A Golden Chain

The third thing is, the reformation of conscience;¹ which is, when it doth cease to accuse and terrify, and begins to excuse and testify unto us by the holy Ghost, that we are the children of God and have the pardon of our sins. And this it will do after that men have seriously humbled themselves, and prayed earnestly and constantly with sighs and groans of spirit for reconciliation with God in Christ. For then the Lord will send down his spirit into the conscience by a sweet and heavenly testimony to assure us that we are at peace with God.

The third thing is, the reformation of conscience;¹ which is, when it doth cease to accuse and terrifie, and begins to excuse and testifie vnto vs by the holy Ghost, that we are the children of God and haue the pardon of our sinnes. And this it will doe after that men haue seriously humbled themselues, and praied earnestly and constantly with sighes and grones of spirit for reconciliation with God in Christ. For then the Lord will send downe his spirit into the conscience by a sweete and heauenly testimonie to assure vs that we are at peace with God.

1. 1Good conscience a fruit of faith.

Thus we see how good conscience is gotten: and because it is so precious a ⟨p. 903⟩jewel, I wish all persons, that as yet never laboured to get good conscience, now to begin. Reasons to induce men thereto may be these: I. you seek day and night from year to year for honours, riches, and pleasures, which ye must leave behind you: much more therefore ought you to seek for renewed and reformed consciences, considering that conscience will be with you in this life, in death, at the last judgement, & for ever. II. He that wants a conscience purged in the blood of Christ, can never have any true and lasting comfort in this life. Suppose a man arrayed in cloth of tissue, set in a chair of estate, before him a table furnished with all dainty provision: his servants, Monarchs, and Princes; his riches the chiefest treasures and kingdoms in the world: but withal suppose one standing by, with a naked sword to cut his throat, or a wild beast ready ever and anon to pull him in pieces: now, what can we say of this mans estate, but that all his happiness is nothing but woe and misery? And such is the estate of all men that abounding with riches, honours, and pleasures, carry about them an evil conscience, which is as a sword to slay the soul, or as a ravenous beast ready to suck the blood of the soul, and to rend it in pieces. III. He which wants good conscience can do do nothing but sin: his very eating and drinking, his sleeping and waking, and all he doth, turns to sin: the conscience must first be good, before the action can be good; if the root be corrupt, the fruits are answerable. IV. An evil conscience is the greatest enemy a man can have, because it doeth execute all the parts of judgement against him. It is the Lords sergeant. God need not send out process by any of his creatures for man: the conscience within man will arest him, and bring him before God. It is the gayler to keep man in prison in bolts and irons, that he may be forth coming at the day of judgement. It is the witness to accuse him, the judge to condemn him, the hangman to execute him, and the flashings of the fire of hell to torment him. Again, it makes a man to be an enemy to God: because it accuseth him to God, and makes him ie from God, as Adam did when he had sinned.