A Good Conscience the Strongest Hold, Treatise · Chapter 22
CHAP. XXII. The uſe of Terror to four ſorts of men.
THe next Uſe ſpeaketh Terror, and that in particular to four ſorts of men.
1. To ſuch as have no care to get or keep a good Conſcience, nor to avoid an evill. All the diſeaſes of the ſoul are bred firſt in an evill and vicious Conſcience: & all the torments & miſeries of Hel are epitomized in an unquiet, and ſelf-tormenting Conſcience. Suam ſecum Gehennam Portat, Ipſa teſtis, Ipſa judex, Ipſa Torter, ipſa carcer. This man carries his Hell along with him where ever he comes or goes, he carries his offence, his accuſer, his witneſſe, his Judge, his Jaylor, his tormentor with him.
This is the ſad melancholly Ague which will ſet thee a ſhaking, that no fire can warme Sua quem que fraus ſuum facinus, ſuum ſcelus, ſua audacia de ſanitate ac mente Deturbat. Hae ſunt improrum furiae, hae flammae, hae faces. Cicero. Cur tamen hos tu evaſiſſe putes, quos diri conſcia facti mens habet attonitos & ſurdo verbere caedit occulto quatīente animo tortore flagellum. Juvenal. Sat. 13.thee, nor canſt thou get any heat within thee, and though it may intermit and leave thee for a day or two, it is but gathering ſtrength to aſſault thee more fiercely when the next fit comes.
None can altogether excuſs and extinguiſh Conſcience let him do what he can; ſnub'd it may be, betrayed it may be as Sampſon was, Impriſoned it may be; you may cut his locks, put out his eyes, make him grinde, and be thy ſlave, and drudge; thou maieſt be ſo ſecure as to make ſport with him, yet will his locks grow againe, his ſtrength will returne, and he will be revenged on thee ere he hath done for his eyes put out, and will deſtroy thee, though he periſh with thee. Peccatum ſuſurrans will prove Peccatum exclamans, the witneſſes might be ſlaine, but did ſoon riſe againe, and up to heaven they went to accuſe the world of Irreligion and Impiety, Rev. 11.
2. To ſuch as are haunted and f…owed with that grieſly and ghaſtly fury of an evill accuſing, gnawing and corroding Conſcience; no wolfe on the breaſt like this, no worm in the inwards like this torment, it never lies quiet, its ever gnawing and corroding, as no phrenfie ſo outragious as the roaring and raging Conſcience; It is like the raging Sea which cannot reſt, Eſay 57. 21. No winds abroad cauſe an Earthquake, but what wind is incloſed in the bowels of the earth; no outward preſſures can ſo torment, as this inward horror, the wind within cauſeth the Gollick paines, not all the winds bluſtering about our ears, but that little wind though it make no noiſe that is ſhut up in the bowels, and pent up, that wrings and tortures the body; what are all the paines of body, to the gripes and gnawing and wringings of an accuſing diſquieted Conſcience?
This is the heart that continually meditates Terror to it ſelf; there is no darkeneſſe Paena autem vehemens & multo ſaevior illis, quas & Caeditius gravis invenit & Rhadamantus nocte die que ſuum geſtare in pectore Teſtem▪ Ju. 1 Tim. 5. 24. 2 Sam. 13. 13. 1 King. 2. 44. Gen. 42. 22or ſhadow of death like his blackneſſe of darkeneſſe: He flies from the Iron weapon, and the bow of ſteele ſhall ſtrike him thorow; The gliſtering ſword cometh out of his gall, all darkeneſſe is hid in hir ſecret place; a fire not blowne ſhall conſume him, Job 20. 24, 25, 26. His ſins have now found him out, and are going before him to judgement, whither he himſelf ſhall ſhortly follow. I, whither ſhall I go? ſaith he to his offended Conſcience, where ſhall I leave my ſin and ſhame? and Conſcience againe replies, thou knoweſt all the evill that thy heart is privy too, as Solomon ſaid to Shemei: nay ſaith Conſcience you would not hear me, as Reuben ſaid to his brethren, did I not ſpeak to you, and tell you then, you muſt take what follows, you have troubled Conſcience, and Conſcience will trouble thee. Men make light of the checks and admonitions of Conſcience while they are in purſuit of ſin and amidſt their proſperity, but when diſtreſs and anguiſh comes to take hold of them, how do they cry out! Oh Conſcience! Conſcience! Oh that I had hearkened to Conſcience! as it ſaid of Rich Craeſus, who glorying in his wealth, Solon told him that no man could reckon himſelf happy till he ſaw his end, Craeſus regarded not till being overcome by Cyrus, and condemned to be burnt to death; then he remembred what Solon had ſaid to him, and in the fire he cryed out, Oh Solon! Solon! being asked what he meant, he told them now he thought of Solons words and found them true, and repented that he had made no more uſe of them when time was.
3. It ſpeaks terror to ſuch as have an unwakened, unſenſible, and ſleepy Conſcience, no Lethargie ſo dangerous, and near to death—Gelidae eſt quaſi mortis imago. The Lethargick, ſleepy, ſtupid Conſcience is the moſt hopeleſſe Conſcience that can be. The dumb, deaf, ſilent, ſpeechleſſe, bedrid Conſcience is the moſt deſperate diſeaſe in the world. The Phyſitian cures the Lethargy by a feaver if he can caſt his patient into one, and let me tell thee, it is better God ſhould caſt thee into a hot burning feaver of Conſcience by any affliction or horror whatſoever, then that thou ſhouldeſt go ſleeping and ſnoring to Hell. It is not a more certaine token of death approaching to the body, when you ſee ſpeech gone, eyes ſet in the head, breath failing, feeling loſt, pulſe ſtopping, excrements coming away unawares, that ſuch a one is drawing on to his Grave. Then when you ſee the eyes of Conſcience ſet, feeling gone, checks ceaſe, Heart-ſmiting done, all Sins perpetrated, yet the Soul lies wallowing in his noyſome Excrements, that ſuch a Soul is drawing on to the Chambers of Hell. The body of the former ſleeps, but his 2. Pet. 2. 3.Death ſlacks not; the Soul of the latter ſleeps too; But his Judgement and Damnation ſlumbers not, but is haſtening upon him.
4. It ſpeaks Terror again to ſuch as are already fallen, or are entring into that diſeaſe called by Divines Vaſtatio Conſcientiae, the waſting or Conſumption of Conſcience, the worſt Conſumption. Such a Diſeaſe as the Phiſitian meddles with none ſo bad. This if not very timely prevented and ſtayed, turns ever into one of thoſe two deſperat and incurable Diſeaſes; thou wilt either be ſtricken with a cold benumming Palſie or Lethargie, and ſo be half dead while thou art alive; or into a raging and deſperate Phrenſy it turns, which will make thee be half in Hell while thou art alive. The one was Nabals diſeaſe, who was ſtricken with it that he became as cold, hard, and liveleſſe as a ſtone, and was no better than a breathing Clot, and ſo he died, and is much like that Plague threatned, Zach. 14. 12. where the fleſh rots and conſumes upon their feet while they ſtand, their eyes conſume away in their holes, and their tongues in their mouthes, ſo that they have neither ſight, nor taſt, nor ſpeech, nor motion, yet living: Death it ſelf were to be choſen before ſuch a Life. The other was Joram's diſeaſe, whom God ſmote in his Bowels with an incurable diſeaſe, of which he lay in great extreamity for two years ſpace, and at laſt his very Bowels 2. Chron. 21. 19.fell out by reaſon of his ſickneſſe day by day, and ſo he died in great horrour; of whom may be ſaid as was ſaid to Maximinus, that Tyrant and bloudy Perſecutor, when ſwarms of Lice did Gender in his diſeaſed & putrified body, & dayly did crawl about him, that no Phyſitian could endure to come near him, divers of them being ſlain becauſe for the filthy ſtink they could not endure his preſence, others ſlain becauſe they could find no means to cure him, one of the Phyſitians then ſpake plainly to him, and told him, Nec eſt humanus iſte Morbus, nec medicis curatur. It is not a naturall diſeaſe, but a Divine ſtroke of Gods hand; it is paſt the Phyſitians skill to deal with it.