CHAP. I.

HOwever the phrase orTaken from the most tender parts of the body, as the eye, & or rom some part newly healed. expression of tenderness of Conscience, is not to be found in Holy Scripture, totidem verbis, yet the thing it self is both in precepts and examples. InTim. 5.22. keep thy self pure, Eccles. 9.2. as he that feareth an oath. precepts 1 Tim. 3.9. holding the mystery of faith in a pure Conscience. 1 Thes. 5.22. abstain from all appearance of evil, or (as it may be read) from all kind of evil. Besides these and many other precepts, we haveGen. 44.17. God forbid I should do so, 2 Sam. 24.10. Davids heart smote him, 1 Chro. 11.19. my God for­bid it me that I should do this thing. examples many: Of David 1 Sam. 24.5. troubled for cutting of his Soveraigns Skirt; of Paul Act. 23.1. and Act. 24.16. and elsewhere. Other ex­amples there are, which for brevity I pretermit. That of Josiah usually alledged, is not so clearly per­tinent 2 Chron. 34.27. the tenderness of his heart ex­presseth it self in humiliation.

2. Tenderness of Conscience, or a tender Consci­ence, is a gracious mean betwixt a scrupulous Con­science on the right hand, and a wide, sluggish or sear­ed Conscience on the left hand; whereby we are quickly and deeply sensible of having done, and wary of doing any evil God hath clearly forbidden, or of [Page 2] omitting any good he hath clearly commanded.

3. A mean or mediocrity is that which lies betwixt two extreames, and is ordinarily twofold:Medium per participa­tionem, seu secundum for­mam per ne­gationem utri­usque extremi seu per priva­tionem Jandu­n [...]s. 1. Of Participation, so a gray colour is a mean betwixt black and white, as partaking of both. 2. Of Abnegation, so moral virtues are a mean betwixt two vicious ex­treames, as denying to share with either, but rather receeding from, and opposing both. The former I may not unfitly term,Medium compositionis vel oppositionis. Medium compositionis; the latter Medium oppositionis.

4. These means are of several sorts, Natural, Artifi­cial and Moral. Not to speak of the 2. former, a Moral mean is twofold, 1. A Virtue, 2. A thing Indifferent. A Virtue is a medium, whose two ex­treams [...], &c. Aristot. Ethic. lib. 2. c. 6. are both evil. A thing Indifferent, whose two extreams are one evil, the other good in gene­ral.

5. All moral virtues, however for their quality they are an [...], and for their degree, yet as to their essence they are [...], ibid. a [...]. Thus valour lies be­twixt rash venturousness on one hand, and cowardise on the other; liberality betwixt prodigality and covetuous­ness, magnificence betwixt wast and parcimony, magna­nimity betwixtRebus au­gustis animo­sus atque fortis appare, sapienter idem, contrahes vento nimium secundo, turgida vela, Hor. pride and pusillanimity, modesty be­twixt ambition and contempt of honour, meekness betwixt wrath and over much lenitude or sheepish­ness, &c.

6. As it is in Moral virtues, so it is in Christian graces, As polling the head is a mean betwixt letting the hair grow at full length, and shaving it quite off. So EZek. 44.20. Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long, they shall only poll their heads, spoken of the Jewish Priests. they are seated between two extreams, which [Page 3] yet are not only by defect and excess, but by a contra­ry deviation also from a just intermediate rectitude. Deut. 5.32. you shall observe to do what the Lord your God hath commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right hand nor to the left. Mat. 7.14. Strait is the gate, and [...]. Aristot. ubi supra, sed tendit in ardua virtus. Ovid. narrow is the way.

Contrition for sin is a mean 'twixt hardness and no sorrow, 1 Cor. 5.2. on one hand, and being over­whelmed with over much sorrow on the other, 2 Cor. 2.7. Justifying faith is a mean betwixt works, as pre­tending to justification on one side, and a dead faith void of works on the other. Hope is seated 'twixt desperation and presumption; Charity 'twixt jealous, rash suspicion on one side, and blind affection on the other; Zeal 'twixt a cooler or (which is worse) a lukewarm temper on this side, and a phrenetical fu­rious distemper on that side; Temperance is a keeping the body in subjection between pining and pinching on one part,Sicut inter a­quam, & ignem tenenda est via, ut nec exuratur homo nec demerga­tur; ita inter apicem viti­orum in excessu & inter vora­ginem eorun­dem in defectu, iter nostrum temperare de­bemus ne vel ad dextram vel sinistram decli­nemus Augu­stin. and glutting and pampering it on the other. Timothy being infirm was advised to drink no longer water, but a little wine for his stomacks sake and his often infirmities, 1 Tim. 5.23. And Amnon had done well (of whom we read 2 Sam. 12.28) if he had drunk no longer wine, but a little wa­ter for his souls sake and filthy lustfulness. Patience is betwixt repining and raging on the left hand, and a stupified senslesness on the right. Self denial 'twixt self love, resolving to lose nothing though God call for it; and self neglect or injury, in giving up all when we need not, as in the vow of poverty. Spiri­tual joy 'twixt a drooping heavy spirit, and a carnal wanton profuse joy.

The fear of God is a narrow path, between aQui solo timore facit quod jubetur licet bonum facit non tamen bene facit. Sanctus Aug. de spir. & litera. Nemo invi­tus bene facit, etiamsi bonum est quod fa [...]t, invitus facit qui solo timore facit, lib. confess. 1. c. 12. slavish fear on one side, and a want of all fear on the other; between the spirit of bondage, Rom. 8. [Page 4] Heb. 2. where love hath not predominion above fear and fearlesness, where fear hath not predominion above security.

7. As Christian graces, so Christian duties are fenced within the same narrow path.Before thou prayest prepare thy self, and be not one that tempts the Lord, Eccles. 18.23. To come without preparation to them, is to offer indignity to them; to spend over much time in it, is to incroach upon them. In hearing, we walk upon a narrow bridge, and must take heed how we hear; for we must neither superciliously or irreverently hear, because it isLuk. 10.16. Non sum propheta, non sum Apostolus; & prophetae & apostoli (audeo dicent) vice fungor: & quibus non ae­quor mer tis, corum implicor curis, Bern. super Cantic. Serm. 42. God that speaks by man; nor must we blindly and carelesly swallow all we hear, because it is but Man by whom God speaks. In the duty of Preaching, we are neither on one hand, so to Preach the law and damnation as to drive men to desperation; nor on the other, so to manage the Gospel and the sweet promises, as to draw them to presumption: we must speak as the oracles of God, and yet use plains; minister milk, and yet strong meat. In reception of the Lords Sup­per I must strike a middle path, betwixt profane irre­verence and superstitious adoration. Non se misceat conscientiae tuae laudis humanae appetitus cum in cleem osyna faci­enda d [...]vinum praeceptum contendis implere. Aug. In giving alms I must pass between the right hand and the left.

8. To him that impartially & diligently searches into the most dark and difficult disputes, Disputes and controversies are the Churches con­vulsion fits. that do at this day trouble the Church, it will I think be apparent, that the truth lies in a mean betwixt two unsafe extreams. This I humbly conceive might be made appear in the difficulties concerning Gods infallible foresight, and yet his permission of what is not pleasing to him.Auream quis­quis mediocri­tatem diligit, tutus, &c. Hor. lib. 2. od. 10. We need neither deny or impair Gods purity or holiness, nor yet his providence; neither the freedome of his grace, nor yet that freedome of will which is ne­cessary to a rational creature. The same may be said of the controversies concerning unbelief, perfection in this life, the virtue and efficacy of the Sacraments, [Page 5] original sin, Christs mediation, Tene medium, si non vis per­dere modum, locus medius tutus est, me­dium sedes mo­di, & modus virtus, Bern. de consid. lib. 3. cap. 10. Gods justification of a sinner, assurance of salvation, perseverance in grace, the Lords day, and all the disputes about worship and di­scipline. The middle path in all which and several others, though as to my private satisfaction I have tracted in some measure, yet here I must not do it, having already been too large upon the genus of a tender Conscience, contrary to the rules of short and positive discourses; only my intire love to mode­ration (of which I crave pardon, if it keep not a mean also) hath drawn me out so far, nor can I pass from it, till I have observed one thing more, viz.

9.Sancta ecclesia consistit unita­te fidelium, sicut corpus uni­tate membro­rum, Gregor. Mo [...]. lib. 29. That amongst all those several ways of Chri­stian Religion (oh that there were but one way, though upon condition I forfeited and lost my life as often as there are several ways) that seems the truest that stands in the middle betwixt what is idolatrous and what pro­fane, what is toyish and superstitious, and what is naked and rude; holding to the Scriptures against the one, [...]odicis rebus longius aevum est, Senec. Trag. in Agamem. and to judgement and practice of venerable antiquity, where the Scriptures are dark, against the other. And for this, view one of the pearls that dropt from the rich Pen of our late dear and dread Soveraign King Charles the Martyr, in his [...], a book so exeellent for Wis­dome, Judgment, Piety, Charity, Elegancy, that it is worthy to be in the Hands, Head, and Heart of all Christians; In his Farewell Letter to the Prince of Wales, now our Gracious King, speaking of the Re­ligion establisht in the Church of England, his Maje­sty gives it this Elogium.

I have tryed it, and after much search and many disputes, have concluded it to be the best in the world, not only in the community as Christian, but also in the special notion as reformed, keeping the middle way between the pomp of Superstiti­ous [Page 6] Tyranny, and the meaness of Phantastick Anarchy.

Kings standing higher, see farther then other men in matters of Church and State.

CHAP. II.

Virtutibus ho­mo disponitur ad act [...]ones suas quatenus a ratione move­tur, donis vero quatenus mo­vetur a Deo, Aquinas. Virtus theolo­gica.I. THis tenderness of Conscience is a gracious mean, which distinguishes it from a bare moral vir­tue: For however there is a Conscience in every man, as having the law of nature in his heart, so that a mere natural man or Heathen, may have some kind of tenderness of Conscience; yet here I speak of it as it is a Christian virtue, and therefore call it a gra­cious mean.

2. Christian graces do eminently contain under them all moral virtues, as the reasonable soul contains the sensitive and vigetative. Possunt aliqua bona fieri non benefacientibus a quibus fiunt, August. contra Julian. Hypocritae sunt simulatores mali adjun­gentes se fictâ charitate cap­tantes omnes motus omnia verba sancto­rum, in omni­bus [...]aqueos inquirentes. St. Aug. in Psal. 40. Moral virtues being also as the stock, and graces as the grafts: for as the stock may bring forth fruit, yet harsh, not pleasing, sower, not acceptable till it be grafted; so a moral man may bring forth much fruit, yet not pleasing to God, till grace be grafted on him.

3. Therefore that tenderness which an hypocrite or carnal man pretends to, is not true tenderness, nor pleasing to God: Yea the more tender such a person makes himself, the more seared is his conscience through hypocrisie. Absolom 2 Sam. 15.6. pretend­ed much tenderness about his vow in Hebron, when his intention, were to dethrone his father. The grace­less Pharisees did pretend a tenderness of the Sabbath, but their intentions was to accuse our Saviour.

4. Whence it follows, that the more sound and well grown grace is in the heart,Mat. 12.20. the more tender is the [Page 7] conscience; and contrariwise the less grace, the less true tenderness. And for a graceless person to pre­tend to it, is as absurd as for a Dwarf to pretend to stature, or a lame man to agility.

5. This therefore being a gracious disposition, must necessarily have God for the Author, or efficient cause, Quicquid san­ctum cogita veris Dei munus est, Dei inspiratio, Dei gratia, Ambr. de Abel & Cain cap. ult. which I did not explicitly lay down in the de­finition, as supposing that it is sufficiently under­stood in the Genus: James 1.17. Every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the father of lights, &c. Dicendum quod Deus operator in voluntate & natura sicut causa prima in secundis, Aquin. in Distinct. 24. lib. 2.

6. The final cause also may here be taken in,Jer. 32.40. Paenam semper ante oculos ver­sari putant, qui peccaverunt. Cicer. pro mi­lone. Nudabitur pe­ctoris mei con­scientia, & aperto corde vi­debuntur literae peccatorum, Orig. hom. 12 which is to keep us from sinning against him. The consci­ence being Gods Commissioner in the soul, to examine what we do, keeping therein a petty Sessions, whereby preparation is made for the great Assize. The ten­der conscience is a faithful judge, the scrupulous con­science a foolish, the wide, seared conscience a corrupt bribed judge. If natura nil agit frustra, much less the God of nature, who hath put this principle of nature into the soul of man.

CHAP. III. Of the right hand extream, viz a scrupulous conscience.

SCrupulous is a diminutive of scrupus, Scrupulus di­minutivum à scrupus propriè est lapillus bre­vis & asper qui in calceo lateus plerun­que nos laedit, nam pressus pede sollicitudinem creat Altenst. vocab. which is a little sharp piece of a stone; from whence some­what forcedly some would have a scrupulous conscience so called, because as a small stone in the shoo causes a man to go in pain so a scruple in the conscience is irk­some to him that acts and scruples at what he acts.

Dubia plus tor­quent mala, Sen. Trag. in Agamem.But more probably it seems so termed from scru­pulus, which is one of the least weights, because such a conscience stumbles at things of the least weight or moment, not worth our while to trouble our thoughts with it.

2. A scrupulous conscience is that which sticks at small and trivial things, upon small and trivial rea­sons.

Res mediae di­cuntur, quae per se sive ex sua naturâ sim­pliciter aesti­matae, nec bonae nec malae sunt ut esca, & po­tus, & similiae, Beza epist. ad peregrinarum in Anglia ec­clesiarum fra­tres.3. I call those things small and trivial, which are in their own nature meerly indifferent; or if they have some degree of evil or good, are not discovered so to be in a clear way to him that scruples at them: in which reguard if not in themselves, yet as to him they are trival.

4. Those reasons or arguments I call trivial, which in the judgement of common reason (not elouded with passion) together with common illumination, have no force or strength in them.

5. Common reason is that which every man is in­dowed with, who is compos mentis, and grown up to years of discretion; and that common illumination, which every Christian is endowed with, who may be thought fit to partake of the Lords Supper, as to matter of knowledge.

To scruple to set our foot cross over a straw in the high way for fear of making the figure of the Cross. Eo demùm ve­niet, ut super transversam (qu [...]d dicitur) festucam ince­dere nefas ducat Calv. Instit. lib. 3. c. 19. Sect. 7.6. Instances of a scrupulous conscience many may be given; these few may serve for a tast. To scruple in extream thirst to drink in that cup, which another hath drunk in to excess; to scruple to go a mile to the Church on the Sabbath, because there is labour in it. To stick at eating fish on a fasting day, be­cause some refuse to eate flesh on that day; to stick at uncovering the head or bowing the knee to a superiour, because we give such worship to God.

In like manner for a candidat or inceptor to scruple at putting on, suppose, a Master of Arts Cap, Gown, Hood or Habit, because some such like habiliments were in use before the Reformation; nor can I think that many of the Presbyterian way, do really scruple [Page 9] at a white garment in Divine Service: for if there were any colour of sin in a colour (which in truth there is not) red should have more of sin in it then white, to which the deepest died sins are compared, Isa. 1.18. Rev 17.3. Justification being compared to the whiteness of wool and snow; and sanctification to linnen pure and white, Rev. 19.8.

Yet the chief and leading men of that way, did at certain times in the fight of many thou­sands, wear Skarlet Gowns and Hoods in the Univer­sities, not only at Disputations and Congregations, but at sermons, yea (if I mistake not) did preach ad Clerum in their scarlet Copes, one of the gravest habits in the world, and much used in one of the Univer­sities at solemn times. Wherein a man may wonder, as why they should not scruple as much at scarlet as as at white; so much more, why they should stumble more at white of linnen, then at the white of miniver wherewith that habit is largely indorsed.

Of School-writers, none that I know speaks more to the purpose then Antoninus, from whom some Modern Writers seem to borrow that little that they have upon that subject.A quibusdem vocatur erronea conscientia, ab aliis timor con­sc entiae, ab aliis pusillanimitas, Anton. Sum. part. 1. Tract. 3 c. 10. Sect. 9. First he shews the several names given to scrupulosity: some call it (says he) pusillanimity, some fear of conscience, some an erroneous conscience; and gives this definition. Est vacillati [...] quaedam consurgens cum formidine ex aliquibus conjectu­ris debilibus & incertis. i. e. A wavering of mind rising in us, with fear upon some uncertain and weak con­jectures.

He after distinguishes betwixt fides, scientia, opinio, Secundum Al­bertum in li­bro de quatuor c [...]aevis, differen­tia est inter scientiam, s [...] ­dem; opinio­nem; dubita­tionem, & s [...]rupulum seu fusp cionem — Demum scrupulus ex levibus con­jecturis seu mediis, & multum debil bas movetur ad unam partium, ibid. dubitatio, and scrupulus; and tells us that a doubting conscience, is pendulous betwixt both parts; but a scrupulous fastens upon one part drawn by weak rea­sons. I see but little difference betwixt vacillatio and dubitatio, nor is it necessary either to conceive of [Page 10] a dubious conscience as not fastning, because when it doth so it may be doubting, nor doth a scrupulous conscience seem always to close with one part. Having after laid down the effects of scrupulosity,Causatur quan­doque ex com­plexione ad ti­morem idonea, viz. frigidâ: quandoque ex agritudine ma­nica, vel me­lancholicâ— per quam laeditur imaginatio— causatur ex tentatione dia­bolica, & ex societate timi­dorum. he proceeds to the causes, viz. melancholy hurting the brain; temptation from Satan stirring up the melan­choly humors, and he produces Avicenna so teach­ing; sometimes overmuch fasting and watching, sometimes the society of scrupulous persons, one be­ing apt to possess another with scruples.Non debent scrupulosi durè corr [...]pi sed ani­mari ad depo­nendum pusil­lanimitatem & scrupalum. Next he proceeds to the remedies of it: As 1. That they should not be over harshly reproved: he should have addedOf which danger our governours are Judges. except the scruple be dangerous to Church or State. 2. That they should be perswaded to lay it aside, 3.Debita ad gratiam Dei praeparatio, Sol­li [...]ta sacrae Scripturae in dagatio: ora­tionis devota continuat [...]o opinionis ali­cujus tuta ele­ctio: obedien­tiae humilis imitatio: scru­pulorum ani­mosa abjectio, discreta praeceptorum interpretatio. Diligently search the Scriptures, Jam. 1. If any man lack wisdome, &c. 4. By Godly sorrow to prepare for the receiving the grace of God. 5. By subjecting their understanding and judg­ments to their superiors in wisdome and office, Prov. 3. Lean not to thine own understanding: He cites to this purpose the words of the learned Chancellour of Pa­ris, Ʋnum hoc damus generale documentum, viz. facile, credere sapientium & bonorum judicio, & contra com­munes eorum sententias non leviter sibi formare scru­pulos anxios & timidos. We give this general instru­ction, easily to yield to the judgement of wise and good men, and not lightly to frame to our selves troublesome scruples against their common judge­ment. And if a scrupulous person shall say, Ʋti­nam talis esset praelatus noster qualis Bernardus, crede­rem faciliter imperanti, & acquiescerem consulenti. If our Church-governour were such a one as Bernard, I would believe easily what he should tell me, and rest in what he shall counsel me. He answers, Erras, debes illi obedire non ut homini sed ut Deo, cujus vices gerit: nam Christus dicit qui vos audit me audit. Thou errest, for thou oughtest to obey him not as man, [Page 11] but as God, in whose stead he is; thus far Antonine Arch-bishop of Florence.

8. By what he writes, or others from him, them­selves, or others, it is manifest there is such a thing as a scrupulous conscience; that this conscience is anxi­ous, and no doubt in some degree dubious, there being little difference betwixt dubitatio & vacillatio; that this scrupulosity is a sin in whomsoever it is, as pro­ceeding from evil causes, viz. ignorance, errour, Say to them that are of a fearful heart be strong, Isa. 35.4. or in­stability of mind, or pride, some affecting and pro­fessing scrupulosity. For by this they make that to be sin, which else had been none; faciunt sibi peccata, ubi non sunt peccata, says one, It proceeds also from other ill causes aforesaid.

9. There is a kind or rather show of conscience,Disc. de temp.— Conscientia mala est con­scientia per­versa, quam habent qui pec­cata parva ponderunt, ma­gnanon curant: minima obser­vatis, maxima contemnitis. Aug. quaest. evang. lib. 1. qu. 35. which some call a perverse or preposterous conscience; such was that of the Pharisees Mat 23.23. who paid tithes of mint, annis, &c. and neglected, &c. who strained at a Gnat and swallowed a Camel, Mat. 23.24. Or to give a more modern, and too well known an instance, to be so narrow throated as to strain at the Churches Prayers, and to be so wide throated as to swallow the Churches Lands; to scruple to give a penny to the building or repairing of a Church, a thing laudable, pious, and necessary, and to stick at no cost towards the dethroning and destroying of their Soveraign, a thing unnatural and impious. But this being but an hypocritical pretense of conscience, cannot be referred to this head, which treats of real scrupulosity.

CHAP. IV. Of the left hand extream, viz. a wide, loose, and seared conscience.

Conscientia di­latata quam habent illi qui non ponderant crassiora pecca­ta— & de com­munibus non curant. Disc. de temp. Ser. 9.1. A Wide or loose Conscience, is that which is not tenderly sensible of having done, nor ten­derly wary of doing what is clearly and manifestly evil, out of an inward principle.

2. If a man forbear evil to be done, or is troubled for evil done, only because it is punisht or punishable by humane laws, this is not tenderness. And there­fore loosness of conscience is chiefly seen and dis­cern'd in the commission and admission of such sins,Rom. 13. wrath and conscience are distin­guisht. without remorse or regard, which conscience and the fear of God should restrain, and are not punisht by humane laws, or if so, do not easily or speedily come to humane cognizance.

3. Whence it follows, that loosness of conscience is most discover'd in secret sins, and consequently more discernible to a mans self then to another, till it break out into open enormities without open signs of a wounded or troubled soul.

4. That which some Divines call a sleepy or dull conscience; is but a farther degree of a loose consci­ence; for when men have inured themselves to sin against conscience, thisSi autem vince [...]e & impe­rare consueve­runt laboriosa d fficultate su­perantur. Aug. de civ. Dei lib. 21. c. 16. custome takes away quickness of sense. Yet is not a stupified conscience without some degree of feeling when God awakens it either with a powerful word Act. 2.37. they were pricked in their heart, and said men and brethren what shall we do? or with a powerful work, as in Pharaohs case Exod. 9.27. I and my people are sinful. For as such who are Lethargical are not easily awakened, but by some great noise, so neither is a sluggish conscience without a powerful word or work of God.

[Page 13]5. The seared conscience seems to be the highest degree of a loose or wide conscience, Eph. 4.19. who being past feeling, &c. 1 Tim. 4.2. having their con­science seared with an hot iron. For as that which hath been seared feels nothing, so neither doth a sear­ed conscience, till it feels hell fire; and it is commonly the effect of an hypocritical profession of the faith, or of a wicked departure from the faith.

6. The cauterized conscience as it is of the same species with a wide and loose conscience may be called a degree of it, yea the highest degree:Cauterium est corruptio in carne per g [...]em, ex qua egreditur con­tinua putredo. Aquinas in 1 Tim. 4. as it proceeds from loosness it may be an effect of it; as it increases loosness and widens the conscience, it may be a cause of it.

7. Of all the judgments of God in this life, it is the greatest to be given up to such a searedness or re­probate sense. For however Desperation continued in, cuts off from all mercy, yet is a seared conscience no less desperate, keeping off a sence of sin, and therein any due sense of mercy. From which mise­rable estate the Lord deliver us.

CHAP. V. Of the difference of a tender conscience from other graces nearest and likest to it.

1. IT thus differs from the fear of God, that this pro­perly respects theJob. 1.1. fear'd God and eschewed evil. Qu [...] hanc habet omnem odit iniquitatem— per hunc timorem Dei universa deserimus, mundo abrenunciamus, nosque ipsos (sicut Dominus ait) abnegamus nobis. Bern. de don. sp. sancti ser. 3. c. 1. future Jer. 32.40. I will put my fear into their heart, that they shall not de­part from me; but tenderness of conscience respects as well the time past as the future. The fear of [Page 14] God seems to be the cause of a tender conscience,Ecclesiastic. 1.21. The fear of the Lord drives away sin. Gen. 39.9. how can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?

2. It differs from penitential contrition, as this re­spects actions past, but tenderness things also future; and (as in the former) contrition seems to be some cause of tenderness,2 Cor. 7.11. that ye sor­rowed after a godly sort what careful­ness it wrought in you. the heart never being truly tender, till it be a broken and a contrite heart.

3. It differs from vigilancy, this being principally exercised about our temptations, and such other dan­gers, but tenderness about the good or evil of our actions.

4. It differs not only from a scrupulous conscience, but from a dubious; this haesitating betwixt assent and dissent, that firmly bent against any manifest evil.

CHAP. VI. Of the quick sense of a tender consci­ence, being the formalis ratio of it.

A distinction somewhat like is in Aristot. lib. 7. Ethic. c. 10. [...]. Solum dicitur practicus, dum ad factibilia & agibilia inferiora con­vertitur. Ger­son.1. THis sensibility is a quick motion of the practi­cal understanding in a suddain cheek of some­thing done, or a suddain stop at something to [...] done.

2. The practical understanding is a power of the soul, which apprehends things in ordine ad opus, in order to some operation, as the speculative under­standing in ordine ad scientiam, in order to some­thing to be known. For example, the speculative understanding considers, of hearbs, as having such virtues and operations in them, the practical, whe­ther I should for such purposes use such simples, and in what manner to use them. The theorical intel­lect [Page 15] considers of marriage as it is the ordinance of God, as a great mystery, as a means of the propaga­tion of mankind: the practical intellect, considers of entring or refusing such or such a marriage. A Judge upon the Bench makes use of his theorick intellect, when he discourses of the Laws and Statutes what they allow or forbid; he makes use of the practick power, when he examines and condemns malefactors by the law.

3. Whence it is a rule in Philosophy, Intellectus theo­ricus conquiescit in notitia principiorum, intellectus pra­cticus in notitia singularium. Upon which is ground­ed the distinction of aVita hu­mana in acti­vam & con­templativam dividitur, quae quidem atten­ditur secundum intellectum. Intellectus au­tem d viditur per activum & contemplati­vum. Aquin. 22. qu. 179. art. 2. contemplative and an active life.

4. The quick motion of this practical understand­ing is imperated by the will truly sanctified, which lays a general charge upon all the faculties, above all things what ever they do to keep all sin out of the soul.

CHAP. VII. Of the immediate object of a tender Conscience.

1. THe object of this sensibility or tenderness, is about Conscientia est actus quo scientiam no­stram ad ea quae agimus ap­plicamus. Aqu. 1. part. q. 79. art. 13. doing or having done any thing which is cleerly evil, and consequently of omitting or having omitted any thing which is truly good.

2. The absolute and primary rule of evil and good to a tender conscience, is the express and clear Word of God rightly understood; for every thing in some [Page 16] particular places forbidden or commanded is not the rule.

3, I call Gods Word the primary and absolute rule, because other rules there are which bind the consci­ence, but they do it by the virtue of the absolute rule.

4. Those secondary rules of conscience, as some Divines both lately and formerly have noted, are 1. The Laws, Orders, and Mandates of our Superi­ours. 2. Our own spontaneous vows and promises. 3. The consideration of offence towards a weak Bro­ther, which in some cases is a direction to consci­ence.

5. Whereas the late Reverend and Judicious Bi­shop Sanderson (who doth not deal in his Cases upon this my subject save only upon the rule of consci­ence in one place) asserts that the Scripture is not the adaequate rule of conscience, but the will of God in what way soever revealed to men; that I may not seem to leave out any thing necessary to the defini­tion of the rule, nor to thwart what that worthy Casuist hath written, I conceive I have both fully and fitly comprized all under those words, The Word of God rightly understood. For speaking only of the tender conscience of a Christian, and not a mere na­tural man, I have no occasion to take in theLex vetus distinguitur a lege naturae non tanquam ab ea omnino aliena, sed tanquam ei aliquid super. addens. Sicut enim gratia praesuppon [...]t naturam, ita oportet quod lex div [...]na praesup­ponat legem naturalem. Aquin. 12. qu. 99. art. 2. law of nature by it self, as one way of revelation; there being nothing commanded or prohibited in the law of nature, which is not more explicitely and excel­lently to be found in the Scripture, which doth emi­nently contain in it the law of nature. And whereas extraordinary, particular, private revelations, are not to be expressed, butNon dicat ideo verum esse — quia ille frater noster, vel illa s [...]ror nostra tale visum vigil [...]ns aut dormiens somniavit. Aug. de unitate ecclesiae. suspected when pretend­ed, I make them no certain part of the rule. But as to the way of revelation, which is by instructions and consequences drawn out of Scripture, I have [Page 17] couched it under these words: Rightly understood. For he that rightly understands a Text, knows the scope of it, and he that knows what that Text truly and properly teaches, by what means soever.

6. One of the secondary rules of evil and good to the conscience, is the Laws and Mandates of our Ru­lers and Governours; theseOmnis le­g [...]slativa po­testas descendit a potestate su­premâ i. e. di­vina — quic­quid igitur committitur contra legem humanamidem etiam fit contra legem ei. — Qui hoc etiam praecipit ut illi potestati obedi­atur. —Non enim fingi po­test prae [...]ipiendi potestas sine ob­ligatione obe­diendi. Tit. 3.1. Estius in Sentent. lib. 2. dist. 36. bind by the power and virtue of the primary rule, 1 Pet. 2.13. Sub­mit your selves to every ordinance of man, for the Lords sake: [...] to every humane crea­ture, as it sounds in the Greek. Estius thus, to every man being Gods creature, as Mark. 6. preach the Go­spel to every creature, i. e. to every man; yet as there is a restriction there to be understood, not to infants or distracted persons, so here is a restriction; for we are not bound to submit to every man, but to such as are in authority. But Heinsius a Protestant and a learned Critick, tells us, That it is very properly rendered to every humane ordinance. For the Helle­nists Ecclesiasticus 38.12. write thus; [...], Give place to the Physician, for God hath ordain'd him. Though we use not the Apocryphal Books as a ground of faith, yet there are many excellent things in them; and besides the Greek Apocrypha gives light to divers dark places in the New Testament, being a kind of Hebraizing Greek; and therefore to distinguish it from other Greek, called by Jos. Scaliger, and some other Criticks, the Hellenists Greek, as is also the LXX. of the Canonical Books in the Old Testament. Nor shall a man ever come to the true meaning of some of the darkest places of the New Testament, that is not well versed in the Hellenists. Another Text is in Rom. 13.5. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but for conscience sake.

7. They therefore that are still opposing these sub­ordinate rules one to another, submit to neither; for [Page 18] opposition is not to be made,Vbi hoc jubet pater quod con­tra Deum non sit, sic audien­dus est quomodo Deus quia obe­dire patri jussit Deus. Aug. conc. 1. in Psal. 70. but when man com­mands or ordains something contrary to the ordinance and commandments of God, and then the rule holds Act. 5.19. we ought to obey God rather then man: Or when men thrust out Gods laws, and place their own in their room, as Mat. 15.9. They taught do­ctrines, the commandments of men, that is, they shut out the fifth Commandement, and brought in their Corban into the room of it, v. 4, 5, 6. Or lastly, when they shall bring in any thing as of God directly and immediately which is not,Quicquid vice Dei Praelatus praecipit, quod non sit certum displicere Deo, haud secus ac­ [...]ipiendum, quam si praeci­piat ipse Deus. Bern. de praecept. & disp. c. 12. or as an essential part to his worship which he hath not prescribed. In which sense Tertullian is to be understood, Nobis ni­hil ex nostro arbitrio indulgere licet, sed nec eligere quod aliquis ex arbitrio suo induxerit.

Ad secundum praeceptum (ve­rius ad terti­um) reducitur omnis v olatio voti. Estius lib. 3. dist. 39.8. The second secondary rule of evil or good, is a lawful vow. This also binds by virtue of the abso­lute and primary rule. Deut. 23.21. When thou shalt vow a vow to the Lord thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it. See Psal. 76.11. Eccles. 5.4, 5. Act. 5.4.

9. The third secondary rule is in case of offence, but it is, when the things are such as neither Gods Law nor Mans tyes us to: we having liberty to leave or use them 1 Cor. 8.9. But take heed this li­berty of yours become not a stumbling block to them that are weak.

CHAP. VIII. Of the clearness of the primary rule.

1. THis rule I have asserted in the former Chapter to be the express and clear Word of God.

2. Those portions of Gods Word I call express and [Page 19] clear, which if they concern us that are Christians, are not obnoxious to divers interpretations or criticisms invalidating any certain sense.

3. Therefore where a text admits of divers proba­ble interpretations, or is by critical observation car­ried beside the vulgar sense, there can be no rule of good or evil to the conscience.

4. The reason is, because that which becomes the true object of the speculative intellect, which searches what is true or false, cannot be the object nor rule of the practical intellect, till the speculative hath re­solved it.

5. Not that I think the maxime of the Canon-law applicable to this: Quae in testamento ita scripta sunt ut intelligi non possunt, perinde sunt ac si scripta non essent; because, however it be in mans Testament, in Gods Testaments, it is Scripture still, though the meaning be not certainly known.

6. In places therefore dubious and difficult, it is not good sense to say, my conscience tells me this or that is the sense of such a Text, because conscience is ma­nifestly seated in the practical intellect, whose work is not to find out true or false in any matter.

7. Yet where theBut the house of Israel will not heark­en unto thee, for they will not hearken to me, Ezek. 3.7. Church hath authoritatively given the interpretation of dubious places, a tender conscience should be tender of rejecting it, as both charitably and dutifully hoping that the Church would not give an interpretation, either contrary to other express Scriptures, the Analogy of faith, or to the consent of the Universal Church in the most pure and antient times of it.

8. Nor is it less then equity, that if the people trust the Church first in setting out the bounds of Ca­nonical Scripture against such as wouldThe Ro­manists. adde orSi & Pe­trus accedat— locus ex epistola ejus priore, quae sola genuina est, &c. Petrus quoque vetus auctor epistolae posterioris quae sub Petri nomine jam olim vulgata est &c. Walo Messalinus (alias Salmasius) de Episcopis, & Presbyteris, and others be­sides him. substract: Secondly, in translating it against such [Page 20] as would lock it up, they should also chearfully and gratefully receive the Churches interpretation, it be­ing not imaginable to an ingenuous and charitable man, that they who have been faithful and industrious in fixing the Canon and translating it, would be careless and deceitful in the interpretation.

9. I do therefore (but with humble submission to the judgment of the Church) affirm that a tender conscience being guided in her rule by the Churches translation, may also be guided by her interpretation.

10. But besides ambiguous places there is clear Scri­pture enough to shew us what is good and what is evil. Deut 30.15. See I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil. But more pre­gnantly Mic. 6.8. He hath shewed thee, O man! what is good, &c.

11 Yet may clear places be obscured by unsound in­terpretations, and by none more then by over lax and large synechdoches. For of all places, the moral law is most clear, yet are the synechdoches some make, so large, that a man knows not when he breaks them or keeps them.

12. Above the rest of the moral law, none seems more clog'd with the trope aforesaid, then the se­cond Commandment. So that as they are guilty of one gross extream, who expunge it out of the decalogue, so they in some degree of another, that have over­much inlarged it. For if it must be extended to all inventions of men, whereby they cloath the worship of God with fitting circumstantials, we cannot stir a foot, but we must stumble over some graven image. Then is the tolling a Bell, the turning a Glass, the tuning a Psalm, or almost any thing else, not expres­ly commanded, a graven image. Then is every Chri­stian Congregation in the world a Congregation of Idolaters, which is grosly absurd.

13. By what therefore hath been said in this and the former Chapters it is manifest, that the ob­ject [Page 21] of the tender conscience is clear or manifest evil or good.

14. Therefore bare resemblances of evil, are not the object of tenderness. Nor is that place 1 Thes. 5.22. Abstain from every appearance of evil, so to be understood. Because if that were the sense, mans life should be a perpetual thraldome; [...] also is as well kind as appearance: and Estius says well, it is the same with that Ch. 4.12. to walk honestly towards them without: many good things carry a resemblance of evil, as diligence in callings of covetuousness; cheerfulness of levity; reservedness of anger, lawful recreations of voluptuousness; and commonly all vertues and graces of some one extream.

15. The restrictions are these. 1. It must be clear­ly evil of which it is an appearance. 2. Such an ap­pearance it must be as doth necessarily inferre us guil­ty, or that we love or like that evil 3. Such an ap­pearance as we have freedome to forbear.

16.Yet is the tender Consci­ence tender of another mans conscience, 1 Cor. 10.29. conscience I say not thine own, but of the others. Vid. pag. ult. Gal. 6.4. But let every man prove his own work. There is but one consideration more in the object, viz. that a tender conscience is conversant about the evil and good of our own actions, and not of other mens; for however grief may arise in our hearts for the misdoings of others, yet can it not be called trouble of conscience, but sorrow of mind.

CHAP. IX. Of the subject of a tender conscience.

THe remote subject is (as hath been shewed) the practical intellect in the soul and the will, but more approximately, a regenerate and sanctified soul. For if the fear of God and true softness of heart, are [Page 22] only subjected in a regenerated soul, so likewise is this.

2. Tenderness therefore is not only the adjunct of such a soul,Tit. 1.15. But to them that are defiled and unbelie­ving is no­thing pure, but even their mind and con­science is de­filed. but the adaequate adjunct of it, and there­fore is reciprocated with the subject, so that there is no regenerate man without a tender conscience, no tender conscience but in a regenerate man, as it is a gracious disposition.

3. Hence it is as ridiculous for a wicked man as a theif, a perjured person, or traitor, to pretend to tenderness of conscience, as for a beast to pretend to rationality. If two thieves should rob a man, and one perswade to murder him, and the other refuse and hinder, it is not tenderness of conscience pro­perly in him, but either some degree of good na­ture, or Gods restraining grace, or fear of a divine hand of punishment, that frequently finds out mur­derers. Conscience is as truly tender of theft, as of murder, Gen. 37.22. when Reuben said, shed no blood, it cannot be thought such a tenderness in him, who was not afraid to defile his fathers bed.

4. To conclude this, the sanctified soul in regard of this adjunct, is not only subjectum recipiens ad se, but in se. Tenderness hath an inherence in such a soul, and cannot be sever'd from it, how ever at some times it may be more dull then at other.

CHAP. X. Of the adjuncts of a tender Conscience.

THe adjuncts, properties, or the effects of this holy disposition will serve for the marks or cha­racters of it by which it may in some sort be disco­vered where it is.

[Page 23]1. A proportionality to the object. The greater the evil, the more tender the conscience: Those evils especially it most checks us for and keeps us from, which are, 1. Most dishonourable to God and his Go­spel. 2. Such as most wound the conscience. Those that most dishonour God and his Gospel, are sins against the Laws of Nature, Nations, and Humane Society, such as are breach of our faith and promises,And after that King Nebu­chadnezzar had made him to swear by the name of the Lord he forswore him­self and re­belled. 1 [...]sdr. 1.48. (especially when it is publick) perjuries, and above all, treasons. In the late times, when men saw no punish­ment, but rather incouragement to all disloyalty, con­science should have restrained them, for the actions of those times were dishonourable to Christ in the sight of unbelievers, to the reformed religion in the sight of other professions, to the English Nation in the sight of all Nations. 2. The sins that most wound the conscience are breach of vows, oathes, when lawful for the matter, and imposed by lawful authority, such as the oaths of Allegeance and Su­premacy were, but the Covenant was not.

2. Tenderness is ever joyned with a propensity to Gods publick worship.Christiana libertas non est vaga & effrae­nis licentia qua qui quid lubet, pro no­stro arb trio agamus aut omittamus— sed est l beratio à maledictione legis, & a jugo legalium ceremoniarum per Christum. Beza Epist. 24. I never in all my life knew a consciencious person, but did love Gods worship in his house, and the more consciencious the more constant in it and to it.Is abutitur Christianae libertatis beneficio, vel potius adhuc venundatus est sub peccato, qui vel suis magistratibus ve praepositis sponte non paret in Domino. Thed. Beza. ibid. They that can sit at home without necessity whole Lords days, nay many months together, shew from the coldness of their affections to their God that their consciences are not tender but benummed, or rather seared.

It is no argument,Jactabi musne libertatem con­scientiis permittendam esse? minimè ut haec quidem libertas intelligitur, i. e. quo quisque modo volet eum colat. Est enim hoc mere d [...]abelicum dogma, sinendum esse unumquemque ut si volet pereat. Beza epist. but a pitiful shift in too many to cover idleness, pride, disdain of the ministerial [Page 24] office, and perhaps something worse, to say, I cannot come to Church: I understand not the meaning of such a ceremony, I approve not of such prayers, I like not the calling, gifts, or disposition of such a minister, I like not joyning in assembly with profane persons.

Doctor Ames, a known enemy of the Church-go­vernment here, and something inclining to the New England mode, in his Book de conscientia, Chap. 4. speaks thus: If any through errour of conscience should judge it unlawful to be present at the Church assembly,Si quis per con­scientiae erro­rem, illi eitum judicaret in­teresse caetui ecclesiae, cui ali­as tenetur ad­esse, quia mi­nistrum illius ecclesiae impro­bum hominem esse novit, & se communicaturum putat cum ejus improbitate, ille magis peccat abstinendo, quam si adesset, quia gravius est peccatum negligere cultum Dei quam communicare cum alterius improbitate personali in illo cultu. Ames. de consc. cap. 4. because he knows the Minister to be a bad-man, and imagines he shall by his presence there par­take with his improbity, he sins much more by keep­ing away, then by being present; because it is a far greater sin to neglect the worship of God, then to communicate with anothers improbity, except a man by being present were forced to commit idolatry. Thus Amesius.

But no man in our assemblies is forced to practice or behold any such thing as idolatry. Nor doth he that is present where sinners are at Gods worship, communicate therefore with them in their sins, any more then by living in the same Parish with them. The ancient non-conformists were all of this judge­ment, and so are generally if not totally the Divines of the Presbyterian judgment at this day. Fearful no doubt is their sin, and so it will appear at the last day, to refrain Gods publick Ordinances upon such pretences; much more upon pride, laziness, and ha­tred of Church-men and Church-government.

Atheists.No greater contemners of God, then such as con­temn his publick worship and service, who give not unto the Lord the glory due unto his name,1 Chron. 16.29. that bring not an offering, nor come before him to wor­ship [Page 25] the Lord in the beauty of holiness: Who wor­ship not the Lord in his sanctuary,Psal. 29.12. nor delight to give thanks to him in a great congregation or praise him among much people:Psal. 35.18. more Atheism and con­tempt of the divine Majesty they cannot shew, ex­cept they should proclaim it in every Market, or write it upon every Wall, that there is no God. And if it be not timously prevented, a deluge of Heathenism and Atheism will quickly rush in upon us. Divers there are that have not been at Church for many years, nor do they at all use or frequent the Sectarian Assemblies or any other, but sit at home following their own occasions. Others not so bad, come to the publick Assemblies, but very rarely, very unconstantly. Some come reasonable duly, but it is only as hearers; they never partake of the Lords Supper, though never so earnestly invited and per­swaded; they are so bold as to plead against it, as a thing needless and unprofitable; they common­ly urge the danger of unworthy participation, and the difficulty of self-examination as a reason of Non-Communion. They would make the world believe that Christ hath given some dangerous law to his Church, whose yoke is easie and burden is light. And some of this sort, the younger sort espe­cially come (as by their carriage it appears) partly to gaze, to feed their wanton senses, to talk and dis­course of vanities, even then whilst God is speaking to them in his Word; yea, which is worse, to ma­nifest and make known to all how little they regard the oracles of God: such an heap of libertinism have the late Anarchical confusions left still behind them. Insomuch that what with the Atheistical practises of some who own no Church; the cold and loose deal­ing of others that own it at their leasure; and the dividing practises of a considerable number who fre­quent none but such as are private; the publick wor­ship of God, the glory and strength, the beauty and security of a Nation is sadly eclipsed. But I hope it [Page 26] is but in an eclipse, and so will again recover. Lord let not the Gates of Sion mourn, which thou lovest more then all the dwellings of Jacob! If it be thy goodness to thy Church,Isa. 30.20. that her Teachers shall not be removed into a corner, but her eyes shall behold them, it is no less, that her people shall not remove into corners, but that her Teachers eyes shall behold their people.

I deny not but such may be the Churches exigen­cy, as that she may for some time and in some de­gree, bear with such as are erroneous and scrupulous, when it is for the good and safety of the sound part of the Church; but this I presume not to deal upon. All that I presume to say (and none can blame me for it) is this: They that own our rule, but not our principles and discipline, have less to plead for their separation; and they that own both our rule, principles and discipline, have nothing to plead; ab­horring Sectarian principles,Atheists and Libertins. yet shrowding them­selves under their practices.

3. However such a conscience is tender of all divine laws, yet is it in a more peculiar and re­markable manner tender of Christs new and great Commandement of Love, and consequently of his in­junction so earnestly and frequently inculcated by the Apostle, to beware of making Schisms, Divisions, and Separations. He hath no tender conscience that is not tender and fearful of making breaches and parties in the Church of God.

4. A tender conscience is tender of another mans conscience. Some that former years professed ten­derness about a White Garment, about Kneeling and Standing Gestures, &c. when they had got the power into their own hands,It was mine own lot to have the Co­venant tendered me so soon as Printed, and upon my absolute refusal, to be ex­iled from my Flock, March 2. 1643. and put to sad exigencies. had no mercy on the consci­ences of their brethren that had a thousand times more cause to be tender and wary of taking the Cove­nant; [Page 27] but they who had strained at the former gnats, did not only swallow the Covenant Camel, but did en­deavour to cram and ram it down the throats of their brethren, wrenching open their jaws with the cold and harsh key of poverty and ruin; and which was worse, making such scandalous that should refuse it, how unwarrantable soever from the imposers and composers, how unsuitable soever for the matter to sound and sworn principles, and how pernicious so­ever in the ends and effects of it.

5. It is tender of both Tables of the Law. If it will not admit of profaness, neither will it of unrighte­ousness. If it be tender of an idle and vain oath, it is no less of detraction; if of neglecting the Sabbath, so also of neglecting the Poor; if it abhorrs Idols, which are a breach of the first Table, it abandons Sacriledge, which is a breach of both Tables.

6. It is troubled if it hath admitted any thing against the clear rule, be it never so little, be it but in a thought, Deut. 15.9. Beware there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, Isa. 35.4. He is of a fearful heart, Eccle. 10.20. Curse not the King, no not in thy thought. 2 Cor. 8.20. Avoiding this, that no man should blame us, &c. Dua res sunt conscientia & sama. propter nos conscientia nostra nobis sufficit: pro­pter alios fama necessaria est: conscientiatibi, fama; proximo. August. Serm. priore de vita com. suorum clericorum. They dare not let any spot of guilt cleave to them; Their conversation shews they do exercise themselves to have always a conscience void of offence towards God and towards Men, Act. 24.16.

7. Above all men to be void of offence towards the Magistrate. He is not apt by any intemperate speeches, much less, otherwise to fly upon the Law or the Magistrate, yea though they should require what he cannot do. His prayers are as many for him, his good speeches as frequent of him, and his fidelity as great towards him, as if he had never received any difficult law from him. He translates those precepts out of OEconomicks into Politicks, which are given us Eph. 6.3. Col. 3.22. 1 Pet. 2.18. He bears meekly the will and suffers meekly the anger of the Magistrate.

To what he may yield he is the forwarder if he cannot yield to every thing. He is first most tender of provoking God, and next of provoking Gods Vice­gerents. It is the grief of his soul if he cannot come up to every thing the Magistrate expects of him.

8. He is willing to be inform'd, and to hear what may be said. As he is tender of doing any thing con­trary to his judgment, so is he tender of judging con­trary to the truth. He is not self-willed, but will hear what may be said against his way and his interest. Eli knew Samuel had a sharp message, yet says he, God do so to thee, and more also if thou hide, &c. 1 Sam. 3.17

Gal. 2.13. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him, in so much that Bar­nabas also was carried away with their dissimulation9. He is not apt to be censorious, he considers that a good man may fall by temptation, and he rejoyces not at the fall of his brother, Prov. 24.16. A just man falls seven times a day, v. 17. rejoyce not when thine enemy falls. He scoffs not at, nor triumphs over his enemy much less his neighbour and friend when he is down, but seeks his restoring, considering himself lest he also be tempted, Gal. 6.1.

10. Conscientia tenera non est temeraria. In doubtful cases it will seek and ask for information before it acts; though it is not scrupulous, it is wary, conside­rate and watchful; Seek ye out of the books of the Lord and read. Isa. 34.16. it takes counsel concerning the ways of God in Gods way, it goes to the Law and to the Testimony, Isa. 8.20. and if it want understand­ing in that, is goes to the Interpreter, Job 33.23. to the Priest, whose lips should preserve knowledge, at whose mouth they should seek the Law:Mal. 2.7. if He cannot satisfie, it inquires what the Church in her Synods and Councils hath universally determin'd; not building its faith on the Church, which is built upon the faith it self,See for this Ecclesiast. 6.33.— 36. and ch. 8.8, 9. Mat. 16. but in doubtful cases chusing pub­lick interpretation before private, and acquiescing therein, though not as a ground of faith, yet as the safest and probable means of knowledge and instru­ction.

These are the adjuncts and properties of a true tender conscience.