Page:Lectures on Great Men.djvu/17

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PREFACE. IX the essence and the peculiarity of the Christian Church. He tried ; therefore, to secure really SOCIAL Meetings. Once a month refreshments were provided, and every adult Parishioner invited, that special opportunities might be afforded of cultivating a spirit of sympathy with all sorts and conditions of men ; and that, in trying to see with their eyes, there might be cherished for the meanest a spirit, not of condescending charity merely, but of considerate and intelligent fellow-feeling. At these Meetings the accompanying Lectures were de- livered ; and there is ample testimony, from those who heard them, not only of the delight with which they were listened to, but also that the object chiefly contem- plated in such gatherings was to a great extent accom- plished. These Lectures afford ample illustration of the nature of the education he thought a working-man should de- sire ; that which most influences character for the better, and makes men happier; that which is mainly the calling forth of those powers within a man, the culture of his whole nature ; energy of all kinds with the simultaneous cultivation of his sympathies the nurture of Truthfulness, Justice, Love, and Faith. He fre- quently enforced the fact, that Labour is an ordinance of GOD, and inasmuch as it is a duty, it has a dignity ; that it is a mistake to think the necessity of daily work need hinder any from attaining whatever is of essential worth ; that it may rather prove no mean part of Educa- tion. He advocated the Education of Heart rather than