“Wholesome laws of men, made of things indifferent, bind the conscience by virtue of the general commandment of God, which ordains the magistrate’s authority, so as whosoever shall wittingly and willingly, with a disloyal mind, either break or omit such laws, is guilty of sin before God.”
— William Perkins, A Discourse of Conscience (1596).[1]
“Human laws bind not simply, but so far forth as they are agreeable to God’s Word, serve for the common good, stand with good order, and hinder not the liberty of conscience”
— William Perkins, A Discourse of Conscience (1596).[2]
I have often heard Mark Dever remark that the most profound Christian reflections on the conscience have come from the Puritans. Chief among the Puritans in this regard is William Perkins. Perkins wrote voluminously, and his writings contain numerous treatises on the conscience.[3] Focusing almost exclusively on his earliest treatise, A Discourse of Conscience (1596),[4] this article aims to introduce contemporary Christians to the language of “conscience” by answering four questions and then applying them to the issue of civil disobedience and disputes among Christians. We will begin by asking,
What is the conscience? What is Christian liberty? What is “binding the conscience”? What
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