To have this done is a great work; for, —
First, The constant voice of conscience lies against it. Con- science, if not seared, inexorably condemneth and pronounceth wrath and anger upon the soul that hath the least guilt cleaving to it. Now, it hath this advantage, it lieth close to the soul, and by importunity and loud speaking it will be heard in what it hath to say; it will make the whole soul attend, or it will speak like thunder. And its constant voice is, that where there is guilt there must be judgment, Rom. ii. 14, 15. Conscience naturally knows nothing of forgiveness; yea, it is against its very trust, work, and office to hear any thing of it. If a man of courage and honesty be intrusted to keep a garrison against an enemy, let one come and tell him that there is peace made between those whom he serves and their enemies, so that he may
S88 AN EXPOSITION UPON PSALM CXXX. [Ver. 4.
leave his guard, and set open the gates, and cease his watchfuhiess ; bow wary will he be, lest under this pretence he be betrayed ! " No," saith he; "1 will keep my hold until I have express order from my superiors." Conscience is intrusted with the power of God in the soul of a sinner, with command to keep all in subjection with refer- ence unto the judgment to come. It will not betray its trust in be- lieving every report of peace. No ; but this it says, and it speaks in the name of God, " Guilt and punishment are inseparable twins; if the soul sin, God will judge. What tell you me of forgiveness? I know what my commission is, and that I will abide by. You shall not bring in a superior commander, a cross principle, into my trust ; for if this be so, it seems I must let go my throne, — another lord must come in;" not knowing, as yet, how this whole business is com- pounded in the blood of Christ. Now, whom should a man believe if not his own conscience, which, as it will not flatter him, so it in- tends not to affright him, but to speak the truth as the matter requireth? Conscience hath two works in reference unto sin, — one to condemn the acts of sin, another to judge the j^erson of the sinner; both with reference to the judgment of God. When forgiveness comes, it would sever and part these employments, and take one of them out of the hand of conscience; it would divide the spoil with this strong one. It shall condemn the fact, or every sin : but it shall no more condemn the sinner, the person of the smner ; that shall be freed from its sentence. Here conscience labours with all its might to keep its whole dominion, and to keep out the power of forgiveness from being enthroned in the soul. It will allow men to talk of for- giveuess, to hear it preached, though they abuse it every day ; but to receive it in its power, that stands up in dhect opposition to its dominion. "In the kingdom," saith conscience, " I will be greater than thou ;" and in many, in the most, it keeps its possession, and will not be deposed.
Nor, indeed, is it an easy work so to deal with it.' The apostle tells us that all the sacrifices of the law could not do it, Heb. x. 2 : they could not bring a man into that estate wherein he " should have no more conscience of sin;" — that is, conscience condemning tlie person ; for conscience in a sense of sin, and condemnation of it, is never to be taken away. And this can be no otherwise done but by the blood of Christ, as the apostle at large there declares.
It is, then, no easy thing to make a discovery of forgiveness unto a soul, whea the work and employment which conscience, upon unques- tionable grounds, challengeth unto itself lies in opposition unto it. Hence is the soul's groat desire to establish its own righteousness, whereby its natural principles may be preserved in their power. Let self-righteousness be enthroned, and natural conscience desires no
Ver. 4.] CONSCIENCE OPPOSED TO FORGIVENESS. 389
more; it is satisfied and pacified. The law it knows, and righteous- ness it knows ; but as for forgiveness, it says, "Whence is it ? " Unto the utmost, until Christ perfects his conquest, there are on this account secret strugglings in the heart against free pardon in the gospel, and fluctuations of mind and spirit about it. Yea, hence are the doubts and fears of believers themselves. They are nothing but the striv- ings of conscience to keep its whole dominion, to condemn the sinner as well as the sin. More or less it keeps up its pretensions against the gospel whilst we live in this world. It is a great work that the blood of Christ hath to do upon the conscience of a sinner; for whereas, as it hath been declared, it hath a power, and claims a right to condemn both sin and sinner, the one part of this its power is to be cleared, strengthened, made more active, vigorous, and watchful, the other to be taken quite away. It shall now see more sins than formerly, more of the vileness of all sins than formerly, and condemn them with more abhorrency than ever, upon more and more glorious accounts than formerly; but it is also made to see an interposition between these sins and the person of the sinner who hath committed them, which is no small or ordinary work.