Weak and helpless as we may be in the affairs of this life, there is,
however, one thing over which we have entire control. Riches may take
to themselves wings, though honest industry exert its best efforts to
acquire and retain them; power is taken away from hands that seek to
use it only for the good of those they govern; reputation may become
tarnished, though virtue be without spot; health may vanish, though its
laws, so far as we understand them, be strictly obeyed; but there is one
thing left which misfortune cannot touch, which God is ever seeking to
aid us in building up, and over which he permits us to hold absolute
control; and this is Character. For this, and for this alone, we are
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.
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