p. 334 | True Success in Life

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Nov 6, 1879

True Success in Life.

WHO is the truly successful man? Mr. Catchpenny says, "of course he who has scraped together the most money—whose note will pass without an endorser,—who holds many mortgages, and has a large deposit in bank. He of course is the man; what else is worth living for, and striving after. Get gold honestly if you can, but GET it at all events; a man without money is of little account in the eye of the multitude. He is only fit to be a hewer of wood and a drawer of water. What he was created for is hard to determine!" Stop one moment, Mr. C.; do not jump at conclusions. How did your rich men obtain their riches? If by honest dealing, in the true sense of the word, prudence and temperance combined,—by steady, energetic action:—by earning their money in an honest calling, not grinding the poor to the dust; if they have obtained it in this manner, I will say God speed to them, and can rejoice at their success. But if, on the other hand, they have coined gold by handing the sparkling cup to their neighbor—the taste of which is pleasant to the palate but will sting like a viper, and hurry the victim of indulgence to a premature and dishonorable grave,—if they have converted what God made to nourish and sustain His children, into a subtle poison, the constant use of which will dethrone reason, and often makes man a brute and a murderer, and which dissolutes a thousand happy firesides and makes earth a dreamy waste; if from the young man, enticed to the snare of her who would decoy him from the path of virtue, by the greed of an unscrupulous landlord,—who, for the sake of a high rent, cares not for what purposes his premises are used, can he only get more gold; if the widow and the orphan are robbed to increase his unjust gains; if the Sabbath is desecrated by being spent in counting up ill gotten accumulations, and in forming plans for the future—can this be called true success?

He who is truly successful has learned to rule his own spirit, to return blessings for cursings, to be unjustly slandered and to move on calmly; only mindful to be true and faithful in all situations and circumstances. Though rich, he does not glory in his riches, remembering he is only a steward and must render an account at that bar where justice will be dispensed to all; but uses his riches mainly to benefit others—scattering his blessings all around him, as the sun scatters clouds and darkness by its silent influence. If at the head of an establishment,—be it a bank, farm, or a manufacturing house,—he does not appropriate the lion’s share of the profits, and grow more selfish as his riches increase; but stands ready to increase the pay of those under him unasked as the profits increase. If poor, having neither silver nor gold, houses nor lands, and can barely support a dear wife and children; still he toils on cheerfully and hopefully, having made his peace with his Maker,—having resolved to obey and follow the Saviour, even unto the end, and work out for himself a true Christian character—he is faithful to the light he possesses. Such a man will shine as the stars in the Heavenly Jerusalem, and when ages shall have rolled on will still be progressing in virtue and holiness.

This is true success in the only true sense of the word. Let the young strive after it, as the Pearl of Great Price. May the man of business in all his strivings after the things that perish with the using, be sure to obtain this success even at the expense and loss of all things else,—may the old remember if they have not yet secured the prize that a moments' delay is dangerous, as the present is the only time for action.