XVII

“ Trust! trust we have a good conscience! Surely if there is anything in this life which a man may depend upon, and to the knowledge of which he is capable of arriving upon the most indisputable evidence, it must be this very thing,⁠—whether he has a good conscience or no.” > > [I am positive I am right, quoth Dr. Slop .] > > “If a man thinks at all, he cannot well be a stranger to the true state of this account;⁠⸺⁠he must be privy to his own thoughts and desires;⁠—he must remember his past pursuits, and know certainly the true springs and motives, which, in general, have governed the actions of his life.” > > [I defy him, without an assistant, quoth Dr. Slop .] > > “In other matters we may be deceived by false appearances; and, as the wise man complains, hardly do we guess aright at the things that are upon the earth, and with labour do we find the things that are before us . But here the mind has all the evidence and facts within herself;⁠⸺⁠is conscious of the web she has wove;⁠⸺⁠knows its texture and fineness, and the exact share which every passion has had in working upon the several designs which virtue or vice has planned before her.” > > [The language is good, and I declare Trim reads very well, quoth my father.] > > “Now,⁠—as conscience is nothing else but the knowledge which the mind has within herself of this; and the judgment, either of