§ 2. The Vocation of Man. If we ask the plain man, What is the good for man? we shall receive very different answers. One man will answer that the aim of human life is the enjoyment of pleasure, another that it is the attainment of fame, another that it is the acquisition of knowledge, a fourth that man's chief end is, in the words of the Westminster Catechism, "to glorify God and to enjoy Him for ever." These answers are clearly very different, but if we examine them a little, we shall see that there is one thing that they all imply. They all involve a reference to man's character. Those who say that the great aim of life is the attainment of pleasure assume that pleasure is to be enjoyed by a person with a character of some stability. The very fact that a person has an aim at all, even though it be so low a one as the life of mere enjoyment, shows that he has some character. Only the man who is entirely aimless is totally devoid of character. Again, those who say that the end of life is the attainment of fame and honour certainly imply a reference to character. If they are sincere in their ambition, they desire not merely that honour should be ascribed to them, but that their characters should be such as to deserve the honour. They want to deserve it, for it is not real honour unless they deserve it. Honour is simply the outward recognition of the fact that there is something great and good about a man's character. Similarly, the other two views of the good for man both have reference to character. The acquisition of knowledge naturally has an influence, either good or bad, on the development of character; and the religious
