A Good Conscience the Strongest Hold, Treatise · Chapter 10
CHAP. X. Of the well ſpoken Conſcience.
Of the wel. ſpoken conſcience.THe well-ſpoken Conſcience is that which can make the Soule a good Anſwer, or upon juſt Occaſion can make fit Demands, and put forth his Queres. This is that good Conſcience, or rather Property of it which Peter commendeth ſo much, reſembling it to Noahs Arke, and ſaith of it, that it ſaves us. 1 Pet. 3. 21. The like figure whereunto even Baptiſme doth alſo now ſave us, not the putting away of the filth of the fleſh, but foreign. The anſwer of a good Conſcience towards God.
Which word foreign ſignifies as well or rather an Interrogation, then an Anſwer; Stipulstio. Some thinke the Apoſtle doth allude to that Practiſe of Demands made in Baptiſme, Credis, Credo? which Practiſe though very Ancient, yet may be queſtioned whether ſo Ancient.
Our Tranſlators have choſen rather to render foreign an Anſwer. And in this ſenſe it tells us what conſcience hath to do.
Firſt, It makes a good and ready Anſwer to God; It is ever as quick of Speech as it is of Sight, or of Hearing; when God ſaith Seeke ye my face, my heart ſaith David talkd of it and went up and downe with it. Thy face Lord I will ſeeke. Pſal. 27. 8. It is written of me that I ſhould doe thy will, Pſal. 40. 8. Conſcience replyes, thy will O my God is my will. Thy law is in my heart, I am content to do it. Conſcience goes often into Habukuks watch Hab. 2. 1.Towre, and watcheth liſtening what the Lord hath to ſay, and ſtudieth what to anſwer when he is ſpoken unto. Speak Lord ſaith Conſcience, for thy ſervant heareth; yea Conſcience is 1 Sam. 3. 10.ready to aske, and liſten, Lord what wilt tb…u have me to doe? As Auguſtine often, da quod Act. 9. 6.jubes, et jube quod vis. Lord give what thou commandeſt, and give what Command thou wilt. Loquere Magiſter bone, libenter te audio, et cum adverſaris mihi, et cum iraſceris audio te. Cyprian.
Secondly, It makes a good anſwer foreign, for God according to that Precept, 2 or 3 verſes before. 1 Pet, 3. 15, 16. Sanctifie the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready alway to give an anſwer to every man that asketh you a Reaſon of the hope, that is in you with meekeneſſe and reverence having a good Conſcience, that whereas they ſpeak evill of you as of evill dooers they may be aſhamed that falſely accuſe your good converſation in Chriſt. So that with S. Peter it is a matter of Conſcience, and a marke of a good Conſcience, to be ready to yeeld an account of our Spirituall ſtate when it is required of us. Nicodemus thought he was bound in Conſcience to ſtand up and make an Anſwer for Chriſt, when he was unjuſtly condemned in the Conſiſtory, being never heard and never ſummoned. Doth our Law condemnn any man ſaith he, before it heare him, and know what he doth? Good Conſcience cannot be ſilent Jo. 7. 51and fit ſtill without an anſwer when any cauſe of God is in hand. A good Conſcience thinks it is the heavieſt crime that can be laid Blaſphemiam ingerit religioni quam colit qui…quod confitetur ante omnes non impleverit. Cyprian.to any mans charge to be ſilent for God. Let them call me Adulterer, Theife &c. or what they pleaſe ſaid Luther, ſo that I may not be charged with wicked ſilence in the cauſe of God.
Thirdly, Good Conſcience makes many a good anſwer fot ones ſelfe, when under the greateſt cloud of Cenſures and Suſpitions, or under the Aſperſions of all Obloquies. Ro. 9. 1. I ſpeake the truth ſaith the Apoſtle, and lie not, my Conſcience alſo is my witneſſe, This the ſame Apoſtle glories in in another place; we are as deceivers ſay you, but yet True men ſaith 2 Cor. 6. 8. 9.Conſcience. As unknown ſay you, well enough known ſaith Conſcience. Conſcience makes the beſt Certificate and gives the beſt Teſtimony to any man that hee can have, with which Certificate he may confidently travell and paſſe the whole world over, yea at laſt with this he ſhall not feare to enter Heaven, conducted thither by a guard of Angels.
Fourthly, When any buſineſſe of greateſt conſequence is under conſideration, Conſcience puts the beſt anſwer into thy mouth, and will readily reſolve what is to be done. Enquire-ſtill at Conſciences mouth, and ſay as Paul to Philemon, without thy advice wil I do nothing; conſult not in ſuch caſes with fleſh and blood, with ſafety and policy, but with conſcience and duty, and the anſwer is ready, Phil. v. 19▪ Habes ſpacium trium dierum in quo deliberes veliſne Romam reverti aut aliquem locum quo traducaris eligere. cui ille, trium dierum vel etiam menſium ſpacium rationem non immutat, quare mittas me licet quo velis. Magd. Cent. 4. c. 3.we need not crave time; As Liberius a Godly and Orthodox Biſhop of Rome, when convented before Conſtantius an Arrian Emperour, and charged there with ſtubbornes, for partaking with Athanaſius, anſwered moſt freely before the Emperour; at laſt when after all faire perſwaſions and ſharp threats, he found him perſiſting in his former reſolutions, he gave him then three dayes time to conſider of it, whither then to returne to his Biſhoprick at home, or to be baniſht, or to ſet downe what he would make choice of: He anſwers, O Emperour, ſend me whither thou wilt, three dayes or three moneths are all one to me; Truth and reaſon do not change with time. So into baniſhment he was ſent. If men would in their ſtraites, when they know not what to reſolve upon, caſt their lot into the lap of Conſcience, they ſhould have a more certain, eaſie and compendious reſolution, then by conſulting with fleſh and blood, and reading (ſometimes) many diſcourſes. Cathedram habet in conſcientia, qui corda docet. Conſcience ſhould bee made Doctor of the Chayre, It is the moſt ſound Divinity Reader, and oftentimes the moſt ſatisfying Caſuiſt in the world, and the beſt reſolver of all our doubts.
Secondly, foreign ſignifies rather an Interrogation or demand, as Beza ſaith well upon the place, though our tranſlation render it foreign pro reſpondere, & teſtificari vix putem ſatis aptè uſurpari poſſe Beza 1 Pet. 3. 21 Jud. 13. 12.an anſwer. Conſcience hath many queſtions to put, and it is ſtill the nature of conſcientious men to be enquiring, as Manoahs wife, when ſhe had the Angell to reſolve her, now tell us, how ſhall we order the Childe? What ſhall we doe unto him? All that came unto Iohn, wrought upon by his miniſtery, came with this queſtion Luk. 3. 10, 12, 14. The moſt proper, and pertinent queſtion, And what ſhall we do? What ſhall we doe? ſaid the Publicans, and People, and Souldiers: So is conſcience ſtill inquiſitive, deſiring to goe upon ſafe grounds. It inquires at the mouth of God. 1. By Prayer, as David, Lord ſhall I goe? 1 Sam. 30. 8 Joh. 34. 32. Luk. 10. 26 Iſa. 8. 20.as Job, That which I ſee not, teach thou me. 2. By the word, How is it written? How readeſt thou? is conſciences queſtion; And to the Law and Teſtimony, is conſciences reſolution. 3. Conſcience enquires at the Prieſts lips, and ſeekes the law at his mouth. Mal. 2. 7. Comes unto him for private Conference, and ſatisfaction. 4. Conſcience puts caſes in writing, and propounds his doubts and ſcruples, and deſires reſolution; As the Corinthians had written to Paul, in a certain caſe which did much perplex them, deſiring his reſolution, 1 Cor. 7. 1. Laſtly, Conſcience hath many queſtions to put home to a mans ſelfe; He muſt commune with his own heart, and cauſe his ſpirit to make a diligent ſearch in himſelfe, as the Pſalmiſt ſaith, he ſometimes did. Pſal. 77. 6.
From whence it is that you ſee ſtill young Converts, they have many queſtions to make, and caſes to put; they dare not walke at a venture (as the word is, Levit. 26. 21, 23, 27.) for that is indeed to walke contrary to God, as it there rendred.