Durham - BV4615 D87 1732

88 Sermon 4. yet it is wrong ? .4nfwer, Without all quei}ion it may And here we may (peak fomewhat of a deluded Confci- ence, which is a Confcience that not only is wrong, and erreth, and fpeaketh good when there is no ground for it ; but a Confcience that hath thefe two things befide in it; I. It bath a perfwafion that it is right. 2. It hath the affections fomewhat ffirred by it, and a fort of joy in the thing whereof it is perfwade.d. 'Tis (I fay) a Confcience that not only fpeaketh good without ground, but hath a perfwafion that it is right, and a kind of joy in its way : That there may be and is filch a Confcience :among the generality of profeffors, cannot be denied, and is clear from what the apoffle fays, Gal. 5.8. This perfwafion cametb not of him that calletb you. There is xa perfwafion, and yet not of God. And for the other, to wit, That there may be a joy in the thing, fee Gal. 3. i. O fool Jh Galatians ! who bath bewitched you? They had a fort of conceit and fainnefs even to a kind of lafcination and bewitching of their being right, neither was there any dealing with them to draw them oft that way. There are four forts of thefe Confciences among profef- fors, according to four feveral rifes that they have, none of which will warrant them to think themfelves to be fright. The ift Rife is from laying too much weight on fuppofed reafon ;.,'There is a kind of delufion that arifeth from this ground ; which was it wherewith the Galatians were carried away, having heard firfi from the gofpel, of the righteoufnefs of faith ; and thereafter, from fame falfe teachers, of the righteoufnefs of the law, as neceffary to be added to it, in the point of juffi -- lacation : They thought there was good realen for fuch a doctrine, and that no lofs nor prejudice could come by it ; and therefore, they did join both together. The ad Rife is, when men lay too much weight on great, the' yet but common gifts ; as on liberty in prayer, and warmnefs of the affections therein, one preaching not - ably, and one ftanding it out in fharp trials with the ;approbation of others, it may be even of the belt: Or when they have been helped to do force extraordinary things ; as, in the primitive times, tome profeffors were helped ass God's inflrument5 to ¢al} out devils, to fpeak with

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=