"Is it not very strange, Mama, that the bees should find honey in these poisonous flowers! I saw them when Willie and I were walking this morning. How can they know which is the poison and which is the honey?"

"God, my dear child, has given them a guide which philosophers have named --instinct--. It is the same which guides them in the formation of those curiously wrought little cells, and in connecting them into the beautiful masses of honey comb, and then filling them with the sweet treasures of their toil. Is there anything in your little life, my child, that resembles the poison and the honey?"

"Mama, I remember what our teacher told us a few days ago. She said God had given us a power of knowing much that is kind, good, and virtuous, from the evil, wicked, and that this was named --conscience.-- She said if we would always listen to what our conscience told us, and do just as it directed, it would be like a little guardian angel to us all our lives. She said it would help us to keep many wicked thoughts and wishes out of our hearts, and keep us more safely from all the wickedness that is in the world. Mama, sin is like the poison and to be good is like the honey."

"Yes, my love, and suppose the bee mingled the poison with the honey?"

"We should all die, Mama, when we ate it."

"Yes, we should, Sarah, it would poison our whole bodies, and we should die; but that is not more certain, my dear child, than that sin in our soul is a poison there--will you think of this Sarah? Dear Sarah, remember you cannot attain righteousness on your own merit. It is only by the salvation and forgiveness of sins through Jesus' death that we are made righteous in God's sight. The Lord has given us His Word and in it you can read about the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was perfect in all that is truly good and great, and lived more than thirty years in this world without being guilty of one sin!" ~Mid-1800s