Article February 22, 1913 Issue

UNFOLDING COURAGE

ROBERT O. CAMPBELL.

Some years ago a man employed by a mercantile firm became subject to discouragement, following an occurrence which made impossible the fruition of a cherished hope. This event was beyond his power to control, as he was unaware of anything in his own experience having caused it; and no instruction in his life previous to this time had given him a glimpse of the fact that unfolding courage in his consciousness would free him from a dejected mental condition.

In this trouble he sought advice from one who had shown a friendly interest in his welfare, a man of wider experience. This friend, evidently knowing no way to destroy the direct result of the incident, counseled him to try to find relief by faithful efforts in the business in which he was engaged. His advice was to this effect: that the despondency would in time lose force, and if during the lapse of time every opportunity was improved to gain success in business, this success would be accompanied with results which would annul the consequences of the disappointment. Considered from a business view-point, this was not bad counsel, but its lack of anything that would increase his courage to endure, by turning thought to the spiritual, was apparent. The friend who recommended this course was an excellent type of manhood, one who met all obligations to the best of his ability and frequently sacrificed his own welfare for the benefit of others, yet his highest hope appeared to be in the result of human achievement. The teaching of Christianity had certainly influenced his life in many ways; but though the Christian imprint had proved helpful in shaping his manhood into a good standard of character, the wonder was that so much had been done without creating more dependence on a help above the human.

Several years after the recommendation to seek satisfaction in business prosperity was received by the employee, years filled with persistent effort to acquire capability and its consequent success, a series of business disturbances occurred which were world-wide in their hurtful effects, clearly exposing the weakness of basing one's welfare on material prosperity. During the period of depression which followed these disturbances in the world of trade, almost every branch of commerce became affected. Men who had gained success in great undertakings, who possessed undoubted capacity, appeared as helpless in their desires to restore the currents of trade to their proper channels as were those of lesser resources. In the life of the employee business experience had been gained, but the hope of success, which before had appeared possible, now seemed farther than ever from accomplishment, while some of the devices used to gain trade had become burdens difficult to lay down. New associations became necessary by reason of changed conditions, and anxious thought was almost continuous. At this time, moreover, physical ills had grown into such a state that the demand for their healing was urgent.

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