Ecclesiastes 3:11
God has set eternity in the hearts of men.
1 Timothy 1:5
Love comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
1 John 3:20
For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
Matthew Mead The Almost Christian, 1661
True conversion begins in conviction—and true conviction end in conversion. Until the sinner is convinced of sin—he can never be converted from sin.
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones Studies in the Sermon on the Mount
It is an essential part of the gospel that conviction must always precede conversion; the gospel of Christ condemns before it sets the sinner free. A real sense of sin must come before there can be the joy of salvation...
J.I. Packer Puritan Evangelism
No man will or can come to Christ to be saved from sin till he knows what sins he needs saving from. Man’s first step toward conversion must be some knowledge; of God, of himself, of his duty, and of his sin.
For the Puritans, conscience represents the (incomplete) knowledge of God in our soul; ‘God’s sergeant he employs to arrest sinners’, and ‘the soul’s mirror' to see itself. It is not the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the heart of believers. (Romans 8:11, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19)
Casuistry was the application of biblical theology and morality to the resolution of cases of conscience; 'Practical Divinity'.
Compunction is a feeling of uneasiness or anxiety of the conscience caused by conviction of sin; of being 'pricked to the heart'. (Acts 2:37)
Conviction is a work of the Holy Spirit: John 16:8 - "When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment."
Bernard of Clairvaux
No eye affrights a sinner more than his own; it is that which he most desires to run from, but least can.
Thomas a Kempis The Imitation of Christ "Of Compunction of Heart"
There is no true liberty nor real joy, save in the fear of God with a good conscience. Happy is he who can cast away every cause of distraction and bring himself to the one purpose of holy compunction. Happy is he who putteth away from him whatsoever may stain or burden his conscience.
Ezekiel Hopkins “A Discourse on the Nature, Corruption, and Renewing of the Conscience”
http://books.google.com/books?id=ZPgCAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA443&source
Could we but unbowel a sinner, we would find those conscience-worms, gnawing and knotting about him, and devouring his heart.
William Gurnall The Christian in Complete Armour
The Spirit strives with the consciences of men, debating in their own heats the case against them, and shows man his sin in all its ugly colours.
Faith and a good conscience are hope's two wings. If, therefore, thou hast wounded thy conscience by any sin, renew thy repentance, that so thou mayest act (upon) faith for the pardon of it, and, acting (by) faith, mayest redeem thy hope.
(In preparation for extraordinary prayer)...call conscience in to depose what it knows concerning thee, and encourage it to speak freely without mincing the matter: and take heed thou dost not snib this witness.
Sin hath two contrary effects on the conscience, and both sad enough. Either it fills the conscience with horror, or benumbs and stupifies it; it breaks the soul’s rest, or takes away its sense. The latter is the more common. Suffer the devil to anoint thy temples with this opium, and thou art in danger to fall into the sleeping disease of a stupid conscience.
Thomas Manton A Practical Exposition of the Lord's Prayer
There is a twofold war in man; the war between a man and his conscience which breeds trouble of mind, and a war between his affections and his condition which breeds murmuring and envious grumbling.
William Ames
(Conscience is) a man’s judgment of himself according to the judgment of God on him.
Samuel Annesley
Our conscience is a silent reasoning of the mind that approves with delight that which we judge good, and disapproves with grief that which is evil. God has placed this in all men as a tribunal. It pries into all our actions both towards God and man.
Your conscience is your best friend. There is no greater riches, pleasure, or safety, than a good conscience.
Norman Clifford
The witness of conscience in man’s soul was the means by which all natural knowledge of God was sustained. The presence of conscience meant the presence of God’s witness and ambassador in the soul of man ever reminding him of his responsibility towards God. (Romans 1:19-20)
Richard Sibbes The Soul's Conflict With Itself
The worth of God in Christ is never discerned till we see our lost and undone condition without him, till conscience flies in our faces, and drags us to the brink of hell.
C.H. Spurgeon
A natural conscience touched by the Spirit of God may do a good deal in the way of showing a man his faults. It may thus make him uneasy and may bring about a reformation of life. But it is only the Spirit of God that, to the full extent, convinces a man of sin so as to bring forth repentance, self-despair and faith in Jesus.
The Holy Spirit does not come to make sinners comfortable in their sins, but to cause them to grieve over their sins! He does not help them to forget their sin, or think little of it, but He comes to convince them of the horrible enormity of their iniquity! He comes to make sin appear sin and to let us see its fearful consequences! He comes to wound so that no human balm can heal!
Learn in confession to be honest with God. Do not give fair names to foul sins; call them what you will, they will smell no sweeter.
The Treasure of David on Psalm 19: 12-13 "Cleanse Thou me from secret sins."
Obadiah Sedgwick
(Sinners) take great order and care to cover secret sins with some plausible varnish which may beget a good opinion in others (and to deceive themselves).
Richard Capel
He that will sin, and when he hath done will say - not to comfort his (conscience), but to flatter himself in his sin - that it is but (his) infirmity.
William Mason "A Spiritual Treasury for the Children of God"
Happy souls, who, under a sense of peace through the blood of Jesus...will not give a softer name to sin than it deserves lest they depreciate the infinite value of that precious blood which Jesus shed to atone its guilt.
“Robbers Of God”
https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/robbers-of-god/#flipbook/
The Lord sends his servants to speak the truth in all its plainness, to denounce sin with all fidelity, and to publish God’s sentence of condemnation against those who continue in their iniquity. Men’s souls are to be dealt with honestly, and, if need be, sternly. God’s truth is to be handled with vigorous plainness; for the Lord hath said, “He that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully.” (Jeremiah 23:28)
Brethren, we must use the law for its ordained purpose. If we omit the discovery and denunciation of evil, we have neglected a very essential part of our duty; for if men are not convinced of sin, how will they desire pardon? If conscience be not awakened, to what can we address ourselves?
Octavius Winslow Daily Walking With God on Proverbs 28:13 "He that covers his sins shall not prosper; but whoever confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy."
A sense of guilt upon the conscience invariably occasions distant views of God. The moment Adam became conscious of having sinned, He hid himself from God's eye. He sought concealment from the endearing presence of Him who had been used to walk in the cool of the evening through the bowers of Paradise, in sweet and confiding communion. It is so now! Guilt upon the conscience, sin unconfessed, imparts misty, gloomy, distorted views of God. We lose that clear endearing view of His character which we once had. We dare not look up with holy, humble boldness. We misinterpret His dealings; think harshly of His ways...
Horatius Bonar
Man's good opinion of himself makes him think it quite possible to win God's favour by his own religious performances; his bad opinion of God makes him unwilling and afraid to put his case wholly into His hands. The object of the Holy Spirit's work (in convincing of sin) is to alter the man's (sinner's) opinion of himself and so to reduce his estimate of his own character that he should think of himself as God does, and so cease to suppose it possible that he can be justified by any excellency of his own. The Spirit then alters his evil opinion of God, so as to make him see that the God with whom he has to do is really the God of all grace.
Joseph Alleine
It is one thing to have sin alarmed only by convictions, and another to have it crucified by converting grace. Many, because they have been troubled in conscience for their sins, think well of their case, miserably mistaking conviction for conversion.
J.C. Ryle Holiness "Thirst Relieved!"
John 7:37b "If anyone is thirst, let him come to me and drink."
http://www.gracegems.org/Ryle/holiness18.htm
It is not when we begin to feel good — but when we feel bad, that we take the first step towards Heaven.
"Only come to Me, poor anxious soul," our Lord seems to say, "only come to Me, and your spiritual anxiety shall be relieved. I will place in your heart, by the power of the Holy Spirit, such a sense of pardon and peace, through My atonement and intercession, that you shall never completely thirst again. You may have your doubts and fears and conflicts while you are in the body. But once having come to Me, and taken Me for your Savior, you shall never feel yourself entirely hopeless. The condition of your inward man shall be so thoroughly changed, that you shall feel as if there was within you an ever-flowing spring of water."
A.W. Tozer Renewed Day by Day
I consider it a good sign that some people are still asking questions like these in our churches: “What should happen in a genuine conversion to Christ?” and “What should a man or woman feel in the transaction of the new birth?” If I am asked, my answer is this: “There ought to be a real and genuine cry of pain!” That is why I am not impressed with the kind of evangelism that tries to invite people into the fellowship of God by signing a card. There should be a birth within, a birth from above. There should be the terror of seeing ourselves in violent contrast to the holy, holy, holy God!
Unless we come into this place of conviction and pain concerning our sin, I am not sure how deep and real our repentance will ever be. The man whom God will use must be undone, humble and pliable. He must be, like the astonished Isaiah, a man who has seen the King in His beauty!