Seite:Marsh Hallig 1856.djvu/117

117

CONSCIENCE.

raised above our wisdom and above our censure, we shall
never overcome sin, never walk in righteousness and
holiness. Therefore, should the conscience be only an
examiner and weigher of this word ; and if a thousand
voices cry out against it ; if the whole world utter forth
its anathemas ; if the affections of thy heart entreat
against it ; or if the last throb of thy earthly happiness
be at stake, the last hope of thy temporal being — let
them perish ; thou hast but one law, the law of the
Lord ; and be thou steadfast therein unto the end.
The kingdom of God shall remain to thee.
  Godber had been brought up in the fear of the Lord
and in the discipline of His commandments. It was
not, therefore, so easy for him to force his conscience,
which still stood with one foot firmly planted on the
everlasting rock, into accordance with his present views.
Even when he thought it was satisfied to go on quietly
with him in the way which he tried to believe destiny
had marked out for him, it would suddenly turn aside
and remain obstinately fixed on these precepts : Be ye
not carried about by every wind, follow not every new
path like the unstable of heart, but be ye steadfast in
your mind and of one manner of speech. But we are
never more crafty and dexterous than when the object
is to deceive ourselves, and Godber tried every art to
transform the tables of the law into wax, and to tame
his restive conscience. But the Lord from on high
would show him how vain such arts were, and how idle
it was to endeavor to subject by such means a con-
science which had been accustomed to other guidance.
God spoke by the mouth of the dead, and before the
door of that paradise into which Godber thought him-
self about to enter, stepped an angel with a flaming sword.