So  that,  in  short,  all  the  affections  of  man,  which,  trained  in  a
particular  way  would  either  have  begotten  religion,  or  have
cherished  it,  and  in  that  case  would  make  a  man  happy,  useful,
and  honoured, — all  these,  if  they  are  not  allowed  to  grow  into
religion,  harden  and  corrupt  themselves  into  divers  forms  of
misery. What  conclusion  then  can  I  draw,  but  that,  for  some
reason  or  other,  religion  is  as  necessary  to  a  man's  mind  as  the
light  of  heaven  is  requisite  to  aid  his  bodily  vision  ?"

"  But  I  have  never  denied,"  here  remarked  Wolff,  "  that  for
a  man's  feelings  to  be  rightly  directed,  is  a  very  happy  circum-
stance ;  nor  have  I  so  much  argued  against  any  general  devo-
tion, in  which  the  instincts  find  a  satisfaction,  towards  whatever
mysterious  Power  may  encompass  the  world. It  is  the  unne-
cessary minuteness  of  dogmatism,  and  the  unwarranted  assump-
tions about  a  soul  and  a  future  state,  with  which  my  Ch&rv^ca
client  would  find  feult."


CONSCIENCE. 129

"You  have  reminded  me,"  replied  Blancombe,  "of  what  I
doubted  whether  it  should  not  be  mentioned  immediately  after
the  Understanding  and  the  Will — I  mean  the  Conscience. But
since  the  affections  have  much  to  do  with  it,  and,  in  my  own  opi-
nion, contribute  essentially  to  its  operations,  it  seemed  right  to
defer  it ;  yet  principally  the  Conscience  is  a  product  of  the  Under-
standing and  the  Will,  especially  when  these  are  biassed  against
their  choice  by  an  inclination  from  any  passion. I  must  not,
however,  omit  to  mention  with  due  honour  what  the  venerable
A'chdrya  will  esteem  a  wiser  opinion. Many  have  imagined
that  conscience  is  a  sense  of  the  clash  between  divine  know-
ledge and  our  own  guilty  remembrance;  as  when  our  sense  of
doing  a  thing  wrong,  and  God's  sight  of  the  wrong,  come  in
collision. But,  again,  here  it  suffices  me,  if,  either  from  want  of
penetration,  or  from  a  fear  of  thinking  unbecomingly  of  the  Most
Blessed,  any  one  will  consider  our  conscience  as  ourself  judging
ourself ;  or  as  the  Mind  discriminating  right  and  wrong,  such
discrimination  being  most  keenly  sensitive  as  we  become  con-
scious of  wrong. 