His dreams are coming true! He had framed his first anticipations out of sheaves. Then his mind began to be busy with the stars. He was destined to have a part in preserving the life of his own Hebrew race and a part in that moral movement which would outlast the stars themselves. Through all those long hard years which lay between the pit of Dothan and the palace of Pharaoh, he was sustained by that vision of things divine which shone perpetually in his sky. "A man in whom the spirit of God is"--here is the ultimate reason for every splendid advance! Here is the ultimate reason why any man is able to rise from those lower levels where wool and mutton are the main considerations to those higher levels where he becomes a trusted implement in the hand of God for a service that will endure. The young man was a man of faith. He had faith in God. He had faith in his fellows, as he showed when he generously forgave the brothers who had wronged him, having them as ruler of Egypt utterly in his power. He had faith in himself because the spirit of God dwelt in his heart. And it matters not whether it is Egypt or Connecticut, the eighteenth century before Christ or the twentieth century after Christ, it is "by faith" that men work righteousness and obtain promises, wax valiant in fight and beat back the armies of aliens. In the long run the world belongs to the idealist. The ultimate shaping of its life is in the hands of the men who walk the busy streets and dusty lanes with their feet on the ground but with their heads and their hearts among the stars. The men of vision and faith sometimes lose a skirmish; now and then they are defeated in a battle; but when the war is fought through to a finish they are on the winning side. Here in this company there may be many a favourite son. You are inexpressibly dear to the hearts of those parents. Their thoughts, their prayers and their efforts are all reaching out for the best things for you. They do not know and you do not know what hard tests may lie ahead. You too may be sent for thirteen long years to the school of adversity, but if the spirit of God is in your heart, if you have faith, a vital and personal faith in Jesus Christ, if you have caught the vision of what life may be made to mean at its best, then it lies within your power also to achieve. II The Young Man Who Was an Athlete What a roomy place the Bible is! It is not filled up with model men and women. It is not filled up with nice little boys and girls, all neat and sweet, good enough to be angels right off with no alterations. It is peopled with imperfect, blundering folk like ourselves.