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"It is the assenting and determining part; let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind: and it is also taken for Conscience, or that Treasure of rules which are in order to practice."

— Taylor, Jeremy (bap. 1613, 1667)

Author

Taylor, Jeremy (bap. 1613, 1667)

Work Title

Ductor Dubitantium, or, The Rule of Conscience in all her General Measures Serving as a Great Instrument for the Determination of Cases of Conscience

Place of Publication

London

Publisher

Printed by R. Norton for R. Royston

Date

1660, 1676

Metaphor

"It is the assenting and determining part; let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind: and it is also taken for Conscience, or that Treasure of rules which are in order to practice."

Metaphor in Context

9. Thus, conscience is the Mind, and God writing his laws in our minds, is, informing our conscience, and furnishing it with laws, and rules, and measures, and it is called by S. Paul, [GREEK], the law of the mind; and though it is once made a distinct thing from the mind (as in those words, Their minds and consciences are defiled) yet it happens in this word as in divers others, that it is sometimes taken largely, sometimes specifically and more determinately: the mind is all the whole understanding part, it is the memory; so Peter called to mind the word that Jesus spake,that is, he remembered it. It is, the signification or meaning, the purpose or resolution. No man knoweth the mind of the spirit, but the spirit. It is the discursive or reasoning part; Mary cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. It is the assenting and determining part; let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind: and it is also taken for Conscience, or that Treasure of rules which are in order to practice. And therefore, when S. Paul intended to express the anger of God punishing evil men with evil consciences and false perswasions, in order to criminal actions, and evil worshippings, he said, God gave them over, [GREEK], to a reprobate mind, that is, to a conscience evil perswaded, furnished with false practical principles; but the return to holiness, and the improvement of a holy conscience, is called, a being renewed in the spirit of our mind, [GREEK], the renovation of the mind.
(p. 4)