entirely responsible. We may fail in all else, let our endeavors be
earnest and patient as they may; but all other failures touch us only in
our external lives. If we have used our best endeavors to attain success
in the pursuit of temporal objects, we are not responsible though we
fail. But if we do not succeed in attaining true health and wealth
and power of Character, the responsibility is all our own; and the
consequences of our failure are not bounded by the shores of time, but
stretch onward through the limitless regions of eternity. If we strive
for this, success is certain, for the Lord works with us to will and to
do. If we do not strive, it were better for us that we had never been
born.

Character is all we can take with us when we leave this world. Fortune,
learning, reputation, power, must all be left behind us in the region of
material things; but Character, the spiritual substance of our being,
abides with us for ever. According as the possessions of this world have
aided in building up Character,--forming it to the divine or to the
infernal image,--they have been cursings or blessings to the soul.

Before we can understand how Character is to be built up, we must come
to a distinct faith in its reality; we must learn to feel that it is
more real than anything else that we possess; for surely that which is
eternal is more real than that which is merely temporal; it may, indeed,
be doubted whether that which is merely temporal has any just claim to
be called real.

Many persons confound reputation with Character, and believe themselves
to be striving for the reality of the one, when the fantasy of the other
alone stimulates their desires. Reputation is the opinion entertained of
us by our fellow- beings, while Character is that which we really are.