with the waywardness and thoughtlessness
of mankind to keep the erring workman in your service till you have made
him an unerring one; and to direct your fellow-merchant to the opportunity
which his dullness would have lost.

10. This is much; but it is yet more, when you have fully achieved the
superiority which is due to you, and acquired the wealth which is the
fitting reward of your sagacity, if you solemnly accept the responsibility
of it, as it is the helm and guide of labor far and near. For you who have
it in your hands, are in reality the pilots of the power and effort of the
State. It is entrusted to you as an authority to be used for good or evil,
just as completely as kingly authority was ever given to a prince, or
military command to a captain. And according to the quantity of it you
have in your hands, you are arbiters of the will and work of the nation;
and the whole issue, whether the work of the State shall suffice for the
State or not, depends upon you.

11. You may stretch out your sceptre over the heads of the laborers, and
say to them, as they stoop to its waving, "Subdue this obstacle that has
baffled our fathers; put away this plague that consumes our children;
water these dry places, plough these desert ones, carry this food to those
who are in hunger; carry this light to those who are in darkness; carry
this life to those who are in death;" or on the other side you may say:
"Here am I; this power is in my hand; come, build a mound here for me to
be throned upon, high and wide; come, make crowns for my head, that men
may see them shine from far away; come, weave tapestries for my feet, that
I may tread softly on the silk and purple; come, dance before me, that I
may slumber; so shall I live in joy, and die in honor." And better than
such an honorable death it were, that the day had perished wherein we were
born.

12. I trust that in a little while there will be few of our rich men, who,
through carelessness or covetousness, thus forfeit the glorious office
which is intended for their hands. I said, just now, that wealth ill-used
was as the net of the spider, entangling and destroying; but wealth
well-used, is as the net of the sacred Fisher who gathers souls of men out
of the deep. A time will come--I do not think it is far from us--when this
golden net of the world's wealth will be spread abroad as the flaming
meshes of morning cloud over the sky; bearing with them the joy of the
light and th