the doctrine and science of conscience and its cases, with
the rules and principles of resolving the same; drawn partly from
natural reason, or equity, and partly from the authority of Scripture,
the canon law, councils, fathers, &c. To casuistry belongs the decision
of all difficulties arising about what a man may lawfully do or not do;
what is sin or not sin; what things a man is obliged to do in order to
discharge his duty, and what he may let alone without breach of it.
Although the morality of the Gospel is distinguished by its purity and
by its elevation, it is necessarily exhibited in a general form; certain
leading principles are laid down; but the application of these to the
innumerable cases which occur in the actual intercourse of life, is left
to the understanding and the conscience of individuals. Had it been
otherwise, the Christian code would have swelled to an extent which
would have rendered it in a great degree useless; it would have been
difficult or impossible to recollect all its provisions; and, minute as
these would have been, they would still have been defective,--new
situations or combinations of circumstances modifying duty continually
arising, which it would have been impracticable or hurtful to
anticipate. When the principles of duty are rightly unfolded, and when
they are placed on a sound foundation, there is, to a fair mind, no
difficulty in accommodating them to its own particular exigencies. A few
cases, it is true, may occur, where it is a matter of doubt in what way
men should act; but these are exceedingly rare, and the lives of vast
numbers may come to an end without any of them happening to occasion
perplexity. Every man may be, and perhaps is, sensible, that his errors
are to be ascribed, not to his having been at a loss to know what he
should have done, but to his deliberately or hastily violating what he
saw to be right, or to his having allowed himself to confound, by vain
and subtile distinctions, what, in the case of any one else, would have
left in his mind no room for hesitation. The manner, however, in which
the Gospel inculcates the law of God, combined with other causes in
leading to a species of moral discussion, which, pretending to ascertain
in every case what ought to be practised, and thus to afford plain and
safe directions to the conscience, terminated in what has been
denominated casuistry.
The schoolmen delighted in this species of intellectual labour. They
transferred their zeal for the most fanciful and frivolous distinctions
in what respected the doctrines of religion to its precepts; they
anatomized the different virtues; nicely examined all the circumstances
by which our estimate of them should be influenced; and they thus
rendered the study of morality inextricable, confounded the natural
notions of right and wrong, and so accustomed themselves and others to
weigh their actions, that they could easily find some excuse for what
was most culpable, while they continued under the impression that they
were not deviating from what, as moral beings, was incumbent upon them.
The corruption of manners which was introduced into the church during
the dark ages rendered casuistry very popular; and, accordingly, many
who affected to be the most enlightened writers of their age, and
perhaps really were so, tortured their understanding or their fancy in
solving cases of conscience, and often in polluting their own
imaginations and those of others, by employing them on possible crimes,
upon which, however unlikely was their occurrence in life, they were
eager to pronounce a decision. The happy change which the Reformation
produced upon the views of men respecting the sacred Scriptures, tended
to erect that pure standard of duty which for ages had been laid in the
dust. Yet for a considerable time Protestant divines occupied themselves
with the intricacies of casuistry, thus in some degree shutting out the
light which they had fortunately poured upon the world. The Lutheran
theologians walked very much in the tract which the schoolmen had
opened, although their decisions were much more consonant with
Christianity; and it was not uncommon in some countries for
ecclesiastical assemblies to devote part of their time to the resolution
of questions which might have been safely left unnoticed, which now are
almost universally regarded as frivolous, and about which almost the
most ignorant would be ashamed to ask an opinion. Even after much of the
sophistry, and much of the moral perversion connected with casuistry,
were exploded, the form of that science was preserved, and many valuable
moral principles in conformity to it delivered. The venerable Bishop
Hall published a celebrated work, to which he gave the appellation of
“Cases of Conscience Practically resolved;” and he introduces it with
the following observations addressed to the reader: “Of all divinity,
that part is most useful which determines cases of conscience; and of
all cases of conscience, the practical are most necessary, as action is
of more concernment than speculation; and of all practical cases, those
which are of most common use are of so much greater necessity and
benefit to be resolved, as the errors thereof are more universal, and
therefore more prejudicial to the society of mankind. These I have
selected out of many; and having turned over divers casuists, have
pitched upon those decisions which I hold most conformable to
enlightened reason and religion; sometimes I follow them, and sometimes
I leave them for a better guide.” He divides his work into four
parts,--Cases of profit and traffic, Cases of life and liberty, Cases of
piety and religion, and Cases matrimonial; under each of these solving a
number of questions, or rather giving a number of moral dissertations.
Casuistry, as a systematic perversion of Christian morality, is now, in
the Protestant world, very much unknown; though there still is, and
perhaps always will be, that softening down of the strict rules of duty,
to which mankind are led either by self-deceit, or by the natural desire
of reconciling, with the hope of the divine favour, considerable
obliquity from that path of rectitude and virtue which alone is
acceptable to God. But the most striking specimen of the length to which
casuistry was carried, and of the dangerous consequences which resulted
from it, is furnished by the history of the maxims and sentiments of the
Jesuits, that celebrated order, which combined with profound literature,
and the most zealous support of Popery, an ambition that perverted their
understandings, or rather induced them to employ their rational powers
in the melancholy work of poisoning the sources of morality, and of
casting the name and the appearance of virtue over a dissoluteness of
principle and a profligacy of licentiousness, which, had they not been
checked by sounder views, and by feelings and habits favourable to
morality, would have spread through the world the most degrading misery.
See JESUITS.
the rules and principles of resolving the same; drawn partly from
natural reason, or equity, and partly from the authority of Scripture,
the canon law, councils, fathers, &c. To casuistry belongs the decision
of all difficulties arising about what a man may lawfully do or not do;
what is sin or not sin; what things a man is obliged to do in order to
discharge his duty, and what he may let alone without breach of it.
Although the morality of the Gospel is distinguished by its purity and
by its elevation, it is necessarily exhibited in a general form; certain
leading principles are laid down; but the application of these to the
innumerable cases which occur in the actual intercourse of life, is left
to the understanding and the conscience of individuals. Had it been
otherwise, the Christian code would have swelled to an extent which
would have rendered it in a great degree useless; it would have been
difficult or impossible to recollect all its provisions; and, minute as
these would have been, they would still have been defective,--new
situations or combinations of circumstances modifying duty continually
arising, which it would have been impracticable or hurtful to
anticipate. When the principles of duty are rightly unfolded, and when
they are placed on a sound foundation, there is, to a fair mind, no
difficulty in accommodating them to its own particular exigencies. A few
cases, it is true, may occur, where it is a matter of doubt in what way
men should act; but these are exceedingly rare, and the lives of vast
numbers may come to an end without any of them happening to occasion
perplexity. Every man may be, and perhaps is, sensible, that his errors
are to be ascribed, not to his having been at a loss to know what he
should have done, but to his deliberately or hastily violating what he
saw to be right, or to his having allowed himself to confound, by vain
and subtile distinctions, what, in the case of any one else, would have
left in his mind no room for hesitation. The manner, however, in which
the Gospel inculcates the law of God, combined with other causes in
leading to a species of moral discussion, which, pretending to ascertain
in every case what ought to be practised, and thus to afford plain and
safe directions to the conscience, terminated in what has been
denominated casuistry.
The schoolmen delighted in this species of intellectual labour. They
transferred their zeal for the most fanciful and frivolous distinctions
in what respected the doctrines of religion to its precepts; they
anatomized the different virtues; nicely examined all the circumstances
by which our estimate of them should be influenced; and they thus
rendered the study of morality inextricable, confounded the natural
notions of right and wrong, and so accustomed themselves and others to
weigh their actions, that they could easily find some excuse for what
was most culpable, while they continued under the impression that they
were not deviating from what, as moral beings, was incumbent upon them.
The corruption of manners which was introduced into the church during
the dark ages rendered casuistry very popular; and, accordingly, many
who affected to be the most enlightened writers of their age, and
perhaps really were so, tortured their understanding or their fancy in
solving cases of conscience, and often in polluting their own
imaginations and those of others, by employing them on possible crimes,
upon which, however unlikely was their occurrence in life, they were
eager to pronounce a decision. The happy change which the Reformation
produced upon the views of men respecting the sacred Scriptures, tended
to erect that pure standard of duty which for ages had been laid in the
dust. Yet for a considerable time Protestant divines occupied themselves
with the intricacies of casuistry, thus in some degree shutting out the
light which they had fortunately poured upon the world. The Lutheran
theologians walked very much in the tract which the schoolmen had
opened, although their decisions were much more consonant with
Christianity; and it was not uncommon in some countries for
ecclesiastical assemblies to devote part of their time to the resolution
of questions which might have been safely left unnoticed, which now are
almost universally regarded as frivolous, and about which almost the
most ignorant would be ashamed to ask an opinion. Even after much of the
sophistry, and much of the moral perversion connected with casuistry,
were exploded, the form of that science was preserved, and many valuable
moral principles in conformity to it delivered. The venerable Bishop
Hall published a celebrated work, to which he gave the appellation of
“Cases of Conscience Practically resolved;” and he introduces it with
the following observations addressed to the reader: “Of all divinity,
that part is most useful which determines cases of conscience; and of
all cases of conscience, the practical are most necessary, as action is
of more concernment than speculation; and of all practical cases, those
which are of most common use are of so much greater necessity and
benefit to be resolved, as the errors thereof are more universal, and
therefore more prejudicial to the society of mankind. These I have
selected out of many; and having turned over divers casuists, have
pitched upon those decisions which I hold most conformable to
enlightened reason and religion; sometimes I follow them, and sometimes
I leave them for a better guide.” He divides his work into four
parts,--Cases of profit and traffic, Cases of life and liberty, Cases of
piety and religion, and Cases matrimonial; under each of these solving a
number of questions, or rather giving a number of moral dissertations.
Casuistry, as a systematic perversion of Christian morality, is now, in
the Protestant world, very much unknown; though there still is, and
perhaps always will be, that softening down of the strict rules of duty,
to which mankind are led either by self-deceit, or by the natural desire
of reconciling, with the hope of the divine favour, considerable
obliquity from that path of rectitude and virtue which alone is
acceptable to God. But the most striking specimen of the length to which
casuistry was carried, and of the dangerous consequences which resulted
from it, is furnished by the history of the maxims and sentiments of the
Jesuits, that celebrated order, which combined with profound literature,
and the most zealous support of Popery, an ambition that perverted their
understandings, or rather induced them to employ their rational powers
in the melancholy work of poisoning the sources of morality, and of
casting the name and the appearance of virtue over a dissoluteness of
principle and a profligacy of licentiousness, which, had they not been
checked by sounder views, and by feelings and habits favourable to
morality, would have spread through the world the most degrading misery.
See JESUITS.