West Jersey Pioneer

YOUNG MEN - LIVE HONESTLY.
BY HENRY WARD BEECHER
Every young man, as he enters upon
life, should take an account with him-
self, and decide in his own mind upon
the course which he will pursue. He
should ask himself, "Will I enter upon
a course in which I can render a fair
equivalent for everything that I obtain?
or will I enter upon a course in which
for the things that I receive, I shall ren-
der an equivalent where I must, and
palm off empty appearances where I can.
It is a glorious ambition, a manly pur-
pose, with which a person begins life,
when he goes forth saying, "I mean to
make my fortune, to be sure, and to
pluck honor from the highest boughs of
the tree of life, but I am determined not
to go one step in honor or wealth that is
not a real step. What I have I will pay
for. I will not take anything without
giving a fair equivalent for it." And
what a contrast there is between this and
those who set out in life with a determi-
nation to make their fortune and gain
honor at all hazards, by whatever means
it may be necessary to employ, and with-
out regard to whether they render an
equivalent for that which they receive
or not?
A young man delicately reared, is sent
into life, and he goes into a shop where
he finds many companions, and where,
unfortunately, the strongest-minded men
are not the sweetest hearted. And all
around about him the conversation is low
the allusions are coarse, the expressions
are vulgar. The things that in home
life he never dared to shape into words
or hints even, are freely handled for the
purpose of exciting laughter. Now, un-
der such circumstances a man may lose
sensibility to these things. At first he
is shocked and sick. I have known per-
sons of an organization so delicate that
this violence done to their moral and so-
cial feelings amounted to absolute sick-
ness of body. But that cannot continue.
In the course of a month a young man
will get used to obscenity in one of two
ways. If he sets his heart against it;
if he calls the memory of all he loves to
his help; if his whole conscience bears
witness; if he makes a covenant with
his lips, and sets his heart to watch over
its issues, then little by little he will
come to a state in which he will hear ob-
scene talk as though he did not hear it.
And he comes out better than he went
in, although he suffers less by the out-
ward contact of corruption than in the
beginning. He has carried himself in
such a way with reference to it, that it
has worked out in moral purity.
I was called once to a consultation in
reference to a young man belonging to a
large establishment, who was detected in
some criminal act; and in a confidential
interview that I had with him, he told
me that it was not because he was in
need that he yielded to the temptation,
but because he wanted property. His
dishonesty was simply the result of av-
erice. And if a young man abuses his
trust and is dishonest, there is not a
word to be said in his justification.
There are temptations to dishonesty,
then that spring from extravagance. -
Our society is very vicious in its whole
structure in this regard. We make no
provision for the respectability of people
who are in humble circumstances. We
hold out inducements to them to live be-
yond their means.
Young people want to begin further
along than they are able to. They want
to keep house as twenty years of success-
ful and fruitful industry have enabled
other men to do it. They measure every-
thing on the pattern of somebody else.
There are many young men who have
enough to support them; but that is not
all that they want. They have bad com-
panions with whom they associate. -
These companions are not very temper-
ate. They smoke; and so of course they
drink I do not mean that among all
men that smoke, drinking is a handmaid
vice; but I say that smoking leads, or
tends to lead, to the other vice. And
smoking and drinking are very expen-
sive.
Young men are very apt to reason the
question of dishonesty with themselves,
and to justify themselves by the exam-
ples which they see, around about them
of men who stand eminent, trusted, and
of good reputation, and who yet do dis-
honest things. A young man is apt to
say, "It is no worse for me to follow such
and such courses, than it is for others;
and many that do follow them stand high
and are prospered and respected."
I will admit that there are many men
who stand high, and for a time have a
certain kind of respectability and pros-
perity, though they do dishonest things,
but I say this: You cannot afford to be
like them. There is nothing else in this
world that is of so much consequence to
you, as that you should keep peace with
your own self. Blessed be the man that
can say, as the apostle did, "I trust that
I have a good conscience." Blessed be
the man who has lived till he is thirty
years of age, and can say, "I have a good
conscience;" that is, "I never willingly
do anything that violates my conscience.
God knows that is my purpose to live at
peace with my conscience."
A man cannot afford to throw away
the blessing of a good conscience. And
it makes no difference that your neigh-
bor is prospering by dishonesty, and peo-
ple have not found him out. If you are
dishonest you know it yourself, and that
is enough. And there ought to be a
principle of honor with every young
man that should lead him to say, "Even
if God could not see me when I do
wrong I should see myself, and self-re-
spect and manhood require that I should
do right."