Richard Sibbes pictures conscience as ‘God’s court within’, and an anticipation of the last judgement:-
‘To clear this further concerning the nature of conscience, know that God hat set up in a man a court, and there is in man all that are in a court.
1. There is a register to take notice of what we have done…The conscience keeps diaries. It sets down everything. It is not forgotten, though we think it is…there is a register that writes it down.…
‘Oh, yes,’ said the little Indian boy, ‘I know what my conscience is. It is a little three-cornered thing in here’ – he laid his hand on his heart – ‘that stands still when I am good; but when I am bad it turns around, and the corner hurt very much. But if I keep on doing wrong, by and by the corners wear off and it doesn’t hurt any more.’
1. WHAT IS CONSCIENCE?
The nearest to a definition is Rom 2:14-15 This teaches that even when people do not know God’s law, they still have a very good idea about how they ought to behave, and this standard of behaviour is reinforced by the voice of conscience in their hearts. …
