The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1909-11-26
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For a
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Theme:
THE FAINT HEART.

THE FAINT HEART.
$50
By George Clarke Peck, D. d.
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It was observed by an ancient that
Faint heart ne'er won fair lady" Not
only SO. but faint heart" never won
anything worth winning. It stands
before life's open doors hesitant, at
the foothills of great possibilities
trembling, in the presence of some
supreme achievement afraid.
Many a man is poor chiefly because
he has been afraid to trust his money
In other hands than his own. What
uninvested millions lie hidden away
in gunnysacks and under floors! All
we need to start panic is to sudden
ly increase the number of commercial
faint hearts" All the longed for
commercial revival waits is a restora-
ton Of confidence. So great cam
paigns remain unwaged, great deliv-
erances unwrought, splendid conti-
nents unacquired and unsubdued be-
cause of our faint hearts:
A census of such timid folk would
doubtless make a long list, but such
a list is never quite so depressing as
when Il includes those from whom we
have the right to expect better things.
''The worst thing about some good
people Is that they are such towards" +"
There Is a species of cowardice which
goes with responsibility and belongs
to great decorum. 1t is not by any
means the cowardice OF the wicked
who flee when no man pursueth,"
neither is 1t the cowardice of the
pure craven. 1t is the exhibition of
those from whom we expect a di-er
ent spirit-of a Nicodemus in the
Council Chamber; of an Erasmus in
the Reformation.
1t is said that certain enraged
beasts invariably wait sign of ter
ror in the eyes of their victim, and
with the first intimation of such ter
ror the animal springs to the attack.
Thus the forces of evil watch for
some sign of weakening on the part
of those who are set to defend the
right. The mere blanching of cheek,
some first evidence of faint-hearted-
ness, is all the signal the enemy
needs.
But to say that men and causes are
defeated by faintheartedness is like
ascribing death to heart failure" The
question still remains as to what in
duced the faintness. Conscience"
perhaps, which "makes towards of us
all" There is no moral weakener like
a sense of personal demerit. Few of
us can carry comfortably and jauntily
a guilty soul That state of mind
which needs no accuser acts like an
inward paralysis upon the souls best
powers.
Faintheartedness indicates also
want of conviction. Some one says
that a bank never succeeds until its
president takes 1t to bed with him.
But this is only another way of say
ing that a man must believe tremend-
ouSly in the work to which he sets
himself "He starved his business"
explained a mutual friend by way Of
accounting for a certain commercial
failure. "He never put himself into
it." Nor can a man put himself into
his task until he believes in his task.
A faint heart is often a confession
that its owners soul is not yet en-
gagged.
But the fundamental cure of cow
ardice must be had from God. To be
convinced of His immense opulence
of resource, to know that He has a
greater stake in US than we have in
ourselves, to believe that He never
sends His children on fools errands,
is one part of sure cure for timidity.
The secret of the Lord is with those
that fear Him" And those who in
the best sense fear the Lord are not
afraid of anybody else.