sciousness and pride on the part of producers. What influence do you find Jesus' ideals about labor are exerting in our modern world? Get the opinions of your wisest friends on these hard questions, then do your best to answer them.

CHAPTER XXII

THE IDEAL OF UNSELFISH KINDNESS

THIS chapter brings us one of the most searching questions of our whole course. As we have studied many of Jesus' ideals of living, we have often found him sharply in opposition to the common ideas and practice of men. Here we come to the sharpest contrast of all, perhaps the one that causes all the rest. In our search for the differences between a pagan and a Christian we now find the clue to the heart of the matter. It has to do with the inner motive of a person's life, the secret aim and purpose of it all.

Are you living only for yourself? Probably not, or you would not be interested in studying the ideals of Jesus. But are you sure? We were all disgusted with that crew of a French steamer who seized the lifeboats in the storm and left the passengers to perish on the sinking ship. They were simply following the pagan rule of life: "Look out for number one." But these terror-stricken sailors, obeying the strong instincts of self-preservation, were no more blameworthy than the cold-blooded man of business who wrecks a corporation to gain personal profit. The man whose main aim in life is profit is selfish through and through. How much are you tainted by this motive? When an opportunity comes to you, a chance to work, or to cooperate with others in any enterprise, do you face it with this question, "What is there in this for me?" Is the mainspring of your life self-interest, or is it the desire to be useful and to make others happy?

Some people ridicule this gospel of service as "all moon

shine, and usually cant and hypocrisy anyway." They judge the whole world by themselves, and claim that everyone is selfish and has to be, to survive in the struggle for success in life. They are quite cynical about it. They assert that everybody else is "after the almighty dollar" and they propose "to get theirs." They scout at all idealism, and see nothing in life but the gold standard. They are usually hard people to do business with, and unscrupulous competitors. They will knife you if they can. Do you see anything attractive in such people? Yet many of them at your age were as strong for ideals as you are. Gradually self-interest and the love of profit grew upon them and choked out their early unselfishness, until they became frank materialists, pure pagans.

He profits most who serves best.-Again we come. back to this ideal which we discovered to be so important in our discussion of business in Chapter XVII. Let us apply it now more broadly. Is there any permanent satisfaction or success in mere profit without service? This is the core of Jesus' teaching about life motives:

Whoever would be successful among you shall be servant of all.-Mark 10: 44.

Ruskin said, "If your fee is first with you and your work second, then fee is your master and the lord of all fee, who is the devil. But if your work is first with you and your fee second, then work is your master, and the Lord of all work, who is God." Just as you distrust a lawyer who seems more interested in his fee than in justice, and a doctor who cares less to get you well than to get your purse, so you discount the minister, the teacher, the statesman, the banker, the editor or anyone else who always thinks first of his own selfish interest instead of his friends, his church, his community, his country. To

be sincerely Christian, we must be disinterested; that is, we must consider the interests of others above our own selfish interests.

It would be a better world if all of us were as unselfish as our physicians. Notice how thoroughly Christian is this pledge which every doctor must sign who joins the American College of Surgeons. It includes the following promises: "I pledge myself to pursue the practice of surgery with thorough self-restraint, and to place the welfare of my patients above all else; to render willing help to my colleagues, and to give freely of my services to the needy. I pledge myself, so far as I am able, to avoid the sin of selfishness, to shun unwarranted publicity, dishonest commercialism and money-seeking as disgraceful to our profession, and to make my fees commensurate with the service rendered and with the patient's rights." Surely, the doctor who serves his patients in this spirit will find that profits will follow as a matter of course; and the gratitude he wins will be worth far more than gold.

Giving is better than taking.—The taking of profits seldom makes friends, but the giving of service always does. And friends make life worth living. Perhaps Jesus had this in mind when he said,

Give to him who asks of you, and from him who wants to borrow of you, turn not away.-Matthew 5:42.

Perhaps he meant money; more likely he meant anything your friend really needs. There is no record of Jesus' giving cash in charity; but he gave needy people whatever they needed most, which is the wisest way to give. The gratitude you win from people you have helped is worth far more than the money value of the gift; and

the satisfaction of really helping folks cannot be reckoned in dollars. Every gift is the expression of the giver's character, and has an influence upon his character, making it more beautiful, more generous and friendly. It makes him think more of the friend he has helped. We easily see this meaning in that beautiful saying of Jesus which is not found in the Gospels at all, but in the Acts, quoted by Paul to the Christians of Ephesus:

Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, "It is a far happier thing to give than to receive."-Acts 20:35.

Generosity should be unobtrusive. The pagan way to give is to get out of it all the notoriety you can, so it will help your business or make you more popular. Some folks like to see their names on subscription lists, where other people will see them too. They like to get the full benefit of a fine reputation for being charitable. But before long, people see through their game and know they are really not generous at all, but are doing it all for show. They remind us of the Pharisees who used to hire trumpeters to advertise their almsgiving!

Therefore when you distribute charity, do not have a trumpet blown in front of you as the hypocrites do in the churches and streets, that men may sing their praises. That, I assure you, is all the reward they ever get! But when you are giving to charity, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charities may be kept secret. Then your Father, who sees all secrets, will openly reward you.-Matthew 6:2-.

As our old familiar proverb ran, "Do good whenever you can, and forget it." If we forget it, it will surely not make us proud or complacent.