Part 18

"Experience shows that success is due less to ability than to zeal. The winner is he who gives himself to his work, body and soul."

CHARLES BUXTON.

"Life is too short to waste,

* * * * *

'Twill soon be dark; Up! mind thine own aim, and God speed the mark!"

EMERSON.

Work--Effective Reforms

MARCH 6

"We must be careful not to undermine independence in our anxiety to relieve distress. There is always the initial difficulty that whatever is done for men takes from them a great stimulus to work, and weakens the feeling of independence; all creatures which depend on others tend to become mere parasites. It is important therefore, as far as possible, not so much to give a man bread, as to put him in the way of earning it for himself; not to give direct aid, but to help others to help themselves. The world is so complex that we must all inevitably owe much to our neighbours; but, as far as possible, every man should stand on his own feet."

Lord AVEBURY.

"We are now generally agreed upon our aims: nobility of character and not only outward prosperity; victory over evil at its source, and not in its consequences; reforms which shall regard the welfare of future generations, who are 'the greatest number.'"

Bishop WESTCOTT.

"We fall under the temptation of seeking material solutions for spiritual problems; material remedies for spiritual maladies. The thought of spiritual poverty, of spiritual destitution, is crowded out. We treat the symptoms and neglect the disease itself."

Bishop WESTCOTT.

Work--Effective Reforms

MARCH 7

"If you are moved with a vague desire to help men be better men, you must know that you can do it not by belabouring the evil but by training the good that there is in them."

PHILLIPS BROOKS.

"The Christian, therefore, I repeat, as Christian, will take his full part in preparing for the amelioration of the conditions of men no less than for their conversion. He will in due measure strive to follow, under the limitations of his own labour, the whole example of his Lord, who removed outward distresses and satisfied outward wants, even as He brought spiritual strength and rest to the weak and weary. Moreover, this effort based upon resolute thought, belongs to the completeness of the religious life of the Christian."

Bishop WESTCOTT.

"Reforms which are effective must develop and strengthen character."

Bishop WESTCOTT.

Work--"To cure is the Voice of the Past"

MARCH 8

"All measures of reformation are effective in exact proportion to their timeliness. Partial decay may be cut away and cleansed, incipient error corrected: but there is a point at which corruption can no more be stayed, nor wandering recalled. It has been the manner of modern philanthropy to remain passive until that precise period, and to leave the sick to perish, and the foolish to stray, while it spent itself in frantic exertions to raise the dead, and reform the dust."

The Queen of the Air, JOHN RUSKIN.

"THE real work of charity is not to afford facilities to the poor to lower their standard, but to step in when calamity threatens and prevent it from falling."

The Standard of Life, MRS. BERNARD BOSANQUET.