Page:The Education of the Conscience.djvu/11

Rh wrong, and, though it cost me pain, I will not do it.' They do not understand, they cannot explain what right is, or why they should do it: they only know; and as they know they do in simplicity and trust and patience: so it is with children; so, perhaps, it remains with some men, and they have a share in the blessing of those 'who have not seen and yet have believed.'

But it is not every one who can do this: and I do not think it is what we are ordinarily meant to do. The mind grows and asks questions: What does conscience mean? Why is good good, and evil evil? And then we begin to make answers. "Honesty is the best policy;" "to be good brings happiness in the long run;" "see the sad consequences of what is wrong: bodies weakened, or fortunes wasted by indulgence, lives made unhappy by ill-temper, homes divided, hearts soured." And all this is true: it all helps and encourages us to do right, but it does not satisfy us, it is not enough, is it? We did not begin to do right for what it would bring, but because it was right, and right was right for its own sake: there was something in right which laid a sort of awe upon our hearts, and made us obey, or again moved a sort of love in our hearts so that we could not refuse it. This is what we wish to understand, if we may, more clearly. And we begin to understand it if those who are caring for our bodies, and guiding our minds, care for us in this way too; and teach us to understand that conscience is so strong, and right is so awful and yet so lovely, because conscience and right are only names and forms for the voice and the will of a great Being, 'One God, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth,' holy and