Candor | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 14, 1871

Candor.

THERE is nothing sheds so fine a light upon the human mind as candor. It was called “whiteness” by the ancients, for its purity; and it has always won the esteem due to the most admirable of the virtues. However little sought for, or practiced, all do it the homage of their praise, and all feel the power and charm of its influence. The man whose opinions make the deepest mark upon his fellow-man, whose influence is the most lasting and efficient, whose friendship is instinctively sought where all others have proved faithless, is not the man of brilliant parts, or flattering tongue, or splendid genius, or commanding power; but he whose lucid candor and ingenuous truth transmit the heart’s real feelings, pure and without refraction. There are other qualities which are more showy, and other traits that have a higher place in the world’s code of honor; but none wear better or gather less tarnish by use, or claim a deeper homage in that silent reverence which the mind must pay to virtue.