s¡ï i 158 Of a Confcience void of Ofnce. SE R M. pleafes, the contrary difpleafes him. If VII. our hearts condemn us, that is, if confcience `'Y"'' difapprove our difpofitions and the habitual courfe of our adions, or any deliberate de- figned work, we have then reafon to dread the vengeance of him who is greater than our hearts and hnoweth all things : * if our hearts condemn us not, then have we confidence toward, God. It follows, that to all purpofes of virtue and religion, to fatisfy the obligations of our nature and to pleafe God, which is the great aim of piety, the fhort and comprehenfive rule of condudi is always to at according to confcience. But, the queftion is concerning the cer- tainty of this rule; will it bear us out in every cafe ? Is confcience infallible ? I anfwer it is not, nor did God intend we fhould have an infallible diredtion in this imper- fed Rate. We are here in an infancy of being, training up to a more per- fed condition, in the mean time liable to fome errors in judgment, and in pradice purfuant to them : but the direäion pro- pofed, if it be rightly underftood and I john ;;; 2 0, 2r. impartially li
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