Young friends, the Lord stands ready to bestow upon you His great gift of peace; will you take it at His hand? If so, you must first put away self, because self is ever warring against peace and against God.

What is self—It is that which rises up rebelliously in your soul when duty calls you to give up some pleasure or possession for the sake of a brother, a sister, or a friend; but it is much more than that. When you wish to attract attention by dress, engaging manners, or attainments, self is uppermost. Does vanity bring you peace? No, never. If you fail to gain the notice you crave, disappointment and ruffled temper ensue; if you succeed in winning praise and admiration, an earthly joy or a placid satisfaction is yours, but neither of these is peace.

Where do many of your troubles come from? Can you not trace them back to that hidden enemy, self, as a stream to its fountain? Guys, girls, why do you seek notice for yourselves? Are you indeed so great? Think of the many noble, gifted souls who have lived and died, and put that question to the self within. The greatest of human beings have not been great of themselves.

Yet it is not so much the folly of self-love that I would emphasize as its sin. Suppose your mother were to present you with some exquisite work of her hands, and you were to display it with boastful pride, saying by look and manner, if not in words, that you had wrought it with your own fingers. Would not that be taking the credit due to your mother? Yes; and so you would, in that sense, be a thief. There is no more common method of breaking the eighth commandment than by taking credit that does not belong to us. The commandment reads, “Thou shalt not steal.” There are no particular things mentioned which we must not steal; it covers the whole ground, material and spiritual.