Your ShelfYour Projects

EMULATION

10%

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 27, 1879

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 53, No. 9.

Read the full edition

EMULATION

By Eliza H. Morton

Emulation is the act of attempting to equal or excel others in qualities or actions. There is, in the mind of every individual, to a greater or less extent, a desire to attain eminence in the world. This principle, properly directed, tends to make man noble, true, and happy. It can, however, be grossly perverted. A desire to surpass others for the sake of surpassing them is an unworthy motive. When a man treads down his fellow-beings in order to exalt himself, or when he takes pleasure in other people's failures because they make his successes more noticeable, he cultivates the lower characteristics of his nature, and has none of that love which actuated our Saviour to give his life for fallen man.
Selfishness and pride led certain individuals anciently to inquire, “Who among us shall be the greatest?” Those impure principles still exist, and still prompt man to exult when his fellow-mortal is abased. This emulation, if cultivated, becomes ambition. Napoleon's heart was filled with its unholy fire. He sought and obtained self-glorification at a terrible cost; for the blood of millions was shed that he might secure wealth, honor, fame, and a name. Alexander the Great ignored every rule of right, and trampled under foot every one whom he feared might some day equal or outstrip him in his onward course. The pages of history are covered with instances of misdirected emulation, but the light of eternity alone can reveal the evil it has wrought.
Self-emulation, or a desire to rise above one's present attainments in order to be of use in the world, is a noble principle. It causes an individual to press onward to wider ranges of thought and upward to higher levels in life. It means progress in knowledge, growth of mind, and moral improvement. It is willing that others should rise, and is ever ready to lend a helping hand. The spirit of Christ, which causes the believer to rejoice when others enter the road that leads to glory, causes him also to be glad when his brother progresses in things pertaining to this life.
Man may reach the highest pinnacle of worldly fame and honor, and the spirit within will still demand a higher goal. It calls aloud for the true, the lofty, and the imperishable. Caesar, with the world at his feet, was not satisfied, and the historian has recorded his weariness of spirit as well as his hours of exultation. Vague and passionate longings at times rent his proud heart, as he vainly sought to pierce the veil of futurity. It is recorded that on one occasion he bitterly exclaimed: “Has the fierce struggle, the indomitable will, the unflagging toil, the blood of five hundred battle fields, the sack of a thousand cities, brought me to this? It is a mockery, a dream, a fable. Can this be all?”
The mighty warrior looked from the goal he had obtained upward to the goal he might have won, but alas! vanity, pride, and world-worship were stronger than those momentary longings for a nobler, truer, better life, and Caesar again went forth conquering and to conquer.
It is ever thus in life. The restless heart demands a higher goal, and can never be satisfied with earthly things. These longings in the heart of the Christian are “big with immortality,” and cannot be hushed until incorruption and eternal life become the portion of the saints.
Thus we have seen that desires and efforts for self-improvement, if properly directed, are beneficial and right, and lead to perfection in the kingdom of our God.
ELIZA H. MORTON.
Allen's Corner, Me.