DIALOGUE XV.

That is not always the greatest Sin whereof a Man is guilty, wherewith his Conscience is most pained for the present.

TIMOTHEUS.

IS that the greatest sin in man’s soul, wherewith his wounded conscience, in the agony thereof, is most perplexed?

PHIL. It is so commonly, but not constantly. Commonly, indeed, that sin most pains and pinches him, which commands as principal in his soul.

TIM. Have all men’s hearts some one paramount sin, which rules as sovereign over all the rest?

PHIL. Most have. Yet, as all countries are not monarchies governed by kings, but some by free states, where many together have equal power; so it is possible (though rare) that one man may have two, three, or more sins, which jointly domineer in his heart, without any discernible superiority betwixt them.

TIM. Which are the sins that most generally wound and afflict a man, when his conscience is terrified?

PHIL. No general rule can exactly be given herein. Sometimes, that sin in acting whereof 367he took most delight; it being just, that the sweetness of his corporal pleasure should be sauced with more spiritual sadness. Sometimes, that sin which (though not the foulest) is the most frequent in him. Thus his idle words may perplex him more than his oaths, or perjury itself. Sometimes that sin (not which is most odious before God, but) most scandalous before men does most afflict him, because drawing greatest disgrace upon his person and profession. Sometimes, that sin which he last committed, because all the circumstances thereof are still firm and fresh in his memory. Sometimes that sin which (though long since by him committed) he hath heard very lately powerfully reproved; and no wonder, if an old gall new rubbed over smart the most. Sometimes, that sin which formerly he most slighted and neglected, as so inconsiderably small that it was unworthy of any sorrow for it, and yet now it may prove the sharpest sting in his conscience.

TIM. May one who is guilty of very great sins sometimes have his conscience much troubled only for a small one?

PHIL. Yes, verily: country patients often complain, not of the disease which is most dangerous, but most conspicuous. Yea, sometimes they are more troubled with the symptom of a disease (suppose an ill colour, bad breath, 368weak stomach) than with the disease itself. So in the soul, the conscience ofttimes is most wounded, not with that offence which is, but appears, most; and a sin incomparably small to others, whereof the party is guilty, may most molest for the present, and that for three reasons.

TIM. Reckon them in order.

PHIL. First, that God may show in him, that as sins are like the sands in number, so they are far above them in heaviness, whereof the least crumb taken asunder, and laid on the conscience by God’s hand, in full weight thereof, is enough to drive it to despair.

TIM. What is the second reason?

PHIL. To manifest God’s justice, that those should be choked with a gnat-sin, who have swallowed many camel-sins, without the least regret. Thus some may be terrified for not fasting on Friday, because indeed they have been drunk on Sunday: they may be perplexed for their wanton dreams, when sleeping, because they were never truly humbled for their wicked deeds, when waking. Yea, those who never feared Babylon the great, may be frightened with little Zoar; I mean, such as have been faulty in flat superstition may be tortured for committing or omitting a thing in its own nature indifferent.

TIM. What is the third reason?

PHIL. That this pain for a lesser sin may occasion his serious scrutiny into greater offences. Any paltry cur may serve to start and put up the game out of the bushes, whilst fiercer and fleeter hounds are behind to course and catch it. God doth make use of a smaller sin, to raise and rouse the conscience out of security, and to put it up, as we say, to be chased, by the reserve of far greater offences, lurking behind in the soul, unseen and unsorrowed for.

TIM. May not the conscience be troubled at that which in very deed is no sin at all, nor hath truly so much as but the appearance of evil in it?

PHIL. It may. Through the error of the understanding, such a mistake may follow in the conscience.

TIM. What is to be done in such a case?

PHIL. The party’s judgment must be rectified, before his conscience can be pacified. Then is it the wisest way to persuade him to lay the axe of repentance to the root of corruption in his heart. When real sins in his soul are felled by unfeigned sorrow, causeless scruples will fall of themselves. Till that root be cut down, not only the least bough and branch of that tree, but the smallest sprig, 370twig, and leaf thereof, yea, the very empty shadow of a leaf (mistaken for a sin, and created a fault by the jealousy of a misinformed judgment) is sufficient intolerably to torture a wounded conscience.