4. - thefe three being in the Confcience, viz. a power of counfelling, commanding, and di&ating to a man what hie fnould do; a power bearing teftimony concerning the manner of his doing, and a power of recognofcing and examining after he hathdone : It telleth us plainly that there is fuch a thing as Confcience, declaring its mind, and giving an anfwer to men concerning their duty, in what it is put to give an anfwer about ; elfe they could not know its mind. The zd Ground is taken from the clear and manifeft efe &s of Confcience, its teff ifying or anfwering : What, I pray, maketh a refilefiiefs in the bofom of people, but Confcienee its challenging or re- proving ? What caufeth tranquility and peace within, when reproaches and revilings are without, but Con- fcience bearing witnefs to the man of his innocency in, and his being free of, thefe things wherewith he is char- ged ? And what is it that layette on a reffiraint and bond, as it were, on the man's fpirit, (as Paul faith of himfelf, .fi~fa 2o. 22. I go bound in the fpirit to Jerufalem) but the Confcience ? It is not only the weight that floweth from the word of God, but alto the weight that flow- eth immediately from the Confcience joining with, and backing, the word : Now, if the Confcience had not a dire& and diftinet language, or anfwer to give to men about their a &ions, there could be no fuch effeEs fol- lowing it. The lifer are two, The i. for dire&ion. The 2. for reproof The ufe for direEtion, is, That Peeing there is fuch a thing as the anfwer of the Confcience, whereby it maketh known its mind, when it is asked concerning our way, we ought, if we believe that we have Confci ences, to put them to anfwerY and to obferve what they fay, and what anfwer they return. If Confcience hath a language (I fay again) lct us put it to fpeak out, and let us be very ready and attentive to hear what it fpeak eth. To clear this a little, we 'would confider, that there are two things in a Chrifi.an walk, in reference to this correipondency which a man lhould keep with his Con- fcience; The 1. (which is univerfal and irrefiftable) is, 1hciii the Confcience asketh meni or putteth queftions I ti5
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