He was silent a minute, and then, as if unable to keep in any longer what had evidently been in his thoughts throughout, he said, “Ma’am, I’ve often heard from my old ’ooman and the rest of ’em what you says to ’em at the meetings, and it has been upon my mind, when I did see you, to tell you I think, if you know’d more about some of ’em you get there, you would be rather more sharp upon ’em than you are.” “You mean, I suppose, that when I know of anything particularly wrong in any of them, I ought to reprove them?” “Why, yes. You see, they look up to you a good deal; and, it seems to me, you might do a power of good this way.” “I think you do not take quite the right view of my position. I do not profess to come amongst them as a reprover of sin, and just to preach to them about their duties; I really have no right to take such an office on myself. I want to help them, knowing that many of their mistakes arise from ignorance. Most of them come in after a hard day’s work, and much suffering in body and mind from fatigue and anxiety; and while I know much of that fatigue and anxiety might have been prevented, if they had set about things in a right way instead of a wrong one, I feel the best use I can make of the little time we have together is, to try to shew them ‘a better way.’ We always begin with reading God’s holy Word, and that is the best reprover of sin; for Paul says, you know, ‘I had not known sin, except by the law.’ It was the _law_ that made sin appear to him ‘exceeding sinful;’ and that is the effect I hope and pray it may have upon us.” “Well,” said the old man, “some of ’em is a deal better for going, I must confess; but it ’pears to me you say things to them as if they were all alike, whereas some of them is a deal wickeder than others.” I saw it would be quite impossible to separate in the mind of this veteran the offices of teacher of righteousness, and reprover of sin, or to make him comprehend how many enemies I should make, and what confusion there would be, if I adopted the course which he recommended. So I just remarked, “Well, you know I always ask God to give me a wise and understanding heart before I go amongst them, and I hope I shall be guided to do what is right. If I could see into the heart as God can, I might be able to adapt myself to individual cases; but as it is, I think it would be a worse mistake to distress and vex, by unjust comments, those already sufficiently weary and heavy laden. Encouragement in a right course will often do much more than finding fault with what is wrong. I believe, that whatever good has been done, has arisen from the reading together of God’s Word; whether comfort, counsel, or reproof has been wanted, they have come in this way, and the promise has been fulfilled, ‘My word shall not return unto me void.’”