he fault of the people who love to have
these things so. It is because men have gone pleasure-mad and
sport-mad, and in their madness cannot see the difference between a
clever athlete and a mental or moral giant. We prove what our own
tastes are, we prove the quality of our own hearts and minds, we prove
our own debasement, when we exalt physical strength above excellence of
character, when we make our heroes out of muscle instead of soul, when
we worship those who serve our pleasure more than those who set us
examples of noble things, and lead the way in them. It is only another
rendering of the old shout, "_Away with this man, and release unto us
Barabbas_." Not so wicked, of course, but equally foolish and unworthy.

Who are your heroes? That is the question. Or in other words, What
sort of men do you admire most? Answer that, and I know at once what
sort of men and women you are. If you are worshippers of pleasure, the
champions of the pleasure-world will be your idols and kings. If you
are rooted and grounded in the love of lucre, the successful
millionaire is the man that you will fawn upon or worship from afar.
If your main delight is in intellectual things, the great thinkers and
writers will be the men to whom you look up with reverence. And if you
are good men, with a passionate love for goodness, and a constant
striving to be better than you are, there are none whom you will admire
with all your hearts except the good, except the best, and those who
are leading in the way of goodness.

In a land which is truly Christian, the only heroes will be those who
most resemble Christ. If we are truly Christians, and Christian
thoughts have taken full possession of our hearts, we shall recognise
no heroes save those who serve as Christ served, who live in a measure
as Christ lived, who deny themselves for others, and spend their
strength for the benefit of their fellow-men as the Master did. These
are the true heroes, and all the others are more or less cheap
imitations of them, or false substitutes for them. These are the true
heroes, I say. The men and women who risk their lives to save other
lives. The men who use their strength and ability, not for pay, but
for the good and the advancement of their fellow-men, to save men from
their sins, and to lessen the sum of human ill. The brave men and
women who venture all things to serve some great and righteous cause,
and to speed on the Kingdom of Christ