can be great that a man doth but for
himself."

"Lysken can work for God," said Clare thoughtfully; "but I, who do but
draw needles in and out--"

"Cannot draw them for God? Nay, but Paul thought not so. He biddeth
you `whether ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do _all_ to the
glory of God.' But mind you, only the very best work is to His glory:
that is to say, only _your_ very best. He measures not Mall's work by
Jane's, but he looketh at the power of both, and judgeth if they have
wrought their best or no. Jane may have finished the better piece of
work, but if Mall have wrought to her utmost, and Jane not so, then
Mall's work shall take first rank, and Jane's must fall behind."

"That is a new thought unto me, Mistress Eunice--that I can do such work
for God. I did indeed account that I could be patient under the same,
for to please Him: and I could have thought that the saving of a child
from drowning, or the leading of a ship to battle, and so forth, might
be done as unto God: but to cut and sew and measure!"

"I would 'twere not a new thought to many another," answered Eunice.
"But I guess we can sew well or ill; and we can cut carefully or
carelessly; and we can measure truly or untruly. Truth is no little
matter, Mistress Clare; neither is diligence; nor yet a real, honest,
hearty endeavouring of one's self to please the Lord, who hath given us
our work, in every little thing. Moreover, give me leave to tell you,--
you may be set a great work, and you may fail to see the greatness
thereof. I mind me, when I was something younger than you be, and my
brother Hal was but a little child, he fell into sore danger, and should
belike have been killed, had none stretched out hand to save him. Well,
as the Lord in His mercy would have it, I saw his peril, and I ran and
snatched up the child in the very nick of time. There was but an
half-minute to do it. And at afterward, men praised me, and said I had
done a great thing. But think you it bare the face of a great thing to
me, as I was in the doing thereof? Never a whit. I ne'er tarried to
think if it were a great thing or a small: I thought neither of me nor
of my doing, but alonely of our Hal, and how to set him in safety. They
said it was a great matter, sith I had risked mine own life. But, dear
heart! I knew not that I risked aught--I ne'er thought once thereon.
Had I known it, I would have done the same, God helping me: but I knew
it not.