A Treat of Confcience. Qzsench not the Spirit ; fo quench not confcience. I have hitherto fhewed you that every man bath a confci- ence,and the reafons why God hath given us a confcience, the light that it ac`teth by, the offices of it, and the affeaions of it. Now from all thefe proceed to other adjunc4s of confcience t. A quiet confcience : a. An unquiet confcience. A quiet confcience. Oncerning a quiet confcience three things are to be cor- fìdered: i. What a quiet confcience is ; 7. How it differeth from that quiet confcience which is in the wicked; 3. The ex- amination whether we have this quiet confcience or no. I. For the firft, What a quiet confcience is ; it is that which neither doth nor can accule us, but giveth an honourable tetti- mony of us in the courfe of onr lives and converfations ever finte we were regenerate (I put that in too : for, I, we do not begin to live till we be regenerate, and 2. we can never have a true quiet confcience till then.) Such a quiet confcience had good Obadiah ;- I feare the Lord from my youth, faith his confci- erce : This was a very honourable teftimony that his confci- ence gave him. Such a quiet confcience had Enoch : Before his translation, he received this teftimony,that he pleated God.Haymo faith,this teftimony was the teftimony of Scripture, Gen. 5.24. where it is fsid that he walked with Cod. This is true.; but this is not all : The text faith not there was fuch a teftimony -given of him, but he had it : and that before his translation; but that before his translation; but the tefltmony of Mofes was after his tranflation : Therefore it was the teftimony of his confcience that bore witnefi'e within that he pleafed God. So that this is a quiet confcience, which neither doth nor can accufe us, but giveth an honourable teflimony of us in the whole courfe of our life and converfation. Now to fuch a quiet confcience there be three things neceffary: r. Uprightneffe, 2. Purity, 3. Affu- rance of Gods love and favour. Fitt}, uprighneffe is when a man is obedient indeed. Many will 63 r Kings 18. Heb.II.5. Dicente fcripturâ inquia ife.
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