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The subject
under discussion at once invites our most careful
consideration, because the voice of conscience will have much
to do with our pleasure or pain when time shall have past and
eternity's ages roll on and on. All scientists agree with the
Bible that man is "fearfully and wonderfully made." The human
body is a marvelous mechanism, and is, in fact, the highest
work of God relative to material substances and forms. Within
the body of man there are hundreds of vital systems and
arrangements, which work automatically, making possible our
existence and physical and moral progress. There's an
apparatus which automatically controls the heat supply of the
body, and thus men are enabled to live under th blazing sun in
the tropical zone, in the temperate zones, or on the ice-bound
coasts of Northern Greenland. There's a mechanism within the
ear, the fluid acting like a carpenter's spirit level,
enabling man to walk erect and keep balanced even with his
eyes closed. Over ninety per cent of the processes that keep
us alive, and which are absolutely necessary to our life and
health, keep working on within us, both day and night, and
without our knowing anything about them.
A Moral Sense in Man...
There's within
us a mysterious force that regulates the mind and soul, making
possible our moral and spiritual development. Next to the
soul, the most marvelous thing about a human being is his
conscience. It's native and resident in the soul, a kind of an
inborn sense of right and wrong, which judges the moral
character of our actions and motives, approving or
disapproving as the case may be. This tribunal is universally
established within every man, civilized or barbarian. (See
Rom. 2:15). We don't need to enter into an exhaustive treatise
to prove to you that conscience has an existence, for you've
heard that voice speak ofttimes, in tones even more severe
than any earthly judge. Like as a watchman upon the walls of
an ancient city kept vigils while the inhabitants slept, so
conscience watches near the citadel of the soul, and sounds an
alarm when subtle foes seek to do harm; or it may give
credentials to angels of love who would seek to make better,
advance, or improve the heart. Without its softening,
elevating influence, the race of man would soon deteriorate to
the level of the brute creation.
Man vs. Beast...
In the jungle
wilds, the savage beast attacks another, kills it, and in
triumph walks away, leaving the carcass lying upon the ground;
but when Cain killed his brother Abel, conscience began its
ceaseless grind, and the wrath of God pursued the poor man as
he fled. Oh, awful condition! Picture in you mind a man
running away from home into a strange country, with the voice
of his brother's blood crying from the ground, an outraged
conscience slashing from within, and the voice of an angry God
thundering from the sky. Is it any wonder that he cried, "My
punishment's greater than I can bear"? It's moral force of
conscience that makes possible the high degree of civilization
which we enjoy today. If twenty average men were adrift upon a
raft one thousand miles at sea, where no civil power could see
or reach, they would all die of hunger and thirst before
they'd kill and eat their fellow men. Why? The voice of
conscience could still be heard. There's no cavern so deep,
nor asylum so secluded, where the eyes of God can't see, nor
the voice of conscience be heard.
Behind the Bars...
The criminal
may dodge the policeman for awhile, but he can't run away from
his conscience; and it's because of that fact that the
detective never gives up the search. He knows that the
grinding of that internal voice will, in time, wear down the
most stubborn will. It's a common practise among detectives to
put an accomplice in justice into the cell with the man
suspected of crime, and the detective in disguise educates the
suspected man's conscience by bemoaning his supposed crime,
and by telling of the awful remores of conscienc he feels. Of
times before the dawn of the coming day the guilty man begins
to talk and tell of his own crimes, for he can't help it,
driven and lashed to a confession by conscience. This moral
judge is more than a commom meddler, or constructive critic;
it's clothed with eternal vestment, and its voice will be
heard in the settlement of every question of moral
jurisprudence.
Conscience Fund...
While visiting
Washington, D. C. some time ago, we were shown the building
where what is know as the "Conscience Fund" was kept. The
guide informed us that letters containing money were being
received every day in the year from persons whose consciences
had driven them to return to the Governmanet...funds stolen in
days gone by. Sometimes the writer would say, "I can't stand
this suffering any longer," and such like.
The London Clock...
Away up in a
high steeple in the great city of London stands a huge clock.
It has doled out the time of day and night for more than one
hundred years. During the busy day, the rattle and clatter of
commercial life is so loud that only an occasional sound may
be heard from the clock. Later in the day, however, when
business has somewhat slackened, its voice can be heard quite
distinctly; but along about midnight, when all is still,
except perchance the barking of the watch-dog, the belated
traveler can plainly hear the ding-dong of the midnight bell.
So it is in life. Whe young and bouyant, when the reservoir of
vital force is full and overflowing, ofttimes the voice of
conscience can be heard more plainly. Still later, when facing
the stern realities of a wasted life, and near approach of
death, the poor soul can then hear that voice so often
smothered---and that voice will upbraid and chide every hour
of the day and night. Someone has said,
"To be left
alone with my conscience,
Would be torment enough for me."
The Murderer's confession...
Upon hearing a
peculiar sound ourside the house, our friend opened the door,
and quickly into the house stepped a man who was almost a
nervous wreak. Deep lines were upon his pale face as though
chiseled in stone. He was haggard, unkempt, and unshaven. He
panted for breath like one who'd just escaped from a ferocioua
beast. When asked why he came into the house so
unceremoniously he said: "I'm a murderer. I killed a woman in
cold blood, and after cutting off her arms and head, I threw
her into an old well, I lost my hat while running away, and it
led to my identification. I was caught, indicted, and
sentenced to death, but I escaped from the deathhouse a month
ago. They're after me [nervously he glanced toward the
window]. I've tried to sleep during the day, and traveled
during the night. They're after me. I've heard the bellowing
of the bloodhounds upon my tracks. I can't sleep. I can see
the headless form of that woman floating around me now [he
shrieked and jumped to his feet]. It's hell! I can't stand it!
Call the officers so that I can go back and expiate my crime
with my life. Oh, God! I'm in torment! Oh, my God!"
The officers
were called, and they didn't need to put the man in chains,
for he was willing to go. History states that after Ahab and
Jezebel had caused the death of Haboth, to get possession of
his land, they couldn't sleep, although they lay upon a bed of
ivory inlaid with clover leaves of gold.
The Surgeon's Knife...
The power of
conscience, from the beginning of life unto its end, is more
like an arbiter of justice than a friendly criticism. While it
can't be relied upon as an unerring guide, yet happy is the
man who condemneth not himself in the things which he
alloweth. A man whom I knew had a nervous breakdown and was
sent to a sanitarium. He rapidly grew worse. Wishing to see
him once more, I visited him in the institution. As soon as we
were alone he confessed to me that more than fifteen years
before he had mrdered two people, but that he'd never been
suspected of committing the crime. He told me that during all
these years, whether awake or asleep, eyes opened or shut, he
could see the forms of those whose lives he cut short by his
own hand. He said that never a day passed but what his
conscience lashed him---for his conscience never gave consent
to the crime. With tears streaming down his cheeks, he said
that his life had been a failure, for he could never get away
from that telltale conscience. He pointed to some object
unseen to me and shouted, "There they are now---see! see!
There they go."
He leaped to
his feet and smote his breat with his clenched fist. He pulled
his hair, and looked like a being from lower hades. He said,
"Brother Anderson, I'm as sure of hell and damnation as though
I were there today." I moved back a little in my chair, and
he, noticing it, said assuringly, "You don't need to be afraid
of me. I'm lost to God, to hope, and to the pure and blessed
forver." I thought, if a guilty conscience can make a man so
wretched and in such agony, here in the land of the living,
where mercy can be invoked and forgiveness obtained, what, my
God, will be the suffering of a soul who dies in sin when in
that country beyond the grave where no invitation will ever be
given, nor the sweet voice of mercy be heard? I then
remembered the words of the Master, who six times repeated in
the ninth of Mark the awful end of those who close their
eartly life in sin and rebellion against the throne of God. He
plainly taught that it would be better to enter into life with
part of our members cut off, than by their unlawful use be
cast into hell, "where their worm dieth not and the fire is
not quenched." It's commonly understood that Jesus meant that
the awful remore of conscience would be the worm that would
never cease gnawing, and the fire that would burn on forever,
yet never consume.
It's a dangerous thing to ignore persistently
the warnings of conscience, for when enraged it'll take sleep
away from the softest pillow. A surgeon could cut off a
diseased finger; but no sureon's knofe can cut off a guilty
conscience. There's a way out of that awful condition, thank
God, and that's in repentance and forgiveness of sins. The
Bible declares: "How much more shall the blood of Christ,l who
through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to
God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living
God?" (Heb.9:14). "Now the end of the commandment is charity
out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith
unfeigned" (1 Tim. 1:5).
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