Advice to Youth
by David Magie, Published by the American Tract Society
in 1855.
BIBLE HONESTY.
Religion is not, as some take it to be, a system of dry,
abstruse doctrines. It comprises practice as well as faith; the regulation
of the life as well as the rectification of the heart; a correct conduct in
the world, as well as a sound creed in the church. If one page of the Bible
tells us what man is to believe concerning God, the next is sure to tell us
what duties God requires of man. Thus the way is prepared for uniting good
citizenship and true piety, the strictest integrity with the purest
devotion.
Doing justly, you will readily see, is no less necessary
than loving mercy and walking humbly with God. No system of sound morals or
Christian piety can be deemed complete, which does not bring clearly out the
principle of perfect honesty between man and man. Something to regulate the
complicated business communion of the world, is indispensable to the welfare
of individuals, and of society at large. The Catechism of King Edward thus
explains the ninth precept of the Decalogue—"It commands us to beguile no
man, to occupy no unlawful wares, to envy no man his wealth, and to think
nothing profitable that either is not just, or differs from right and
honesty." This seems to cover the whole ground.
But we turn to the Savior's Sermon on the Mount, and find
something still more full and comprehensive. The injunction of the Great
Teacher is, "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to
you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 7:12) These words
are "like apples of gold, in pictures of silver." It is said that one of the
Roman Emperors had them inscribed on the walls of his closet, and frequently
referred to them in his public acts; and it would be sad if they should
receive less respect at Christian hands.
We may regard this as the true and proper definition of
the word HONESTY, and I cannot better fill up the present chapter, than by
explaining the precept, and specifying some of the cases to which it
especially applies.
Much is comprised here in one short and easily remembered
sentence. It requires us to deal with our neighbors, in everything which
appertains to the commodities of life, just as we should think it proper for
them to deal with us in an exchange of circumstances. If we would have
others act fairly and righteously towards us, then we are bound for the same
reason to act fairly and righteously towards them. The measure of our just
expectations from the men with whom we have business communion, is the
precise measure of our own duty. Such is the substance of all the teachings
both of the law and the prophets, on this important point. Nothing more is
required from man to his fellow-man. Nothing more is demanded by the claims
of the purest rectitude. For anyone simply to do to others what you would
have them do to you, is enough.
The moral beauty of the precept before us cannot fail to
be seen at once. Not only does it lay an absolute interdict upon everything
in the form of direct theft, but it goes behind the act, and strikes at that
desire for the property of others, in which such act originates. An honest
man according to the Savior's teachings, is one who always intends to do
right, whether it works for him, or against him. Besides regarding the false
balance and the deceitful weight as an abomination, he is above all that
shuffling and evasion, by which multitudes seek to advance their interests
in the world. His intentions are upright in the sight of God, and hence it
is natural for his dealings to be upright in the sight of men. In every
transaction, which has respect to property, he is what he would be thought
to be; his conduct is a fair transcript of his principles. Not intending
wrong, he has nothing to conceal, and nothing to gloss over. Try him as
often as you please, and let him be exposed as often as he may, his
unbending integrity still shines forth, as gold from the heat of the
furnace.
Such a man is honest simply because he does to others as
he would like that they should do to him. Is he a dealer in those articles
which are needed for daily domestic consumption, it is as safe to send a
child eight years of age to make the purchase, as to go yourself. Does he
employ some laboring man to gather in his harvest, the hard-earned wages are
not kept back a moment unnecessarily. Has he money for which he has himself
no immediate use, no advantage is taken of the exigency of some less
fortunate neighbor. In all matters of this nature, he acts upon one fixed
and well-defined plan, and hence his heart does not reproach him for
injustice.
A truly honest man will never avail himself of the
weakness or incompetency of the purchaser, to fill his own purse. What he
gives in articles of food, fuel or clothing, he intends shall be a fair and
just equivalent for what he receives in produce or money. If the article has
in it any defect, known to him, but unknown to his customer, he feels bound
to reveal it, however much it may work to his monetary injury. Never does he
sell a damaged yard of cloth, whatever its texture or appearance, for a full
price. Never does he put off a horse as sound, when he himself has evidence
to the contrary. In such cases, all the loss resulting to one individual
through ignorance, is so much unlawful gain to the other. So far as
principle is concerned, it would be just as proper to go unobserved into a
neighbor's house, and take from it an equal amount of silver or gold. To say
that such things are common in the business world, avails nothing, unless
you can prove that they are right.
That the deviation from perfect fairness, in the way of
trade, is in itself but small, by no means proves that it is proper. The
maxim of the blessed Savior is, "He who is faithful in that which is least,
is faithful also in much, and he who is unjust in that which is least, is
unjust also in much." It is neither the largeness nor the littleness of the
thing, that makes it fair or unfair, honest or dishonest. Find a man who
will deliberately overreach his neighbor in the smallest item, and that man,
if the temptation were increased, would overreach him on the broadest scale.
The straight line of duty may as really be passed, by the least departure
from rectitude, as by the most palpable injustice.
Never forget, my young friends, that a penny stealthily
taken from the drawer, a sixpence belonging to another appropriated to one's
own use, a false representation made in regard to a piece of tape, is as
real dishonesty, before God, and so far as the state of the heart is
concerned, as the changing of the face of a bond from fifty dollars to five
hundred. It was not the value of the fruit, which constituted the
criminality of our first parents. Their act was criminal because it was
disobedient, and the smallness of the thing done, if it affected its
blameworthiness at all, only made that blameworthiness the greater, inasmuch
as it was proof of a stronger disposition to transgress.
These remarks should be well weighed by such as are just
commencing their business career. It is no excuse for the false statement,
or the incorrect entry, but a great aggravation of them both, that not much
profit is anticipated by such deviations from rectitude. What then are we to
think of the thousand little tricks, and petty dishonesties, which so often
disfigure the dealings of man with his fellow-man? It seems as if the real
dishonesty of the heart, in such cases, must be greater, inasmuch as the
temptation is less. Besides, little here leads to much, and to tamper with
evil at all, is the first step towards going after it openly and fully. The
act which puts a man in the state-prison is not usually the only one of the
kind committed. A beginning was made previously, of which this is the
natural and appropriate consummation.
Such is the searching nature of the precept in question,
and cases to which it especially applies are easily pointed out.
That all fraud, in the common use of the term, is here
forbidden, is too plain to require a word of proof. This is a crime so well
understood, and so universally infamous, that not a moment need be spent in
holding it up to your detestation. Direct theft and outright robbery are not
sins into which young men of any respectability are much in danger of
falling. At least, this is not the point at which aberration usually
commences. It will be more profitable to put you on your guard against the
same general evil, in its less palpable and reproachful forms.
But to prevent all misapprehension, let me make a single
preliminary remark. You are by no means to conclude that there is anything,
in this golden rule of the Savior, to render a man indifferent to the
obtaining of what is clearly and justly his due. Some of the most perfectly
honest men I have ever known, have been very careful to require, at the
precise time and in full measure, what was truly their own. Prompt
themselves, they naturally expect promptitude from others, and if they
demand what is right, they never demand more than is right. Strict integrity
is the law of their own dealings, and the law which they wish to see
everywhere enforced. These, too, mark it where you will, are generally the
men whose hearts and hands are most open to aid the Christian and benevolent
enterprises of the day. With them it is a principle to save, in order that
they may give; and careful to keep their outgoes clearly within the limits
of their income, they are seldom without something to bestow.
In seeking to incorporate honesty with the daily business
of life, the great point is, not to covet any man's "silver, or gold, or
apparel." This is checking the evil in its embryo; and when all desire of
unlawful gain is thus expelled from the heart, it will be found an easy
thing to keep the hands from defilement. A man of true integrity is so on
principle, and would be so irrespective of all laws and penalties on the
subject. Still it is well to be specific, and see how the general rule of
duty is to affect individual cases.
The injunction, "So in everything, do to others what you
would have them do to you," has a double application. It addresses those who
have hands to labor, as well as those who have property to live on—those who
would rise, as well as those who have risen in the world. To the first of
these classes, its direction is, deal fairly and equitably with your
employers. The capital with which you commence business is your strength and
skill and perseverance; and see to it that you use them according to the
terms of the specific, or implied contract. For the time being they belong
to another, and not thus diligently to appropriate them is fraudulent. Make
no promise, which at the moment you do not feel able to perform; but having
made it, be as good as your word, though compelled to rise while the stars
are still shining. Redeem every pledge of this sort, unless prevented by the
providence of God. Better deny yourselves food or sleep, than be guilty of
any such keeping from others what belongs to them.
This however is not all. The Savior's precept tells men
that build houses, and open stores, and have lands cultivated, that they too
have a duty to discharge. Just as soon as the service is rendered, the
equivalent for it in money or goods, is no longer yours, and you cannot
retain it and be strictly honest. On what principle is it that you have a
right to make the journeyman, the clerk, or the day-laborer, wait your
convenience? Who authorized you to consume his time—time perhaps which he
needs to obtain bread for his children—by requiring him to call again and
again? The world may not denominate this fraud, but it is fraud, and fraud
which God has promised to avenge.
In process of time, some of you may attain to wealth and
distinction, and find it proper to band yourselves with others in carrying
forward important enterprises. Should such be the case, be on your guard. It
is a common opinion, and no doubt often a correct one, that chartered
companies will allow themselves to do what, as individuals, they could never
do and retain the least reputation for honesty. The idea seems to be, that
though a single man may not take advantage of his neighbor, ten or twenty
united may do it with impunity. Each appears to merge his individuality in
the collective body, so that the guilt of the wrong transaction, may be
diffused over the whole, and thus not be perceived.
Are you ready to say, None but a sadly perverted mind
could ever thus impose upon itself? This is true, and yet the iniquity, we
have reason to believe, is often practiced, and the evils resulting from it
are felt far and wide. Many a widow, and group of fatherless children, have
in this way been despoiled of their little all. I charge you spurn every
such companionship in iniquity. Never do a disreputable deed, because there
is in it a division of responsibility. The dishonesty is personal, though
the act is that of a company.
There is still another case, which may try the strength
of your uprightness. After rising to the possession of wealth, you may lose
that wealth, and be reduced to the hard necessity of putting off your
creditors with fifty cents on a dollar. Nothing is more common in the
fluctuations of the business world. The rich man of today may become the
poor man of tomorrow. But the path will after all be open before you, and
the tide of fortune may again set towards your habitation. And what will be
your duty, as honest men, under such circumstances? Why, to pay every penny
you owe in the world. No matter if you have a legal clearance. No matter if
nothing can be demanded of you. It is impossible that any bankrupt law
should set aside the enactments of the Savior.
Let me cite an example. A man who was once Franklin's
fellow-passenger to England, had been engaged in business in that country,
was unsuccessful, compounded with his creditors, and came to the United
States. Here by dint of unremitting industry, and careful frugality, he
amassed a considerable fortune in a very few years. Upon his return to
England, he invited all his old creditors to an entertainment, when after
thanking them for their indulgence, he presented to each an order for the
full amount of his claim, principal and interest. Noble man! He did as he
would be done by. And if ever brought into similar circumstances, go and do
likewise.
Fix it then in your minds from this hour, that you will
always act upon this rule of the Savior. Be assured "honesty is the best
policy." Overtaken by misfortune you may be, but so long as you are
conscious that no one can point to a single unfair act, in all your business
arrangements, you may sit calmly down in the midst of broken hopes, and
darkened prospects. But, as Milton justly says, "God and good men will not
allow a fair character to die." The day often arrives when the man of
unbending integrity is permitted to come back to the mansion, where he
formerly met the smiles of joyous and confiding friendship. Hold on to what
is right, and the outcome will be happy. You may die poor, but you will die
honest. Your couch may be hard, but your sleep will be sweet.
And so far as the well-being of society is concerned,
honesty is of pre-eminent importance. Deprive the world of trade, of this
strong bond which now holds all its parts together in harmony, and it would
fall to pieces as certainly and as suddenly, as would the world of matter,
if deprived of the great law of gravitation. But blessed be God, there is
enough of fairness and uprightness, in business transactions, to lay a
foundation for general confidence. What else could induce a merchant or
manufacturer to allow all he has to depart from under his own eye, and go to
the other side of the globe, there to be lodged with people he has never
seen? Bad as the world is, it is not so bad as it might be. Here is a man in
New York, sleeping soundly on his pillow, while all the gains of years of
successful industry, are stowed away in the warehouses of London, or
Liverpool. This tells a favorable story for the commercial integrity of the
world. Everything is entrusted to factors abroad, with an assurance almost,
that it will return with a double tide of opulence to the man's own door.
I charge you, my young friends, do nothing yourselves to
break up the foundation of this general confidence. Live in a lowly
dwelling, wear a threadbare coat, sit down to a dinner of herbs, sooner than
create a temptation to dishonesty, by permitting your expenditures to outrun
your income. Distressing tales might be told on this subject. If you begin
to go astray, you will find before you are aware of it, that you have woven
a web about your steps, from which there is no breaking loose. Determine
from the very first, that though you may be poor, you will not fail to be
honest. Come what will, rise or fall, have friends or be left alone,
resolve, as God shall help you, that no man shall ever say you willfully did
him wrong.