It is manifest and beyond all controversy, that an enlightened conscience lays strong and indispensible obligations and engage- ments on the soul to obedience ; for the will of God is the supreme law, 1 Tim. vi. 15. it is the will of " the only potentate, the King " of kings, and Lords of lords C And the promulgation and ma- nifestation of it, so binds the conscience of the creature to obedience, as no authority or power on earth can loose those bands ; no man can grant a Supersedeas in this case, or relieve the soul so bound by a noli prosequi : For conscience, as God's vicegerent, in his name re- quireth obedience, and the man that heareth the voice of God from the mouth of his own conscience presently thereupon becomes a debtor, Rom. i. 14. put vmder a necessity, 1 Cor. ix. 16.
Now conscience, by reason of the light that shineth into it, feel- ing itself under such strong bands and necessities, stimulates and urgeth the soul to obedience, warns, commands, and presses the soul to its duty against the contrary interest, and inclinations of the flesh : and hence arise those combats and conflicts in the bosoms of men. Sometimes conscience prevails, and sometimes lusts and corruptions prevail, and that with great difliculty ; for it is not alike easy to all men to shake off", or burst the bands of their own con- sciences, though others can do it easily. What a hard task had Saul to conquer his own conscience .^^ I forced my self saith he, 1 Sam. xiii. 12. he knew it belonged not to him to offer sacrifice, his con- science plainly told him it would be his sin ; but yet the fear of the Phihstines being stronger than the fear of God, he adventured upon it, renitente consclentia, against the plain dictates of his own con- science. Thus Herod gives sentence to put John to death. Mat. xiv. 9. " The king was sorry, nevertheless, for his oath's sake, and " them which sat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given
AN APPENDIX TO ENGLAND^S DUTY. S75
« her.'' His honour weighed up all his fear of sin, his own \vorcl weio-hed more with him than God's word ; Nemo ita pcrplexus tene- tur inter duo vitia^ quiri exltus patent absque iertio : ' No man is * held so perplexed between two vices, but he may find an issue < without falhng into a third/
Pilate''s conscience was convinced of Christ's innocency, Mattb* xxvii. 18, 19. yet the fear o£ Caesar hurries him on to the greatest of wickedness, even to give sentence against innocent blood, ye% the blood of the Son of God. Darius, in hke manner, Dan, vi. 14?^ knew that Daniel was not only an excellent person, but that he was entrapt by the nobles^ merely for his conscience, and that to put him to death was to sacrifice him to their malice : This he and his con- science debated all the day, many encounters he had with it ; for tlie text saith, Hq " was sore displeased with himself, arid he set " his heart on Daniel to deliver him, and laboured until the going " down of the sun to deliver him C but after a day's sharp fight betwixt him and his conscience, lust prevails at last against light, and returns victor out of the field in the evening. So it was with poor Spira ; he seemed to hear^ as it were, an inward voice. Do not write, Spira, do not write : but the love of his estate, wife, and children^ drew his hand to the paper, though conscience struggled hard to hold it back.
Thus, as the restless sea strives to beat down, or break over it3 bounds, so do impetuous lusts strive to over-bear light and con- viction ; video meliora proboque, deteriora sequor : They know this or that to be a sin, and that they hazard their souls by it ; but yet they will adventure on it^ and rush into sin as the horse into th^ battle.
Fourthly^ I promised to give you some instances of the conflicts betwixt men's consciences and their corruptions, wherein conscience is vanquished and over-borne, and by what weapons the victory over conscience is obtained. Now the convictions of men al^e two* fold, viZi
. 1. General^ respecting their state* 2. Pai-ticularj respecting this or that action.
\i There are general convictions and notices given to some meil and women by their consciences, that their condition, or state of soul is neither right nor safe; that they want the main things which constitutes a Christian, viz. regeneration, or a gracious changig of heart and life : They hear and read the signs and effects of thes^ things ; but their consciences plainly tell them it cannot find them in them ; that they enjoy the external privileges of the saints^ but they belong not to them ; that something is still wanting, and that the main thing too. O my soul, thou art not right ; thou hast" gifts, thou hast a name to live, but for all that tJhou «rt dead ;
S76 AN APPENDIX TO ENGLAND'S DUTY.
some further work must be done upon thee, or thou art undone to eternity : thou passest for a good Christian among men, but woe to thee if thou die in the state thou art. These, and such as these are the whispers of some men's consciences in their ears ; and yet they cannot so yield themselves up into the hands of their convictions, as to confess and bewail their hypocrisy and gross mistake, and seek for a better foundation to build their hope on. Felix's con- science gave him such a terrible rouze and monition as this, and made him to tremble whilst Paul reasoned with him about righ- teousness, and temperance, and judgment to come, Acts xxiv. 25* it whispered in his ear such language as this, O poor soul, how ^hall such an oppressor, such an intemperate wretch as thou art, stand before God in this day of judgment, which Paul proves in thy face is certainly future ? For, as Tacitus saith of him, He was inexplebilis gurges^ an insatiable gulph of covetousness : So it was with Agi-ippa, Acts xxvi. 28. he stood at half-bent, dubious, and unresolved what to do : he saw the heavenly doctrine of Christi- anity evidently confirmed by doctrines and miracles, his con- science pleaded hard with him to embrace it, and had almost pre- vailed ; almost, or within a little, as the word is, thou persuadest me to be a Christian : but Agrippa had too much wealth and ho- nours to deny and forsake for Christ; the love of the present world overbore both the hopes and fears of the world to come. And thus that excellent fisher for souls, who had thoroughly con- verted so many to Christ, caught but a piece of Agrippa ; almost is a great deal for so great a person. The gospel is a drag-net, and brings up all sorts, whole Christians, and half Christians. The conscience is caught, and the will begins to incline ; but O the power and prevalence of sin ! which, like the rudder, commands all to a contrary course.