inflict an irreparable injury on our own souls, and to seal, 1 had almost said, our eternal condemnation. The utmost possible caution, therefore, should be used on this head. No standard should be referred to, but that which God himself will approve ; and according to his written word should every sentiment and every act be tried. " Whoever speaks not according to this word, there is no light in him11;" and his advice, if followed, will only cause our feet to stumble to our ruin. Taking that for our guide on all occasions, and under all circumstances, we should say with holy Job, " My heart shall not reproach me so long as I live °."]
Address —
1. Those who consult not their conscience, nor are troubled by it —
[Though there is no man without a conscience, yet the greater part of the world live as if they had no such faculty to controul them. Whatever be the life which they have chosen for themselves, they walk in it without much thought, or any remorse. The lovers of pleasure, the votaries of gain, the formal religionist, all conceive their respective lines to be, on the whole, such as they are at liberty to follow, and such as shall issue well in the end. As for trying themselves by the test of Scripture, they think not of it : they stand self-approved ; and they conceive that God will confirm the testimony of their own minds. But I must remind all such persons, that there is a future judgment ; and that God will judge, not by the laws which men establish for themselves, but by the law which he himself has given in his written word. By that shall the whole universe be judged, and according to that shall every man's eternal doom be fixed p ]
2. Those whose consciences are weak and troubled —
[If your minds be troubled, see whether there be not just occasion for them so to be : and when you have found out the accursed thing, put it away from you with abhorrence, and implore mercy at the hands of God for your sin in having ever indulged it. And if it be but a mote in the eye, let con- science never cease to weep, till it has wept it out. There are, it is true, circumstances which may well admit of doubt : and, under such circumstances, you will do well to consult some one of known piety and deep experience ; and at the same time to seek direction from God, through the influence of his Holy Spirit. Whilst your doubts remain, it will be well to pause : for, " if a man esteem any thing unclean, to him it
n Isai. viii. 20. ° Job xxvii. 6. P 1 Cor. iv. 4, 5.