5.8.2016 Finney on THE DECAY OF CONSCIENCE

75  it has been fashionable now for many years to ridicule and decry puritanism.
ministers have ceased, in a great measure, to probe the consciences of men
with the spiritual law of God.
as far as my knowledge extends, there has been a great letting down and an ignoring of
the searching claims of God's law as revealed in His Word.
this law is the only standard of true morality.
'by the law is the knowledge of sin'. romans 3.20
the law is the quikener of the human conscience.
as much as the spirituality of the law of God is kept out of view,
that is how much there will be a decay of conscience.
this must be the inevitable result.

76  ..it is plain that some of our most popular preachers are phrenologists. (foot. phrenology is a system, no longer used, in which character was supposedly determined by studying the shape of the skull.)
phrenology has no organ of free will.
hence, it has no moral agency, no moral law and no moral obligation
in any proper sense of these terms.
a consistent phrenologist can have on proper ideas of moral obligation, moral guilt, blameworthiness or retribution.
77  ..i fear it has become fashionable to preach what amounts to an antinomian gospel.
(foot. antinomianism is the belief that the moral law is not needed because only faith is necessary for salvation..)
the rule of life proclaimed in the Gospels is precisely that of the moral law.
these 4 things are expressly affirmed of true faith - of the faith of the New Testament:
1. it establishes the law.  romans 3.31
2. it works by love. galatians 5.6
3. it purifies the heart.  acts 15.9
4. it overcomes the world. I john 5.4
 these are only different forms of affirming that true faith does.. produce a holy life.
if it did not, it would make void the law.
the true Gospel is not preached where obedience to the moral law
as the only rule, is not insisted on.
wherever there is a failure to do this in the instructions of any pulpit,
it will inevitably be seen that the hearers of such a mutilated message will have very little conscience.
we need more 'Sons of Thunder (mark 3.17) in the pulpit...
to be sure some of the puritans were extremists.
78  but still, under their teaching there was a very different state of the individual and public conscience from what exists in these days.
those old, stern, grand vindicators of the government of God
would have rained down thunder and lightning until they had almost demolished their pulpits
if any such immoralities had shown themselves under their instructions
as are common in these days.
in a great measure, the press takes its tone from the pulpit.
the universal literature of the present day shows conclusively
that the moral sense of the people needs toning up
and that some of our most fascinating preachers have become the favorites of
infidels, skeptics of every grade, Universalists and the most wicked characters.
and has the offense of the cross ceased' (galatians 5.11) or is the Cross kept out of view?
has the holy law of God, with its stringent precepts and its dreadful penalty,
become popular with unsaved men and women?..
...away with this milk-and-water preaching of a love of Christ
79  that has no holiness or moral discrimination in it.
away with preaching a love of God that is not angry with sinners every day.
away with preaching a Christ not crucified for sin.

preaching will bear its legitimate fruits.
if immorality prevails in the land, it is the preachers' fault to a great degree.
if there is a decay of conscience, the pulpit is responsible for it.
if the public press lacks moral discrimination, the pulpit is responsible for it.
if the church is degenerate and worldly, the pulpit is responsible for it.
if the world loses its interest in religion, the pulpit is responsible for it.
if Satan rules in our halls of legislation, the pulpit is responsible for it.
if our politics become so corrupt that the very foundations of our government are ready to fall away,
the pulpit is responsible for it...