“Fit to go” is an expression which points to the matter of qualification. Mere age does not make a man fit to sit in the council, or to go forth to battle, or to assume the position of dignity, We must undergo discipline, instruction, mortification. Do not go out until you are qualified. When you are truly qualified you will know the fact by the using of holy impulses, by the pressure as of an invisible hand urging you on in the right way, the way of Divine decree and destiny. To-day should always be a preparation for to-morrow; everything we learn should have in it something more than itself. When the gymnast undergoes his discipline, it is thathe may use his acquired strength in other and better directions than mere amusement. Let all eating and drinking, all reading and study, all companionship and travel, have before it a high purpose, a purpose of preparation for battle and race, for conflict and suffering. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Fit for war
Genius, say some, is but a capacity for hard work. This is not a whole truth; there must be work in accordance with law. The miner who digs for gold on the seashore will never find it, though he dig ever so laboriously; but if he study gold and the geologic strata in which it lives, he has begun to put himself in harmony with law. Mere work, unless properly directed, is like riding a hobby-horse; there is energy and motion, but no progress For years Napoleon was living in miniature the battles he was to fight, analysing strategic moves and positions, and training his mind to thus grasp a new situation on the instant. Von Moltke studied the military topography of all Europe, and with marvellous foresight thought out how to win. His victory was no triumph of mere fortune or special inspiration. It was but the logical outcome of his trained mind, and a trained mind ever lights the torch of its own inspiration. Leonardo da Vinci always carried in his girdle his sketch-book in his walks “in Florence, constantly looking for picturesque” faces. “In the silence of the night, he would counsel himself,” recall the ideas of the things you have studied. Design in your spirit the contours and outlines of thefigures you have seen during the day.” (New Science Review.)
