Hark again:  the sweet morsels of sin will then be fled and gone, and the bitter, burning fruits of them only left.  What sayst thou now, sinner? canst thou drink hell-fire? will the wrath of God be a pleasant dish to thy taste?  This must be thine every day’s meat and drink in hell, sinner.

I will yet propound to thee God’s ponderous question, and then for this time leave thee:  “Can thine heart endure, or can thy hands be strong in the day that I shall deal with thee, saith the Lord?” What sayst thou?  Wilt thou answer this question now; or wilt thou take time to do it; or wilt thou be desperate and venture all?  And let me put this text in thine ear to keep it open, and so the Lord have mercy upon thee:  “Upon the wicked shall the Lord rain snares, fire, and brimstone, and a horrible tempest; this shall be the portion of their cup.”  Repent, sinners.

Conscience.

Conscience hath its place in the soul, where it is as a judge to discern of things good or bad, and judge them accordingly.  Romans 2:  14.  This conscience is that in which is the law of nature, I Cor. 11:  14, which is able to teach the Gentiles that sin against the law is sin against God.

Now this conscience, this nature itself, because it can control and chide them for sin who give ear unto it—­must it therefore be idolized and made a god of?  O wonderful! that men should make a God and a Christ of their consciences because they can convince of sin.

Thou gayest, He that convinces of sins against the law, leads up to the fulfilling of the law..  Friend, thy conscience convinces of sins against the law:  follow thy conscience, and it may lead thee under the curse of the law, through its weakness; but it can never deliver thee from the curse of the law by its power.  For if righteousness come by obedience to the law, or by thy conscience either, then Christ is dead in vain.  Gal. 2:  21.

A good conscience.

This must needs be a blessed help in distress, for a man to have a good conscience when affliction hath taken hold on him; for a man then, in his looking behind and before, to return with peace to his own soul, that man must needs find honey in this lion.

This is the way to maintain always the answer, the echoing answer of a good conscience in thy own soul.  Godliness is of great use this way; for the man that hath a good conscience to God-ward, hath a continual feast in his own soul:  while others say there is casting down, he shall say there is lifting up; for God shall save the humble person.  Some indeed, in the midst of their profession, are reproached, smitten, and condemned of their own heart, their conscience still biting and stinging them because of the uncleanness of their hands; and they cannot lift up their face unto God, they have not the answer of a good conscience towards him, but must walk as persons false to their God and as traitors to their own eternal welfare.  But the godly upright man shall have the light shine upon his ways, and he shall take his steps in butter and honey.  The work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness, and assurance for ever.  “If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.  Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence towards God.”