A37045:146
Heaven upon earth in the serene tranquillity and calm composure, in the sweet peace…
Heaven upon earth in the serene tranquillity and calm composure, in the sweet peace and solid joy of a good conscience sprinkled with the blood of Jesus and exercised always to be void of offence toward God and toward men : brought down and holden forth in XXII very searching sermons on several texts of Scripture ... / by James Durham.
Edinburgh: printed by the heir of Andrew Anderson, 1685
Title page typeset from the transcription.
HEAVEN upon EARTH in a Serene and Smiling good Conscience. › Sermons on acts n24.16 › Sermon 3
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
And Its indeed on this ground▪ that merely civil men so much magnify and cry up their Conscience, and place all their Religion in that, being much darkened, and insensibly prejudicate as to their Light; when they come up the length, or near the length of that light, Conscience speaketh, and giveth its Testimony accordingly, and they have thence a sort of peace▪ but it is not the peace of a truly good Conscience. 4. A natural man, or a hypocrite may come a great length in respect of the external duties of Religion, and may have a kind of a good Conscience in that respect; as he may pray, and have some moral sincerity in it▪ and •o as he would •ain have a hearing, and would some way have his heart praying, •ay he may have a kind of delight in approaching to God, as its said of those hypocrites, Isa. 58. 2. He would •ain know what is Duty, and what is Sin, and he doth not deliberately thwart with his light; in this respect, Paul sayeth of himself before his Conversion, that as touching the righteousness of the Law he was blameless; and Rom. 10. 1. He bea•eth the Jews record, That they had a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge; and what I ⟨p. 46⟩pray was this, but Conscience un-informed in, and ignorant of the righteousness of God? from which ignorance of Christs righteousness, and of the way of coming to him, it came to pass that they went about to establish their own righteousness: So then the natural man, or hypocrite, when he hath come the length of some honest meaning, is disposed to think that he hath done very well and that he hath a good Conscience; yet though he may have a good Conscience in some respect, or in these respects mentioned, and the like, yet to have it simply, and positively from solid and good grounds, giving him a good Testimony, is impossible; and the reason is, because he hath not the Word going along with his Conscience, in reference to his whole carriage, and in reference to the principles, motives, ends and designs of his actions testifying for him, and therefore I say, he hath not the Testimony of a truly good Conscience.