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Speaker 1: Deeds, character, and destiny. There is and always has been,

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a widespread belief in fate or destiny, that is, in

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an eternal and inscrutable power which apportions definite ends to

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both individuals and nations. This belief has arisen from long

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observation of the facts of life. Men are conscious that

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there are certain occurrences which they cannot control and are

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powerless to avert. Birth and death, for instance, are inevitable,

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and many of the incidents of life appear equally inevitable.

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Men strain every nerve for the attainment of certain ends,

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and gradually they become conscious of a power which seems

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to be not of themselves, which frustrates their puny efforts

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and laughs as it were, at their fruitless striving and struggle.

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As men advance in life, they learn to submit it

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more or less to this overruling power, which they do

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not understand, perceiving only its effects in themselves in the

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world around them, and they call it by various names

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such as God, Providence, fate, destiny, et cetera. Men of contemplation,

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such as poets and philosophers, step aside as it were,

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to watch the movements of this mysterious power, as it

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seems to elevate its favorites on the one hand and

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strike down its victims on the other, without reference to

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merit or demerit. The greatest poets, especially the dramatic poets,

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represent this power in their works as they have observed

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it in nature. The Greek and Roman dramatists usually depict

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their heroes as having foreknowledge of their fate and taking

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means to escape it, but by so doing they blindly

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involve themselves in a series of consequences which bring about

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the doom they are trying to avert. Shakespeare's characters, on

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the other hand, are represented as in nature with no foreknowledge,

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except in the form of presentiment, of their particular destiny. Thus,

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according to the poets, whether the man knows his fate

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or not, he cannot avert it, and every conscious or

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unconscious act of his is a step towards it. O

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Markiam's moving Finger is a vivid expression of this idea

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of fate. The moving finger writes, and having writ moves on.

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Nor all thy piety, nor wit shall lure it back

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to cancel half a line, nor all thy tears wash

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out a word of it. Thus men in all nations

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and times have experienced in their lives the action of

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this invincible power or law, and in our nation today

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this experience has been crystallized in the terse proverb man proposes,

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God disposes. But contradictory as it may appear, there is

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an equally widespread belief in man's responsibility as a free agent.

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All moral teaching is an affirmation of man's freedom to

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choose his course and mold his destiny, and man's patient

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and untiring efforts in achieving his ends are declarations of

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consciousness of freedom and power. This dual experience of fate

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on the one hand and freedom on the other, has

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given rise to the interminable controversy between the believers in

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fatalism and the upholders of free will, a controversy which

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was recently revived under the term determinism versus free will.

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Between apparently conflicting extremes, there is always a middle way

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of balance, justice, or compensation, which, while it includes both extremes,

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cannot be said to be either one or the other,

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and brings both into harmony. And this middle way is

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the point of contact between two extremes. Truth cannot be

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a partisan but by its nature, is the reconciler of extremes.

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And so in the matter which we are considering, there

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is a golden mean which brings fate and free will

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into close relationship. Wherein, indeed, it is seen that these

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two indisputable facts in human life. For such they are,

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are but two aspects of one's central law, one unifying

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and all embracing principle, namely, the law of causation in

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its moral aspect. Moral causation necessitates both fate and free will,

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both individual responsibilityity and individual predestination. For the law of

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causes must also be the law of effects, and cause

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and effect must always be equal. The train of causation,

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both in matter and mind, must be eternally balanced, therefore

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eternally just, eternally perfect. Thus every effect may be said

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to be a thing preordained, but the predetermining power is

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a cause, and not the fiat of an arbitrary will.

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Man finds himself involved in the train of causation. His

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life is made up of causes and effects. It is

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both a sowing and a reaping. Each act of his

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is a cause which must be balanced by its effects.

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He chooses the cause. This is free will, he cannot choose,

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alter or avert the effect. This is fate. Thus free

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will stands for the power to initiate causes, and destiny

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is involvement and effects. It is therefore true that man

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is predestined to certain ends, But he himself has, though

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he knows it, not issued the mandate, that good or

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evil thing from which there is no escape, he has,

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by his own deeds brought about. It may here be

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urged that man is not responsible for his deeds, that

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these are the effects of his character, and that he

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is not responsible for the character, good or bad, which

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was given him at his birth. If character was given

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him at birth, this would be true, and there would

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then be no moral law and no need for moral teaching.

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But characters are not given ready made. They are evolved.

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They are indeed effects, the products of the moral law itself,

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that is, the of deeds. Character result of an accumulation

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of deeds which have piled up, so to speak, by

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the individual during his life. Man is the doer of

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his own deeds. As such, he is the maker of

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his own character. And as the doer of his deeds

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and the maker of his character, he is the molder

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and shaper of his destiny. He has the power to

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modify and alter his deeds, and every time he acts,

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he modifies his character. And with the modification of his character,

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for good or evil, he is predetermining for himself new destinies,

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destinies disastrous or beneficent in accordance with the nature of

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his deeds. Character is destiny itself as a fixed combination

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of deeds. It bears within itself the results of those deeds.

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These results lie hidden as moral seeds in the dark

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recess of the character, awaiting their season of germination, growth,

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and fruitage. Those things which befall a man are the

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reflections of himself. That destiny which pursued him, which he

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was powerless to escape by effort or avert by prayer,

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was the relentless ghoul of his own wrong deeds, demanding

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and enforcing restitution. Those blessings and curses which come to

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him unbidden are the reverberating echoes of the sounds which

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he himself sent forth. It is this knowledge of the

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perfect law working through and above all things, of the

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perfect justice, operating in and adjusting all human affairs, that

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enables the good man to love his enemies and to

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rise above all hatred, resentment, and complaining, for he knows

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that only his own can come to him, and that

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though he be surrounded by persecutors, his enemies are but

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the blind instruments of a faultless retribution. And so he

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blames them not but calmly receives his accounts and patiently

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pays his moral debts. But this is not all. He

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does not merely pay his debts. He takes care not

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to contract any further debts. He watches himself and makes

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his deeds faultless. While paying off evil accounts, he is

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laying up good accounts. By putting an end to his

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own sin. He is bringing evil and suffering to an end.

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And now let us consider how the law operates in

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particular instances in the outworking of destiny through deeds and character.

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First we will look at this present life, for the

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present is a synthesis of the entire past. The net

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result of all that a man has ever thought and

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done is contained within him. It is no noticeable that

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sometimes the good man fails and the unscrupulous man prospers,

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a fact which seems to put all moral maxims as

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to the good results of righteousness out of account. And

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because of this, many people deny the operation of any

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just law in human life, and even declare that it

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is chiefly the unjust that prosper. Nevertheless, the moral law

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exists and is not altered or subverted by shallow conclusions.

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It should be remembered that man is a changing, evolving being.

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The good man was not always good. The bad man

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was not always bad. Even in this life. There was

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a time, in a large number of instances, when the

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man who is now just was unjust, when he who

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is now kind was cruel, when he who is now

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pure was impure. Conversely, there was a time in this life,

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in a number of instances, when he who is now

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unjust was just, When he who is now cruel was kind,

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when he who is now impure was pure. Thus, the

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good man, who is overtaken with calamity to day is

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reaping the result of his former evil sewing. Later he

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will reap the happy result of his present good sowing.

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While the bad man is now reaping the result of

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his former good sowing. Later he will reap the result

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of his present sowing. Of bad. Characteristics are fixed habits

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of mind, the results of deeds. An act repeated a

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large number of times, becomes unconscious or automatic, that is,

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it seems to repeat itself without any effort on the

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part of the doer, so that it seems to him

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almost impossible not to do it. And then it has

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become a mental characteristic. Here is a poor man out

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of work. He is honest and is not a shirker.

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He wants work and cannot get it. He tries hard

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and continues to fail. Where is the justice in his lot?

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There was a time in this man's condition when he

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had plenty of work. He felt burdened with it. He

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shirked it and longed for ease. He thought, how delightful

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it would be to have nothing to do. He did

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not appreciate the blessedness of his lot. His desire for

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ease is now gratified. But the fruit for which he longed,

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and which he thought would taste so sweet, has turned

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to ashes in his mouth. The condition which he aimed for, namely,

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to have nothing to do, he has reached. And there

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he is compelled to remain till his lesson is thoroughly learned.

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And he is surely learning that habitual ease is degrading,

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that to have nothing to do is a condition of wretchedness,

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and that work is a noble and black thing. His

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former desires and deeds have brought him where he is,

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and now his present desire for work, his ceaseless searching

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and asking for it, will just as surely bring about

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its own beneficent result. No longer desiring idleness, his present

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condition will, as an effect, the cause of which is

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no longer propagated, soon pass away, and he will obtain employment.

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And if his whole mind is now set on work,

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and he desires it above all else, then when it comes,

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he will be overwhelmed with it. It will flow into

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him from all sides, and he will prosper in his industry. Then,

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if he does not understand the law of cause and

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effect in human life, he will wonder why work comes

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to him apparently unsought, while others who seek it strenuously

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fail to obtain it. Nothing comes unbidden. Where the shadow

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is there also is the substance. That which comes to

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the individual is the product of his own deeds. As

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cheerful industry leads to greater industry and increasing prosperity, and

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labor shirked or undertaken discontentedly leads to a lesser degree

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of labor and decreasing prosperity. So with all the very

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conditions of life as we see them, they are the

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destinies wrought by the thoughts and deeds of each particular individual.

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So also with the vast variety of characters, they are

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the ripening and ripened fruit of the sowing of deeds.

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As the individual reaps what he sows, so the nation,

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being a community of individuals, reaps also what it sows.

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Nations become great when their leaders are just men. They

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fall and fade when their just men pass away. Those

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who are in power set an example, good or bad

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for the entire nation. Great will be the peace and

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prosperity of a nation when there shall arise within it

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a line of statesmen, who, having first established themselves in

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a lofty integrity of character, shall direct the energies of

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the nation toward the culture of virtue and development of character,

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knowing that only through personal industry, integrity, and nobility can

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national prosperity proceed. Still, above all is the Great Law,

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calmly and with infallible justice, meeting out to morals their

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fleeting destinies, tears stained or smiling the fabric of their hands.

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Life is a great school for the development of character,

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and all, through strife and struggle, vice and virtue, success

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and failure, are slowly but surely learning the lessons of wisdom.