252, Sermon 4. will not only, in the general, fpeak its fenfe ; but when his way is well ordered, and fquared according to the rule, and he, in his defign, is found ftraight, and to have taken his aim right, Confcience will, after examination, excufe, and bear him witnefs to his joy : Thus is Paul dealt with here by his Confcience, g'his is our rejoicing (faith he) the tefimony of our Confcience; which is not limply Confcience fpeaking, but Confcience fpeaking for vindicating him from thefe afperfions that were caft upon him, or excufing him (as the word is, Rom. 2. 15.) and teftifying, that he was not the man that fume men coun- ted him to be : He had this teftimony, That in fimplicity, and godly fincerity, not with iefhly wifdom, but by the grace of God, he had bis converfation in the world, and rncre abundantly toward them in Corinth ; Which, after fearch, he found to be fo. That which we spoke of the nature of Confcience makes this out ; for Conf fence, when right, fpeaks of things as they indeed are, and holds forth the mind of God, and gives fentence according to it; when he is well pleafed, to declare and pronounce pardon and peace ; and,when he is difpleafed, to declare anger, and (as it were) to denounce war. Whereof we would make this ufe, even to learn, not only to ítudy to know, take up and difcern the work of Con /cienoe, in challenging and accufing (which for molt part it Both, having fo much ground to do fo) but alfe its work, in abfolving, excufing, and giving a good tc- ítimony. 2. ()Verve, That the teftimony of Confcience, or its bearing witnefs for a man, after refle&ing upon, and fearching of his way, is exceeding refrefhful, comfort- able and Joyous ; This is our rejoicing (faith the apoftle) the to limony of our Confcience : There is nothing more heartfom, refrefhing and cheering to a tender walker, neither can there readily be any thing on this fide heaven more folacious and joyous to him, than,when he bath ex- amined his Confcience, to find it teftify for him. This is the great ground of Paul's joy and rejoicing tho' he lived in the rnidit of manifold temptations and tribula- tions, and was accounted to be the molt contemptible of men, even as the filth of the world, and the o f During
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