modesty, or fear of criticism to do with those aims? Not one thing. They belong to a world of false appearances, a world of counterfeits.
It all comes back to the same thing always. I am only concerned to be, to go, to do, to give--and not at all with anything else. I am not concerned with conditions, circumstances, environment. They will become all that heart can desire when I myself am right, and that means when I myself am genuine. How can I be genuine when I am full of pretense and the desire for approval? Why, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." "The Father abiding in me doeth his works." What will people think? "Public opinion!" Under a banner with that device we should be no better than slaves. What do I think? should be my standard. That is, what do I think deep down in the silence, at the bottom of my own heart, where my honest opinion of myself and all my works expresses itself in no uncertain terms. No shame will ever come to me from ridicule that will equal the sense of shame I suffer when my own heart tells me I am a fraud, a counterfeit. And no applause will ever be so sweet as the sense of rightness--spiritual health--that I get when my own heart tells me I am sound.
Kipling says that triumph and disaster are two impostors to be treated "just the same." That is never truer than when the triumph or disaster is to vanity. Vanity is the impostor of impostors. The archimpostor! It is the archswindler, the archcounterfeiter.
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