First—­You must have faith in yourselves.  Not that you should carry confidence in yourselves to the point of displaying egotism, and yet, egotism is not the worst possible fault.  My father was wont to say that if a man had the big head, you could whittle it down, but that if he had the little head, there was no hope for him.  If you have the big head others will help you to reduce it, but if you have the little head, they cannot help you.  You must believe that you can do things or you will not undertake them.  Those who lack faith attempt nothing and therefore cannot possibly succeed; those with great faith attempt the seemingly impossible and by attempting prove what man can do.

But you cannot have faith in yourselves unless you are conscious that you are prepared for your work.  If one is feeble in body, he cannot have the confidence in his physical strength that the athlete has, and, as physical strength is necessary, one is justified in devoting to exercise and to the strengthening of the body such time as may be necessary.

Intellectual training is also necessary, and more necessary than it used to be.  When but few had the advantages of a college education, the lack of such advantages was not so apparent.  Now when so many of the ministers, lawyers, physicians, journalists, and even business men, are college graduates, one cannot afford to be without the best possible intellectual preparation.  When one comes into competition with his fellows, he soon recognizes his own intellectual superiority, equality or inferiority as compared with others.  In China they have a very interesting bird contest.  The singing lark is the most popular bird there, and as you go along the streets of a Chinese city you see Chinamen out airing their birds.  These singing larks are entered in contests, and the contests are decided by the birds themselves.  If, for instance, a dozen are entered, they all begin to sing lustily, but as they sing, one after another recognizes that it is outclassed and gets down off its perch, puts its head under its wing and will not sing any more.  At last there is just one bird left singing, and it sings with enthusiasm as if it recognized its victory.

So it is in all intellectual contests.  Put twenty men in a room and let them discuss any important question.  At first all will take part in the discussion, but as the discussion proceeds, one after another drops out until finally two are left in debate, one on one side and one on the other.  The rest are content to have their ideas presented by those who can present them best.  If you are going to have faith, therefore, in yourselves, you must be prepared to meet your competitors upon an equal plane; if you are prepared, they will be conscious of it as well as you.

A high purpose is also a necessary part of your preparation.  You cannot afford to put a low purpose in competition with a high one.  If you go out to work from a purely selfish standpoint, you will be ashamed to stand in the presence of those who have higher aims and nobler ambitions.  Have faith in yourselves, but to have faith you must be prepared for your work, and this preparation must be moral and intellectual as well as physical.  The preacher should be the boldest of men because of the unselfish character of his work.