Chapter IX
That the natural conscience may approve of the law, and commend the duties
enjoined, yet it is deficient in those acts. A discovery of those defects.
The next head belonging to this discovery, is a consideration of the
defects of natural conscience in all those effects fore-mentioned, which are reduced into two generals.
I. A respect of what good the law requires. II. A restraint of sin or evil.
} I. As to a respect of what is good ; the two first effects are,
1. That the conscience approves of the law and duties thereof as good. 2. That it commends them as such to the heart, and binds the soul over
to the performance of them.
The query then is, whether these two be not the same with what are the
proper effects of grace (as to these two particulars) and what difference that
is specifical may be assigned thereto. For, Kom. vii. 16, this is recorded
by Paul in the name of men regenerate, and as the voice proper to them
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it is the voice of Jacob to consent to the law that it is good. And so, in Bom. xii. 2, to prove what is the good will of God, is a proper effect of the
renewing of the mind : And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that
good, that acceptable, and perfect will of God.
To which I answer, Ans. 1. It is true there is a great seeming affinity and likeness between
the approbation and the instigation of natural conscienee and renewed con
science. For the same word, the very same, would not have been used to
express the one and the other by the apostle, Rom. ii. 18, and Phil. i. 10. Of an unregenerate Jew he says in the one place, Thou knowest his will, and approvest the things that are excellent ; that is, the things of the law
as excellent and good ; and in the other, Phil. i. 10, praying for knowledge to be given to the Philippians (and if there were any knowledge better than
this, surely he would wish them it), I pray, &c., that ye may approve the things that are excellent. The words are the very same, and dom-
/z<ag/t>, the word there, is the same that is used, Rom. xii. 2, when the
knowledge of a renewed mind is spoken of. And it is taken from a gold smith, that both tries and allows of silver as good and current. And silver
so tried is called 8oKif&6v. So as indeed there must needs be a likeness.
, Ans. 2. The difference or deficiency of natural conscience will be dis covered by two things. An inquiry
(1.) Into the several grounds of the assent of regenerate and unregene rate men s consciences.
(2.) The differing manner of their assent. And the question in both is, what is that proper goodness or excellency, for which the one or the other doth approve of the law as good.
First, For unregenerate there are two grounds, and perhaps many other, which may help forward this assent.
[1.] Some for the wisdom and concordancy unto reason which appears in that law, and the commands thereof. As reason is man s excellency, so what agrees with reason it approves as most excellent. The heathens, as you heard, magnified the dictates of conscience under the notion of right reason, as the general title they gave thereto, and so was the ground of
their assent and approbation. Now, the duties of the law agree with the common principles of right reason in men, and the deductions out of those common principles, and also the rules of it, have the greatest harmony and
agreement in them, one with the other, that may be. And so far as reason doth apprehend this, so far doth natural knowledge and conscience acknow
ledge a goodness and an excellency therein. And to shew this was the
ground of the assent to it, we have an express scripture, speaking of the Gentiles and their approbation of Moses s law, as it was given to the Jews. And Deut. iv. 6, This is your wisdom in the sight of all nations, which
shall hear all these statutes, and shall say, This is a wise and an under
standing people. It is, you see, the wisdom, the harmony to reason, they are taken with, and unto which the law did supereminently approve itself. This was Gallio s principle
: Acts xviii. 14, And when Paul was now about
to open his mouth, Gallic said unto the Jews, If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, ye Jews, reason would that I shall bear with you. He saw reason why wrong and wickedness should be punished, but for God s worship he saw none. If it were a matter of wrong and wicked
ness, reason would, says he, or as in the original, XUTO, Xd/ov, according to reason I would bear with you ; that is, listen to you. But God s wor-
CHAP. IX.] IN OUR SALVATION. 291
ship and Paul s doctrine lie saw no reason for, and so it was out of his element ; besides or above the rule he judged of things by, and he thought
it a just excuse. You see, he made reason his professed rule, and as far
as that gave him light for his particular light, so far he judged of things of
this nature ; and if others go further, yet still by the same rule. Thus men in the church, seeing no reason for the spiritual part of religion, and
strictness in God s ways, therefore account the ways of God foolishness, 1 Cor. ii. 14. The reason is, because they see not the reason of them, for what we see no reason for we use to account folly.
[2.J A second ground which works on others to assent to the law, that
it is good, is, that they see how the whole and the particular laws thereof do tend to the good of men, and many of the laws to a general and com mon good. God hath moulded and fitted the commandments to the con
dition of the reasonable creatures, and their good, according to their con
dition in this world, as well as for his own glory, and to sanctify himself: Deut. x. 13, which I command thee for thy good. That consideration
is put in as the motive to obedience, as being found in the law. Men see
that the tendency of the duties of the first table are for the good of men s
souls. Their consciences acknowledge there is a God ; and if so, then he must be worshipped, or they cannot be quiet or happy. They have im mortal souls, that must live in another world, and therefore it is meet to
apply themselves to this God, according as he hath given command how he will be worshipped. Then for the commands of the second table, all may readily see how they manifestly tend unto the general good of men. As the fifth commandment, if there were not superiority and obedience, as
to parents, magistrates, &c., the world would prey one upon another, and
all fall into confusion ; we should teach our children to despise us, when we come to be old and stand in need of their help. Thou shalt not
* Thou shalt not steal, a fence and hedge to the goods of all men ; Nor commit adultery, this proved that their own children, and not strangers, should inherit men s estates. Such considerations as these are found in most of the commandments ; and accordingly these, or whatever else like these, may cause them thus to
murder, it is a guard to the lives of all ;
approve them.
I come to the grounds whereupon a regenerate man doth further assent unto their goodness, upon which, to be sure, an unregenerate man doth not.
1. Not only because it accords with reason, but also because it is an ex
pression of God s most blessed will, which is the supreme rule of goodness. And this especially commends it to a regenerate man also ; yea, and this commends it to him enough as good, in some particulars wherein yet he
sees no reason for it at present. David admires indeed the equity, the wisdom in the law, for which he terms them the wondeiful things of the
law. But that which commends it most to him was, that it was the law
of his mouth, as his expression is, Ps. cxix. ; his will, his command, who was the righteous and the holy God: Ps. cxix. 137, 138, Righteous thou
art, Lord, and upright are thy judgments ; and thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful. He assents to
their goodness, because God commands them, Rom. xii. 1, 2. Though the service he is to perform to God be reasonable service (as some under stand the word), yet the goodness that a renewed mind approves in it is, that it is the good and acceptable will of God. And that is the good ness which the TO doxi/jjdfyiv, or the approbation of a renewed mind there
spoken of, pitcheth upon more eminently. That it is that which God
292 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK YI.
commands, and that which God is pleased to accept when performed, this
is it endears it to him, and for which he accounts it good. And therefore
though he should see no reason, yet that it is God s will is enough to commend it to his conscience. So it was to Abraham, when God bade him sacrifice his son. So to Eli: It is the Lord (says he, 1 Sam. iii. 18),
* let him do what seemeth to him good. What God thought good, he should think so too. Which holds, as to endure God s suffering will, which was the case there, so to do his commanding will. There is the same reason
* Thy law is in mine heart ; Ps. xl. 8, And I come to do thy will. This prin
for both. You may see this in Christ, Ps. xl. and Heb. x. compared,
cipally commended the command of laying down his life, that it was his Father s will :
* Thy will be done ; and As my father hath given command
ment, so do I, John xiv. 81.
2. The most proper goodness for which a regenerate man assents to the law is, that in the spiritual part of it it is the image of God s holiness, and
tends to set up God in the hearts and lives of men. We know the law is
holy and good, Bom. vii. ; which, ver. 14, he speaks in respect of the
spiritualness of it. Ps. cxix. 140, Thy law is pure, says David, there
fore thy servant loves it. Purity is the holiness of it, as it is the image of God s purity
* Blessed are the pure in heart, that is, the holy in heart. And all holiness lies in setting God up. And the more of this he spies stamped upon any command, the more he assents to the commandment as
good. To which purpose it is observable, Neh. ix. 13, 14, that having said
that God gave them good laws and statutes, and so calling them good because God gave them, he instanceth in the following verse only that of the Sab bath: Oh! that commandment, it was a good commandment indeed ! And why ? But because it was to be kept holy to God ; God is to be sanctified
upon that day; and to that end it was appointed, and a whole day set apart to that end. This took his heart. The second thing I mentioned to manifest this difference, was the diner-
ing manner of this assent of the one and the other. In an unregenerate man it is rather an assent of reverence than of free approbation.
There is a majesty of the Lord s, which shines in the uprightness of
his law, and in the lives of his saints, as they are conformed thereto, Isa.
xxvi. 10. The life of this transcendental goodness of holiness shining in
the law, lights upon the conscience, as the splendour of the sun doth upon
a sore eye, and finding it hath a commanding brightness in it, it cannot but
yield to be glorious. For if it should deny this, its own winking at it, and
being dazzled with it, would confute itself. And this the apostle holds
forth, 2 Cor. iii. 7, alleging concerning the law, that such was the glory that shined in Moses his countenance, who was the deliverer of it, that the
people could not stedfastly behold it. It was so as they could not but
acknowledge that there was a glory in it, which typified forth what their
hearts did towards the law itself. But as I said before, this is rather a commanded, extorted, reverential assent the conscience gives to this its
goodness, than free, and out of liking and ingenuous estimation of it. So
as men s consciences rather say as those in Acts iv. 16, We cannot deny
it, than that we do freely like it. Look what kind of approbation their
hearts give to the holiness and righteousness that shines in an upright man, the same and no other it doth or can give to the law itself. For the reason
of both is the same ; holiness in a godly man being but the same law writ
ten in his life, that is given in the word. Now, then, observe what kind of
approbation it ia a wicked man gives unto the holiness of an upright man,
CHAP. IX.] IN OUR SALVATION. 293
and the ground of it. Herod he was convinced of John s holiness and just
ness, it was an assent of fear and reverence : He knew, says the text, he was a just and an holy man, Mark vi. 20. But withal it is said, Herod
feared John, knowing he was a just man, and an holy, and observed him. And thus it is that men assent to the law as holy. That part of it which
reveals the image and the glory of God in it, it commands an assent and a
subjection to it, rather than they freely give it; an assent of reverence, not
of love. So then it is rather assent in a wicked man, than consent, which
implies a willing yielding up the mind to it, and of all in a man. That word used, Eom. vii. 16, ffv^^i ru vopw,
* I consent to the law, is empha-
tical. It Englished, is this, I say together with the law, that it is good
implying that it is free and ingenuous, and that all in a man together say and join with the conscience, that it is a good law; there was a joint vote or
suffrage of all the faculties. Here is consent, not assent only. It is one
thing to receive the truth, another thing to receive it in the love of it. Those in the Thessalonians received the truth, but not in the love of it ;
they assented to it, but they consented not to it. And therefore, if you observe it in that place before quoted, Phil i. 10, though the same phrase
is used that is used, Eom. ii., of an unregenerated man, that the one is
said to approve things excellent, as well as the other, yet there is this added by way of difference, that your love may abound in knowledge, that
ye may approve the things that are excellent. It is an approbation out
of knowledge, rooted in or joined with love.
. And that wicked men s assent is but such as hath been described, appears by this, that they wish there was no such law, no such duties to bind them. As Balaam, though he assented to that word God gave him, and could
speak no other, yet wished for, and desired some other message, yea, the
: so doth the conscience and heart of an unregenerate man. And
contrary
therefore, Jer. v. 5, their knowledge of the law is compared to bonds ; as
also, Ps. ii., to cords. For as they endeavour to imprison their light in
unrighteousness, so they account themselves as prisoners fettered with the
cords of it, which they would break or shake off. Whereas a regenerate manlooks on them as bracelets ; (so Prov. vi. 21, 22, Bind them about
thine heart, and tie them about thy neck ) which a man puts voluntarily upon him, and looks at as ornaments. For though they reverence the law,
yet they may wish it were not. Keverence is often severed from love. When an austere holy tutor keeps a rakehell in awe, he may reverence his tutor
much, as a man that is good, and wisheth his good, and yet wish he were from him, and out of his tuition.
The second effect mentioned was, that conscience commends the law
to the heart as good, and lays an injunction upon it, for the performance of it.
There are two things in natural conscience makes it put two steps towards
this, but there is a third in which it fails, and makes a halt.
1. Conscience assents to the goodness of the duties of the law in the
general, that they are good to be done in such respects fore-mentioued.
And 2. It further also particularly tells the heart, that it ought now at
this time to do them ; yet it cannot bring the heart to assent, that the per formance of these duties are particularly good to him, that is, that his good
lies in the performance of them.
Or thus ; there is, 1, An assent of reason, that in general it is good; 2. An assent of his subjection to it, that he ought to do it out of a sense of
the majesty and superiority it hath over him ; but, 3. Not an assent of
294 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK
suitableness, or sympathy, or mutual delight, that it is best for him ; which assent is in a godly man s judgment to be found. For as he is said to
* consent to the law that it is good, so to delight in the law as good. And
the word ffwr^do/^ai, implies a joint delight, a concurrence of all in him in
that delight. Even as that other word ct^u.pjj/u,/, imported a joint sufierage or consent, and both as between things suitable, both argued the commands
as suited his whole man ; Ps. cxix. 70 sets forth and illustrates his sense and meaning herein by this opposite comparison, Their heart is as fat as
grease, but I delight in thy law. The comparison carries this with it, that the same natural delight which in outward things they found suiting with and nourishing their carnal hearts to a fatness and contentment, the same
I find in thy law, as suiting all within my soul ; and verse 72, The law of
thy mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver. Not better
in itself only, but better to me, says he. And this ariseth out of a suitable ness and sweetness of taste, which ver. 66 holds forth, Teach me good judgment and knowledge. That which is translated good judgment signi
* Taste and see how good the Lord is. So David prayed there for two sorts of
fies good taste ; it being the same word that is used, Ps. xxxiv. 9,
knowledge of the things of the law : 1. Scientiam visus, which he calls know
ledge, whereby men see the commandments to be good in the general ; and not this only, but also, 2dly, Scientiam gustus, knowledge of taste, that is, that he might have a rectified palate to taste the goodness that is in the commandments and the keeping of them. And this will lead us to another note of difference, besides the former given upon that place Phil. i. 10 (where, when the same words are used of a regenerate man s approving that are used
of an unregenerate man s, Rom. ii. 18, as was shewed ; and therefore we had need to take hold of what differences the place will give), and it is the same we
are now upon, he prays they may abound in all knowledge and in all sense :
TratfjJf aidqffsi, a knowledge that had sense and taste joined with it, that so
they might, namely, upon such a knowledge, approve the things that are
excellent. And so this prayer of Paul s accords fully with that of David, Give me good judgment, or sense of taste and knowledge ; which two words Paul useth, and our translators have rendered, as the former, know
ledge and judgment. And accordingly ver. 68 of that psalm, we find the
greatest good that David desired, was to know and keep these statutes ; his words are these, Lord, thou art good, and dost good. And what is
* Lord,
the mind and meaning of these so deep concernments ? But this :
as thou hast infinite goodness in thee, and as ever thou intendest to do me
good, yea, and if ever thou wilt do any good for me, do this. What ?
4 Teach me thy statutes. If God from heaven should have bidden him to
ask one request that was most eminent in his heart and desires, it should have been this, Teach me thy statutes. This is a preface to a petition which his heart must be in, in a peculiar and extraordinary manner affected
with, that he should urge it upon the highest consideration that can be
alleged. For he calls upon, and urgeth, all the goodness that is in God s
* Thou art good ; and also all those vast purposes of his doing us
nature,
good, which is above all we are able to ask or think. "^ Natural conscience is able to judge in the general, that the law is better
than sin, and that to obey it is better. Therefore Peter appeals even to those wicked Pharisees, Acts iv. 19,
* Whether is it better to obey God or man,
judge ye. And Socrates had done the like even to the consciences of the
heathen Athenians, in the same words well nigh ; so that, take it in the
abstract proposal of it, and no man can deny it. But out of suitableness,
CHAP. IX.] IN OUR SALVATION. 295
&c., to judge that it was better for them in particular ; as David said, the
law of thy mouth is better to me ; this particular assent out of experience,
is joined with the taste which uregenerate men want. It is an assent, I
say, out of experience of their goodness. For as they find a suitableness
to them in themselves, and a taste of their goodness, so they find they do them good. So Micah ii. 7, Do not my words do good to them that are
good ?
And whereas it will be objected, Doth not conscience tell men it would
be better for them if they would obey, and that it will go worse with them
if they do not, and so presents the duty as particularly best for them ?
Therefore I add this third conclusion concerning their assent : That it
is one thing to present a thing as good for me by consequent, another thing as good to me simply considered in itself such ; as for example, a physician
presents a potion to a patient, and bids him drink it, tells him that it is
good for him, that is, by consequent good for him, because it will restore him and deliver him from death. But all the physicians in the world can
never persuade him, that it is simply good, and of itself good for him ; for
his own smell, palate, and stomach tell him to his teeth the contrary, and
are ready to rise up against it. And thus even when conscience tells a man
such and such duties of the law are good for him, it can nor doth say no more in effect but that they are good by consequent, that the omission of them will be death to him. But not all the angels in heaven, nor ministers on earth, can never work an assent in him, that in themselves they are
good for him, per se, simply good. No ; for his corrupt heart and judgment
tells him the contrary, and he finds no relish in them, in his knowledge of
sense (spoken of), even his heart pronounceth the contrary. Thus indeed, and in this sense, a righteous man may look upon the greatest afflictions he
: It is good for me I was
ever had as good for him, that is, by consequent
afflicted ; but not for themselves, no man rejoiceth in them. There is no
affliction, but for the present, in itself, is grievous ; yet by consequent he
: but at no hand as
looks on it as good, that is, that will work for good
upon things which a man would have to choose, as wherein his happiness
lies. But, lo ! that you may discern upon what terms a godly man judgeth them good ; afflictions (which are in themselves so grievous) David esteemed
good, and profitable and comfortable unto him ; for this reason, that God
used them as means to teach him his statutes. Thus, Ps. cxix. 71, It was good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. That must needs be good simply and in itself to a man s esteem, which will
sweeten and make afflictions, and the bitterest of afflictions, good in his
esteem. Yet such are God s statutes to a holy heart. So that, to con
clude, this natural conscience in such a man may tell him, that this or that
duty is to be done, and that he had best do it, or that it is best to be done ; but never that the very doing of it is best for him. Of the bitter potion,
they may say it is best to be drunk by them : but that it should be judged and found best by a man in the present drinking of it, as food is, so it is
not, nor can be. And yet the commandments were such to David ; In
keeping thy commandments there is great reward, Ps. xix. This for the two first effects.
296 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK VI.