Good Conscience, Treatise · Chapter 15
CHAP: XV.
The laſt motiue to a good Conſcience; The miſery of an evill one.
THe laſt motiue remaines, and thatThe fift motiue to a good Conſcience. is, The horrour and miſery of an evill Conſcience. If men did but truely know what the evill of an evill Conſcience were, and how evill a thing, and bitter it will bee when Conſcience awakens here, or ſhall be awakened in hell, a little perſwaſion ſhould ſerue to moue men to liue in a good Conſcience. We may ſay of the evill Conſcience, as Salomon ſpeakes of the drunkard. Pro. 23. 29. Who hath woe? who hath ſorrow? who hath contentions? who hath wounds, but not without a cauſe? Even the man whoſe Conſcience is not good, even hee that liues in an evill Conſcience.
An evill Conſcience, how miſerable it is, we may ſee by conſidering the miſery thereof, either in this world, or the world to come.
1. In this life. When an evill Conſcience is awakened in this life, the ſorrow, and ſmart, the horrour, & terrour is as the ioy of a good Conſcience, vnſpeakeable. An evill Conſcience in this life is miſerable, in regard of feare, perplexitie and torment. To liue in a continuall fear, and to hauehave a mans heart alwayes in ſhaking fits of feare, is a miſery of miſeries. And ſuch is the miſery of an euill conſcience. Pro. 28. 1. The wicked flees when none purſues. OnelyOnly his own guilt purſues him, & makes him flee. His owne guilt cauſes a ſound of feare in his eares. Iob 15. 21. WhichProprium autem eſt nocentium trepidare. Male de nobis actū erat, quòd multa ſcelera legem & iudicem effugiunt, & ſcripta ſupplicia, niſi illa naturalia & grauia de praeſentibus ſolverent, & in locū patientiae timor cederet. Senec, ep. 98. makes him ſhake at the noyſe of a ſhaken leafe, Lev. 26, 36. yea, that ſo ſcares him that terrours make him afraide on eueryevery ſide, and driue him to his feete. Iob. 18. 11. Yea, there are they in great feare where no feare is. Pſal. 53. 3. So that a man with an euill Conſcience awakened, may be named as Paſhur is. Ier. 2…. 3. Magor-Miſſabib, feare round about, as being a terrour to himſelfe, and to all his friends. verſe 4.
An euill Conſcience, euen makes thoſe feare fearefull feares, of whom al other ſtand in fear. How potent a Monarch, and how dreadfull a Prince was Belſhazzar, who was able to put him in to any fear, whom all the earth feared? And yet when his guilty conſcience lookes him in the face, awakened by the palme writing on the wall, ſee where his courage is then. Dan. 5. 6. Then the Kings countenance was changed and his thoughts troubled him, ſo that the ioynts of his loynes were looſed, and his knees ſmote one againſt another. Who would hauehave had his feare, to hauehave had his kingdome? Let him now cloath himſelfe with all his Maieſty, let him looke and ſpeake as terribly as he can, let him threaten the vileſt vaſſall in his Court, with all the tortures that tyranny can inflict, and let him try if he can for his heart, put his pooreſt ſubiect in▪ to that fright and feare that now his Conſcience puts him into, in the ruffe, and middeſt of his iollitie. But I pray what ayles he to be in this feare, in this ſo extraordinary a feare? He can neyther reade, nor vnderſtand the writing vponupon the wall. Indeed it threatned him the loſſe of his kingdome, but he cannot reade this threatning, he knows not whether they bee bitter things that God writes againſt him, why may hee not hope that it may be good which is written, and why may not this hope eaſe, and abate his feare. No, no. Though hee cannot reade no… vnderſtand the writing, yet his guilty conſcience can comment ſhrewdly vponupon it, and can tell him it portends no good towards him His Conſcience now tels him of his godles impieties, in profaning the veſſels of the Temple of the true God, and that for this his ſacrilegious impropriation, and abuſe of holy things, God is now come to reckon with him. Thus can his Conſcience do more then all his wiſe men. All the wiſe men came in, but they could not reade the writing, nor make knowne to the King the interpretation thereof. Dan. 5. 8. But his Conſcience is wiſer then all his wiſemen, and when they are all puzzeld, that interprets to him, that this writing meanes him no good, and though hee cannot reade the ſyllables, yet his conſcience giues a ſhrewd neere gueſſe at the ſubſtance of the writing, and therfore hence comes that ex…aſie of feare, and thoſe paroxyſmes of horror.
It was no better with Adam after his fall. After his ſinne committed, we find him in a great feare, Gen. 3. 8. 10. and he hides himſelfe for feare. Now obſerue how his feare is deſcribed, from the circumſtance of the time. They heard the voice of the Lord God, walking in the garden in the coole of the day. Luther layes the Emphaſis of the aggravation of his feare, vponupon this word, the winde or coole of the day. The night indeed is naturally terrible, and darkenes is fearefull, whence that phraſe. Pſ. 91. The terrors of the night. But the day and the light, is a cheerefull, and a comfortable creature, Eccl. 11. 7. Truely the light is ſweet, and a pleaſant thing it is for the eyes to behold the Sunne. How is it then, that in the faire day light, which giues courage and comfort, that Adam feares, and runnes into the thickets? Oh▪ his Conſcience was becomeGrauis mal… Conſcientiae, lux eſt. Senec. ep. 123. evill, and full of darkenes, and the darkneſſe of his conſcience turned the very light into darkneſſe, and ſo turned the comforts of the day into the terrours of the night. So that in this ſenſe, it may be ſaid of an evill Conſcience, which of the Lord is ſayd in another. Pſal. 139. 12. VntoUnto it the darknes, and the light are both alike. As full of feare in the light, as in the darke. And beſides, the Lord came but in a gentle wind, the coole breath of the day, now what a ſmall matter is a coole winde, and that in the day time to, to put a man in a feare? Such ſmall things breede great feares in euill conſciences. In what a woefull plight would Adam thinke wee hauehave bin, if the Lord had come to him, at the dead, and darke mid-night with earth-quakes, thunder, and bluſtring tempeſt?
We may ſee the like in Gain. After hee had defiled his Conſcience with his brothers blood, in what feares, yea, what idle feares liued he? Hee is ſo haunted with feares, that though hee had liued in Paradiſe, yet had he liued in a land of Nod, in a land of agitation, yea, of trepidation. Iudge what caſe his euill Conſcience made him in by that ſpeech. Gen. 4. 14. It ſhall come to paſſe, that eueryevery one that findes me ſhall ſlay me. Surely, there could not bee many yet in the world, and thoſe that were in the world, were either his parents, brethren, ſiſters, or neere kinred. His feare ſeems to imagine multitudes of people that might meet him, yea, & that eueryevery one he meetes would murther him. What will his Father or Mother bee his executioners? What if any of his ſiſters meete him, ſhall they ſlay him, is not ſuch a ſwaſh-buckler as he, able to make good his party with them? Loe what fearfull, & terrible things a guilty conſcience proiects.
As an euill Conſcience is miſerable in its feares, ſo in thoſe perplexities which this feare breedes. Theſe perplexities doe miſerably, and reſtleſly diſtract a man. Iſ▪ 57. 20. The wicked are like the troubled Sea, when it cannot reſt, whoſe waters caſt vp mire and dirt. What is the reaſon of theſe troubleſome perplexities? The want of the peace of a good Conſcience, verſ. 21. There is no peace ſaith my God, to the wicked. The windes make the ſea reſtles, and ſtirre it to the very bottome, ſo as the waters caſt vp mire and dirt. See in the troubled Sea, the embleme of a troubled Conſcience.
But the Torment exceedes all, and the main miſery of an euill conſcience lies in that. It is a miſery to be in feare, a miſery to hauehave inward turbulencies & commotions, but to be alwayes on the racke, alwayes on the Strapado, this is farre more truely the ſuburbs of Hell, then is the Popiſh Purgatory. Oh! the gripes, and girds, the ſtitches, and twitches, the throws, & pangs of a galling, and a guilty Conſcience. So ſore they are, and ſo vnſufferable, that Iudas ſeeks eaſe with an halter, and thinkes hanggingPoena autē vehemens, et multo ſaeuior, illis Quas et Ceditiu… grauis invenit & Rhadamā thus. eaſe, in compariſon of the torture of his euill Conſcience. All the rackes, wheeles, wilde horſes, hot pincers, ſcalding leade powred into the moſt tender, and ſenſible parts of the body, yea, all the mercileſſe, barbarous▪ and inhumane cruelties of the holy Nocte dieque ſuum geſt are in pectore teſtem. Iuvenal. Satyr. 3.houſe, are but flea-bitings, meere toyes, and May-games, compared with the torment that an euill conſcience will put a man to when it is awakened. It is no wonder that Iudas hangs himſelfe, it had beene a great wonder rather if he had not hanged himſelfe.
The Heathens fabled terrible thingsNoliteenim putare quemadmodum in fabulis ſaepenumero videtis, eos qui aliquid impie ſcelerateque cō miſerint, agitari, & perterreri furiarum taedis ardē tibus Sua quemque fraus, et ſuus terror maxime vexat ſuum quemque ſcelus agitat, a menti…que afficit. Suae malae cogitationes, Conſcientiaeque animi terrent. Hae ſunt impiis aſsiduae, domeſticaeque furiae, quae dies nocteſque parentum poenas à conſceleratiſsimis filiis rep… tant. Circer pro Roſc. A mer. Suum quemque facinus, ſuum ſcelus, ſuae audatia de ſanitate, ac mente deturbat. Haec ſunt impiorum furiae, flammae, hae faces Id. m L. Piſon. of their helliſh Furies, with their ſnakes and fiery torches, vexing & tormenting haynous, and great offenders. Theſe their Furies were nothing elſe, but the helliſh torments of guilty Conſcience, wherewith wicked perſons were continually haunted, as ſome of the wiſer of themſelues hauehave well obſerued. All ſnakes, and torches, are but idle toyes, and meere trifles, to the moſt exquiſite torment of a guilty and accuſing Conſcience.
The ſting of Conſcience is worſe then death it ſelfe. Apoc. 9. 5. 6. Their torment was as the torment of a ſcorpion when he ſtrikes a man; And in thoſe dayes ſhall men ſeeke death, and ſhall not finde it, and ſhall deſire to dye, & death ſhall flee from them, Popiſh ones tormented in their conſciences, by the terrible and vncomfortable doctrines of ſatisfactions, Purgatory fire, &c. which thoſe Locuſts ſhould ſo terrifie them withall, ſhould rather chooſe death then liue in ſuch vncomfortable condition: The ſting of death not ſo ſmart, as the ſting of a Scorpion in the conſcience. The ſting of an accuſing Conſcience, is like an Harlot, Prov. 7. 26. More bitter then death. And as Salomon there ſpeakes of the Harlot, ſo may it be ſayd of a tormenting Conſcience, Who ſo pleaſes God ſhall eſcape from it, but the ſinner ſhall be taken by it.
Gods deare children themſelues, many of them are not freed from trouble in their Conſciences, but they hauehave their hells in this life, Ion. 2. 2. Out of the belly of hell I cryed vntounto thee. God for their tryal ſpeaks bitter things to them, and not onelyonly denyes them peace but, cauſes their conſciences to be at warre with them. Now when God puts his owne children to theſe trials, and diſquiets of Conſcience, they are ſo bitter, & ſo biting, that had they not the grace of God to vphold and preſerue them, even they could not bee ſaved from dangerous miſcariages. Iob was put to this triall, and his Conſcience apprehended Gods anger, and we ſhall ſee what a caſe he was in. Iob 6. 8. 9. O that I might hauehave my requeſt, and that God would grant me the thing I long for, even that it would pleaſe God to deſtroy me, that he would let looſe his hand, and cut me off. Nay, worſe. Iob 7▪ 14. 15. Thou ſcareſt me with dreames, and terrifieſt me through viſions, ſo that my ſoule chooſes ſtrangling, and death rather then life. Gods grace preſerues his Saints from ſelfe-murder, but yet not alwaies from impatient wiſhes; Iob wiſhes ſtrangling, and chooſes it of the two, but goes no further. What wonder then that Iudas doth ſtrangle himſelfe, when his Conſcience ſtares him in the face, when as Iob, with whom God is but in ieſt in compariſon, chooſes ſtrangling. If Iob wiſh it, what wonder that Iudas doth the deed. Conſcience doth chaſtiſe the godly but with whips, but it laſhes the wicked with ſcorpions. Now if the whips be ſo ſmarting to Iob, as makes him chooſe ſtrangling, what wonder that the ſcorpions be ſo cutting, as makes Iudas ſeeke reliefe at an halter.
Yea, and that which addes to the miſery of an evill Conſcience, being awakened, it is ſuch a miſery as no earthly comfort can aſſwage, or mitigate. Diſeaſes and diſtempers of the body, though they be terrible, yet Phyſicke, ſleepe, & reſt upon a mans bed, yeeldes him ſome eaſe, & ſome comfort. Sometime in ſome griefes the comforrable vſe of the creatures, yeelds a man ſome refreſhments. Prou, 31. 6. 7. GiueGive wine vntounto thoſe that be of heauie hearts, let him drinke, and forget his pouertie, & remember his miſery no more. But Conſcience being diſquieted, findes no eaſe in theſe. Darius againſt his Conſcience ſuffers innocent Daniel to be caſt into the Lyons denne. What cheere hath he that night? He paſſed the night in faſting, Dan. 6. 18. Not in faſting in humiliation for his ſinne, but conſcience now began to gall him, and hee hauing marred the feaſt of his cōſcience, Conſcience alſo marres his feaſting, none of his dainties will now downe, his wine is turned into gall and wormewood, no ioy now in any thing. Hee had marred the muſicke of his conſcience, and now he brookes not other muſicke. The Inſtruments of muſike were not brought before him. His guilty cōſcience was now awakened, and now he cannot ſleepe; His ſleepe went from him. So Iob in his conflict of Conſcience hoped for eaſe in his bed, Iob 7. 13. My bed ſhall comfort me, my couch ſhall eaſe my complaint. But how was it with him? Either he could not ſleepe at all, verſ. 3. 4. Weariſome nights are appointed vntounto mee, when I lye▪ downe I ſay when ſhall I ariſe, and the night be gone? and I am full of toſſings to and fro vntounto the dawning of the day. Needes muſt he toſſe, whoſe conſcience is like the Sea waues toſſed with the windes, or elſe if Iob did ſleepe, yet did not Conſcience ſleepe, verſ. 14. but even in his ſleepe preſented him with ghaſtly ſights and viſions, When I ſay my bed ſhall comfort me, then thou ſcareſt mee with dreames, and terrifieſt me through viſions.
At other times when conſcience hath been good, Gods people though their dangers hauehave beene great, yet neither the greatnes, nor neerenes of their dangers hauehave broken their ſleep. Pſa. 3. 5. 6. I layd me downe and ſlept, I will not be afraid of ten thouſands of people that hauehave ſet themſelues againſt me round about. And yet if we looke to the title of the Pſalme, A pſalme of Dauid when hee fled from Abſolom his ſonne; one would thinke David ſhould hauehave had little liſt, or leaſure to hauehave ſlept. Peter thought to hauehave bin executed the next morrow by Herod, and though he alſo lodge betweene a company of ruffianly Souldiers, that happily one would feare might hauehave done him ſome miſchiefe in his ſleepe, yet how ſoundly ſleepes he that night. Act. 12. And holy Bradford was found a ſleep, when they came to fetch him to bee burnt at the ſtake. Theſe fears brake not theſe mens ſleepe. How might this come to paſſe? They did as Pſal. 4. 8. I will lay me down in peace, and ſleepe. He that can lie down in the peace of Conſcience, may ſleepe ſoundly, whatſoever cauſes of feare there be otherwiſe. But contrarily, he that cannot lie downe with, the peace of conſcience, will find but little reſt & ſleepe, though his heart bee free from all other feares. Euill conſcience being awakened will fill the heart with ſuch feares, as a man ſhall hauehave little liberty to ſleepe. Oh the ſweet ſleepe that Iacob had, and the ſweet dream when he lay vponupon the cold earth, and had an hard ſtone vnderunder his head for his pillow. An hard lodging, and an hard pillow, but yet ſweet reſt, and ſweet communion with God. A good conſcience makes any lodging ſoft and eaſie, but down-beds, and down-pillowes, if there bee thornes in the Confcience, are but beds of thornes, and beddes of nettles. The bitterneſſe of an evill conſcience diſtaſtes all the ſweets of this life, as when the mouth and tongue is furred in an hot Ague, all meates and drinkes are bitter to the ſicke partie. This is the miſery of an evill conſcience awakened in this life?
2. But it may bee many never feele this miſery here, there is therefore the more miſery reſerved for them in hell, in the world to come. Indeed more by many thouſands goe to hell like Nabal, …han like Iudas; more die like ſots in ſecuritie, then in diſpaire of Conſcience. Death it ſelfe can not awaken ſome conſciences, but no ſooner come they into hell; but Conſcience is there awakened to the full, never to ſleepe more; and then ſhe laſhes and gaſhes to the quicke, & lets men learne that forbearance was no payment. Tell many men of Conſcience, and they are ready to flap one on the mouth with that prophane proverbe, Tuſh, Conſcience was hanged many yeeres agoe. But the time will come, that they who hauehave lived in euill Conſcience, ſhall finde that Conſcience which they hauehave counted hanged, ſhall play the cruell hang-man and tormentor with them. They ſhall finde Conſcience vnhanged when it ſhall hang them vp in hell, when day and night it ſhall ſtretch them there vponupon the racke.
The torments which an evill Conſcience puts the damned to in hell, are beyond the expreſſion of the tongue, and the comprehenſion of mans conceit. There bee two ſpeciall things in the torments of hell, wee hauehave them both thrice repeated together. Mark. 9. 44. 46. 48. Where their worme dies not, and the fire is not quenched. There is an ever-living worme, and never-dying fire. And marke that in all the three verſes the worme is ſet in the firſt place, as it were to teach vsus, that the prime and principall torment in hell is the worme, rather then the fire. And what is the worme, but the guilt of an evill Conſcience, that ſhall lie eternally gnawing and grapping, twiching, and gryping, the heart of the damned in hell. Men talke much of hell fire, and it were well they would talke more of it; but yet there is another torment forgotten, that would be thought on too. There is an Hell worme, as well as there is an hell-fire. And it may be a queſtion whether of the two is the greateſt torment. And yet no great queſtion neither. For as the Heaven of Heaven, is the peace and ioy of a good, ſo the very Hell of Hell, is the guilt and worme of an evill Conſcience. A man may ſafely ſay, it is better being in Hel with a good conſcience, thē to be in heauē if that might be, with an evill one. Heaven without a good cōſcience, what is it better thē Hel? Paradiſe was an Heauen on earth, but when Adam had loſt the Paradiſe of a good conſcience, what ioy did Paradiſe and the pleaſures of the Garden affoord him more, then if he had beene in ſome ſad & ſolitary Deſert? A good conſcience makes a Deſert a Paradiſe, an euill one turnes a Paradiſe into a Deſert. A good Conſcience makes Hell to be no Hell, and an evill one makes Heaven to be no Heaven. Both the happineſſe, & miſery of Heaven and Hell, are from the inward frame of the Conſcience. The Hell of Hell, is the worme of Hell, and that worme is the worme of an evill Conſcience, which if it bee not wormed out, and ſo the conſcience in this life made good, it will bee an immortall worme in hell.
The helliſh diſpaire wherewith the damned are ouerwhelmed, comes rather frō this werme, then from the fire. Whoſe worme dies not, and whoſe fire is not quenched. The fire of Hell never quenches, becauſe the worme of Hell never dies. If the worme of Hell would die, the fire of Hell would go out. For if there were no guilt there ſhould bee no puniſhment. So that the very Hell of Hell, is that ſelfe-torment which an evill conſcience breeds.
Now then all this conſidered, how powerfully ſhould it move vsus to labor for a good conſcience. Thou that goeſt on in thine euill courſes, and hateſt to be reformed and reclaimed, doe but bethinke thy ſelfe if God ſhould awaken thy Conſcience, in what miſery thou ſhouldeſt liue here, what an Hell to hauehave a palſie Conſcience? what an Hell on earth to be alwaies vnderunder the accuſations, indictments, and terrors of Conſcience, and to liue Cainelike in a land of Nod, in a continuall reſtleſſe agitation.Vt ex cruditate febres noſcuntur, et vermes quando quis cibū ſumit intemperā ter, it a ſi quis peccata peccatis accumulet. nec decoquat eae poenitentia ſed miſceat pec cata peccatis, cruditatem contrahit veterū & recentiū delictorum igne adu retur proprio, et vernibus conſumetur. Ignis eſt quem generat moeſtitia delictorum, vermis eſt eo quod irrationabilia animi peccata, mentem pungunt, et viſcera exedant, vermes ex vnoquoque naſcuntur tanquā ex corpore peccatoris, hic vermis non morietur, &c. Amb. lib. 7. in Luk-c. 14.
But eſpecially as thou feareſt that euerliuing, and evergrabbing worme, ſo hauehave a care to get a good Conſcience. Greene and rawe fruits breed Cheſtwormes, which if heede bee not taken will eat the very maw thorow. A dead body and a putrified corrupt carkaſſe, breedes wormes that lye gnawing at it in the graue. The forbidden and rawe fruits of ſinne, are thoſe which breede cheſt-wormes in the Conſcience. The corruptions of the ſoule, and dead works, are thoſe that breed this liuing worme, take hede therefore of medling with theſe fruits that will breede this worme, & get thy conſcience purged from dead works, get this worme killed with the ſooneſt, for if thou letteſt it liue till thou die, it will neuer die at all, and will put thee to thoſe exquiſit torments, from which to bee freed thou woldeſt willingly ſuffer ten thouſand of the moſt cruell deaths that the wit of man were able to inuent.
As then I ſay thou feareſt this worme of Hell, ſo get a good Conſcience. Drinke down eueryevery morning a hearty draught of Chriſts bloud, which may make this worme burſt. And when once this worme is burſt and voyded, & the cōſcience well purged by Chriſts bloud, take heed ever after of eating thoſe raw fruites that will breed new wormes. Lead ſo holy, ſo vpright, and ſo conſcionable a life, that thou mayſt not by thy freſh ſins clog thy Conſcience with freſh guilt. Get thy Conſcience purged by Chriſts bloud, & thy converſation framed by Gods Word. Thy words were found by mee, and I did eat them. Ier. 15. 16. Doe thou ſo, eat no more the vnwholſome & worm breeding fruites of ſinne; but drinke Chriſts bloud, and eate Gods word, and they both ſhall purifie and ſcoure thy Conſcience from all ſuch ſtuffe, as may breed and feede the Hell-worme of an evill Conſcience.