38 A Treatife o f Con ffience. III. An errone ou,r confèience. z. An er- ÇiEcondly, an erroneous confcience is when confcience not roncou& underftanding Gods law, or mifapplying it, doth judge a- confcience milfe, and dire& amifle. So lofephsconfcience for a while was Mar.t,iy. in an errour, when Mary was found with child: His confci- ence informed him, that he muff either make her a publike ex- ample or put her away privily. Here his confcience erred a- bout this particular until the Angel had better informed him. rae.g. There is a queflion here railed by Divines, and it is, Whether we ought to follow confcience erring or no ? A queftion very necelfary to be handled, partly becaufe of mens ignorance in this kind, and partly becaufe of the frequency of the cafe, I an- fwer thus; .Anfim Firfl, we mull not obey confcience erring orcounfelling to that which is evil; For our errour of confcience doth not make the tranfgrellìon of the law to be no fiinne : though an er- roneous confcience lead us to tranfgrelf it. r. Becaufe the law of God is above confcience ; and therefore the Command- ment of Gods law ftandech in full force, though confcience command contrary to it. Suppofe a man fhould think in his confcience he might not take an oath, though never fo lawfully called thereunto by the Magifirate, and in never fo neceffary a cafe, when as the word of God commandeth us to !wear in truth, in righteoufnelfe, and in judgment; I mull follow the Commandment of God rather then confcience, becaufe Gods law is above confcience. 2. Becaule if I follow my confcience when it is in an errour, I offend not only againfl Gods law,but I offend alto my confcience : For though for the prefent while confcience is erroneous it doth not take offence, yet when it cometh to fee its own errour then it will. Therefore this is our firft anfwer. We mull not obey confcience erring, or counfel- ling to that which is evil. If our confciencelhould counfel us to tell a lit to help our neighbour, that is evil and againfl Gods law, and therefore if in doing it we obey confcience, we fin. Secondly
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