“Are you far enough along in life to know that?” asked Mr. King, giving the girl of eighteen a glance of keen interest. “I think I was born knowing it,” said Judith. “Do you know about anybody who wanted to do right and had a will of his own—” “Oh, yes; they are plenty of us. Three of us in this room,” he laughed. “But I meant some one in the Bible, for then we can know certainly what happened to him.” “Yes, I find a king who leagued himself with another king to go to war; but he was not satisfied that he was in the way of obedience, and he said to the other king, ‘Inquire, I pray thee, at the word of the Lord to-day,’ and the other king gathered four hundred men, his own prophets, and inquired of them what he should do. With one voice they said, ‘Go up; for the Lord shall deliver it into the hands of the king.’ Four hundred answers to his prayer; the Lord’s command four hundred strong. But the king who believed in the true God had not had his answer; it was the will of the true God he sought. He said, ‘Is there not here, besides, a prophet of the Lord that we might inquire of him?’ The answer was, ‘There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord.’ If there is one way of knowing the Lord’s will, there is no excuse for us; we may know it. Four hundred voices of self-will are no reason, and no excuse, for not knowing it. This king who believed in God heard the one voice of God—and disobeyed it. He joined himself in battle with the king who trusted in the four hundred voices of his self-will. And the battle went against him; God had told him so. He believed God afterward; so will you and I if we disobey. He went to battle as though God had not spoken.” “Was he _killed_?” asked Judith, fearful some trouble might fall upon her if she listened to the voice of self-will. “No, he cried out, and the Lord helped him, and moved his enemies to depart from him. As he returned to his house in peace, a seer met him, and said, ‘For this thing wrath is upon thee from the Lord.’” “‘For this thing,’” repeated Judith. “For inquiring of the Lord, learning his will, and then believing the voice of the four hundred who gave him his own way. Oh, dear, I wish those four hundred would _never_ speak.” “There is but one way to silence them; listen to God’s voice above them all.” “But it is so _hard_,” cried Judith, impetuously. “Do not choose the easy way of obedience. Choose God’s way, and let me tell you one of his secrets; _his way is always easier than we think_.”