Second Saturday in Lent.
THE DOUBTFUL CONSCIENCE.
1. The Doubtful or perplexed Conscience is that Conscience which cannot form a resolve. It suspends judgment on the right or wrong of an action, either because it thinks that as much is to be said on one side as on the other, or else it suspends judgment through lack of illumination, it does not see what it ought to do. Or again, it suspends judgment because it is not sure of the existence, or the obligation of a law commanding or forbidding some action.
This is the condition spoken of by S. James. “He that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. Let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.”
The right Conscience is certain. It sees clearly and judges decidedly. So does the false Conscience see and judge, though falsely. But this Conscience is paralyzed in judgment, it sees so many reasons on one side and so many on the other, that it falls into despair, and does nothing because of timorousness, lest it should judge awrong.
2. The Conscience can hardly be doubtful about the main laws of God. It is in their application to man’s action that uncertainty lies. And it is inevitable that some uncertainty should exist, for man is put in several relations, and has duties in each that sometimes conflict. He is a member of the State, the Church, the family, and the social body to which he belongs. He has duties to those above him and to those below him, and it cannot be that these duties should always lie in parallel lines. He must sometimes exercise his judgment, and decide which among several duties he will observe and which pretermit.
3. Conscience should never be suffered to remain in suspense, and in suspense be left unacted upon, for Conscience is given us to spur us to action, not to excuse us from acting, and so sanction inertness. Unless Conscience be acted upon, it becomes debilitated.
We must act. We will now see how in doubtful cases one ought to act.