things. Wealth, position, honor, among men--these bounded his real
aspirations. But prior things in his mind were continually reaching
down and affecting his present states. He could not forget that life
was short, and earthly possessions and honors but the things of a
day. That as he brought nothing into this world, so he could take
nothing out. That, without a religious life, he must not hope for
heaven. In order to get free from the disturbing influence of these
prior things, and to lay the foundations of a future hope, Mr.
Braxton became a church member, and, so far as all Sabbath
observances were concerned, a devout worshiper. Thus he made a truce
with conscience, and conscience having gained so much, accepted for
a period the truce, and left Mr. Braxton in good odor with himself.

A man who goes regularly to church, and reads his Bible, cannot fail
to have questions and controversies about truths, duties, and the
requirements of religion. The barest literal interpretation of
Scripture will, in most cases, oppose the action of self-love; and
he will not fail to see in the law of spiritual life a requirement
wholly in opposition to the law of natural life. In the very breadth
of this literal requirement, however, he finds a way of escape from
literal observance. To give to all who ask; to lend to all who would
borrow; to yield the cloak when the coat is taken forcibly; to turn
the left cheek when the right is smitten--all this is to him so
evidently but a figure of speech, that he does not find it very hard
to satisfy conscience. Setting these passages aside, as not to be
taken in the sense of the letter, he does not find it very difficult
to dispose of others that come nearer to the obvious duties of man
to man--such, for instance, as that in the illustration of which, by
the preacher, Mr. Braxton's self-complacency had been so much
disturbed. He had never done much in the way of feeding the hungry,