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"Written in the East, these characters live forever in the West; written in one province, they pervade the world; penned in rude times, they are prized more and more as civilization advances; product of antiquity, they come home to the bosoms of the folk of modern days."

--Robert Louis Stevenson.

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CHARACTER AND LIVING

MAKE THE BIBLE HEROES YOUR FRIENDS

We ever demand a person for an ideal instead of a principle. By living a year with a masterful character one would gain more than from a dozen years of moral precept. President King of Oberlin College says, "Character is not taught, but caught."

Since character is contagious, mere teaching of the bare and unadorned moral principle is almost always vain. But a hero personifies virtue, commands admiration, becomes an ideal.

This explains the power of stories in creating character. The heroes of the Bible fire us with enthusiasm we could never feel for impersonal virtue. To make them our friends is to be influenced by the noblest associates.

When Jesus wished to build up character in His disciples He told them a story, or parable, to supply their lack.