Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1912-07-03
CHRISTIAN EaDEivOR
Prayer Meeting Topic For Week Be-
cinninc July z, 1912.


Topic. = The Christian virtues. VII
Honesty Rom xii. s-i7. tConsecration
meetingl Edited by Rev Sherman H.
Doyle, ID. d.
In the long list of practical eShorta-
tons found in this chapter. we are not
surprised that the Apostle includes the
injunction. provide things honest in
the sight of all men" The Christian
must be honest In all his dealings. He
must be the rery soul of fairness, Of
honorableness. which the word used
by the Apostle means. and not merely
technically honest In an age Of de
ceitfulness and trickery. in social life.
In business and in political life. we
may well place strong emphasis
upon honesty.
In every relation of life the Chris
tlan should be strictly honest We
should be honest in the sight of God.
1t is useless TO try to deceive God.
and yet many foolishly try TO do
so. We profess what we do not pos
sess. We promise what we do not full
fill We hold out expectations for
which we know there will be no reali-
cations. But God is not Knocked" He
can read the mind and heart. and il is
absurd to try to be dishonest with Him.
We should therefore make no attempt
to be so. We should be honest ''iu the
sight of all men" We are not only to
do what we know to be right in the
sight of the Lord. but also to have re-
gard to the view that viii be taken of
our conduct by our fellow men We
do and must live in society. Civil so
ciety enioins the practice of right con-
duct We make claims upon all about
us. and what we demand of others we
tianity requires that honorable conduct
should be distinctive of our life in our
relations to all men We should also
be honest with ourselves Ii is pos
sible for man TO deceive himself. 10
be false to himself. but il Is sinful and
injurious for him 10 be so. The man
who is false to himself cannot be true
to God or TO his fellows, but trueness
to self will insure trueness in all the
relations of life. 1t has well been said
that if we are true to self we cannot
be false to any others.
Christian honesty must not be re-
stricted. 1t must not be limited sim
ply to bare honesty such as keeps a
man out of jail or keeps him from be-
ing called thief The apostle en-
joins honorable. fair dealing In the
broadest sense He condemns all de-
ceitfulness. hypocrisy and Intrigue.
Many who would scorn TO deliberately
take dollar from another are yet far
from being honest There are tricks
of the trade" that are nothing more
than stealing. There are various ways
of dealing with corporations, the gov.
eminent, etc, practiced by many. who
while they would hotly resent the ac-
cusation. are yet nothing but thieves
There is no law against providing
things for ourselves. 1t is required OF
us. We are to prudently provide for
our wants in the present and to make
provision for future years. But it must
be done honestly and honorablv There
is no sin in possessing a fortune, If II
has been bonorably come by. But
what is more contemplate than to &C.
cumulate wealth at the expense OF
some one else. and what is more con,
demnable than dishonorable dealing?
Christian honesty should be inspired
by the proper motive We are not to
be honest because honesty is the best
policy" but because honesty is right
He who acts on the former principle
is not honest. but polite. and both God
and man demand that we be fair and
square in all our dealings. because
fairness is right and unfairness is
wrong