“A peasant may believe as much as a great clerk,”
but that he may do as much. Not only to hope and to faith are the “not many wise” called, but to charity also. We have seen in the preceding pages that our Great Master has made use of the humblest servants to achieve that which the professional philanthropist, with all his busy schemes, had not been able to compass. Therefore to the wise, who may chance to look into this volume, I would say, “Be not over-confident of success in undertaking the work of which I have spoken. To charity, the heart is a far more necessary and vital organ than the brain. What you do will have twenty-fold the force of what you say. And in order to do rightly, you must be content to learn of those whom you could teach everything but this one thing.” Those who are conscious of much intellectual weakness I would encourage by the narratives of what has been wrought by instruments of an even less keen temper than they.
But I would not be understood to slight the literature of philanthropy. Facts and figures, statistics compiled with much toil and difficulty, are the foundation stones of all legislative social reforms. They are indispensable in all cases where we wish the government of a country to interpose.
Next, I would observe that we should “patiently wait” for results. There is a grand Eastern proverb which says, “Hurry is of the devil, but slow advancing comes from God.” Hurry is not progress; sure progress is generally slow. It may not be given to us, who sow the seed, to gather in the harvest. But if our faith is strong, we shall believe that hereafter it will be our great reward to join the glad song of the heavenly reapers, as they lay the bounteous sheaves at the feet of the Lord of the harvest.
Lastly, there is one thing that is in the power of all of us. However difficult it is to do our Father’s will on earth as it is done in heaven, we can at least pray that His kingdom will speedily come; each may pray for those who are in “trouble, sorrow, need, sickness, or any other adversity.”
“More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of. . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
For so the whole round earth is every way
Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.”
APPENDIX.
RULES FOR THE REGULATION OF THE MOTHERS’ SOCIETY.
1. That this meeting shall assemble one evening in the week, at seven o’clock or half-past seven, according to the season of the year, and close as nearly as possible at nine o’clock.
2. That at every meeting a passage of Scripture shall be read, and followed by prayer. The work shall then be commenced, and deposits received, both for clothing and savings’ bank. The lady who presides shall then read, or relate something suitable to the object of the meeting, and if desirable and time permit, conversation shall ensue.