There are many stirrings of conscience in the Natural Man which are not grace, though often mistaken for it. Balaam, Saul, and many others, had such stirrings-conscience pulling one way and the heart another. Without grace there is no self-abhorrence, and therefore no looking to the blood of Christ. Where grace is, the soul desires deliverance from the power of sin as well as its punishment. If you be not converted to God, you have not to be doing good works, but to learn that you can do none, and that you are to come empty to receive God's gift of eternal life by faith in Christ Jesus. Your best prayer for mercy is the true confession of your sin. Made alive in Christ, you are to bring forth fruit to God. That fruit will not be apples of Sodom or grapes of Gomorrah: such are all your good works in your natural state-your fruit will be from Jesus, the true and living vine. Sin The perfection of our obedience in the sight of our heavenly Father lies not so much in _attainment_ as in _endeavour_. Reserves spoil obedience. We may be dealing honestly with Sin that is seen outwardly, and yet not skilfully and effectually, because of not striking at the deep roots of evil within. God indeed, as our Father in Christ Jesus, does not blame us for Indwelling Sin; but He does require that we should contend against it. It is one thing to be blameless before men, and another to be aiming at that perfect obedience which Christ rendered to the Father: "I do always those things that please Him." The first sign of spiritual life in the soul is generally the cry of distress from the sight of that which never gave trouble before—the pollution of Sin. The mere natural man may dread the punishment of Sin, its uncleanness he cannot feel, he cannot discern. David said, "Horror hath taken hold upon me, because of the wicked that forsake Thy law." If we be spiritually-minded, we shall in like manner mourn over the unregenerate. Lot did not apprehend as did Abraham the state of Sodom, because, without God's leading, he was in it, and, alas! too much of it. God would ever have us regard Sin in its pollution and guilt, and deal with it as done against Him. (Ps. 51:4.) Those who deny the Godhead of Christ, and atonement by His blood, know not their sickness; and such need not the Physician that God hath sent, nor the remedy that God hath provided. It is a great principle of God's government, that a sin not repented of becomes a seed which greatly multiplies. The slack conscience that questions the everlasting punishment of the ungodly, betrays the soul's neglect of solemn dealing with the death of the Son of God on the tree, and of the testimonies of the scriptures thereto.