Shall I tell you what one of the most famous clergymen that ever lived said? That, in order to manage people, and especially children, well, it was necessary to speak more of them to God than of God to them. If a famous preacher said that, how much more must a woman?
Another learned clergyman, who was also the best translator of the Bible (in a foreign language), said: “Prayer, rather than speech must be relied upon for the reform of any little irregularities: for only through prayer could the proper moment for speech become known.” If a great leader of mankind said that, how much more should a Nurse?
I must end: and what I say now I had better have said: and nothing else.
What are we without God? Nothing.
“Father, glorify Thy name!” How is His name glorified? We are His glory, when we follow His ways. Then we are something.
What is the Christian religion? To be like Christ.
And what is it to be like Christ? To be High Church, Low Church, Dissenter, or orthodox? Oh, no. It is: to live for God and have God for our object.
IV
London, May 26, 1875.
My dear Friends,—This year my letter to you must needs be short, for I am not able to write much. But good words are always short. The best words that ever were spoken—Christ’s words—were the shortest. Would that ours were always the echo of His!