The Man of Galilee was indeed a man of sorrows, but He was too much of a man of joy to burden the world with His sorrows. He did not dwell upon them in the presence of others. He was content to endure them manfully, and to give the world an example of courage to the last. A despondent person is no ornament to religion. It is the joy-lighted face which inspires and wins. It is the light of joy about the altar that makes it an impressive place. It is the glad service which lifts the world a little farther in its long, hard climb. Worship and Service (1916) Francisco Pizarro, the conqueror of Peru, was an important force in early Western history. However, he stained his hands again and again with helpless blood. Selfishly he pursued his end both by fair means and foul. When the last of the Incas, from the prison into which Pizarro had thrown him to await death, offered a roomful of gold as his ransom, Pizarro accepted the gold, but the promise of life and liberty was broken, and the old man was led to his death. One day as the conqueror sat at dinner, he was surprised by a group of avengers and was struck down. As he lay dying, Pizarro dipped his finger into the stream of lifeblood that flowed from him, drew with it the figure of a cross upon the floor, and kissed it as he died. A beautiful thing, it may perhaps be called, that the dying thoughts of a great explorer and conqueror turned to the cross, and that his lips were last pressed against its sacred image. But a life of cruelty is not atoned for by kissing the picture of the emblem of love. Years of wrong are not changed by one symbolic act of devotion at the last. The old Inca chief and all the others who had met death at the point of Pizarro’s sword remained in their graves, their rights and treasures unrestored. The fact that their overcomer died kissing the cross was of no avail to them. To kiss the cross at twilight will never take the place of playing the man through the day. It is better to live, simply and nobly, the spirit and principles of the cross for a single hour than to embrace its image for an eternity. Peace and love are not symbols, but realities; and righteousness is not shadow but substance. Simple fidelity in common ways far transcends the one picturesque performance done when all the world is looking. It is only the path of simple duty that leads to peace at last. He who would die in the spirit of the cross must live there. The cross is truly pictured in the life of true devotion, not with the blood of selfishness upon the couch of death. Do It Right (1917) The other day I saw painted behind the seat of an express truck, where the expressman would see it each time he loaded or removed a package, the simple sentence: “Do it right.” The express company knew human nature. It also understood the laws of success. It had taken the trouble to place before the eyes of its employe the maxim which pointed the way to their mutual success.