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I. EVERY MAN IS TRULY THE ARCHITECT OF HIS OWN CHARACTER. It is often said that a man is the architect of his own fortune. If a man build a fortune he has to do it with his own hands and his own brains. One thing is certain, nobody else is going to do it for him. Just so every man is the builder of his own character. Sometimes a fortune may be made suddenly, the result of an accident; but never is this true of character.

II. WE MUST NOTICE THE IMPORTANT PARTS OF THIS STRUCTURE.

1. The foundation is essential. If it be ill laid no subsequent care, toil, or expense can avail. Human nature is a quicksand, in which are thrown all man's efforts, his works, his wisdom, his piety; but all of them put together cannot furnish a sure foundation for character. "Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus."

2. This foundation Rock once secured, we are to be careful to build upon it — not near or about it, but upon it, and upon nothing else. Think of an architect carefully laying a foundation, and then building on one side of it.

3. The position of the superstructure is also important. This you are to build under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Every stone we lay must bear a relation to Christ and Him crucified. The centre of gravity must fall within the base. The great leaning tower of Pisa is a wonder to all who see it, because it does not fall, for it leans fifteen feet over the base. The centre of gravity is still ten feet within the base, hence it cannot fall. There are some characters that are leaning towers; they are so strange and eccentric in many things, so far out of plumb, that we wonder why they do not fall to utter destruction. Ah, here is the grand secret: the centre of the heart's gravity still falls within Christ.

III. CHARACTER BUILDING IS A PROGRESSIVE WORK. In heathen mythology it is said that the goddess Minerva sprung from the head of Jupiter, at once full grown and glorious; but character, like a great edifice, is of slow growth. As the builder lays brick after brick, stone after stone, erects beam after beam, so, slowly and laboriously, this character work advances. There is not an act of our lives, however small, not a thought even, that does not add a stone to that edifice.

IV. THE MATERIALS TO BE USED ARE IMPORTANT. It is not every quarry that can furnish materials for a cathedral Character will stand longer than even stone, or gold, or silver. If a man is to build for the future he must select materials that will last. Gold, silver, precious stones — love, faith, hope, self-denial, and patience, these are the materials for a lasting character.

V. WE MUST BUILD FOR ETERNITY. We must live in the house we build. Character, not circumstances, makes a man happy or miserable. If a man has a pure and holy character, do what you will you cannot make him unhappy.

VI. WE BUILD FOR INSPECTION. How careful were the old cathedral builders that the most distant work should be as well done as that nearest the eye. Why? Because they were built, not for man's eye, but for the eye of God, who sees all. So in character building this should be our motto, Not for man, but for God, whose eye sees the most trifling act or thought.

VII. WE MUST NOT MISTAKE THE SCAFFOLDING FOR THE BUILDING. We meet a friend and ask, How is your business, your health, your family? — this is all scaffolding. Instead, we should ask, How is your character getting on, the inner man? — then we should get at the heart of the thing. Scaffolding may be swept away by the storm, but character remains just as we form it, unchanged for ever.

(J. S. Holme, D. D.)

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KJV: But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,

WEB: But you, beloved, keep building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.