Yes, you will find that most people will readily admit that in the affairs of this life many ways that seem right unto men are in fact ways of death. But can this statement be made with the same degree of certainty in reference to those things which belong to the moral and spiritual realm? In matters of character and conduct, for instance, is it possible for a man to be utterly wrong, when he believes himself to be right? Is it Dossible for a man to be fairly satisfied with himself and his ways, and yet by every step to be drawing nearer to deep and irretrievable ruin? For although we speak in popular and poetic language of conscience as the voice of God, it is—in the last analysis—one of our own faculties; with greater accuracy we might consider it man's highest and noblest faculty, that to which the Law and the Gospel direct themselves. Like a mirror, it may reflect—and if kept pure and turned to God—give a perfect reflection of His will. But if abused and disregarded, if contaminated by association with evil, it becomes warped and distorted, and it can no longer be trusted.
We shall have discovered a fruitful source of error when we have come to realize that conscience is not an infallible guide. Conscience is given to be our guide, but the guide will mislead unless it be instructed and disciplined by light and teaching from above, unless it be instructed in regard to the nature of the journey and the path we must follow. Surely this is the teaching of the Bible? We have frequent illustrations there, both of weak con-because the rule rather than the exception, are not therefore necessarily right.
I said we speak of conscience in popular and poetic language as the voice of God, and in one very real and terrible sense it is true. We may confess the true God, but the God whom we serve may be other than the God whom we confess, and the God we worship, speaks through our conscience. The man or woman who worships self has no reproving voice to call them back from cruel deeds of self-aggrandizement. The man whose God is a god of gold has no voice that bids him do deeds of generosity, and calls him to spend himself in the service of others.
Conscience is a God-given faculty, designed and intended to tell us the will of the most high God, but alas in so many of us it has been turned to the service of false gods, and it can no longer be trusted.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.