§ VI
The Council of Conscience
A king must choose a devout, clear-sighted council of conscience, guard against the prejudice of any single counselor, and grant the council full freedom to state the whole duty of conscience.
Have you chosen for your council of conscience the most devout, the firmest, and the most clear-sighted men—just as people look for the best army generals to command in wartime, and the best doctors when they're sick?1 Have you built this council of conscience from several people, so that one can protect you from another's prejudices—because every man, however upright and able he may be, is always capable of prejudice?23 Have you feared the risks there are in entrusting yourself to a single man? Have you given this council complete freedom to show you, without softening anything, the full extent of your obligations of conscience?
Read the original French
Avez-vous choisi pour votre conseil de conscience, les hommes les plus pieux, les plus fermes et les plus éclairés, comme on cherche les meilleurs généraux d'aTraée pour commander pendant la guerre, et les meilleurs médecins quand on est malade ? Avez-vous composé ce conseil de consciettee de plusieurs personnes x afin que l'une puisse vous préserver des préventions de l'autre; parce que tout homme, quelque droit et habile qu'il puisse être, est toujours capable de prévention? Avez-vous craint les inconvénients qu'il y a à se livrer à un seul homme ? Avez-vous donné à ce conseil une entière liberté de vous découvrir, sans adoucissement, toute l'étendue de vos obligations de conscience ?
Notes
- 1 ↩Source reading «généraux d'aTraée» treated as OCR corruption of «généraux d'armée» (army generals); sense required by the war parallel.
- 2 ↩Source «consciettee» corrected to «conscience»; stray token «x» after «personnes» treated as OCR noise (likely a comma) and omitted.
- 3 ↩«prévention(s)» rendered as prejudice(s)/bias, the classical French moral sense, not modern preventive measures.
Examen de conscience sur les devoirs de la Royauté companion
A prayer for every moment, already on your phone
Chosen Portion puts a curated historic prayer in front of you each day — so the words are there before the moment arrives.
Chosen Portion is the digital descendant of the carried prayer book: the short daily prayers this collection preserves, delivered one a day to your pocket.
- One short, memorable prayer delivered daily — build your repertoire a card at a time
- Prayers matched to real situations: fear, gratitude, decisions, grief, sleep
- Save favourites into your personal pocket collection you can open anywhere