Connecticut western news., 1873-03-14
ClriOsities of Conscience.

L. Truly, conscience is a queer, thing. Existent in some shape, in every, human soul, it's operations are as uncertain as the wind itself, and, seemingly, far less subject to law Is it an innate faculty, or is it merely product of education ? Fasks the metaphysician, and straightway the whole body of abstract thinkers is by the.ears, in hopeless effort to solve the u1solyable problem. On this ques- tion hangs a good deal of truth doubt less but it is not with abstraction that we care to deal The human conscience | in its, actual workings furnishes mys- tery enough, without going beyond it's outward manifestations. History is full of strange deings, resulting solely from incompreaiensible cranks' of mems consciences. Cesar faltered s when about to invade his country, aghast at the enormity of the technical crime he was about to commit in merely crossing the stream which merely bounded his right. But for his real crimes after he had crossed, we find no sign of contri- tion in any act or word of his. Henry VIII sought the Pope's pardon in ad- vance, when he wished to contract a marriage forbidden by the canon, but he had no qualms of, conscience at spu1ning thepapacy when he wanted to dissolve the marriage in question. Our own Puritan sforefatherss dared many dangers, and endured many hardships, for the sake of freedom of conscience, and straightway proceeded to persecute Quakers and Baptists who claimed a like freedom. id83 "at 7stiHs gl1L 9ai We have outgrown many of these old errors, but our consciences are queer things still.ai Strainingaat a gnat and swallowing 8 camel, is as true a. story nov as 1t was eighteen centuries ago.
 | Almost, every profession has a ten dency to work pattern of it's own into it's followers conscienees and 50 we find men everywhere disposed toScon- done certain sins in people of their own cloth, which are quite as bad as other lapses from morality for which they have no toleration.y We once heard an eminent lawyer say,, that in his pro | fession there is especial peril-that the necessity under which every attorney constantly labors of drawing nice dis functions between his own and ahis clients responsibility for questionable proceedings, and that, too, with the weight of his owIr pecuniary interest constantly upon the wrong side, de- velops, in many cases, what is termed the, 1" legal conscience" with which everybody is familiar. ,Theologians tell us that they find it necessary to guard themselves constantly against the for nation of < ecclesiastical consciences, J
 which shall make, juggling with words stand for right thinking, to the detri- ment of the moral sense. So subtle is casuistry in morals, and so strong is the instinct of self-preseryation in all organizations, that the clergyman s dan ger in this respect in peculiarly great
 and the only wonder is that so few ministers sueeunab to it.aqlt .s7 i.ns-
 But most tempted of all, perhaps, is the merchant and while there are un
 doubtedly sound consciences in many counting rooms, it can not be denied that mercantile morals are often at ebb. tide sy The apparent difficulty of com. peting, by strictly fair means, with men who are not very scrupulous, and the extreme ease with which unfair advan. tages may be taken in commercial mat, ters, makes the merchants conscience Q perpetually besieged castle, unless, in deed, 1t surrenders at discretion, and adopts the code of it's conquerors.
 We once knew a merchant, plain, blunt man, who would say of an article which 8 customer was about to buy, cit is not worth the money, sir. Ii 1 looks pretty we'll on the outside, but ii has several concealed defects. cant sell it for less, and have nothing bet ter to offer, you, but my advice is not to buy it. MT. K, on the next block, has something very much better at the same price," Now, all this was simply what honesty dictated, and yet, 50 rare is this sort of honesty, this old mer
 chant was known far and wide as "queer old s." and there was not { few people who thought him crazy.