| Week-Day Religion |
Chapter 21 |
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All of these are unmanly qualities. It does not meet the case to say that they are minor faults, that we ought not to be hypercritical, that we should have that large charity which covers even multitudes of blemishes. When right and wrong are involved, there are no little things. A star seems a mere speck to our poor vision, but to God’s eye it is a vast burning sun. The evils that we deem so minute, in Heaven’s sight are infinite. There is only one pattern on which we must fashion our lives, and in that there is no fault. The word of God in its divine requirements makes no provision for blemishes, though they be the smallest.
Then a little thought will show any one that even the most trivial of these things do not only mar the beauty of the character as seen by others, but also destroy the influence of the person in the community. A man who becomes known as unfaithful to his promises and appointments, or as careless in meeting his obligations, in paying his debts and in returning what he has borrowed, soon wins for himself a very unenviable reputation. Such a man has no power for good. He may preach the gospel or exhort in meeting or teach in the Sabbath school, but his words avail nothing, because his character is worm eaten and he has lost the confidence and respect of his neighbors. All his goodness and well meaning go for nothing while even in the smallest matters he is known to be untruthful and dishonest, to evade paying his debts, or even to be careless of his promises and pledges.
Who has not known the usefulness of many an otherwise excellent man utterly destroyed by a negligent disregard of his obligations and engagements? Who has any true respect for a mean man? Meanness defeats its own object and wins contempt. Even as a matter of worldly policy it is fatal unwisdom. Nothing wins in the marts like generosity. And in the matter of manly character it is a most despicable blemish. The world will forget and forgive almost anything sooner than meanness. Our exhibition of such a spirit in a Christian does incalculable harm to his influence, and habitual meanness in a little while utterly wastes his power for usefulness. How long can a sneaking, evasive, gossipy person have true friends or retain the respect of those who know him?
We may call these trivial blemishes, and it may seem hard that, while a man is good in the staple of his character, he should be made to suffer for such minor faults – mere negligence of habit, mayhap, or mere accidents of education – but the fact stares us in the face, and must be accepted as inexorable. Even the ethics of the world condemns these things as unmanly, and the character that suffers itself to be tarnished by them must pay the penalty in diminished or utterly destroyed influence for good.
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