A TABLE

OF THE TITLES OF THE CHAPTERS AND THE RULES
OF THE FIRST BOOK.

RULE

OF CONSCIENCE, THE KINDS OF IT, AND THE GENERAL RULES
OF CONDUCTING THEM.

CHAPTER I.

THE RULE OF CONSCIENCE IN GENERAL,

PAGE

1. Conscience is the mind of a man, governed by a rule, and measured by

the proportions of good and evil in order to practice

3

2. The duty and offices of conscience are to dictate, and to testify or bear wit-

ness, to accuse or excuse, to loose or bind

16

3. Be careful that prejudice or passion, fancy and affection, error or illusion,

be not mistaken for conscience.

36

4. The conscience of a vicious man is an evil judge, and an imperfect rule

5. All consciences are to walk by the same rule, and that which is just to

one is so to all in the like circumstances

45

6. In conscience that which is first is truest, easiest, and most useful

7. Conscience by its several habitudes and relations, or tendencies toward

its proper object is divided into several kinds

46

CHAPTER II.

OF THE RIGHT OR SURE CONSCIENCE.

1. A right conscience is that which guides our actions by right and propor-

tioned means to a right end

2. In a right conscience the practical judgment, that is, the last determination

to an action, ought to be sure and evident

3. The practical judgment of a right conscience is always agreeable to the

speculative determination of the understanding.

4. A judgment of nature or inclination is not sufficient to make a sure con-

science.

.

RULE

5. When two motives concur to the determination of an action, whereof one

is virtuous and the other secular, a right conscience is not prejudiced by

that mixture

.

6. An argument not sufficient nor competent, though it do persuade us to a

thing in itself good, is not the ground of a right, nor a sufficient warrant

for a sure conscience

7. A conscience determined by the counsel of wise men, even against its own

inclinations, may be sure and right

8. He that sins against a right and a sure conscience, whatever the instance

be, commits a great sin, but not a double one

9. The goodness of an object is not made by conscience, but is accepted, de-

clared, and published by it, and made personally obligatory

PAGE

82

92

102

ib.

.

120

CHAPTER III.

OF THE CONFIDENT OR ERRONEOUS CONSCIENCE.

1. An erroneous conscience commands us to do what we ought to omit, or to

omit what we ought to do, or to do it otherwise than we should

2. An erroneous conscience binds us to obedience, but not so as a right con-

science does

3. A conscience erring vincibly or culpably, is an unavoidable cause of sin,

whether it be resisted or complied with .

4. It is a greater sin to do a good action against our conscience, than to do

an evil action in obedience to it

5. It is not lawful to delight in an evil action (after the discovery of our

error) which we did innocently in an erroneous conscience

6. An innocent or invincibly erring conscience is to be obeyed even against

the known commandment of our superiors

7. The error of an abused conscience ought to be reformed, sometimes by the

command of the will, but ordinarily by a contrary reason

8. The error of a conscience is not always to be opened to the erring person

by the guides of souls, or any other charitable adviser .

126

129

137

139

OF THE PROBABLE OR THINKING CONSCIENCE.

1. A probable conscience is an imperfect assent to an uncertain proposition,
in which one part is indeed clearly and fully chosen, but with an ex-
plicit or implicit notice that the contrary is also fairly eligible.

2. A conscience that is at first and in its own nature probable, may be made

certain by accumulation of many probabilities operating the same per-

suasion.

3. Of two opinions equally probable upon the account of their proper reasons,

one may be safer than another

4. An opinion that is speculatively probable is not always practically the same 182

RULE

5. The greater probability destroys the less

6. When two opinions seem equally probable, the last determination is to be

made by accidents, circumstances, and collateral inducements

7. It is not lawful to change our practical sentence about the same object,

while the same probability remains

8. An opinion relying upon very slender probability is not to be followed, ex-

cept in the cases of great necessity or great charity

PAGE

184

189

192

194

9. Multitude of authors is not ever the most probable inducement, nor doth

it in all cases make a safe and probable conscience

10. In following the authority of men, no rule can be antecedently given for

the choice of the persons, but the choice is wholly to be conducted by

prudence, and according to the subject matter.

11. He that hath given assent to one part of a probable opinion, may lawfully

depose that conscience and that opinion upon confidence of the sentence

of another

12. He that enquires of several doctors, until he find one answering according

to his mind, cannot by that enquiry make his conscience safe; but ac-

cording to the subject matter and other circumstances he may.

13. He that is asked concerning a case that is on either side probable, may

answer against his own opinion, if the contrary be probable, or more

safe, or more expedient and favourable

14. When the guide of souls is of a different opinion from his charge or penitent,

he is not bound to exact conformity to his own opinion that is but probable,

but may proceed according to the conscience of the penitent

15. The sentence and arbitrement of a prudent and good man, though it be of

itself but probable, yet is more than a probable warranty to actions

otherwise undeterminable

.

197

205

212

216

217

218

219

CHAPTER V.

OF A DOUBTFUL CONSCIENCE.

1. A doubtful conscience assents to neither side of the question, and brings

no direct obligation

2. A negative doubt neither binds to action, nor enquiry, nor repentance, but

it binds only to caution and observance.

3. A privative doubt cannot of itself hinder a man from acting what he is

moved to by an extrinsic argument or inducement that is in itself pru-

dent or innocent

4. In doubts of right or law we are always bound to enquire, but in doubts

of fact not always

5. In doubts the safer part is to be chosen

6. It is lawful for the conscience to proceed to action against a doubt that is

merely speculative

7. Every dictate and judgment of the conscience, though it be little and less

material, is sufficient, and may be made use of for the deposition of a

doubt

RULE

8. When two precepts contrary to each other meet together about the same

question, that is to be preferred which binds most

CHAPTER VI.

OF THE SCRUPULOUS CONSCIENCE.

1. A scruple is a great trouble of mind proceeding from a little motive and a

great indisposition, by which the conscience, though sufficiently deter-

mined by proper arguments, dares not proceed to action, or if it do it

cannot rest

2. A conscience sufficiently instructed by its proper arguments of persuasion

may without sin proceed to action, against the scruple and its weaker

arguments or stronger tremblings

3. He that is troubled with scruples ought to rely upon the judgment of a

prudent guide .

PAGE

237

266

4. When a doubt is resolved in the entrance of an action, we must judge of

our action afterwards by the same measures as before; for he that

changes his measures, turns his doubt into a scruple

5. A scrupulous conscience is to be cured by remedies proper to the disease

and to the man

268

269

270

SECOND BOOK.

OF DIVINE LAWS, AND ALL COLLATERAL OBLIGATIONS.

CHAPTER I.

OF THE LAW OF NATURE IN GENERAL.

1. The law of nature is the universal law of the world, or the law of mankind,

concerning common necessities, to which we are inclined by nature, in-

vited by consent, prompted by reason; but is bound upon us only by the

commands of God

2. The law of nature is the foundation of all laws, and the measure of their

obligation

3. The first or greatest band of the law of nature is fear of punishment

4. The second band of virtue is love, and its proper and consequent de-

liciousness

309

314

5. The imperfection of some provisions in civil laws are supplied by the

natural obligation remaining upon persons civilly incapable

318

6. Sins against the law of nature are greater or less, not by that proportion,

but by the greatness of the matter, and the evil consequent, or the malice

of the sinner

326

RULE

7. Actions which are forbidden by the law of nature, either for defect of

power, or for the incapacity of the matter, are not only unlawful but

also void

8. When an act is forbidden by the law of nature for the turpitude and un-

decency that it hath in the matter of the action, the act is also void

when the turpitude remains or hath a perpetual cause.

9. The law of nature can be dispensed with by the divine power

10. The law of nature cannot be dispensed with by any human power

11. That the obligation to a natural law does cease in any particular, is not to

be presumed by every one, but is to be declared by the public voice

12. The exactness of natural laws is capable of interpretation, and may be

allayed by equity, and piety, and necessity

PAGE

329

332

333

340

346

347

CHAPTER II.

OF THE LAW OF NATURE AS IT IS DRAWN UP IN THE CHRISTIAN LAW.

1. When the law of Jesus Christ was established, the Old testament or the

law of Moses did no longer oblige the conscience

2. The ceremonial law of Moses is wholly void

3. The judicial law of Moses is annulled or abrogated, and retains no oblig-

ing power either in whole or in part over any christian prince, common-

wealth, or person

4. The ten commandments of Moses, commonly called the moral law, is not

a perfect digest of the law of nature

5. All the explications of the moral law which are found in the prophets and

other holy writers of the Old testament are to be accounted as parts

of the moral law, and equally obliging the conscience

6. Every thing in the decalogue is not obligatory to Christians, is not a por-

tion of the moral or natural law

350

355

The measures of difference to discern between moral precepts and precepts

not moral in all the laws of God

7. There is no state of men or things but is to be guided by the proportion

of some rule or precept in the christian law

OF THE INTERPRETATION AND OBLIGATION OF THE LAWS OF JESUS CHRIST.

1. In negative precepts the affirmatives are commanded, and in the affirma-

tive commandments the negatives are included

2. When a negative and an affirmative seem opposite in any sense, the

affirmative is to be expounded by the negative, not the negative by the

affirmative

3. In the affirmative and negative precepts of Christ, not only what is in the

words of the commandment, but whatsoever is symbolical or alike, is

equally forbidden or commanded

C

496

503

505