on lets ;; 1. 173 vie fay or affirm ; according to the pra &ice of the a- poftle here, who (being one that exercifed himfelf, to have a confcience void of offence toward God and men) no doubt made Confcience always to fpeak truth, more efpecially when he had ufed any more than ordinary folemn pro - teftation or atteftation, as he doth in thefe words; the fcope whereof is, to roll away all ground of (.tumbling from his countrymen the 7ews, and from any others who might think, becaufir of fame of his difcourfes con- cerning them, that he regarded them not, and that he was very indifferent whether they were faved or perifh.. ed ; and to conciliate their aff'e &ion and refpe& to the do &rine of the Gofpel, and to his perfon for the go- fpel's and their own fouls fake. In which words we have, i. His affertion concerning the heavinefs and for - row of his heart for them his brethren according to the flefh ; which he fets down, firft pofitively, Ifpeak the truth: Then negatively, I lie not. 2, The confirma- tion of the truth of his affertion, which, to make it the more folemn, weighty and convincing, and (if it might be) the more gaining of the yews, is threefold; f`,. 'Tis in Chri fl, infiinuating thereby that he is a belreVer in Chrift that afferts this truth, and one that draws ftrengtlz from Chrift to enable him to what he afferts, and re- ferretla to the honour of Chrift as his main end in it, and withal expo &s God's acceptation of him therein -on Chrift's account, and for his fake. The zd is, My Confci- ence (an upright, impartial and tender thing, when right) ìearing me tvittnefs as to the truth of what I affert. The 3d is, in the holy Ghofl; that is, it is armed by one who hath an illightned and habitually tan&ified Con - fcience by the holy Ghoft; by one who is a&ed by him and in a fan&ified frame for the prefent ; nay, by one infallibly guided and infpired by the holy Ghoft, as his penman, in writing this as a piece and paffage of divine fcripture. I (hall not here fpeak particularly to all points of do&rine that might be deduced from thefe words, but to Inch only as make for clearing the pùrpofe that we have in hand: And that is,t the particular influence that Confcience bath on a man in the time of his a&ing, and the
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