CONSCIENCE AND MORALITY 131 



presence of a conscious judgement that distinguishes moral 

 from merely instinctive conduct. 



If by reflection we mean the notice which the mind takes 

 of its own operations, the conscience is wholly unreflective. 

 Its reaction is, indeed, not always immediate, and the act 

 which is its stimulus may occupy the mind for some time 

 before it takes effect and the conscience is aroused, but even 

 then there is nothing in the nature of introspection. Far 

 more frequently we are aware of it directly on the presenta 

 tion of the idea of something we have done or may do. 

 Often it bursts in arbitrarily, and with irresistible force, on 

 some other line of thought, which, were it in our power, 

 we should prefer to continue in this respect resembling the 

 action of the memory, when it brings before us subjects that 

 are unexpected, and perhaps unwelcome. Its commands 

 appeal to us with an exceptional warmth and peremp- 

 toriness, and are often invested with an authority which 

 brooks neither disobedience nor discussion. They may, 

 indeed, be disobeyed. A man may close his ears and harden 

 his heart, and substitute for them the promptings of pru 

 dence or, in the rare cases where they conflict, the dictates 

 of religion ; or the barriers they set up may be swept away 

 by a sudden overwhelming flood of passion. But whether 

 they should be obeyed or not is a question which is never 

 decided by rational calculation. Every single act of obedience 

 strengthens their authority, and every act of disobedience, 

 whether it be deliberate or the result of passion, tends to 

 weaken it, till at last the appeal is either wholly silenced or 

 degraded to a feeble ineffectual protest. 



It is this peremptory and unaccountable character of 

 its manifestations, still more perhaps than its general prac 

 tical agreement with the precepts of religion, that explains 

 why the conscience has often been called the voice of God. 

 Practically, the distinction between the dictates of the 

 conscience and the commands of a revealed religion is both 

 clear and important. The first are entirely personal and sub 

 jective in their origin. They come from within, and involve 

 the assumption that the individual himself is the causal 



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