Conscience and Sin - Daily Meditations for Lent E-Book

S. Baring Gould

• Herausgeber: S. Baring Gould
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

It is advisable that all should have a clear understanding as to the nature of Conscience, the dangers to which Conscience is liable, the Nature of Sin, and the Effects of Sin. Too many people go on easily from day to day making no spiritual advance, because they do not know what ails their Consciences, do not even suspect that their Consciences are ailing, and so make no effort to escape from their unsatisfactory condition. It is hoped that this little book of meditations may be of use to such.

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S. Baring-Gould

Conscience and Sin

First digital edition 2017 by Anna Ruggieri

Ash Wednesday.

ON CONSCIENCE.

God has created man for a purpose, and that purpose is, that he should attain to everlasting blessedness.

God is good and loving unto all His works. He made the plants and the beasts, and set them ends toaccomplish here on earth, but the ends for which man was made are not to be attained in this life.

Through the Fall man’s mind is darkened, his connexion with God is broken, his sight of the aim to which he should tend is obscured. God has given to him Hislaw as the rule of his actions, that man, hearkening to the revealed Will of God, may be guided aright, and so accomplish that end for which he was made, and attain finally to everlasting blessedness.

Every act of man that is in conformity with the revealed law of God isgood.

Every act of man that is contrary to this revealed law of God isbad.

Every act that is in conformity with the law of God is not onlyactuallygood, but it isrelativelygood—that is to say, it tends to our individual advantage. Itis not only good in the sight of God, but it is profitable to our own selves.

So also is the converse true, that every act done against the law of God isactuallyandrelativelybad; it is bad in the sight of God, and it does injury to our own selves.

Now, in order that we may be able to judge whether our acts are in conformity with the law of God, He has set in us a faculty which has the office of applying the law of God to our own circumstances; and this faculty tells us whether our acts are in conformity with or contrary to the external law of God. Thus we have the exterior law, and the interior faculty, which we may almost term a law, and this inner law is calledConscience.

II.The revealed law of God, considered in itself and in relation to God, its Author, is holy, inviolable, and inalterable. “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting (orrestoring) the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of theLord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever; the judgments of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.... In them is Thy servant warned: and in keeping them there is great reward.” (Ps. xix. 7-11.)

But though the revealed law of God is fixed and immutable, yet when applied to the human Conscience it takes different forms, according to the state of the Conscience.

Hence it follows that the divine lawill-applied, so far from being a sure rule, may become perverted into a sanction whereby we evade the obligations laid on us, and authorize ourselves to commit that which is wrong.

We shall therefore have to consider:—

1. The nature of Conscience.

2. The obligation of obeying Conscience.

3. The different kinds ofConscience.

4. The rules of conduct relative to each sort of Conscience.

Simple Maltese Cross

First Thursday in Lent.

THE NATURE OF CONSCIENCE.

1. Conscience, which is the gift of God bestowed on all men,Christian and heathen, is that practical judgmentwhich points outto us what to avoid or what to do in any particular emergency thatmay arise. Just as we may know that there are certain laws ofnature, and our ready commonsense tells us, when varyingcircumstances arise, how we are to act so that the laws of naturemay be to our advantage instead of to our overthrow, so isConscience the commonsense application of the indwellingconsciousness of the distinction between right and wrong toemergencies, as they rise up and demand of us a choice betweenonecourse or another.

2. Conscience has a threefold exercise of its judgment.

(a)Before an actiontakes place, Conscience throws light on theaction contemplated or proposed, tells us its moral value, and ifthe Conscience judges that it isgood, then it counsels and permitsthe act. If, however, the Conscience judges that it is bad, then itdissuades from, and forbids the act.

(b)During an actionConscience is active, and in spite of all theclouds of prejudice and of passion that may have risen up, it bearstestimony to the true nature of our conduct, it either encouragesus to carry it through, not to be supine about it, not to abandonit before it is completed, and so leave it imperfectlyaccomplished, but to carry it through to the end, thoroughly andcompletely. Or else, Conscience does not cease from turning usaside from the prosecution of the act which it disapproves; it actsas a drag, a check, and unless resisted will completely arrest usin the prosecution of that which it esteems to be bad.

(c)After an action, Conscience recompenses us by thesatisfaction we feel, the approval it accords to us for havingeither accomplished what it advised, or for having abandoned thatconduct which it disapproved. So S. Paul speaks of people being“a law unto themselves,” shewing “the work of thelaw written in their hearts, their Conscience bearing witness, andtheir thoughts the meanwhile accusing, or else excusing, oneanother.” (Rom. ii. 14, 15.) This is the “testimony ofthe Conscience,” “the answer of the goodConscience” to which both S. Paul and S. Peter appeal.

3. We have seen that Conscience instructs, judges, and rewardsor punishes; but we must consider further, that Conscience does notcontrol the will of man, it merely dictates to the will what isright, and warns it as to what is wrong. It uses no constraint.Man’s will is free; Conscience clears the eyes of the mind,and shews it what conduces to welfare, and what to destruction, butit neither impels man irresistibly into the former course, norholds him back forcibly from taking the other. It shows man what ismedicine and what is poison, but it does not compel him to take oneand reject the other, for the will of man is absolutelyfree.

First Friday in Lent.

THE NATURE OF CONSCIENCE.

(Continued.)

1. Conscience, in the order of religious life, is that which theCourt of Justice is in the order of public life, a court that hasbeen instituted by the legislature to keep discipline andwell-being in the State, to protect the individual in hisperson,his property, and his repute.

Thus Conscience takes the general laws of God and explains themin their bearings on our own conduct, and applies them to ourseveral cases. Also, Conscience sees to the execution of thelaw—that it shall be obeyed as well asacknowledged. Also,Conscience punishes every infraction of the law.

In other words, Conscience is theinterpreterof the law of God,it is thejudgesitting in judgment on us for our observance ornon-observance of the law, and it is theexecutionercarrying out thesentence against us. As interpreter, Conscience enlightens us as tothe requirements of God, explains to us what is obscure, andsmooths the way so that our wills, enlightened and ready to actwithout impediment, may take a direction one way or other.

An act does not becomejustorsinfultill the will has consented tothe advice of the Conscience as interpreter, or has turned againstit and deliberately gone contrary to what it has laid down. Everywilful sin is therefore a determinate revoltagainst God.

2. But Conscience is more than interpreter, judge andexecutioner; it is also ouraccuserand thewitnessagainst us.

As accuser, it pursues the guilty everywhere, into the innermostrecesses of the thoughts.

It sees clearly, it knows all thecircumstances, it declares withunhesitating voice both what is the nature of the sin, and what isthe condition of the sinner. Thus to the office of accuser itunites that ofwitness, presenting itself ever before the accused,with unshaken testimony. Ithas seen all; it has seen all as it is;and it has forgotten none of the circumstances.

Asjudge, it is enlightened with Divine illumination that piercesthrough all the mists of prejudice and clouds of passion, andnothing escapes from its vigilance.

Asjudge it is also severe, not easy and indifferent, for it hasnot its own law or humour to obey, but the divine law, which itinterprets and administers.

It is just, for it stands in that position that it is betweenGod, the Lawgiver, on one side, and man,who breaks that law, on theother. If it be inclined to over-leniency, if it be unjust, thenConscience is itself corrupted. But we are not now speaking ofConscience degraded, cajoled, bribed, and dishonest, but of thetrue Conscience as divinely illumined and divinely directed tojudge aright. And as just and enlightened Conscience passes itsjudgment, and then takes up the office of executioner.“If,” says S. Paul, “we would judge ourselves weshould not be judged.” That is to say, if we suffer ourConsciences to perform their properfunction here in the time oflife, to pass sentence upon us justly, and execute the sentencespassed, then there would be no second judgment for us at the last.That judgment is needed only because so many people refuse topermit Conscience to perform its divinely-ordained work here inthis life.

Then consider Conscience as theexecutioner. It punishes manhere, to work out his amendment. But if Conscience be not sufferedto perform its divinely allotted task here, then it will do it ineternity when the time for amendment is over. That is the worm thatdies not, that the fire that is never extinguished. Conscience isgiven to us as our executioner here in order toimproveus, not totorture us unprofitably. It punishes us towork in usrepentance.These are the two operations of Conscience as executioner.

Simple Maltese Cross

First Saturday in Lent.

THE OBLIGATIONS OF CONSCIENCE.

1. As Conscience is a gift of God we are responsible to Him forthe use we make of it. Conscience is the moral faculty; as the eyesare organs of the faculty of sight, the ears of the faculty ofhearing, so has Conscience the faculty of seeing and knowing anddistinguishing right from wrong. As God has given us sight andhearing we exercise these faculties, and, what is more, cultivatethem. So, as God has given us the moral faculty, we exercise it,and cultivate it, if we desire to fulfil the ends for which God hascreated us. God gives us eyes to see our way, and not strikeagainst walls, and fall into pits. So God has given us Conscienceto see our moral way, and not run into temptations, and to avoidmoral dangers.

2. As Conscience is that interior judgment which God has plantedin us to dictate to us what to do, and what to avoid, on specialoccasions, then, to disobey the voice of Conscience is to disobeythe Voice of God. Not only so, but, as Conscience points out to usthat a certain course is one to which duty calls us, and we refuseto follow the indication of Conscience, this is a revolt of thewill against God, and when the will, knowing what is right,deliberately chooses what is wrong, it commits mortal sin. It wasso with Adam and Eve. They knew the Commandment of God, andwilfully went against His Commandment, consequently they hadturnedaway from their proper end, and turned themselves into thecamp of rebels against God.

3. When S. Paul says, “Whatsoever is not of faith issin,” he is speaking of the eating of meats offered to idols;and he shows how that Conscience is the rule as to whether a thingis sinful or not. Idols are naught, so that the things offered toidols are not actually polluted by the oblation; nevertheless, ifthe Conscience refuses to admit this, and argues that, as a meathas been offered to an idol, the partaking ofit is participation inidolatry, then to eat of the meat that has been offered bringsguilt on the soul. “He that doubteth is damned if heeat.” (Rom. xiv. 23.)

4. From this we may draw a practical conclusion that it isalways well to follow Conscience, even when Conscience,ill-instructed, may be in error; that if Conscience disapprove of acourse of conduct, and yet may not understand clearly on whatgrounds it utters its disapprobation, it is safest, indeed it isright, to obey Conscience, and not takeadvantage of itshesitation.

That a Conscience may be ill-taught, and therefore in error,that a Conscience may be perverted, we shall see presently; butwhat appears to be abundantly clear is that it is advisable alwaysto obey Conscience in all things; but then we must be careful tohave the Conscience well-instructed, clearly illuminated, so thatit may not be hesitating, confused, and liable to direct uswrongly.

5. When Conscience hesitates, and is doubtful between twocourses, it is right to seek advice from such as are experienced inthe direction of Conscience.

Moreover, the Holy Spirit must be invoked to open the eyes ofthe understanding, and guide into truth. When hesitation and doubtstill remain, then the safest course to adopt is that line ofconduct which is likely to entail most trouble, likely to cost usmost, least likely to attract notice from others; also, generally,if not always, the simplest and most natural line is the right one;but self-interest, or a disturbed moral sense, may incline one totake another line that is not absolutely wrong in itself, but isless right because less natural, and simple, and direct, andcommon-place than the other.

Simple Maltese Cross

First Sunday in Lent.

CAUSES OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF CONSCIENCE.

1. Conscience as given by God to man is sound, vigorous, anddirect. It sees clearly what the truth is, and distinguishes atonce good from evil.

Whatever God gives is good, and God gives this faculty ofdistinguishing between good and evil to man for a purpose,essential to man, that he may follow his course, and attain to thatend for which God made him. Therefore, God certainly gave to man,originally, a sound, sturdy, and clear-seeing Conscience, to be thepilot of his vessel, the driver of his chariot, thelegislator ofhis state. That we may,—indeed, that wemustacknowledge. GodHimself set man in the world to accomplish a certain work, and Hefurnished him adequately for the fulfilment of the task allotted tohim.

2.But, man’s Conscience is not what it was when God firstmade man; it has been debilitated, it has been vitiated by originalsin. The first sin of Adam, and the sin that has issued from thatoriginal fault, has formed a habit of sin in the human race, thatinfects, weakens, in some cases paralyzes, the Conscience. So thatit no longer sees as clearly what is right and what is wrong, as atfirst; it has no longer the same unhesitating voice; nor has it thesame power of influencing the will as at first, for the will itselfhas become distorted. The unsettlement of Conscience has allowedthe will to become impatient of restraint, and to incline to followother impulses than that of the moral faculty. The will is alsoinclined to evil through the poison of sin which has passed intothe nature of allmen since the fall, and though, by Baptism, theantecedent guilt of original sin is put away, yet its deterioratingeffects are not all removed. God receives us by Baptism into astate of grace, in which state that which has been marred by thefall can berestored; but the fact of Baptism does not at oncerestore, it only sets us in a condition in which restoration ispossible.

3. There are several causes operating on our Conscience whichtend to vitiate it:—

(a)Ignoranceof the Divine Will, and of the law of God for us.Adam had a fully-enlightened Conscience, he knew uninstructed whatwas God’s purpose and what was God’s Will, but it isnot so with us, or is so only in a very rudimentary and inadequatemanner. We have to betaughtthe Will of G [...]