thing or another. As I have stated repeatedly elsewhere, there is
nothing worth doing at all, which should not be done to the honor and
glory of God; and she who would attain to the highest measure of
perfection, should regard nothing as done in this manner, which is not
done exactly as God her Saviour would have it done.

It is desirable not only to avoid benumbing or searing over the
conscience, but that we should cultivate it to the highest possible
tenderness. True, these tender consciences are rather _troublesome_; but
is it not better that they should torture us a little now, than a great
deal hereafter?

I have said that some good people--that is, those who are comparatively
good--fall short in this matter. A young woman is a teacher, perhaps,
in a Sabbath school. She knows, full well, the importance of attending
promptly at the appointed hour; and she makes it a point thus to
attend. At last she fails, on a single occasion--not from necessity,
but from negligence, or at least from want of due care--and her
conscience at once reproaches her for her conduct. But, ere long, the
offence is repeated. The reproaches of her conscience, though still
felt, have become less keen. The offence is repeated, again and again,
till conscience is almost seared over--and the omission of what had at
first given great pain, almost ceases to be troublesome. And thus the
conscience, having been blunted in one respect, is more liable to be so
in others. Alas for the individual, who is thus, from day to day,
growing worse, and yet from day to day becoming less sensible of it!

But there is a worse case than I have yet mentioned. A young woman has
risen rather late on Sunday morning; and having risen late, other
things are liable to be late. The hour for church is at length near;