CHAPTER III

Confidence through Knowledge of Truth

Be sure you are right, then go ahead.

Because thou hast asked this thing . . . 1 have given thee a wise and an understanding heart. . . And I have also given thee that which thou bast not

asked, both riches and honor.

ONE OF THE MOST essential concomitants of prosperity is confidence: self-confidence and confidence in others, trust in the outcome of an undertaking, and assurance that one is in the right and bound to win. Without this deep interior faith, one cannot draw the confidence of others and so have the co-operation of all those whose aid and abetting give a person standing in the business world.

SELF-CONFIDENCE AND CHRIST

Everything works for and to the credit of those who “know in whom” they have believed and who have great principles as the foundation of their confidence in

themselves and in their enterprise.

Credit is one of not the greatest, in the world today. It would be impossible to

carry on the immense amount of commerce and trade found in the world if it

were not for the credit system. There is not enough coined money in existence to

serve as the medium of exchange for

the business transacted even in one day, nor would there be time or facilities to effect the exchanges that even the banks require if suddenly all credit were

removed from affairs.

So potent is credit that even the touch of the hem of its garment has been known

to save a man from financial ruin.

With reference to the power that the Rothchilds are said to have wielded in the

realm of credit, the story is told of a man whose business was once on the very

verge of ruin but who was convinced that he could easily weather the crisis in his

affairs if a little restraint could be put upon his creditors. This man appealed to

one of the great Rothchilds (who knew him but slightly but believed his story) for

a loan, an indorsement, or a mere word that might pilot him through the

dangerous straits. The great financier said to him:

“My friend, I have an errand down the street. Just take my arm and walk with

me.”

And so as seemingly intimate business friends they passed among brokers of

Paris. It was enough. The man’s creditors stayed their claims, the crisis was

passed, and his business was saved. It was thought that did the work, the

greatest power in the world.

THE TRUE TRUST AND THE FALSE

To know when to have confidence, where to place

it, and how to retain it are some of the questions that meet us. There are those

who are not succeeding, because of undue caution and a lack of trust; because in

giving credit they have lacked judgment, or operated with a slack hand, or got

into bondage because of fear.

Then there are those who think they cannot trust anybody, that all men are

dishonest; and they will trust no one until he has been proved trustworthy.

Experience, bringing loss and disillusionment, has been their hard and bitter

teacher.

In this world of appearances there are two kinds of trust, a positive and a

negative kind. The latter is the trust of the ignorant, and unless there comes

understanding, this trust will prove its falseness.

Innocence can trust and be justified, for innocence is divine. Ignorance and

innocence are not synonyms, as some suppose; there is no perfect innocence that

is not based upon intuitive knowledge. It is when the innocent mind begins to

resort to worldly knowledge, that failure follows. Then people's trust in one

another becomes a mere looking to the mortal, and their trust in God is trust in a

being who is far away, inclined to be partial, and of uncertain character.

Presently their faith is tried, and it cannot stand because their knowledge, being

of a worldly nature, is according to appearances and has no real foundation.

TRUST IN THE GOD OF EVERYONE

True trust, the positive trust that nothing can take from you, is trust in the

divinity of everybody and everything. You trust yourself because you let your

divine self guide you. You know that the Lord in you can do everything, and you

let His wisdom direct you and give you skill and insight, inspiration and

understanding.

You may need to remind yourself often of the One in whom you trust if you have

hitherto lacked confidence. Or if your old confidence was a kind of self-conceit,

brazen yet weak, when you pass, like Paul, from the old boldness to the new

meek yet fearless confidence, it will be good to say:

“I can do all things in him that strengtheneth me.”

DIVINE WISDOM

This is the wisdom of which Solomon sang and wrote, whose price is above

rubies:

"For the gaining of it is better than gaining of silver, And the profit thereof than fine gold.”

It was this understanding which brought to the Hebrew king all his riches and

honor.

Having wisdom, you cannot be poor. Mines of rich ore are discovered by it. Timely inventions spring forth from it. Secrets of nature come with it.

Business foresight, good judgment of human efficiency, right valuations of land

and commodities are some of its fruits. The list of advantages that accrue from

divine understanding is too long and universal to be written about in these

lessons.

By the light of wisdom you look for the divinity in everyone, even the dishonest,

and the One will come forward. By having your eye single to the One you will also

be able to discern the errors that hide man’s divinity, and there will be no

confusion in your mind as to human nature. You will not put your trust in the

“flesh” or in “princes” but ever in the One that is “trust worthy.”

Great principles of prosperity are announced in those verses of Scripture which

declare that man to be a failure (“cursed”) who trusts in that which is less than

God, and to be a success (“blessed”) who trusts in the Lord. “Thus saith Jehovah:

Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose

heart departeth from Jehovah. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and

shall not see when good cometh... Blessed is the man that trusteth in Jehovah,

and whose trust Jehovah is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters . . .

and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding

fruit.”

Be sure the Lord is on your side; your sense of

righteousness is keen enough for that. Business ethics is not different from other

ethics. Business is not business when the Spirit is left out. It is only a dead and

cold Moloch that in the end will consume what you hold fairest and dearest in life.

If you abandon scruples and conscience you must know how not to sink. You

must rise on the wings of your godhead.

THE SNARE OF RICHES

Certain good people fear to be rich lest they should fall into the snare of riches and miss their way into eternal happiness. Learn to pray that you be not led into the “temptation” of any God gift. The Spirit can protect you from every liability if

you but remember. The saying “How hard is it for them that trust in riches to

enter into the kingdom of God” applies to the poor as well as the rich, for many

are the poverty-stricken who labor under the delusion that they would be

completely happy if they were only rich. It is our attitude toward riches that

determines whether they are a stumbling block or not. Good people, search the

Scriptures, and gather together the many texts that show that riches belong to

the righteous! No longer deceive yourselves into thinking Jesus was poor! At any

moment He could have had all the wealth of the world at His command. Compare

two statements that Paul makes about the Master as to His poverty and His sin,

that

both were but an appearance:

“Him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become

the righteousness of God in him.”

“Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might become rich.”

It is not money that is the root of all evil but the love of money. Let money be

nothing to you, and let us not talk of “wanting to be rich because of the good we

could do”; but let us see that we want to be rich because it is right, and riches

belong to the daughters of the King and the princes of God.

FAITH IN GOD ETERNAL

There is never any occasion in all one’s life for losing faith or entertaining doubt. The man who doubts not “in his heart,” according to the Master, can have “what

he saith.”

“Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou taken up

and cast into the sea: and shall not doubt in his heart, but shalFbelieve that what

he saith cometh to pass; he shall have it.”

Faith is persistency, which is rooted in the knowl edge that this good is for us and

we can have it. When Jesus wished to illustrate the faith that wins, He chose an

example of persistency, a widow who

Confidence through Knowledge of Truth

41

won her way because of her own nature and not because of justice or love or any other reason. In the case figured a judge who neither feared God nor regarded

man, and the widow came to him demanding that justice be done her in a certain cause. At first the judge pays no attention, but the widow troubles him so much

with her determined claims that at last he yields to her—”lest she wear me out by

her continual coming.” Another peculiar parable to illustrate this power of persistent prayer is given in Luke 11:5-10, where a friend’s need is said to be met

“because of his importunity.”

ABOVE THE LAW OF CAUSE AND EFFECT

“I have always tried to do right and to be good, and I have never wronged anyone. I don’t see why I should be so poor and suffer so!”

When tempted to complain in this way, close your lips on any utterance before it

can come forth, and rise in your mind above the law of cause and effect, of

reward and punishment, and take fresh hold of this thought:

“My good is for me and I can have it now, and I do have it this moment in Spirit,

and now it can become manifest!”

Once to San Francisco from a country town came a young woman, an orphan and friendless, who desired to get work. She soon found that her lack of

He chose an example of persistency, a widow who won her way because of her

own nature and not because of justice or love or any other reason. In the case

figured a judge who neither feared God nor regarded man, and the widow came

to him demanding that justice be done her in a certain cause. At first the judge

pays no attention, but the widow troubles him so much with her determined

claims that at last he yields to her—”lest she wear me out by her continual

coming.” Another peculiar parable to illustrate this power of persistent prayer is

given in Luke 11:5-10, where a friend’s need is said to be met “because of his

importunity.”

ABOVE THE LAW OF CAUSE AND EFFECT

“I have always tried to do right and to be good, and I have never wronged anyone. I don’t see why I should be so poor and suffer so!”

When tempted to complain in this way, close your lips on any utterance before it

can come forth, and rise in your mind above the law of cause and effect, of

reward and punishment, and take fresh hold of this thought:

“My good is for me and I can have it now, and I do have it this moment in Spirit,

and now it can become manifest!”

Once to San Francisco from a country town came a young woman, an orphan and

friendless, who

desired to get work. She soon found that her lack of experience handicapped her sadly. She was unattractive and without tact, silent and colorless. But she had a

marvelous tenacity.

At last she got a position in the United States Mint, a most difficult thing to do

unless one has excellent references. She remained there three years because her

political sponsor was a man of influence. When someone inquired one day as to

his personal character, she replied:

“I know little or nothing about him beyond the brief conversations that I had with him before getting my position.”

And then she told her simple story of how she had succeeded where hundreds

had failed.

When she learned that women worked in the mint, she went to the

superintendent to ask for a position. He was a polite man, who answered her

courteously that there were no vacancies. In a few days she applied again.

Receiving the same answer, she left a self-addressed envelope, asking the

superintendent to let her know when there would be a vacancy. She presented

herself a number of times after that—every few days.

At last the superintendent must have pitied her ignorance and perhaps admired

her simplicity, for he condescended to explain to her that without “influence”—

the indorsement of some public official or

other man of influence or position—she could not be accepted. She asked him to

name such a man.

It happened that a certain Congressman had arrived in San Francisco that very

day. She went to see him, took his specious promises in earnest, and haunted his

office day after day until at last, to get rid of her, he wrote the letter that gave

her the position. It was the story of the widow and the judge repeated.

Many a man and woman has succeeded by just such simple faith. It was not the

mere going, nor the bold, impertinent annoying, nor an ordinary aggressiveness,

but a deep, childlike trust that took everyone at his word and knew no failure.

FAITH IN MAN’S GOOD WILL

It is wise never to approach another person beset with the idea that he is ill

disposed toward you. If you suffer from such an idea, either recover from your

lack of faith in the person’s good will or make no attempt to see him.

Faith in the good will of people, when it is based upon your respect for their true self, often leads them for the sake of their own peace of mind and self-respect to show forth their better side. So well is this law recognized today in business that clerks and other employees are being educated by their employers to welcome all

with a pleasant face

and to be invariably courteous and agreeable whether customers buy or not or whether they are polite or not. This is good business common sense.

A noted merchant prince of Chicago had the following printed and freely

distributed among the patrons and employees of his great store under the

caption of “The Marshall Field Idea”:

To do the right thing at the right time, in the right way;

To do some things better

than they were ever done before;

To eliminate errors;

To know both sides of the question;

To be courteous;

To he an example;

To work for love of the work;

To anticipate requirements;

To develop resources;

To recognize no impediments;

To master circumstances;

To act from reason rather than rule;

To be satisfied with nothing short of perfection.

TRUE RICHNESS MAKES OTHERS RICH

The finishing and sealing of eternal confidence in yourself, your fellow men, and your world lies in the realization of the truth of these two master thoughts:

First. Your richness is a blessing to all creation. Second. It is the will of the true God that you be a great success on earth as well

as in heaven.

The old thought that one cannot be rich but at the expense of his neighbor must

pass away, and every exercise that has had that thought for its basis. True

prosperity adds to the richness of the whole earth, such as that of the man who

makes two trees grow where only one grew before. The parasitical belief in

prosperity as coming by the sacrifices of others has no place in the mind that

thinks true. “My benefit is your benefit; your success is my success” should be

the basis of our wealth.

It is the divine will that you be a self-reliant, self-supporting person, strong,

upright, efficient, a nobleman of God’s realm, able to command all the elements

and to use and beautify all creation through your knowledge of your self and

union with God.

It was from the standpoint of his disobedience that man judged the Lord to be a

harsh, austere taskmaster of poor slaves. Now we know that we do not honor

God by such a view; we see Him as He is, the lover of all, the true God who wills

that everyone shall enter joy and freedom while yet on the earth by co-operating

with the only will there is, the will that seeks always and everywhere the good

and happiness of the whole.