In the second century before Christ, Antipater of Sidon wrote an epigram in which he catalogued what he considered the seven most wonderful things in the world at that time. The list included the walls of Babylon, the statue of Zeus by Phidias at Olympia, the hanging gardens at Babylon, the Colossus of Rhodes, the pyramids of Egypt, the mausoleum at Halicarnassus, and the temple of Diana at Ephesus. Rather recently the editor of a well-known American magazine undertook to discover what is the best opinion as to the seven most wonderful things in the world today. He addressed a thousand letters to leading thinkers in various countries, asking each to record his choice among a considerable list of things. The seven things receiving the highest number of votes were the wireless, the telephone, the aeroplane, radium, antiseptics and antitoxins, spectrum analysis, and the X-ray. The eighth wonder chosen, had the call been for that number, would have been the Panama Canal. It will be noted that nothing in Antipater’s list expressed service to mankind. At the same time, it will be noted that everything in the modern list enumerated does signify service. This means that we are moving forward in the direction of a Christian standard of greatness. =The True Ideal for Humanity= It will be a blessed day for humanity when people in general come to see that the one who is servant of his times is the true ideal of greatness. Since we are hero-worshippers, and since we do take one another for our patterns, it is highly desirable that the highest type of manhood and womanhood we have shall be the examples for the rest. The human struggle will always be in the direction of whatever is considered great. We shall always struggle to become like that which we most admire. Therefore, it is important that we shall most admire the thing that is best. Doing so, we shall become increasingly like it. A nation made up of people who measure greatness by service will not be treading the path to national doom so long as this is true. It will be moving forward in the way of a larger and richer life. Selfishness and envy are disintegrating influences, but service in the spirit of Christ is a building force both for time and for all eternity. The Objective of Service (1922) The present social situation demands that we shall push forward in the direction of a twofold objective. First, we must give human life the best possible set of conditions under which to exist and develop. Second, we must do what is properly possible to assist it to develop at its best under those conditions. We must make of the physical world the best environment we can. We must then encourage people to obtain the largest benefit from that environment.