Yea, but friend, how do you get leave of your conscience to do it? There was a time that conscience was against it; how came you to get leave of your conscience? was it not through the violence of your spirits? You would needs have it, you were set upon it that you must have your liberty, and preferment, your ease, and content, and you must not suffer such & such things, and by this violence of your spirits you come to ⟨p. 561⟩prevail with your consciences: Now conscience lets you go one but do not you think that conscience will tear you for this another day: for all you have prevailed with your conscience so as it doth not accuse you of such and such an evil way, but lets you go on; do not you think to hear of it another day? Oh yes, certainly conscience being Gods Vice-gerent, will do as God will do in this case, When men get their desires of God, why saith God, let them have them, but do not you think that God will call them to an account for it? So it is here; as men shall hereafter pay full dearly for those things that God suffers them here to have; so many men and women will pay full dearly for those things that conscience gives them now liberty to enjoy: though you have liberty yet you have got it in a forced way from conscience, and conscience will have another reckoning with you hereafter: you know how it was with Balaam, he had a mind to go to curse the people, it was because of his preferment, and though God did deny him once, yet he would ask again, and he would not be satisfied till God said at length, Go; Yea, but God met him in the way, and had like to have destroyed him for all that. Just so do many men with their consciences, it may be they see some preferment that they may get such a way, and their consciences for the present have some tenderness, but they will ask their consciences, and their consciences says no, but then they will ask again, and again, and, as I say, God said to Balaam at length, Go, but he said it to him in anger, and met him in the way and had like to have destroyed him; and so though conscience may do so, yet conscience will one day come out with a drawn Sword against thee, and it may be thy destruction.
Yea, but friend, how do you get leave of your conscience to do it? There was a time that conscience was against it; how came you to get leave of your conscience? was it not through the violence of your spirits? You would needs have it, you were set upon it that you must have your liberty, and preterment, your ease, and content, and you must not suffer such & such things, and by this violence of your spirits you come to ⟨p. 561⟩prevail with your consciences: Now conscience lets you go one but do not you think that conscience will tear you for this another day: for all you have prevail'd with your conscience so as it doth not acuse you of such and such an evil way, but lets you go on; do not you think to hear of it another day? Oh yes, certainly conscience being Gods Vice-gerent, will do as God will do in this case, When men get their desires of God, why saith God, let them have them, but do not you think that God will call them to an account for it? So it is here; as men shall hereafter pay full dearly for those things that God suffers them here to have; so many men and women will pay full dearly for those things that conscience gives them now libertie to enjoy: though you have libertie yet you have got it in a forced way from conscience, and conscience will have another reckoning with you hereafter: you know how it was with Balaam, he had a mind to go to curse the people, it was because of his preferment, and though God did deny him once, yet he would ask again, and he would not be satisfied till God said at length, Go; Yea, but God met him in the way, and had like to have destroyed him for all that. Just so do many men with their consciences, it may be they see some preferment that they may get such a way, and their consciences for the present have some tenderness, but they will ask their consciences, and their consciences saies no, but then they will ask again, and again, and, as I say, God said to Balaam at length, Go, but he said it to him in anger, and met him in the way and had like to have destroyed him; and so though conscience may do so, yet conscience will one day come out with a drawn Sword against thee, and it may be thy destruction.
