And to call this in question is tyrannical, and to attempt to prevent it is persecution. Conscience may be considered as a faculty or power of the soul of man, by which, as a judge, he passes sentence, in God s name, upon his own conduct. It is the deputy or vicegerent of God in the soul, which pronounces in his name, a sentence of approbation, or disapprobation, on human conduct, according as it appears to be morally right or wrong. Respect must be had, in every case, to a law. There is no possibility of knowing what is right or wrong approvable or disapprovable, without a law.
Sin is a transgression of the law.
The judgment passed by conscience upon an action, is a moral judgment. The understanding too, is a faculty of the human soul, by which we form judgments. We compare ideas we examine evidence, and we judge the truth or falsehood of a proposition, by the understanding. In reference to a law, we examine actions, and determine their agreement or disagreement therewith, and so pronounce them good or bad, by the exercise of understanding. The understanding, comprehending the demonstration, judges that the three angles of a triangle are equal to two right angles.