Acts 24:16 And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void to offense toward God, and toward men. I. THE FACTS OF CONSCIENCE. 1. We have a discernment of the difference between right and wrong. 2. We approve of the one, and disapprove of the other, as of good and bad laws. 3. We condemn ourselves for what conscience disapproves in our states and acts. 4. We are impelled by conscience to do what is right, and deterred by it from what is wrong. Conscience, therefore, is not a single faculty. It is a collective term for those exercises of our rational nature which concern moral good and evil. It includes cognition and judgment of approbation and disapprobation. And it is an impulse, as desires and affections are. It is not a mere decision as to truth. II. ITS CHARACTERISTICS. 1. It is independent of the understanding and will. No man can force himself by a volition to approve of what he sees to be wrong. Nor can conscience be perverted by mere sophistry of the understanding. If a man honestly thinks a wrong thing to be right, his conscience will approve his doing it; but no man can argue his conscience out of its convictions. Nor can it be silenced. 2. It is authoritative. It asserts the right to rule our hearts and lives. We may disregard and rebel against this authority, but we must admit it to be legitimate. 3. It does not speak in its own name. It is the representative of God, and brings the soul before His bar. 4. It is avenging, and is made so by God. Remorse is a state produced by conscience. III. OUR DUTY IN REGARD TO IT. 1. To enlighten it. It is not infallible in its judgment. Men differ widely as to what is right or wrong, and our thinking a thing right does not make it right. 2. To obey it. No man is better than his conscience; no man is as good. Conscience is to be obeyed not only in particular cases, but in all as the ruling authority; i.e., we must act not from impulse, self interest, inclination, feeling, in matters small and great. The ground of this obligation to obey conscience is — (1) The authority of God in whose name it speaks. (2) Respect for our own dignity as rational and moral beings. (3) The greatest happiness springs from an approving, the greatest misery from a wounded conscience. (C. Hodge, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men.WEB: Herein I also practice always having a conscience void of offense toward God and men. |
    |