266 RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



and thinking being: and that this directive and 

 judiciary principle is a part of the work of the 

 same Author who made the elements to minister 

 to the material functions, and the arrangements 

 of the world to occupy the individual and social 

 affections of his living creatures. 



This principle of conscience, it may further be 

 observed, does not stand upon the same level as 

 the other impulses of our constitution by which 

 we are prompted or restrained. By its very 

 nature and essence, it possesses a supremacy 

 over all others. " Your obligation to obey this 

 law is its being the law of your nature. That 

 your conscience approves of and attests such a 

 course of action is itself alone an obligation. 

 Conscience does not only offer itself to show us 

 the way we should walk in, but it likewise carries 

 its own authority with it, that it is our natural 

 guide : the guide assigned us by the author of 

 our nature."* That we ought to do an action, is 

 of itself a sufficient and ultimate answer to the 

 questions, why we should do it? how we are 

 obliged to do it ? The conviction of duty implies 

 the soundest reason, the strongest obligation, of 

 which our nature is susceptible. 



We appear then to be using only language 

 which is well capable of being justified, when 

 we speak of this irresistible esteem for what is 



* Butler, Serm. 3. 



