Placidia admitted the necessity. Indeed, she said, that on a review of her life she felt that, although she had been mercifully preserved from many infirmities which beset other people, (her temper being naturally even, and her tastes sober,) still no doubt she shared in the universal depravity. But she had, like Jacob at Bethel, she said, made a solemn covenant with God, promising to give Him henceforth His due portion of her affections and substance; she had signed and sealed it on her knees, and she believed she was accepted, that she was on the Lord's side, and that, as with Jacob, He would henceforth be on hers. Aunt Dorothy's spinning-wheel flew with ominous rapidity, but some moments passed before she replied. Then she said,-- "My dear, I trust that you know the difference between a _covenant_ and a _bargain_. The patriarch Jacob, on the whole, no doubt meant well, but I never much liked his 'ifs' and 'thens' with the Almighty. The best kind of covenants, I think, are those which begin on the other side. As when the Lord said to Abraham, 'Fear not, Abraham, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward.' Or, 'I am the Almighty God, walk before me and be thou perfect.' Then follow the promises, lavish as His riches, which fill heaven and earth; free as the air He gives us to breathe. When God gives there is no limit, no reserve, no condition. But, on the other hand, neither is there reserve, or condition, or limit when He demands. It is not so much for so much, but _all_ surrendered in absolute trust. It is, 'Be thou perfect;' it is, 'Leave thy country, and thy kindred, and thy father's house;' it is, 'Give me thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest.' Is this what you mean by a covenant with God? Think well, for He 'is not mocked.' His hand is larger than ours, as the sea is larger than a drinking-cup; but He will not accept our hands half full." Said Placidia,-- "Aunt Dorothy, I have no intention whatever of being half for the world and half for God. I have no opinion at all of the religion which can dance round May-poles on the week-day, and attend the worship of God on Sundays; or fast and pray on Fridays, wear mourning in Lent, and be decked out in curls, and laces, and jewels, on feast-days. I have made up my mind never to wear a feather, or a trinket, or a bit of lace to my band, or a laced stomacher, nor to use crisping-tongs, nor to indulge in any kind of 'dissoluteness in hair,' nor ever to sport any gayer colour in mantle or wimple than gray, or at the most 'liver colour.' I have not the least intention, Aunt Dorothy, of trying to serve two masters. I know in that way we gain nothing. But I do believe that those that honour Him He will honour, and that godliness hath promise of the life that now is as well as of that which is to come."