July 11

“Man has rights by nature. . . . They may all be comprised in the right which belongs to every rational being, to exercise his powers for the promotion of his own and others’ Happiness and Virtue. These are the great purposes of his existence. For these his powers were given, and to these he is bound to devote them. He is bound to make himself and others better and happier, according to his ability. His ability for this work is a sacred trust from God, the greatest of all trusts. He must answer for the waste or abuse of it.”

W. E. CHANNING

“If there is anything which brings still more sadness to the heart than the degradation of the ignorant, it is surely the thought of those called by their own hearts, by education and the needs of others, to some noble purpose, who are yet content to dream away their lives, indifferent spectators of the sorrows, sins, and wrongs of men, when they might have been leaders in the battle against evil. The age of heroic deeds is not gone by. It cannot be but that a ready answer will be given to the voice as of a trumpet call – ‘Et nos vincamus aliquid!’ ‘Let us, too, conquer something!’”

From Life of C. Lowder