© 1994-2017, Scott Sperling
Conscience
“This is the triumph that virtue hath over vice, that wheresoever she is most
hated, there she is often wished for. Though they have set their heart as an
adamant stone, and made their face like flint, yet grace pierceth throughout their
concupiscence and they say sometime, ‘The way of virtue is better.' There was
never so impure and dissolute an adulterer but he hath said sometime, ‘The chaste
body is best.' There never was so blasphemous nor vile a swearer but sometime he
hath trembled at God's majesty. There was never man so proud and ambitious
but sometime he remembereth he is but earth and ashes. There was never such a
usurer nor covetous wretch, but sometime he thinketh his gold and silver shall
canker and the rust of it shall be a witness against him...There was never so high-
minded nor vainglorious a king but he hath sometime thought his crown would
fall from his head, and the crown of righteousness was better.”
-- Edward Dering (1540-1576)