One inquiry concerns the essence of all true work for God and man, namely, the principles which constitute the base blocks upon which must be reared any enduring structure of service. If these be unsound or defective, there may he need of a reconstruction from the foundation. All serviceableness has its preparations, and to overlook or disregard them prevents even the best-intentioned work from being either effective or lasting. In his book, From Death into Life, Mr. Haslam tells of an elderly Cornish woman, deeply taught in the things of God, who, feeling that he was seeking to secure a higher standard of Christian activity without due care to lay right foundations in personal holiness. Asked him one day as he passed by, intent on the new church edifice then in his mind, Mr. Haslam, are ye goin' to build your spire from the top? The quaint question was an arrow, not easily dislodged. He could not get the thought out of mind.