. A Treatf ofCQnfrzence. 22 knowledge. As good have no confcienceat all , as confcience without knowledge ; for it cannot aet and performe its office. This is the reafon why fo many thoufands go on in their Gnnes without repentance, becaufe being ignorant they have no con- fcience toprick them thereunto; as Ter. 8. 6. No man repenteth him of his wickedneffe , faying , What have Idone ? Why, what was the reafon that confcience did not prick them, and fay, This thou haft done and that, Thus ye have rebelled, The text anfwereth in thenext verle, My people know not the judgment of the Lord. The Stork,IZnoWeth her time, and the Turtle, and the SroalloW; but my people do not knout their duties. Another ufe is, toexhort us that we would labour toperfect the light ofconfcience, that it may be able to guide us and di- re& us unto heaven. Our confcience hath knowledge enough by the light of nature to make us inexcufable, and to clear the juftice of God though he fhould damne us for ever; but there muff be a greater light then that, that mutt guide us to heaven. O let us pray toChrif} the true light to fet up this light in us, that we may never be at a Joffe in our way to happinefie, never ftep out of the"right path but our confcience may be able to put us in again, never go flowly but our confcience may fpurre us on fatter; that our confcience may not be like the fnuff of a candle in a focket, that flameth up now and then, and then is dark again, and again it flameth out and is dark again : A man may fee his book by it, but he cannot fee to read ; he may fee his his pen and ink by it, but he cannot fee to write ; a woman may fee her needle and cloth by it, but thecannot fee to work; fo it is with fomc mens confciences; Their light is fo dimme that they can fee the duties,but theycannot fee todo them;they can fee the commandments of God,but they cannot fee to obey them. O labour to perfect the light of your coniciences, that ye may fee to walk by them, And thus much alto of the fecond propofition The light that confiience aL eth by ù knowledge. Now I fhould come to the third propofition, which as I firft . propounded themwas this,the bond that bindes confcience is Gods Law; But will now a little alter the method, and make the other VP 2.
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