DECEASED WIFE'S SISTER.
[To TRII EDITOR Or TEl " SPECTATOR:] 8ntsM ill you allow me a small space in which to reply to Canon Thotnpson's letter to you of June 5th P He "respect- fully asks if you consider at all those consciences of certain clergymen which Mr. Justice Bray recommended them to Nacrifice." This plea of "conscience" often strikes me as being a very curious thing ; it is the reason given for so many vagaries, and seems always to be accepted as a sufficient reason. And yet what is conscience ? Surely to a great extent the habit of mind formed by temperament, education, and environment, sanctified in measure by grace, but strictly in proportion to the degree in which the promptings of human nature have been successfully resisted. As a matter of fact, even in the best men there is a great deal of human nature in conscience that is never eliminated. In consequence, con- science is extremely likely to err, and I "respectfully ask" Mr. Thompson to consider whether it is not highly probable that his conscience has erred? Admitting his opinion to be right as regards the Deceased Wife's Sister Act, be should remember that there are a very large number of Christian- living men and women who do not hold this opinion, and even supposing that they are wrong, that his conscience has no right to act the tyrant by excommunicating those whose con- sciences have allowed them to take advantage of the Act. My brother on leaving his situation has been presented by all his workmen with a testimonial of their esteem and regard, and some of the prominent citizens in Norwich gave him a dinner and made him a presentation. And this, I take it, is at least sufficient evidence that there are very many consciences in Canon Thompson's own neighbourhood which take the opposite view to am, Sir, &a., C. L. BANISTER.
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