Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-03-02
SPIRES OF THE SPIRIT
Value of Goodness
By DIR. FREDERICK BROWN HARRIS
Chaplain of the United States Senate

Assumed goodness is al
ways the target of ridicule
for those who sit in the seat
Of the scornful. From that
quarter comes bitter resent
ment at all standards higher
than. their own. How often
those who endeavor to trans
late compassion into prac-
tical terms of mercy and
help are dubbed do Good
ers!" If goodness can be
made to appear as a label
one has pinned on himself
as a member of a "holier
than thou club" such ego
tistical piety rightly becomes
an offense and a proper sub
ject for caricature.
Genuine goodness is never
a claim. 1t is a climate. Real
saints do not have gold
around their heads. They
have goals before their eyes.
There are no finished saints
in the New Testament. There
are those whose goodness
shines in contrast with the
putrid paganism about them.
In that sense we are told that
there were saints" even in
Caesars household. But as
he exhorted the early Chris
tians to goofness, Paul was
always saying You are called
to be saints"
The boy Lincoln was nearer
the truth than he realized
when he scrawled in one of
his few books-"Abraham
Lincoln-his hand and pen.
He will be good-but God
knows when"
DR.. Henry Van Dyke once
put the heart Of goodness in
an unforgettable way. He de-
clared Many a saint in the
making seems to be marred
by faults and conflicts from
which the SNUG, careful, rep
utable sensualist is exempt.
The difference between the
two is not one of position. It
is one Of direction. The one,
however high he stands, is
moving down. The other,
however low he stands, is
moving up" That moving-up
process is the heart of good
ness. That means that what
you will one day be, you are
now becoming.
Those who, through many
failures, are thus reaching
out for things high and ex-
cellent and of good report,
are the salt Of the earth.
There is a potent sense in
which goodness without as
serting itself is antiseptic. Its
very presence is a healing
balm. In every nook and cor
ner reeking with moral pu-
trefaction, as portrayed in the
moving play 1.-THE Passing of
the Third Floor Back" silent
goodness is like cleansing salt
sprinkled where evil holds
sway, hating decay and dis
migration.
What good are the good?
They are in every sordid
setting, as that One who
spake as never man spake
put it, the salt of the
earth. But that is not the
full answer to the query
What good are the good?"
Jesus said goodness is not
only salt. 1t is also a sword.
He made it plain that it is
to be vocal and terrible as an
army with banners. My dear
friend, Fred B. Smith, during
the Coolidge era preached in
the Capital City one Sunday
morning on the eternal
struggle between good and
evil. 1t was in the Presidents
church and "Cal" was there.
On his return to the White
House after church, the gra-
cious First Lady. who had not
been able to accompany her
husband, asked him what the
sermon was about. Sin" re-
piled the laconic Vermonter.
WELL" asked his lovely COM
panion, what did he say
about sin?" "He was against
it," commented the Presi-
dent. Well, of course. good
ness can always be counted
on as being against sin. But
against it to what extent?
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