I am long since persuaded that the note of mutual congregational edification pleases God. To it I would give a hearty amen. But so many, or it may be all, good things sometimes "suffer violence." "When by reason of the time we ought to be teachers," it has been true ever since New Testament times that alarmingly many are not. One has no right or privilege, or even duty, to try ‘to do that which he has not seriously tried to be ready to do. An effort may be apparently weak— really so; but carelessness and thoughtlessness show contempt for eternal values and sacred things. But do not offer the excuse of "fear" of doing wrong. That is like pleading, "unfitness" to partake of the Lord’s Supper. Such are just as unfit to pray an acceptable prayer. Plainly, they are lost until they repent. So, to lazily neglect needful preparation for a helpful, prayer, lesson, exhortation, or other proper exercise in public worship, is to "turn away one’s ears from hearing the law," and so render even prayer "an abomination to God." A good brother in this region says, "Christian life is too confining for most people." One does not get to heaven by way of accident. "Always abounding in the work of the Lord."