midnight
`` That 's too large a question for me to answer in the abstract ; but is not the verdict of conscience right for each one of us ? '' `` I ca n't think so , '' I replied , with a shrug . `` About every grotesque , horrible act ever committed in this world has been sanctioned by conscience . Delicate women have worn hair-cloth and walked barefooted on cold pavements in midnight penance . The devil is scarcely more cruel than the Church , for ages , taught that God was . It 's true that Christ 's life was one of self-sacrifice ; but was there any useless , mistaken self-sacrifice in it ? If God is anything like Mrs. Yocomb , nothing could be more repugnant to him than blunders of this kind . ''