a conscience void of offence towards God and man," will not "labour in vain, nor spend his strength for nought." "In due season he shall reap, if he faints not." The tears of seed-time are preparatory to the joy of the harvest; and as a secondary source of delight, a good conscience, is, on no account, to be disregarded, or lightly esteemed. The Apostle Paul, who had long devoted himself to the most diligent discharge of his sacred duties, found unspeakable consolation in the testimony which, after the strictest examination, his conscience bore to his sincerity; and when he was assailed by the fierce persecutions, or by the slanderous imputations of mankind, he only reverted with the greater satisfaction to the inward testimony of an enlightened conscience. He had borne many personal afflictions for Christ's sake; he had suffered much from rival teachers, from false friends, and from avowed enemies; he had been made sorrowful by many, who ought to have proved" his joy and crown of rejoicing; but he carried in his own bosom a treasure, of which no violence could deprive him, a mind at peace with God and with itself. "Our rejoicing," amidst the wreck and desolation of all earthly joys, "is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world." 1"

1 2 Cor. i. 12,

Happy are all they, who by the mercy of God in Christ Jesus, are able to rejoice in the testimony of an approving conscience, and to look forward with hope to that day, when its verdict shall be confirmed by Him, " to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid!"

Two inquiries may here engage our attention; the first, relating to the character of that joy which the testimony of a good conscience imparts; the second, to the manner in which the testimony of conscience produces this joy.

I. What is the peculiar character of the joy arising from the testimony of a good conscience?

When the Apostle says, "Our rejoicing is this; he does not mean to direct our thoughts to the "testimony of conscience," either as the exclusive, or even as the principal cause of the Christian's joy. He has a higher bliss than can be derived from any contemplation of what passes in his own breast,―a bliss flowing immediately from faith in Christ as his only Saviour, who is "made of God unto him, wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." When this great Object of faith is fully apprehended, the language of the heart is, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." This becomes the theme of paramount, and in one sense, of exclusive exultation; nothing besides

1 1 Cor. i. 30.

1

2 Gal. vi. 14.

seems worthy of a thought, nothing less can fill, and satisfy the mind.

But the Christian's rejoicing in "the testimony of conscience" is every way inferior and subordinate to this. Instead of arising from the direct contemplation of a satisfying object, it arises from a reflex operation of the mind, by which it turns upon itself, and surveys the effects which have been wrought on all its trains and habits of thinking, on all its desires and affections, on all its principles and motives. The doctrine of salvation by "Christ Jesus and him crucified" is like the direct rays of the sun, which beam on us at noon-day, cheering us with their genial warmth, and revealing all the beauties of the surrounding scene, by their clear and penetrating light; while the testimony of conscience, is like that benignant yet mysterious combination of reflected and refracted rays, which, without pouring upon us an immediate flood of glory, plays through the atmosphere, and forms the useful though less brilliant light of day, even when clouds and tempests hide their great source entirely from our view.

The peculiarity then, which distinguishes the joys arising from the testimony of conscience is, that they are emphatically joys of reflection-that they result from the contemplation of what has passed and is passing in the Christian's own breast. He feels the internal glow of spiritual health; he is conscious of the right state and tendency of the affections; he perceives, with gratitude, that,

through the mercy of God, his tastes, as well as his sentiments, are entirely changed; he remembers what hostility he once felt towards inward religion, what enmity against God, what resistance to the authority of the divine law, what a disposition to murmur at its restraints, what distaste for the humbling doctrines and self-denying precepts of the Gospel, and what reluctance to accept the offers of mercy through a crucified Redeemer. But in reference to these and all similar trains of thought and feeling, "old things are passed away and all things are become new;" he is "renewed in the spirit of his mind." And if he could assure himself, that this renewal is as complete in its degree, as it is genuine in its nature, his joy at the contemplation of his spiritual state would be unbounded. The " answer of a good conscience" to the inquiries suggested by the most scrupulous investigation, would then be so decisive as to exclude the possibility of doubt. It is however a subject for deep and serious lamentation, that this responsive testimony of conscience is not, at all times, sufficiently clear, strong, and unequivocal, to relieve the mind from all just occasions of solicitude. So far as the infirmity and sin of human nature prevents the perfect triumph of Christian principle, so far the approving voice of conscience is enfeebled, and consequently the happiness resulting from its testimony is marred and defective. Still, though defective, it is valuable; and if we earnestly endeavour, in the strength of

divine grace, to "lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, looking unto Jesus the Author and finisher of our faith," what is feeble in our moral principle will be invigorated, and what is defective in our happiness supplied; we shall be conscious, not only of the existence, but of the energetic activity of spiritual desires, sentiments, and affections: we shall feel "the powers of the world to come," the stirring of heavenly thoughts and dispositions, the calm confidence of faith, the glow of divine love, the buoyancy of hope, the expansive charity and ardour of soul, which will testify that God, by his Spirit, is "working in us mightily," and inclining us to glorify him with all our powers.

Such is the happiness of the Christian, resulting from deep and serious reflection, after close examination, on the state of his own mind. Not a selfrighteous joy, as if he were exulting in his own strength or virtue; for he knows that God alone is the Author of every good thought, of every holy purpose and of every virtuous action of his life. It is not a joy independent of reliance upon pardoning mercy through Christ, still less at variance with such reliance, but growing out of it and following after it, as a subsidiary and confirmatory joy. He is saved by faith alone, that the reward may be not of debt but of grace.

Yet the testimony of conscience assures him of the genuine

ness and sincerity of his faith.

John means by the declaration

This is what St.

"He that believ