---- CHAPTER III: That all the workings of a natural conscience will not help a man to believe; but
reason a man hath is mainly exercised in maintaining the dispute of this against his conscience, or the grumbling in his heart about the goodness of his estate. Again, on the other side, when once a man comes to be humbled, and then should come to believe, all this reason turns head again, and useth as much strength of objection against himself, why he should not have mercy, and tells him he must have this and this qualification before he comes to Jesus Christ.
I say it useth as much strength in this case too, and turns the weapons it used afore quite another way. And let me tell you this, never any man comes to believe, if he will go the way of reason, while he stands considering his dead soul; as Abraham, if he had considered his own dead body, had never believed. The self-flattery that is in every man, while he is in his natural estate, is the general of all the forces of reason in him, it leads on an army of reasons to fight for this, that he is in a good estate; and though his conscience and the word of God tell him the contrary, yet he will maintain this stiffly; for he must lose such an opinion of himself if ever self-flattery should yield to the contrary. Now when God hath killed this general self-flattery, and then faith comes to lead up all the forces in a man too, then doth unbelief, then doth despair come and turn all the same forces another way. So that there is as much to do, and more, yea, infinitely more, to raise men up to bottom their hearts in a way of faith, and rightly to rest upon Christ and free grace, and to have peace with God, being justified by faith, than to shew them their natural condition. You see now that wisdom and reason in man conduceth nothing to believing, but that it is all against it.
CHAPTER III
That all the workings of a natural conscience will not help a man to believe; but that, on the contrary, they withstand faith.
You have another principle in you (and there is a great deal of hope from that, for it is a good principle), and that is your conscience; which is indeed the best principle in a man, for it doth instigate a man to good, and hath a moral goodness in it. But let me tell you this, that take natural conscience, for we speak now of what is in nature, though never so much enlightened, and let it remain still in that state which by nature a man was in at first, and it conduceth nothing to believing; nay, it is the greatest enemy to it that the heart of man hath. Therefore still, 'Faith is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.'
1. I confess it is a good principle in a man; it tells him of his sinfulness, but, alas! it will never help him a whit in believing. Come to conscience, and consult with that; it sets you a-doing indeed, but it will not direct you one whit in the way of faith, but rather setteth you out of the way clean contrary. It is capable of what the law saith, for itself is but the law written in the heart naturally; and it hath an ear to hear what the law saith to a man under the law, but it is deaf to what the gospel saith, and understandeth not a word of it. If you speak to natural conscience concerning a Saviour, and urge it to believe on him, its answer will be like to that of the Jews (and it was this principle of conscience which made them so speak), John 9:29,
'As for Moses, we know that God spake unto him; but this fellow, we know not whence he is.' Just so saith conscience; Moses I know, and if you talk to me of the law, and what I ought to do, I can hear it; but as for the gospel, the truth is, I know not the thing, it is a stranger to me.
2. Nay, which is more, conscience enlightened will help to discover all sort of sins, and tell a man roundly of them; but conscience alone will never discover unbelief to you, in the bottom of it, and will never tell you of that; but it must be a spiritual light in the mind and judgment that doth it. In John 16:8, Christ saith that it is the Spirit,— and he speaks of the Holy Ghost's coming as a comforter,—that must convince of the great sin of unbelief. There are two sins which are out of the jurisdiction of conscience to set them home upon the heart
ordinarily. One is the guilt of Adam's first sin,—a man's conscience may help him through spiritual discerning to see the corruption of nature, but not the guilt of Adam's sin ordinarily,—and the other is, want of faith in Christ; for a man to see that to be the great sin, and to have it set home upon the heart, it is the Spirit of the gospel that must do this. What comes within the compass of the law written in the heart, that conscience will tell a man of; but this is the law of faith. Come to men troubled in conscience, that make conscience of all sort of things, the truth is, they make no conscience of the matter of believing, as if there were no such command; nay, they think they do well to argue against themselves, and that they do well to refuse the promises, and they please themselves in so doing. Men will wrangle and cavil against the command of faith, and against themselves; whereas yet all other sins stare them in the face. Now to have the heart discern unbelief as the great sin, and to have it set home upon the soul, and to look upon faith as the great work of God, and that this I must attain to, or else I am undone, conscience will never help a man to this; it is the Holy Ghost in your hearts, and the gospel, that must do it.
3. Let me tell you also, that conscience not subordinated unto faith, as in natural men it is not, is the greatest hindrance to believing that can be.
(1.) It is the greatest hindrance of it, first, in respect of the guilt of sin. For what is the great hindrance in believing? The greatness of your sins, your hearts clearly misgiving you in that. Now it is conscience that is the subject of them; and it is the conscience raiseth and conjures them up, as I may so express it, against thee; for all the sins that lie in that dark cell thy heart, are made by conscience to appear and stare in thy face, therefore it is called an evil conscience; for though to represent a man's sins is good, yet it is called an evil conscience, because the state of a man is evil, and it is his conscience is the representation of the man's state, and tells him so, it being the subject, the drain, the sink of all a man's sins, where they lie till such time as God stir that sink. Now what is it that keeps men from
believing? The greatness of their sins, when their conscience is awakened, it continually presents to them their sins; and all the discouragements they have, as from their sinfulness, are from a conscience unsprinkled with the blood of Christ, unsubdued unto faith. Conscience hath not learned its lesson from faith, it hath not gone and dipped itself in the blood of Christ by faith; for if it had, it would be quiet, and not always suggesting to a man what his sins are, so as to discourage and hinder him from believing. This the Scripture tells us: Heb. 10:22, 'Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience.' What is it that sprinkles the conscience? It is the Holy
Ghost in the soul, that by faith takes the blood of Christ and sprinkles it upon the conscience; so you have it in Heb. 9:14, 'How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works, to serve the living God?' There is nothing then that can satisfy the conscience in respect of the guilt of sin, but the blood, and death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. When a poor soul looks upon itself as thus sinful, and upon Christ as so holy, he saith as Peter did unto
Christ, 'Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord,' Luke 5:8.
And therefore your consciences, by stirring up the guilt of sin, do hinder you from believing; and whilst that conscience shall be suffered to speak louder than faith, it will cry faith down, till that faith comes and brings in the blood of Christ; and then that cries louder, as the apostle's comparison is in Heb. 12:24. Otherwise, I say, unless the conscience be sprinkled by the blood of Christ through the Spirit of faith, the guilt of sin in the conscience will cry down faith in a man's heart, and the voice of sin there will be louder than the voice of the blood of Christ. In Isa. 59:11, 12, they say, 'Salvation is far off from us;' they thought there was no hope. Why? Their sins did fly in their faces, and discouraged their hearts; for, say they, 'our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them.' Slight thoughts of sin further presumption, but sin discovered as it is in itself, hinders faith. That I who am a
blasphemer, injurious, &c., that I should have mercy, is this possible? saith the soul. I need not insist upon this, for you all feel it.
4. Conscience hinders faith if it be not subordinated to it, for conscience is a secret enemy, and the closest enemy that can be of any other thing that is in man unto the way of believing, and hinders the work of faith more closely and secretly than anything else, till
Jesus Christ and his Spirit hath subdued and subordinated it to be a servant unto faith. To express my meaning, and to convince you of this, you will all yield that know anything of God, that there is nothing so opposite to the gospel as the law is, unless it be subordinated to the gospel. It must have, in a manner, all the formality of it destroyed, though the materiality remain. If any man seek for salvation in a legal way, he must needs acknowledge he crosses the way of the gospel and the law of faith, as Paul expresses it in Rom. 3 and 9:32, 33, and the whole Epistle to the Galatians is evident for it. Now if that the law be thus in itself, as it is a covenant of works opposite unto the gospel, then likewise is natural conscience
(though never so much enlightened, if it remain still a natural conscience, as it doth till faith hath got the victory of it) also an enemy unto faith, and must needs be so. And the reason of it is this, because that natural conscience, and the light it takes in by the Spirit, or however otherwise, is the vicegerent for the law; for it is that principle in a man which God hath set up for to make a man apprehensive of all that the law shall say. It doth keep, as I may so express it, the law's court in a man's heart. Now, on the other side, this great principle of faith, and the Holy Ghost acting of it, and acting the soul in a way of faith, is that which keeps the gospel's court; that is, all its proceedings concerning a man's condemnation, justification, salvation, absolution, they are all despatched by faith, and that in the way of an evangelical covenant.
Now, my brethren, this is a certain truth, likewise, that all men in their natural condition, they are under the law. Let them be never so much enlightened with the knowledge of the gospel, yet, notwithstanding, for certain the law is the predominate principle in
them; as, on the contrary, he that is brought into the state of salvation, he is under grace; it is the apostle's distinction in Rom.
6:14. And being under grace, under the free grace of God in Christ, under the gospel, he is under faith as the supreme principle in his heart. As the strength of sin is the law, so the strength of conscience is the law; but the strength of faith it is the gospel, and the grace of God in Christ. The apostle, in that Rom. 6, compares the law and grace to two sovereigns, two kings, which do sway the heart and spirit in their several ways; that is, if the person of the man be still under the law, then the law sways the heart in a legal way; if he be under grace, then doth the free grace of God in Christ sway the heart in a gospel way; and the one doth this by reason and the means of conscience, and the other by means of the Spirit of faith. Now then, go take a man in whom hitherto the highest and supremest principle in him hath been the conscience remaining in its natural defilement, though never so much enlightened, it will be true to its master, true to the law, and will never subject to this new stranger faith, that will bring the free grace of God in Christ as a supreme sovereign over the other. It will stand for it to the death, it will (I say) be faithful to him whose vicegerent it is; it will strive, and especially in the point of justification. If it have not the face to do it plainly and directly, it will do it secretly, and it will turn the very gospel into a legal way. If it will comply with the knowledge of the gospel, and the knowledge of faith exceeding far, yet still it will seek to undermine it; it will carry on the heart in a way of works, yea it will turn the duties of the gospel themselves into works, and underhand seek to be justified by faith.
5. Conscience, if it did proceed aright, so as to help faith, yet it should do no more than what the law is to do. And what is the law's office?
To shew a man his sinfulness, and his inability to help himself to do anything; to discover corrupt nature to a man, and send him with a new petition to the court of free grace, and, as I may so express it, to follow the allusion taken, Gal. 3:24, to whip the soul thither, and to be a schoolmaster hereby to faith. This, I say, is that which conscience should do if it proceed aright; it should lay open all a man's sinfulness to him, send him with a petition to the throne of
grace (as in Heb. 4 you have it), where grace sits as king, and thereto own grace as a sovereign, and to take the law from its mouth, conscience itself professing that it finds the heart so corrupt, and such an utter inability in it, that it can never attain to God's favour by itself, or any course which conscience can prosecute. Thus conscience should accompany faith to Christ, and deal with Christ nakedly and immediately, both for justification, and likewise for sanctification and glory, and whatever he is to receive. Now conscience should wait to receive a new commission from the throne of grace, and from faith, for to subserve faith in this, to direct the soul merely in what is to be done, but lets faith take its course for to supply strength to the soul to do all that it doth, for to live out of itself in another, and still to have recourse for acceptation and justification alone on that Redeemer. And when the soul hath been dealing with Christ, conscience will sometimes come in to confirm as a witness that a man lives as a justified person should do, when he hath thus acted faith upon Christ; then conscience still is subordinate unto faith, and receiveth its commission and power from it. But this you shall find by eternal experience, and it shall be found at latter day in the hearts of all men that have not saving faith, that let there be never so much enlightening, their consciences will still work in a legal way, and will in the tenor of their proceedings take a clean contrary course; and whilst conscience holds its commission from the law, it will direct and sway the heart legally, and undermine faith in the power of it. It will still set the heart a-work to seek the favour of God by doing, though it be by doing things that the gospel itself commandeth. It will still, I say, proceed according to that legal tenor, though it will diminish it much. And therefore you shall find this to be true, that whenas conscience hath subdued the heart in a way of humiliation to see a man's own sinfulness, and hath brought the heart under, and then conscience is upon the throne again, then it hath the sway of the heart; then it will listen (natural conscience will do so, though thus enlightened), to hear all that the heart ought to do; and look what sinfulness it sees in itself, it will set itself to practise the contrary, and put the heart upon doing of it, and will whip the heart as a runaway home to his master. But how? To serve
out his years, and to make up the time that is lost, and by such ways to get and obtain the favour of God, yea, to get faith itself; and then, upon conforming to what it hears the word say, whether out of the law or out of the gospel, it will take upon it to pronounce a peace, and a justification, and an absolution; for the natural office of conscience in the old covenant is to accuse, and so to excuse, and to give peace when a man doth well. And thus, instead of being a witness, it will become a judge; it will take upon it to pronounce upon the heart the sentence of absolution. Yea, and if that a man is enlightened thus far as to be convinced that by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified, what will conscience do? It will go and turn all the duties of the gospel, faith, and repentance, and mourning for sin, and all things else, into duties of the law; that is, the heart shall have that resting upon them which natural conscience had upon the duties of the law. In Rom. 9:32, there is an excellent exposition of the apostle's; speaking of the Jews that had the ceremonial law (so much light of the gospel they had), he saith, 'They sought not righteousness by faith, but as it were by the works of the law.' Mark his phrase, 'as it were by the works of the law.' Some of them that were more enlightened, and saw their own sinfulness, knew that their own righteousness alone would not stand them in stead, and they sought after evangelical graces, as love unto God, and the like. You may read of one of them, a scribe, that came unto Christ, in Mark 12:34. I know, saith he to Christ, that though the rest of the Jews and pharisees trust in all these sacrifices as mere works of the law, yet a man must have an inward work, he must love God with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength; and this, saith he, is more than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices. And our Saviour Christ tells him upon this, that he was not far from the kingdom of God. But what doth he do now?
Though that which he pitched upon was that which is required by virtue of the evangelical covenant, yet his legal spirit turned this as it were into a work of the law; he sought salvation as it were by the works of the law, and so did the Jews, though they were very much enlightened many of them. And in Rom. 10:2, saith the apostle, 'I bear them record, that they have a zeal of God, but not according to
knowledge.' That zeal there which he speaks of is a zeal arising from conscience; a conscientious zeal, as we use to call it, whereby they set themselves to aim at the glory of God, yet it was still as it were a work of the law. I do not say that any man doth attain to true love of God, or truly to aim at the glory of God above a man's self; I do not say that any man attains to that who is not in the state of salvation, I believe the contrary plainly. But this some of them pitched upon, and did think thereby to obtain salvation, even as well as by outward works of the law. Therefore, saith the apostle, they are utterly mistaken, their conscientious zeal utterly misleads them, for it is not according to that knowledge of faith which the apostle clearly meaneth, which teacheth us to fling away all in ourselves, and to submit unto the righteousness of God, as it follows there, ver. 3.
6. And therefore, now when conscience hath once gone and got up into the throne—that is, when it hath subdued the heart to legal humblings,—the soul is then in most danger of being misled in the way of believing, when it comes just to the point. Why? Because that conscience having got the dominion, so as it never had so before fully till now, it will seek to hold it, and to sway the heart its own way; and if gospel-light comes in, conscience still will turn it, as it were, into the light, and tenor, and way of the law, to seek salvation still by works. But when faith, and when the Holy Ghost comes, he sets up, as I said afore, grace upon the throne, and natural conscience must then take its commission from faith, to direct a man in serving the living God, as it is Heb. 9:14. For the truth is this, and I ought to say it, that still there is a use, and a great use of conscience; and therefore you find that obedience is made to spring from 'love and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned,' 1 Tim. 1:5, and those are the principles that Paul reckons up; and he saith of some, ver. 19, that they had 'made shipwreck of faith and a good conscience.' For still conscience remains in a man as a guide, when it is sanctified and purged by faith, that he may serve the living God; but then I say it must be indoctrinated by faith, and purified by faith; for it is faith itself that fetcheth out this legal strain that is natural to the conscience, and subdues, as all the rest of the whole heart unto faith,