p. 405 | SINCERITY by George C. Tenney

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 30, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 26.

SINCERITY.

By George C. Tenney

BY ELDER G. C. TENNEY.

"It makes no difference what a man believes, if he is only sincere." This worn-out apology for shiftlessness in spiritual things is by many who use it supposed to be the dictate of charity. By placing sincerity in a false light this deceptive proverb appropriates enough of the garb of truth to deceive very many with its plausible claim. Put to a practical test in any of the ordinary affairs of life, it at once proves an ignominious failure. Its error is so palpable that in any other matter than that of religious duty or faith no sane man would for a moment commit himself to so fatal a theory. But under its delusion in things of faith men will peacefully close their eyes to their real condition, rejecting any rays of light that may come to them, refusing to be disturbed, because they feel secure where they are and flatter themselves that this carnal security is sincerity itself.

It is a fatal delusion. The mistake is in calling self-satisfaction sincerity, which it certainly is not. Hypocrisy is not sincerity, nor does it bear any relation to it. But thousands of hypocrites feel that they are perfectly secure, for they believe that they are right. But a hypocrite is not sincere nor honest, even though he may believe that he is right, for a man who believes he is right when he is wrong, and might know it if he would, is a hypocrite. Sincerity will lead a man to examine well the ground on which he stands.

The old apology under examination bears a falsehood on the very face of it, for if a man be sincere, what he believes will make a difference in him and with him. If what he believes does not make a difference with him, then he is surely not sincere. A better way to say it would be, "It makes but little or no difference what a man believes if he is not sincere." Sincerity seeks for the truth as for hid treasures. It is not satisfied unless it constantly feels under its feet the rock of substantial truth. To the sincere man it will ever be a matter of the greatest importance as to what he believes, for his faith is the ruling, guiding principle of his life.

Let us eliminate the negative element in the old proposition, and leave it thus, "It does make a difference what a man believes if he is only sincere," and we have a patent fact. In this form we are prepared to grant for sincerity all that it is intended to claim for it in the other form. A humble, sincere, earnest purpose to seek God, to know his will and to do it, is that element in human character of which God especially approves. We are told that the eyes of the Lord go to and fro in the whole earth to show himself strong in behalf of such. No matter where such an one be found, in the jungle or desert, upon the mountain or in the valley, in an ice hut or under a fig tree, God sees him and loves him. He may not know God by the name we do, but he sees him in his works and knows him by that sacred name of love and fatherhood which no word can express. There have been such souls, and there are doubtless many of them now. That company of the saved which no man could number are gathered out "of all nations and kindreds and peoples and tongues," by the omniscient God, who loves all his children impartially, and is as faithful to recognize a holy desire or a heavenly aspiration in the heart of a poor heathen as in one of us. He hears the raven's cry; how much more the cries of those who lift to heaven, from the depths of woe, of ignorance and darkness, the hand of supplication for help.

Sincerity is just about the only trait of humanity that God can use. He loves the genuine article; but he generally tests it before accepting. Faith and love are its exponents, and these do not depend upon certain specific methods or tenets for their expression. Doctrines and forms of devotion come to us through education, while faith and love spring from sincerity of heart. Sincerity covets education, and thus faith and love come at last to manifest themselves in the ways which wisdom has prescribed, and in those ordinances and services which inspiration has revealed.