Page:Black book of conscience, or, God's great and high court of justice in the soul (2).pdf/10

10 to flight this good voice of conſcience. Wo unto me! my puniſhment is leſs than my iniquites deſerve. Thus and thus will men’s conſciences deal with them before the Lord.

When as Peter denied his Lord and Maſter, his conſcience let him alone once; yea, twice; but the third time the cock crew, and Peter’s heart ſmote him for what he had done, and he went forth and wept bitterly. Peter did not go about to ſtop the mouth of conſcience, as Judas did, and ſo hanged himſelf: No, Peter cloſed with the voice of his conſcience, and ſo by true and unfeigned repentance, obtained mercy.

So likewiſe David, when the prophet Nathan, in 2 Sam. xii. 13. had by the parable of the ewe-lamb, ſhewed David the evil of his ſins, preſently David was convinced in his conſcience, of the horridneſs of his ſins. ‘And David ſaid unto Nathan, I have ſinned againſt the Lord: have mercy upon me,’ ſaith David, Pſal. li. (the pſalm of his repentance) ‘According to thy loving-kindneſs; according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my tranſgreſſions; waſh me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanſe me from my ſin: For I acknowledge my trangreſſions, and my ſin is ever before me Againſt thee, even