Conscience 255 



goodness or value. Hence their instant readiness as well 

 as their deep-seated persistence. Some of them antedate rea- 

 son itself. And clearly too, the more recent acquirements 

 are of a lesser rightness, usually less positive, as well as 

 less rapid in action. There are apparent exceptions to this 

 last observation, in such zeal as a reformer may show in new 

 action against overwhelming forces, evinced with all the per- 

 sistence of the oldest instincts. But it will generally be seen 

 that such fights are really only new in form, or application 

 to the particular issue; while intrinsically they are of the 

 most ancient origin. For example the self-sacrificing con- 

 tests for new forms of religion, are really efforts on behalf 

 of that old principle of liberty which goes with secret 

 thought. And again the revolutionary struggle for a new 

 government may be but a recrudescence of old ideas of 

 liberty many times previously cultivated, and only recently 

 suppressed. 



Conscience is for the intellectual being what instinct is 

 to the lower animal. It is in fact instinct with the products 

 of self-conscious reasoning superimposed. It is a summary 

 of all heredity, and of all education, and of all idealized 

 effort in aspiration, applied in response to circumstances. 

 It is intuition enlarged, so that its rapidity of decision is 

 preserved and is further influenced by the innate desire for, 

 and recognition of, rightness. It is a faculty cultivated by, 

 and necessary in, a hostile environment, wherein questions 

 of vital import must be answered without hesitation. Con- 

 science is good because the hostility is evil. Intuitive con- 

 science solves instantaneously problems of right and wrong, 

 which, if submitted to reason and logic; would require such 



