George Eliot on Exhortation and Helplessness

“No! She suddenly thought — and the thought was like an electric shock — there was one spot in her memory which seemed to promise her an untried spring, where the waters might be sweet.  That short meeting with Mr. Tryan had come back upon her — his voice, his words, his look, which told her that he knew sorrow.  … that look of his came back on her with a vividness greater than it had had for her in reality; surely he knew more of the secrets of sorrow than other men; perhaps he had some message of comfort, different from the feeble words she had been used to hear from others.  She was tired, she was sick of that barren exhortation — Do right, and keep a clear conscience, and God will reward you, and your troubles will be easier to bear.  She wanted strength to do right — she wanted something to rely on besides her own resolutions; for was not the path behind her all strewn with broken resolutions?  How could she trust in new ones?  She had often heard Mr. Tryan laughed at for being fond of great sinners. She began to see a new meaning in those words; he would perhaps understand her helplessness…” ( p. 252)