What Reformers May Expect.
By S. S. Times
It is vain to expect to do any real work of reform in the world without making enemies for yourself. You may start with the firmest intention to attack only the wrong, and not those who are involved in the wrong; but the moment you begin to smite the idol, that moment its priests cry out with pain. The truth is that abuses are maintained in the world because it is to some one's interest to maintain those abuses; therefore, you can never attack a wrong without attacking the worldly interests of those concerned in the maintenance of the wrong. But it would be a great mistake for you to conclude that you must attack no evil, because it would involve you in a conflict with those with whom you would prefer to remain at peace. It may often be your duty to incur the enmity of others, because you are called to be God's worker for the destruction of some giant, or some apparently pigmy form of evil. All that you need care for is to be sure, first, that the thing you oppose is an evil, and secondly, that you are a person whom God calls to aid in its destruction. These things settled, you can safely let God take care of the consequences.—S. S. Times.