To the Reader, Confcience void ofofence towards God, and towardman, A&. 24. 16. and that we may be thefurther provokedhereunto, let us on theother hand confider the mifehiefr, and inconvenien- ce,' oranevill Confcience, one finall drop whereof troubleth a whole Sea ofoutwardcomforts, and contentment:, a whole con- fluence whereof wouldno more cafe a woundedSpirit, then afair fbo;e agouty foot, or a filkenflocking a broken legg. Indeed its aburden infùpportable, which is able to quaile the courage, and coif?, the fbaulders ofthe f¡rongefl man upon Earth : Hence Job preferred, and Judas chofe firangling before it : Daniel. chofe rather to be caj¡ to the Lions , then to carry a Lion, and enraged Confcience in his bofonee. Its an ever-gnawing worm ¡bat isbred in this life ofthe f oth offilthy luffs , andfiagicions toff?fes, and !yes gnawing upon men, inwards,many times in the r; atoll a their jollity. It was this that made Saul callfor his inufrc4 : Bcltefhazzar for his caroufing cups : Cain for his workmen to buildhim a City, &c. and this theydid to put by thepangs oftheir woundedSpirits , and throbbing Confciences: Andyet all thismany times willnot ferve turn, as wefee in Ne- ro, after he hadkilledhis Mother,and Wives : In Otho , when he had[lain Galba, and Pifo : In Herod thegreat, after behad caufedhis Wife Mariamne tobe put to death: In our Richard the third, after he badmurtheredhis two innocent Nephews : In Spira : Latomus,&c.all which werefo grubbedwith this worm, that they could not be at reft ,?either night nor day, tillbeing ut- terly tiredwith continual! vexation ofSpirit , they either dep.. rately flew themfelves, or were dreadfully difJatcbedby others. "Hence Plutarch ( though a Heathen) thought that the very "life ofa wickedman was puni(bment enough without,either God " or mans revenging hand. For (faith he) ifthey examine " their lives, theyfinde themfelvesempty ofgrace , d f itute of " hope, loaden withfear, fadneffe, unchearfulneffe, andfuflition "ofwhat will fallow after : their lives are therefore worfe then "the life ofaDog: for a Dog lives without mental! fu f rings , " anddies, and there is an endofhim : but a wickedman b al- " wayes upon the wrac&whilefh he lives, and is never freefrom the
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=