The fountain must be sweet, to send forth sweet waters; and the tree must be good, to yield good fruit. We must not be castaways if we would save others. If we would learn to do good, we must learn to be good; and that needs self-knowledge and the knowledge of goodness. If we neglect common duties, and everyday virtue, we shall rather be meddlers than helpers, when we would fain be benefactors: we may do a great deal that had better have been left undone. Our hurry, our ill-temper, our jealousy, our wrongheadedness, our self-regard, may jar, and break, and spoil the good we were trying to bring to others. We may disappoint them and ourselves too. If we would do 'more than others' and not be content with the goodness of publicans and heathens, let us strive to live as children of our Father in heaven, who is kind even to the unthankful and the evil.
— Russell Lant Carpenter (born December 17, 1816)
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