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Charlotte Mason in Modern English
Charlotte Mason's ideas are too important not to be understood and implemented in the 21st century, but her Victorian style of writing sometimes prevents parents from attempting to read her books. This is an imperfect attempt to make Charlotte's words accessible to modern parents. You may read these, print them out, share them freely--but they are copyrighted to me, so please don't post or publish them without asking.
~L. N. Laurio
pg 109
SECTION III - The Function of the Conscience
Chapter
17 - Conviction of Sin
The
Conscience Convicts Us of Sin
Conscience seems to have only one job: to convince us that something is
a sin, or transgression. Bible teachers in the past used to talk a lot
about an 'approving conscience,' but such a conscience doesn't really
approve. It's just silent. After all, self-approval itself is wrong, as
we've already mentioned. So then, you might wonder,are we fine as long
as our conscience doesn't say anything? Not at all. The conscience's
verdict is only as accurate as our knowledge and what we allow by habit.
People who have traveled among uncivilized tribes say that all people
know in their conscience that it's wrong to murder, steal, slander,
dishonor parents, and commit certain other offenses. Everybody's
conscience knows to be hospitable to strangers and faithful to friends.
Even the most debased people seem to have a sense of honor and worship
due to God, although their concept of a god may be crude. Even a baby
who's too little to run knows that it's 'naughty' to disobey.
pg 110
We each have a mentor inside us that condemns us when we do wrong. But
this internal judge can only base his judgments on what he knows. As
we've already discussed, Conscience needs education in many various
areas.
Ignorance
Not even religion can substitute for an educated conscience. That would
be as ridiculous as expecting God's love to teach an unschooled person
how to read. All of us have been born with a conscience, but we need to
provide its education ourselves. It's important to remember this fact
as we read history, as we make judgments about current events, as we
form opinions about people we know and famous persons, and, most of
all, what is acceptable to do and think ourselves.
Reflecting on this makes us more able to fine-tune our morals. We won't
try to justify the things said or done by good men that don't seem
right. We'll understand that even good people have areas where their
consciences haven't been fully informed. We won't change our minds and
say, 'He's a bad man,' because he did this or that thing that wasn't
gentle or fair. Instead, we'll say, 'He's wrong in this because he
hasn't bothered to inform himself.' And when we realize that even the
best and wisest people are prone to make mistakes through moral
ignorance, we'll be even more careful to remain teachable ourselves so
we might avoid making mistakes.
Making
Allowances
It isn't just ignorance that limits the conscience. Allowances can also
blind the conscience from making proper judgments. We might see
offenses in others and call them by a more palatable name. We might
allow ourselves to habitually do things that we know we shouldn't, or
think what we know isn't right. And those things blind our conscience
so that he stops speaking and no longer tells us when something is
wrong.
pg 111
Prejudice
There's another way we cripple the conscience, and we need to be on
guard against it with diligent care, because this sin can seem to be
righteous. I'm talking about letting the mind be absorbed by a single
idea. This is what's responsible for most wars and all persecutions,
family feuds, jealousies, envy, resentment against friends, and half of
the conflict and unhappiness of life. The danger is that
well-intentioned people can get so focused on one particular offense
that they lose their sense of proportion. It's like a dime-sized spot
on a window blocking out the view of the sun.
When we remember that ignorance, making allowances, and prejudice makes
the conscience useless to its owner, we aren't so dismayed by the
appalling vision of the Church of Alexandria that Charles Kingsley gave
us in Hypatia. It doesn't make us
lose faith in Christianity itself. We understand that the monks of
Nitria, headed by Cyril, sinned because of their own moral ignorance,
because of the hardness of heart that resulted from making allowances,
and because of the madness of being obsessed with one idea. Because
their consciences were full of offence, they shamed the very
Christianity
they professed to love.
When we consider these things, we won't miss the lessons we read from
history, or from life, that we get from the strife of differing
opinions about good men and great movements. We'll be able to see the
moral blind spot that could have been removed and enlightened some
wonderful leaders, and yet we'll still be able to think of them as
great and good. We'll discern the danger of a compelling idea in a
popular movement before it's played itself out.
Nothing is more encouraging to a history enthusiast than a sense that
people's consciences are continually increasing in enlightenment. From
age to age and year to year,
pg 112
we become aware of more subtle offenses and more obscure debts because
God is dealing with us and teaching us. When men and nations seek for
the wisdom that comes from above, God rewards them with continual
increasing progress in moral enlightenment. They get even more ability
to see what's right in great and minor issues.
Sin
'Conscience makes cowards of all of us,' said Shakespeare, and he knew
what was in people better than anyone else, except God. We tend to
soften the phrase so that it loses its force. we read it as, Conscience
makes cowards of all who do wrong, or maybe, all of us when we do wrong. And thus we
create a loophole that allows us to avoid condemnation most days. We
hear people say that a sense of sin isn't something that everybody
experiences anymore. People can't confess anymore with conviction that
they've, 'left undone what should have been done, and done the things
they shouldn't have done.' When this is true, it's because the
conscience has been drugged or tricked.
Uneasiness
of Conscience
It's still a glowing truth that conscience makes us all cowards. We
wake up in the morning with a sense of fear, uneasiness, anxiety.
There's no cause for it, as far as we can tell. But there it is, the
horrible fear that something bad is going to happen to us because we
deserve it. Scientists blame it on stress, and that's very likely,
although even healthy, strong people know this dread as well as the
weak, stressed person does. But calling it 'stress,' or 'hypochondria,'
or 'the blues,' or 'migraines,' or 'depression' just labels the symptom
without identifying the cause. The cowardice of conscience troubles all
of us, whether old, young, rich, or poor, and it doesn't matter whether
it takes the form of physical symptoms or
pg 113
workaholism or compulsive shopping. We take on activities just to pass
the time and get us through the day so that we'll hopefully be tired
enough to escape into sleep at night. But even the busiest, most
cheerful people have moments of vague fear when the terrors of their
conscience crowd in on them. Many people attempt to reason it away with
logic. They convince themselves that they live as decently as anyone
else. They're kind, respectable, even religious. Why should their
conscience cause them to fear?
Sins
of Omission
During the times when the inescapable accusation comes to us with
startling force, 'I was hungry and you didn't feed Me,' it seems like
our sins of neglect and casual omissions are the full story of our
lives. How can we ever make up and catch up on all the little things
that we never did? We feel like we're cast into the outer darkness of
dismay, and we feel like cowards in front of our conscience. In a
general way, we tend to confuse sin with crime--since we haven't
committed murder or robbery or done any of the other things that
society says is illegal, we think we're innocent. We're like the rich
young ruler who said about the commandments, 'I've obeyed all of them
since the time I was young.' Then, just like him, we're shown all the
good things that we could do, and might have done, and suddenly we're
ashamed and aware of the sin in our lives.
'There's nothing well about me!' we cry sincerely from a broken heart.
'I'm such a miserable thing,' or 'such a worthless person,' or, 'I was
so foolish and ignorant that I was like an animal to You.' These are
the cries of the simple conscience when it catches a glimpse every now
and then of the vast
pg 114
possibilities it has in life, and the ten or ten thousand talents that
come with it.
'Who is sufficient for these things?' we cry. And the anxious
conscience has no peace or rest until it's able to say, 'My sufficiency
is in God.'
Conscience's
Rebuke
We're told that it's the Holy Spirit's job to convince the world of
sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. As we witness the constant way
that God's spirit works on men's spirits, we see the secret of how
we're made aware of sin we didn't even know we were guilty of, and how
we start craving a righteousness that's greater than we have, and where
the sense of a judgment in the future comes from that wakes us up many
mornings and troubles us as we go to bed when we don't know of any
particular wrong thing we've done.
Since these vague convictions come from God, we don't try to drown them
with entertainment and activity, and we don't sit down to a pity party
and create stress-induced symptoms in ourselves. There's a better, more
excellent way.
When we count our blessings, let's not overlook the continual
rebuke of our conscience. A wise man once said that, if there were no
other proof of God, the conscience of man would be proof enough. Let's
accept the struggles we have with our conscience with this perspective,
and be glad.
Chapter
18 - Temptation
Sudden
Temptation
Our guilt from what we neglect to do may be what troubles us most in
our quiet moments, but they aren't the greatest trouble of our
lives by any means! We have to struggle against floods just like St.
Christopher did, no matter how quiet and uneventful the circumstances
of our lives may appear. All it takes is some minor aggravation or
irritation over a trivial matter, or a slight annoyance against a
friend, or some unforeseen circumstance that complicates our plans, and
we become like cuttlefish, who blacken the water all around themselves.
Suddenly, without warning, we find ourselves in a flood of anger,
resentment, manipulation, and maybe even fantasies of revenge. It's as
if we're swept off our feet and can't get back up. We flounder and claw
frantically at the waves until we're exhausted before we finally fight
our way back to decency and peace. We don't intend these sudden lapses.
We don't will them. We don't even see them coming. It's as if we become
possessed and have no ability on our own to struggle out of the flood
of hostility, pride, impurity, greed, envy, or whatever other evil has
overwhelmed us.
The fact that we don't even see them coming indicates that these falls
must be caused by something outside of ourselves. They're caused by
those powers and principalities in high places that struggle to gain
pg 116
dominion over us, as the Bible tells us. And our own familiar, pitiful
experience confirms it.
Temptation
Comes from Without and Within
It's called Temptation. Sometimes it reaches us from obvious outside
sources. But it seems like, more often, it gets to us through the
activity of some kind of spirit that has access to our own spirit. If
we're like the Sadducees of old who are still around today and claim
that there's no such thing as spiritual beings, no Holy Spirit, no evil
spirit, no spirit of man, then there's nothing more to say. But if
we're aware of the activity of our own spiritual life, and if we
observe that those around us have a spiritual life, and if we've
noticed how good and evil come like a flood on the earth or on an
individual, then we'll have to admit that there exists a source of
temptation outside of ourselves, in the same way that there's a source
of strength and blessing outside of ourselves. We'll understand that
'we aren't struggling against flesh and blood, but with spiritual
wickedness in high places.' We'll be even more diligent to educate
ourselves about the laws and conditions of temptation, and we'll
eagerly look for ways of escape.
Literature is full of stories about temptation being yielded to,
struggled against or conquered. Sometimes temptation finds us ripe and
ready to fall, and there's no struggle at all. This was the case with
Tito Melema in Romola,
sometimes there's a struggle, as was the case with Maggie Tulliver in The Mill on the Floss, and
sometimes there's victory, as in the story of Joseph in Genesis.
The Bible is where we find the most intimate accounts of temptation. We
still wonder to this day how Peter, on a sudden temptation, could deny
his Lord, and how Judas, after gradually collecting his anxious,
impatient thoughts, could betray Him. We don't understand how the
disciples,
pg 117
in a sudden panic of fear, could forsake Him and run away. When we
consider falls like these, we ask ourselves the awful question, 'Lord,
is it me?' 'Would I have done the same thing if I'd been in his place?'
Even news about crimes and wrongdoing give us the same fear--if we'd
been in the same situation, faced with the same temptation, we might
have done the same thing. A sense of how inevitable temptation is, and
how close sin is, hits us every now and then like a terror. It's good
that we recognize that temptation is a fact of life. It's a fact that
has to be faced. And we might as well recognize, too, that we'll most
often be attacked where we're the weakest. We'll always be tempted in
those sins that we have a tendency towards. It's good and a comfort to
remember the assurance that, 'No temptation has overtaken you that
isn't common to all people.' And it's good to know that, 'Along with
the temptation, God will provide a way of escape so that you'll be able
to bear it.' Also, 'Blessed is the person who endures temptation,' and,
'Resist the devil and he'll flee from you.'
Don't
Enter into Temptation
If we want the key to the whole matter, we need to go to our master
Jesus, who was 'tempted in all points just like we are, yet he didn't
sin.' It's because He knows what's within people that He could say,
'See that you don't enter into temptation.' This is the secret of those
heroes who spend their lives in conflict with circumstances rather than
temptations: they don't even enter
into temptation. All of the things
that Jesus said come from his deep understanding of how man's mind
works. He knew that, once an idea or imagining of such things as envy
or resentment is even entertained and toyed with in the mind, it takes
possession of us. We can't get rid of it, and we're rushed into
pg 118
some related action or speech before we even realize it. And this is
the fine line between temptation and sin. Offensive ideas come to us
from outside of ourselves, and that's not sin. But it's our fault if we
open the gate to our thoughts and let the notion come into our mind.
Even then, it's not too late to conquer in the end through the grace of
Christ our Savior and our own conflict, tears and painful trial. But
this kind of fight against temptation is a fearful ordeal to any
Christian. This is a battlefield where it pays to run away and live to
fight another day.
Training
a Reliable Spirit
Fortunate are those who endure temptations from outside of themselves,
who endure oppressive poverty without becoming hard-hearted or greedy,
who endure unpleasant people without becoming bitter, who endure
difficult circumstances without complaining, who remain patient when
everything seems to be against them. These are the kinds of temptations
that we can't escape from, and they're part of the education of a
reliable spirit. But they can only be educational if we make an effort
to resist the temptations that come from within us--the temptation to
give in to sinful thoughts when we're facing difficult circumstances.
Make no mistake, all sin and even all crime results from our thoughts.
Words and actions are the fruit of the seeds that are the thoughts we
receive and allow. For each one of us, our battle of life is
continually repeating what seems like a trivial action: rejecting
certain thoughts that come to us as soon as they appear. This is the
way we keep our soul protected as if it's in a fortress. That's why our
Master tells us to pray every day, 'Our Father in Heaven, don't lead us
into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for yours is the
pg 119
kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.' He is constantly
aware of us, and He knows how evil thoughts flood the soul and darken
the eye once they're admitted.
We have a Father who knows and cares. We have a Savior who saves his people from their sins.
We aren't left alone to fend for ourselves. We have a King who governs
us. His power supports us. Every little effort that we make to not
enter temptation glorifies Him.
In the beginning stages, it's pretty easy to resist before we enter. The way we do that
is by turning our eyes away from even looking at evil, whether it's
evil in another person, or an evil suggestion in our own mind. This
isn't done by reasoning with ourselves and talking ourselves through
it. It's done simply by thinking of something else. It might be some
other pleasant or interesting thing going on in our lives. We've been
designed so that, with every temptation, we have an easy, natural,
built-in way of escape. It's good for us to be aware of this because,
when it comes to things of the spirit, God truly does help those who
help themselves. If we pray, 'Lead us not into temptation,' and then
don't bother to take the simple way of escape that God has already
provided by thinking of something else, then it's as if we're asking
God to treat us like pawns on a chessboard instead of as people with
free will. People who are free to do what they will give honor to God
by using their will to flee from temptation. They're taking the step of
reaching out their hand for His saving help, instead of doing nothing.
Remorse,
Repentance, and Restitution
Many lives are ruined by the thing that the church used to call a main
Christian grace. A penitent person was a distressful figure in the
early church. Penitent sinners were supposed to spend days, months,
even entire lifetimes in self-mortification. When there are no
church-sanctioned penitence routines, contrite people live their lives
in remorse
pg 120
for sins they committed in their past or their present. All of us know
of people who can't forgive themselves. They cry and make themselves
miserable because they're guilty of some wrong word or action. They
feel like their sorrowful gloom is what they owe God and man because of
what they did.
The
Forgiveness of Sins
And yet, these same people are often the very ones who regularly claim
to believe in the forgiveness of sins. They don't understand that
forgiveness means instant, immediate, complete restoration to enjoying
God's favor. Forgiveness from Christians is just as instantaneous, or
else it isn't really forgiveness at all. Once the single painful,
sorrowful confession that 'I have sinned' is made, there are no more
tears that need to be shed, no bad memories that need to be enshrined.
From that moment on, we can hold our heads high as free people, no
longer dragging the chain that prisoners wear. Yes, we repent. We turn
away from sin, we don't enter into temptation, and we cling to the
grace of our God. But then we restore. As the tax collector said, 'If I
have stolen anything from anyone, I promise to restore him four times
as much.' The repentant soul restores four times the love, gentleness
and service to God and man. But that's because he's so happy, and the
joy of his heart compels him. There's no room in his glad heart for
proud, sullen tears and regrets. The father who ran to meet his returning prodigal
son fell on his neck and received his son with honor and celebration.
This image is too sweet for a man to have conceived of, but Jesus tells
it with authority [implying that it's
the true story of a real prodigal?] Let this amazing
illustration of how God deals with us stay with us all the time to
light up the dark places in our own lives.
pg 121
Chapter
19 - Duty and Law
Right
and Wrong
Sin, temptation and repentance all stem from some larger root
principle. Why is it wrong to do wrong? And what is wrong, anyway? Throughout the
ages, people have answered these questions in various ways. Some say
that wrong means neglecting or harming our fellow man. Therefore, it's
good to care for and consider others. Self-absorbed people say that
they have the right to do whatever they want. If they feel like doing
something, then it must be right, and if someone else hurts or offends
them, then they whine and complain that it's wrong. Others are
persuaded that Nature is always right, and, since greed, laziness,
impurity, and selfishness come naturally, they must be acceptable.
After all, 'it's only human nature.' While we're on the subject, I'll
say again, it's a serious misrepresentation to blame anything that's
vulgar, lazy or unworthy on human nature. Human nature is whatever we
decide to make it. We know only too well that our nature is capable of
corrupt behavior, but it's just as capable of nobility and generosity.
But most people
pg 122
who talk about Nature being the standard are trying to justify the base
side of human nature.
We
All Know the Law
These attempts at analyzing so we can figure out the nature of what's
truly right and wrong are really forms of self-deception.
Everyone knows that sin means transgressing the law. Every living soul
is aware that there's a law. People might not be able to put it into
words, and they often blunder and make wild mistakes in trying to
interpret what the law is, but everyone recognizes that a law exists.
Even the most ignorant savage is as aware of the existence of a law as
the Psalmist who wrote, 'Your commandment is extremely extensive.' But
a savage might be too ignorant and corrupt to recognize the beauty in
the law or understand that its purpose is to bless us. His conscience
is uneducated and has only a dim awareness of the law. He gropes to
understand its meaning like a blind man groping in the dark.
A savage also recognizes that obedience to this mysterious law is due
from him. He has a vague awareness that this law is everywhere, that--
If he does or says something, or even thinks a thought,
That it will cause something to happen.
His actions and thoughts set a sequence of events into action.
His uneasiness troubles him. He tries to satisfy his troubled
conscience with sacrifices. He tries to find answers to his unanswered
questions of life with superstition, making his god a being who's just
like him.
Compare this restless uneasiness of a soul living in darkness with the
assured peace of the enlightened Christian conscience. A Christian is
also aware of the law that's all around him, closer than the air he
breathes. It defines how he treats everyone and everything. It arranges
his affections and thoughts. Yet this law doesn't
pg 123
provoke him. He can agree with the Psalmist, 'How I love your law!'
He's glad to do his share of work in the world. He knows that it's part
of his duty in fulfilling the law, and he's happy to acknowledge his
duty.
In the same way that planets obey their law by revolving around the
sun, he revolves in the orbit of his life. His duty is his most
profound joy. But that doesn't mean that he always succeeds in
fulfilling the law that's inside his heart. He's just like the planet
he lives on--constantly pulling away from his own law, but always
recovering his orbit so that he ends up finishing his course.
Law
and Will
The reason why seeing the law brings joy, and why fulfilling even
a small bit of that law brings us such unspeakable happiness is that we
recognize that the law expresses God's perfect will. It exists by
itself and for itself and has no will of its own or desire or need.
That's an intimidating thing to think about. It can seem unsettling and
discourage our efforts because there's no comforting element of love in
it, or reasonable conviction. But it's comforting and good to know
that, behind everything, God is there. He wants all of His creatures in
the world to do what's good and right. He enables all of us so that we
can do what's right so that His law, which makes all things work
together for good, is fulfilled. When we think about the great things
in the world, our own lives don't seem so trivial and pathetic. Each of
our lives is a necessary, integral part of the whole, and each life is
ordered under His law, fulfills His will, and sings like the morning
stars at being obedient.
Submission
Sometimes there's a possibility that a glittering star might veer off
on an erratic course and break away into space to be quenched and
dissipate into
pg 124
dark oblivion. Knowing that this possibility exists should make us even
more fervent and determined to do our duty. We can't feel constrained
by a straight-jacket when we say, 'I rejoice to do your will, my God.
Yes, your law is in my heart.' And this spring of joyful obedience in
our hearts helps us to get up and stay standing because it sustains
every weak, halting step. When we pause for a rest, we're strengthened
and encouraged. Although we know what pathetic creatures we are, the
path we're following is the path of justice, and it shines brighter and
brighter all the way to the day when all things will be perfect.
The voice of God's stern daughter
Is Duty, tough and strong.
Her light can guide, her rod can hit
To punish what is wrong.
Duty makes men follow through
When fear might make them quit,
Or when they'd rather take their ease
Or need to calm a bit.
Although I'm in no great distress
I'm in no urgent bind,
Yet I request some help from you
Within my inner mind.
There's too much freedom in my thoughts
Chance whims are tempting me.
I hope in many novel things
But peace I never see.
You seem so stern, but yet you are
A truly blessed grace
There isn't anything more fine
Than your kind smiling face.
The flowers even wait for you
With perfume for your feet,
You keep the stars from going wrong
So heaven's fresh and sweet.
pg 125
But, Duty, my needs aren't so great;
I'm just a puny man.
I'm weak and need your guiding strength.
Please help me if you can.
A spirit of self-sacrifice
Is what I really need,
And understanding for my mind
So I can live indeed!
[Based on
Wordsworth's Ode to Duty]
Paraphrased by L. N. Laurio
Please direct any comments or questions to me by emailing me at cmseries-owner at yahoogroups dot com.
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