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Show REV. C. C. MclNTYRE PREACHES ABLE SERMON AT PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH Tho Rev. Charles Curtis Mclntyre. pnstor of tho Westminster Presbyterian church, preached an able sermon Sunday Sun-day morning on the text, Acts, 24;1G, "I exercise myself to have a couscience void of offense toward God nnd toward man always." Jn part tho Rev. Mr. Mc-Intvre Mc-Intvre said: lie respected his conscience, he trusted It. he obeyed It. And this Is the secret of the apostle's great life. In whatever he did or left undone, ho consulted this inner light nnd stro'e always to preserve It untroubled and undisturbed by the consciousness con-sciousness of sin either toward God or men. And following it. he was led Into a wonderful mastery of self and broadth of Influence, and his llfo was filled, with great joy and tho raro sense of llfo's success. suc-cess. Into Just such a reward may each of us enter If wo only walk by tho same rule and mind the same thing. In all tho Bible there Is nothing In the moral llfo of men more strongly emphasized empha-sized than tho incomparable value of Just this faculty of the soul which wo all have. And I know of nothing more Important for us to know than to understand what Is conscience, what am its functions nnd what should bo our uttltude toward It at all times. Conscience Is tho Bplritunl organ of moral apprehension. It distinguishes right and wrong. Instinctively, immediately, without reason or any other aid. Yet It Is not Independent Just as your watch to bo trustworthy must be regulated by a standard of time, so must conscience be synchronized with the standard universal and unerring conscience the will of God. And not until your soul Is saturated with the word of God, Illuminating your conscience, con-science, can you over be sure It Is not a slightly false guide. But how shall wo define It? Just as a man with the lantern throws the picture on the screen, so tho Holy Spirit projects what Is God's will on the screen of your soul. The picture is always what you ought to do in opposition to desire, duty In opposition to Impulse, God's will ns opposed to self will. But this Is not all. Conscience Is a powor. It Is the organ of judgment, and for any violation of what is revealed aa present duty It condemns con-demns and beclouds my soul with remorse. re-morse. It is variable never the sama progressing pro-gressing in sensitiveness through obedience obedi-ence or deteriorating, becoming denied and at last seured and Inscntitlvo through disobedience. You dare not trifle with conscience. Of all spiritual organisms it Is most delicate. deli-cate. Just as the slightest magnetism deflects the needle from the pole, so does anything ever so slight, against which conscience has protested yet left unre-movud unre-movud from your life, deflect this moral instrument from the truth. But how can an offended conscience be restored? Can n lost faculty be restored? Listen! First confess your sin, openlv, unreservedly, both to God nnd to man, and then forsake such sin. Second. accept all tho moral life vou know and seriously npply those principles to your life, beginning now. and then let Christ Into your hoart fully, eomplctelv. and permit Ills spirit. His conscience, to possess yours, and you shall bo led into your true self, rcgnlnod, dependent on none. Independent of nil but God. |
