Conscience considered chiefly in reference to moral and religious obligation

Front matter

Google to make the world's books discoverable online.

It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject

to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books

Preface

Some information respecting the design in which the following treatise originated^ and the plan on which it is written, may reasonably be expected from the author in committing it to the press.

The writer's design — it may be sufficient to state — ^is not so much to add to the existing stores of general knowledge, by any new discoveries of his own, as to contribute his share, however small it may be, to the moral improvement and religious edification of his readers. It is more immediately his purpose, to address himself to the cpnscience than to explain its nature ; and therefore, his small and unpretending volume will be rather practical than theoretical.

X PREFACE.

The theory of morals is a thing altogether distinct from the practical rules by which conduct is directed, and although few may have taste or leisure for the metaphysical inquiries involved in the former, all are deeply concerned in the due observance of the latter. Yet as a sound theoretic basis is of considerable importance in every science ; it would be wrong to set at nought the cautious and sober examination of the theories which have been proposed, on a subject so important as that of morals. And therefore, though the author has been unwilling to burden a practical treatise with arguments which might to some seem needless and to others obscure ; he has subjoined a separate dissertation, at the close of the volume, in which he examines at some length, the opiniohs of others, and delivers his own, on the * theory of conscience/ They who are interested in such inquiries, may perhaps find advantage in reading that dissertation, before they begin the treatise to which it is annexed.

The plan of the treatise, though perhaps not so methodical as it might have been, will, it is hoped, be found sufficiently so, for what it professes to be, a practical work. The first chapter, besides stating the subject of inquiry, contains a few general remarks on conscience, as forming an

PREFACE. XI

essential part of man's mental constitution. The five chapters immediately following} axe devoted to a consideration of the various offices of conscience. The injury sustained by the moral faculty through the original transgression, comes next under consideration.^ The actual power which conscience, notwithstanding this injury, possesses, is subsequently illustrated.^ After this, the extent to which the deception of the moral faculty may be carried, is discussed ; ' and the last stages of moral degeneracy are examined.*

From this point, our attention is turned to the restorative process by which man is rescued fi:om a state of wretchedness and ruin, too great to be contemplated without imfeigned distress. We observe conscience imder deep and genuine conviction of sin ; ^ sprinkled by the blood of atonement, ^ and sanctified or made " good " by the influence of the Holy Spirit.'^ The means by which this good conscience is to be maintained, are then enforced ; ^ and a description of the joy resulting from its approving testimony, faintly attempted.^ The whole is wound up with a con-.

» Chiq). VII.

« Chap. VIII.

a Chap. IX.

* Chap. X.

» Chap. XI.

« Chap. XII

' Chap. XIII.

8 Chap. XIV.

•

» Chap. XV.

XU PREFACE.

eluding chapter, whieh may be regarded, if the reader pleases, as the author's apology for having ventured on a theme too vast, and too complicated for his slender capacity and attainments.

CHAP. I. PeELIMINABT OBSSRyATIONS. Subject of inquiry stated • 3

Definitions of Conscience 3

An essential part of man's nature 6

Bishop Taylor 6

Scripture appeab to conscience 7

CHAP* II. On the OmcES of Conscience.

General enumeration 9

its first office instructive 10

Moral questions its proper subjects 10

Reality of moral distinctions 11

Whewell — Chalmers— Sedgwick • 11

Conscience no substitute for revelation 16

Topics of moral instruction enumerated 17

CHAP. III. The office of Conscience as an

iNSTEUCTOa.

I. It bears testimony.be the Being and Character of God 18

Pearson — Chamocke 19

If there were no God, conscience would be useless . . 21 The moral rule which God gives to man, not at variance with his own perfections 22

Whewell's argument from Rom. i. 20 23

II. It teaches us respecting the relation we bear, and the duties we owe to God 25

Reverence--^confidence-~obedience — worship 26

XIV CONTENTS.

Defective light of conscience 29

Necessity of a revelation 30

Perplexity of conscience • 31

Discovery of a Saviour ., 32

CHAP. IV. The ofhce of Conscience as an INSTBUCTOa, COHTINUED

It instructs us in our duty to ourselves. • « 35

Formation of habits -. 36

Subjugation of passions 37

Morality necessary, but not sufficient 38

God the great source of felicity 39

Conscience teaches our duty towards others 39

Regulates our social and other affections 40

Directs our exertions for the welfare of mankind . . • 41

CHAP. V. On the Authobitt of Conscience. Its place among other mental powers • . 43

Bishop Butler^s argument 44

Supremacy of Conscience 46

Obligation to obey '}t 47

Dr. Chalmers' reasoning 48

Practical conclusion 50

CHAP. VI. On the approving and i>iaAi«»&oviN6 poweb, AND the judicial OFFICE OF CONSCIENCE

Emotions always attend our moral judgments 54

Conscience renders man responsible 55

Reid — Hodge — Brown 55

Taylor — Hopkins — Chamocke 57

Defects of moral teaching 63

CONTENTS. XV CHAP. VII. On the injusy sustained by the moral

FACULTY IN CONSEQUENCE 0? THE FALL OF MAN.

The effects of the fall too little considered in discussions on morals 66

Dr. Wardlaw's testimony against this evil 67

Yet his conclusions open to objection 68

His view of Rom. ii. 14 71

His observations on Butler 72

• and on Chalmers 76

Want of necessary discriminations 77

Innate depravity 78

Uses of conscience 79

Summary of argument 80

CHAP. VIII. On THE FOWEE OF CONSCIENCE. The power of conscience illustrated by example. ... 81

1. The case of our first parents 82

Bates 83

2. The case of the brethren of Joseph 84

Unavailing precautions 85

Recollections of conscience vivid and accurate . . 86

A moral connexion between dissimilar events • . 89

3. The accusers of the woman taken in adultery. . 91

They attempt to ensnare the Saviour 92

He defeats them by an appeal to conscience. ... 93

Force of conscience not to be restrained 94

Divine providence gives effect to its remonstrance 96 Conviction of conscience not to be mistaken

for conversion ' 97

The silent power of conscience over the ordinary

affairs of life 98

Abercrombie — Brown 99

XVI CONTENTS.

CHAP. IX. On a deceived Conscience. Conscience easily deceived 101

Saul of Tarsus a persecutor on principle 102

His case not singular 102

Question proposed ; ' Whether the foundation of

morals is affected by such cases'

Answer :

1. St. Paul does not plead conscience in justification

of crime 103

2. Yet 'it is less sinful to err with conscience than against it 105

3. The sanction which conscience gives to evil, may be accounted for without questioning its authority . • 107

4. We owe to conscience the most important duties,

but must not deny its supremacy 112

CHAP. X. On a defiled, a scared, and a tormenting CONSCIENCE

The progressive tendency of evil 119

A defiled conscience worse than a deceived one .... 120

David'sfall 120

He could judge of others' sins, not of his own 121

Felix trembled, yet evaded the shafts of conscience. . 122

The transition from a polluted to a seared conscience 123

Conflict between duty and inclination 124

Cain— Ahab— Judas 126

A seared conscience may become a tormenting one 129

The traitor Judas 131

Tiberius Caesar • 134

Torments of conscience in a future state 135

CONTENTS. XVll

PAGE

CHAP. XL A Conscience convinced of Sin.

The great change 139

I. The distinguishing properties of genuine conviction 142

1. Godly sorrow which produces humble submission to divine judgments , 146

2. Hatred of sin as an offence against God 147

3. The .tracing of outward evils to the state of the heart 150

II. The source of true conviction is the Holy Spirit 151

Barrow 153

A new creation • 154

III. The means by which it is produced 155

1. The scriptures 156

2. The preaching of the gospel 157

3. The events of providence. 159

IV. Immediate consequences of conviction 160

CHAP. XII. A Conscience Sprinkled bt the blood OP Atonement

The blood of Christ the remedy for a guilty conscience 164

The application of this blood 167

Metaphorical language explained 168

The sprinkling of the blood of Christ to be understood spiritually 170

The efficacy of the blood of sprinkling 171

It delivers us

1. From condemnation 172

2. From defilement 174

3. From guilty fear 177

Concluding inquiry ...•••.. 180

• • •

XVlll CONTENTS.

PAGE

CHAP. XIII. A Good Conscience. Meaning of the term " Good conscience." 181

Properties of a good conscience

1. Sincerity

consisting in a sincere desire to serve God 183

and a deep sense of unworthiness 184

2. Spiritual illumination 187

as distinguished from natural endowments, &c. 189

Prayer necessary t6 obtain it 190

3. Humble confidence in God, through Christ. ... 191

4. Tenderness

Which produces sympathy with others 192

keeps the mental powers in a sound state 193

shrinks from contact with sin 193

mourns over inward evils 194

is serious in religious duties • 195

■ frank in intercourse with society, ^c. ... 196

5. Firmness

as distinguished from scrupulousness 197

Critical seasons prove the power of a good conscience 199

Yet it may be traced in ordinary circumstances 200

Adjustment of various properties implied 201

Wilberforce 202

CHAP. XIV. On the Means essential to the Maintenance OF A Good Conscience. Character to be judged by habits 205

Both tables of the law must be kept 207

An unoffending conscience towards God 208

Must be maintained,

1. By prayer — in spirit— in act j • • 210

CONTENTS. XIX

PA6B

2. By vigilance 218

3. By meditation 220

4. By self-examination 223

5. By reducing knowledge to practice , . 225

An unoffending conscience towards man 226

Duties towards others, tests of character 228

The love of God the motive to these duties 228

Particular duties 229

CHAP. XV. The jot abisino from the Testimony OF A Good Conscience

Christian happiness the effect of grace 233

Two inquiries proposed,

I. Respecting the nature of the joy arising from the testimony of conscience 234

It springs from a reflex act of the mind 236

Is not the effect of self-righteousness 237

Grows out of a sense of pardoning mercy 238

II. Respecting the manner in which ^his joy is produced 240

By bearing testimony

1. To the simplicity of the Christian's intentions. . 240

2. To the holiness of his character 242

3. By bearing witness to the cause of this simplicity and holiness 246

4. By bearing witness to the eff*ect of grace upon

his conduct 249

St. Bernard 251

The difference between heathen and Christian morality 2 62

The greatness of Christian joy 254

XX CONTENTS.

PAGE

CHAP. XVI. Conclusion

Reasons which have induced the author to engage in these discussions 256

1. The importance of the subject • 256

2. The extremes to which parties have gone on

different sides 258

3. The conviction that strong views on the au-

thority of conscience, are consistent with the doctrine of gratuitous salvation by Christ . • • 272

Dissertation on the Theory of Conscience. • Distinction between the theory and practice of

morals 276

Theory of conscience

1. Man has a distinct faculty relating to moral

subjects 279

2. This faculty, though distinct, not simple and un-

compounded 285

3. This faculty not to be resolved into merely na-

tural faculties 288

4. In one sense an original power, and in another

sense not • 306

Illustration of the subject 309

Dr. T. Brown's views examined 309

ON CONSCIENCE.

Chapter I. Preliminary Observations

Subject of inquiry stated. — Different definitions of conscience. — It is an essential part of man^s nature. — Not the effect of education. — To deny its existence, or to depreciate its importance, is to deprive a great portion of Scripture of its force and significancy. — Ood formed man with a mind adapted to his own truth, and revealed his tmth in a manner to affect the conscience of man.

When the Psalmist exclaimed, *^ I am fearfully and wonderfully made ; " it is probable, that he was giving utterance to feelings of astonishment, chiefly excited by the contemplation of the delicate and ^complicated structure of the human frame, and of the admirable adaptation of its several parts to the purposes for which they were obviously designed. Yet it cannot be denied that such an expression of surprise, is at least equally

B

2 * PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.

applicable to the immortal mind, — the unseen agent, which moves and animates this frame. If the members of the body, suited as they are to our present circumstances in the world, deserve to be noticed as proofs of the skill of Him who formed them ; what shall we say respecting those mental faculties, by which man is distinguished from the " beasts which perish," by which he is fitted to hold improving converse with his fellows, by which he is rendered capable of the knowledge not only of earthly things but of divine, and which we are assured, shall not perish when the body returns to its dust, but shall remain with him through a happy or a miserable eternity !

Yet how seldom do men reflect with sufficient seriousness, on that inestimable treasure which they carry in their own bosoms ? They adorn and admire the casket, but scarcely deign to look at the jewel it contains. They value the body, but neglect the soul. It is true, there are some difficulties to be overcome, in bringing our thoughts to a steady and profitable contemplation of our " inner man." There is a deficiency of that palpable evidence which carries immediate conviction respecting the use of the several bodily organs. The mind itself has no organic structure which may be subjected to observation, and from which we may instantly infer the adaptation of each part to some specific end. We know that the mind has, independently of the body, the power of perception, but who can trace the manner in

PROPOSED SUBJECT OP INQUIRY. 3

which it perceives ? We discover, for instance, no mental eye, with its telescopic arrangements, its crystalline lens, its axis, and its retina for the reception of images. We can place hefore us no mental ear, with its appropriate apparatus for the conveyance of sounds. There is, in short, nothing in the human mind obvious to the senses, to excite instantaneous wonder. Our admiration of its constitution and faculties must arise by the tardier and more unusual process of serious reflection ; and as — on this very account — ^it will be of slower growth, so will it in the end, attain a greater elevation, and be attended with happier and more permanent effects.

Without entering, however, on so wide a field of inquiry as that which the mind of man with all its varied and capacious powers presents to our view, we may advantageously, it is hoped, fix our thoughts on that peculiar department of our mental economy which is termed conscience, and which demands our attention, as being the principle within, on which all moral obligation is founded, by which all moral judgments are formed, and all moral sentiments entertained.

The word conscience has been used in metaphysical inquiries with some variety of signification, which it will be proper to notice before we proceed. Several writers employ it to describe the moral faculty itself by which the mind judges and decides on the great question of * right and wrong ; ' while others regard it as a mere result,

B 2

4 DEFINITIONS OF CONSCIENCE.

in some way or other, flowing from tUis faculty. Bishop Hopkins speaks of it as a process of reasoning, when he says, * Conscience is nothing but a practical syllogism or argumentation, and always infers a personal conclusion, either excusing or accusing.' ^ Bishop Taylor explains conscience as ' the mind of a man governed by a rule, and measured by the proportions of good and evil in order to practice ; namely, to conduct all our relations and all our intercourse between God, our neighbour and ourselves, that is, in all moral actions.'* * The word conscience,' says Adam Smith, ' does not immediately denote any moral faculty by which we approve or disapprove. Conscience supposes, indeed, the existence of some such faculty, and properly signifies our consciousness of having acted agreeably or contrary to its directions.' * These differences in the way of explaining the word, arise from diversity of conception respecting what is termed the * theory of conscience.' It may be sufficient in this place to state, that rejecting all those schemes of interpretation which would reduce conscience to a mere process of reasoning on the one hand, or to a mere association of thoughts and emotions on the other, the word conscience in the following pages, denotes the moral faculty itself — that principle or power of the human mind, which deals immedi-

» Hopkins' Works, Vol. iii. p. 444. Lond. 1809. » Duct. Dub. Works, Vol. xi. p. 369. 3 Theory of Moral Sentiments, Vol. ii. Part VII. Sect 3. p. 33a

CONSCIENCE NOT THE EFFECT OF INSTRUCTION. 5

ately and exclusively with moral subjects, and applies them to moral uses.^

Before we enter upon an examination of the peculiar offices which conscience has to discharge, it will be necessary to offer some observations on the important fact, that it is an essential part

OF the nature and constitution of THE HU- MAN MIND.

To be without conscience would be as great an anomaly in human nature, as to be without intellect, without sympathy, without any of those powers which distinguish man from the irrational part of the creation. Conscience is not the effect of training, or of religious teaching, or of spiritual influence operating upon the mind. It exists prior to instruction, and is to be educated, but not formed by education ; to be wrought upon, but not generated by divine grace. It is as essential a part of man's moral nature, as feeling is of his physical constitution. It is also like the other noble powers of his mind, indestructible. Neither life nor death, nor time nor eternity, nor the happiness of heaven, nor the misery of hell, will be able to extinguish this spark of moral life within the human breast. Conscience has, and will have a voice, which the extremes of exultation and of horror can neither silence nor drown. * A man,' says Bishop Taylor, ^ may as well cease to be a man as to be wholly without conscience.

^ Conclusive reasons for adopting this view, will, it is hoped, be found in the Dissertation at the close of this volume.

6 CONSCIENCE AN UNIVERSAL FACULTY.

r

For the drunkard will be sober and his conscience will be awake next morning ; this is a perpetual pulse, and though it may be interrupted, yet if the man be alive, it will beat before he dies ; and so long as we believe a God, so long our conscience will at least teach us, if it does not also smite us ; but as God sometimes lets a man go on in sin and does not punish him, so does conscience ; but in this case, unless the man be smitten and awakened before he dies, both God and the conscience reserve their wrath to be inflicted in hell.' *

The universal existence of this faculty is strongly asserted in the sacred volume. Thus, the apostle Paul directly refers to it, when he says of the heathen, that they, " having not the law, are a law unto themselves; which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another."? From which language, used respecting persons entirely ignorant of the written law of God, it is plain, that independently of all revelation, God " has not left himself without witness" in the heart of man, that he has erected a tribunal there to which the man himself is constantly amenable ; and that, whatever darkness may have obscured, or whatever degree of guilt may have benumbed and hardened the conscience, the faculty itself exists, and exists for the most important purposes.

SCRIPTURE APPEALS TO CONSCIENCE. 7

They fight against the cause they wish to serve, who, iQ order to vindicate the authority and to prove the value of divine revelation, would either deny the existence of this moral principle, or reduce it to insignificance.^ They asuiil the very principle to which all the authoritative appeals of the divine record are directly made. What are the solemn expostulations, warnings, and threatenings of God*s word, but so many appeals to conscience? What mean such exhortations as these, if man has no faculty to which they can be addressed : '' Come, now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow ; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."- " Repent and turn yourselves from all your transgressions ; so iniquity shall not be your ruin" ?' What could the Saviour himself intend, if he did not presuppose the existence of conscience, when he asked, " Why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right ? " ♦ His language, even to the most abandoned of mankind, always implies the existence of an internal monitor, which takes the side of truth, however far the individual himself may have wandered from the path which it prescribes. Take away conscience, then, and you render the

^ The writer cannot but think, that the whole of a very learned treatifie, proceeding from the best motives, and containing, on collateral subjects, much valuable information, is likely to mislead the reader, on this particular argument He refers to Ellis^s * Knowledge of Divine Things not from Reason or Nature/

.^ Isaiah i. 18. 3 Ezek. xviii. 30. * Luke xii. .57.

8 TRUTH AND CONSCIENCE.

Bible a powerless book, proceeding upon wrong assumptions respecting the nature of the beings for whom it was written. God, who formed man, made him a meet subject for his own immutable truth to work upon, by endowing him with the faculty of conscience ; and when the lapsed condition of mankind rendered a written revelation necessary, he knew how exactly to adapt that revelation to this faculty.

Chapter II. On The Offices Of Conscience

General enmneiation of the officeB of conscience. — Its first office is instractive. — Moral qaestions, and those only form the topics of its teaching. — ^There is a rea^ distinction between right and wrong. — Lockers argoment against innate moral principles — answered from Whewell, Chalmers, and Sedgwick. — ^The uniformity of moral judgments proves conscience a suitable guide on moral questions. — Conscience does not supersede the necessity of revelation. — Nor of the influence of the Holy Spirit. — Yet necessary to the efficacy of both. — Principal subjects on which conscience gives instruction enumerated.

Having shewn that conscience exists in all men, as an essential part of their nature, the next inquiry of importance relates to the peculiar offices or duties it has to discharge.

The offices of conscience are,

I. To instruct us in questions connected with moral duty.

II. To enforce its instructions by authoritative commands.

III. To approve or disapprove our conduct, and judicially to acquit or condemn, to reward or punish.

B 5

10 OFFICES OF CONSCIENCE.

I. The first paxt of the office of conscience is instructive, yet its' instructions are confined to lessons of one class. Being a moral faculty, it is conversant only with moral topics. It leaves imtouched the whole range Of merely intellectual inquiries, and confines itself to the simple investigation of what is emphatically called ' right and wrong,' moral good and evil, duty and sin. These are the distinctions which conscience recognizes, and respecting which alone it conveys its instructions. This is " the law written on the heart,^ to which St. Paul refers in the passage already quoted. There is an essential distinction between rectitude and iniquity, which is universally recognized, notwithstanding all the confusion introduced into ethical inquiries, by the attempts which have been made to trace moral sentiments to selfish feelings, or altogether to deny the existence of them, as original parts of our mental constitution. Locke contends that there can be no innate moral principles, because many things deemed flagrant ofiences against morality by some nations, are suffered to pass without censure, if they are not even applauded, by others ; and, to prove his point, introduces a string of enormities practised among savage tribes, most revolting to all our moral feelings. But to what does this evidence really amount ? Had he brought forward whole nations who deny that the earth is a globe, because they cannot comprehend the arguments which prove it to be one, would this fact prove that there were no common principles of reasoning in the human mind? Would it shew that reason in Sir Isaac Newton was an essentially different faculty from reason in a savage ? * The ofit^repeated argument against the existence of a moral faculty, drawn from vile practices and monstrous opinions of savage or corrupted man, is of no more weight than it would be to urge, that because rude and barbarous tribes do not know, or do not assent to, the complex and recondite truths which we here teach concerning figure and number, — that therefore the human mind contains no fEiculty by which such doctrines can be independently known/ ^ If, then, fundamental errors in reasoning form

' Whewell's Foundations of Morals, p. 42. See also Dr. S. Clarice'u ' Evidence of Natural and Revealed Religion,' p. 50. His words are : *' There is but one thing, that I am sensible of, which can here with any colour be objected against what has been hitherto said, concerning the necessity of the mind's giving its assent to the eternal law of righteousness: and that is, the total ignoranM^ which some whole natimis are reported to lie under, of the nature and force of these moral obligations. The matter of jG&ct is not very true : but if it was, 'tis certain there are more nations and people totally ignorant of the plainest mathematical truths ; and yet these truths are such, to which the mind cannot but give its assent necessarily and imavoidably, as soon as they are distinctly proposed to it. All that this objection proves, therefore, supposing the matter of it to be true, is only this : not that the mind of man can ever dissent firom the rule of right; much less, that there is no necessary difference in nature between moral good and evil, any more than it proves that there are no necessary proportions of numbers, lines, or figures ; but this it proves only, that men have great need to be taught and instructed in some very plain and easy, as well as certain truths ; and if they be important truths, that then men have need to have them frequently inculcated and strongly enforced upon them.'

no argument against the existence of the rational faculty in uneducated minds, and are of no avail to render disputable the firm and stable truths of natural science, so neither will the erroneous moral judgments of savages — ^supposing them greater than they are — ^form any argument against the existence of that moral principle in man by which they are pronounced, or against the immutable laws on which they are founded.

Dr. Chalmers reasons forcibly on this subject. The apparent diversity of moral judgments among men, is, he says, * partly reducible into the blinding, or, at least, the distorting effect of passion and interest, which sometimes are powerful enough to obscure our perception, even of mathematical and historical truths, as well as of moral distinctions ; and without therefore affecting the stability of either.' .... * In all such cases it is of capital importance to distinguish between the real character of any criminal action, when looked to calmly, comprehensively, and fully ; and what that is in the action which the perpetrator singles out and fastens upon as his plea, when he is either defending it to others, or reconciling it to his own conscience. In as far as he knows the deed to be incapable of vindication, and yet rushes on the performance of it, there is but delinquency of conduct incurred, not a diversity of moral judgment ; nor does conscience in this case at all betray any caprice or uncertainty in her decisions.' .... * Two men may differ as to the moral character of an action, but if each is resting the support of his own view on a different principle from the other, there may still be a perfect uniformity of moral sentiment between them. They own the authority of the same laws, they only disagree in the application of them.' ^ * The consciences of all would come forth with the same moral decision, were all equally enlightened in the circumstances, or in the essential relations and consequences of the deed in question; and what is just as essential to this uniformity of judgment, were all viewing it fairly as well as fully.'* * It is this which explains the moral peculiarities of different nations. It is not, that justice, humanity and gratitude, are not the canonized virtues of every region ; or that falsehood, cruelty and fraud would hot in their abstract and unassociated nakedness, be viewed as the objects of moral antipathy and rebuke. It is, that in one and the same material action, when looked to in all the lights of which, whether in reality or by the power of imagination, it is susceptible, various, Q^y* opposite moral characteristics may be blended ; and that while one people look to the good only without the evil, another may look to the evil only without the good.' ^ He illustrates his position by reference to the public honours and approval with which theft was marked in Sparta. ' It was not because theft itself was reckoned a