i28 1 ,Q treatife of C'onfcienee. their fumes and infirmities, and takeno notice of Gods graces that are in them, and fo may mifiake their own Pelves, and conclude amiflè of their ellates. Thus J have Chewed you the reafons why men are miíaaken about their &ates. Now J will thew you the reafons why men are millaken though confci- ence do tell them, I . Becaufe the fpeeches of' confcience in the wicked many times, yea moll times, are low fpeeches. The gnawings ofcon- ícience whereby they are told they arc in a bad and a damned &ate are like thegnawings of a very little worm that a man tf:44.634. can hardly feel. iVhers their worm 'dieth not : The word in the original! Ggnifieth a very little worm that breedeth in fcarlet, that a man can very hardly fee or perceive : fo men fometimes do hardly fee orperceive the condemning and gnaw- ing of confcience. Again, confcience biteth fuddenly, as J cold you ; it giveth. a little nip, and away : Like a iparrow that flieth by ; it flieth fo fat+ by a mans eye that he can farce tell whether it bea fp.arrow or no : So it is not eafily perceived 'whether it be a condemning coníèience or no : it giveth finch fudden nips, and away, that men feldorne take notice. Be- loved, there is never a wicked man under heaven ; unlelfe he bedelivered up abfolutely to a reprobate tènfe, but hach a thou- fand of thefe lùdden momentary nips every day in the yeare. Had be the heart toobferve them ( but be hath not) he might fee his wretched eaate, to trouble him, and provoke him to Chrifc, andto beconverted that God might heal him ; J fay, had he a hearthemight free it : but there nips are fo ferret and fudden that he loth not. So likewdle it is with the godly in regard of true comfort : Their confcience fuddenly Rafheth in comfort , and they many times do not ohferve it. As Jnb lob g: 1z. fpeaketh of God, Lo, he goeth by me. and Ifee htin not : he paffethon a/fe, and Iperceive him not : So doth the Lord go by his children in the fudden gaf'hes of comfort in their confci- ence, but many times they fee him not, perceive him not. 2. Becaufe the devil blindeth mens eyes therefore they do not fee what their con.fciences do Phew them. Ye may reade this
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