Preston - Houston-Packer Collection BX5133.P74 S2 1637

144 SEa. VI. 2 In their C on- fcicnce. Confcience good in two refpefts. The bed men before regeneration, Secondly, (tokeepe the fame method I did in the other) for matter of Conlcience,you (hall finde this difference, and in this they fall thou. Though they doe make confcience of many things, notwithftan- ding they have not a good Confcience ; for, Confci- ence is good in two refpeEts; either becaufe it wit- n( ffes good to us, and fo we commonly ufe it, or as it is fubjcEtively good , and fo the love of God is good, and the feare of God is good, and in this they have not a good Confcience :for it is required that the confciencebe inherently and fubjeótively good, that a man make Confcience not out of flavith feare, but out of willingneffe, as a chalk wife deliires to pleafe her husband, becaufe thee loves him, thee is loth to difpleafe him,will not lofe his favour for any thing, and therefore thee obferves him exactly, and will not offend him, when the Confcience 'lands in this reference to God, it is a good Confcience. On the other fide, let a man make Con fcience of never fo many things, yet if it be out of feare, as a fervant fares his Matter, or as the Theefe feares the Judge, his Confcience is not good. So that the civili man cannot bee laid to have a good Confcience in the things they abflaine from,out of Confcience,becaufe hey doe it not willingly, but as of neceffirie. Now Ill God lookes to, is to have what is done, done wil tingly, and therefore it is no wonder that Divines give this as a fure rule thatdelre isa figne fure enough, of Grace: If a man bath a true delire to pleafe God,it cannot deceive him, for the delire is more than the deed, as Saint Paul faith in z cor. 8. i o. In ma ter of giving, You have not only beene ready to doe, but to will, and Note.

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