"It is absolutely the whole business of a moral agent to conform" oneself to "conscience," i.e., to act in accordance with "the constitution of man," says 18th-century Christianity defender Bishop Joseph Butler, per Walter Bagehot in one of his many magazine reviews in mid-19th century, contained in his Collected Works. Bagehot (say "badge-it") has been a wonderful find for me, for which I'm indebted to the also-wonderful French-American scholar Jacques Barzun, who held forth at Columbia U. for many years and wrote From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present, published in 2000. Barzun is still alive and receiving awards at 98! He once observed, "He who wants to understand America better learn baseball." Understanding the White Sox is another matter.
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