nity and harmony by the
Exemplar of human life? Daily he is here to stir the mind with holy
ambitions; to wing the heart with noble aspirations; to inspire with
an all-conquering courage; to vitalize the whole manhood. By making
the individual rich within he creates value without. For all things
are first thoughts. Tools, fabrics, ships, houses, books are first
ideas, afterward crystallized into outer form. A great picture is a
beautiful conception rushing into visible expression upon the canvas.
Wake up taste in a man and he beautifies his home. Wake up conscience
and he drives iniquities out of his heart. Wake up his ideas of
freedom and he fashions new laws. Jesus Christ is here to inflame
man's soul within that he may transform and enrich his life without.
No picture ever painted, no statue ever carved, no cathedral ever
builded is half so beautiful as the Christ-formed man. What is man's
value to society? Let him who knoweth what is in us reply: "What shall
it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?"

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Northampton Antiquities. Clark.

CHARACTER: ITS MATERIALS AND EXTERNAL TEACHERS

"Character is more than intellect. A great soul will be
strong to live, as well as to think. Goodness outshines
genius, as the sun makes the electric light cast a
shadow."--_Emerson._

"What the superior man seeks is in himself; what the
small man seeks is in others."--_Confucius._

"After all, the kind of world one carries about in one's
self is the important thing, and the world outside takes
all its grace, color and value from that."--_James
Russell Lowell._

"Sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you
reap a character; sow a character and you reap a
destiny."--_Anon._

"So teach us to number our days that we may apply our
hearts unto wisdom."--_Psalm 90._

II

CHARACTER: ITS MATERIALS AND EXTERNAL TEACHERS

Dying, Horace Greeley exclaimed: "Fame is a vapor, popularity an
accident, riches take wings, those who cheer to-day will curse
to-morrow, only one thing endures--character!" These weighty words bid
all remember that life's one task is the making of manhood. Our world
is a college, events are teachers, happiness is the graduating point,
character is the diploma God gives man. The forces that increase
happiness are many, including money, friends, position; but one