SERMON XXXII.

THE CONNEXION BETWEEN FAITH AND A GOOD CON

SCIENCE.

I TIMOTHY I. 19.

HOLDING FAITH AND A GOOD CONSCIENCE, WHICH SOME HAVING PUT AWAY, CONCERNING FAITH HAVE MADE SHIPWRECK.

EVERY man, who obeys the dictates of his conscience, is not a good man; no man can be good, who does not obey the dictates of his conscience. These two propositions are capable of most perfect moral demonstration. How many crimes have been committed in obedience to conscience, and how many more have been committed in violation of conscience! It is apparent, therefore, that, in deciding upon a man's claims to the Christian character, it is not enough to prove that he is conscientious. A further inquiry must be made, whether his conscience be enlightened, whether it be a good conscience.

It is the purpose of true religion to call forth, to strengthen and to guide the moral sensibilities, not to impart them. Were the soul originally destitute of the power of perceiving and feeling moral distinctions, it could not be acted upon by religion. There would exist in it no principles, to which religion could appeal. Of what avail would it be to address to the human heart the

sanctions of religion, if there were no sensibilities, which could be called forth, if man had no moral sense, no feeling of right and wrong, if there were nothing in his own bosom, which gave power to these sanctions? Christianity supposes that a germ of moral excellence is a part of human nature, that it is placed in the soul by God himself. On this germ all the light and means of religion are designed to act, as the elements of nature, air, light, heat and moisture, act in developing the principles of vegetable life in the seed. If the germ of the future plant be deprived of its native power, in vain will the elements visit it. And so if the germ of spiritual life be disregarded or destroyed, in vain will the holy influences of religion be exerted.

Permit me to call your attention to a few remarks on the connexion between faith and a good conscience.

It

I. The Christian faith is designed, not to create the conscience, but to give it light, activity and authority. presupposes the existence of conscience. In accordance with this view was the ministry of Jesus conducted. Before he communicated a single peculiar truth of his religion, he called upon sinners to repent. But of what were they to repent? Of their sins. Of sins against what law? Against the law of their own moral natures. The first work was to rouse into activity a power previously dormant. Conscience was at once addressed. If it could be excited to fidelity, then man would feel that he had violated solemn obligations, that he had sinned against his own moral nature and against God, and that, unless purified, he must be wretched. Then he would repent, and, the moral sensibilities within being excited, he would be prepared to welcome the light, and to improve the aids of religious faith. Christ having first endeavored to excite these sensibilities, then poured forth his instructions. He brought into view a divine Parent, and enjoined it as the first law of his religion that man should give God his con

fidence, reverence and love. He then brought forward religious rites and duties, all bearing directly and powerfully upon the character. Then came the revelation of a future life and the awful sanctions of God's law. These too were made to act immediately upon the conscience, giving impressiveness to its dictates and authority to its decisions, by connecting all moral exercises with a sense of accountability, and with the happiness or misery of the soul in a future state. That man might be protected from delusion in the application of principles so powerful, and at the same time so mysterious, as those of religion, Jesus distinctly taught that man's fidelity to conscience is to be tested, not by mere belief or mere feeling, but by practical goodness in all the relations of life. As a still farther guard against deception, and a still farther help in the developement of the moral powers, he illustrated by his own life the doctrines and demands of the religion which he taught. Here is light for the conscience, and a divine authority imparted to its decisions. But all this supposes a moral power in the soul independently of the teachings of revelation. The object of Christianity is to bring out this power in its full strength, and to guide it in its operations to safe results.

II. If religion does not create the conscience, but only affords its aid in developing and guiding it, there may be an action of man's moral character upon his religious faith, as well as an action of his faith upon his conscience. Suppose man to be immersed in sin, to have set at nought the law written upon his heart, and to be deeply in love with his vices. He is found, we suppose, in this state, by the teacher of a divine and holy religion. This teacher makes no attempt to show him his guilt, or to rouse into action the moral sensibilities of his soul. He simply tells him that God is an infinite spirit, perfect in all his attributes, that he governs the world in righteousness, that he

must be worshipped in spirit and in truth. What effect will these lessons have? They may be as pure as the light; but what effect will they have, while the conscience of the man to whom they are addressed is perverted or dead? He can form no notion of moral perfection from mere descriptions. He must inquire of his own soul, that he may be able to understand the lessons given. There he must learn what a spirit is, what it is to love, what are moral principles, and in what the perfection of a spiritual being consists. But his own soul is perverted. He loves what he ought to hate, and hates what he ought to love. In this state of guilt and spiritual anarchy, he will misinterpret the lessons which he receives. The God whom he worships will be altogether such an one as himself; and his religious services will, by seeming to comply with the demands of religion, and thus soothing his feelings, be made to degrade his character, and to render him secure in his sins. The light may be pure in its source; but it will be discolored by the medium, through which it passes. The tyrant's God will be worshipped as a tyrant, and the very services of religion will be made to strengthen the principles of injustice and oppression in the bosom of the worshipper. The voluptuary will have a God who loves pleasure, a God, who, absorbed in his own selfish gratifications, takes no heed to the creatures under his government, but leaves all to live as they list. So, through every class of sinners, moral power being palsied, and the moral sensibilities corrupted, religion, if thought of at all, will be misinterpreted, and thus shipwreck will be made of faith. Nothing can prevent this disastrous consequence but fidelity to conscience; and this fidelity can only be maintained by closely consulting and perseveringly obeying the principles of right and wrong, as they are made known by the law written on the heart. Hence the necessity of preserving the faith in perfect alliance with a good conscience.

III. I will now endeavor to illustrate more at large the tendency of unfaithfulness to conscience to destroy or pervert the religious belief.

1. Religious faith may exist, so far as the intellectual belief is concerned, without exerting any power whatever. It is apparent that, in this case, it is separated from a good conscience. There can be no more obvious principle, none which the unperverted mind of man more readily admits, than that, if God commands us, he ought to be obeyed. Now many men yield assent to the divine authority of Christianity, who are not at all influenced by its spirit or instructions. What are they doing? Are they preserving a good conscience? No. They are every moment doing violence to conscience. The consequence is, that their moral sensibilities become more and more blunted. They yield to earthly influences. They live without God in the world, and without the practical influence of faith. Jesus speaks to them in vain. The danger is, that they, rendering themselves incapable of judging of his truth, and becoming more and more hostile to his spirit, will either sink down into avowed unbelief, or will draw upon themselves all the consequences of unbelief. This is precisely the situation of thousands in Christian countries. They neglect their own souls, and, though the light of the sun of righteousness beams upon them, they give themselves wholly to the world; thus their religious faith is palsied, they heed not the voice of God, and go to their graves dishonored and ruined. It is to these persons, that Jesus is now saying, Repent. God grant that they may yield to his influence, that their moral sensibilities may be roused, that they may enjoy spiritual life, that they may die in hope, and, on the morning of the resurrection, awake to a glorious immortality.

2. The religious faith may, through the inactivity of conscience, be palsied by the substitution of the forms of religion for the duties of piety and benevolence. It is a