440 IX. Qnejlion.c,andCafes ofConfeience C q.a them he ought , I Cor.6.I Z. and 1 0.23. Inufe of things lawful heobferves three rules. f 1 . It may be lawful, but is it expedient ? when ? how much ? how far? and ihow often is it expedient ? 2. lc is lawful, but Vitt it edifie, or offend? S3. Its lawful, but I mutt not fuff.:r my felf tobe brought under the power of any thing though lawful : He knows its a true faying, Licitis peri- mts omnes : all theworld is undone by lawful things abufed, and mil- timed. I c was the undoingof the old world, and Sodom, Mar. , 29. 38. Luke 17. 2.7, 28: i I . He dares not do alwayes what is in his power. Jofeph didnot what hemight have done tohis unkindebrethren, Gen :42.58. 12. Nor dare he do what others have familiarly donebeforehim inhis place: So, Nehemiah, eh.5.14, &c. r 3. He Both not only avoid finful aó&ions, but takes fad notice of, and bewails his finful affe:3ions, and the depraved difpofition of his nature. He mourns under the fin that dwells in hen, Rom. 7. 20,23,24. He would nei- ther have his fin reign, nor remain in him : He hares his tin in every degree with a perfect, and impartial hatred. 54. He ever rather confults with honefty, juftice,and duty, then with honor, commodity, and fafety : Ifhe once engageth , he changeth not, though it be tohis prejudice, Pfal.15.4. 15. He alone, in the caufe of Chrift and Religion, dares Hand it out againft the whole world. lintel 4thanaffus contra totem mundum ; and fo did Luther, regarding neither the favour, nor the frowns of his adverfaries. He con- fiders not fo much the dancer that lies before him , as the duty and ne- ceffity that lies upon him, to appear in fuch a time and caufe. So Elijah, I IC ing. 19. Io. Ninthly, a pailive andhardy conscience, which admits ofno feare , timerouf- nefs, or tenderneffe at all in it, as to fuffsring : This hardinefs proceeds from the fore-named tendernefs, and is infeparable from it. Its not bred fodaintily, nor kept fo tenderly , but that it can diefr the worlds hardell ufage : Its patient to, all ['uttering , impatient only of finning. It putswithin a man a heart of Ada- mant, and upon a man aface ofbraffe or flint : It trembles not at the fight of any torment, Dan.3.16. We are not careful to anfwer thee, OKing, in this matter.This is commended by Teter, t Pet.2.19,2o. and truly without this all other things are nothing : not theconfcience offaith, pu-ity,fincerity, &c. This commended theChriflians ofold times : they were content tobe bound, that truth might be at liberty, and to die, that religion might not die. ueft. But can all that Puffer fay that they Puffer for Confceence, and for God ? Anfw.No,thereare four kindsof fufferings,which a goodconfcience can have no comfort in. i. When we put our felves upon voluntary , and arbitrary fufferings , and then place religionand confcience in it : as the Baalites of old, who cur and lanced themfelves, i King.t8.28. and the Circurncelions of later time. But who required thefe thingsat their hands ? they cannot fay with Saint Paul,They bear themarkt ofthe Lordyefus in their bodies, Ga1.6.r7. but rather themarks of their own folly, and raihnefle. 2. When we pull upon our felves unneceffary and unwarrantable fufferings,by a prepofterous, and precipitate medling inbufineffes out of ourway and calling : This is to fuffer as buff bodies in other mensmatters. Not as a Chrithan, I Pet. 4. 15, 16. 3 When we pull upon our felvesdeferved fufferings from the hand of Jullice
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