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Kingsley, Charles, 1819-1875

"Two Years Ago, Volume I"

"
"No; you have your notions of reward, and he has his. He wants to
be paid by material dollars, payable next month; you by spiritual
dollars, payable when you die. I don't see the great difference."
"Only the slight difference between what is material and what is
spiritual."
"They seem to me, from all I can hear in pulpits, to be only two
different sorts of pleasant things, and to be sought after, both
alike, simply because they are pleasant. Self-interest, if you will
forgive me, seems to me the spring of both: only, to do you justice,
you are a farther-sighted and more prudent man than the Yankee
storekeeper; and having more exquisitely developed notions of what
your true self-interest is, are content to wait a little longer than
he."
"You stab with a jest, Thurnall. You little know how your words hit
home."
"Well, then, to turn from a matter of which I know nothing--I must
keep you in, and give you parish business to do at home. I am come to
consult you as my spiritual pastor and master."
Frank looked a little astonished.
"Don't be alarmed. I am not going to confess my own sins--only other
people's."
"Pray don't, then. I know far more of them already than I can cure. I
am worn out with the daily discovery of fresh evil wherever I go."
"Then why not comfort yourself by trying to find a little fresh good
wherever you go?"
Frank sighed.
"Perhaps, though, you don't care for any sort of good except your own
sort of good.


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