Developing Our Personalities With Wisdom

"Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy wisdom get understanding."

Wisdom Is the Principal Thing

There has been a great deal of discussion over the years on what is the greatest good. Henry Drummond wrote a stimulating essay entitled "The Greatest Thing in the World." His argument is based on the inspiring thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians, one of the masterpieces of our literature, in which Paul says, "And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity." Jesus pointed out two aspects of this important idea when he said we should love God with all of our hearts and our neighbors as ourselves.

Solomon said, "Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding." (Prov. 4:7.) Try to imagine what a society we would have if each of us always exercised good judgment, if we were always wise in our choices, if we thoroughly understood each situation so that our wisdom could be fully depended upon. We sometimes give credit for greatness to chance or those circumstances and influences that were in our heredity antedating our birth. We sometimes say that a person is a natural-born salesman or a natural-born teacher or a natural-born golfer. Everyone has at least two personalities, the one that he is born with and the one he acquires after he is born. It is the acquired personality that we use in becoming a successful teacher, businessman, scientist, or husband or wife. The principal ingredient in all of these successes is the element of being wise in what we do.

Just as nothing is born fully grown, so no one begins his life with a head full of knowledge or muscles filled with skills and self-control or a nervous system ripened with stability. We learn how to be good husbands and bank presidents just as we learn to be expert basketball players, golfers, and skaters. Each of us begins his life with great possibilities, and where we go from there is up to us.

With the right kind of study and labor and with a few other things added in, each of us may develop wisdom and good judgment. Certainly we ought to explore the possibilities of more effectively cultivating these important qualities for our own lives.

Wisdom is the quality of being able to judge sincerely and deal sagaciously with facts, especially as they relate to life and conduct. It is the capacity to make the best use of knowledge. It involves the ability to make the best use of time and opportunity. It is the proper development of talent. It is a perception not only of the best ends, but also of the best means. It is the ability to use practical know-how. It adds excellence to our lives.

And so we might adopt as a theme and goal for our lives the statement of the wise man Solomon, who said, "Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding." We should work on this project as though our life depended upon it, as indeed it does.

Basic Character

The kind of character we develop determines on which end of the success scale our lives belong. There is a great similarity between physical structure and our character structure, for as the bony skeleton gives us physical strength and power, so our basic character furnishes us the power to reach our divine destiny.

God himself has developed a perfect character, one that not only knows right from wrong, but one that is also dedicated irrevocably to right and is set in eternal opposition to wrong. God cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance. His strong commitments and his unchangeable nature make it impossible for him to fail, for he is the same yesterday, today, and forever. It is this basic, unchangeable, righteous character that makes God God, and we should train ourselves to follow his example. It is important for us to develop a strong physical backbone with its some two hundred other supporting bones, but it is even more important that we develop moral backbone composed of a righteous human character. The general benefits that we receive from a good character guarantee to us every other success and happiness.

The Boy Scout organization attempts to build this kind of character into its members. Before any boy is permitted to have even a Tenderfoot membership in the Scout organization, he must make a solemn pledge: "On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight." These sacred pledges, if lived, would constitute a godly strengthening in the skeleton of each participating boy.

The first part of this pledge has to do with performing one's duty to God and country. The second has to do with maintaining a high relationship of genuine service to others, and in the third, each boy makes a solemn pledge to himself of physical cleanliness, intellectual excellence, and moral righteousness. Then he attempts to develop within himself those laws of righteousness centered in the following twelve basic character principles:

1. Trustworthiness

2. Loyalty

3. Helpfulness

4. Friendliness

5. Courtesy

6. Kindness

7. Obedience

8. Cheerfulness

9. Thrift

10. Bravery

11. Cleanliness

12. Reverence

When we refer to character by itself without any qualifying adjectives, we automatically imply a good character. Yet our world is full of people who lack character or who have some negative character traits. Evil character traits are fathered by Satan. The dictionary says that character is the aggregate of distinctive mental and moral qualities belonging to an individual or to mankind as a whole. A man's character is what he is. His reputation is what others think he is. One is the substance, the other is the shadow. Emerson said that character ranks higher than intellect. It must stand behind and back up every other thing. Character is a moral vigor or skeletal firmness that we acquire through self-discipline, and our individual traits serve as the index to our essential or intrinsic value.

In recent years, we have been made aware of a serious worsening taking place in the world that forms an unusual contrast with the brighter background of our earlier history. This consists primarily of processes that are eroding away fundamental character qualities. In many places honor is being replaced with dishonor; truth is not as valuable as it once was; delinquency and criminal activities have increased enormously. In the past men lived by the inspiring old axiom that an honest man is the noblest work of God. Yet, to many people today, lying and deception have become a way of life. We have torn down the pedestals from which our earlier heroes lifted us upward. We do not have the same kind of confidence in our great educational institutions that we formerly did, and many students have become rebels, vandals, and fosterers of immorality. Probably more important than all of these other downward trends is that so many people deny their responsibilities as children of God.

Recently a woman came to talk with me about her problems. She and her husband have six young children. The husband was immoral before they were married, and he has had several immoral affairs during their marriage. He has made many pledges to his wife and children, promising them one day a happy, united, righteous family life, and yet the next day disappearing for several days without anyone knowing where he is. Though he is immoral and irresponsible, he is a teacher in the public schools. He makes contributions to the financial welfare of the family only if it pleases him to do so, but he is not dependable as a means of family support. His wife works two eight-hour shifts each day, and from her two incomes she supports their six children; yet he accuses her of being a poor housekeeper. The children love their father; yet they plead with their mother to divorce him. This man, a college graduate, forces his wife and children to undergo the torments of hell merely because he is irresponsible and lacks those fundamentals of basic character that should identify him as a man. He might be described as a mental and spiritual jellyfish who has no moral backbone or strong personal commitments to manhood. His occasional impulses toward righteousness cause him to make promises, and then the weakness of his undisciplined will prevents them from being fulfilled.

Someone has said: "He who acts wickedly in private life can never be expected to show himself noble in public conduct. He who is base at home will not acquit himself with honor abroad; for it is not the man, but only the place that is changed." In contrast to this gloomy picture, we might think of God himself, who never wavers or vacillates. He is always the same.

Colton has said that anyone should be willing to give twenty thousand pounds for a good character because he could immediately make double that sum by its use. When J. P. Morgan was asked what he considered the best bank collateral, he replied "Character." The best characters are formed by vigorous and persistent resistance to evil tendencies. No one can wish or dream himself into a good character. He must hammer and forge one for himself. Lloyd George said: "There is nothing so fatal to character as half-finished tasks." J. J. Gurney has added: "A tree will not only lie as it falls, but it will fall as it leans."

The beast was placed down on all fours and thus his vision is cast upon the ground, but man was created upright in the image of his Maker, so that he might look up to God. Solomon said: "With all thy getting, get understanding." (Prov. 4:7.) And we might reassert our central purpose by adding: "With all thy getting, get character."

Our Moods

One of the great powers operating in our lives is called emotion. Each person has a collection of these mysterious forces, which are capable of taking him either backward or forward or up or down.

In his first inaugural address, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower said that the great driving forces of the world were not intellectual but emotional. Enormous power is generated by what and how we think and feel.

Moods vary widely. One may have a sullen or morose state of mind. A bad temper or anger may lead to arrogance or cruelty. Sin causes a particular low tide in our mood and leaves us vulnerable to all kinds of temptations. If we allow ourselves to be moody, we may go in the wrong direction, since many of the powerful moods are caused by hate, anger, selfishness, negative thinking, and fear.

However, moods are not all bad, for our emotions can carry us up as well as down. There are certain things that bring on joyful, happy moods and cause a general elevation of our lives. Shakespeare even speaks of a beneficial fear, which he calls the fear that reason leads. Our fears can be helpful if we are afraid of the right things at the right time. President James A. Garfield once said, "I am afraid of doing any evil thing." When we develop enough fear of ignorance, sin, unfairness, dishonesty, weakness, and failure, we set in motion uplifting moods. We should see to it that our moods include the powerful motivating factors of reason, ambition, and good judgment. We should determine in our minds what our objectives are and ought to be and then run up a full emotional sail in such a way that the power of our moods and feelings can carry us to our destination.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said that in his personal life, the thing he needed most was for someone who could get him to do those things that he already knew he ought to do. That is, he needed the emotional power to put in force those things that his reason and good judgment told him should be done. He explained that one of his difficulties came because he could not get his moods to believe in each other.

The main business of Mr. Emerson's life was thinking and writing. Sometimes he was deluged by a rush of ideas, and he could not write fast enough to get them down on paper before they vanished. At such a time, he could never imagine that this wonderful high tide in his thinking would ever change. He compared this situation to the maple syrup harvest in New England in the spring. There were times when the sap would flow from the maple trees in such abundance that it would overflow all containers placed there to gather the syrup, and those in charge could not bring new containers fast enough.

Then Mr. Emerson's mood would change. He would lose the spirit. He said that he could not write very well with his pen in one hand while he had a peat knife or a crowbar in the other. When his negative thinking overcame his enthusiasm, he would find himself in a devastating mental low tide from which he had great difficulty recovering. At such times the gift of the happy phrase refused to come. Then it was as though the maple trees of his brain were completely dead, and that no matter what he did, his imagination refused to work. He would be taken over by discouragement and despair and obsessed with fear and unhappiness. Most important of all, he could not get himself to believe that this situation would ever change.

However, he discovered that if he kept constantly at work, studying, thinking, and writing, and excluding from his mind all neutralized emotions or antagonistic thoughts, it would not be long before the drought season would pass and the mental syrup would again be overflowing. His ideas would again be like a great cloud of intellectual butterflies trying to light on his brain.

This contrast of emotional feasts and famine is one of the problems of every life, and one of the important secrets of success is how to cure our destructive moods before they take place. We do ourselves great damage when we sin at night and then hate ourselves in the morning. The addict is all enthused about getting high on drugs this week, and then he spends next week in contemplating suicide. After every sin of gluttony, some of us firmly make up our minds that we will eat nothing more for the rest of the week, but before the next mealtime has arrived, our mood has changed and we are ready to reindulge. Our moods not only disbelieve each other, but are actually hostile and destructive.

Some time ago, as I walked down the street, I stopped for a few minutes to admire the beautiful display in the window of a candy store. In a communication that was stronger than any words, my stomach urged me, "Go in and get the candy." However, my brain, which is always concerned with my best interests, immediately got into the discussion and advised me not to get the candy. Then it gave me a dozen reasons why I shouldn't get the candy. Number one, it said, "You've already had your lunch." Number two, "You're not particularly undernourished." Number three, "You already have a problem of several pounds of excess baggage." Number four, "If you get the candy, your problem will be increased, you won't look as well, you won't be able to work as hard, your willpower will be lessened for the next showdown, further jeopardy will be placed on your health, and your indulgence is expensive and solves nothing. In fact, eating always increases your appetite." I carefully considered these reasons and found every one of them to be absolutely true. Never in my lifetime, when my brain has had the right information, has it ever tried to deceive me, while my stomach is always urging me to do things against my own interests. I went over these reasons with my stomach, and said, "How are you going to answer this logic?" But my stomach never reasons at all—it just urges. It kept saying, "Go in and get the candy."

I always try to be reasonable and fair and give full consideration to both sides of an argument, but after considering both sides I went in and got the candy. This is not the first time that I have sided with my stomach against my brain. And my brain gets a little demoralized, for it knows that it was appointed to be the presiding officer of my personality. Everything I do is supposed to be checked and approved by my brain, and my brain sometimes becomes confused because it knows from past experience that no matter how reasonable its directions may be, it cannot always depend that I will follow its logic.

I often have conflict going on between my brain and my stomach, even though my brain is very intelligent and my stomach is devoid of all reasoning power. I have discovered that it is easy for one to get into the habit of thinking with his appetites.

Sometimes we let our moods place our wills in slavery. Powerful appetites that we allow to get control over us can make even the most heinous sin seem pleasant at the moment, but after the passion is past and the sin has been committed, we tend to be sorry for what we have done and our mood changes to miserable regret. But this so-called repentance may not last long, and soon we are ready to turn back to our wallow.

Someone said of a man who was trying to establish spirituality in his life that he wore out the knees of his trousers in trying to get religion and then he wore out the seat of his pants in backsliding. Many people go through a literal hell in suffering ups and downs as the conflicts of their moods continue. What we need is a stronger central control of our lives. We need to make up our minds what is right and what is wrong and where we want to go, and then get a powerful set of positive emotions to take us there.

There are many arguments against gluttony and obesity, and the arguments are just as valid while we are eating as they are immediately after we have finished. The arguments against immorality should be just as convincing to us when the temptation is present as they are after shame and regret have destroyed our happiness and peace of mind. Someday everyone will stand before God. No one will then want to be an atheist or a weakling or a telestial personage. Everyone will believe in God during the final judgment, and everyone will then want to be a devoted, enthusiastic, whole-souled member of God's celestial kingdom. It is a pretty good idea for us to repent before the deed is committed and to make our pledge against our sins before the damage has all been done.

The magnificent brains with which we have been endowed are much more effective to think with than are our stomachs or our hates or our sex urges or any feelings of support that we have for doing wrong. We need to set our goals by the scriptures and by listening to the dictates of our spirits and the logic of our brains, and then get our emotions for righteousness behind us to push us toward the place where we would someday like to be.

Imagination

The most complicated piece of machinery in the world is a human being. We have seen the automobile, the radio, the television, and other inventions in their beginnings as very crude instruments, and then we have watched them evolve to their present place of comparative excellence. But each human being easily qualifies as the greatest invention God himself has ever devised. From the very beginning man has been loaded with potential miracles and wonders that even he himself cannot begin to understand.

Someone has said that the greatest gift God has given to man is an imagination. With an imagination we can go forward or backward across time or space with greater facility than we could get across the street. With an active imagination we can relive the past and we can pre-live the future. In Gospel Ideals, President David O. McKay has a paragraph in which he said: "Last night I dreamed about my mother." And then he said: "I would like to dream about my mother more often." President McKay did not learn those lessons of life that brought him to his ultimate high place when he was fifty or sixty or seventy. He learned them at five, ten, and fifteen at his mother's knee; then, in his later years, he was able to go back in his dreams and relive the experiences with his mother while he reabsorbed the original good.

Each person may regularly go back and relive his marriage vows or the covenants he made at the waters of baptism. We can relive crises in our lives when we promised God that under all circumstances we would be faithful. Or we may go in the other direction looking toward the future, so that a young person can pre-live his marriage and discover the qualities that he would like to establish in himself before that important occasion arrives. In a similar way, we may pre-live our death or go across the boundaries of mortality and pre-live our own eternal life.

We may learn to form mental images, to pre-live experiences, to project answers, and to make decisions, even before a problem has arisen. Before an architect erects a building of steel, concrete, and glass, he constructs an image in his mind and then puts it down on paper. When Orville Wright was a little boy he asked his father, "Can a man fly?" Then for hours at a time he and his brother, Wilbur, would lie on their backs watching the birds fly overhead. They discussed such questions as this: "If birds and bees could fly, why couldn't men?" They wondered how the billions of tons of rainwater were carried across the sky to refresh the thirsty ground. It was inevitable, with enough imagination, that they would eventually make their famous sixty-second flight in Kittyhawk, North Carolina, to start the air age on its way.

The imagination has the power to disassemble its component parts and then recombine the various elements in any of thousands of combinations to bring about any result. The dictionary says that imagination is the act, process, or power to form mental images that are not actually present, a mental synthesis of new ideas from elements that have been experienced separately.

Many years ago H. G. Wells wrote an interesting fantasy about a man who invented a machine in which he could travel through time, much as we now travel through space. He could go thousands of years into the future in a period of just a few minutes, and the speedometer of the time machine always indicated which year of time he was in. He could study peoples, civilizations, the institutions as they would some day actually be. Then he would get back into his time machine and return to the present.

By pushing the lever in the other direction, the scientist could with equal speed go back into the past. Being a historian, he took delight in witnessing the important events of history while they were actually taking place. He could personally verify the account of the Battle of Hastings by going back to the year 1066. By going still further back, he could visit the Golden Age of Greece to 400 B.C., and personally discuss philosophy with Socrates.

This philosophy is much more than a fantasy. God has given a kind of time-traveling ability to the prophets. For example, he took Abraham back into his own antemortal existence and let him experience conditions as they existed when he lived with God and walked by sight. John the Revelator pushed the lever in the other direction, and from his lonely exile on the Isle of Patmos near the end of the first century he went forward past the end of our world as we know it to the time of the final judgment. In telling us of this experience, he said, "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." (Rev. 20:12.)

An imagination not only has the power to take us backward or forward; it can also take us up or down. The mind is equipped with the power to dream great dreams of accomplishment. Just a few years ago we were dreaming dreams of flying carpets and seven league boots and magic wishing caps and Aladdin lanterns. We have already made these dreams out of date because we have so far surpassed them all.

Abraham Lincoln once said that any man can be about as happy as he makes up his mind to be. We can also be about as wise as we make up our minds to be. Our minds can take us to the very gates of exaltation or they can cast us down to the lowest levels of despondency, depression, and even hell itself. We do not know the extent a mind can go in making us miserable.

But our minds were not given us to damn us. They were given to help us bring about better conditions of happiness. And so we push the lever up while we live life at its best and as it ought to be lived. The first step to any accomplishment is to believe in it.

As the little girl plays mother to her dolls, she is building the roadway for her own future. Boys who play at being gangsters will be different kinds of men from those who imagine themselves to be patriots. Those whose industry places them in the center of accomplishment will rise above those who revel in idleness, drunkenness, and sin. We become what we think.

All we have to do to have the most magnificent castles in the air is to learn how to put some good mental foundations under them. However, we should carefully control the thinking power of our imagination. Otherwise it can take us where we don't want to go or turn us into something we don't want to be.

The chief purpose of this life is to prepare us for something better. It is a probationary state, a period of testing, of proving, of aspiring and developing. We aspire in secret and it comes to pass. There is no other objective in the world so worthy of the full power of our imagination as the celestial kingdom. As we read the words of the prophets and understand the eternal principles of progress, we can get into the time machines of our minds and pre-live the details of our destiny. May God help us to fully pre-live our possibilities.

Blessed Are the Peacemakers

The greatest sermon ever preached is known to us as the Sermon on the Mount. In this discourse Jesus refers to nine conditions of blessedness, or Beatitudes, that he desired that we should strive to attain. In one of these Beatitudes, he said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God." (Matt. 5:9.)

The dictionary gives a number of definitions for the word peace. It says that peace is a state of tranquillity, freedom from disturbance, a lack of agitation. It is a state of being free from war and other forms of hostility. Peace describes harmony in personal relationships. It is the mutual concord or amity that exists between people.

Peace is a mental or spiritual state in which there is freedom from all disquieting and disturbing influences. To make peace is to agree to end all hostilities so that amity may exist between those who have formerly been at war. Cowper says that peace always follows virtue and is its sure reward. The apostle Paul told the Ephesians that Christ "is our peace." (Eph. 2:14.)

As Jesus was about to leave the earth, he promised his followers: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14:27.)

The most satisfying kind of peace is Christ's peace. That is a peace in which the cause of strife has been removed from us. Many people try to make their peace co-exist with their sins; however, it is pretty difficult to get peace by compact or negotiation or because of some dictated decree without having peace in ourselves. When some of the more influential European nations objected to Hitler's program for enslaving the weaker nations of Europe, he shouted back to them angrily, "Let us alone, we want peace." That is, he wanted peace while he enslaved the weaker nations without interference from anyone else. This is the kind of peace criminals want, the kind of peace that will enable them to carry out their own ungodly programs of crime unhampered by law and order.

All true peace must be based on righteousness. If we don't find peace within ourselves, we will not find it in any other place, and when sin and wrong get into our lives, peace disappears.

In one of the great prophecies for our day, the Lord looked forward to a time when peace would be taken from the earth and the devil would have power over his own dominion. In his own day, Jesus looked down to this condition in our time and foretold the conditions that would bring about the wars and other disturbances that would cover the earth as the direct result of evil.

While dreadful wars between nations are very destructive, they do not come close to equaling the destructiveness of the deadly private wars people frequently carry on between themselves. Moral diseases break down the mind, destroy balance in the nervous system, and damage the soul. The scriptures mention another kind of warfare when God said that the sins of the fathers would be visited upon the children, and Jesus said that a man's foes would be those of his own household. Isn't it interesting that we may pick up our worst sins from our best friends? Many children get their worst lessons in dishonesty, desertion, alcoholism, immorality, and other vices in their own homes from their own parents. Among the most prominent causes of spiritual failure, mental disease, nervous disorders, and personality problems are the hate and disease that come from broken homes. We should add to this total the deformities that take place in the millions of people who continue to live together under conditions of extreme strife, hate, and bickering.

Jesus indicated that peace would be taken from the earth because of the sins of the nations. Peace can also be taken from homes because of the crime, sin, failure, and weakness that is permitted to incarnate itself in the lives of one or both of the marrying partners. Neither love nor peace can long survive in the presence of immorality, irresponsibility, dishonesty, drunkenness, or laziness. When righteousness is taken out of the home, peace is automatically taken out of the hearts of those who live there.

Jesus said, "Contention is not of me." And yet contention, strife, name-calling, bickering, and severe unhappiness are part of the lives of many people who are forced to suffer the tortures of those partially and prematurely damned.

Recently I talked with a mother of seven children who had been divorced after many years of enduring these living torments. She had tried to establish in her children attitudes of righteousness, but her husband had been antagonistic and had made fun of her. He had used his rebellion against the church as an excuse for his violation of its laws. He had declared an unrighteous war against his wife and the church. It seemed to give him some kind of a satanic pleasure to hold a view as opposite as possible from both of them. He has taken some joy in the fact that his children have largely identified with him instead of their mother, but they are now also becoming involved with him in all kinds of evil. In all of this, the mother has been the victim. Her peace has been taken from the earth, and there is no way that she can get it back so long as the evil of her family persists. How she would love to feel a little righteous pride in her family! She feels that she should be entitled to just a little happiness in her life before she dies. And it would seem like heaven to feel a little tranquillity in her heart, but as her problems go on increasing, her peace seems to become more and more impossible. Shakespeare seemed to have had her situation in mind when he said: "Each new morn new windows howl, new orphans cry, new sorrows strike heaven in the face."

When the Master said, "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God" (Matt. 5:9), he was not speaking merely to military leaders. I know a man who I think is a real peacemaker, and consequently he is very happy. He generates righteousness wherever he goes, and in his case, peace follows virtue as its sure reward. His primary concern as a husband is not to dominate his wife; his one ambition is to make her happy. He loves her wholeheartedly and does many nice little things that he knows will please her. His wife has absolute confidence and trust in him, and she has a comforting feeling of peace in her heart.

This man is also devoted to the Lord and is fully converted to the Lord's standards of righteousness. I think the Lord must trust him much as he did Job. He has a wonderful attitude and always does the right thing. He loves his children and teaches them righteousness. They are all happily associated together as a family. They all have confidence in their father and mother and in each other. They make up a happy family and are at peace.

I think of this man in contrast to those men mentioned about whom the Lord said: "For behold, I, the Lord, have seen the sorrow, and heard the mourning of the daughters of my people . . . because of the wickedness and abominations of their husbands. And I will not suffer, saith the Lord of Hosts, that the cries of the fair daughters of this people . . . shall come up against the men of my people, saith the Lord of Hosts. For they shall not lead away captive the daughters of my people because of their tenderness, save I shall visit them with a sore curse, even unto destruction; for they shall not commit whoredoms, like unto them of old, saith the Lord of Hosts." (Jacob 2:31-33.)

I am confident that the Lord was very upset when he spoke this condemnation. And I can picture that the men mentioned had taken a lot of peace from the earth as they had broken the hearts of their wives and lost the confidence of their children. Elbert Hubbard once said that in his opinion the unpardonable sin was incompatibility. When one understands the great amount of pain that the sins of one person may bring into the lives of many other people, the seriousness of the sin becomes even more evident. Bickering, quarreling, and hate can destroy the spirituality as well as the mental balance of people.

How wonderful are those referred to by Jesus when he said: "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God." When one stands before God, what could be more pleasing than to know that he has been an instrument of peace for his family, his employer, his friends, and God? May God help us all to be peacemakers.

A Dud

Much of Jesus's effective teaching ability came from his skillful use of parables. As he illustrated his ideas with appropriate stories he gave them greater life as well as power, color, and interest. Because he considered his ideas from every side, he strengthened his comparisons. Certainly the possibilities of his ideas were never exhausted by just one comparison.

Jesus used comparisons even when referring to himself. He said, "I am the light of the world." He compared himself to a door, to a shepherd, to a high tower. He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the light." He called himself "The good husbandman." He referred to himself as the "vinedresser."

Jesus made a rather unfavorable comparison for us when, as he looked beyond his own day down to our time, he said ". . . as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." (Matt. 24:37.)

When Jesus referred to himself as the light of the world, as the wise teacher, or as the great physician, he was helping to lift himself up. However, frequently we go in the other direction and make our situations and ourselves worse off by a downgrading comparison. We emphasize our problems and our weaknesses, resulting in an inferiority complex. One of the most difficult burdens anyone has to bear is the feeling that his own life is not worthwhile.

Recently a young woman came to talk about her problems. She had discussed them with anyone who would listen, and each seemed to have made a different diagnosis and prescription. Each had touched a different problem, and in her mind this woman seemed to have accepted each criticism and turned it into a major sin. Problems are given us to overcome, not to pull us down or surrender ourselves to.

The other day I heard of a rather striking accusation of a man when someone referred to him as a dud. I was interested in this oppressive title—not because it was applied to this particular man, but because it may so often be applied to human nature generally. Certainly this is a trait that we should be on guard against. The man making the application was an engineer who works with explosives. Because I wanted to get a better picture of the human aspects of this trait, I looked up the meaning of the word dud.

The dictionary says that this term is usually applied to a bomb that fails to explode because of a defective fuse or some other small imperfection. Another more important meaning listed in the dictionary for the word dud and the situation that goes with it is one that applies more closely to human beings, for it refers to someone who is ineffective and unimpressive.

Someone has said that a man's failure can often be attributed to the fact that he uses blank cartridges when shooting at his targets. The meaning of dud might be expanded a little bit to include also those people whose firearms explode wrong or prematurely, sending their shrapnel in the wrong directions. A related term is backfire.

Every one of the parables of Jesus was intended to inspire improvement. Yet he frequently talked vigorously about negative ideas in order to increase the impact on the people for whom the shock was intended. Listen to some of his stinging comparisons to some members of the leading classes:

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.

"Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous.

"And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.

"Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets." (Matt. 23:27-31.)

Again he said: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hyprocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess." (Matt. 23:25.)

Jesus talked about the many evils that get into human beings, not with the idea of promoting those traits in them, but to help them overcome problems that might cause their deeds to backfire and destroy them.

The purpose of the Ten Commandments is to impress us with some of those things that we just must not do under any circumstances. To keep the commandments is the best way to prevent ourselves from becoming duds. God is all-wise, all-powerful, and all-good. If we live by his teachings, we can make ourselves effective instruments of his power.

When one develops defective ambitions or weak faith or questionable loyalty to God, he may wake up to find that he has made himself a dud. When a bomb fails, the engineer can usually get a new one, but what can anyone do who has a dud for a father or mother, a dud for a husband or wife, a dud for a son or daughter, or a dud for an employee?

All of God's teachings, the holy scriptures, the church, our parents, our brains, our conscience, and our ambition were designed to prevent us from being duds in every aspect of our lives. Every principle of the gospel was intended to help us to make the very best and the very most of our lives.

We can keep our power alive by charging ourselves with the advice of Jesus, who said: "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." (Matt. 7:7.)

God is always anxious to help. He said: ". . . before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." (Isa. 65:24.)

The dictionary gives another definition for the word dud. Duds are ragged or cast-off clothing. Duds denote dirt and tatters and there are a lot of people today who dress in "duds." However, this is not the kind of clothing that God wears. When Jesus went up into the high mountain and, with Moses and Elias, was transfigured before Peter, James, and John, he appeared in shining garments "and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light." (Matt. 17:2.) May God help us to overcome unwise tendencies to be duds by developing the opposite quality of Godliness.

The Pursuit of Ugliness

Each of us has been endowed by the Creator with a number of inalienable rights that are ours as gifts from God. Some of these are the right to labor, the quest for excellence, the expectations of succeeding in our righteous efforts, the right to be judged according to our works, and the privilege of building up our own godliness. But sometimes things go wrong. Sometimes we so badly lose our bearings that we go in the wrong direction.

In a famous football game a few years ago, a player ran 95 yards in the wrong direction and scored a touchdown for his school's opponents. We may also remember back to 1938 when aviator Douglas Corrigan got into his airplane in New York, intending to go to Los Angeles, but instead he ended up in Dublin, Ireland. After that time he was referred to as "Wrong-way Corrigan."

Sometimes we distort the spirit of what we are doing. We get mixed up in our objectives. When we forget life's real purposes we may find ourselves in places where we don't want to be. The most notorious of all "Wrong-way Corrigans" was Lucifer. In the council in heaven he rebelled against God, and Isaiah says of him:

"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

"For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

"I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

"Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit." (Isa. 14:12-15.)

Lucifer started out to be like God, but because he traveled in the wrong direction, he became Satan and landed in hell.

One of our wrong-way excursions is our pursuit of ugliness. We have a brand of modern art that would have shocked the senses of the great artists of years past. Some of our music is coarse, loud, and degrading; it badly jars our senses when compared to those exquisite harmonies produced by the masters. In many cases even man, that great human masterpiece formed in God's own image and endowed with his possibilities, has defiled himself with several kinds of ugliness.

Some time ago Eugene Burdick and William Lederer wrote a book entitled The Ugly American. They pointed out some of the things about Americans that tend to give others a bad impression. Some early-day American settlers were confronted by tribes of savages who, in order to make a more terrifying impression on their foes, painted grotesque designs on their faces and, with the effects produced by war-paint and blood-curdling yells, sent chills of terror through their victims who were under attack.

Today we also have groups of people who seem to have turned away from beauty in favor of ugliness. They have ugliness in their dress, their speech, their thoughts, and their deeds. Any kind of evil immorality makes ugly scars in our faces and on our spirits. The puffy, bloated face, addled brain, and scrambled speech of an alcoholic could never be described as being beautiful. There are people who allow ugly tempers, hateful moods, and disgusting attitudes to load them up with the very ugliness of hell.

Recently a young man came to complain about the way he was being abused by society. He felt extremely sorry for himself. When he was a child, his grandfather had established a trust fund intended for his education under certain conditions. However, when he was eighteen, the trustees declined to turn over any part of the money to him on the grounds that he was not competent to use it, as his grandfather had instructed. They put him on probation for a couple of years and asked him to shape up. The two years have now passed and they contend that he is still not capable of handling the money.

When he was eighteen, he married a young woman a couple of months before their child was born. However, his wife refused to live with him and the court issued a restraining order, preventing him from seeing their child. This young man could have been a nice-looking person; he was also naturally intelligent. However, because of lack of grooming and the way he thinks and dresses, he has an extremely unattractive physical appearance. The selfishness of his mental attitude has caused him some ugly public and social relationships, but he blames all of his problems on others.

I tried to assist him by helping him change his attitude. I suggested that many other people had gone to school who did not have wealthy grandfathers, and that he could easily prove his competence merely by being competent. I tried to suggest that he listen to the trustees and let them help him, but his hatred for them is too strong for him to overcome his faults.

Then I tried to sell him on the idea of what a great thrill it could be if he would change his attitude, get a haircut, take a bath, put on some clean, conventional clothing, and go to work.

But he kept repeating one of the usual plaints of some "wrong-way Corrigans" by saying, "I want people to like me for what I am—not for how I look." I suggested that he might easily solve that problem by looking, acting, thinking, and working like the man he wanted to be like. I suggested that we take a piece of paper and a pencil and make a list of those qualities that he "was" that he wanted people to like him for.

This young man had always taken it for granted that there was no need for him to do any improving. It didn't occur to him that he might have a distorted opinion of himself. Because he had never tried self-analysis, he knew of no place where he might improve. He wanted everyone to love him for what he assumed he was. He imagined that others should think of him as he thought of himself, which to him was completely satisfactory. But actually what was he? The record is clear that—

1. He was a drop-out from school.

2. He was unemployed and unemployable.

3. His heart was filled with bitterness and hate.

4. He was against almost all social conventions.

5. He didn't know how to have a reasonable discussion about himself.

6. He resented suggestions.

7. He was rebellious.

So far as I know, the best summary of his problems would be to say that he was ugly.

Many years ago Edwin Markham wrote a poem entitled The Man with the Hoe. He gives us a depressing picture of one kind of a life as he says:

Bowed by the weight of centuries he leans

Upon his hoe and gazes on the ground,

The emptiness of ages in his face,

And on his back the burden of the world.

Who made him dumb to rapture and despair,

A thing that grieves not and that never hopes,

Stolid and stunned, brother to the ox?

Who loosened and let down this brutal jaw,

Whose was the hand that slanted back this brow?

Whose breath blew out the light within this brain?

Is this the Thing the Lord God made and gave

To have dominion over sea and land,

To trace the stars and search the heavens for power,

And feel the passion of Eternity?

Is this the Dream He dreamed who shaped the suns

And pillared the blue firmament with light?

Down all the stretch of hell to its last gulf

There is no shape more terrible than this.

While this is an awful picture of life, yet it is nonviolent and will cause only pity in the hearts of people. It is much more terrible when a human being makes a commitment to a contagious ugliness, in which both he himself and others are going to be the losers.

God can resurrect a dead body, and he can also put a light back in a defective brain. But what can he do for one who loves evil and ugliness? God has said, ". . . he which is filthy, let him be filthy still." (Rev. 22:11.) God has provided that in the world to come we will associate with those of our own kind. Those who get themselves most deeply involved in sin will be compelled to live with it forever as companions of the devil and his angels, who have made evil their specialty.

Suppose each one of us were to check up on ourselves and make up a list of those traits of ugliness, large or small, that are being permitted to grow in our lives. There is a characteristic of ugliness in uncleanness. There is ugliness in disorder, in failure, and in disobedience to God. There is ugliness in unfairness and in hate, anger, and revenge. After we have done a little checking up we may discover that we need to have a good housecleaning and then reverse our philosophy and make some good, strong commitments to beauty, order, and righteousness.

We may all have as much as we like of the beauty of cleanliness and the beauty of accomplishment. We can have beauty in our attitudes and beauty in our ideals. Emerson said that "beauty is the mark which God sets on virtue." When we are properly virtuous, God puts a light in our eyes and a spring in our step and a radiance in our hearts. It is our virtues that entitle us to a glorious resurrection where we can live forever in the presence of God.

Courtesy

Some time ago, a young woman asked if I would prepare some kind of a discussion on courtesy. I asked her why she was making this request. She, with some friends, had attended an athletic event and had been sitting by some disorderly people who were very rude in their behavior. They had been ill-mannered and disrespectful toward an older man seated nearby. She had been so disturbed that she wanted someone to write about it and to put some thoughts together in such a way that it might help reduce future offenses of such discourtesy.

Although this young woman had not been the direct victim of the discourtesy, she had been hurt with a kind of pain that had tended to make her physically and spiritually ill. I told her I thought she should be the one to write down ideas about courtesy while they had such a forceful hold on her emotions. I do not know whether she will do this or not. I hope she does, because her feelings were so strong about it and might be productive of good not only for herself but also for others. However, as I thought about it a little more, I decided that this is something that I myself should also do, for when we write something down, we are encouraged to give it more consideration and to think about it more effectively in our minds. This in turn helps us build up the individual quality of our lives.

The dictionary says that courtesy is well-mannered conduct and indicates a respect for or a consideration of other people. E. M. Forster says that "courtesy is the civil deed that shows the good heart." A courteous person is one who is fine-souled, who has a genuine desire to do good, to help others and make them happy

M. A. Kelty said, "Small kindnesses, small courtesies, small considerations, habitually practiced in our social intercourse, give a greater charm to the character than the display of great talents or great accomplishments." Goethe declared, "There is no outward sign of true courtesy that does not rest on a deep moral foundation." And Emerson said, "We should be as courteous to a man as we are to a picture, which we are willing to give the advantage of the best possible light."

People do many fine things for others because of courtesy. Such people don't expect pay or other return considerations. They do it because they are that kind of people and their actions identify them as gracious, kindly, helpful, and loving human beings who are trying to lift people up and make the world better.

Many young people are discourteous to those who are old or infirm or do not have the strength and abilities that they themselves possess. One group of boys put a rattlesnake in a box and then with sticks poked and hit and tortured it to see it strike and hear it hiss and rattle. They finally made the rattlesnake so angry that it bit itself to death. We sometimes do about that same thing to people.

Almost everywhere we go we see the results of vandalism, crime, and sin that come out of the kind of nature that starts out merely by being discourteous. One group of boys burned down a schoolhouse; another group destroyed the plaques on some historic pioneer memorials. People sometimes spread false rumors, say unkind things, and indulge in other forms of discourtesy. One who is profane is discourteous to God, and everyone who sets a bad example or causes problems for others is discourteous to those around him.

I know a man who at one time was a heavy user of cigarettes, which he decided to quit. Now when he is in a room with smokers where he is compelled to breathe the cigarette fumes, his face bloats up and afterwards he is physically ill. It is well known to all smokers that there are many people to whom cigarette smoke is offensive; yet many of them blow their smoke around with a complete disregard for the most simple rules of courtesy.

Many of the things we do that offend others come about because of thoughtlessness on our part. Recently I attended a church meeting for which a fine program had been prepared. There were several hundred people in attendance. Three young women with crying babies sat all through the meeting and thoughtlessly permitted their children to disturb those in attendance.

Shakespeare's Portia said of mercy: "It blesseth him that gives and him that takes." The same thing could properly be said of courtesy. It is pleasant to the one who receives it and it has a constructive, refining influence on the one who practices it. A mother will build many desirable traits in herself as well as in her children by teaching them from the very earliest age to always be reverent and courteous in their attitudes.

It is reported that Joan of Arc would allow no crude conduct in her soldiers; on one occasion she said: "Even the rude business of war can better be conducted without profanity and the other brutalities of speech." We learn to do by doing, and the more we practice discourtesy, the more that offensive quality gets into us.

One of the wisest decisions we can make is to always be courteous, kind, and gracious. A courteous person does not violate the rules of accepted conduct. A courteous person is not immodest or offensive. He is always thoughtful of God, of his country, of his family, of his friends, and even of his enemies.

May we always be courteous in our speech, in our activities, in our appearance. Then, when we go to stand before God, it is likely that one of the qualities that will shine brighter in our lives than almost any other is that great gem of courtesy.

Good Judgment

No matter how many other virtues we may have, if we don't have good judgment, then, as the apostle Paul says, we "become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal." (1 Cor. 13:1.)

With good, solid, dependable, discriminating judgment, we may have good things not only in this life but also in the next. When we think of judgments given in courts of law, we often turn for inspiration to Areopagus, that most celebrated ancient court which held its sessions in Athens on Mar's Hill, west of the Acropolis. This is where the apostle Paul went to expound the principles of his religion. This court was made up of the wisest, most highly respected men available. All parties to a dispute were required to present the truth so the judges could give proper decisions. The judges built up such a fine reputation for wisdom that people came from many other nations to have their problems solved.

Good judgment increases the value of every other virtue and ability. It is an interesting idea that no one can go through a single day without holding his own court many times. Whether one is a housewife, a child, or the head of a great business organization, every day brings many new things that must be considered, evaluated, and decided upon. Only one who has good judgment can maintain proper order in his life and create advantages out of that vast jungle of good and bad alternatives that everyone is confronted with.

The opposite of wisdom is foolishness. Since time began, the harsh term fool has been used to describe one who has poor judgment. An old axiom says that "the fool and his money are soon parted." The scripture says: "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God." (Ps. 14:1.) One can easily make himself a fool merely by doing foolish things, and when he fully understands this process, then he already has a part of the formula as to how to become wise.

Someone once said to his friend that he would give anything to know where he was going to die. His friend said, "What good would that do you?" He replied, "If I knew where I was going to die, then I would never go around the place." When we know what makes one a fool, then we can cut off all indulgence in that area.

A criminal is a fool. A sinner is a fool. An idler is a fool. One who gives way to his temper is a fool. One who thinks with his prejudices or his sex urges or his hates is a fool. These are all things that we should stay away from.

Because King Saul disobeyed God, he was rejected from being king. About this event, Saul said, "I have sinned: . . . I have played the fool and have erred exceedingly." (1 Sam. 26:21.) In the Bible concordance there are about as many references to fools as to sinners. To the man who tore down his barns to build them larger, God said, "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee." (Luke 12:20.) He didn't say that the man was a sinner; he just didn't have good judgment. Many passages in the scriptures can help us identify our own foolishness so that we can then keep away from it. Solomon, the wise man, said:

"The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise." (Prov. 12:15.)

"A fool despiseth his father's instruction: but he that regardeth reproof is prudent." (Prov. 15:5.)

"A fool hath no delight in understanding. . . ." (Prov. 18:2.)

"Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him." (Prov. 26:4.)

"And the king [David] lamented over Abner, and said, Died Abner as a fool dieth?" (2 Samuel 3:33.)

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction." (Prov. 1:7.)

A single bad choice may cause one an entire lifetime of suffering. We can learn to make better judgments by studying models of excellence and making firm, longterm decisions based on God's standards of right and wrong. We can also increase the quality of our judgment by learning to understand what causes weakness and foolishness. Then, by contrast and elimination, we can more effectively learn the companion art of discrimination in building up our own judgment.

With a well-trained conscience and a set of good habits, we can learn to increase our judgment. Too many faults and too many weaknesses can make fools out of even wise men, whereas the integrity and strength of high personal codes of honor will put inferior procedures out of bounds where they are not eligible for consideration.

People's lives turn on very small hinges, and some of the smallest decisions may seem of little consequence when they are made. Yet even small decisions can make us both fools and failures.

Sound judgment helps us to see things in the light of their consequences. Good judgment is the highest crown that can be placed on human intelligence, enabling one to choose what is proper as against that which is improper. Of the multiplicity of paths that may be taken in our lives, there is always one path that is better than the others, and it is our responsibility to find it and walk in it. We transgress the laws of right only because we make faulty choices between alternatives. It is so common to choose the easier rather than the better path, or to take the popular course instead of the right one.

We need to learn to see causes and effects in their true relationship. A person who makes decisions without relation to their consequences will live in a constant state of chaos in his emotions and confusion in his judgment. Sound decisions are not always easy in the heat of chaos in our minds unless we have done our homework in periods of quiet thoughtfulness.

A substitute football quarterback, sitting on the bench during a game, may improve his own judgment and skill by practicing his plays as the game proceeds even though he is not in it. While others are making the real decisions on the field, he can be making them on the bench; then he is able to check his judgment against others in the light of what happens. We can also learn to check up on ourselves and to distinguish between superior and inferior philosophies by comparing them with those that have been proved by time.

God was trying to train us in good judgment when he said: "Come now, and let us reason together," (Isa. 1:18.) He said: "Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow." (Isa. 1:17.)

We know about those many things which God says are wrong. We also know the many things he says are right. We can learn to reason by comparing our own reason with God's judgment, and one of the best ways to become as God is, is to learn to think and reason as he does.

The Ways of Pleasantness

One concern every human being should have is to know the kind of person he is making of himself. Each person has many choices as to what he may become. He may become a rich man, a poor man, a beggarman, a thief, a doctor, a lawyer, a merchant, a chief. Regardless of what one becomes, though, he ought to try always to be friendly, kind, and pleasant. The ability to make others happy adds greatly to any other ability we may develop. A good man who is pleasant is much better than a good man who is unpleasant.

One of the greatest compliments ever given to anyone was given by God the Father to his most capable and righteous Son when, on four different occasions, he introduced his Only Begotten in the flesh by saying, "This is my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." And one of the greatest compliments that we could receive would be to have our friends, our associates, and our family members say that we are the kind of person in whom they are well pleased.

Recently a letter giving the opposite of this situation appeared in a "trouble" column of a newspaper. It said:

"We have three grown children, all raised in a good Christian home with good examples to follow. But there's not one we can brag about.

"They're all college graduates, but they might just as well have been high school dropouts for all the good their education has done them.

"The oldest, a son, 30, plays guitar with a rock group. He dresses like a bum, his eyes are always bloodshot, he's a vegetarian, skinny as a beanpole, and he's always dead tired. He has no plans for the future, and the only good thing we can say for him is he never asks us for money.

"The two girls are another story. The 27-year-old lives in Mexico with a married man. She says he's an artist. She's supposed to be teaching English to Mexicans, but she always needs money. We send her half of what she asks for because I can't sleep thinking she may be hungry.

"The 24-year-old is living with a group of people who are into some far-out religious cult. They meditate a lot, don't believe in working to provide for themselves, but she's always asking for donations to feed herself and her brothers and sisters who seem to have her hypnotized.

"Where did we go wrong? And what do we tell people who ask about our children? [Signed] Embarrassed."

What an unwise and unprofitable way to spend one's life—causing embarrassment to those people who should have great love and enthusiasm for us. And what a thrilling idea it is to think that any one of us with the right kind of attitudes and behavior could actually please everyone, including God himself, and give all a great thrill of happy sensations and exhilarating feelings!

Anyone who is so inclined may be a friendly neighbor, a friendly husband, or a friendly employee. There may be some good people whom we respect and whom we admire but who make us feel uncomfortable and unhappy while we are around them.

In the scriptures Solomon makes many important arguments in favor of developing wisdom; he paid wisdom its greatest compliment when he said: "Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her. The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens." (Prov. 3:17-19.)

When we add pleasantness to our wisdom and understanding, we find the shortest way to many successes. As Shakespeare said, "No profit grows where is no pleasure ta'en." Those things that are most profitable are those which we have the greatest joy in doing. That which we do well is pleasant, and that which we do not do well is unpleasant.

For far too many people traveling the roadway of life, the atmosphere is filled with bitterness and the unpleasantness of arguments, bickering, unfriendliness, and disagreeableness. The biggest problem of many is that they just can't get along with others. Each of us might well check up on our activities as they relate to those with whom we travel along life's highway and see what we can do to make their journey with us more pleasureable and joyful. Or we might make an inventory of our own unpleasantness, determine what can be done about it, and find ways to be more agreeable and bring more joy to those with whom we associate.

It is a fine art to know how to live well. Benjamin Franklin once wrote a parable that he entitled "Brotherly Love." In order to treat such a lofty theme, he fittingly adopted a biblical style and language. It is said that he used to take great delight in reading this parable to his friends, who were often puzzled when asked to tell in what part of the Bible it was found.

A Parable on Brotherly Love

1. In those days there was no worker of iron in all the land. And the merchants of Midian passed by with their camels, bearing spices, and myrrh, and balm, and wares of iron.

2. And Reuben bought an ax of the Ismaelite merchants which he prized highly, for there was none in his father's house.

3. And Simeon said to Reuben, his brother, "Lend me, I pray thee, thine ax." But he refused, and would not.

4. And Levi also said unto him, "My brother, lend me, I pray thee, thine ax." And he refused him also.

5. Then came Judah unto Reuben, and entreated him, saying, "Lo, thou lovest me, and I have always loved thee; do not refuse me the use of thine ax."

6. But Reuben turned from him, and refused him likewise.

7. Now it came to pass that Reuben hewed timber on the bank of the river, and his ax fell therein, and he could by no means find it.

8. But Simeon, Levi, and Judah had sent a messenger after the Ismaelites, with money, and had bought for themselves each an ax.

9. Then came Reuben unto Simeon, and said, "Lo, I have lost mine ax, and my work is unfinished: lend me thine, I pray thee."

10. And Simeon answered him, saying, "Thou wouldst not lend me thine ax; therefore will I not lend thee mine."

11. Then went he unto Levi, and said unto him, "My brother, thou knowest my loss and my necessity; lend me, I pray thee, thine ax."

12. And Levi reproached him, saying, "Thou wouldst not lend me thine ax when I desired it; but I will be better than thou, and will I lend thee mine."

13. And Reuben was grieved at the rebuke of Levi, and, being ashamed, turned from him, and took not the ax, but sought his brother Judah.

14. And as he drew near, Judah beheld his countenance as it were covered with grief and shame; and he prevented him, saying, "My brother, I know thy loss, but why should it trouble thee? Lo, have I not an ax that will serve both thee and me? Take it, I pray thee, and use it as thine own."

15. And Reuben fell upon his neck, and kissed him with tears, saying, "Thy kindness is great, but thy goodness in forgiving me is greater. Thou art indeed my brother, and whilst I live will I surely love thee."

16. And Judah said, "Let us also love our other brethren; behold, are we not all of one blood?"

17. And Joseph saw these things, and reported them to his father, Jacob.

18. And Jacob said, "Reuben did wrong, but he repented; Simeon also did wrong; and Levi was not altogether blameless. But the heart of Judah is princely. Judah has the soul of a king. His father's children shall bow down before him, and he shall rule over his brethren."

In Mr. Franklin's parable, Judah may not have been more intelligent, more courageous, or more industrious than his other brothers, but he became the leader because he was more kind, more wise, and more pleasant. He did not want to cause embarrassment or bring acknowledgment or credit to himself. Jacob might well have said of Judah, "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased."

What a great opportunity life offers us to be pleasant to our husbands or wives, our families, our employers, our employees, our God.

Lest We Forget

One of the great national rulers of our world was Queen Victoria of Great Britain. A crown was placed upon her head when she was in her teens. During her long reign, ending at her death in 1901, England became the greatest nation that had ever existed upon the earth. Victoria ruled a territory that included over 25 percent of all of the earth's surface. Her navies ruled the seven seas, and the sun never set on the British Empire.

One of the important events occurring during her rule was her Diamond Jubilee, marking the sixtieth year of her notable reign. In commemoration of the jubilee, the London Times asked Rudyard Kipling to write an appropriate poem. The result was his famous "Recessional." The dictionary says that a recessional is something that marks a retreat, a song played while the audience is leaving, a hymn sung as the clergy and the choir are retiring from the chancel to the robing room. Rudyard Kipling had some ideas about another kind of recessional.

In order to appreciate this poem, we might try to picture the pomp and pageantry of this jubilee of 1897 when England was at the height of her power. To this magnificent celebration came princes from the Far East and ambassadors from the royal houses of Europe. There were vast military and naval displays, and a tremendous civic celebration with processions and public services, all united to pour out a nation's adulation and praise to England's queen.

To Mr. Kipling, the empire, in its dream of pride and power, had seemed to lose sight of the King of kings, and as the armies returned to their posts, the navies departed for their far-away island possessions, the kings and chiefs returned home, and the jubilation died away, he pointed out their similarity to some of the other great nations of the past. His recessional was intended to recall the nation from its dream of pride and power. Within a few months after its publication, this poem became one of the most widely known and admired in the language.

On one occasion Victoria was asked why England had so far excelled all other nations of the earth. She laid her hand upon the Bible and said, "England is the land of the book," and for a long time so it was. As long as England lived by the precepts of the scriptures, her greatness continued to accelerate. But just as celebrations sometimes come to an end, so greatness and faith can also go into a recession or a retreat. And seventy-six years after Victoria's jubilee, Rudyard Kipling might still be saying to us:

God of our fathers, known of old—

Lord of our far-flung battle line—

Beneath Whose awful hand we hold

Dominion over palm and pine—

Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,

Lest we forget—lest we forget!

The tumult and the shouting dies;

The captains and the kings depart:

Still stands Thine ancient Sacrifice,

An humble and a contrite heart.

Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,

Lest we forget—lest we forget!

Far-called, our navies melt away;

On dune and headland sinks the fire:

Lo, all our pomp of yesterday

Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!

Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,

Lest we forget—lest we forget!

If, drunk, with sight of power, we loose

Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe—

Such boasting as the Gentiles use

Or lesser breeds without the Law—

Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,

Lest we forget—lest we forget!

For heathen heart that puts her trust

In reeking tube and iron shard—

All valiant dust that builds on dust,

And guarding, calls not Thee to guard—

For frantic boast and foolish word,

Thy mercy on Thy people, Lord!

Amen.

Rudyard Kipling's poem still has great religious as well as human significance. It recalls when similar ambitions may have been celebrated in the ancient kingdoms of Nineveh and Tyre, which had forgotten the contents of their own speeches and proclamations made in the days when they had celebrated their greatness with festivities and military fanfare. Many of us also become drunk with our own importance and the possibilities of our own power, and we loose wild tongues that belie the rulership of God and the purpose of our own lives.

We are reminded that some thirty-five centuries before Victoria, the Lord God of Hosts himself gathered the children of Israel together at the foot of Mount Sinai to make a covenant with them which, if they would keep it, would make them the greatest nation upon the earth. God came down onto the mount in a cloud of fire with such great power that the mountains shook and the people trembled. Then, to the accompaniment of lightnings and thunders, he gave that set of laws by which true greatness could be won and maintained.

But after the commandments had been given, God also returned to his station. The fires died out on the mount. The lightning and thunders ceased. In Mr. Kipling's words, "the tumult and the shouting" died, and the people were dispersed to continue their journey toward their promised land. And when the excitement was past, this was exactly the time for the people to begin taking action.

Among other things, the Lord wanted the people to remember to do all the things he had talked to them about. But unfortunately they forgot many of these things. When the tumult and the shouting was over, many of them went back to their golden calves and their other sins. If they had kept running through their minds Mr. Kipling's refrain—"Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, lest we forget—lest we forget"—they would not have been kept wandering in the wilderness for forty years until all of the original company but two had been denied their objectives and had perished in the wilderness.

Someday the festivities of our lives themselves will also come to an end. Our activities will be over, and the fires of our lives will have died down. Then the real work of life will be about ready to begin. Death is the key that unlocks the mansions of eternity. Then will be the time for blessings that we sang about to be realized. In the meantime, may God help us to live by the book so that we may begin our immortal lives with no depressions or recessionals, and so we may pray with Mr. Kipling, "Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget—lest we forget!"

(Sterling W. Sill, The Wealth of Wisdom [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1977], 97.)