90 Sermon 4; ed before) for the Confcience in the Old Telllament, ac- cordingly yob faid, His heart fhould not fmite him while he lived : And it isfaid, David's heart fmote him. Now, fuch a man as is here fpoken of, his deceived heart, or deluded Confcience, turneth him afide, fo that he cannot deliver his foul, that is, he cannot wind and extricate himfelf out of that thicket of felfr deceit, fo far as to befpeak himfelf thus, Is it not a lie that I am lipping and truft- ing to ? And yet, this is it that many of you have for a good Confcience, even a deceived heart, or a deluded Confcience ; fpeak to you who will, or what we can, it is in fome refpe& impofl'ible to put you off that fancy, and to awake you out of that dream, that you have a good Confcience : And the reafon of this delufion is, that men take not the ground of the fentence of Confci- ence from God, according to the rule of his word, but from their own rnifled reafon, or from fame common gift, or from force piece of fepfe, or force opinion and fancy of their own heart, that is in force fort deceived by them, and deceiveth them. Now all thefe delufions may be in thefe three refpe &s. i . In refpe& of things do &rival ; A man may be perfwaded that truth is an error, and an error is a truth. z. In refpe& of matters- of prailice; A man may take an evil turn or a &ion for a good one,and have a fort of perfwafion that it is fo; as the ews had in killing the apoftles, who thought they did God good fervíce, as the Lord foretold, fohn 16. z. And, In refpe& of a man's eífate, who thinketh he is in friendfliip with God, when indeed he is not be- caufe he draweth his conclufion from wrong premiffes, either failing in the major propofition, laying down a wrong rule ; or in the minor propofition, applying the rule to himfelf partially. These things ye should take a- long with you, in what we are to fay further on this point. Now for the Marks and Evidences of a deluded Con- fcience, betide thefe fcorementioned, of a legal and of a prefumptuous Confcience, which may be allo marks of this, it math thefe four or five efpectally, accompany ;ng it..Firfi A certain frothinefs of ipirtr, or a light un fettled frame ; The light that a deluded man bath in his flare
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