THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
former, conscience is a clear perception of good and evil, accompanied by a feeling of unconditioned obligation and of irreversible approval or disapproval of actions — intuitive, original, universal, supernatural, " the voice of God in the soul of man." This theory has been subjected to the criticism that the conscience does not infallibly disclose what one ought to do, that the judgment of right and wrong varies in different places and is subject to change, that in the moral consciousness the judgment of good and evil may conflict, and, finally, that the ground of obligation is objective as well as subjective. Hence, the explanation of conscience is sought in evolution. The external occasion for its origination lies in social experience, registered in customs and changing laws. The earliest sense of duty is the consciousness of custom; later, the sense of obligation appears in the conflict between particular inclinations and obedience to the customary. Through experience new conditions give rise to advantageous forms of action which will in turn be antagonized by custom. The ideal principle of this newer action is, however, elevated into a controlling law, first for an individual, then for the community, resulting either in quiet and gradual readjustment of ethical relations, or in the sudden and radical beginning of a new era of ethical ideal and law. Thus the conscience is that aspect of consciousness which unifies the system of social, i.e., of moral relations with reference to individual and social development and completeness — the response in the moral consciousness of a uniform objective stimulus. Accordingly, the conscience, instead of being set free from the influence of divinity as something alien to the nature and entering it from without, discloses the immanence of the divine teleological (transcendent) action in the individual consciousness within the social order. See Ethics; Duty; Conflict of Duties; and Casuistry.
C. A. Beckwith. Bibliography: For the Biblical side consult the lexicons of H. Cremer and J. H. Thayer, and the works on N. T. theology; also J. T. Beck, Umriss der biblischen Seelenlehre, Stuttgart, 1871, Eng. transl., Edinburgh, 1877; P. Ewald, De vocis suneideseds apud scriptores N. T., Leipsic, 1883. For the history of the subject consult: T. Ziegler, Geachichte der Ethik, Bonn, 1881-86; K. Kostlin, Geschichte der Ethik. vol. i., Tubingen, 1887; H. Sidgwick, Hist, of Ethics, London, 1896. For treatment of Conscience consult: E. Kant, Critique on Practical Reason, London, 1896; Joseph Butler, Three Sermons on Human Nature, with Introduction and Notes by T. B. Kilpatrick, Edinburgh, 1888; R. H. Hoffmann, Die Lehre von dem Gewissen, Leipsic, 1866; W. Gasa, Die Lehre vom Gewissen, Berlin, 1869; J. F. D. Maurice, The Conscience, London, 1872; M. Kahler, Das Gewissen, Halle, 1878; W T. Davison, The Christian Conscience, London, 1888; R. Seeberg, Gewissen und Gewissenbildung, Erlangen, 1896; N. S. Rulison, Study of Conscience, Philadelphia, 1901; O. Huckel, A Modern Study of Conscience, ib. 1907; DB, i. 468—475; modern works on ethics, particularly N. Smyth, Christian Ethics, New York, 1892, and J. Martineau, Types of Ethical Theory, London, 1898; and modern treatises on psychology. For the intuitional theory of the conscience consult: H. Calderwood, Handbook of Moral Philosophy, Edinburgh, 1888; J. Martineau, Types of Ethical Theory. 2 vols., London, 1886. For the evolutionary or anthropological view consult: W. K. Clifford, Lectures and Essays. IjOTiAon, 1879; S. Alexander, Moral Order and Progress. London, 1889; J. H. Muirhead, Elements of Ethics, pp. 6.3-88, 215-235, New York, 1892; F. Paulsen, System of Ethics, pp. 340-378, New York, 1899.
CONSCIENTIARII (Germ. Gewissener): The adherents of Matthias Knutsen, a theological candidate from Sleswick who, in Sept., 1674, came to Jena and there set on foot a propaganda for his deistic and atheistic principles. According to him, conscience was to be the sole authority, even at the cost of rejecting faith in God and immortality; but his conscience was one which could justify the most immoral relations, putting marriage on the same level as indiscriminate sexual intercourse. He boasted that he had a following of seven hundred townsmen and students in Jena and Altdorf. This brought about an investigation which showed that his claims were unfounded, and he thought it best to disappear. The University of Jena vindicated its reputation in a formal statement of the truth by Musaeus, one of its professors; and the sect soon died out.
CONSECRATION: [The formal setting apart of a person or thing as sacred or devoted to God by a special religious rite. For the consecration of the elements of the Lord's Supper see Epiklesis; Eucharist, § 5. For the consecration of bishops see Bishop; see also Priest. For the consecration of things (altars, bells, etc.) see Benediction; Sacramentals. This article will be confined to the consecration of churches.]
Churches were solemnly consecrated as early as the time of Constantine, both those which were rebuilt after destruction in times of persecution (Eusebius, Hist, eccl., x. 2-5) and new buildings (Eusebius, FiYa Constantini, xlv.). The fundamental thought was naturally the idea that the deity had obtained a new abode of visible presence (cf. Augustine, Sermones, clxiii.), wherewith was later associated the maxim that the sacrifice of the mass may never be performed without an altar, and, cases of necessity excepted, only in consecrated churches or public chapels. Even in comparatively early times, relics were used in connection with the consecration. In the Middle Ages the ceremonies increased; the most noteworthy, according to the Liber sacramentorum Gregorii Magni (after XII. Kalcndas Januarius), was that the bishop traced with ashes the Greek and Latin alphabets (earlier also the Hebrew) diagonally across the church from corner to corner, the two lines intersecting in the form of a cross. The signification, as explained by Ivo of Cliartres was " the union of both peoples [Gentiles and Jews] by the single bond of the cross." The present Roman ceremonial is found in the Pontifical, and consecration devolves upon the bishop (see Sacramentals). The consecration of churches with Eastern Orthodox Christians lays great stress on relics (cf. A. Maltzew, Bitt-, Dank- und lT'et/i€gottesdienste, Berlin, 1897, p. xcix.). Protestant churches need neither to be cleansed of demons nor be hallowed for the administration of the sacrifice of the mass. Nevertheless, the need of some act analogous to consecration was early felt (cf. Seckendorf 's description of the opening of the castle church at Torgau, in his Historia Luther anismi, bk. iii., § lis, and Luther's sermon, Erlangen cd., vol. xvii.). In the later liturgies forms of consecration for separate objects — e.g., organs and bells — occur frequently.