May 1929
T h e
K i n g ' s
B u s i n e s s
245
C haracter B uilding We are building every day, In a good or evil way; And the structure as it grows Will our inmost soul disclose. Till in every arch and line All our faults and failings shine— It may grow a castle grand, Or a wreck upon the sand. Do you ask what building this, That can show both pain and bliss— That can be both dark and fair? Lo, its name is character. Build it well whate’er you do; Build it straight and strong and true; Build it clean and high and broad; Build it for the eye of God. —Sel. C hoice N uggets Our English word “character” comes from a Greek word meaning to engrave. Character is what we engrave upon the life tablet. The tools are our thoughts. Dr. Cuyler likens building character to the building of Cologne Cathedral. The first time he saw the structure it was dis figured by scaffolding; but when he saw it again, many years afterward, it was fin ished, and was the most magnificent thing from the Alps to the sea. Christians are imperfect as we see them now, but wait until they are finished! No man can build a perfect character by putting patches on a faulty character. It is said that Nelson’s battleship, Victory, has been entirely rebuilt by putting in a piece here and there, wherever a rotten timber was found. But Christian character is not the patching of an old life, but the construc tion of the whole man by a new life principle within him.— C. E. World. “I don’t see why that man didn’t have more influence on his class of boys,” said one to another, referring to a Sunday- school teacher. “He used to give them such beautiful talks; I have been in his room and heard them.” The answer came with a little laugh: “The talks were well enough, but they were about as valuable as postage stamps without mucilage— nothing back of them to make them stick.” — Forward. Character is what you are in the dark.' —D. L. Moody. “The world has been startled by the wpnders in plant and fruit life produced by Luther Burbank. Another horticultur ist by the name of Stevens has lately produced a seedless and coreless apple. Little has been said about the great care and patience and time required to produce these results. If it takes twenty-five years of selection to make a spineless cactus or a coreless apple, which is a thing of earth and belongs only to time, why should we grow impatient at the transformation of a soul ? It may take longer to make char acter than anything else, but the longer time is well spent, because the character is worth infinitely more.” “A few years ago it was the regular business of some men to wipe all engines, keep them free from oil and dust. Later on it was discovered that a dirty engine did as good work as a clean one, so the freight engines were not wiped. An unex pected thing happened: the engineers be came careless. The engine-cleaners had to be restored, as the men needed the
influence of cleanliness. Uncleanness never pays. The writer has often been amazed at farmers who leave their machinery in the open field from one season to another, claiming exposure does not hurt the ma chine. It may not, but it will hurt every man and boy on the farm. Care, cleanli ness, thrift, attention to little things can not be underestimated in character build ing.” Make up your minds about it while you are young. It is far easier, while your hearts are_ young and fresh, and open to all good influences, to make your lives beautiful and pure in the sight of God and man, than it is to do so after your character has become more formed, and the chill world has cooled down your young affections and enthusiasm. I saw once, lying side by side in a great work shop, two heads made of metal. The one was perfect—all the features of a noble, manly face came out clear and distinct in their lines of strength and beauty; in the other, scarcely a single feature could be recognized—it was all marred and spoiled. “The metal had been let grow a little too cool, sir,” said the man who was showing it to me. I could not help think ing how true that was of many a form more precious than metal. Many a young soul that might be stamped with the im age and superscription of the King, while it is warm with the love and glow of early youth, is allowed to grow too cold, and the writing is blurred, and the image is marred.— Canon Teignmouth Shore’s “St. George for England." Character is not cut in marble; it is not something solid and unalterable. It is something living and changing; and may become diseased as otlr bodies do.— George Eliot. Character is the product of daily, hour ly actions, and words and thoughts ; daily forgivenesses, unselfishness, kindnesses, sympathies, charities, sacrifices for thé good of others, struggles against tempta tion, submissiveness under trial. Oh, it is these, like the blending colors in a pic ture or the blending notes of music, which constitute the man.—/. R. Macduff. A Record Year in Bible D istribution B y R ev . G eorge W illiam C arter , D.D. General Secretary of the New York Bible Society The Bible is still popular; it is still the world’s best seller. More than thirty mil lion copies are circulated every year throughout the world, and the Book has been translated into more than 800 lan guages and dialects. At the annual meet ing of the New York Bible Society, just held, the announcement was made that during the year 1928, 9f>5,671 copies of the Scriptures in 71 languages were circulated iu the city and harbor of New York, the largest distribution ever made by the so ciety. No other book has had such a cir culation in the metropolitan area. The New York Bible Society has com pleted 119 years of Christian and patriotic service. In the year 1809, the year the original society was organized, 932 Bibles were circulated. That was a day of small beginnings. The territory of the city of New York at that time extended from the Battery to Chambers Street, with a population of 90,000 inhabitants,
while the total population of the area now covered by the five Boroughs of Greater New York was less than 120,000. City Hall was then in process of construction. Its front and two sides were built of white marble, while on the north side of the building sandstone was used from motives of economy, it being thought that the material on that side was of little consequence, as few citizens would ever reside north of the spot. The present Canal Street was so low and marshy that often during high tide the waters of the East and Hudson Rivers met in the center of Manhattan Island. An inter esting fact is recorded of a Lutheran church which was involved at the time in financial difficulties. Contributions being solicited, one friend offered to donate a tract of six acres of land near the stone bridge at the corner of Broadway and Canal Street. After much deliberation, the trustees refused the gift, declaring the land would not be worth the trouble of putting a fence about it. It is interesting to note that just one week after the New York Bible Society was organized, the building of the first free school in New York was dedicated. This free school later grew into our public school system. In the year 1809 there were in the city a public library, two free schools, a hos pital, a medical college, one Roman Cath olic Church, one Jewish Synagogue, and forty-nine Protestant churches or places of worship. After one hundred and nineteen years of service, the New York Bible Society has reached a place of large influence in the religious life of a city and nation. The large distribution of the Scriptures during the past year was made through mission ary societies, pastors of churches, ac credited volunteer workers, and employed agents who carry the Word of Life to the immigrants, the seamen, and the multi tudes of many nationalities. The workers go into the hospitals, the prisons, and other institutions for the helpless and poor. The Society has placed, within a few years, nearly 100,000 Bibles in the guest rooms of New York hotels. Its work for the blind is national in its in fluence, as the Society publishes Portions of the Bible in the Universal System of Raised Type for the blind, called Revised Braille, Grade one and one-half. Hun dreds of volumes in raised type are do nated annually to the blind. The Society has only one work, that of circulating the Holy Scriptures. It han dles no literature of any kind excepting the Bible. The Society never goes into debt and never borrows money, the amount of the work being determined by its income. The large number of friends in every state who are interested in the free distribution of the Scriptures makes possible the continued activities of this historic Society, which is located in its Bible House at 5 East Forty-Eighth Street, New York City.
The Word of God is a seed, spiritual and incorruptible in nature, and when re ceived into a prepared heart and quick ened by the Spirit of God, it becomes the life-germ of a new creation.
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