d. But what we are ourselves we take
with us. All that time has made us, for good or evil, goes with us.
We can lay up treasures in ourselves that neither moth nor rust can
corrupt, and which thieves cannot steal away. "The splendid treasures
of memory, the treasures of disciplined powers, of enlarged capacities,
of a pure and loving heart, all are treasures which a man can carry in
him and with him into that other world."

We are but farmers of ourselves, yet may,
If we can stock ourselves and thrive, uplay
Much good treasure for the great rent-day.--DONNE.

"All the jewels and gold a man can collect he drops from his hand when
he dies, but every good action he has done is rooted into his soul and
can never leave him."--Buddhist saying.

V. The highest character a man can have is the Christian
Character.--(1) Christ is the giver of a noble character. It is
possible to be united to Christ as the branch is united to the tree;
and when we are so, His life passes into ours: a change in character
comes to us; we are renewed in the inward man, old things pass away,
and all things become new. In the life of St. Paul we have a striking
instance how coming to Christ effects a change in character. He became
a different man from what he was; he received a new inward life; a
transfiguring change passed over the entire character; the life he
lived in the flesh became a life of faith in the Son of God; and his
experience has been the experience of many. The source of the highest
and noblest character is Christ. (2) Christ is also the _standard_ of
a noble character; the true ideal of manhood is found in Him: "the
stature of the fulness of Christ." Take the following illustration:
"In Holland we travel with Dutch money, in France with French money, in
Germany with German money. The standard of the coinage varies with
every state we go into. In Britain there is one standard of coinage;
we may get some corrupted money or some light coin, but the standard of
coinage is the same. The standard for the Christian is the same
throughout the years and in all places: the one perpetual standard of
the life of Christ." The best men are those who come the nearest to
it. Those who come nearest to it are those who will do best in the
practical conduct of life.

CHAPTER II.

SUCCESS IN LIFE.

We often hear the word success used. The great wish that most have in
beginning life is that they may be successful. One