Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1906-04-27
VERACITY.
By Rev. Henry F. Cope.

By Rev. Henry F. Cope.
Who shall abide in thy tabernacle? ?
He that sweareth to his own hurt and
changeth not.-Psalms XIV, IA.
1t Is good deal easier to admire
that man than it is to initiate him.
Truth is jewel seen afar, but, COM
ing near, and cutting its keen way into
our tender places, separating us from
we'll loved gains, robbing us of the
masks of conventional Righteousness,
tearing away our veneers, or shining
with its clear, cold light SO that all
things become visible in their naked
characters, our admiration is likely to
be tempered with other considera-
tions
Even the most determined optimist
must sometimes wonder whether David
would not say with deliberation what
he tells us he once said in his haste,
"All men are liars" Whether in buying
or selling, in word or deed, with tongue
or pen, the man who deliberately en-
deavors to lead to a conclusion other
than that he knows to be right is
found everywhere.
1t will be dark day for us when we
lose confidence in one another. Words
are largely the currency of life. The
value Of the currency issued by any
man depends on its stability. Back of
it, establishing its value, must stand
the unvarying integrity Of the man.
This priceless reserve it is that keeps
men from moral bankruptcy. Few, If
any, assets are Of greater worth than
the treasures Of integrity and the ap-
proval of good conscience.
But we are told by many that we are
under another system to-day, under the
law of smartness which thinks of truth
and honor only us the servants of per-
sonal, selfish success. This gross code
demands that we shall lay aside the
scruples that have purged the soul in
the past, that we shall ridicule the vir-
tues that made our fathers clean, stall
wart, clear eyed, large souled, those
virtues that, somehow, as we look at
them, set out of sight their poverty
and limited circumstances and place
them in temple whose glory Is sim
pie rugged, godlike manhood.
But even if this is a lying age, the
price Of conformity Is more than you
can afford to pay. And there never
was a greater mistake than to believe
that in order to get on in the world it
is necessary to get off the track of
truth and right. This is not the age
of moral anarchy; above all, after all,
right rules. Sporadic rebelllons there
may be and they may seem to bring
power to their promoters, but you have
no more right to judge the tone of an
age by the moral obliquity of few
than to pronounce verdict on a gov
ernment on the evidence of the mis-
deeds committed under its rule.
We judge too often without perspec,
tive. We gaze in wonder at those who
60 up with the glory of the rocket, for
getting to ask the past whether any of
the consultations came to their places
in that manner. In the night of our
yesterdays we can discern but few of
those who live for wealth and success
alone; they glimmer but as warnings,
while about them, clear over all, shin
ing unmOved by panics and fears, un-
dimmed by time and changes, are the
lives Of those that have lived for love,
for truth, and right, who obeyed the
great moral law of the universe and
found their places in the temple of
God
The est of mans veracity is not
alone in the exactitude Of his state
ments; he may always tell the precise
verbal truth and still be at heart
liar, and, in fact, an outcast from the
house of honor. The test is in whether
he Is using this currency of words sole
ly with selfish purpose, or with it
seeking ever to serve men, to enrich
the world, willing to meet loss If love
may win.
These are they who who abide in his
tabernacle; white name purchased by
the loss of much that lesser souls count
ed gain is theirs. They found the true
and unfadlng riches, the lasting sue
cess of the soul. And while they yet
lived they walked the way of truth and
entered into their heritage, the heritage
Of the pure in heart, the clean Of hand,
the world enriching life.
THE CHRISTIANS WARFARE.