A Good Conscience the Strongest Hold, Treatise · Chapter 23
CHAP. XXIII. Of the Ʋſe of Conſolation.
ANd here we cannot but Proclaim the Happineſs, and commend the Wiſdome of thoſe bleſſed Souls that in this crooked and perverſe Generation, have made the better part their Choiſe and Care, viz. to get and keep the good Conſcience, that Conſcience void of offence before God and men; that have preferred Purity of Conſcience before Liberty, and have ſtudied Ʋprightneſſe while others have ſtudied Policy and fleſhly wiſdome. Theſe are like the few Names in Sardis, who had not defiled their Garments, who ſhall therefore walk in white, for they are worthy: theſe we may call the Phaenixes of the World. The good Conſcience, ſaith Bernard, is Rara Avis in Terris; ſed quò rarior apud homines, eò charior apud Deum.
Theſe men are the Noahs, Lots, Calebs and Joſhuahs of their Generations, for whom the World fares the better, and of whom God takes ſpecial care when times are worſt. Theſe are indeed the Chariots and Horſmen of Iſrael. How happy is he that can ſay with Hezekiah? Remember, O Lord, how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, 2. Kin. 20. 3.and have done that which was good in thy ſight. Or with Paul, My rejoycing is this, the Teſtimony 2. Cor. 1. 12.of my Conſcience, that in ſimplicity and godly ſineerity I have had all my Converſation in the World. I can ſtand up and ſay, I have corrupted no man, defrauded no man, circumvented no man: Let all the world ſtand up and ſay whoſe Oxe or Aſſe I have taken. Premat corpus, Secura cum corpus morie ur. Secura cum anima coram Deo praeſentabitur. Secura cum utrumque in die judicij ante terriſic…m judicis Tribunal ſtatuitur. De Conſc. c. 3. Bern▪tremat mundus, fremat Diabolus, illa ſemper erit ſecura. This man hath his houſe built on a Rock, he remains ſecure whatſoever winds blow, and when the rain falls and the flouds ariſe: He is ſecure in Sickneſſe, and ſecure in Death when body and ſoul are diſſolved; He is ſecure in Judgement when Heaven and Earth ſhall be diſſolved; and ſecure to Eternity when the wicked are deſtroyed. He hath the Ark pitcht within and without; he hath the Hid Manna, and the white Stone; He hath bread to eat others know not of, His Candle go…s not out by night; His Gleanings better than the Worldlings Vintage; His dry morſel ſweeter than a houſe full of Sacrifices with ſtrife and contenton. His Corner of the houſe top, or Wilderneſſe more delightfull than the fair and large houſe where that clamourous and contentious Shrew, the unquiet & ſcolding Conſcience is continually dropping or ſcalding rather. This man his walks are in the wood dropping with Hony, his dwellings upon the mountains of Myrrhe, his lodging upon beds of Spices. This man hath the beſt fare, and merrieſt life in the … 1…. 15, 16.World. A continual Feaſt: Feaſting yo… know is not ordinary fare, it is for no man… eaſe to Feaſt every day: Some great me… have Feaſ…ed (may be) once a year, as rich Nabal, Kings and Princes on their Birthdayes, as Pharaoh and Herod; Job had a great State to ſet out his Children withal, they Feaſted often, but not every day at the ſame houſe, but took their turns. Ahaſuerus had a Feaſt of an hundred and fourſcore dayes laſting, the longeſt that we read of, yet he was King of an hundred twenty and ſeven Provinces: God appointed his People ſhould Feaſt of old, yet but three times in the year, except it were the Sabbatical year, and the Jubile, then all was Feſtival the whole year throughout, and in the Jubile for two years one after another: No man ever Feaſted alway, but that Glutton, Luk. 16. 19. This man exceeds them all; he hath not one great Dinner as at a Chriſtmas Feaſt, or one good Supper as at an Ʋniverſity Commencement, and away; But every day is Feſtival with him, his whole life is a Sabatical or Jubile life. He is ever either Feaſting or Feaſted at home or abroad; Either he is Feaſted abroad, and Supping with Chriſt, or Feaſting at home, Chriſt Supping with him. Yea, this good Conſcience is to Jeſus Chriſt and to the Soul too, both the feaſting room, and the feaſting fare; it is the Chamber, and it is the Chear; Chriſt will come into no other room but this. This Sit Conſcientia pura ut Deum perducat a… hoſpitium noſtrum. Bern. de iu. domo.is his Ʋpper Chamber, furniſhed and made ready, where Chriſt will ſit down with his Diſciples and Servants, and this the fare. Give me thy heart, ſaith he: The Purity of Conſcience is our beſt Diſhwhich we can Feaſt him withal, and the Peace of Conſcience is Chriſts beſt Diſh, which he Feaſts us withal.
Thus you ſee what a good Houſe-keeper the good Conſcience-keeper is. He hath a continuall Feaſt, ſaith Solomon, Pro. 15. 15. And in the two following verſes, he anſwereth two Objections of the worldly mans making. Firſt they ask, Hath he ſo much feaſting? I pray you what is his State firſt? And ſecondly, What good Chear hath he at his Table? To the firſt he anſwereth, ver. 16. He may be but a poor man to ſee to, yet he keepeth ſuch a good houſe: for, Better is his little with the Fear of the Lord, than great treaſure and trouble therewith. And for his good Chear on his Table, it may be it is but homely, yet his Dinner of Herbs where Love is (the Love of God is) is better than a stalled Oxe and Hatred therewith. So that Solomons meaning in thoſe three verſes is, that a Good Conſcience is a Feaſt alone, and Riches alone, and Mirth alone; and that all good is contained in a good Conſcience, which is a moſt comprehenſive good.