EIGHTEENTH TALK 365

may be regarded as a duty by the outsider, but you,
in yourself, know that only a small part of any such
things can ever be thought of as a duty at all. I
suppose there are many cases of that sort. There
have been others too. I have myself seen cases
in our Society where people, by interfering with
that which was not their duty, did a great deal
of harm, not only to themselves, but to the very
cause which they thought they were championing, a
good deal of evil instead of good. It is always rash
to blunder in upon the duty of other people and
force them to do anything. The President once
made a remark on exactly those lines. I remember
she said: ct Do your own work to the fullest extent
of your ability, and leave other people's work alone
to the fullest extent of your ability." You may not
be able quite to repress the itch to interfere, but
repress it to the extent of your ability, keep as quiet
as you can. Then that last word is worthy, I think,
of special attention. " If you are to be His, you
must do ordinary work better than others, not worse ;

because you must do that also for His sake." I have
known members who, in that first rush of enthusiasm,
very much neglected daily work. They say : (t Any-
thing will do. I need not trouble to do this or that
piece of ordinary work ; I need not trouble to dress
myself decently because now I have something so
much bigger to think about." But you want to
recommend that to the rest of the world, and you do