Preparation is more than half; indeed, in many things, it is nearly all. Work for which preparation has not been well made is scarcely wroth while. One, who expects to make anything noble of his chosen calling, prepares for it with great diligence and painstaking. Men serve a long apprenticeship to be ready to do the work of their trade. Inadequate preparation results in incompetent workmanship and that foredooms one to failure. No man can hope to succeed in business without a business training which will enable him to grapple with the problems of trade. No one can rise to distinction in a profession without laborious study and self discipline. Most of the failures in life may be traced directly to the lack of thorough preparation. Men are in haste to get into the field and do not take time to fit themselves for the responsibilities and duties which await them.
What is true in general of all callings and pursuits is yet truer of work on mind and heart; most careful preparation should be made for it. Before a man is considered competent to be a physician, to be entrusted with the treatment of diseases and the performance of critical surgical operations, he must undergo a training of years under the best instructors. Can it be any less responsible work to be a physician of souls, – to be a teacher, for example, of a class of children or young people in a Sunday school?
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