1
00:00:00,440 --> 00:00:06,639
Speaker 1: Sincerity. Human society is held together by its sincerity. A

2
00:00:06,799 --> 00:00:11,480
universal falseness would beget a universal mistrust, which would bring

3
00:00:11,519 --> 00:00:18,320
about a universal separation, if not destruction. Life is made sane, wholesome,

4
00:00:18,359 --> 00:00:21,719
and happy by our deep rooted belief in one another.

5
00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:26,039
If we did not trust men, we could not transact

6
00:00:26,079 --> 00:00:31,399
business with them, could not even associate with them. Shakespeare's

7
00:00:31,559 --> 00:00:35,600
timun shows us the wretch condition of a man who,

8
00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:38,600
through his own folly, has lost all faith in the

9
00:00:38,679 --> 00:00:42,640
sincerity of human nature. He cuts himself off from the

10
00:00:42,679 --> 00:00:47,679
company of all men and finally commits suicide. Emerson has

11
00:00:47,719 --> 00:00:50,880
said something to the effect that if the trust system

12
00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:55,640
were withdrawn from commerce, society would fall to pieces, that

13
00:00:55,880 --> 00:00:59,880
system being an indication of the universal confidence men place

14
00:01:00,119 --> 00:01:05,239
in each other. Business, commonly supposed by the shortsighted and

15
00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:08,879
foolish to be all fraud and deception, is based on

16
00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:12,840
great trust, a trust that men will meet and fulfill

17
00:01:12,879 --> 00:01:17,680
their obligations. Payment is not asked until the goods are delivered,

18
00:01:18,359 --> 00:01:20,920
and the fact of the continuance of this system for

19
00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:24,879
ages proves that most men do pay their debts and

20
00:01:24,959 --> 00:01:28,280
have no wish to avoid such payment. Back of all

21
00:01:28,359 --> 00:01:32,920
its shortcomings. Human society rests on a strong basis of truth.

22
00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:38,120
Its fundamental note is sincerity. Its great leaders are all

23
00:01:38,239 --> 00:01:42,439
men of superative sincerity, and their names and achievements are

24
00:01:42,439 --> 00:01:45,840
not allowed to perish, a proof that the virtue of

25
00:01:45,879 --> 00:01:50,120
sincerity is admired by all the race. It is easy

26
00:01:50,159 --> 00:01:53,959
for the insincere to imagine that everyone is like themselves,

27
00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:58,319
and to speak of the rottenness of society. Though how

28
00:01:58,319 --> 00:02:02,079
could a rotten thing endure aig after age? For is

29
00:02:02,159 --> 00:02:06,400
not everything yellow to the jaundiced eye. People who cannot

30
00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:10,240
see anything good in the constitution of human society should

31
00:02:10,319 --> 00:02:15,759
overhaul themselves. Their trouble is near home. They call good evil.

32
00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:19,759
They have dwelt cynically and peevishly on evil until they

33
00:02:19,759 --> 00:02:25,280
cannot see good, and everything in everybody appears evil. Society

34
00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:28,039
is rotten from top to bottom. I heard a man

35
00:02:28,159 --> 00:02:30,919
say recently, and he asked me if I did not

36
00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:34,400
think so. I replied that I should be sorry to

37
00:02:34,479 --> 00:02:38,439
think so. That while society has many blemishes, it was

38
00:02:38,520 --> 00:02:42,280
sound at the core, and contained within itself the seeds

39
00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:47,759
of perfection. Society, indeed, is so sound that the man

40
00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:50,639
who is playing a part for the accomplishment of entirely

41
00:02:50,719 --> 00:02:55,400
selfish ends, cannot long prosper, and cannot fill any place

42
00:02:55,439 --> 00:02:59,719
as an influence. He is soon unmasked, and the fact

43
00:02:59,759 --> 00:03:03,599
that such a man can, for a brief period batten

44
00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:07,879
on human credulity speaks well for the trustfulness of men,

45
00:03:08,599 --> 00:03:12,639
if it reveals their lack of wisdom. An accomplished actor

46
00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:16,280
on the stage is admired, but the designing actor on

47
00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:20,360
the stage of life brings himself down to ignomy and contempt.

48
00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:24,120
In striving to appear what he is not, he becomes

49
00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:28,479
as one having no individuality, no character, and he is

50
00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:34,000
deprived of all influence, all power, all success. A man

51
00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:38,080
of profound sincerity is a great moral force, and there

52
00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:42,319
is no force, not even the highest intellectual force, that

53
00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:47,319
can compare with it. Men are powerful in influence according

54
00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:51,840
to the soundness and perfection of their sincerity. Morality and

55
00:03:51,919 --> 00:03:56,599
sincerity are so closely bound up together that where sincerity

56
00:03:56,680 --> 00:04:03,240
is lacking, morality as a power lacking also, for insincerity

57
00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:07,199
undermines all the other virtues, so that they crumble away

58
00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:11,680
and become of no account. Even a little insincerity robs

59
00:04:11,719 --> 00:04:15,400
a character of all its nobility and makes it common

60
00:04:15,439 --> 00:04:20,519
and contemptible falseness is so despicable of vice, and no

61
00:04:20,639 --> 00:04:24,000
man of moral weight can afford to dally with petty compliments,

62
00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:27,879
or play the fool with trivial and howsoever light in

63
00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:31,839
order to please. And he is no longer strong and admirable,

64
00:04:32,399 --> 00:04:35,639
but has become a shallow weakling, whose mind has no

65
00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:38,759
deep well of power from which men can draw, and

66
00:04:38,839 --> 00:04:42,480
no satisfying richness to stir them in a worshipful regard.

67
00:04:43,439 --> 00:04:45,800
Even they who are for the moment flattered with the

68
00:04:45,839 --> 00:04:50,519
pained lie or pleased with the deafly woven deception, will

69
00:04:50,519 --> 00:04:55,279
not escape those permanent, undercurrent influences which move the heart

70
00:04:55,399 --> 00:04:59,399
and shape the judgment to fixed and final issues. While

71
00:04:59,439 --> 00:05:03,199
these design delusions create but momentary ripples on the surface

72
00:05:03,279 --> 00:05:06,560
of the mind. I am very pleased with his attentions,

73
00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:09,720
said a woman of an acquaintance, but I would not

74
00:05:09,839 --> 00:05:14,439
marry him. Why not? She was asked, he doesn't ring true?

75
00:05:14,800 --> 00:05:19,720
Was the reply? Ring true? A term full of meaning.

76
00:05:20,399 --> 00:05:23,519
It has reference to the coin, which, when tested by

77
00:05:23,519 --> 00:05:27,240
its ring amidst a sound which reveals the sterling metal

78
00:05:27,279 --> 00:05:32,439
throughout without the admixture of any base material, it comes

79
00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:36,399
up to the standard, and will pass anywhere and everywhere

80
00:05:36,439 --> 00:05:40,920
for its full value. So it is with men, their

81
00:05:40,959 --> 00:05:45,399
words and actions emit their own peculiar influence. There is

82
00:05:45,519 --> 00:05:49,040
in them in an audible sound which all other men

83
00:05:49,079 --> 00:05:53,720
inwardly hear and instinctively detect. They know the false ring

84
00:05:53,759 --> 00:05:57,720
from the true, yet know not how they know. As

85
00:05:57,759 --> 00:06:01,399
the outer ear can make the most delicate distinctions and sounds,

86
00:06:02,079 --> 00:06:06,600
so the inner ear can make equally subtle distinctions between souls.

87
00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:11,800
None are ultimately deceived but the deceiver. It is the

88
00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:16,079
blind folly of the insincere, that while flattering themselves upon

89
00:06:16,120 --> 00:06:21,839
their successful simulations, they are deceiving none but themselves. Their

90
00:06:21,879 --> 00:06:26,000
actions are laid bare before all hearts. There is at

91
00:06:26,079 --> 00:06:30,120
the heart of man a tribunal whose judgments do not miscarry.

92
00:06:31,199 --> 00:06:35,759
If the senses faultlessly detect, shall not the soul infallibly know.

93
00:06:36,959 --> 00:06:40,279
This inner infallibility is shown in the collective judgment of

94
00:06:40,319 --> 00:06:48,720
the race. This judgment is perfect, so perfect in literature, art, science, invention, religion.

95
00:06:49,319 --> 00:06:52,879
In every department of knowledge, it divides the good from

96
00:06:52,920 --> 00:06:56,800
the bad, the worthy from the unworthy, the true from

97
00:06:56,839 --> 00:07:01,480
the false, zealously guarding and preserving the former. And allowing

98
00:07:01,519 --> 00:07:05,319
the latter to perish. The works, words, and deeds of

99
00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:08,519
great men are the heirlooms of the race, and the

100
00:07:08,600 --> 00:07:12,160
race is not careless of their value. A thousand men

101
00:07:12,199 --> 00:07:15,240
write a book, and only one is a work of

102
00:07:15,279 --> 00:07:20,600
original genius. Yet the race singles out that one elevates

103
00:07:20,639 --> 00:07:24,279
and preserves it, while it consigns the nine hundred and

104
00:07:24,399 --> 00:07:29,040
ninety nine copyists to oblivion. Ten thousand men utter a

105
00:07:29,120 --> 00:07:33,360
sentence under a similar circumstance, and only one is a

106
00:07:33,399 --> 00:07:37,160
sentence of divine wisdom. Yet the race singles out that

107
00:07:37,360 --> 00:07:41,319
saying for the guidance of posterity, while the other sentences

108
00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:44,720
are heard no more. It is true that the race

109
00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:48,920
slays its prophets, but even that slaying becomes a test

110
00:07:49,519 --> 00:07:53,560
which reveals the true ring, and men detect its turreens.

111
00:07:54,399 --> 00:07:57,399
The slain one has come up to the standard, and

112
00:07:57,480 --> 00:08:00,240
the deed of his slaying is preserved as furnish wishing

113
00:08:00,319 --> 00:08:04,680
infallible proof of his greatness. As the counterfeit coin is

114
00:08:04,720 --> 00:08:08,759
detected and cast back into the melting pot, while the

115
00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:12,759
sterling coin circulates among all men and is valued for

116
00:08:12,839 --> 00:08:17,879
its worth, So the counterfeit word, deed, or character is

117
00:08:17,959 --> 00:08:21,680
perceived and is left to fall back into nothingness from

118
00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:28,399
which it emerged. A thing unreal, powerless and dead. Spurious

119
00:08:28,399 --> 00:08:31,639
things have no value, whether they be bric a brac

120
00:08:31,839 --> 00:08:35,440
or men. We are ashamed of imitations that try to

121
00:08:35,519 --> 00:08:40,559
pass for the genuine article. Falseness is cheap. The masquerader

122
00:08:40,600 --> 00:08:44,279
becomes a byword. He is less than a man. He

123
00:08:44,360 --> 00:08:49,200
is a shadow, a spook, a mere mask. Trueness is valuable.

124
00:08:50,039 --> 00:08:53,600
The sound hearted man becomes an exemplar. He is more

125
00:08:53,639 --> 00:08:57,559
than a man, He is a reality, a force, a

126
00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:03,840
molding principle. By falseiness, all is lost, even individuality dissolves.

127
00:09:04,360 --> 00:09:10,440
For falseness is nonentity nothingness. By trueness, everything is gained.

128
00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:15,840
For trueness is fixed, permanent, and real. It is important

129
00:09:15,879 --> 00:09:18,799
that we be real, that we harbor no wish to

130
00:09:18,840 --> 00:09:22,759
be other than what we are, that we stimulate no virtue,

131
00:09:23,399 --> 00:09:28,799
assume no excellency, adopt no disguise. The hypocrite thinks he

132
00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:32,799
can hoodwink the world and the eternal law of the world.

133
00:09:33,279 --> 00:09:36,360
There is but one person that he hoodwinks, and that

134
00:09:36,559 --> 00:09:39,559
is himself. And for that the law of the world

135
00:09:39,639 --> 00:09:43,879
inflicts its righteous penalty. There is an old theory that

136
00:09:43,919 --> 00:09:48,039
the excessively wicked are annihilated. I think to be a

137
00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:50,799
pretender is to come as near to annihilation as a

138
00:09:50,840 --> 00:09:53,879
man can get. For there is a sense in which

139
00:09:53,879 --> 00:09:56,960
a man is gone, and in his place there is

140
00:09:57,039 --> 00:10:01,799
but a mirage of shams of annihilation, which so many

141
00:10:01,919 --> 00:10:06,039
dread he has descended into. And to think that such

142
00:10:06,080 --> 00:10:09,399
a man can prosper is to think that shadows can

143
00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:12,919
do the work of entities and displace a real man.

144
00:10:13,960 --> 00:10:16,759
If any man thinks he can build up a successful

145
00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:21,840
career on pretenses and appearances, let him pause before sinking

146
00:10:21,879 --> 00:10:25,679
into the abyss of shadows. For in insincerity there is

147
00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:31,240
no solid ground, no substance, no reality. There is nothing

148
00:10:31,279 --> 00:10:34,639
on which he can stand, and no material with which

149
00:10:34,679 --> 00:10:45,480
to build. But there are loneliness, poverty, shame, confusion, fears, suspicions, weeping, groaning,

150
00:10:45,919 --> 00:10:50,279
and lamentations. For if there is one hell, lower, darker,

151
00:10:50,320 --> 00:10:53,399
and fouler than all the others, it is the hell

152
00:10:53,480 --> 00:10:57,840
of insincerity. Four beautiful traits adorn the mind of the

153
00:10:57,919 --> 00:11:09,279
sincere man, and are one simplicity, two attractiveness, three penetration,

154
00:11:10,519 --> 00:11:17,279
four power. Simplicity is naturalness. It is a simple being

155
00:11:17,799 --> 00:11:21,679
without vake or foreign adornment. Why are all things in

156
00:11:21,799 --> 00:11:26,279
nature so beautiful? Because they are natural? We see them

157
00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:29,639
as they are. No task they might wish to appear,

158
00:11:30,440 --> 00:11:33,279
for in sooth they have no wish to appear. Otherwise,

159
00:11:34,279 --> 00:11:37,240
there is no hypocrisy in the world of nature. Outside

160
00:11:37,240 --> 00:11:40,840
of human nature. The flower, which is so beautiful in

161
00:11:40,879 --> 00:11:44,759
all eyes, would lose its beauty in all eyes? Would

162
00:11:44,879 --> 00:11:49,080
nature look upon reality, and its beauty and perfection gladden

163
00:11:49,159 --> 00:11:53,440
and amaze us. We cannot find anywhere of flaw, and

164
00:11:53,480 --> 00:11:57,639
are conscious of our incapacity to improve upon anything, even

165
00:11:57,720 --> 00:12:02,240
to the most insignificant. Everything has its own particular perfection,

166
00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:07,159
and shines in the beauty of unconscious simplicity. Of the

167
00:12:07,240 --> 00:12:11,559
modern social cries, it is back to nature. It is

168
00:12:11,639 --> 00:12:15,000
generally understood to mean a cottage in the country and

169
00:12:15,039 --> 00:12:18,080
a piece of land to cultivate. It will be of

170
00:12:18,120 --> 00:12:20,799
little use to go into the country if we take

171
00:12:20,840 --> 00:12:23,879
our shams with us, and any even near which we

172
00:12:23,960 --> 00:12:27,120
may cling to can well be washed off just where

173
00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:30,399
we are. It is good that they who feel burdened

174
00:12:30,440 --> 00:12:33,480
with the conventions of society should fly to the country

175
00:12:34,080 --> 00:12:37,279
and court the quiet of nature. But it will fail

176
00:12:37,399 --> 00:12:39,960
if it by anything but a means to that inward

177
00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:43,559
redemption which will restore us to the simple and the true.

178
00:12:44,679 --> 00:12:47,960
But though humanity has wandered from the natural simplicity of

179
00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:52,720
the animal world, it is moving toward a higher, divine simplicity.

180
00:12:53,879 --> 00:12:58,360
Men of great genius are such because of their spontaneous simplicity.

181
00:12:59,440 --> 00:13:04,480
They do not foreign They are lesser mind's study, style

182
00:13:04,559 --> 00:13:07,679
and effect. They wish to cut a striking figure on

183
00:13:07,759 --> 00:13:11,120
the stage of the world, and by that unholy wish

184
00:13:11,120 --> 00:13:15,320
they are doomed to mediocrity. Set a man to me recently,

185
00:13:16,159 --> 00:13:18,240
I would give twenty years of my life to be

186
00:13:18,279 --> 00:13:22,039
able to write in immortal hymn. With such an ambition,

187
00:13:22,120 --> 00:13:25,240
a man cannot write a him he wants to pose.

188
00:13:25,960 --> 00:13:29,960
He is thinking of himself, of his own glory. Before

189
00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:33,240
a man can write in immortal hymn or create in

190
00:13:33,320 --> 00:13:37,320
immortal work, he must give not twenty years of his

191
00:13:37,440 --> 00:13:42,799
life to ambition, but to do anything great, he must sing, paint,

192
00:13:42,960 --> 00:13:48,440
write out of ten thousand bitter experiences, ten thousand failures,

193
00:13:49,039 --> 00:13:55,000
ten thousand conquests, and ten thousand joys. He must know gasphemy.

194
00:13:55,639 --> 00:14:00,120
He must work with blood and tears, restraining his intel

195
00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:04,799
and moral powers and returning to simplicity, a man becomes

196
00:14:04,879 --> 00:14:10,200
great be forfeits nothing real. Only the shams are cast aside,

197
00:14:10,879 --> 00:14:15,480
revealing the standard gold of character. Where there is sincerity,

198
00:14:15,519 --> 00:14:19,399
there will always be simplicity, a simplicity of the kind

199
00:14:19,399 --> 00:14:23,320
that we see in nature, the beautiful simplicity of truth.

200
00:14:24,519 --> 00:14:29,039
Attractiveness is the direct outcome of simplicity. This is seen

201
00:14:29,080 --> 00:14:32,759
in the attractiveness of all natural objects to which we

202
00:14:32,840 --> 00:14:36,720
have referred, but in human nature it is manifested as

203
00:14:36,799 --> 00:14:43,000
personal influence. Of recent years, certain pseudomistics have been advertising

204
00:14:43,080 --> 00:14:46,919
to sell the secret of personal magnetism for so many dollars,

205
00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:50,480
by which they purport to show vain people how they

206
00:14:50,480 --> 00:14:54,639
can make themselves attractive to others by certain occult means.

207
00:14:55,159 --> 00:14:58,440
As though attractiveness can be bought and sold and put

208
00:14:58,480 --> 00:15:01,960
on an off like powder and aint, nor are people

209
00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:05,759
who are anxious to be thought attractive likely to become so,

210
00:15:06,440 --> 00:15:09,879
for their vanity is a barrier to it. The very

211
00:15:09,919 --> 00:15:14,240
desire to be thought attractive is in itself a deception,

212
00:15:14,960 --> 00:15:20,039
and it leads to the practice of numerous deceptions. It infers, too,

213
00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:23,799
that such people are conscious of lacking the genuine attractions

214
00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:27,320
and graces of character, and are on the lookout for

215
00:15:27,399 --> 00:15:31,200
a substitute. But there is no substitute for beauty of

216
00:15:31,279 --> 00:15:37,799
mind and strength of character. Attractiveness, like genius, is lost

217
00:15:37,840 --> 00:15:41,120
by being coveted and possessed by those who are too

218
00:15:41,200 --> 00:15:44,840
solid and sincere of character to desire it. There is

219
00:15:44,919 --> 00:15:49,120
nothing in human nature, nor talent, nor intellect, nor affection,

220
00:15:49,759 --> 00:15:53,799
nor beauty of features that can compare an attractive power

221
00:15:54,320 --> 00:15:57,440
with the soundness of mind and the wholeness of heart,

222
00:15:57,919 --> 00:16:02,000
which we call sincerity. There is a perennial charm about

223
00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:05,200
a sincere man or woman, and they can draw about

224
00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:09,200
themselves the best specimens of human nature. There can be

225
00:16:09,279 --> 00:16:14,120
no personal charm apart from sincerity. Infatuation there may be,

226
00:16:14,480 --> 00:16:18,159
and is, but this is a kind of disease, and

227
00:16:18,279 --> 00:16:21,960
is vastly different from the indissoluble bond by which sincere

228
00:16:22,039 --> 00:16:28,120
people are attached. Infatuation ends in painful disillusion. But as

229
00:16:28,120 --> 00:16:31,799
there is nothing hidden between sincere souls and they stand

230
00:16:31,879 --> 00:16:35,480
upon that solid ground of reality, there is no illusion

231
00:16:35,519 --> 00:16:39,399
to be displayed. Leaders among men attract by the power

232
00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:42,960
of their sincerity, and even if a man's intellect may

233
00:16:43,039 --> 00:16:45,919
be great, he can never be a permanent leader and

234
00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:49,919
guide of men unless he be sincere. For a time

235
00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:53,600
he may sail jauntily upon the stream of popularity and

236
00:16:53,679 --> 00:16:57,080
believe himself secure. But it is only that he may

237
00:16:57,159 --> 00:17:01,200
shortly fall the lower and popular odium. He cannot long

238
00:17:01,240 --> 00:17:04,680
deceive the people with his painted front. They will soon

239
00:17:04,720 --> 00:17:08,599
look behind and find of what spurious stuff he has made.

240
00:17:09,200 --> 00:17:12,000
He is like a woman with a painted face. She

241
00:17:12,119 --> 00:17:15,240
thinks she is admired for her complexion, but all know

242
00:17:15,359 --> 00:17:18,680
it is paint and despise her for it. She has

243
00:17:18,759 --> 00:17:23,119
one admirer, herself, And the hell of limitation to which

244
00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:27,160
the insincere commit themselves is the hell of self admiration.

245
00:17:28,359 --> 00:17:31,799
Sincere people do not think of themselves, of their talent,

246
00:17:32,119 --> 00:17:36,119
their genius, their virtue, or their beauty. Because they are

247
00:17:36,160 --> 00:17:41,759
so unconscious of themselves, they attract all and win their confidence, affection,

248
00:17:42,079 --> 00:17:47,519
and esteem. Penetration belongs to the sincere. All shams are

249
00:17:47,599 --> 00:17:51,920
unveiled in their presence, All stimulators are transparent to the

250
00:17:51,960 --> 00:17:56,079
searching eye of the sincere man. With one clear glance,

251
00:17:56,119 --> 00:17:59,880
he sees through all their flimsy pretenses. He who is

252
00:18:00,160 --> 00:18:03,799
rid his heart of all falseness, and entertains only that

253
00:18:03,920 --> 00:18:07,119
which is true. Has gained the power to distinguish the

254
00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:10,599
false from the true in others, he is not deceived,

255
00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:15,400
who is not self deceived, As men looking around on

256
00:18:15,480 --> 00:18:22,559
objects of nature infallibly distinguish them as snake, bird, horse, tree, rose,

257
00:18:22,799 --> 00:18:27,039
and so on. So the sincere man distinguishes the variety

258
00:18:27,039 --> 00:18:32,200
of characters. He perceives in a movement, a look, a word,

259
00:18:32,640 --> 00:18:36,599
an act, the nature of the man, and acts accordingly.

260
00:18:37,440 --> 00:18:41,000
He is on his guard without being suspicious. He has

261
00:18:41,079 --> 00:18:45,359
prepared for the pretender, without being mistrustful. He acts from

262
00:18:45,400 --> 00:18:50,359
positive knowledge and not from negative suspicion. Men are open

263
00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:54,880
to him, and he reads their contents. His penetrative judgment

264
00:18:54,960 --> 00:18:59,480
pierces to the center of actions. His direct and unequivotable

265
00:18:59,519 --> 00:19:03,839
conduct strengthens in others the good and shames the bad.

266
00:19:04,519 --> 00:19:07,279
And he is a staff of strength to those who

267
00:19:07,319 --> 00:19:10,400
have not yet attained to his soundness of heart and head.

268
00:19:11,440 --> 00:19:15,559
Power goes with penetration, and understanding of the nature of

269
00:19:15,640 --> 00:19:19,079
actions is accompanied with the power to meet and deal

270
00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:23,480
with all actions in the right and best way. Knowledge

271
00:19:23,519 --> 00:19:26,960
is always power, but knowledge of the nature of actions

272
00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:31,160
is superative power, and he who possesses it becomes a

273
00:19:31,200 --> 00:19:36,079
presence to all hearts and modifies their actions for good.

274
00:19:36,359 --> 00:19:40,079
Long after his bodily presence has passed away, he is

275
00:19:40,119 --> 00:19:43,000
still a molding force in the world, and is a

276
00:19:43,039 --> 00:19:47,440
spiritual reality, working subtly in the minds of men and

277
00:19:47,480 --> 00:19:51,680
shaping them towards sublime ends. At first, his power is

278
00:19:51,759 --> 00:19:55,200
local and limited, but the circle of righteousness which he

279
00:19:55,240 --> 00:20:00,400
has set moving, continues to extend and extend further till

280
00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:04,079
it embraces the whole world, and all men are influenced

281
00:20:04,079 --> 00:20:08,400
by it. The sincere man stamps his character upon all

282
00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:11,839
that he does, and also upon all people with whom

283
00:20:11,839 --> 00:20:15,480
he comes in contact. He speaks a word in season,

284
00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:20,000
and some one is impressed. The influence is communicated to

285
00:20:20,079 --> 00:20:24,759
another and another, and presently, some despairing soul ten thousand

286
00:20:24,759 --> 00:20:29,359
miles away hears it and is restored. Such a power

287
00:20:29,440 --> 00:20:32,960
is prosperity in itself, and its worth is not to

288
00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:37,359
be valued in coin. Money cannot purchase the priceless jewels

289
00:20:37,359 --> 00:20:41,599
of character, but labor and right doing can. And he

290
00:20:41,680 --> 00:20:46,039
who makes himself sincere, who acquires a robust soundness through

291
00:20:46,039 --> 00:20:50,200
his entire being, will become a man of singular success

292
00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:54,640
and rare power. Such is the strong pillar of sincerity.

293
00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:58,880
Its supporting power is so great that, once it is

294
00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:04,160
completely erected, the Temple of Prosperity is secure. Its walls

295
00:21:04,160 --> 00:21:08,319
will not crumble, its rafters will not decay, its roof

296
00:21:08,359 --> 00:21:12,359
will not fall in. It will stand while the man lives,

297
00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:16,079
and when he has passed away, it will continue to

298
00:21:16,119 --> 00:21:20,559
afford a shelter and a home for others, through many generations.