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Speaker 1: Light on adherence to principle. The man of truth never

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departs from the divine principles which he has expoused. He

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may be threatened with sickness, poverty, pain, loss of friends

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and position, yea, even with immediate death, yet he does

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not desert the principles which he knows to be eternally

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true to him. There is one thing more grievous, more

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to be feared and shunned than all the above evils

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put together, and that is the desertion of principle, to

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turn coward in the hour of trial, to deny conscience,

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to join the rabble of passions, desires, and fears, in

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turning upon, accusing, and crucifying the eternal Christ of divine principle,

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because that principle has not given him personal health, affluence,

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and ease. This, to the man of truth, is the

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evil of evils, the sin of sins. We cannot escape

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sickness and death, though we may avoid them for a

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long time. In the end they will overtake us. But

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we can avoid wrongdoing. We can avoid fear and cowardice.

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When we habitually avoid wrongdoing and cast out fear, the

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evils of life will not subdue us when they overtake us,

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for we shall have mastered them. Instead of avoiding them

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for a season, We shall have conquered them on their

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own ground. There are those that teach that it is

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right to do wrong when the wrong is to protect another.

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That it is good, for instance, to tell a lie

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when its object is the well being of another. That is,

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that it is right to desert a principle of truthfulness

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under severe trial. Such teaching has never emanated from the

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lips of the great teachers. It has not been uttered

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even by those lesser yet superbly noble men, the prophets,

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saints and martyrs, For those divinely illuminated men knew full

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well that no circumstance can make a wrong a aright,

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and that a lie has no saving and protective power.

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Wrongdoing is a greater evil than pain, and a lie

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is more deadly and destructive than death. Jesus rebuked Peter

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for trying to shield his master's life by wrongdoing, and

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no right minded person would accept life at the expense

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of the moral character of another when it appeared possible

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to do so. All men admire and revere the martyrs,

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those steadfast men and women who feared wrong, cowardice, and lying,

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But who did not fear pain and death. Those who

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were steadfast and calm in their adherents to principle, even

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when it brought to the utmost extremity of trial. Yea,

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even when the taunts and jeers of enemies assailed them,

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and the tears and agonies of loved ones appealed to them,

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they flinched turned back, knowing that the future good and

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salvation of the whole world depended upon their firmness in

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that supreme hour. For this they stand through all time

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as monuments of virtue, centers of saving and uplifting power

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for all humankind. But he who lied to save himself

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or for the sake of the two or three beings

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whom he personally loved, is rarely heard of, for in

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the hour of desertion of principle, his power was gone.

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If he is heard of, he is not love for

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that lie. He has always looked upon as one who

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fell when the test was applied as an example of

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the highest virtue. He is rejected by all men in

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all times. Had all men believe that an untruth was

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right under extreme circumstances, we should have no martyrs and saints,

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the moral fiber of humanity would have been undermined, and

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the world left to grope in ever deepening darkness. The

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attitude which regards wrongdoing for the sake of others as

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the right thing to do is based on the assumption

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that wrong and untruth are inferior evils to unhappiness, pain,

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and death. But the man of moral insight knows that

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wrong and untruth are the greater evils, and so he

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never commits them, even though his own life or the

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lives of others appear to be at stake. It is

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easy for a man in the flowery time of ease

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or the heyday of prosperity to persuade himself that he

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is staunchly adhering to principle. But when pain overtakes him,

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when the darkness of misfortune begins to settle down upon him,

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and the pressure of circumstances hems him in, then he

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is on his own trial and has come to the

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testing time. In that season, it will be brought to

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light whether he clings to self or adheres to truth.

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Principles are for our salvation in the hour of need.

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If we desert them in that hour how can we

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be saved from the snares and pains of self? If

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a man does wrong to his conscience, thinking thereby to

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avoid some immediate or pressing pain, he does not but

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increase pain and evil. The good man is less anxious

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to avoid pain than wrong doing. There is neither wisdom

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nor safety in deserting permanent and protective principles when our

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happiness seems to be at stake. If we desert the

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true for the pleasant, we shall lose both the pleasant

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and the true. But if we desert the pleasant for

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the true, the peace of the Truth will soothe away

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our sorrow. If we barter the higher for the lower,

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emptiness and anguish will overtake us, and then, having abandoned

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the eternal, where is our rock of refuge? But if

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we yield up the lower for the higher, the strength

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and satisfaction of the Higher will remain with us. Fullness

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of joy will overtake us, and we shall find in

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truth a rock of refuge from the evils and sorrows

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of life. To find the permanent amid all the changes

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of life, and having found it, adhere to it under

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all circumstances, this only is true happiness. This only is

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salvation and lasting peace.