4. Conscience imparts joy to the Christian, by bearing witness to the effect which divine grace produces upon his general conduct and intercourse with the world. The testimony of conscience refers not only to principles but to practice. It has respect to the "conversation "-that is, to the habitual course of living in the world. And the testimony it bears concerning this course of life, is, that through divine grace, it is characterized by "simplicity and godly sincerity." The apostle and his fellowlabourers in the gospel could confidently appeal to their hearers, that they did not hold their religion as a mere tissue of theoretic principles, which were to produce no practical benefit. They only desired to be judged by their fruits, and could fearlessly challenge the strictest investigation of their character, by this practical test. But whether others should acquit them, according to this rule of judgment or not; whether the world should capriciously choose to justify or to condemn them; they had the far more important testimony of their own consciences in their favour. They knew that they had endeavoured to teach by example as well as by precept; and though they were not hereby justified" as sinners before God, yet they derived, from this source, satisfactory evidence that the grace of God had wrought in them and by them; and they rejoiced in the testimony 1 l'Avasтpépoμai, metaphoricè rationem viveudi et agendi indicat, et idem est ac Latinorum versari, se gerere.-Schleusner. which their consciences could thus bear to the sincerity, the strength, and the excellency of their Christian principles. So must all Christians bring their characters to this practical touch-stone. If they will not bear this test, they are unsound at heart. The religion which stops short of the fruits of righteousness is vain. It is but the shadow,-the airy, unsubstantial outline of piety-the name, the pretext, the apology for Christianity. He who can rejoice, when he has no approving testimony of conscience, had far better mourn and weep; for his rejoicing is the joy of madness and of folly, it rests on no sure foundation, it produces no satisfying effects, it ends only in delusion, sorrow and ruin. But if our conscience testifies, that we are habitually cherishing the spirit and cultivating the practice of true religion; that we carry it into our daily occupations in the world; that we "put on the Lord Jesus Christ, not making provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof;" that we are endeavouring to "adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things," and to "shew forth the praises of him who hath called us out of darkness into his marvellous light," then have we a constant occasion for fervent gratitude and for humble joy. With our confidence placed entirely on the merits of a crucified Saviour, for acceptance with God, and for the hope of eternal life; we shall still be sensible of the high and holy gratifi cation which the approving voice of conscience imparts. A good conscience,' writes St. Bernard, is great riches. What is there in wealth more rich or pleasant? What on earth more peaceful and secure? A good conscience fears neither loss of fortune, nor reproaches, nor bodily torments; it is more elevated than depressed, even by death itself. What, I ask, among earthly goods can you compare to this great felicity? What does the smiling and deceitful world offer to its deluded votaries of equal value? Does it promise vast estates, spacious palaces, pontifical mitres, royal sceptres, yet death soon dissolves all these distinctions. ... But the blessings of a good conscience survive all others. They neither wither in disease, nor expire in death; they delight the living, solace the dying, revive the dead, and fail not through eternity.' Many excellent things have been written by the philosophers and poets of antiquity, on the approving testimony of conscience. But without attempting to depreciate the least ray of light on moral truth which has ever shone upon the world, we must maintain that no heathen morality, however bright it might appear,―amid the thick darkness of ignorance and immorality through which its few and scattered beams had forced their way-can bear a moment's comparison with that of the gospel of Christ. There are radical and incurable defects Bernardi Epist. ad Papam 1 Magnæ divitiæ bona conscientia. Cœlestinum. Opera, &c. Tom. I. p. 148. in the best systems of morals ever framed by the wisdom of this world. One great and obvious blot which defaces them all, is their tendency to cherish pride, independence, and self-sufficiency in the heart of man; that is, in other words, to cherish the deep, original disease of his nature; to water the root of every vicious principle, and to pervert whatever is naturally amiable in man, into an occasion of sin. An example or two out of many which might be adduced, will suffice to prove the truth of this allegation. Horace, in that epistle which contains his admirable description of a good conscience, as a brazen wall of defence against all assaults,1 proudly assumes that a good man is only inferior to the Supreme Being; and elsewhere adds, that while it is in the power of the immortal gods to give or take away life or affluence, man is indebted to himself alone for his virtues.3 Juvenal speaks in a similar strain; and the morality both of Cicero and Seneca are deeply imbued with the same proud, self-confident spirit. 4 1 Hic murus aheneus esto, Nil conscire sibi, nullâ pallescere culpâ. Hor. Epist. i. Lib. I. 2 Ad summam, sapiens uno minor est Jove, dives, 3 Sed satis est orare Jovem quæ donat et aufert; 4 Monstro quod ipse tibi possis dare, semina certè What a contrast do we discover between the assumptions of philosophy, and the humble confidence of genuine Christianity? Both the heathen and the christian moralist, rejoice in the testimony of their conscience; but on entirely opposite grounds, and with very difficult results. The one glories in it as the effect of his own inherent excellence, the other as the gift of grace; the one admires himself, the other gives praise and glory to God alone; the one makes a good conscience the basis of his hope, the other regards it only as the proof that his hope is fixed on a sure foundation. Hence when both use language, in some respects similar, we must not forget, that an essentially different meaning is to be applied to many of their terms. Christianity implies the operation of principles on the mind, which the most correct systems of heathen morality would have rejected with disdain. It lays the foundation of all its triumphs in deep self-abasement; and the superstructure of hope and joy becomes firm and immoveable, because it rests, not on the loose and shifting sand of human virtues, but on the righteousness of Christ, the rock of ages. While, therefore, all the confidence which is built on moral excellences, real or imaginary, is shaken and swept away by the approaching storm of adversity, or while the speculations of philosophic minds become vague and uncertain, just at the moment when the soul, standing on the verge of eternity, most feels its need of support and con |