98 
Christendom, or in the halls of modem opinion, the conscience 
of man refuses to be kept from the idea of Duty. It only 
reasonably seeks for the development of Duty in 
pendency 6 and dependence on the facts of our being, and (we 
ac 3 tio S n here ° f mus ^ repeat) beneath the Government of a Supreme 
Ruler, whose Character, like our own, is in relation 
with the true-always, and who is able to deal with con- 
tingencies of the phenomenal world. 
The range of conscientiousness must thus, it appears, extend 
to all action of which the Supreme Governor will take cognizance 
The c n — that a ^ ac ^ on which may touch the condition 
scious agent of other moral agents around us, or may personally 
S.e S same g e n nd3 re-act on ourselves. There is no narrow limit here. 
proves° d ap ' ^e consc ious moral agent must recognize the same 
ends, aim at the same objects, as the Supreme 
Governor will ultimately approve. If we assert accountability 
at all, we can exclude nothing of which the conscious 
largeness 66 of being takes cognizance. Even Religious Accounta- 
responsiwiity f bility — which we must reserve for consideration — 
must be founded in the reason of things, and not be 
merely authoritative ; fundamentally it is of the same kind as 
what is commonly called moral — (m rsvSvvov). 
74. The relation once established between the Moral Agent 
and the Moral Governor, abundantly suffices for the final solu- 
tion of all the difficulties which we first confessed to lie in the 
idea of Responsibility (§ 10, &c.). It elicits the fact that we 
really depend at last on the Supreme, for a complete issue of our 
what reia- de facto responsibility. And this “ dependence ” on 
dence f on P the our P ar t wou ^ seem 1° correspond with Providence, 
Supreme im- Guidance, Help, Protection, as far as morally neces- 
plie3 ' sary, on the part of the Supreme Governor : in 
connection with which would arise various phenomena of the 
religious life, referred to in a future page. 
Higher and specific relations between the moral agent 
and the Moral Governor cannot be set aside in con- 
sequence of any collateral difficulties or objections. How 
far some more refined or developed moral conditions, such 
as Devotion, Gratitude, Reverence, Dependence in detail, 
are natural, and how far acquired, may be matter of just 
Acquired re- inquiry; but it must be remembered that our ca- 
n a atu n3 i not uu " P ac % ac quiring fh em is a generic fact of nature ; 
and they are incorporated with our responsibility, 
whenever conscience really adopts them. — Of course mere 
opinions floating on the surface of the mind are not here 
referred to ; they are not convictions : but faith or principle 
touching the inner life, or conscience, cannot be ignored. 
