It is true of Religion.  True religion must be a firm conviction based on the absolute faith generated by past experiences, rather than a vague inclination, suggested by a fleeting emotion born of temporary circumstances.  The saving of a soul is a process, rather than an action.  Paul's conversion on the way to Damascus was a sudden change, but a man of Paul's great intellect must have long debated with himself whether his persecution of the Christians was justifiable.  Thus, his conversion was the result of a long deliberation rather than a sudden flash of knowledge.  Perhaps, Paul himself, knowing that “Rome was not built in a day,” saw that there must be some good in Christianity, for it had withstood the persecutions of Man and Time.
It is true of Art.  Gautier, the French poet, exhorted all artists to work in a medium which would present difficulties, for the energy and time expended in overcoming these difficulties would ensure the ultimate perfection, the beauty, and thus the success of the work.
It is true of Nature, it is true of Politics, it is true of Religion, it is true of Art, and, as it is true of all those things developed for Man's benefit, so is it true of Man himself.  Man has developed from that primeval, brutal, savage, hunter, half‑man, half‑beast, living in dark caverns, to that modern, suave, educated citizen of present‑day civilisation.  It is only by means of his mistakes that Man has developed, for progress consists of “trial and error.”  Man essayed a thing, Time proved its conception to be wrong, and Man modified his conception, learning the lesson taught him, and thus climbing one step up the Ladder of Life, getting nearer and nearer to that high and noble ideal that his Creator meant him to be, and getting more and more different from that beast whose life shows no progress.
W. E. Jones (VIA.)

A Parody on Wordsworth’s “Milton”
(With all due apologies to Wordsworth, and an assurance that the aspersions
cast upon the School Team are not seriously meant).

Llew Rees! thou shouldst be playing at this hour,
Our team hath need of thee; it is a team
O petty players, who play as in a dream ;
Have forfeited our ancient School‑tie dower,

And by their failure at the needful hour
Have dimmed our fame.  They are puny men ;
O raise them up ; return to them again,
And give them fire, spirit, driving power.

In play thou wast a star, didst stand apart ;
Thou hadst a style as rhythmic as the sea,
Sure as the dawn of day, colossal, free.

So didst thou help the team on its successful way
In cheerful worthiness; yet tookst to heart
All duties thrust upon thee, every day.

D. J. Jones (V1a.)