on Acts 24, 16. 1r 5 fecond way, belongeth properly to this head. 2. If we look on an evil Confcience, as it is reflef, difquíeting, and vexing, called evil in refpeet of the effe& of ir, to wit, as it fpeaketh evil ; fo the believer may have an evil Confcience, in refpe& of particular a &s, for which he is juftly challenged : For he may thwart his light, and may contra& guilt, and bring himfelf under the dew Pert of wrath, becaufe of that guilt, which bringeth on trouble, at leaf} in his mind and Confcience, if not outward alto ; as we may fee in David, after his adul- tery ; in Peter, when he denied Chrift ; and in many others : Certainly, as to fuch particular pra &ices, be- lievers may be faid to have an evil Confcience. . If we confider a believer's flare, and look upon Confcience as fpeaking his being in an evil flare ; tho' doubtleß it cannot warrantably charge him with, nor challenge him for that ; nor can it have juft ground to fay to the be- liever, that his Rate is evil ; yet it may very warran- tably, and on juft ground, be fïlenr, as to giving him a pofitive teffimony, as his good flare, when he hath in fuch and fuch particulars provoked God, and cau- fed him to hide his face ; as, when David fell fo foully, his Confcience might warrantably withdraw, and, it is like, did withdraw its comfortable teffimony concern- ing his good flare before God: And tho' Confcience here be in its duty, in witholding its teffimony from the be- liever, while he is in fuch a cafe ; yet, as it Both with- hold ir, and fo deprives him of the comfort refulting therefrom, it may, in fo far, be called an evil Confcience to him ; thó it be not in itfelf, and finfully fo. 2. The Confcience may allo challenge a believer for fome.things without ground or unwarrantably ; which we may fee, befide others, in thefe three ; 1. Confcience may charge a believer with being an hypocrite, even as to his fíate, when he is, it may be, much overcome with the power of unbelief, and hath the evidence of his fire verity much darkned, and feeth many things very con- trary thereto, that may feem to fpeak his being out of Chrifi, when yet indeed he is in him. The many fad plunges and difficulties that believers have fallen into H z where
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