do by his master's words. He does not say to himself, "here are sounds for my ears," but "here is something to be done." He knows well enough what a sheep is, and what a fold is, and knows what he was to do about them, so, unless he is a disobedient servant, he obeys as well as hears; he hears in order to obey. Again, the most ignorant man knows that some things are right, and other things wrong, some actions good, and others bad. If you find that man passing the sabbath-day, or any other day, in idle tippling, spending the money to which his wife and children have the first claim, in a brutal habit of self-indulgence, it is quite absurd to suppose the man does not know that he is doing what is wrong. He may seem not to understand you, when you speak to him seriously of his conduct, but he knows as well as you do that it is sin. You tell him that he is breaking God's laws; you try to teach him from God's word, but you speak to his own common sense, and you speak to him of things of which he has a knowledge before. Conscience speaks in his heart while you speak to his ear, but he will not attend to you, he will not turn. Where does the blame lie? in his want of capacity to understand, or his want of will to do? He knows well enough that he is doing wrong, and that to do otherwise, would be to do right. "To him,

therefore, that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin."

Though man is born in sin, and the child of wrath, there is in every bosom a witness and monitor from God, to speak for God against the sinful desires of this our fallen nature. Now this monitor or adviser having been graciously given to all, the author of evil in the heart must have many a hard battle to fight, and he must go on at his work for many years, before he can entirely deafen the ear within the heart, or blind the eye within the heart, or harden the whole heart itself against this secret monitor. Enough is not said in the pulpit, of the power of conscience, and the responsibility of every man in whose bosom conscience speaks, or has spoken. We do not sufficiently consider that while the very presence of conscience proves the graciousness and the goodness of the great Author and Creator of our being to us all, it does at the same time take away the right from the sinner of pleading, by way of excuse for his offence, that he has had no one to teach him, that he has been without the advantages afforded to others. The most ignorant and uninstructed person that ever lived, if he have the common feeling and the common understanding of a man on any subject, has this monitor to warn, to check, and to advise him; he knows what

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is right and what is wrong, and to him, St. James, the most blunt and plain spoken of the apostles, seems to address himself. Plainly and boldly, he charges him with his sin. He admits not the dull reasoning, the senseless excuse, "I know little or nothing of religion." You know right from wrong, and you do that which is wrong. "To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." No, it is no fault in knowledge, no depth of ignorance, no want of advantages that will be brought against a man; it is the bad, proud, careless heart, the evil nature which complains of the want of what it has not, and yet neglects to turn to account and to profit what it has. Never then, I say to the uneducated, let the excuse be made,-I do not know, I cannot understand, and therefore I cannot do that which is right; but rather, I do know what is right, I do understand what is is wrong, but I will not hear the word of God, I will not heed the still small voice of conscience. In the religion of Jesus Christ, the richest, the fullest provision has been made for the uneducated and the poor. Jesus came among them, lived among them, preached among them, died among them; it was only in his grave that his body lay with the rich, or rather, in the tomb of a rich man. They should be the last to complain. The rich, the great, the learned,

the noble, these by their very advantages are placed in situations of danger and difficulty. The rich men have, in being rich, their good things now, they may use the world as not abusing it, and hold their wealth as stewards of the Lord of heaven and earth, but it is easier for a camel to pass through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. And as to the wise and great of this world, it is plainly written of them, "Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called."* While blessed are ye poor, for your low estate is naturally one of safety. "Hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them that love Him?" And here I would also say, consider, I entreat you, the great impolicy of not giving heed to the word of God and to conscience, while on earth, while in time, while in your state of trial; for although it is in your power to bind, to silence, and at length to deaden the checks and the stings, and all the powers of conscience for a time, yet you cannot silence conscience for ever; it will be heard at last. No, you may say, not even on a death-bed is conscience always heard. Of that, I am quite aware; the last, the darkest proof of

satan's power, is to bring a man unawakened to his death-bed, and to keep him in the same unawakened state, till all is over on earth. It is not to any portion of man's sojourn on earth that I refer. It is after death, after the death of the body, when the ruin of the man has been completed, when his doom has been even almost entered upon. It is then that the accusing voice will break forth; it is then that its tremendous power will be felt, and felt too late. Look well then to the state of your conscience; see that it be regulated by the word and the Spirit of God; then, and then only, can you depend upon it. The apostle, in his letter to Titus, speaks of those "whose very mind and conscience are defiled;" and the child of God is not left to the guidance of a power which can be defiled, or even seared by the combination of the powers of evil within him. The word of God is his standard and his rule; the very Spirit of God dwells in fellowship with him, and is his guide. He, indeed, is the last person who need fear to be misled by his conscience, for it is really and truly in him the vicegerent of God. In his heart, conscience is not only in a tender, but a healthy state. With him, to use the the words of an old writer, "conscience is certainly the guide of life, but knowledge is the eye of conscience."