Guide, is called Conscience; and is the same thing which in Scripture is sometimes called, The heart; there being in the Hebrew tongue, no proper word for Conscience, but in stead of it they use the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the heart; Often∣tentimes also thine own heart knoweth, that is, thy conscience knoweth, that thou they self hast cursed others: so in the New Testament, Beloved, if our hearts condemne us not, then have we peace towards God; viz. If in our own consciences we are not condem∣ned. Sometimes it is called Spirit, the third ingredient of the constitution of a Christian; the Spirit, distinct from Soul and Body. For as our Body shall be spiritual in the resurrection, therefore because all its offices shall intirely minister to the spirit, and converse with spirits, so may that part of the soul which is wholly furnished, taught and conducted by the spirit of grace, and whose work it is wholly to serve the spirit, by a just proportion of reason be called the Spirit. This is that which is affirmed by S. Paul, The word of God sharper then a two edged sword, dividing the soul and the spirit; that is, the soul is the spirit separated by the word of God, instructed by it, and by relation to it, is called, the spirit. And this is the sense of Origen,

Testimonio sanè conscientiae uti Apostolus dicit eos qui descriptam continent in cordibus le∣gem, &c. The Apostle says, that they use the testimony of conscience, who have the law written in their hearts. Hence it is necessary to enquire what that is which the Apostle cals conscience, whether it be any other substance then the heart or soul? For of this it is otherwhere said, that it reprehends, but is not reprehended, and that it judges a man, but it self is judged of no man: as John saith, If our con∣science condemne us not, then have we confidence towards God. And again, Paul himself saith in another place, Our glorying is this, even the testimony of our con∣science; because therefore I see so great a liberty of it, that in good things it is always glad and rejoyces, but in evil things it is not reproved, but reproves and corrects the soul it self to which it does adhere: I doe suppose that this is the very spirit which by the Apostle is said to be with the soul, as a paedagogue and

social Governour, that it may admonish the soul of better things, and chastise her for her faults and reprove her: Because no man knows the things of a man but the spirit of a man which is in him; and that is the spirit of our conscience, con∣cerning which, he saith, That spirit gives testimony to our spirit.

So far Origen.

Thus, Conscience is the Minde, and God writing his laws in our mindes is, informing our conscience, and furnishing it with laws and rules, and mea∣sures, and it is called by S. Paul, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the law of the minde; and though it is once made a distinct thing from the minde (as in those words, Their mindes and consciences are defiled) yet it happens in this word as in divers others, that it is sometimes taken largely, sometimes specifically and more de∣terminately: The minde is all the whole understanding part, it is the memory; so Peter called to minde the word that Jesus spake, that is, he remembred it. It is, the signification or meaning, the purpose or resolution. No man knoweth the minde of the spirit, but the spirit. It is the discursive or reasoning part; Mary cast in her minde what manner of salutation this should be. It is the assenting and determi∣ning part; let every man be fully perswaded in his own minde: and it is also taken for Conscience, or that Treasure of rules which are in order to practice. And therefore when S. Paul intended to express the anger of God punish∣ing evil men with evil consciences and false perswasions in order to cri∣minal actions and evil worshippings, he said, God gave them over 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to a reprobate minde, that is, to a conscience evil perswaded, furnished with false practical principles; but the return to holiness, and the improve∣ment of a holy conscience is called, a being renewed in the spirit of our minde, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the renovation of the minde.

Now there are two ways by which God reigns in the minde of a man, 1. Faith, and 2. Conscience. Faith contains all the treasures of Divine know∣ledge and speculation. Conscience is the treasury of divine Commandements and rules in practical things. Faith tells us why; Conscience tells us what we are to doe. Faith is the measure of our perswasions; Conscience is the measure of our actions. And as Faith is a gift of God, so is Conscience; that is, as the understanding of a man is taught by the Spirit of God in Scripture, what to beleeve, how to distinguish truth from errors; so is the Conscience in∣structed to distinguish good and evil, how to please God, how to doe justice and charity to our neighbour, and how to treat our selves; so that when the revelations of Christ and the Commandements of God are fully recorded in our mindes, then we are perfectly instructed to every good work.

Governed by a Rule—

S. Bernard comparing the Conscience to a house, says it stands upon se∣ven pillars. 1. Good will. 2. Memory of Gods benefits. 3. A clean heart. 4. A free spirit. 5. A right soul. 6. A devout minde. 7. An enlightned rea∣son. These indeed are some of them the fruits and effects, some of them are the annexes and appendages of a good conscience, but not the foundations or pillars upon which Conscience is built. For as for the first

Good will.

Conscience relies not at all upon the will directly. For though a Conscience is good, or bad, pure or impure; and so the Doctors of Mystick Theology divide and handle it, yet a conscience is not made so by the will, formally, but by

the understanding. For that is a good conscience, which is rightly taught in the word of life; that is impure and defiled, which hath entertained evil and un∣godly principles; such is theirs, who follow false lights, evil teachers, men of corrupt minds. For the conscience is a Judge and a Guide, a Monitor and a Wit∣ness, which are offices of the knowing, not of the choosing faculty. Spiritum cor∣rectorem, & paedagogum animae, so Origena calls it. The instructor of the soul, the spirit, the corrector. Naturale judicatorium, or naturalis vis judicandi, so S. Basil. The natural power of judging, or natures judgement seat. Lucem intellectus no∣stri, so Damascen cals it, The light of our understanding. The conscience does accuse or excuse a man before God, which the will cannot. If it could, we should all stand upright at doomesday, or at least those would be acquitted, who fain would doe well, but miss, who do the things they love not, and love those they doe not; that is, they who strive to enter in, but shall not be able. But to accuse or excuse is the office of a faculty which can neither will nor choose, that is, of the conscience; which is properly a record, a book, and a judge∣ment seat.

But I said, Conscience relies not upon the will [directly] yet it cannot be denied, but the will hath force upon the conscience collaterally and indirectly. For the evil will perverts the understanding, and makes it beleeve false prin∣ciples; deceiving and being deceived is the lot of false Prophets; and they that are given over to beleeve a lie, will live in a lie, and doe actions relative to that false doctrine which evil manners first perswaded and introduc'd. For although it cannot be that Hereticks should sin in the article against the actual light of their consciences, because he that wittingly and willingly sins against a known truth is not properly a Heretick but a Blasphemer, and sins against the Holy Ghost; and he that sees a Heretick run to the stake or to the gallows, or the Donatist kill himself, or the Circumcellian break his own neck with as much confidence to bear witness to his heresie, as any of the blessed Martyrs to give testimony to Christianity it self, cannot but think he heartily beleeves, what so willingly he dies for; yet either hereticks do sin voluntarily, and so•• distinguish from simple errors, or else they are the same thing, and either every simple error is damnable, or no heresie. It must therefore be ob∣served, that

The will of man is cause of its actions either mediately or immediately. Some are the next products of our will; such are Pride, Ambition, Prejudice, and these blinde the understanding, and make an evil and a corrupted consci∣ence, making it an incompetent judge of truth and error, good and evil. So that the corruption of conscience in a heretick is voluntary in the principle, but miserable and involuntary in the product; it may proceed from the will efficiently, but it is formally a depravation of the understanding.

And therefore our wils also must be humble and apt, and desirous to learn, and willing to obey. Obedite & intelligetis, by humility and obedience we shall be best instructed. Not that by this means the conscience shall receive direct aids, but because by this means it will be left in its own aptnesses and dispo∣sitions, and when it is not hindred, the word of God will enter and dwel upon the conscience. And in this sense it is that some say that [Conscience is the inclination and propension of the will corresponding to practical knowledge] Will and Conscience are like the cognati sensus, the Touch and the Tast; or the Teeth and the Eares, affected and assisted by some common objects, whose effect is

united in matter and some reall events, and distinguished by their formalities, or metaphysical beings.

2. Memory of Gods benefits,

Is indeed a good ingagement to make us dutiful, and so may incline the will; but it hath no other force upon the conscience but that it re-minds us of a special obligation to thankfulness, which is a new and proper tie of duty; but it works onely by a principle that is already in the conscience, viz. that we are specially oblig'd to our gracious lords; and the obedience that is due to God as our lord doubles upon us by love and zeal when we remember him to be our bountiful Patron, and our gracious Father.

3. A clean heart,

May be an effect and emanation from a holy Conscience; but conscience in it self may be either good or bad, or it may be good when the heart is not clean, as it is in all the worst men who actually sin against conscience, doing that which conscience forbids them. In these men the principles are holy, the instruction perfect, the law remaining, the perswasions uncancell'd; but against all this torrent, there is a whirlwinde of passions and filthy resolutions, and wilfulness, which corrupt the heart, while as yet the head is uncorrupted in the direct rules of conscience. But yet sometimes a clean conscience and a clean heart are the same; and a good conscience is taken for holiness, so S. Paul uses the word, holding faith and a good conscience, which some having put away have made shipwrack, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, so Clemens Alexandrinus explicates the place; they have by infidelity polluted their divine and holy conscience: but S. Paul seems to argue otherwise, and that they laying aside a good conscience fell into infidelity; their hearts and conscience were first corrupted, and then they turn'd hereticks. But this sense of a good conscience is that which in Mystick Divinity is more properly hand∣led, in which sense also it is sometimes used in the law. Idem est conscientia quod vir bonus intrinsecè, said Ungarellusa out of Baldusb; and from thence Aretinec gathered this conclusion, that if any thing be committed to the conscience of any one, they must stand to his determination & ab eâ appellari non potest; there lies no appeal, quia vir bonus pro quo sumitur conscientia non potest mentiri & falsum di∣cere vel judicare. A good man, for whom the word conscience is used, cannot lie, or give a false judgement or testimony: of this sort of conscience it is said by Ben Sirach, Bonam substantiam habet cui non est peccatum in conscientiâ. It is a mans wealth to have no sin in our conscience. But in our present and future discourses, the word conscience is understood in the Philosophical sense, not in the Mystical, that is, not for the conscience as it is invested with the acci∣dents of good or bad, but as it abstracts from both, but is capable of either.

4. A free spirit,

Is the blessing and effect of an obedient will to a well instructed conscience, and more properly and peculiarly to the grace of chastity, to honesty and sim∣plicity; a slavish, t••morous, a childish and a trifling spirit being the punishment inflicted upon David before he repented of his fact with Bathsheba. But there is also a freedom which is properly the privilege, or the affection of conscience, and is of great usefulness to all its nobler operations; and that is, a being clear from prejudice and prepossession, a pursuing of truths with holy purpo∣ses, an inquiring after them with a single eye, not infected with any sickness or unreasonableness. This is the same thing with that which he distinctly

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cals [A right soul] To this is appendant also, that the conscience cannot be constrained, it is of it self a free spirit, and is subject to no commands, but those of reason and religion. God onely is the Lord of our conscience, and the conscience is not to subject it self any more to the Empire of sin, to the law of Moses, to a servile spirit, but to the laws of God alone, and the obedience of Jesus, willingly, chearfully, and in all instances, whether the Commandement be conveyed by the holy Jesus, or by his Vicegerents. But of this I shall af∣terwards give particular accounts.

5. A devout minde,

May procure more light to the conscience, and assistances from the spirit of wisdome in cases of difficulty, and is a good remedy against a doubting and a scrupulous conscience; but this is but indirect, and by the intermission of other more immediate and proper entercourses.

6. But the last is perfectly the foundation of conscience.

An enlightned Reason.

To which if we adde what S. Bernard before cals a right soul, that is, an honest heart, full of simplicity and hearty attention, and ready assent, we have all that by which the conscience is informed and reformed, instructed and pre∣served in its just measures, strengths, and relations. For the Rule of Conscience is all that notice of things and rules by which God would have good and evil to be measured, that is, the will of God communicated to us by any means, by reason, and by enlightning, that is, natural and instructed. So that conscience is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, it is principled by creation, and it is instructed or illuminated in the regeneration. For God being the fountain of all good, and good being nothing but a conformity to him, or to his will, what measures he makes, are to limit us. No man can make measures of good and evil, any more then he can make the good it self. Men sometimes give the instance in which the good is measured; but the measure it self is the will of God. For therefore it is good to obey humane laws, because it is Gods will we should; and although the man makes the law to which we are to give obedience, yet that is not the rule. The rule is the Commandement of God, for by it obedi∣ence is made a duty.

Measured by the proportions of good and evil—

That is, of that which God hath declared to be good or evil respectively, the conscience is to be informed. God hath taken care that his laws shall be published to all his subjects, he hath written them where they must needs read them, not in tables of stone or phylacteries on the forehead, but in a se∣cret Table: The conscience or minde of a man is the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the pre∣server of the Court Rols of heaven. But I added this clause, to the former of [a Rule] because the express line of Gods rule is not the adequate measure of conscience: but there are analogies and proportions, and commensurations of things with things, which make the measure full and equal. For he does not always keep a good conscienee who keeps onely the words of a Divine law, but the proportions also and the reasons of it, the similitudes and correspon∣dencies in like instances, are the measures of conscience.

The whole measure and rule of conscience, The law of God, or Gods will, signified to us by nature, or revelation, and by the several manners and

times and parts of its communication it hath obtained several names. The law of Nature. *The consent of Nations. *Right Reason. *The Deca∣logue. *The Sermon of Christ. *The Canons of the Apostles. *The laws Ecclesiastical and Civil of Princes and Governours. *Fame, or the publick reputation of things, expressed by Proverbs and other instances and measures of publick honesty. This is

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,

so Euripides cals it, all the rule that teaches us good or evil. These being the full measures of right and wrong, of lawful and unlawful, will be the Rule of Conscience, and the subject of the present Books.

In order to practice—

In this, conscience differs from knowledge, which is in order to speculation, and ineffective notices. And it differs from faith, because although faith is also in order to practice, yet not directly and immediately: it is a collection of propositions, the belief of which makes it necessary to live well, and rea∣sonable and chosen. But before the propositions of faith pass into action, they must be transmitted through another principle, and that is conscience. That Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and our Lord, and our Master, is a proposi∣tion of faith, and from thence if we pass on to practice, we first take in ano∣ther proposition; If he be our lord, where is his fear? and this is a sentence, or virtual proposition of conscience. And from hence we may understand the full meaning of the word [Conscience.] 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, and Conscientia, and so our English word Conscience have in them Science or Knowledge: the seat of it is the Understanding, the act of it is Knowing, but there must be a know∣ing of more together.

Hugo de S. Victore says, that Conscientia est cordis scientia, Conscience is the knowledge of the heart. It is so, but certainly this was not the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and origi∣nal of the word. But there is truth in the following period. Cor noscit se & alia. Quando autem se noscit appellatur conscientia, quando praeter se, alia noscit, appel∣latur scientia. Knowledge hath for its object any thing without; but when the heart knows it self, then it is conscience. So it is used in Authors sacred and prophane. Nihil mihi conscius sum, saith S. Paul; I know nothing by my self; ut alios lateas, tute tibi conscius eris: and

—hic murus aheneus esto, Nil conscire sibi—

so Cicero to Marcus Rutilius uses it; Cùm & mihi conscius essem quanti te facerem; When I my self was conscious to my self how much I did value thee. But this acception of the word conscience is true, but not full and adequate; for it onely signifies conscience as it is a Witness, not as a Guide. Therefore it is more reasonable which Aquinas and the Schoolmen generally use: that con∣science is a conjunction of the universal practical law with the particular mo∣ral action: and so it is scientia cum rebus facti, and then it takes in that which is called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, or the general repository of moral principles or measures of good, and the particular cases as reduced to practice. Such as was the case of S. Peter when he denied his Lord: He knew that he ought not to have done it, and his conscience being sufficiently taught his duty to his Lord, he also knew that he had done it, and then there followed a remorse, a biting, or gnawing of his spirit, grief, and shame, and a consequent weeping: when

all these acts meet together, it is the full process of conscience.

1. The 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 or the first act of conscience, S. Hierome cals Scintillam conscientiae, the spark or fire put into the heart of man.

2. The 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, which is specifically called conscience of the deed done, is the bringing fuel to this fire.

3. And when they are thus laid together, they will either shine or burn, acquit or condemne. But this complication of acts is conscience. The first is Science, practical science; but annex the second: or it and the third, and then it is conscience. When Davids heart smote him, that is, upon his adultery and murder, his conscience thus discours'd. Adultery and Murder are high vio∣lations of the Divine Law, they provoke God to anger, without whom I can∣not live, whose anger is worse then death. This is practical knowledge, or the principles of conscience; but the following acts made it up into consci∣ence. For he remembred that he had betrayed Uriah and humbled Bathsheba, and then he begs of God for pardon; standing condemn'd in his own breast, he hopes to be forgiven by Gods sentence. But the whole process of consci∣ence is in two practical Syllogisms, in which the method is ever this. The 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 or Repository of practical principles begins, and where that leaves, the conscience or the witness and Judge of moral actions begins, like Jacob laying hold upon his elder brothers heel. The first is this:

Whatsoever is injurious ought not to be done, But to commit adultery is injurious, Therefore it ought not to be done:

This is the Rule of conscience, or the first act of conscience as it is a Rule and a Guide, and is taken for the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, or practical repository. But when an action is done or about to be done, conscience takes the conclusion of the for∣mer Syllogism, and applies it to her particular case.

Adultery ought not to be done, This action I go about, or which I have done, is adultery, Therefore it ought not to be done, or to have been done.

This is the full proceeding of this Court; after which many consequent so∣lemnities and actions do pass, of sentence, and preparatory torments and ex∣ecution.

But this I am to admonish, that although this which I have thus defin'd, is the proper and full sence of the word Conscience according to art and proper acceptation, yet in Scripture it is used indifferently for an act of conscience, or any of its parts, and does not always signify in its latitude and integrity, but yet it all tends to the same signification; and though the name be given to the faculty, to the habit, to the act, to the object, to the effect, to every ema∣nation from the minde in things practical, yet still it supposes the same thing: viz. that conscience is the guide of all our moral actions; and by giving the name to so many acts and parts and effluxes from it, it warrants the defini∣tion of it when it is united in its own proper and integral constitution.

To conduct all our relations and entercourses between God, our Neighbours and our Selves; that is, in all moral actions.

This is the final cause of conscience: and by this it is distinguished from prudence, which is also a practical knowledge and reduc'd to particular and cir∣cumstantiate actions. But 1. Prudence consists in the things of the world, or relative to the world; Conscience in the things of God, or relating to him.

2. Prudence is about affairs as they are of advantage or disadvantage: conscience is imployed about them as they are honest or dishonest. 3. Prudence regards the circumstances of actions whether moral or civil: conscience only regards moral actions in their substance or essential proprieties. 4. Prudence intends to doe actions dexterously and prosperously: conscience is to conduct them justly and according to the Commandement. 5. There are many actions in which prudence is all at all concerned as being wholly indifferent to this or that for matter of advantage; but there is no action but must pass under the file and censure of Conscience; for if we can suppose any action in all its circumstan∣ces to be wholly indifferent to good or bad; yet none is so to lawful or unlaw∣ful, the very indifferent, being therefore lawful because it is indifferent, and therefore to be considered by conscience, either actually or habitually: For in this sense even our natural actions in their time and place, are also moral, and where they are not primarily moral, yet they come under conscience, as being permitted, and innocent; but where ever they are relative to another person, they put on some more degrees of morality, and are of proper cogni∣sance in this Court.

Qui didicit patriae quid debeat, & quid amicis: Quo sit amore parens, quo Frater amandus, & Hospes: Quid sit Conscripti, quid Judicis officium: quae Partes in bellum missi Ducis: ille profectò Reddere personae scit convenientiae cuique.

That is the full effect of conscience, to conduct all our relations, all our mo∣ral actions.

RULE 2. The duty and offices of Conscience are to dictate, and to testify or bear witness; to accuse or ex∣cuse; to loose or binde.

THE first and last are the direct acts and offices of Conscience: the o••her are reflex or consequent actions, but direct offices. The first act which is,

To dictate

Is of that which Divines call the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, or the phylactery, the keeper of the records of the laws, and by it we are taught our duty: God having written it in our hearts by Nature and by the Spirit, leaves it there, ever plac'd before the eye of conscience as S. Bernara cals it) to be read and used for directions in all cases of dispute, or question or action: this is that which S. Paul cals the work of the law written in our hearts, and therefore it is, that to sin against our conscience is so totally inexcusable, and according to the degree of that violence which is done against the conscience, puts on degrees. For conscience dictates whatsoever it is perswaded of, and will not suffer a man to do other∣wise then it suggests and tels us:

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉

said Achilles of Hector when he was violently angry with him; I would my conscience would give me leave to eat thy very flesh.

Its universal dictates are ever the most certain, and those are the first prin∣ciples of justice and religion; and whatsoever else can be infallibly and im∣mediately inferr'd from thence, are her dictates also, but not primely and di∣rectly, but transmitted by the hands of reason. The same reason also there is in clear revelation. For whatsoever is put into the conscience immediately by God, is plac'd there to the same purpose, and with the same efficiency and per∣swasion as is all that which is natural. And the conscience properly dictates nothing else, but prime natural reason, and immediate revelation; whatsoever ••••es after these two, is reach'd forth to us by two hands, one whereof alone is ministred by conscience. The reason is this: Because all that law by which God governs is written in our hearts, put there by God immediately, that is antecedently to all our actions, because it is that by which all our actions are to be guided, even our discoursings and arguings are to be guided by consci∣ence, if the argument be moral: now the ways by which God speaks to us immediately, are onely Nature and the Spirit: Nature is that principle which taught all men from the beginning until now; all that prime practical reason which is perfective of humane nature, and in which all mankinde agrees. Ei∣ther the perfections, or the renovations, or the superadditions to this are taught us by the Holy Spirit, and all this being written in the conscience by the finger of God is brought forth upon all occasions of action; and whatsoever is done against any thing so plac'd, is directly and violently against the conscience; but when from thence reason spins a longer thred, and draws it out from the clue of natural principles or express revelation, that also returns upon the conscience and is plac'd there as light upon a wall, but not as the stones that are there: but yet whatever is done against that light is also against conscience but not so as the other. Just as it is in nature and accident. To eat poison, and filthiness is against every mans health and stomack; but if by an 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 a propriety of temper or an evil habit, or accidental inordination, wine, or fish makes a man sick, then these are against his nature too, but not so as poison is, or stones. Whatever comes into the conscience primarily, or conse∣quently▪ right or wrong, is brought forth upon occasion of action, and is part of her dictate: but as a man speaks some things of his own knowledge, some things by hearsay; so does conscience, somethings she tels from God and her self, some things from reason and her self, or other accidental notices: Those and these do integrate and complete her sermons, but they have several influ∣ence and obligation according to their proper efficiency. But of this I shall give f••ll accounts in the second Book.

To testifie.

Conscience bears witness of our actions; so S. Paul, their conscience bearing witness: and in this sense, conscience is a practical memory. For as the practi∣cal knowledge, or notices subjected in the understanding make the understand∣ing to be conscience; so the actions of our life recorded in the memory and brought forth to practical judgements, change the memory also into conscience. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Man differing from brute beasts by the use of reason, it is not likely he should be a stranger to his own actions as the beasts are, but that the evil which is done should be recalled to their minde with the signification of some displeasure. So Polybius discourses of the reason and the manner of con∣science.

Every knowing faculty is the seat of conscience. and the same faculty when it is furnished with speculative notions retains its natural and proper name of Understanding, or Memory; but as the same is instructed with notices in order to judgements practical, so it takes the Christian name of Conscience, The Voltitive or choosing faculty cannot, but the intellectual may. And this is that Book which at Doomsday shall be brought forth and laid open to all the world. The Memory chang'd into Conscience preserves the notices of some things, and shall be reminded of others, and shall doe that work intirely and perfectly, which now it does imperfectly and by parts, according to the words of S. Paul, Then shall we know as we are known, that is, as God knows us now, so then shall we see and know our selves. Nullum theatrum virtuti conscientiâ majus, shall then be highly verified. Our conscience will be the great Scene or Theatre upon which shall be represented all our actions good and bad. It is Gods Book, the Book of life or death. According to the words of S. Ber∣nard, Ex his quae scripta erunt in libris nostris judicabimur: & ideò scribi debent secundùm exemplar libri vitae, & si sic scripti non sunt, saltem corrigendi sunt. We shall be judged by that which is written in our own books (the books of con∣science) and therefore they ought to be written according to the copy of the book of life; and if they be not so written, yet they ought to be so corrected.

Consequently to these the conscience does

Accuse or Excuse.

So S. Paul joyns them as consequent to the former; Their conscience bearing witness, and their thoughts in the mean time accusing or excusing one another. Si opti∣morum consiliorum atque factorum testis in omni vita nobis conscientia fuerit, sine ullo metu summa cum honestate vivemus. If our conscience be the witness that in our life we do good deeds, and follow sober counsels, we shall live in great honesty and without fear. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, said Hierocles, God hath consti∣tuted a most righteous and domestick Judge, the Conscience and right Reason; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Every man ought most of all to fear himself, because it is impossible but we should know what we have done amiss, and it concerns us also to make righteous judgement, for we cannot escape our selves. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, said Isocrates. Etsi à caeteris silentium est, tamen ipse sibimet censcius est posse se meritò increpari, so Apuleius renders it. Though others hold their peace, yet there is one within that will not.

Nec facile est placidam ac pacatam degere vitam, Qui violat factis communia foedera pacis: Etsi fallit enim Divum genus, Humanúmque; Perpetuò tamen id fore clam diffidere debet.

It is hard to be concealed from God and man too, and although we think our selves safe for a while, yet we have something within that tels us 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, he that does any thing is espied, and cannot doe it privately. Quîcum in tenebris? was the old Proverb; Who was with you in the dark? And therefore it was that Epicurus affirm'd it to be impossible for a man to be con∣cealed always. Upon the mistake of which he was accused by Plutarch and others, to have supposed it lawful to doe any injustice secretly; whereas his design was to obstruct that gate of iniquity, and to make men beleeve that

even that sin which was committed most secretly, would some time or other be discovered and brought to punishment; all which is to be done by the ex raregular events of providence, and the certain accusations and discove∣ries of Conscience.

For Conscience is the Looking-glass of the soul, so it was called by Pe∣••ipha••••s in Plautus;

Non oris causâ modò homines aequum fuit Sibi habere speculum, ubi os contemplarent suum; Sed qui perspicere possent cor sapientiae: Igitur perspicere possent ut cordis copiam Ubi id inspexissent, cogitarent postea Vitam ut vixissent olim in adolescentia.

And a man looking into his Conscience, instructed with the word of God, its proper rule, is by S. James compar'd to a man beholding his natural face in a glass; and that the Apostle describes Conscience in that similitude, is to be ga∣thered from the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, verbum insitum, the ingraffed word, the word of God written in our hearts, which who so looks on, and compares his actions with his rule, may see what he is: but he that neglects this word and follows not this rule, did indeed see his face, but hath forgotten what manner of man he was, that is, what he was fram'd in the works of the new Creation, when he was newly form'd and created unto righteousness and true holiness.

This accusation and watchfulness, and vocal, clamorous guards of Conscience are in perpetual attendance, and though they may sleep, yet they are quickly awakened, and make the evil man restless. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, said Epicurus, which is very well rendred by Seneca, Ideo non prodest latentibus, quòd latendi etiamsi felicitatem habeant, fidu∣ciam non habent. They that live unjustly, always live miserably and fearfully; because although their crime be secret, yet they cannot be confident that it shall be so: meaning, that because their conscience does accuse them, they perceive they are discovered, and previous to an eye, which what effect it will have in the publication of the crime here and hereafter, is not matter of knowledge, but cannot choose but be matter of fear for ever.

— fiet adulter Publicus, & poenas metuet quascunque mariti Irati debent, nec erit felicior astro Martis, ut in laqueos nunquam incidat—

If any chance makes the fact private, yet no providence or watchfulness can give security, because within there dwels a principle of fear that can never die, till repentance kills it. And therefore Chilon in Laërtius said upon this account, that loss is rather to be chosen then filthy gain; because that loss brings sorrow but once, but injustice brings a perpetual fear and pain.

Anne magìs Siculi gemuerunt aera juvenci, Et magìs auratis pendens laquearibus ensis Purpureas subter cervices terruit? Imus, Imus praecipites, quam si sibi dicat, & intus Palleat infelix quod proxima nesciat Uxor.

The wife that lies by his side knows not at what the guilty man looks pale, but something that is within the bosome knows; and no pompousness of con∣dition can secure the man, and no witty cruelty can equal the torment. For

that also, although it be not directly the office of conscience, yet it is the act and effect of conscience; when it self is injur'd, it will never let any thing else be quiet.

To loose or binde,

Is the reflex act of conscience. Upon viewing the records, or the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the Legislative part of conscience, it binds to duty; upon viewing the act, it binds to punishment, or consigns to comfort; and in both regards it is cal∣led by Origen, affectuum corrector, atque animae paedagogus, the corrector of the affections, and the teacher of the soul. Which kinde of similitude Epictetus in Stobaeus followed also, Parentes pueros nos paedagogo tradiderunt, qui ubique ob∣servaret ne laederemur, Deus autem clam viros insitae conscientiae custodiendos tradi∣dit; quae quidem custodia nequaquam contemnenda est. As our parents have de∣livered us to a guardian who did watch lest we did or suffered mischief; so hath God committed us to the custody of our conscience that is planted within us; and this custody is at no hand to be neglected.

The binding to duty is so an effect of conscience, that is cannot be separated from it; but the binding to punishment is an act of conscience also as it is a Judge, and is intended to affright a sinner, and to punishment: but it is such a punishment as is the beginning of hell torments, and unless the wound be cured will never end till eternity it self shall go into a grave:

Illo nocens se damnat quo peccat die,

the same day that a man sins, on the same day he is condem'd; and when Menelaus in the Tragedy did ask,

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉;

what disease kill'd poor O••estes? he was answer'd,

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,

His disease was nothing but an evil conscience; he had done vile things, and had an amazed spirit that distracted him, and so he died. Curas ultrices Virgil cals the wounds of an evil conscience, Revenging cares. Nihil est miserius quàm animus hominis conscius, said he in the Comedy; nothing is more miserable then an evil conscience, and the being pain'd with it, is called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to be choked or strangled with an evil conscience; by S▪ Chrysostome (who in his 22. Homily upon the first Epistle to the Corinthians, speaks much and excellently to the same purpose;) and there are some that fancy that this was the cause of Judas death; The horrors of his conscience were such that his spirits were confounded, and restless, and uneasy; and striving to go from their prison stopp'd at the gates of emanation, and stifled him. It did that, or as bad; it either choak'd him, or brought him to a haltar, as it hath done many besides him. And although I may truly say as he did,

Non mihi si linguae centum— Omnia poenarum percurrere nomina possem,

no tongue is able to express the evils which are felt by a troubled conscience, or a wounded spirit, yet the heads of them are visible and notorious to all men.

1. The first is that which Nazianzen cals 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, accusations and vexings of a man when he is in misery; then when he needs most comfort, he shall by his evil conscience be most disquieted. A sick∣ness awakes a dull sleeping conscience, and when it is awaken'd it will make that the man shall not sleep. So Antiochus when his Lieutenant Lysias was bea∣ten

by the Jews, he fell sick with grief, and then his conscience upbraided him; but now (said he) I remember the evils that I did at Jerusalem; quia inve∣nerunt me mala ista, so the Latin Bible reads it; because these evils now have found me out. For when a man is prosperous, it is easie for him to stop the mouth of conscience, to bribe or to abuse it, to fill it with noise, and to divert it with business, to outvie it with temporal gayeties, or to be flattered into weak opinions and sentences; but when a man is smitten of God, and deve∣sted of all the outsides and hypocrisies of sin, and that conscience is disin∣tangled from its fetters and foolish pretensions, then it speaks its own sense, it ever speaks loudest when the man is poor, or sick, or miserable. This was well explicated by S. Ambrose, Dum sumus in quadam delinquendi libidine, nebu∣lis quibusdam conscientiae mens obducitur, nè videat eorum quae concupiscit deformi∣tatem. Sed cùm omnis nebula transierit, gravia tormenta exercentur in quodam malè conscii secretario. A man is sometimes so surpris'd with the false fires and glarings of temptation, that he cannot see the secret turpitude and defor∣mity. But when the cloud and vail is off, then comes the tormentor from within:

—acuúntque metum mortalibus agris, Si quando lethum horrificum, morbósque Deûm Rex Molitur, meritas aut bello territat urbes.

Then the calamity swels, and conscience increases the trouble, when God sends warre, or sickness, or death. It was Sauls case, when he lost that fatal battel in which the Ark was taken, he called to the Amalekite, Sta super me & in∣terfice me, fall upon me and slay me; quoniam tenent me angustiae, I am in a great straìt. He was indeed; for his son was slain, and his army routed, and his ene∣mies were round about: But then conscience stept in and told him of the evil that he had done in causing fourscore of the Lords Priests to be slain; and therefore Abulensis reads the words thus, Fall upon me and slay me, quoniam tenent me or ae vestimenti Sacerdotalis, I am intangled in the fringes of the Priests garments. Videbatur sibi Saul quòd propinquus morti videret Sacerdotes Dei accu∣santes eum in judicio coram Deo. He thought he saw the Priests of the Lord accusing him before God. And this hath been an old opinion of the world, that in the days of their calamity wicked persons are accus'd by those whom they have injur'd. Not much unlike to which is that of Plato, describing the torments of wicked souls, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, They roar and cry out. Some calling on them whom they kill'd, some on those they have calumniated; and calling they pray them whom they have injured to give them pardon. Then every bush is a wild beast, and every shadow is a ghost, and every gloworm is a dead mans candle, and every lantern is a spirit.

—pallidúmque visâ Matris lampade respicit Neronem.

When Nero was distressed, he saw his mothers tapor and grew pale with it.

2. The second effect is shame, which conscience never fails to inflict se∣cretly, there being a secret turpitude and baseness in sin, which cannot be bet∣ter express'd then by its opposition and contradiction to conscience. Con∣science when it is right makes a man bold; qui ambulat simpliciter, ambulat confidenter, he that walks honestly, walks confidently, because he hath innocence and he hath reason on his side. But he that sins, sins against reason, in which the honour and the nobleness of a man does consist; and therefore shame

must needs come in the destitution of them. For as by reason men naturally rule, so when they are fallen from it, unless by some accidental courages they be supported, they fall into the stare of slaves and sneaking people. And up∣on this account it was that Plato said, Si scirem Deos mihi condonaturos, & ho∣mines ignoraturos, adhuc peccare erubescerem propter solam peccati turpitudinem. If I were sure God would pardon me, and men would not know my sin, yet I should be ashamed to sin, because of its essential baseness: The Mistresses of our vile affections are so ugly, we cannot endure to kiss them but through a vail; either the vail of excuse, or pretence, or darkness; something to hide their ugliness; and yet even these also are so thin that the filthiness and shame is not hid. Bona conscientia turbam advocat, mala autem in solitudine anxia atque sollicita est, said Seneca. An evil conscience is asham'd of light, and afraid of darkness; and therefore nothing can secure it. But being asham'd before Judges, and assemblies, it flies from them into solitudes, and when it is there, the shame is chang'd into fear, and therefore from thence it runs abroad into societies of merry criminals, and drinking sanctuaries, which is nothing but a shutting the eyes, and hiding the head, while the body is exposed to a more cer∣tain danger. It cannot be avoided, it was and is and will eternal••y be true, Perjurii poena Divina exitium, humana dedecus esto. Which S Paul perfectly ren∣ders, The things whereof ye are now ashamed; the end of these things is death. Death is the punishment which God inflicts, and shame is that which comes from man.

3. There is another effect which cannot be well told by him that feels it, or by him that sees it, what it is; because it is a thing without limit and without order. It is a distraction of minde, indeterminate, divided thoughts, flying every thing, and pursuing nothing. It was the case of Nebuchadnezzar, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, his thoughts troubled him. Varios vultus, disparilésque sensus; like the Sophisters who in their pursuit of vainglory dis∣pleased the people, and were hissed from their Pulpits; nothing could amaze them more; they were troubled like men of a disturbed conscience. The rea∣son, is, they are fallen into an evil condition which they did not expect; they are abus'd in their hopes, they are fallen into a sad state of things, but they know not yet what it is, nor where they are, nor whither it will bear them, nor how to get out of it. This indeed is commonly the first part of the great evil; shame goes along with the sin, in the very acting it, but as soon as it is acted, then begins this confusion,

—nefas tandem incipiunt sentire peractis Criminibus—

they thought of nothing but pleasure before, but as soon as they have finished, then they begin to tast the wormwood and the colliquintida; perfecto demum scelere, magnitudo ejus intellecta est, said Tacitus. While they were doing it, they thought it little, or they thought it none, because their fancy and their passion rul'd; but when that is satisfied and burst with a filthy plethory, then they understand how great their sin is, but are distracted in their thoughts, for they understand not how great their calamity shall be.

Occultum quatìente animum tortore flagellum,

the secret tormentor shakes the minde, and dissolves it into indiscrimination and confusion. The man is like one taken in a lie, or surpris'd in a shameful act of lust, or theft; at first he knows not what to say, or think, or do, and his spi∣rits huddle together, and fain would go some where, but they know not whither, and doe something, but they know not what.

This confusion and first amazement of the conscience in some vile na∣tures, and baser persons proceeds to impudence, and hardness of face.

—frontémque à crimine sumunt.

when they are discover'd they rub their foreheads hard, and consider it can∣not be worse, and therefore in their way they make the best of it; that is, they will not submit to the judgement of conscience, nor suffer her infliction, but take the fortune of the Banditi, or of an outlaw, rather then by the rule of subjects suffer the penalty of the Law, and the severity of the Judge. But Conscience hath no hand in this, and whatsoever of this nature happens, it is in despite of conscience; and if it proceeds upon that method, it goes on to ob∣stinacy, hardness of heart, a resolution never to repent, a hatred of God, and reprobation. For if conscience be permitted to do its work, this confusion when it comes to be stated, and that the man hath time to consider, it passes on to fear; and that is properly the next effect.

4. An evil or a guilty conscience is dispos'd for fear, shame and fear cannot be far asunder:

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.

Sin makes us asham'd before men, and afraid of God: an evil conscience makes man a coward, timorous as a child in a Churchporch at midnight; it makes the strongest men to tremble like to keepers of the house of an old mans Ta∣bernacle.

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,

said Menander, No strength of body, no confidence of spirit is a defensative against an evil conscience which will intimidate the courage of the most per∣fect Warriour.

Qui terret, plus iste timet, sors ista tyrannis Convenit, invideant claris, fortésque trucident, Muniti gladiis vivant, septíque venenis Ancipites habeant arces, trepidíque minentur.

So Claudian describes the state of Tyrants and injurious persons, they do evil and fear worse, they oppress brave men, and are afraid of mean fellows; they are encompassed with swords, and dwell amongst poysons, they have towers with back doors and many outlets, and they threaten much, but themselves are most afraid. We read of Belteshazzar, his knees beat against each other upon the arrest made on him by the hand on the wall, which wrote the sen∣tence of God in a strange character, because he would not reade the writing in his conscience. This fear is very great and very lasting even in this world: and is rarely well describ'd by Lucretius:

Cerberus & Furiae— —neque sunt usquam, neque possunt esse profectò: Sed metus in vitâ poenarum pro malefactis Est insignibus insignis; scelerísque luela Carcer, & horribilis de saxo jacta deorsum, Verbera, Carnifices, robur, pix, lumina, taedae, Quae tamen etsi absunt, & mens sibi conscia facti Praemetuens adhibet stimulos, torretque flagellis;

Which description of the evil and intollerable pains and fears of conscience is exceeded by the Author of the wisdome of Solomon, Indisciplinatae animae er∣raverunt. That is the ground of their misery; The souls were refractory to disci∣pline, and have erred. They oppress the holy Nation. The effect was, they became

Prisoners of darkness, and fettered with the bands of a long night; fugitive perp••∣tuae providentiae ••acuerunt, they became outlaws from the divine providence. And while they supposed to lie had in their secret sins, they were scattered under •• dark vail of forgetfulness; paventes horrendè, & cum admiratione nimia perturbati, they did fear horribly, and disturbed with a wonderful amazement. For neither might the corner that held them keep them from fear, but a sound descending did trouble them; & personae tristes apparentes pavorem illis praestabant, sad appar••ti∣ons did affright them; a fire appeared to them very formidable; & timore per∣cussi ejus quae non videbatur faciei; they were affrighted with the apprehensions of what they saw not: and all the way in that excellent description, there is no∣thing but fear, and affrightment, horrid amazement and confusion; pleni ti∣more, and tremebund: peribant, full of fear, and they perished trembling; and then follows the philosophy and rational account of all this. Frequenter enim prae∣occupant pessima redarguente conscientiâ. When their conscience reproves them, they are prepossess'd with fearful expectations. For wickedness condemn'd by her own witness is very timorous. Cùm enim sit timida nequitia, dat testimonium con∣demnata: Conscience gives witness and gives sentence, and when wickedness is con∣demn'd it is full of affrightment. For fear is praesumptionis adjutorium, the allay of confidence and praesumption, and the promoter of its own apprehensions, and betrays the succours that reason yeelds. For indeed in this case, no reason can dispute a man out of his misery, for there is nothing left to comfort the con∣science, so long as it is devested of its innocence. The Prophet Jeremy in∣stances this in the case of Pashur who oppressed the Prophets of the Lord, put∣ting them in Prison and forbidding them to preach in the name of the Lord: Thy name shall be no more called Pashur but Magor Missabib, [that is, fear round about] for I will make thee a terror unto thy self.

This fear of its own nature is apt to increase, for indeed it may be in∣finite.

Nec videt intereà quis terminus esse malorum Possit, nec quae sit poenarum denique finis: Atque eadem metuunt magis, haec nè in morte gravescant. Hinc Acherusia fit stultorum denique vita.

He that fears in this case, knows not the greatness and measure of the evil which he fears; it may arrive to infinite, and it may be any thing, and it may be every thing, and therefore there is,

5. An appendant perpetuity and restlesness; a man of an evil conscience is never at quiet. Impietas enim malum infinitum est, quod nunquam extingui potest, said Philo: He is put to so many shifts to excuse his crime before men, and cannot excuse it to God or to himself, and then he is forc'd to use arts of for∣getfulness, that he may not remember his sorrow; he runs to weakness for excuse, and to sin for a comfort, and to the methods and paths of hell for sanctuary, and rols himself in his uneasy chains of fire, and changes from side to side upon his gridiron till the flesh drop from the bones on every side. This is the Poets vultur,

Immortale jecur tundens, faecundáque poenis Viscera, rimatúrque epulis, habitátque sub alto Pectore, nec fibris requies datur ulla renatis.

It gnaws perpetually, and consumes not, being like the fire of hell, it does never devour, but torments for ever.

6. This fear and torment, which is inflicted by conscience does not only increase at our death, but after death is the beginning of hell. For these are the fire of hell; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, I am tormented in this flame, so said Dives when he was in torments; that is, he had the torments of an evil conscience, for hell it self is not to be opened till the day of judgement; but the sharpest pain is usually expressed by fire, and particularly the troubles of minde are so signified. Urit animum meum; This burns, that is, this ex∣ceedingly troubles my minde; and uro hominem in the Comedy, I vex him sufficiently, I burn him; loris non ureris, thou art not tormented with scour∣gings.

Poena autem vehemens, & multò saevior illis Quos & Caeditius gravis invenit, & Rhadamanthus, Nocte diéque suum gestare in pectore testem.

This is a part of hell fire, the smoke of it ascends night and day; and it is a preparatory to the horrible sentence of Doomsday, as the being tormen∣ted in prison is, to the day of condemnation and execution. The conscience in the state of separation does accuse perpetually, and with an insupportable amazement fears the revelation of the day of the Lord.

Et cum fateri Furia jusserit verum, Cogente clamet conscientiá scripsi.

The fury within will compel him to confess, and then he is prepared for the horrible sentence, as they who upon the rack accuse themselves, and then they are carried to execution. Menippus in Lucian says that the souls of them that are dead are accused by the shadows of their bodies. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and these he says are 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 worthy of belief, because they are always present, and never parted from the bodies; meaning that a mans conscience which is inseparable as a shadow, is a strong accuser and a perfect witness: and this will never leave them till it carries them to hell, and then the fear is chang'd into despair, and indignation, and hatred of God, and eternal blasphemy. This is the full progress of an evil conscience, in its acts of binding.

Quest.

BUT if it be inquired by what instrument conscience does thus torment a man, and take vengeance of him for his sins, whether it hath a proper ef∣ficiency in it self, and that it gives torment, as it understands, by an exercise of some natural power; * or whether it be by an act of God inflicting it, * or by opinion and fancy, * by being perswaded of some future events which shall be certainly consequent to the sin, or by Religion and belief, * or lastly by deception and meer illusion, and upon being affrighted with bugbears? I answer,

That it does or may afflict a man by all these. For its nature is to be in∣quisitive and busie, querulous and complaining; and to doe so is as natural to it, as for a man to be grieved when any thing troubles him. But because men have a thousand little arts to stifle the voice of conscience, or at least that themselves may not hear it; God oftentimes awakens a man by a sudden dash of thunder and lightning, and makes the conscience sick, and troublesome; just as upon other accidents a man is made sad, or hardned, or impudent, or foolish, or restless: and sometimes every dream, or sad story that the man hath heard, the flying of birds, and the hissing of serpents, or the fall of waters, or the beating of a watch, or the noise of a cricket, or a superstitious tale, is suffered to doe the man a mischief and to increase his fear.

—Ergo exercentur poenis, veterúmque malorum Supplicia expendunt.

This the Poets and Priests expressed by their Adrastea, Nemesis, Minos, Aea∣cus and Rhadamanth, not that these things were real,

—neque sunt usquam, neque possunt esse profectò,

said one of them; but yet to their pains and fears they gave names, and they put on persons, and a phantastick cause may have a real event, and there∣fore must come from some further principle: and if an evil man be affrighted with a meteor or a bird, by the chattering of swallows (like the young Greek in Plutarch) or by his own shadow (as Orestes was) it is no sign that the fear is vain, but that God is the Author of conscience, and will beyond the powers of nature, and the arts of concealment set up a Tribunal, and a Gibbet, and a Rack in the Court of Conscience. And therefore we finde this evil threatned by God to fall upon sinners. They that are left alive of you in the land of your captivity, I will send fainting in their hearts, in the land of their enemy, and the sound of a leaf shall chace them: and again The Lord shall give thee there a trem∣bling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of minde, and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee, and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have no assurance of thy life: and this very fear ends in death it self; it is a mortal fear sometimes; for when the Prophet Isaiah had told concerning Jerusalem, Thy slain men are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle; to the inquiry of those who ask how then were they slain? the answer is made by a learned gloss upon the place, Homines hi non expectato adventu hostis, velut transfossi exanimantur metu: They were dead with fear, slain with the affrightments of their own consci∣ence, as if they were transfixed by the spear of their enemies. Quid ergo nos à Diis immortalibus divinitùs expectemus, nisi errationibus finem faciamus, said Q. Metellus in A. Gellius: There is no avoiding punishment, unless we will avoid sin; since even a shadow as well as substances may become a Nemesis, when it is let loose by God, and conducted by conscience.

But the great instrument of bringing this to pass is that certainty of per∣swasion which is natural in all men, and is taught to all men, and is in the sanction of all laws expresly affirmed by God, that evil shall be to them that doe evil;

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,

He that dishonours God shall not escape punishment: both in this life,

Ultrix Erinnys impio dignum parat Lethum Tyranno—

and after this life, for so they reckon'd, that Adulterers, Rebels, and Traytors should be kept in prisons in fearful expectation of horrid pains;

Quíque ob adulterium caesi, quíque arma secuti Impia, nec veriti Dominorum fallere dextras, Inclusi poenam expectant—

all this is our conscience, which in this kind of actions and events, is no∣thing but the certain expectation and fear of the Divine vengeance.

Quest.

BUT then why is the conscience more afraid in some sins then in others, since in sins of the greatest malignity we finde great difference of fear and apprehension, when because they are of extreme malignity there can be no difference in their demerit?

I answer; Although all sins be damnable, yet not onely in the several de∣grees of sin, but in the highest of all there is great difference; partly procee∣ding

from the Divine threatnings, partly from fame and opinion, partly from other causes.

For 1. there are some sins which are called peccata clamantia, crying sins; that is, such which cry aloud for vengeance; such which God not onely hath speci∣ally threatned with horrid plagues, but such which doe seldome escape ven∣geance in this life, but for their particular mischief are hedged about with thorns lest by their frequency they become intolerable. Such are Sacrilege, Oppression of widows and Orphans, Murder, Sodomy, and the like•• Now if any man fals into any of these crimes, he sees an Angel with a sword drawn stand before him; he remembers the angry words of God, and cals to minde that so few have escaped a severe judgement here, that Gods anger did converse with men, and was cloth'd with our circumstances, and walk'd round about us; and less then all this is enough to scare an evil conscience.

But 2. there are some certain defensatives and natural guards which God hath plac'd in men against some sins; such as are a natural abhorrency against unnatural lusts. A natural pity against Murder, and Oppression: the double hedge of sacredness and religion against Sacrilege. He therefore that com∣mits any of these sins does so much violence to those defensatives, which were plac'd either in or upon his heart, that such an act is a natural disease, and vexes the conscience not onely by a moral but by a natural instrument.

3. There are in these crying sins certain accidents and appendages of hor∣ror which are apt to amaze a mans minde: as in Murder there is the circum∣stance and state of death, which when a man sees and sees alone, and sees that himself hath acted, it must needs affright him; since naturally most men abhorre to be alone with a dead corpse; so also in Oppression of widows, a man mee••s with so many sad spectacles, and hears so many groans, and cla∣morous complaints, such importunities, and such prayers, and such fearful cursings, and perpetual weepings, that if a man were to use any artifice to trouble a mans spirit, he could not dress his Scene with more advantage.

4. Fame hath a great influence into this effect, and there cannot easily be a great shame amongst men, but there must be a great fear of vengeance from God; and the shame does but antidate the Divine anger, and the man feels himself entring into it, when he is enwrapped within the other. A man com∣mitting a foul sin, which hath a special dishonour and singular disreputation among men, is like a wolf espied amongst the sheep: The outcry and noises among the shepherds make him flie for his life, when he hears a vengeance com∣ming. And besides in this case, it is a great matter that he perceives all the world hates him for his crime, and that which every one decries must needs be ve∣ry hateful and formidable, and prepar'd for trouble.

5. It cannot be denied, but Opinion also hath some hand in this affair; and some men are affrighted from their cradle in some instances, and permitted or conniv'd at in others; and the fears of childhood are not shaken from the conscience in old age: as we see the perswasions of childhood in moral acti∣ons are permanent, so is the fear and hope which were the sanction and establishment of those perswasions. Education and Society, and Country Customes, and States of life, and the Religion or Sect of the mans profes∣sing, have influence into their portions of this effect.

The consequent of this discourse is this; That we cannot take any direct accounts of the greatness or horror of a sin by the affrightment of consci∣ence. For it is with the affrightments of conscience as it is in temporal judgements; sometimes they come not at all, and when they doe, they come

irregularly, and when they doe not, the man does not escape. But in some sins God does strike more frequently then in others, and in some sins men usually are more affrighted then in others. The outward judgement and the inward fear are intended to be deleteries of the sin, and instruments of re∣pentance; but as some great sins escape the rod of God in this life, so are such sinners oftentimes free from great affrightments. But as he who is not smitten of God, yet knows that he is always liable to Gods anger, and if he repents not, it will certainly fall upon him hereafter: so it is in conscience, he that fears not, hath never the less cause to fear, but oftentimes a greater, and therefore is to suspect and alter his condition, as being of a deep and secret danger: and he that does fear, must alter his condition, as being highly trou∣blesome. But in both cases, conscience does the work of a Monitor and a Judge. In some cases, conscience is like an eloquent and a fair spoken Judge, which declaims not against the criminal, but condemnes him justly: In others, the Judge is more angry, and affrights the prisoner more, but the event is the same. For in those sins where the conscience affrights, and in those in which she affrights not, supposing the sins equal but of differing natures, there is no other difference; but that conscience is a Clock, which in one man strikes aloud and gives warning, and in another the hand points silently to the fi∣gure, but strikes not; but by this he may as surely see what the other hears, viz. that his hours pass away, and death hastens, and after death comes judge∣ment.

But by the measures of binding, we may judge of the loosing, or absolution, which is part of the judgement of conscience, and this is the greatest pleasure in the world.

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.

a good conscience is the most certain, clearest, and undisturbed felicity. Le∣ctulus respersus floribus bona est conscientia, bonis refect a operibus. No bed so soft, no flowers so sweet, so florid and delicious as a good conscience, in which springs all that is delectable, all that may sustain and recreate our spi∣rits. Nullâ re tam laetari soleo quàm officiorum meorum conscienti••. I am plea∣sed in nothing so much as in the remembrances and conscience of my duty, said Cicero. Upon this pillow and on this bed, Christ slept soundly in a storm, and S. Peter in Prison so fast that the brightness of an Angel could not awake him, or make him to rise up without a blow on his side. This refreshed the sor∣rows of Hezekiah when he was smitten with the plague, and not only brought pleasure for what was past, and so doubled the good of it,

Vivere bis vitâ posse priore frui;

but it also added something to the number of his years,

Ampliat aetatis spacium sibi vir bonus—

And this made Paul and Silas sing in Prison and in an Earthquake; and that I may summe up all the good things in the world, I borrow the expression of S. Bernard, Bona conscientia non solùm sufficit ad solatium sed etiam ad coronam: It is here a perpetual comfort, it will be hereafter an eternal crown.

25. This very thing Epicurus observ'd wisely, and in his great design for plea∣sure commended Justice as the surest instrument to procure it. So Antiphon, Conscium esse sibi in vitâ nullius criminis, multum voluptatis parit: and Cato in Cicero, Conscientia benè actae vitae multorúmque benefactorum recordatio jucun∣dissima est: Nothing is a greater pleasure then a good conscience; for there is peace and no disturbance; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉: Quietness is the best

fruit, and that grows onely upon the tree in the midst of Paradise, upon the stock of a holy Heart or Conscience. Onely care is to be taken, that boldness be not mistaken for peace, and hardness of heart for a good conscience. It is easie to observe the difference, and no man can be innocently abused in this affair. Peace is the fruit of a holy conscience. But no man can say, I am at peace, therefore I have a holy conscience. But, I have lived innocently, or I walk carefully with my God, and I have examined my conscience severely, and that accuses me not; therefore this peace is a holy peace, and no illusion. A man may argue thus: I am in health, and therefore the sleep I take is natu∣ral and healthful. But not thus: I am heavy to sleep, therefore I am in health, for his dulness may be a lethargy. A man may be quiet, because he inquires not, or because he understands not, or because he cares not, or because he is abused in the notices of his condition. But the true peace of conscience is thus to be discerned.

Signs of true peace.

1. Peace of conscience is a rest after a severe inquiry. When Hezekiah was upon his deathbed as he supposed, he examined his state of life, and found it had been innocent in the great lines and periods of it; and he was justly confident.

2. Peace of conscience can never be in wicked persons, of notorious evil lives. It is a fruit of holiness, and therefore what quietness soever is in per∣sons of evil lives, it is to be attributed to any other cause, rather than inno∣cence; and therefore is to be called any thing rather than just peace. The adulterous woman eateth and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wicked∣ness. And Pilate washed his hands, when he was dipping them in the most inno∣cent, the best and purest bloud of the world. But S. Paul had peace, because he really had fought a good fight. And it is but a fond way to ask a sign how to discern, when the Sun shines. If the Sun shines we may easily perceive it, and then the beams we see are the Sunbeams; but it is not a sure argument to say, I see a light, therefore the Sun shines; for he may espy onely a tallow candle, or a gloworm.

3. That rest which is onely in the days of prosperity, is not a just and a holy peace, but that which is in the days of sorrow and affliction. The noise and madness of wine, the transportations of prosperity, the forgetfulness of ri∣ches, and the voice of flatterers outcry conscience, and put it to silence; and there is no reason to commend a womans silence and modesty when her mouth is stop'd. But in the days of sorrow, then conscience is vocal, and her muffler is off;

—Invigilant animo, scelerísque patrati Supplicium exercent curae, tunc plurima versat Pessimus in dubiis augur timor—

and then a man naturally searches every where for comfort; and if his heart then condemnes him not, it is great oddes but it is a holy peace.

4. Peace of minde is not to be used as a sign that God hath pardoned our sins, but is onely of use in questions of particular fact. What evils have I done? what good have I done? The peace that comes after this examination is holy and good. But if I have peace in these particulars, then have I peace towards God also, as to these particulars: But whether I have pardon for other sins which I have committed, is another consideration, and is always more uncertain. But even here also a peace of conscience is a blessing that is

given to all holy penitents more or less, at some time or other, according as their repentance proceeds, and their hope is exercised: But it is not to be judged of by sense, and ease, but by its proper causes: It never comes but af∣ter fear, and labour, and prayers, and watchfulness, and assiduity; and then what succeeds is a blessing, and a fair indication of a bigger.

5. True peace of conscience is always joyned with a holy fear; a fear to offend, and a fear of the Divine displeasure for what we have offended; and the reason is, because all peace that is so allayed is a peace after enquiry, a peace obtained by just instruments, relying upon proper grounds; it is rational, and holy, and humble; neither carelesness, nor presumption is in it.

6. True peace of conscience relies not upon popular noises, and is not a sleep procured by the tongues of flatterers, or opinions of men, but is a peace from within, relying upon God and its own just measures. It is an excel∣lent discourse which Seneca hath, Est aliquando gratus qui ingratus videtur, quae mala interpres opinio in contrarium deducit. Hic quid aliud sequitur, quàm ipsam conscientiam quae etiam obruta delectat, quae concioni ac samae reclamat, & in se omnia reponit, & cùm ingentem ex altera parte turbam contra sentientium aspexit, non numerat suffragia, sed unâ sententiâ vincit?

Some men are thankful, who yet seem unthankful, being wronged by evil interpretation. But such a man what else does he follow but his conscience, which pleases him, though it be overborn with slander, and when she sees a multitude of men that think otherwise, she regards not, nor reckons suffrages by the poll, but is victori∣ous by her single sentence?

But the excellency and great effect of this peace he afterwards describes: Si verò bonam fidem perfidiae suppliciis affici videt, non descendit è fastigio, sed supra poenam suam consistit. Habeo inquit quod volui, quod petii. Non poenitet, nec poenitebit: nec ullâ iniquitate me eò fortuna perducet, ut hanc vocem audiam, Quid mihi volui? Quid mihi nunc prodest bona voluntas? prodest & in equuleo, prodest & in igne, qui si singulis membris admoveatur, & paul••tim unum corpus circumeat; licèt ipsum corpus plenum bonâ conscientiâ stillet, placebit ìllì ìgnis per quem bona fides collucebit. A good conscience loses nothing of its confidence and peace for all the tortures of the world. The rack, the fire shall not make it to repent and say, what have I purchas'd? But its excellen∣cy and integrity shall be resplendent in the very flames. And this is the mea∣ning of the Proverb used by the Levantines, Heaven and Hell are seated in the heart of man. As his conscience is, so he is happy, or extremely miserable. What other men say of us, is no more then what other men dream of us, said S. Gre∣gory Nazìanzene; It is our conscience that accuses or condemnes to all real events and purposes.

And now all this is nothing but a perswasion partly natural, partly habi∣tual, of this proposition which all the Nations, and all the men in the world have always entertained as the band of all their Religion, and private trans∣actions of justice and decency, Deum Remuneratorem esse, that God is a just Rewarder of all actions. I summe up the premises in the words of the Ora∣tor; Magna vis est conscientiae, Judices, & magna in utramque partem: ut neque timeant qui nihil commiserint, & poenam semper ante oculos versari putent, qui peccarint. On either side conscience is mighty and powerful, to secure the innocent, and to afflict the criminal.

But beyond these offices now described, Conscience does sometimes only [Counsell] a thing to be done; that is, according to its instruction, so it mi∣nisters to holiness. If God hath put a law into our minds, conscience will force

〈◊〉〈◊〉 ••••••nce, or make us to suffer for our disobedience; but if a proposition tending to holiness and its advantages be intrusted to the conduct of consci∣ence, then it presses it by all its proper inducements, by which it was laid up there, and leaves the spirit of a man to his liberty; but if it be not follow∣ed, it upbraids our weaknesses, and chides our follies, and reproves our despi∣•••••• holy degrees, and greater excellencies of glory laid up for loving and willing spirits. Such as is that of Clemens Alexandrinus in the matter of an Evangelical Counsel; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, He that does so and so, sins not; for he is not forbidden by the law of the Gospel; but yet he fals short of the perfection that is designed and propoun∣ded to voluntary and obedient persons. To summe up this.

When S. Paul had reproved the endless genealogies of the Gnosticks and Platonists, making c••rcles of the same things, or of divers whose difference they understood not; as Intelligence, Fear, Majesty, Foundation, Wisdome, Mag∣nificence, Mercy, Victory, Kingdome, Foundation, God, and such unintelligible stuff which would make fools stare, and wise men at a loss; he subjoyns a short, but a more discernible genealogy, and conjugation of things to our pur∣pose. The end of the Commandement is love out of a pure heart, and a good con∣science, and faith unfeigned: that is, out of an unfeigned faith proceeds a good conscience; that is, abstinence from sin; and from thence comes purity of heart, or a separation from the trifling regards of the world, and all affections to sin; and these all end in charity: that is, in peace, and joy, and the fruition and love of God, in Unions and Contemplations in the bosome of Eternity. So that faith is the first mover in the understanding part, and the next is conscience, and they both purify the heart from false perswasions, and evil affections; and then they joyn to the production of love and of felicity.

Thus farre is the Nature and Offices of Conscience: It will concern us next, to consider by what General measures we are to treat our Consci∣ence that it may be useful to us in all the intentions of it, and in the designs of God.

RULE 3. Be careful that prejudice or passion, fancy and affe∣ction, error or illusion, be not mistaken for Con∣science.

NOthing is more usual, then to pretend Conscience to all the actions of men which are publick, and whose nature cannot be concealed. If arms be taken up in a violent warre; inquire of both sides, why they ingage on that part respectively? they answer, because of their Conscience. Ask a Schismatick why he refuses to joyn in the Communion of the Church? he tels you, it is against his Conscience: And the disobedient refuse to submit to Laws; and they also in many cases pretend Conscience. Nay, some men suspect their bro∣ther of a crime and are perswaded (as they say) in Conscience that he did it: and their Conscience tels them that Titius did steal their goods, or that Caia 〈◊〉〈◊〉 an adulteress. And so Suspicion, and Jealousie, and Disobedience, and Re∣bellion

are become Conscience; in which there is neither knowledge, nor re∣velation, nor truth, nor charity, nor reason, nor religion. Quod volumus san∣ctum est, was the Proverb of Tichonius and the Donatists.

Nemo suae mentis motus non aestimat aequos, Quódque volunt homines se bene velle putant.

Every mans way seems right in his own eyes; and what they think is not against Conscience, they think or pretend to think, it is an effect of Conscience, and so their fond perswasions and fancies are made sacred, and Conscience is pre∣tended, and themselves and every man else is abused. But in these cases and the like, men have found a sweetness in it to serve their ends upon Religion, and because Conscience is the Religious Understanding, or the Minde of a man as it stands dres'd in and for Religion, they think that some sacredness or authority passes upon their passion or design, if they call it Conscience.

But by this Rule it is intended that we should observe the strict measures of Conscience. For an illusion may make a Conscience, that is, may oblige by its directive and compulsive power. Conscience is like a King whose power and authority is regular, whatsoever counsel he follows. And although he may command fond things, being abused by flatterers, or mis-information, yet the commandement issues from a just authority, and therefore equally passes into a Law; so it is in Conscience. If error, or passion dictates the King is mis-informed, but the inferiors are bound to obey; and we may no more disobey our Conscience commanding of evil things, then we may disobey our King injoyning things imprudent and inconvenient. But therefore this Rule gives caution to observe the information and inducement, and if we can dis∣cern the abuse, then the evil is avoided. For this Governour [Conscience] is tied to Laws, as Kings are to the Laws of God and Nations, to Justice and Charity; and a mans Conscience cannot be malicious: his Will may, but if the error be discovered, the Conscience, that is, the practical understanding cannot. For it is impossible for a man to beleeve what himselfe finds to be an error: and when we perceive our Conscience to be misguided, the deception is at an end. And therefore to make up this Rule complete, we ought to be strict and united to our rule, for by that onely we can be guided, and by the proportions to it we can discern right and wrong, when we walk safely, and when we walk by false fires. Concerning which, besides the direct survey of the rule and action, and the comparing each other, we may in cases of doubt and suspicion be helped by the following measures.

Advices for the practice of the former Rule.

1. We are to suspect our Conscience to be mis-informed when we are not willing to inquire into the particulars. He that searches, desires to finde, and so farre takes the right course; for truth can never hurt a man, though it may prejudice his vice, and his affected folly. In the inquiries after truth, every man should have a travellers indifferency, wholly careless whether this or that be the right way, so he may finde it. For we are not to choose the way be∣cause it looks fair, but because it leads surely. And to this purpose, the most hearty and particular inquest is most prudent and effective. But we are afraid of truth when we will not enquire, that is, when the truth is against our inte∣rest or passion, our lust or folly, that is, seemingly against us, in the present indisposition of our affairs.

2. He that resolves upon the conclusion before the premises, inquiring into particulars to confirm his opinion at aventures, not to shake it if it be false, or to establish it onely in case it be true, unless he be defended by chance, is sure to mistake, or at least can never be sure whether he does or no.

This is to be understood in all cases to be so unless the particular unknown be secured by a general that is known. He that beleeves Christs advocation and intercession for us in heaven upon the stock of Scripture, cannot be pre∣judic'd by this rule, although in the inquiries of probation, and arguments of the doctrine, he resolve to beleeve nothing that shall make against his Conclusion; because he is ascertain'd by a proposition that cannot fail him. The reason of this exception is this, because in all discourses which are not per∣fectly demonstrative, there is one lame supporter, which must be help'd out by the better leg; and the weaker part does its office well enough, if it can bring us to a place where we may rest our selves and rely. He that cannot choose for himself, hath chosen well enough if he can choose one that can choose for him; and when he hath, he may prudently rely upon such a person in all particulars, where he himself cannot judge, and the other can, or he thinks he can, and cannot well know the contrary. It is easier to judge of the general lines of duty, then of minutes and particulars: and Travellers that are not well skill'd in all the little turnings of the ways, may confidently rely upon a Guide whom they choose out of the natives of the place; and if he understands the coast of the Country, he may well harden his face against any vile person that goes about wittily to perswade him he must goe the contrary way, though he cannot answer his arguments to the contrary. A man may prudently and piously hold a conclusion which he cannot defend against a witty adversary, if he have one strong hold upon which he may rely for the whole question; because he derives his conclusion from the best ground he hath, and takes the wisest course he can, and uses the best means he can get, and chooses the safest ways that are in his power. No man is bound to do better then his best.

3. Illusion cannot be distinguished from Conscience, if in our search we take a wrong course and use incompetent instruments. He that will choose to follow the multitude which easily erres, rather then the wise Guides of souls; and a man that is his partner in the Question rather then him that is dis-inte∣ress'd, and them that speak by chance, rather then them who have studied the Question, and a man of another Profession, rather then him whose office and imployment it is to answer, hath no reason to be confident he shall be well instructed. John Nider tels an apologue well enough to this purpose: Two brethren travelling together, whereof one was esteemed wise, and the other little better then a fool, came to a place where the way parted. The foolish brother espying one of them to be fair and pleasant, and the other dirty and uneaven, would needs go that way, though his wiser brother told him, that in all reason that must needs be the wrong way; but he followed his own eyes, not his brothers reason: and his brother being more kinde then wise, though against his reason, followed his foolish brother; they went on till they fell into the hands of theeves, who robb'd them and imprisoned them, till they could redeem themselves with a summe of money. These brothers accuse each other before the King as author of each others evil. The wiser complained that his brother would not obey him, though he was known to be wiser, and spake reason. The other complain'd of him for following him that was a fool, affirming that he would have return'd back if he had seen his wise brother con∣fident,

and to have followed his own reason. The King condemn'd them both; the fool because he did not follow the direction of the wise, and the wise because he did follow the wilfulness of the fool. So will God deal with us at the day of Judgement in the scrutinies of Conscience. If appetite refu∣ses to follow reason, and reason does not refuse to follow appetite, they have both of them taken incompetent courses, and shall perish together. It was wisely said of Brutus to Cicero, Malo tuum judicium, quàm ex alter a parte omni∣um istorum. Tu enim à certo sensu & vero judicas de nobis, quod isti nè faciant, summâ mal••volentiâ & livore impediuntur. I preferre thy judgement singly, before all theirs, because thou judgest by intuition of the thing; they cannot doe that, being hindred by envy and ill will. The particulars of reducing this advice to practice in all speciall cases, I shall afterwards enumerate; for the present, I say this onely, that a man may consent to an evil authority, and rest in a false perswasion, and be conducted by an abused conscience, so long as the Legislative Reason is not conjoyn'd to the Judge Conscience, that is, while by unapt instruments we suffer our perswasions to be determined.

4. That determination is to be suspected that does apparently serve an in∣terest, and but obscurely serve a pious end,

Utile quod nobis do tibi consilium,

when that appears, and nothing else appears, the resolution or councel is to be considered warily before it be pursued. It is a great allay to the confidence of the bold talkers in the Church of Rome, and hinders their gain and market of proselytes from among the wise and pious very much; that most of their pro∣positions for which they contend so earnestly against the other parts of Chri∣stendome, do evidently serve the ends of covetousness and ambition, of power and riches, and therefore stand vehemently suspected of design and art, rather then of piety or truth of the article, or designs upon heaven. I instance in the Popes power over Princes and all the world; his power of dispensation; the exemption of the Clergy from jurisdiction of secular Princes; the doctrine of Purgatory and Indulgencies, by which once the Friers were set awork to raise a portion for a Lady, the Neece of Pope Leo the tenth; the doctrine of Transubstantiation, by the effects and consequence of which, the Priests are made greater then Angels, and next to God; and so is also that heap of do∣ctrines, by the particulars of which the Ecclesiastical power is far advanced beyond the authority of any warrant from Scripture, and is made highly in∣strumental for procuring absolute obedience to the Papacy. In these things every man with half an eye can see the temporal advantage; but how piety and truth shall thrive in the mean while, no eye hath yet been so illuminate as to perceive. It was the advice of Ben Sirach, Consult not with a woman touching her of whom she is jealous, neither with a coward in matters of warre, nor with a Merchant concerning exchange, nor with a buyer of selling, nor with an en∣vious man of thankfulness, nor with an unmerciful man touching kindness, nor with the slothful for any work, nor with the hireling for a year of finishing work, nor with an idle servant of much business; hearken not unto these in any matter of counsel. These will counsel by their interest, not for thy advantage.

But it is possible that both truth and interest may be conjoyn'd; and when a Priest preaches to the people the necessity of paying Tithes, where they are by Law appointed, or when a poor man pleads for charity, or a man in debt urges the excellency of forgetfulness; the truth which they discourse of, cannot be prejudiced by their proper concernments. For if the proposi∣tion

serves the ends in Religion, in providing for their personal necessities, their need makes the instances still the more religious, and the things may otherwise be proved. But when the end of piety is obscure, or the truth of the proposition is uncertain, then observe the biass; and if the mans zeal be bigger then the certainty of the proposition, it is to be estimated by the in∣terest, and to be used accordingly.

But this is not to prejudice him that gives the counsel, for although the Counsel is to be suspected, yet the man is not, unless by some other indications he betray himself. For he may be heartily and innocently perswaded of the thing he counsels, and the more easily and aptly beleeve that against which himself did less watch, because he quickly perceiv'd it could not be against himself.

Adde to this, the Counsel is the less to be suspected if it be ask'd, then if it be offer'd. But this is a consideration of Prudence, not of Consci∣ence directly.

5. If the proposition serve or maintain a vice, or lessen a vertue, it is certainly not Conscience, but error and abuse; because no truth of God can serve Gods Enemy directly, or by its own force and perswasion. But this is to be understood onely in case, the answer does directly minister to sin, not if it does so onely accidentally. Q. Furius is married to Valeria, but she being fierce and imperious, quarrelsome and loud, and he peevish and fretful, turns her away that he might have peace and live in patience. But being admoni∣shed by Hortensius the Orator to take her again, he asked counsel of the Priests, and they advise him to receive her. He answers, that then he cannot live in∣nocently, but in a perpetual state of temptation, in which he daily fals. The Priest replies, that it is his own fault; let him learn patience, and prudence; for his fault in this instance is no warranty to make him neglect a duty in ano∣ther; and he answered rightly. If he had counsell'd him to drink intemperate∣ly to make him forget his sorrow, or to break her bones to make her silent, or to keep company with harlots to vex her into compliance, his counsel had ministred directly to sin, and might not be received.

6. Besides the evidence of the thing, and a direct conformity to the Rule, to be judg'd by every sober person, or by himself in his wits, there is ordina∣rily no other collateral assurance, but an honest hearty endevour in our proportion, to make as wise inquiries as we can, and to get the best helps which are to be had by us, and to obey the best we doe make use of. To which (because a deception may tacitly creep upon our very simplicity) if we adde a hearty prayer, we shall certainly be guided thorough the labyrinth, and secured against our selves, and our own secret follies. This is the counsel of the son of Sirach; Above all this; pray to the most high, that he will direct thy way in truth.

RULE 4. The Conscience of a vicious man is an evil Judge, and an imperfect Rule.

THat I mean the Superiour and Inferiour part of Conscience, is therefore plain, because the Rule notes how the acts of Conscience may be made invalid both as it is a Ruler, and as it is a Judge. But according to the several offices this truth hath some variety.

1. The superiour part of Conscience, or the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 repository of pra∣ctical principles (which for use and brevity sake, I shall call the phylactery) or the Keeper of Records; that is, that part which contains in it all the na∣tural and reasonable principles of good actions, (such as are, God is to be wor∣shipped, Doe to others as they should doe to thee, The pledge is to be restored, By doing harm to others thou must not procure thy own good, and the like) is always a certain and regular Judge in the prime principles of reason and religion, so long as a man is in his wits, and hath the natural use of reason. For those things which are first imprinted, which are universal principles, which are con∣sented to by all men without a Teacher, those which Aristotle cals 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, those are always the last removed, and never without the greatest vio∣lence and perturbation in the world. But it is possible for a man to forget his Name and his Nature: a Lycanthropy made Nebuchadnezar to doe so, and a Fever made a learned Greek doe so: but so long as a mans reason is whole, not destroyed by its proper disease; that is, so long as a man hath the use of reason, and can and will discourse, so long his conscience will teach him the general precepts of duty; for they are imprinted in his nature, and there is no∣thing natural to the soul, if reason be not; and no reason is, unless its first prin∣ciples be, and those first principles are most provided for, which are the most perfective of a man, and necessary to his well being, and those are such which concern the entercourse between God and Man, and between men in the first and greatest lines of their society. The very opening of this chain is a sufficient proof, it is not necessary to intricate it by offering more testimony.

2. But then these general principles are either to be considered as they are habitually incumbent on the minde, or as actually applied to practice. In the former sense they can never be totally extinguished, for they are natural and will return when ever a man ceases from suffering his greatest violence; and those violences which are so destructive of nature as this must be, that makes a man forget his being, will fall off upon every accident and change. Difficile est personam diu sustinere. But then when these principles come to be applied to practice, a strong vice and a malicious heart can draw a veil over them, that they shall not then appear to disorder the sensual resolution. A short madness, and a violent passion, or a fit of drunkenness, can make a man securely sin by incogitancy, even when the action is in the matter of an uni∣versal principle. No man can be brought to that pass, as to beleeve that God ought not to be honoured; but supposing there is a God, it is unavoi∣dable, that this God must be honoured: but a transient and unnatural vio∣lence intervening in a particular case, suspends the application of that prin∣ciple, and makes the man not to consider his Rule; and there he omits to wor∣ship and honour this God in many particulars to which the principle is appli∣cable. But this Discourse is coincident with that Question, Whether Consci∣ence may be totally lost? of which I have already given accounts. That and this will give light to each other.

3. But further, there are also some principles which are indeed naturally known, that is, by principles of natural reason: but because they are not the immediate principles of our creation and proper being, they have the same truth, and the same seat, and the same certainty; but not the same prime evidence, and connaturality to the soul; and therefore these may be lost, or obscured to all purposes of usefulness, and their contradictories may be admitted into the rule of Conscience. Of this nature, I reckon, that Fornication, violent and

craf••y contracts with many arts of deception, and overreaching our Brother, theft, in••••st in some kindes, drunkenness, and the like, are to be avoided. For concer∣ning these, it is certain that some whole Nations have so abused their Consci∣ence by evil manners, that the Law in their minde hath been cancell'd, and these things have pass'd for lawful. And to this day, that Duels may be fought by private persons and authority, is a thing so practised by a whole sort of men, that it is beleev'd, and the practice, and the beleef of the lawfulness of it are interchangeably daughter and mother to each other. These are such of whom the Apostle speaks, they are given over to beleeve a lie, they are delivered to a reprobate minde. And this often happens, and particularly in those cases wherein one sin is inferr'd by another naturally, or morally, or by withdraw∣ing of the Divine grace.

4. Wherever the Superiour or the Ruling part of Conscience is an imper∣fect Rule; in the same cases the Inferior is an evil Judge, that is, acquits the criminal, or condemnes the innocent, calling good evil, and evil good: which is to be understood when the perswasion of the erring conscience is permanent and hearty, not sudden, and by the rapid violence of a passion; for in this case the conscience condemnes as soon as that is acted, to which before the action it was cousened and betrayed: but it proceeds onely in abiding and lasting errors. And this is the cause why so many orders of persons continue in a course of sin with delight, and uninterrupted pleasure, thinking Rebellion to be a just defence, Sacrilege a lawful title, while other men that are otherwise and justly perswaded wonder at their peace, and hate their practices. Our blessed Lord foretold concerning the Persecutors of the Church, that they should think they did God good service. But such men have an evil portion, they sing in the fire, and go dancing to their graves, and sleep on till they be awa∣kened in hell. And on the other side, this is because of superstition, and scru∣ples, and sometimes of despairing and unreasonable fears, when the Consci∣ence is abused by thinking that to be a sin, which is none.

RULE 5. All Consciences are to walk by the same Rule, and that which is just to one, is so to all, in the like circumstances.

IF all men were governed by the same Laws, and had the same interest, and the same degrees of understanding, they would perceive the truth of this Conclusion. But men are infinitely differenced by their own acts and relations, by their Understandings and proper Oeconomy, by their superinduc'd differen∣ces and orders, by interest and mistake, by ignorance and malice, by sects and deceptions. And this makes that two men may be damned for doing two contradictories: as a Jew may perish for not keeping of his Sabbath, and a Christian for keeping it; an Iconoclast for breaking images, and another for worshipping them: for eating, and for not eating; for receiving the holy Communion, and for not receiving it; for comming to Church, or staying at home.

But this variety is not directly of Gods making, but of Mans. God commands us to walk by the same rule, and to this end, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to

be of the same minde; and this is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the exactness of our Conscience; which precept were impossible to be observed, if there were not one rule, and this rule also very easy. For some men have but a small portion of reason and discretion, and they cannot help it; and yet the precept is in∣cumbent upon them all alike; and therefore as the rule is one, so it is plain and easy, and written in every mans heart; and as every mans reason is the same thing, so is every mans conscience; and this comes to be altered, just as that.

Neither is the unity of the Rule prejudic'd by the infinite difference of cases. For as a river springing from the mountains of the East is tempted by the levels of the ground and the uneasiness of its passage, to make some turns backward toward its head, even while it intends Westward; so are the cases of Conscience branch'd out into instances, sometimes of contrary proceed∣ings, who are to be determin'd to cross effects, but still upon the same account. For in all things of the world the obligation is uniform, and it is of the same perswasion.

The case is this:

Autolycus robb'd the gardens of Trebonius, and ask'd him forgiveness and had it. But when Trebonius was chosen Consul, and Autolycus robb'd him again, and was taken by others, and as a theef brought before him, he ask'd for∣giveness again; but Trebonius condemn'd him to the Gallies: for he who be∣ing a private man was bound to forgive a repenting trespasser, being a Ma∣gistrate was bound not to forgive him; and both these were upon the same account. A man may forgive an injury done to himself, because it is his own right, and he may alone meddle in it; but an injury done to the Common-wealth, She onely could forgive, not her Minister. So,

He that fasted upon a Saturday in Ionia or Smyrna was a Schismatick; and so was he who did not fast at Milan or Rome upon the same day, both up∣on the same reason;

Cùm fueris Romae, Romano vivito more, Cùm fueris alibi, vivito sicut ibi.

because he was to conform to the custome of Smyrna, as well as to that of Milan, in the respective Diocesses.

To kill a man in some cases defiles a land; in others it cleanses it, and puts away bloud from the people: and it was plain in the case of circumcision. S. Paul did it, and did it not; both because he ought, and because he ought not; and all upon the same account and law of charity. And therefore all inquiries, and all contentions, and questions should be relations to the Rule, and be tried by nothing but a plain measure of Justice and Religion, and not stand or fall by relations to separate propositions and distinct regards. For that is one and easy; these are infinite, uncertain, and contradictory. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. It is a very great cause of mischief not to be able to deduce general propositions, and fit them to particular cases, said Arria∣nus. But because all men cannot, therefore there will be an eternal necessity of spiritual guides, whose imployment, and the business of their life must be to make themselves able respondere de jure, to answer in matters of law, and they also must be truly informed in the matters of fact.

RULE 6. In Conscience that which is first is truest, easiest, and most useful.

THere are some practices, which at the first sight, and by the very name and nature of the things themselves, seem as directly unreasonable and against a Commandement, as any other thing of the foulest reproach; and yet object the sin to the owners, and they will tell so many fine stories, and struggle, and distinguish, and state the question in a new manner, and chop it into fragments, and disguise the whole affair, that they do not onely content and beleeve themselves, but also lessen the confidence of the adversary, and make a plain rule an uneasy lesson. I instance in the question of images, the making of some of which, and the worshipping of any, does at the first sight as plainly dash against the second Commandement, as adultery does against the sixth. But if you examine the practice of the Roman Church, and estimate them by the more wary determination of the Article in Trent, and weigh it by the distinctions and laborious devices of its Patrons, and beleeve their pretences and shews, it must needs be that you will abate something of the reproof; and yet all the while the worship of images goes forward: and if you lay the Commandement over against the devices and distinctions, it will not be easy to tell what the Commandement does mean; and yet be∣cause it was given to the meanest understandings, and was fitted for them, either the Conscience is left without a clear rule, or that sense is to be fol∣lowed which stands nearest the light, that which is next to the natural and proper sense of the words. For it is certain God put no disguises upon his own Commandements, and the words are meant plainly and heartily; and the further you remove from their first sense, the more you have lost the purpose of your rule. In matters of conscience, that is the best sense which every wise man takes in before he hath sullied his understanding with the disguises of sophisters, and interessed persons; for then they speak without prejudice and art, that is, so as they should speak, who intend to guide wise men, and all men.

But this is to be understood otherwise, when the first sense of the words hath in its letter a prejudice open and easy to be seen; such as is that of putting out the right eie, or cutting off the hand. The face is a vizor and a metaphor, and the heart of it onely is the Commandement, and that is to be understood by the measures of this rule, that is, the prime and most natural signification is the best, that which is of nearest correspondency to the metaphor and the design of the Speaker, and the occasion and matter of the discourse.

But in all things where the precept is given in the proper style of laws, and the vail is off, and the words are plain, he that takes the first sense is the likeliest to be well guided. If a war be commenced between a King and his People, he that is willing to reade his duty, may see it in the words of Christ and of three Apostles, and it is easy to know our duty; but when we are inga∣ged against our Prince, it is certain we are hugely put to it to make it lawful, and when our conscience must struggle for its rule, it is not so well as when it takes that which lies easy before us. Truth is easy, error is intricate and hard. If none but witty men could understand their duty, the ignorant and

ideot could not be saved; but in the event of things it will be sound, that this mans Conscience was better guided while simplicity held the taper, then by all the false fires of art, and witty distinctions. Qui ambulat simpliciter, ambulat confidenter, saith Solomon. It is safer to walk upon plain ground, then with tricks and devices to dance upon the ropes.

RULE 7. Conscience by its several habitudes and relations, or tendencies toward its proper object, is divided into several kindes.

COnscience in respect of its information, or as it relates to its object, taken materially, and in the nature of the thing, is either True or False, Right or Wrong. True when it is rightly informed, and proceeds justly. False when it is deceived. Between these as participating of either extreme, stands the pro∣bable Conscience; which if we consider as it relates to its object, is sometimes right, and sometimes wrong, and so may be reduc'd to either, according as it is in the event of things. For in two contradictories which are both pro∣bable, as if one be, both are, if one part be true, the other is false; and the conscience of the several men holding the opposite parts, must be so too, that is, right and wrong, deceiv'd and not deceiv'd respectively. The division then of Conscience in respect of its object is tripartite.

For in all questions, if notice can be certainly had, he that gets the no∣tice, hath a True Conscience: He that misses it, hath a False or Erring Consci∣ence. But if the notices that can be had be uncertain, imperfectly revealed, or weakly transmitted, or understood by halfs, or not well represented; because the understanding cannot be sure, the conscience can be but probable. But ac∣cording as the understanding is fortunate, or the man wise and diligent, and honest enough to take the right side of the probability, so the conscience takes its place in the Extreme, and is reduc'd to Right or Wrong accordingly.

But to be Right or Wrong, is wholly extrinsecal to the formal obligation of Conscience, as it is a Judge and a Guide, and to the consequent duty of the Man. For an erring conscience binds as much as the right conscience, directly and immediately, and collaterally more; that is, the man who hath an erring con∣science is tied to more and other duties, then he that is in the right. The con∣science binds because it is heartily perswaded, not because it is truly informed; not because it is right, but because it thinks so.

It does indeed concern the duty of Conscience, and its felicity, to see that it be rightly instructed, but as to the consequence of the action, it is all one: this must follow whatsoever goes before. And therefore although it concerns the man as much as his felicity, and all his hopes comes to, to take care that his conscience be not abused in the matter of duty; yet a Right and a Wrong conscience are not made distinct Guides and different Judges. Since therefore we are to consider and treat of Conscience, as it is the Guide of our actions, and Judge of our persons, we are to take it in other aspects, then by a direct face towards its object; the relation to which alone, cannot diversify its

kinde, so much as to become an universal Rule to us in all cases and emer∣gencies.

Now because intellectual habits imployed about the same general object, have no way to make them of different natures, but by their formal tendencies, and different manners of being affected with the same object; we are in order to the perfect division and assignation of the kinds of conscience, to consider the Right Conscience, either as it is Sure, or as it is onely Confident, but not Sure. For an Erring conscience and the Unerring are the same Judge, and the same Guide, as to the Authority, and Perswasion, and as to the effect upon the person: but yet they differ infinitely in their Rule; and the persons under their conduct differ as much in their state and condition. But our Conscience is not a good Guide unless we be truly informed and know it. For if we be truly infor∣med and know it not, it is an uncertain and an imperfect Guide. But if we be con∣fident and yet deceived, the uncertainty and haesitation is taken off, but we are still very miserable. For we are like an erring Traveller, who being out of the way, and thinking himself right, spurs his horse and runs full speed: he that comes behinde, is nearer to his journeys end.

That therefore is the first kinde of Conscience; The Right Sure Consci∣ence; and this alone is fit to be our Guide; but this alone is not our Judge.

2. Opposite to this is the Confident or Erring Conscience; that is, such which indeed is mis-informed, but yet assents to its object with the same confidence as does the Right and Sure; but yet upon differing grounds, motives, and in∣ducements: which because they are always criminal, although the assent is peremptory and confident, yet the deception is voluntary and vicious in its cause; and therefore the present confidence cannot warrant the action, it onely makes the sinner bold. So that these two differ in their manner of entring into the assent; the one entring by the door, the other by the breaches of the wall. Good will, and Bad, Vertue and Vice, Duty and Sin, keeping the se∣veral keys of the perswasion and consent.

This Erring Conscience I therefore affirm to be always Voluntary and Vicious in its principle, because all Gods laws are plain in all matter of neces∣sary duty: and when all men are to be guided, learned and unlearned, the Rule is plain and easy, because it is necessary it should be so. But therefore if there happen any invincible ignorance, or involuntary deception, it is there where the Rule is not plain, and then the Matter is but probable, and then the Consci∣ence is according. And this makes the third kinde of Conscience, in respect of the different manner of being affected with the object.

3. The Probable Conscience is made by that manner of assent to the object, which is indeed without fear, but not without imperfection. The thing it self is of that nature, that it cannot properly make faith or certainty of adherence; and the understanding considers it as it is represented without any prejudice or prepossession; and then the thing must be beleeved as it deserves and no more: but because it does not deserve a full assent, it hath but an imperfect one; but it is perfect enough in its kinde, that is, it is as much as it ought to be, as much as the thing deserves. These are all the kinds of Conscience that are perfect.

4. But sometimes the state and acts of conscience are imperfect; as the vision of an evil eye, or the motion of a broken arm, or the act of an imperfect

or abused understanding: so the conscience in some cases is carried to its object but with an imperfect assent, and operates with a lame and deficient principle: and the causes of it are the vicious or abused affections, accidents or incidents to the Conscience. Sometimes it happens that the arguments of both the sides in a question seem so indifferent, that the conscience being affrighted and abused by fear and weakness dares not determine, and consequently dares not doe any thing; and if it be constrain'd to act, it is determin'd from without, not by it self, but by accidents and perswasion, by importunity or force, by interest or fear: and what ever the ingredient be, yet when it does act, it acts with fear, because it reflects upon it self, and considers it hath no warrant, and therefore whatever it does becomes a sin. This is the calamity of a doubting Conscience. * This doubting does not always proceed from the equality of the parts of the question, but sometimes wholly from want of knowing any thing of it: as if we were put to declare whether there were more men or women in the world? whether the number of the starres were even or odde? some∣times from inconsideration, sometimes from surprise, sometimes from confu∣sion and disease; but from what principle soever it be, there is always some fear in it. This Conscience can neither be a good Guide, nor a good Judge: we cannot doe any thing by its conduct, nor be judg'd by it; for all that can be done before or after it, is not by it, but by the suppletories of the perfect con∣science.

5. A less degree of this evil, is that which by the Masters of moral The∣ology is called, The scrupulous Conscience, which is not a distinct kinde of con∣science as is usually supposed, but differs from the doubting Conscience only in the degrees of the evil. The doubt is less, and the fear is not so violent as to make it unlawful to doe any thing: something of the doubt is taken off, and the man can proceed to action without sin, but not without trouble; he is un∣easy and timorous even when he is most innocent; and the causes of this, are not onely portions of the same weaknesses which cause the doubting Con∣science; but sometimes Superstition, and Melancholy, and Pusillanimity and mean opinions of God are ingredients into this imperfect assent: and in such cases, although the scrupulous man may act without sin, and produce his part of the determination, yet his scruple is not innocent, but sometimes criminal, but always calamitous. This is like a mote in the eye, but a doubt is like a beam.

This Conscience may be a right Guide, but dares not be a Judge: it is like a Guide in the dark that knows the way, but fears every bush; and because he may erre, thinks he does. The effect of this imperfection is nothing but a heartless and uncomfortable proceeding in our duty, and what else the De∣vil can make of it, by heightning the evil and abusing the man, who sits upon a sure foundation, but dares not trust it: he cannot rely upon that, which yet he cannot disbeleeve.

6. There are some other affections of Conscience, and accidental appen∣dages; but because they doe not vary the manner of its being affected with its proper object, they cannot diversity Conscience into several kinds, as it is a Guide and Judge of Humane actions. But because they have no direct in∣fluence upon our souls, and relate not to duty, but are to be conducted by rules of the other kinds, I shall here onely enumerate their kinds, and permit to Preachers to discourse of their natures, and collateral obligations to duty, of their remedies and assistances, their advantages and disadvantages respe∣ctively. These also are five: 1. The tender Conscience. 2. The hardned or obdu∣rate. 3. The quiet. 4. The restless or disturbed. 5. And lastly, The perverse Con∣science.

Concerning which, I shall at present say this onely: That the two first are seated principally in the Will, but have a mixture of Conscience, as Do∣cibility hath of Understanding. The two next are seated in the fancy, or the affections, and are not properly plac'd in the Conscience, any more then love or desire; but yet from Conscience they have their birth. And for the last, it is a heap of irregular principles, and irregular defects, and is the same in Con∣science, as deformìty is in the body, or peevishness in the affections.

Notes

• §. 1.
• Lib. de interi∣ori domo.
• 2.
• Exod. 7. 1.
• Lib. 6. de vero cultu. cap. 24.
• 3.
• 4.
• Lib. de testi∣mon. animae.
• 5.
• 6.
• 7.
• Psal. 78. 49.
• 7.
• Heb. 10. 16.
• Jer. 31. 33.
• 8.
• Eccles. 7. 22. 1 John 3. 21.
• Apud Syros conscientia dicitur 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 à radice 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 for∣mavit, depinxit, descripsit; quia scil. conscientia notat & pingit actiones nostras in tabula cor∣dis.
• Prov. 18. 14.
• Heb. 4. 12.
• In epist. ad Rom. cap. 2. lib. 2.
• 9.
• Rom. 7. 23.
• Titus 3. 1••.
• Marc. 14. 72.
• Philip. 2. 5.
• 1 Co••. 2. 16.
• Luc. 1. 29.
• Rom. 14. 5.
• Rom. 1. 28.
• Ephes 4. 23.
• Rom. 12. 2.
• 10.
• 11.
• De interiori domo cap. ••.
• 12.
• a

  Ubi supsa.
• In Psal. 48.
• 13.
• 14.
• 15.
• 16.
• 17.
• 1 Tim. 1. v. 1••.
• a

  Verb. Con∣s••ientia.
• b

  In c••cum cau sa de Testi.
• c

  In §. s••d iste. Instu. de Act. Gl. in c. Sta∣tut. §. assess. de∣tent.
• Ecclus. 13. 30, alia•• 24.
• 18.
• 19.
• 20.
• 21.
• 22.
• 23.
• 25.
• Acts 23. 1. & 24. 16.
• Rom. 13. 5.
• 1 Cor. 8. 10. & 19. 12.
• 1 Tim. 1. 5. 19. & 3. 9.
• 2 Tim. 1. 3.
• Titus 1. 15.
• 1 Pet. 2. 19. 3. 16.
• Heb. 13. 18.
• 26.
• Horat. de art•• Poet.
• Rom. 2. 15.
• Iliad. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• 3.
• Rom. 〈◊〉〈◊〉
• 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 6.
• 4.
• 1 Cor. 13 12.
• Cicero 2. Tu∣scul.
• De Inter. dom. lib. 2. cap. ult.
• 5.
• Rom. 2. 1••.
• Cicero pro Cluentio.
• Lucretius▪
• 6.
• In Epic••••••
• James 1. 21, 23, 24.
• 7.
• Juven. Sat. 10.
• 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Sat. 3.
• 8.
• 9.
• Apud Publi∣anum.
• Plautus.
• 10.
• 1 Macc▪ 6. 1••.
• Aeneid. 12.
• 11.
• Cicero de ••e∣gib. l. 2.
• Rom •• ••••.
• 12.
• A. Gell. l. 5. c. 1.
• Lib. 14. Annal.
• 13.
• 14.
• Epicharm.
• De 4 Hono•• Con••u••.
• 〈…〉〈…〉
• 〈…〉〈…〉
• J••r. 2•• •• 4.
• 15.
• Lucret.
• 16.
• De profugit.
• 17.
• Juvenal.
• Martial.
• 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• 18.
• 19.
• Levit. 26. 36.
• Deuter. 28. 65••
• Isai. 22. 2.
• Lib. 1. c. ••.
• 20.
• Aeschyl.
• Senec. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Act. 3.
• 21.
• 22.
• 24.
• 〈◊〉〈◊〉
• 2 C•••• 1. 1••.
• Prov. 30, 20.
• Eccl••s. 13 ••6.
• 〈…〉〈…〉
• Lib. 4. de be••e∣fic. c. 21.
• Orat. 25.
• 26.
• Cicero pro Milone.
• 27.
• 28.
• 2 Tim. ••. ••.
• 2 Tim. 2. 22.
• 2 Tim. 1. 3.
• H••b 9 14. 10. 22. 13. 18.
• Acts 15 9.
• 1.
• Prosper Epigr. de cohibenda ira.
• 2.
• 3.
• 4.
• 5.
• In Lava••ro Conscien••.
• Lib. 11. samil epist.
• 6.
• Lib. 5. ep. 20. Mart.
• Ecclus. 37. 11.
• 7.
• 8.
• Eccl••••s. 37. 15.
• 1.
• 2.
• 3.
• In Rule 1. numb. 5. & se••.
• 4.
• Rom. 1. 28.
• 5.
• 1.
• 2.
• 3.
• 4.
• 6.
• In Epicter. lib. 3. c. 26.
• 1.
• 2.
• 3.
• 1.
• 2.
• 3.
• 4.
• 6.
• 7.
• 8.
• 9.
• 10.
• 11.
• 12.
• 13.