31. Another consequence would follow from the supposition, that no grace is conveyed by wicked ministers; namely, that a conscientious person cannot be a member of any national church in the world. For wherever he is, it is great odds, whether a holy minister be stationed there; and if there be not, it is mere lost labour to worship in that congregation. But, blessed be God, this is not the case; we know by our own happy experience, and by the experience of thousands, that the word of the Lord is not bound, though uttered by an unholy minister; and the sacraments are not dry breasts, whether he that administers be holy or unholy. 32. Consider one more consequence of this supposition, should it ever be generally received. Were all men to separate from those churches, where the minister was an unholy man, (as they ought to do, if the grace of God never did, nor could attend his ministry,) what confusion, what tumults, what commotions, would this occasion throughout Christendom! What evil surmisings, heart burning, jealousies, envyings, must every where arise! What censuring, tale bearing, strife, contention! Neither would it stop here: but from evil words the contending parties would soon proceed to evil deeds; and rivers of blood would soon be shed, to the utter scandal of Mohammedans and heathens. 33. Let us not then trouble and embroil ourselves and our neighbours, with unprofitable disputations, but all agree to spread, to the uttermost of our power, the quiet and peaceable gospel of Christ. Let us make the best of whatever ministry the providence of God has assigned us. Near fifty years ago a great and good man, Dr. Potter, then archbishop of Canterbury, gave me an advice, for which I have ever since had occasion to bless God: "If you desire to be extensively useful, do not spend your time and strength, in contending for or against such things as are of a disputable nature; but in testifying against open, notorious vice, and in promoting real, essential holiness." Let us keep to this: leaving a thousand disputable points to those that have no better business, than to toss the ball of controversy to and fro; let us keep close to our point. Let us bear a faithful testimony in our several stations, against all ungodliness and unrighteousness; and with all our might recommend that inward and outward holiness," without which no man shall see the Lord!" SERMON CX.-On Conscience. "For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience," 2 Cor. i, 12. 1. How few words are there in the world more common than this; conscience? It is in almost every one's mouth. And one would thence be apt to conclude, that no word can be found which is more generally understood. But it may be doubted, whether this is the case or no; although numberless treatises have been written upon it. For it is certain, a great part of those writers have rather puzzled the cause than cleared it; that they have usually "darkened counsel, by uttering words without knowledge." 2. The best treatise on the subject which I remember to have seen, is translated from the French of Mons. Placatt; which describes in a But clear and rational manner the nature and offices of conscience. though it was published near a hundred years ago, it is in very few hands. And indeed a great part of those that have read it complain of the length of it. An octavo volume of several hundred pages, upon so plain a subject, was likely to prove a trial of patience to most persons of understanding. It seems, therefore, there is still wanting a discourse upon the subject, short as well as clear. This, by the assistance of God, I will endeavour to supply, by showing, first, The nature of conscience; and then, The several sorts of it: after which I shall conclude with a few important directions. I. 1. And, first, I am to show the nature of conscience. This a very pious man in the last century (in his sermon on universal conscientiousness) describes in the following manner:-"This word, which literally signifies, knowing with another, excellently sets forth the scriptural notion of it. So Job xvi, 19, 'My witness is in heaven' and so the apostle Rom. ix, 1, 'I say the truth; my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost." In both places it is as if he had said, God witnesseth with my conscience. Conscience is placed in the middle, under God, and above man. ing of the mind, whereby those things which are judged to be right are approved of with pleasure; but those which are judged evil, are disapproved of with uneasiness." This is a tribunal in the breast of men, to accuse sinners, and excuse them that do well. It is a kind of silent reason 2. To view it in a somewhat different light: conscience, as well as the Latin word from which it is taken, and the Greek word, dovednews, necessarily imply, the knowledge of two or more things together: suppose the knowledge of our words and actions, and at the same time of their goodness or badness: if it be not rather the faculty whereby we know at once our actions and the quality of them. 3. Conscience, then, is that faculty, whereby we are at once conscious of our own thoughts, words, and actions; and of their merit or demerit, of their being good or bad; and, consequently, deserving either praise or censure. And some pleasure generally attends the former sentence; some uneasiness the latter but this varies exceedingly; according to education, and a thousand other circumstances. 4. Can it be denied, that something of this is found in every man born into the world? And does it not appear as soon as the understanding opens? as soon as reason begins to dawn? Does not every one then begin to know that there is a difference between good and evil; how imperfect soever, the various circumstances of this sense of good and evil may be? Does not every man, for instance, know, unless blinded by the prejudices of education, (like the inhabitants of the Cape of Good Hope,) that it is good to honour his parents? Do not all men, however uneducated or barbarous, allow, it is right to do to others, as we would have them do to us? And are not all who know this, condemned in their own mind, when they do any thing contrary thereto ? as, on the other hand, when they act suitable thereto, they have the approbation of their own conscience? 5. This faculty seems to be what is usually meant by those who speak of natural conscience: an expression frequently found in some of our best authors, but yet not strictly just. For though in one sense it may be termed natural, because it is found in all men; yet, properly speak ing, it is not natural, but a supernatural gift of God, above all his natural endowments. No; it is not nature, but the Son of God, that is "the true light, which enlighteneth every man which cometh into the world." So that we may say to every human creature, "He," not nature, "hath showed thee, oh man, what is good." And it is his Spirit who giveth thee an inward check, who causeth thee to feel uneasy, when thou walkest in any instance contrary to the light which he hath given thee. 6. It may give a peculiar force to that beautiful passage, to consider by whom and on what occasion the words were uttered. The persons speaking are, Balak, the king of Moab, and Balaam, then under divine impressions: (it seems, then "not far from the kingdom of God," although afterwards he so foully revolted.) Probably Balak too, at that time, experienced something of the same influence. This occasioned his consulting with, or asking counsel of Balaam,-his proposing the question to which Balaam gives so full an answer: Micah vi, 5, &c, "Oh my people," saith the prophet in the name of God," remember what Balak the king of Moab consulted," (it seems in the fulness of his heart,) "and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him. Wherewith," said he, "shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" (This the kings of Moab had actually done, on occasions of deep distress; a remarkable account of which is recorded in the third chapter of the second book of Kings.) To this Balaam makes that noble reply: (being doubtless then taught of God :) "He hath showed thee, oh man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" 7. To take a more distinct view of conscience, it appears to have a three fold office: first, it is a witness; testifying what we have done, in thought, or word, or action: secondly, it is a judge, passing sentence on what we have done, that it is good or evil: and thirdly, it, in some sort, executes the sentence, by occasioning a degree of complacency in him that does well, and a degree of uneasiness in him that does evil. 8. Professor Hutcheson, late of Glasgow, places conscience in a different light. In his essay on the passions, he observes, that we have several senses, or natural avenues of pleasure and pain, beside the five external senses. One of these he terms, the public sense; whereby we are naturally pained at the misery of a fellow creature, and pleased at his deliverance from it. And every man, says he, has a moral sense; whereby he approves of benevolence and disapproves of cruelty. Yea, he is uncasy when he himself has done a cruel action, and pleased when he has done a generous one." 9. All this is, in some sense, undoubtedly true. But it is not true, that either the public or the moral sense, (both of which are included in the term conscience,) is now natural to man. Whatever may have been the case at first, while man was in a state of innocence, both the one and the other is now a branch of that supernatural gift of God, which we usually style, preventing grace. But the professor does not at all agree with this. He sets God wholly out of the question. God has nothing to do with his scheme of virtue, from the beginning to the end. So that, to say the truth, his scheme of virtue is atheism all over. This is refinement indeed! Many have excluded God out of the world: he excludes him even out of religion! 10. But do we not mistake him? Do we take his meaning right? That it may be plain enough, that no man may mistake him, he proposes this question: "What if a man, in doing a virtuous, that is, a generous action, in helping a fellow creature, has an eye to God, either as commanding, or as promising to reward it? Then, (says he,) so far as he has an eye to God, the virtue of the action is lost. Whatever actions spring from an eye to the recompense of reward, have no virtue, no moral goodness in them." Alas! was this man called a Christian? How unjustly was he slandered with that assertion! Even Dr. Taylor, though he does not allow Christ to be God, yet does not scruple to term him, a person of consummate virtue." But the professor cannot allow him any virtue at all! 11. But to return. What is conscience in the Christian sense? It is that faculty of the soul, which, by the assistance of the grace of God, sees at one and the same time, 1. Our own tempers and lives; the real rature and quality of our thoughts, words, and actions: 2. The rule whereby we are to be directed and, 3. The agreement or disagreement therewith. To express this a little more largely conscience implies, first, The faculty a man has of knowing himself; of discerning, both in general and in particular, his own tempers, thoughts, words, and actions. But this it is not possible for him to do, without the assistance of the Spirit of God. Otherwise self love, and indeed every other irregular passion, would disguise, and wholly conceal him from himself. It implies, secondly, a knowledge of the rule, whereby he is to be directed in every particular; which is no other than the written word of God. Conscience implies, thirdly, a knowledge that all his thoughts, and words, and actions, are conformable to that rule. In all these offices of conscience, the "unction of the Holy One" is indispensably needful. Without this, neither could we clearly discern our lives or tempers; nor could we judge of the rule whereby we are to walk, or of our conformity or disconformity to it. 12. This is properly the account of a good conscience; which may be in other terms expressed thus: A divine consciousness of walking in all things according to the written word of God. It seems, indeed, that there can be no conscience, which has not a regard to God. If you say, "Yes, there certainly may be a consciousness of having done right or wrong, without any reference to him." I answer, This I cannot grant : I doubt whether the very words, right and wrong, according to the Christian system, do not imply, in the very idea of them, agreement and disagreement to the will and word of God. If so, there is no such thing as conscience in a Christian, if we leave God out of the question. 13. In order to the very existence of a good conscience, as well as to the continuance of it, the continued influence of the Spirit of God, is absolutely needful. Accordingly, the apostle John declares to the believers of all ages, "Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things:" all things that are needful to your having a conscience void of offence towards God and towards man." So he adds, "Ye have no need that any one should teach you," otherwise "than as that anointing teacheth you." That anointing clearly teacheth us those three things: first, The true meaning of God's word: secondly, Our own tempers and lives; bringing all our thoughts, words, and actions, to remembrance: and, thirdly, The agreement of all, with the commandments of God. 14. Proceed we now to consider, in the second place, the several sorts of conscience. A good conscience has been spoken of already. This St. Paul expresses various ways. In one place he simply terms it, a "good conscience towards God;" in another, "a conscience void of offence towards God and towards man." But he speaks still more largely in the text: "Our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity," with a single eye," and godly sincerity, we have had our conversation in the world." Meantime he observes, that this was done, "not by fleshly wisdom;" commonly called prudence ; (this never did, nor ever can produce such an effect;) "but by the grace of God:" which alone is sufficient to work this in any child of man. 15. Nearly allied to this, (if it be not the same placed in another view, or a particular branch of it,) is a tender conscience. One of a tender conscience is exact in observing any deviation from the word of God, whether in thought, or word, or work; and immediately feels remorse and self condemnation for it. And the constant cry of his soul is, "Oh that my tender soul may fly The slightest touch of sin to feel!" 16. But sometimes this excellent quality, tenderness of conscience, is carried to an extreme. We find some who fear where no fear is; who are continually condemning themselves without cause; imagining some things to be sinful, which the Scripture no where condemns; and supposing other things to be their duty, which the Scripture no where enjoins. This is properly termed a scrupulous conscience, and is a sore evil. It is highly expedient to yield to it as little as possible; rather it is a matter of earnest prayer, that you may be delivered from this sore evil, and may recover a sound mind: to which nothing would contribute more, than the converse of a pious and judicious friend. 17. But the extreme which is opposite to this, is far more dangerous. A hardened conscience is a thousand times more dangerous than a scrupulous one: that can violate a plain command of God, without any self condemnation; either doing what he has expressly forbidden, or neglecting what he has expressly commanded; and yet without any remorse; yea, perhaps glorying in this very hardness of heart! Many instances of this deplorable stupidity we meet with at this day; and even among people that suppose themselves to have no small share of religion. A person is doing something which the Scripture clearly forbids. You ask, How do you dare to do this? and are answered with perfect unconcern, "Oh my heart does not condemn me." I reply, "So much the worse. I would to God it did! You would then be in a safer state than you are now. It is a dreadful thing to be condemned by the word of God, and yet not to be condemned by your own heart!" If we can break the least of the known commands of God, without any self condemnation, it is plain that the god of this world |