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 SINGLENESS OF PURPOSE 
 THE SECRET OF SUCCESS. 
 
 A SERMON, 
 
 PREACHED AT THE 
 
 CHURCH OF S. MARY THE VIRGIN IN OXFORD. 
 
 Sept. 19th, 1852. 
 
 UPON OCCASION OF THE DEATH OF 
 
 THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. C. MARRIOTT, B.D., 
 
 FELLOW OF ORIEL, 
 AND VICAR OF S. MARY THE VIRGIN IN OXFORD. 
 
 AwttToi' Ktti fxrf ap)(OVTas y^s koL OaXdrrrj^ irpaTTUv 
 
 ra KoAa. 
 
 Arist. Eth. X. 8. 
 
 Second Edition. 
 
 OXFORD : 
 
 ALEXANDER A. MASSON; 
 
 AND SOLD BY 
 
 J. H. PARKER, OXFORD, AND SIT, STRAND, LONDON. 
 
 1852.
 
 PRINTED BY ALEX. AMBROSE MASSON, 
 S. CLEMENT'S, OXFORD.
 
 A SERMON, &c. 
 
 S. Matt. vi. 24. 
 " No man can serve two masters'"' 
 
 We usually go on from day to day, and some of 
 us from year to year, without very much thought 
 of considering our whole plans of life afresh. We 
 have a certain way, into which we have fallen partly 
 through education, partly through circumstances, 
 partly through the choice of our own will, or the 
 bent of our own inclination, and we keep to that 
 way, without much or perhaps any thought of for- 
 saking it. Yet startling events in our own history 
 arouse us and make us again reflect, and even such 
 events as do not immediately concern us, will often 
 set us thinking, and lead us to take more extended 
 views of human life. 
 
 An event has taken place in the last week which 
 has made a strong impression on the national mind 
 of England, and which will be felt, as it becomes 
 known, throughout the civilized world. It is an 
 event that we have long expected, and half won-
 
 dered that it came no sooner. An old man has 
 gone the way of all the earth, somewhat suddenly, 
 yet not more so than was very probable at his ad- 
 vanced age. There is nothing strange in it ; no- 
 thing but what must one day have been. But 
 when one dies who has been honoured and feared 
 by whole nations for half a century, in war a con- 
 queror of conquerors, in peace a stay to his coun- 
 try and a father to princes, thoughts are stirred 
 within us which come round upon our own life. 
 
 It is not that we can think of being such as he, 
 for few can be his equals in the powers of the 
 mind or of the body. And of those few, fewer 
 still can have the same opportunities of putting 
 forth their energies in great deeds. But the 
 thought of one who has achieved such greatness 
 leads men to reflect on the path that may be be- 
 fore themselves, and, without any vanity or culpa- 
 ble ambition, they may ask the question, " What 
 may I learn from his example, toward attaining 
 whatever God has been pleased to place within 
 my reach ?" And the answer is one of more gene- 
 ral and profitable application than some of us may 
 at first be aware. For a careless mind might turn 
 it off with some such remark as this — " It is cer- 
 tainly a great thing for a man to conquer armies, 
 and guide the councils of nations, but I am not 
 either a soldier or a senator, and therefore the ex- 
 ample of such a one is not to my purpose." 
 
 But an example may be of value far beyond its 
 own immediate range. And as the ancients have 
 shewn in their fables that what seems a silly story 
 may convey a striking moral, and that the actions 
 
 UIUC 
 
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 ''OtA^^
 
 of a brute may teach mankind by a true analogy 
 of principle, so our Blessed Lord has shewn in His 
 parables that the actions of bad or worldly men 
 may afford lessons to His saints, and that the deal- 
 ings of this world may instruct us in the wisdom 
 of the kingdom of Heaven, inasmuch as " the chil- 
 dren of this world are wiser in their generation 
 than the children of light." 
 
 In using such an expression let me not be un- 
 derstood to reflect on the departed. T mean no 
 more than this, that though in his latter days es- 
 pecially he shewed a marked attention to many of 
 the outward duties of religion, and though, from 
 his known sincerity of character, we cannot well 
 suppose that observance to have been other than 
 the real expression of his inward thoughts, yet he 
 is known to us not as a saint, but as a great man 
 of the world. And I think it is more profitable 
 to use his example in this respect, than to specu- 
 late upon the probability of his having repented 
 as a Christian ought of this or that fault, a ques- 
 tion which we might after all solve otherwise than 
 it will be solved by the Judge of quick and dead. 
 And even the reflections we might indulge on the 
 Vanity of earthly greatness, the shortness of the 
 longest life, and the strange blank that comes over 
 our mortal existence when it draws to a close, are 
 less likely to have a permanent effect on our cha- 
 racter, than a wise and clear observation of the 
 points of strength by which one of the greatest of 
 men prevailed over every adversary. 
 
 Our calling in this world, whether it be sacred 
 or worldly, is a great part of our duty. Whatso-
 
 ever our hand findeth to do, we do well to do it 
 with our might, and diligence in business is one 
 way of serving the Lord. In this sense at least, 
 we have an example almost unequalled in him 
 whose mortal remains must now shortly be com- 
 mitted to the grave. Never was there a man who 
 shewed a more remarkable determination to do 
 well whatever he did. Never was there a man 
 who served his king and his country with more 
 disinterested zeal, sacrificing what seemed to be 
 opportunities of distinguishing himself, or of gain- 
 ing promotion, or of appropriating to himself credit 
 that he really deserved, sooner than allow the very 
 slightest hindrance to the public service. It was 
 a maxim of his life that private interest was to 
 give way to duty and to the public good, and, 
 richly as he was rewarded by a country able and 
 desirous to reward unequalled services, he never 
 grasped at rewards. He gave himself, in dutiful 
 faith, to his country, and his country honours him 
 the more because he preferred duty to honours, 
 and strove rather to he faithful and useful to her, 
 than to be thought so by men. 
 
 He was no mere favourite of fortune, as men 
 sometimes profanely designate one to whom God 
 has been pleased to grant great advantages and 
 signal successes beyond his merit. Every step of 
 his public life was marked by the same unwearied 
 attention to the whole range of duties that lay 
 upon him, and the same careful foresight in pro- 
 viding for future needs and future dangers. While 
 he executed one work he prepared for another, 
 and was ahvavs more readv and better furnished
 
 for action than either friends or enemies imagined. 
 His constant watchfuhiess and industry made the 
 very most of whatever resources he had at com- 
 mand, and enabled him, amidst the difficulties of 
 long campaigns, to abstain from acts of oppression 
 which the necessities of war often force upon less 
 provident and less humane generals. And this is 
 a part of his character from which every one of us 
 may draw an important lesson. Genius and cou- 
 rage may sometimes accomplish great results with- 
 out diligence, by sudden efforts, but they cannot 
 make a career like his, or a man like him. But 
 no extraordinary genius is needed to enable a man 
 to strive from day to day to do the work before 
 him well. And it is by so doing that he will attain 
 the goal that Providence has set before him. We 
 cannot be all conquerors, all senators, all men of 
 wealth and fame. But there is nothing to hinder 
 but that every man upon earth, from the greatest 
 to the least, might be successful in life, and trusted, 
 and respected, and valued by his fellows. There 
 is no necessity that demands a class of weak, un- 
 steady, good-for-nothing men, unhappy themselves, 
 and a nuisance to society, no reason why all should 
 not be strong-minded, firm in purpose, active in 
 their calling, and rewarded with some fair and 
 gratifying success. The chief reason why the 
 world does not seem wide enough for us all, and 
 one man's success injures another, is that we can- 
 not entirely trust each other's character. Were 
 all the men who cannot make their way in life in 
 England men of known honesty and industry, we 
 could easily find them employment and a comfort-
 
 8 
 
 able livelihood elsewhere. And I think it stands 
 to reason that if men knew how to manage the 
 distribution of the good things which earth pro- 
 duces, and which human labour brings to perfec- 
 tion, all might be useful, and all well supplied. 
 And it is not the rich who stand in the way of 
 this, but on the one hand the selfish, and on the 
 other hand the idle, the vicious, and the improvi- 
 dent. 
 
 Setting aside such accidents as may well be 
 provided for by a moderate exercise of benevo- 
 lence, we may fairly say, that the men who have 
 plenty of useful w^ork to do are able to maintain 
 themselves in some degree of comfort. If the rich 
 live by the labours of others, it must be by theirs^ 
 for they do not live by the labours of those who 
 do nothing, though ever so poor. And it seems 
 clear that if those who do little or nothing were 
 working every day to supply each other s wants, 
 (could this in any way be brought about,) the world 
 would know much less of distress and destitution 
 than it does. I will venture to say that the means 
 for such an arrangement amongst many thousands 
 of our poor would be furnished by the money that 
 is given in this country within a week to idle 
 beggars and plausible deceivers, and wasted by 
 them in useless and worse than useless riot. 
 
 I say this in order to shew that it is not the 
 nature of things, but the fault of men's will, that 
 every man has not, or seems not to have, some 
 chance of success in the world. Not of greatness, 
 it may be, but still of such success as might well 
 be an object of ambition to him according to his
 
 circumstances, and would make his life, in a 
 worldly sense, happy. I believe, in fact, that very 
 few are without such opportunities, except through 
 some fault on their own part. If they have neg- 
 lected to use their earlier years by diligent appli- 
 cation to what they were set to learn, and still 
 more if they have not been careful to preserve the 
 most precious capital for every one commencing 
 life, a character for steadiness and unfailing ho- 
 nesty, they must not complain of being unfortu- 
 nate, but strive as soon as may be to repent and 
 amend their faults. And even so, a character 
 once lost is not soon regained, and youthful years 
 wasted come not over again. One who has cast 
 away his birthright for pottage, must expect but 
 the blessing of Esau. 
 
 If then the memory of our departed hero and 
 statesman stirs in any of your minds a thought of 
 reasonable and practical ambition, let it not turn 
 to fancies about changing your destination in life, 
 and seeking some grander field of enterprize, but 
 rather to deep conviction of the necessity of a 
 steadfast and dutiful purpose, and to a determi- 
 nation of will, fixing such a purpose as your own 
 principle of conduct. I do not say that this will 
 make you great, but it will make you as great and 
 as successful as God in His good Providence sees 
 fit that you should be, and gives you the oppor- 
 tunity of being. 
 
 Is this mere worldly counsel ? No ! not even 
 as it relates to the things of tliis world ought it to 
 be so called. For in them you have a sacred duty 
 to God, to your neighbour, and to yourselves.
 
 10 
 
 In them, if in them is your calling, you are bound 
 in duty to God to exert yourselves, so as to pro- 
 vide an honest maintenance both for yourselves 
 and for all dependent on you, and to make your- 
 selves useful, as you may be able, to your country 
 and to your neighbours. And by diligence, and 
 activity, and faithfulness, in this earthly steward- 
 ship you may obtain means and influence which 
 you may use to good purpose in the services of the 
 kingdom of God. 
 
 But this is not the only religious use you may 
 make of a great worldly example. For as generals 
 and statesmen do not grow up without thought, 
 but are formed first by proper military education, 
 and then by their own careful practice, study, and 
 observation, so is it with those who make high 
 attainments in the kingdom of God. And the ap- 
 plication of thought and will, which in the world 
 make conquerors, and founders of institutions, and 
 great ministers of state, — the same, I say, applied 
 to the service of God in His Church, make mar- 
 tyrs, confessors, and saints. 
 
 I do not speak now only of Apostolic labours, 
 of missions to the heathen, of evangelizing crowded 
 cities, of planting the institutions of the Church 
 in newly-peopled districts, though there I could 
 point across the seas to more than one in the 
 armies of God who have nobly followed the ex- 
 ample of the most laborious, the most provident, 
 the most unassuming, and the most disinterested 
 of all commanders. In the shop or in the field, in 
 the market or the manufactory, as master or as 
 workman, every one, man, woman, and child, has
 
 11 
 
 a great work to carry on for God, labours to go 
 through, battles to fight, enemies to conquer, 
 duties to do for the present, provisions to make 
 for the future. 
 
 It may not be well for any one to think he is to 
 be a saint, in the sense in which we use the term 
 of those who rise far above the common level of 
 dutiful and earnest Christians. Perhaps it is better 
 that every one should have such a consciousness of 
 his own deficiencies and infirmities as rather to 
 take to himself a lower position. But every one 
 ought, even in duty, to strive for the utmost that 
 he sees himself able to attain, and at every turn to 
 labour for perfection in all that is within his power. 
 When He that hath called him shall come. He 
 will not place him the lower for having thought 
 little of his own attainments ; but if that low esti- 
 mate of himself has led him to do like the idle 
 servant with the one talent, then he will lose even 
 that he had. 
 
 The rule is, to do what you can, and leave the 
 result to God. Give yourselves wholly to His 
 service. Let nothing divide your energy, but 
 spend your utmost endeavours with unflinching 
 resolution on the work that lies before you, and 
 you will attain at least the best success that is in 
 your power, and probably far more than you dream 
 of attaining. A divided heart, a wavering will, a 
 doubtful service, do not well with any master, but 
 least of all with Him Who has the highest claim 
 to all you have, all you are, and all you can do, 
 and Who sees the very thought in your mind be- 
 fore it goes forth into an action.
 
 u 
 
 Children of Light ! Be wise as they that are 
 wise in this world, and fear not but that your Lord 
 will commend you. With Him your reward is 
 sure, be faithful over a few things, be they never 
 so few. Conquer the pride, the lust, the greedi- 
 ness, the anger, the jealousy, the idleness, the 
 vanity of this day, of to-morrow, and of the next 
 day, and you shall find that you have won victories 
 over the Prince of the Power of the Air. Rule 
 well your own spirit, your own body, and your 
 own tongue, and you shall be of those that judge 
 angels, and hold high ministries in the kingdom of 
 Heaven. 
 
 PRINTED BY ALEX. AMBROSE MAS80N, 
 S. CLEMENT'S, OXFORD.
 
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