Joseph Butler, answered from the texts and cited to the page.
It does; and the whole matter turns on seeing that power and authority are two things, in a man as in a state. Take the nature of man as made up partly of appetites, passions and affections, and partly of the principle of reflection or conscience, and leave out of the account altogether how strong either is. Passion implies a direct, simple tendency towards its object, without distinction of the means; it will therefore often desire what cannot be had without manifest injury to others.
Conscience comes in and disapproves the pursuit, but the desire remains. Which is to be obeyed? I answer that this can be settled from the economy and constitution of human nature merely, without asking which is strongest. Conscience is manifestly superior and chief; and however often the lower principle happens to prevail, it is mere usurpation, an instance of breaking in upon the constitution of man.1
You will see that this is no more than the common distinction between what is possible and what is lawful in civil government, applied to the principles of the mind. You cannot so much as form a notion of this faculty without taking in judgment, direction, superintendency; to preside and govern belongs to it by its very nature. Had it strength as it has right, had it power as it has manifest authority, it would absolutely govern the world.1
The point is easily mistaken, so I put it the other way. Suppose there were no natural supremacy, and the principles differed only in strength. Then a man who commits parricide, with every circumstance of cruelty, acts from a principle that was for the present strongest; the action corresponds to the whole nature of the man, the strength being given, and there is no unsuitableness between that deed and his nature, any more than between an act of filial duty and the same nature.
We could make no distinction between the two, and in our coolest hours must approve or disapprove them equally; than which nothing can be reduced to a greater absurdity.2 Human nature, therefore, is not the several appetites prevailing in their several degrees of strength. It consists in those principles considered as having a natural respect to each other, the passions being naturally subordinate to the one superior principle.
As in civil government the constitution is violated by power prevailing over authority, so the constitution of man is violated when the lower faculties prevail over that which is in its nature supreme over them all.3 And here is the practical reason I insist upon it: it is overlooked by many who are by no means the worst of men. They think it enough to abstain from gross wickedness and to be kind to those who come in their way.
But the constitution of our nature requires that we bring our whole conduct before this faculty, wait its determination, and make it the business of our lives to conform to it. This is the true meaning of the old precept, Reverence thyself.4 If you ask what obligation lies upon us to follow it, the question carries its own answer. Conscience does not merely show us the way; it carries its own authority with it, as the guide assigned us by the Author of our nature, and we are to walk by it without looking about to see whether we may forsake it with impunity.5
Human nature is not a heap of impulses in which the strongest rightly wins; it is a constitution, as a state is, in which principles differ in authority as well as in strength.67 Conscience, the principle of reflection by which we approve and disapprove our own actions and motives, judges the rest, and its authority is part of the very idea of it.8
To act from a passion against conscience is to act against our nature, however natural the passion, as a rebellion is against the constitution of a state.9 In common cases every honest man knows at the first view what his duty is.10
the principle of reflection or conscience being compared with the various appetites, passions, and affections in men, the former is manifestly superior and chief, without regard to strength? And how often soever the latter happens to prevail, it is mere usurpationFifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel, with the Preface of 1729
If there be no difference between inward principles, but only that of strength; we can make no distinction between these two actions, considered as the actions of such a creature; but in our coolest hours must approve or disapprove them equally: than which nothing can be reduced to a greater absurdity.Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel, with the Preface of 1729
as in civil government the constitution is broken in upon, and violated by power and strength prevailing over authority; so the constitution of man is broken in upon and violated by the lower faculties or principles within prevailing over that which is in its nature supreme over them all.Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel, with the Preface of 1729
the very constitution of our nature requires, that we bring our whole conduct before this superior faculty; wait its determination; enforce upon ourselves its authority, and make it the business of our lives... This is the true meaning of that ancient precept, Reverence thyself.Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel, with the Preface of 1729
Conscience does not only offer itself to show us the way we should walk in, but it likewise carries its own authority with it, that it is our natural guide; the guide assigned us by the Author of our natureFifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel, with the Preface of 1729
This is a constituent part of the idea, that is, of the faculty itself: and, to preside and govern, from the very economy and constitution of man, belongs to it. Had it strength, as it had right: had it power, as it had manifest authority, it would absolutely govern the world.Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel, with the Preface of 1729
Thus nothing can possibly be more contrary to nature than vice; meaning by nature not only the several parts of our internal frame, but also the constitution of it. Poverty and disgrace, tortures and death, are not so contrary to it. Misery and injustice are indeed equally contrary to some different parts of our nature taken singly: but injustice is moreover contrary to the whole constitution of the nature.Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel, with the Preface of 1729
Let us now take a view of the nature of man, as consisting partly of various appetites, passions, affections, and partly of the principle of reflection or conscience; leaving quite out all consideration of the different degrees of strength, in which either of them prevail, and it will further appear that there is this natural superiority of one inward principle to another, and that it is even part of the idea of…Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel, with the Preface of 1729
SERMON III. The natural supremacy of reflection or conscience being thus established; we may from it form a distinct notion of what is meant by human nature, when virtue is said to consist in following it, and vice in deviating from it.Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel, with the Preface of 1729
And since such an action is utterly disproportionate to the nature of man, it is in the strictest and most proper sense unnatural; this word expressing that disproportion. Therefore instead of the words disproportionate to his nature, the word unnatural may now be put; this being more familiar to us: but let it be observed, that it stands for the same thing precisely.Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel, with the Preface of 1729
The doctrine his moral reputation rests on; pressed since Sturgeon on what the appeal to nature adds, and since Sidgwick on its relation to self-love; Darwall reads it as the origin of the internal ought.