This month's "Thoughts about" reminds us of the importance of good character. Unfortunately, virtue and integrity are two words whose meanings seem to have been lost in the past. The 1828 edition of Webster's Dictionary defines virtue as: "moral goodness; the practice of moral duties and the abstaining from vice, or a conformity of life and conversation to the moral law; a particular moral excellence; excellence, that which constitutes value and merit"...and states that integrity "comprehends the whole moral character, but has a special reference to uprightness in mutual dealings, transfers of property, and agencies for others."
Psalm 15 "O Lord, who may abide in Thy tent? Proverbs 19:1 "Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity
Integrity from
The Royal Path of Life or by
T. L. Haines and L. W. Yaggy
Young men look about them and see a great measure of worldly
success awarded to men without principle. They see the trickster crowned with public
honors, they see the swindler rolling in wealth, they see the sharp man, the over-reaching
man, the un-principled man, the liar, the demagogue, the time-server, the trimmer, the
scoundrel who cunningly manages, though constantly disobeying moral law and trampling
upon social courtesy, to keep himself out of the clutches of the legal police, carrying off
the prizes of wealth and place. All this is a demoralizing puzzle and a fearful temptation;
and multitudes of young men are not strong enough to stand before it. They ought to
understand that in this wicked world there is a great deal of room where there is integrity.
Great trusts may be sought by scoundrels, but great trusts never seek them; and perfect
integrity is at a premium even among scoundrels. There are some trusts that they will
never confer on each other. There are occasions where they need the services of true
men, and they do not find them in shoals and in the mud, but alone and in pure water.
Integrity is the foundation of all that is high in character among mankind; other
qualities may add to its splendor, but if this essential requisite be wanting all their lustre
fades. Our integrity is never worth so much to us as when we have lost everything to
keep it. Integrity without knowledge is weak; knowledge without integrity is dangerous
and dreadful. Integrity, however rough, is better than smooth dissimulation. Let a man
have the reputation of being fair and upright in his dealings, and he will possess the
confidence of all who know him. Without these qualities every other merit will prove
unavailing. Ask concerning a man, “Is he active and capable?” Yes. “Industrious,
temperate, and regular in his habits?” O, yes. “Is he honest? is he trustworthy?” Why as to
that, I am sorry to say that he is not to be trusted; he wants watching; he is a little tricky,
and will take an undue advantage, if he can. “Then I will have nothing to do with him,”
will be the invariable reply. Why, then, is honesty the best policy? Because, without it
you will get a bad name, and everybody will shun you.
The world is always asking for men who are not for sale; men who are honest, sound
from centre to circumference, true to the heart’s core; men who will condemn wrong in
friend or foe, in themselves as well as others; men whose consciences are as steady as the
needle to the pole; men who will stand for the right if the heavens totter and the earth
reels; men who can tell the truth, and look the world and the devil right in the eye; men
who neither bray nor run; men who neither flag nor flinch; men who can have courage
without shouting to it; men in whom the courage of everlasting life runs still, deep, and
strong; men who do not cry, nor cause their voices to be heard on the streets, who will not
fail nor be discouraged till judgment be set in the earth; men who know their message and
tell it; men who k now their places and fill them; men who know their own business; men
who will not lie; men who are not too lazy to work, not too proud to be poor; men who
are willing to eat what they have earned, and wear what they have paid for. It is always
safe to trust those who can trust themselves, but when a man suspects his own integrity, it
is time he was suspected by others. Moral degradation always begins at home. Honesty is
never gained or lost suddenly, or by accident. Moral strength or moral weakness takes
possession of us by slow and imperceptible degrees.
Avoid - and young men especially - avoid all base, servile, underhand, sneaking ways.
Part with anything rather than your integrity and conscious rectitude; flee from injustice as you would from a viper’s fangs; avoid a lie as you would the gates of hell. Some there are
who are callous as to this. Some there are who, in stooping to mercantile dishonor and
business - in driving the immoral bargain - think they have done a clever action. Things
are often called by their wrong names; duplicity is called long-headedness; evil is called
good, and good evil, and darkness is put for light, and light for darkness. Well! be it so.
You may be prosperous in your own eyes; you may have realized an envied fortune; you
may have your carriage, and plate, and servants, and pageantry; but rather the shielding
and the crust of bread with a good conscience, than the stately dwelling or palace without
it. Rather than the marble mausoleum, which gilds and smothers tales of heartless villainy
and fraud - rather, far rather, that lowly heap of grass we were wont often to gaze upon in
an old village churchyard, with the simple record of a cotter’s virtues: “Here lies an
honest man!” There is nothing more sad than to be carried like a vessel away from
the straight course of principle; to be left a stranded outcast thing on the sands of
dishonor; a man bolstering himself up in a position he is not entitled to. “That is a man of
capital,” says the world, pointing to an unscrupulous and successful swindler.
Capital! What is capital? Is it what a man has? Is it counted by pounds and
pence, stocks and shares, by houses and lands? No! capital is not what a man has,
but what a man is. Character is capital; honor is capital. That is the most fearful
of ruin when character is gone, when integrity is sold, when honor is bartered for a
miserable mess of earthly pottage. God save us from ruin like this! Perish what may;
perish gold, silver, houses, lands; let the winds of misfortune dash our vessel on the
sunken rock, but let integrity be like the valued keepsake which the sailor boy
lashed with the rope round his body, the only thing we care to save. Let one die; but let
angels read, if friends cannot afford to erect the grave stone” ”Here lies an honest
man.”
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