a divine {209} judgement, that the
idea of conscience was acclimatized among the Jews. Thus, in Wisdom
xvii. 11, we read, 'For wickedness, condemned by a witness within, is a
coward thing, and being pressed hard by conscience, always forecasteth
the worst lot.' In St. John viii. 9, according to one reading, the
Jews are 'convicted by their own conscience.' So St. Paul, in the
passage discussed above (ii. 15), seems to distinguish the subsequent
reflective 'conscience' from the previous informing reason, 'the effect
(equivalent) of the law written in their hearts.' And in most of the
passages of the New Testament, this meaning of conscience--the faculty
by which we sit in judgement on what we have already done--is
sufficient. But sometimes, as also among the Stoics[3], the word
passes into meaning the positive directing faculty, as when (1 Cor.
viii. 10) a man's 'conscience' is said to be 'emboldened' to adopt a
new practice, or (Hebr. ix. 14) to be cleansed for positive service.
Moreover, though it is an individual faculty (see Rom. ii. 15), and
exists primarily to pass judgement on one's own actions only, yet
perforce it must also look without and condemn or approve the actions
of others (2 Cor. iv. 2, v. 11).

St. Paul also brings into notice that our conscience is a faculty for
the condition of which we are responsible. It is not the voice of God,
but a faculty capable of reflecting His voice, if it be well guarded.
Thus you may have a 'weak' or a 'strong,' i.e. a more or less
enlightened, conscience (1 Cor. viii). And a man may 'defile' his
'mind and conscience,' i.e. he may corrupt his moral reason and powers
of moral self-judgement (Tit. i. 15). {210} Then the 'conscience' may
become hardened and 'seared' (1 Tim. iv. 2), so that 'the light that is
in' men becomes itself 'darkness' according to our Lord's warning (St.
Matt. vi. 23). And there is nothing which is more necessary at the
present day than to remind men that they are not 'safe' because they
are not acting against their conscience, unless they are also
constantly at pains to enlighten their conscience and keep it in the
light, by the help of the best moral thought of their time, the
guidance of the Church and the word of God. Our conscience, if it is
rightly to reassure us by its witness, must, like St. Paul's
conscience, bear its witness 'in the Holy Ghost' (Rom. ix. 1).

With us moderns 'conscience' has generally the wider meaning of the
wh