Benefit

“ It is not, therefore, the thing which is done or given, but the spirit in which it is done or given, that must be considered, because a benefit exists, not in that which is done or given, but in the mind of the doer or giver. ”

“ Some writers think that there is one who bestows a benefit, one who receives it, and a third who returns it; others say that they represent the three sorts of benefactors, those who bestow, those who repay, and those who both receive and repay them. But take whichever you please to be true; what will this knowledge profit us? ”

“ Of things profitable there is a large field, as money, honor, etc., to which might be added, matters of superfluity and pleasure. But we shall open a way to the circumstances of a benefit by some previous and more general deliberations upon the thing itself. ”

“ But when we find that a certain person does beneficial acts which the general experience of life did not warrant us in counting upon—acts which would not have been done by everybody, or even by most people, in his place; we associate the pleasure which the benefit gives us, with the character and disposition of that individual, and with the act, conceived as proceeding 324 from that specially beneficent disposition. ”

“ But wait till you obtain the means before you begin to seek in earnest the benefit of others, and, unless Divine Grace powerfully interpose, by the time, in your own judgments, the means are procured, your hearts will have become like the nether millstone. ”

“ As it is the will that designs the benefit, and the matter that conveys it, so it is the judgment that perfects it; which depends upon so many critical niceties, that the least error, either in the person, the matter, the manner, the quality, the quantity, the time, or the place, spoils all. ”

“ They happened to drift into a discussion as to what would be of the greatest benefit to mankind. Knowledge thought that to be possessed of a profound learning was most desirable; but Fortune maintained that good luck was the indispensable thing. ”

“ After canvassing many plans, one was at length hit upon which appeared to satisfy the requisite conditions, which were in brief that the thing bestowed should be a distinct benefit to all the people, and one which they could all appreciate. ”

“ But to what End do they associate, to what End do they bestow their Time, their Thoughts and their Money?† The Answer is obvious; it is to benefit others, not themselves: it is to encourage the Industrious, and reward the Ingenious: and what is still more exalted, it is to add Power, Strength and Lustre to their native Country. ”

“ However, a general good or benefit ought not to be concealed or kept in privy Councels, but to be divulged and publickly made known, that all sorts of People, of what condition, degree, or Nation soever, might partake of the general blessing and bounty of God. ”

“ The benefits accruing to the individual are physical, esthetic, and psychologic; and as the result of the development of the individual along these lines will result the fourth benefit, the social or the “community good.” ”

“ Give something then, every year, to promote both the temporal and spiritual good of your fellow creatures, and thus also secure the great benefit to yourself, which results from the exercise of a generous and benevolent spirit. ”

“ I say his benefits: for, with regard to you, he hath not confined them to the mere external advantages of fortune. He hath likewise produced you with more favourable dispositions to virtue than the simple people; a heart more noble, and more exalted; happier inclinations; sentiments more worthy of the grandeur of faith; more understanding, elevation of mind, knowledge, instruction, and relish for good. ”

“ To give profusely to the people, whether under the name of charity or of employment, without placing them under such influences that prudential motives shall act powerfully upon them, is to lavish the means of benefiting mankind, without attaining the object. ”

“ The rule is, we are to give, as we would receive, cheerfully, quickly, and without hesitation; for there is no grace in a benefit that sticks to the fingers. ”

“ for we are as well answerable for what we give as for what we receive;41 nay, the misplacing of a benefit is worse than the not receiving of it; ”

“ He who receives a benefit with gratitude, repays the first instalment of it. ”

“ The benefits to be derived by the public as exhibited in the abatement of many social evils,—in the diffusion of rational happiness,—in the gains of honest industry, such should be the inducements to this worthy undertaking. ”

“ For why are riches and honors bestowed upon the few—why the benefits of education, of leisure, of cultivation of the mind—unless it be that they are to be consecrated to the moral guidance and material assistance of the classes who are deprived of such advantages? ”

“ In the possessor of wealth and power, they are necessary to give effect to his good disposition; in all men they are an instrument of power; and they are intimately associated, in well-educated minds, with the idea of the great benefits to mankind, which have been, and will be, derived from them. ”

“ We must begin to build up the ornamental part of life—its pleasures, bodily and mental, scientific and artistic, social and individual—on the basis of work undertaken willingly and cheerfully, with the consciousness of benefiting ourselves and our neighbours by it. ”

“ We can be thankful to a friend for a few acres, or a little money: and yet for the freedom and command of the whole earth, and for the great benefits of our being, as life, health, and reason, we look upon ourselves as under no obligation. ”

“ What contribution are you going to make of your strength, your time, your influence, your money, your self, to make a cleaner, fuller, happier, larger, nobler life possible for some of your fellow-men? I do not ask how you are going to do it. You may do it in business, in the law, in medicine, in the ministry, in teaching, in literature. But this is the question: What are you going to give personally to make the human life of the place where you do your work, purer, stronger, brighter, better, and more worth living? ”

“ As you go about your daily duties in the home or workshop, let the mind be saturated with a spirit, a feeling and thinking of abundance—"The opulence of the Universal Source of Supply now meets all my needs," "The Abundant Life Giving Spirit of Prosperity now leads and guides me into the paths of plenty, peace and power," "My mind is filled with prosperous thoughts, my being is pulsating in abundant rhythm, my soul is uplifted and sustained by a thousand thoughts of ever-present abundance, prosperity and opulence." ”

“ May it, with all its treasures, be consecrated like that to the glory of God, through the contributions it shall make to the advancement of sound knowledge, to the relief of human suffering, to the promotion of harmonious relations between the members of the two noble professions which deal with the diseases of the soul and with those of the body, and to the common cause in which all good men are working, the furtherance of the well-being of their fellow-creatures! ”

“ Dean, since I have touch'd on this Topick, and assert, that to give, where Virtue and Industry are the Consequence of the Benefaction, you must allow is of higher Use, than relieving Distresses, which have been occasioned by Vice or Extravagance, and may probably end in them. Nay, to give under such Conditions, as must inevitably draw in others, to join in your Charity, and enlarge your Hopes of serving Mankind, is of the greatest Use; as it brings in Crowds to co-operate with you, and vastly out-do your Benefactions ”

“ Mind, young master, I speak of prosperity--not alone of wealth--of the happiness that cheers labor, of the protection which prompts it, of the example which leads in the right way, and of the generosity which rewards those who follow it. ”

“ The Way of the Will—Incentives.—​His thoughts are wandering on forbidden pleasures, to the hindrance of his work; he pulls himself up, and deliberately fixes his attention on those incentives which have most power to make him work, the leisure and pleasure which follow honest labour, the duty which binds him to the fulfilling of his task. His thoughts run in the groove he wills them to run in, and work is no longer an effort. ”

“ What is the good of it all? Does it pay? In the gift of increasing joy to us, in its obvious humanity and in its continuous inspiration, it certainly does make the work of life here in every branch the better. ”

“ What merit have I shewn—by what good intention towards the world have I been animated—what has been the positive amount of those services of mine on which I found my pretensions to the world's rewards? ”

“ As human Affairs go, I thought it was a Thing well worth the accepting. Do you look upon it a small Happiness to have so many Advantages to fall into a Man's Mouth, as tho' they dropt out of Heaven; handsome Houses well furnish'd, a large Revenue, an honourable Society, and a Church at Hand, to serve God in, when you have a Mind to it? ”

“ And I can't see it is my duty, either: for the reasons I have given you."
"You do not believe it is every man's duty to think of the growth and prosperity of his community?"
"I am not convinced that growth and prosperity, as you consider it, make happiness." ”

“ All that we call education, culture, social position, example, and, on the part of the individual, good-will, industry, zeal, etc., work for the development of the endowment, and the achievement depends thereon. ”

“ He is recognizing the fact that whatsoever is for the well-being of the one he employs, that whatever privileges he is enabled to enjoy that will tend to grow and develop his physical, his mental, and his moral life, that will give him an agreeable home and pleasant family relations, that whatever influences tend to elevate him and to make his life more happy, are a direct gain, even from a financial standpoint for himself, by its increasing for him the efficiency of the man's labor. ”

“ But, this much I can say that if there is any reward prescribed in the economy of Providence for those who become masters of their passions and propensities, then you are sure to enjoy for ever the eternal joy and bliss of heaven. ”

“ A few years of honest labour, re-paid by the wide spreading opportunity of sowing the seeds of virtue in the hearts of many, who, in years to come, may bless you for the happiness which the stability of their first principles has cast upon their households—which may again send forth fresh seeds of virtue to new generations, disseminating to children's children the thoughts and principles which were first inculcated by you. ”

“ Turn that discovery to better uses than the mere amassing of wealth. Let the poor, the sick, the needy, gain health and happiness from your hands, and let their voices bless you for good wrought amongst them. ”

“ We do not mean merely physical work. There is a great deal of higher work—the work of action and endurance, of trial and patience, of enterprise and philanthropy, of spreading truth and civilization, of diminishing suffering and relieving the poor, of helping the weak, and enabling them to help themselves. ”

“ Can there be between them and the donors any of that happy manly interchange of thought, by which the possessors of education, refinement, leisure, might help, or be helped by, the active, self-reliant working-man, with his large capacity for fresh vigorous joy, and his store of power accumulated during a long period of endurance and patient effort? ”

“ By thus rendering my services useful to my fellow-creatures, I received the purest reward which can attend the increase of knowledge—the consciousness of performing my duty, and humbly imitating that Being, whose goodness is as general and unbounded as his power. ”

“ If you desired riches but for the service of your Lord, and have used them for him, and can truly give in this account, that you laid them not out for the needless pleasure or pride of the flesh, but to furnish yourselves, and families, and others, for his service, and as near as you could, employ them according to his will, and for his use, then you may expect the reward of good and faithful servants ”

“ How to make or save more money, how to do our work more easily, how to maintain our physical well-being, how to improve ourselves mentally and morally, how to enjoy life more fully—that is what we all want to know. ”

“ Better, a thousand times better, better for this life, better for the life to come, an existence of humble, virtuous industry than a single departure from virtue, even though it were paid with a fortune. ”

“ And it is the right apportionment of time to these various duties which constitutes its true economy.
In deciding respecting the rectitude of our pursuits, we are bound to aim at the most practical good as the ultimate object. With every duty of this life our benevolent Creator has connected some species of enjoyment, to draw us to perform it. ”

“ Let it be your ambition by indefatigable industry, unremitting activity, and endurance, to become a useful member of society, and thus be a credit to your faith, a source of joy to your parents, and a benefactor to your fellow-men. ”

“ Our duty to those who are our benefactors is, to esteem and love their persons, to make them proportionable returns of service, or duty, or profit, according as we can, or as they need, or as opportunity presents itself ”