Washington telegraph., 1854-05-31
The Power of Conscience.

What concience is, and its power we IL |
know by experience, though not SO fullyas |
we shall know hereafter. |
l. If we do wrong no further than to SEX /
for inferior and worldly good, to the neglectgf
the eternal and heavenly, the secret mon \
tor perpetually condemns us Of folly AMI
wrong. In the intoxication of pleasure, or,
in the whirl of business, its voice may not
be heard but whenever there comes
pause whether we are alone in the forest, or
! in our secret chambers, or whether We wake
upon our beds at midnig ght-whencver re-
Election comes then, comes, also the voice
of conscience; before which all our pride
and worldly aspirations stand rebuked, and
we feel that when we are living merely for
unworthy and worldly ends. we are shining
against our own souls, and failing in the du-
ties for which we were made Then con-
science asserts it prerogatives as lord of the
soul as though 1t were not of ourselves,
but stern vicegerent of Jehovah enthroned
within US without whose approval no pleas
ure can give us enjoyment and at whose re-
buke all comfort and peace must die. But
when we are wise when we aim at the ends
which reason and God approve, then, how
sweet the.joy of an approving conscience. .
a joy which no earthly applause or honors
can ever awaken, and which the gold of the
universe cannot buy. This is our rejoicing,
the testimony of a good conscience"
2. If we have done wrong then we have
awakened an avenger from which we can
not fee. If We retire into the solitudes, it
is there. If we hide ourselves in secret
places, it is there. If we ascend into heav-
en-, it is there. If we make our bed in hell,
it is there. If one has grown rich on i'll
gotten gains, the very stones out of the wall,
and the beam out Of the timber shall answer
it to his soul. If he has committed some
crime-though the fear of human laws COM
monty fills him with perpetual apprehension,
and though he suspects that every eye he
meets looks into his heart, and reads there
the story of his guilt-yet from human laws
he may sometimes hope to escape. But to
what profit, while the avenger is within =
Men sometimes become hardened r villainy.
Their consciences may become obtuse, scar
ed as with hot iron. Yet could we enter
into their secret thoughts, could we see all
the workings of conscience within them
when they are alone before God, we should
| doubtless see that conscience does not
always sleep though they appear so in
sensible. Often it is but appearance. a.
man has gained somewhat by dishonesty.
His soul is troubled He tries to forget it.
He hopes that time will wear out the re-
membrancc. Year after year rolls away
but the wound in his spirit is not healed
He finds no peace, till bumbled and conquer
ed; unable to live in such torment, he con-
fesses his guilt and makes restitution.
The murderer has, perhaps, eluded all
human observation. No trace Of the crime
points to him as the perpetrator. The min,
ions of Justice are completely baffied. He
thinks he has escaped. Escaped! There
is no escape. There is no eluding the
stings of an avenging conscience. What is
wealth, what are honors, what are pleasures
to him? The ranking wound is in his very
soul it is bound up in his very being.
He roams to foreign lands, but his torment
or is there. He fees to the solitude of the
ocean, be removes to the lone desert, he
hopes TO hide amid the icebergs of the north
but lis tormentor is there He cannot
hide He cannot fee He cannot endure
such torments He cannot live. He re-
turns and confesses his crime, in hope of
appeasing conscience, and gaining relief
though by felon's DEATH His soul "chooseth
strangling and death rather than life"
IDr. E. Hail.