what the apostle calls on the calumniated Christians to do; and, second, why he requires them to do this. He requires them to do two things: the one in express terms; the other by necessary implication. He requires them to "have," or hold, "a good conscience," and to maintain "a good conversation," in Christ; and he requires them to do this, that their calumniators may be made ashamed of their false accusations.

In considering the first part of our subject, I shall, in succession, endeavor to explain to you what it is to have a good conscience, and what it is to maintain a good conversation, in Christ, and then show how these are mutually connected; how they act and react on each other.

There are few subjects on which more has been written and spoken to little, or no, or worse than no, purpose, than conscience. Here, as Leighton justly says, "are many fruitless, verbal debates; and, as in other things that most require solid and useful consideration, the vain mind of man feedeth on the wind, and loves to be busy to no purpose. How much better is it to have the good conscience than dispute about its nature; to experience its power than to understand its definition." Yet it is very desirable that we should have distinct and accurate ideas on this subject. If we do not know what conscience is, how can we understand what is meant by a good conscience? and if we do not know what a good conscience is, how can we employ the appropriate means of obtaining it if we are destitute of it, or of retaining it if we are so happy as already to possess it?

Conscience may be described as that part of our mental constitution which makes us the proper subjects of religious and moral obligation and responsibility; or, in other words, the human mind in its relations to God and duty. It is a part of the constitution of man, that as he makes, and cannot but make, a distinction between propositions as true and false, so he makes, and cannot but make, a distinction between dispositions and actions as right and wrong; and as he cannot but count what he thinks to be true to be worthy of belief, and what he thinks to be false to be worthy of disbelief; so he cannot but count what he thinks right worthy of approbation and reward, and what he thinks wrong worthy of disapprobation and punishment; and he cannot do what he knows to be right without the pleasurable feeling of self-approbation, nor can he do what he knows to be wrong without the painful feeling of self-disapprobation. These seem to be the acts or states of the mind to which we give the general name of conscience. It is, as the apostle expresses it, the having "the work," the office1 of law so "written in the heart," so inwoven into his nature, as that without a written law he is as a law to himself, his thoughts accusing or excusing one another. It seems to be this part of our constitution to which Solomon refers, when he says, that "the spirit of a man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly." It is this peculiar endowment of the human soul more than anything else, more than all things else taken together, that raises it above the animating principle of the brutes.2

1 Τὰ τοῦ νόμου. Τὸ ἔργον τοῦ νόμου. Rom. ii. 14, 15.

2 See Bishop Butler's "Three Sermons on Human Nature"-the most valuable treatise on the philosophy of morals in existence.

The conscience is good when the mind exercises all the functions referred to, in a way fitted to promote the religious and moral excellence, the holiness and the happiness, both of the individual and of all with whom he is connected. It is absolutely good when it gains this end in the highest degree; and it is good or evil just in the degree in which it gains these ends, or comes short of them, or conduces to ends of an opposite kind.

Man, when he came from the hand of his Creator, was as a being possessed of conscience, as, in every other view that can be taken of his nature, very good. He had a good conscience. He clearly perceived what was right, and strongly felt what was good. He thought, and felt, and acted, in entire coincidence with his convictions of right. His heart condemned him not, and he had confidence towards God, arising from the consciousness that, in mind and heart, he was entirely conformed to His will.

Had this state of things continued, sin and misery had never been. known; and in a growing acquaintance with what is holy, just, and good, and a corresponding disposition to conform himself in all the faculties of his nature to it, a foundation was laid for illimitable progress in moral excellence and happiness.

But man's conscience became evil, and "that which was ordained to life became death," the fruitful source both of sin and of misery. The conscience, under malignant spiritual influence, became evil, morally depraved, hesitating in a case where there was no room for hesitation; doubting as to the absolute authority of a distinctly uttered announcement of the mind of God, and as to the necessary connection between sin and punishment. Had conscience maintained its superiority over desire, Satan might have tempted, but man would not have fallen. But conscience betrayed its trust, and delivered man up to the influence of curiosity and ambition, inflamed by the false representations of the great deceiver; and no sooner had he, yielding to temptation, violated the Divine law, than, incapable of changing its nature, the inward witness and judge instantly became evil, in the sense of being productive of misery. It having first deceived him, then slew him. It repeated the declaration of the Lawgiver in a most terrific form: "Thou hast eaten, thou must die: thou art a sinner, thou art miserable." It filled him with remorse and the fear which has torment; and made him flee from what had been the source of his happiness, but now was the object of his terror, "the presence of the Lord."1 Man, the sinner, is exposed, under the penal arrangements of the Divine government, to the operation of causes both of depravity and of wretchedness without himself; but the principal sources both of his ever-growing sin and misery are within himself, in his own de

Evasisse putes, quos diri conscia facti

Mens habet attonitos est surdo verbere cædit
Occultum quatiente animo tortore flagellum?

Pœna autem vehemens, ac multo sævior illis

Quas et Cædilius gravis invenit, aut Rhadamanthus,

Nocte dieque suum gestare in pectore testem.-Juvenal, xiii.

praved nature. He is his own perverter and his own tormentor. All the faculties of his nature have become "instruments of unrighteousness unto sin ;" and they all, too, "bring forth fruit unto death." All his faculties, originally good, are now evil: evil-influenced by depravity; evil-productive of misery. Conscience, the master faculty, is thus emphatically evil.

Conscience, influenced by ignorance, and error, and criminal inclination, pronounces false judgments, calls evil good, and good evil, and says peace, peace, where there is no peace. It approves what it should condemn, and condemns what it should approve. It is fitful, and uncertain, and inconsistent, and unreasonable, sometimes, at the same time it may be reproving and punishing severely for the neglect of some superstitious usage, and permitting, or even enjoining, the perpetration of the greatest crimes. It is sometimes absurdly and most vexatiously sensitive and scrupulous, and at other times "seared as with a hot iron." This is the very core of man's depravity and wretchedness. When the mind and the conscience are defiled, nothing can be pure. When the light which is in man is darkness, how great is the darkness!

Even when conscience, in the unchanged, unpardoned sinner, performs its most legitimate function, condemnation, it is evil, productive of depravity as well as of misery. Its condemnation irritates, instead of destroying, or even weakening, the sinful principle which is condemned. It awakens, into more exasperated fury, enmity against Him who forbids, and who punishes, what the sinner loves. It makes the sinner "run, as it were, on the Almighty's neck, on the thick bosses of his buckler;" or, paralyzing the sinews of dutiful exertion, makes him say there is no hope, and yield himself up an unresisting victim to the powers of evil. And the most fearful scenes of suffering that are witnessed on this side death-out of the prison-house from which there is no discharge, are those which originate in the inflictions of a guilty, awakened, unenlightened conscience. This is the most adequate representation we can have of "the worm that dieth not, and the fire that cannot be quenched."

Behold a picture drawn from the life of a sinner consciencestruck:

"Alas! how changed! Expressive of his mind,
His eyes are sunk, arms folded, head reclined.
Those awful syllables-hell, death, and sin!
Though whisper'd, plainly tell what works within:
That conscience there performs her proper part,
And writes a doomsday sentence on his heart.
Forsaking and forsaken of all friends,

He now perceives where earthly pleasure ends.
Hard task for one who lately knew no care;
And harder still, as learned beneath despair!
His hours no longer pass unmark'd away-
A dark importance saddens every day:
He hears the notice of the clock, perplexed,
And cries-Eternity perhaps comes next!
Sweet music is no longer music here,
And laughter sounds like madness in his ear;
His grief the world of all her powers disarms-
Wine has no taste, and beauty has no charms." 1

1 Cowper.

Out of this darkness God can bring light; but its natural consummation is "the blackness of darkness forever."

The question is a most important one, How is conscience in man, the sinner, to become good, the source of holiness and happiness, a well of living water in him, springing up unto everlasting life? The true answer is, the conscience must be brought under the saving operation of "the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." It must be sprinkled by the blood of his atoning sacrifice: it must be enlightened by his word: it must be influenced by his Spirit. It is thus, thus alone, that any sinner can have a good conscience.

1

"The blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot unto God, purges the conscience from dead works, to serve the living God." The heart is thus "sprinkled from an evil conscience." The evil conscience becomes good. The sprinkling of the blood of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the conscience of the sinner, makes it clean, "good;" converts it from a source of misery and sin into a source of peace and of holiness. But what is meant by this sprinkling of the blood of Christ on the heart or conscience, and how does it produce such wonderful, such delightful results? The best way of answering the first of these interesting questions is, perhaps, by asking another. The sprinkling of the blood of the sin-offering was necessary, in order to its being effectual to the removal of the guilt of those for whom it was offered. What, in the christian economy of redemption, answers to this part of "the patterns of the heavenly things?" There can be but one reply the faith of the truth respecting the atoning sacrifice of Christ, produced by the Holy Spirit. It is this which brings home the saving results of the atonement to the individual sinner.

:

2

Now, how does this faith of the truth respecting Christ, as the great atonement, deliver from the evil conscience, and bring us under the power of a good conscience? Till this truth is understood and believed, conscience condemns, cannot but condemn, the sinner, and produce in his mind and heart the natural consequences of this condemnation, fear and dislike of God. But when, in the faith of the truth, conscience sees God setting forth his Son, a propitiation in his blood, and hears him declaring that he is the Lamb of God, who has borne and borne away the sin of the world; who, though he knew no sin, has been made sin for men, wounded for their transgressions, bruised for their iniquities; and who thus has magnified the law and made it honorable, and brought in an everlasting righteousness; and that He, the righteous Judge, is well pleased for that righteousness' sake, and while the just God is the Saviour, "just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus;" conscience, seeing and hearing all this, and echoing, as formerly, the voice of God, proclaims, "It is finished;" God is satisfied, and so am I; he justifies, and I absolve: "There is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus." Believing in him, thou art justified in all things, accepted in the Beloved. Thy sin is more condemned than ever through his flesh; but thou, thou art justified. Who shall lay anything to thy charge? God justifies ; 2 Heb. ix. 23. Ὑποδείγματα τῶν ἐπουρανίων.

1 Heb. ix. 14.

3

3 Rom. viii. 1.

who shall condemn? Christ has died, the just in the room of the unjust."

And as the condemning conscience naturally filled the mind with dislike and fear of God; so the absolving, the justifying conscience casts out the jealousies of unforgiven guilt, fills the heart with confidence and love, fitting the man to yield a living service to the living God. In this way, in this way alone, can the conscience of man be made good, or kept good, by bringing it and keeping it under the pacifying, purifying power of the blood of atonement.

66

This is indeed a good conscience." a good conscience." It makes its possessor at once happy and holy. Let him, who has heard its testimony, tell how it does so

""Tis Heaven, all Heaven, descending on the wings

Of the glad legions of the King of kings;
'Tis more 'tis God, diffused in every part,
'Tis God himself, triumphant in the heart."

The conscience that is thus sprinkled by Christ's blood is enlightened by Christ's truth. The Christian is "not unwise, but understands what the will of the Lord is." His conscience is not a blind impulse. Regulating him, it is itself regulated by "the perfect law of liberty," "the good, and perfect, and acceptable will of the Lord." It is not guided in its decisions by his own caprice, or his own reason, or the opinions of other men; but by "what is good, by what the Lord hath required."

And while sprinkled by the blood of Christ's sacrifice, and enlightened by the truth of Christ's law, it is guided in its operation by the influence of Christ's Spirit. He enables it wisely and honestly to make the precepts and motives of the christian law bear on the varying circumstances of the Christian's inner and outer life; on his transactions with God, and his transactions with men. A conscience which allows its possessor no quiet of mind, while known duty is neglected, or known sin is indulged; and makes him habitually feel the need of repairing to the fountain opened for sin and for uncleaness; and at once inclines and enables him to "walk at liberty," while he keeps God's law, and to "serve God without fear, in righteousness and holiness, all the days of his life," is the good conscience, to possess which is one of the Christian's highest privileges, and to maintain and improve which is one of his principal duties.

It is but right, however, before closing this part of the subject, to remark, that the phrase "a good conscience" is sometimes used in the New Testament in a more restricted sense, to signify that state of the mind when the conscience bears witness, " in the Holy Ghost, to the individual, that his conduct in any particular case is in accordance with what he knows and believes to be the will of God: an approving conscience. To this the apostle refers when he says, "Our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not by fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have our conversation in the world ;" and again, "Herein do I 2 Psal. cxix. 44, 45. Luke i. 74, 75.

■ Cowper.