Conscience Not a Sure Guide.
By George B. Starr
"There is a way that seemeth right unto a man but the end thereof are the ways of death." Prov. 14 : 12. It is evident from this text that a man's conscience is not a reliable guide, as a part of his faith or practice may seem to be right to him, while in reality he is in the way of death. God evidently designed the conscience for a very important work; but he also gave man a regulator for it, which it is as important for him to consult as it is for him to consult the sun to keep his watch right. It matters not how good a watch may be, the better it is the surer it is to stay wrong if it be set wrong. So a man may have a very good conscience, very tender, and very faithful in its admonitions, and yet constantly misleading him, because it has been wrongly instructed. A good conscience might permit us to be very careless of very important and serious matters, simply because it is ignorant of them; but as soon as it is instructed it still proves itself to be the same faithful monitor upon this, as well as other subjects. Some may go quite in the opposite direction, and make many things a matter of very conscientious action which are altogether imaginary, a result of false education. Both extremes one would think all would gladly avoid, but they only may by faithfully instructing and regulating their consciences by God's unerring word. It is necessary to concede the truth of this, in order to explain the presence of the word of God in the world, for why should the Lord have been to the trouble of giving it to us, if it was all right for each to take the course he thought was right. "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." "Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way." "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee."