CHARACTER, VALUE OF

“Fame is a vapor, popularity is an accident, and money takes wings. The only thing that endures is character” (attributed to O. J. Simpson, former professional football player).98

“Traveling on a train from Perth to Edinburgh, all of a sudden we came to a dead stop because a very small screw in one of the engines had been broken, and when we started again we were obliged to crawl along with one piston rod at work instead of two. Only a small screw was gone. If that had been right the train would have rushed along its iron road, but the absence of that insignificant piece of iron disarranged the whole. The analogy is perfect; a man in all other respects fitted to be useful may by some small defect be exceedingly hindered, or even rendered utterly useless in the ministry” (C. H. Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1980], p. 1954).99