It is my regard for my country that forces me to say what I do. I hope she will always retain a certain degree of individuality, and live to emulate in _her own Welsh way_ the other great nations of the kingdom. The Scotch do this, why should not we? Honesty, however, forces me to affirm that by clinging unwisely to her antiquated habits when she ought to have out-grown them, Cambria will be thrown down, the advancing host will march over her prostrate form, and she will cease to be a living presence on the earth. “In the strife of tribes, of races, and of nations, in the political as in the physical world,” says the author of _Habit and Intelligence_, “a process of natural selection goes on, of which the tendency is to give the victory to the best.” {25a} And Bishop Butler {25b} foreshadowed the same law when he indicated that as power and reason united have proved themselves capable of prevailing over power devoid of reason, as exhibited by the brute creation; so there is in society a tendency in power combined with reason and virtue, to overcome opposing power combined with reason and vice; and God be thanked that it is so, namely, that of the righteous it can be said, “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” But now let me remind you that in such a combination as power, reason, and virtue, one very generally existing among the people of Wales, there are several degrees of development, and that the higher degree, the more fully differentiated, that which contains most members in one body, will, when brought into competition with it, always, in the course of time bear down or absorb the lower. As standard-bearers in the army of the great Captain, it will be your duty, therefore, both to God and your own people, while encouraging among the latter that state of firm formation which already is so characteristic of them, to be urgent also in calling upon them to follow you, as bravely you lead the way onward, upward, God-ward. * * * * * Considerable stress has been laid in this discourse upon that element of the law of unity and variety—division of labour. Now, in concluding, I would beg to guard you against a misconception on this point which may prove mischievous to you. In my college days, it used to be a subject of complaint with many of the men, that they should have to spend so much of their time in studies, which, as they thought, had no direct connexion with theological training; that is, they were earnest advocates for greater division of labour. I have no doubt there are many of a similar way of thinking among you now. But are you not aware that those who have climbed to a higher elevation than the one you have yet been able to reach, see clearly that all these studies are really necessary to make of you ordinary scholars, gentlemen, and competent parish priests?