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Conscience is that within us which pronounces upon the moral character of our actions, and which justifies or condemns us accordingly. It is the Holy of holies in human nature — the majestic shrine in which God Himself is enthroned.

I. A CONSCIENCE VOID OF OFFENCE. Such —

1. Must be enlightened. The sin of man has darkened his mind, and to have his conscience void of offence he must labour to obtain the fullest information about all moral questions. He must be on his guard against ignorance of the teaching of the moral law itself, and error as to the way in which that law is to be applied to the life. Micah the Ephraimite (Judges 17; Judges 18) had an ignorant conscience. Saul of Tarsus (Acts 26:9) had an erring conscience. And how many Christians in our time need to have their consciences instructed about many important matters of morals? How many, for example, about the use of minced oaths, the petty falsehoods of trade, the use of the means of grace?

2. Must be purified. Man, being guilty, endures the misery of an evil conscience. There is no torment comparable to the pangs of remorse. Even the sin-hardened are made "cowards" by it, and confess that "conscience is a thousand swords." "This disease is beyond the practice" of Lady Macbeth's physician. (These quotations remind us that our greatest poet is emphatically the poet of the conscience.) But the same necessity exists for all, even for those who are "not far from the kingdom of God."

3. Must be kept sensitive and tender. A healthy conscience will allow its possessor no peace so long as sin is indulged in or duty neglected. But how many there are, who, instead of cherishing a sensitive, vigilant conscience, prefer rather to lull the monitor into a state of coma! They say with the murderer in the tragedy, "There's few or none will entertain it. I'll not meddle with it. It is a dangerous thing. It makes a man a coward. 'Tis a blushing shamefaced spirit that mutinies in a man's bosom. It fills one full of obstacles," etc. And even a believer may sometimes allow his conscience to sink into a stupor. Lot did so when he went to live in Sodom, and David after his great transgression, and Peter until his Master's look of loving reproach awoke it. Thank God, there is such an awakening for every gracious soul. But the Bible speaks of those who have their "conscience seared with a hot iron," as the effect of persistent unbelief and sin. Such seems to have been the case with Pharaoh, Saul, Caiaphas, and Judas.

4. Must receive its rightful place of supreme authority in the soul. The intuitions of men in all ages have convinced them practically of this truth. Our nature tells us that conscience is a magistrate from whose decisions there should be no earthly appeal; and that these anticipate a still more effectual sentence, which shall proceed from the Judgment throne. To shape one's course according to another man's conscience is the very spirit of Popery. Paul was preeminently a conscientious man all his life through (Acts 23:1; 2 Corinthians 1:12). And the noble avowal of our text we can parallel with the brave words of Luther, "My conscience is a captive to God's Word: and it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience." The man who makes this the law of his life will succeed in having "a conscience void of offence." It will be so toward God (Psalm 26.) and toward men (1 Samuel 12:3; Acts 20:33).

II. THE EXERCISE NECESSARY IN ORDER TO HAVE SUCH A CONSCIENCE. The word "exercise" applied to the body denotes severe and bracing physical training; applied to the mind suggests assiduous intellectual drill and discipline. Paul's assertion, therefore, is that he makes the gymnastics of conscience his daily study and care. Let us inquire by what means this "exercise" is to be prosecuted.

1. To enlighten conscience, we must exercise ourselves with the study of Divine truth. The only rule of conscience which the heathen have is the "law written on their hearts"; but the Christian rule of right and wrong is the Word of God. God's Word lays bare to us our half-buried and forgotten moral convictions. It is the chisel which restores the defaced and worn inscriptions upon gravestones of our sin-dead hearts. We must therefore "search the Scriptures."

2. To purify conscience we must exercise ourselves with the application of the blood of Christ, which "purges the conscience from dead works" and "sprinkles the heart from an evil conscience."

3. To keep conscience tender, we must exercise ourselves with constant watching and prayer (Psalm 139:23, 24). To give conscience its place of supreme authority we must exercise ourselves with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. His grace is the one power which can make conscience regnant.

(C. Jerden, M. A.)

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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.