hat the all-wise and
all-loving Father puts a man into the world where he intends him to be;
and that a man is to find his highest pleasure in trying to serve the
Father's will, with a heart full of love for all living things. A rich
man is to disembarrass himself of his riches, or at least be sure that
they are no hindrance to him; a poor man is not to attempt to win them.
Of course it may be possible that the original Christians were intended
to take a special line while the faith was leavening the world, and
that a different economy was to prevail when society had been
Christianised. This is a point of view which can be subtly defended,
but I think it is hard to find any justification for it in the Gospel.
Ambition practically means that, if one is to shoulder to the front,
one must push other people out of the way; one must fight for one's own
hand. To succeed at no one's expense is only possible to people of very
high character and genius.

But it is difficult to see what motive to set before boys in the
matter; the ideas of fame and glory, the hope of getting what all
desire and what all cannot have, are deeply rooted in the childish
mind. Moreover, we encourage ambition so frankly, both in work and
play, that it is difficult to ascend the school pulpit and take quite a
different line. To tell boys that they must simply do their best for
the sake of doing their best, without any thought of the rewards of
success--it is a very fine ideal, but is it a practical one? If we gave
prizes to the stupid boys who work without hope of success, and if we
gave colours to the boys who played games hard without attaining
competence in them, we might then dare to speak of the rewards of
virtue. But boys despise unsuccessful conscientiousness, and all the
rewards we distribute are given to aptitude. Some preachers think they
get out of the difficulty by pointing to examples of lives that battled
nobly and unsuccessfully against difficulties; but the point always is
the ultimate recognition. The question is not whether we can provide a
motive for the unsuccessful; but whether we ought not to discourage
ambition in every form? Yet it is the highest motive power in the case
of most generous and active-minded boys.

In the course of the sermon the preacher quoted some lines of Omar
Khayyam in order to illustrate the shamefulness of the indolent life.
That is a very dangerous thing to do. The lovely stanzas, sweet as
honey, flowed o