Poise – The Lloyd C Douglas Page

A page from the sermon “Personality (Second Phase),” preached by Lloyd C Douglas at the First Congregational Church of Ann Arbor on 1/25/1920. In Sermons [5], Box 3, Lloyd C. Douglas Papers, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan. © University of Michigan.

It is Sunday, January 25, 1920, and Lloyd Douglas is still preaching his series on “Personality” at the First Congregational Church of Ann Arbor. (This is from Sermons [5], Box 3, Lloyd C. Douglas Papers, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan. © University of Michigan.) Douglas says:

“Another desirable grace is Reserve.

“Having sold yourself to yourself and having gone out to market yourself, the very best advertising you can have is satisfied customers.

“There is a type of personality that is good for a short haul but will not stand up under an endurance test. He makes a dreadful mistake who, in an effort to impress his personality on other people, rushes at them with much palaver and a great noise. He gives the impression of having all his stock in the front window. It may be entirely untrue. He may have a great deal in reserve; only he doesn’t act like it.

“People of strong personality always give one the impression of having a tremendous amount of power that is stored against a correspondingly great demand.

“The bubbler, who is always in a state of effervescence, may have a great deal of energy laid back for a rainy day, but it isn’t sure that he has to the casual observer. At all events, don’t feel that this kind of human kinetics that is forever pip-pipping at the safety-valve is to be imitated.

“Of course, if you are a natural bubbler and can’t help it, bubble on. We don’t worry much about your future. You’ll get along, and the world will be a whole lot better off for your having been in it.

“But, all things considered, if somehow you can give out the impression that you have a little spiritual energy in repose — secreted somewhere about you — it helps greatly to make other people think that your personality is strong. And a very good way to make people think that you have it is to have it. In fact, not many people will think that you have it unless you do have it.

“We all need to cultivate Enthusiasm. But that virtue has been sufficiently extolled in our time and needs no advocate.

“Advice can be had, in plenty, to spread your canvas to the breeze; but do not forget also to carry a little ballast. It makes a longer voyage, and a safer one. Don’t talk more than you think, if you would develop some reserve power. Don’t, for the sake of seeming animated and enthusiastic, become a mere chatterbox. Don’t let it be suspected, as you talk, that your voice is in advance of your thoughts, or that, somehow, your mouth and your mind had become disengaged. Keep something back.

“Before you offer your opinions, take them out and look them over carefully. A little practice of this kind makes for that reserve power we were talking about. Mostly we refer to it as poise.

“I am sure it could be shown that they have most in reserve, and are best poised spiritually, who have deliberately planned to give some time, when it could be snatched from other duties, for reflection upon very serious considerations.

“Like ‘Destiny.’ Whence — whither — why?

“The problems of our beginnings and our ends; our future, our ambitions, and our goal; our strivings, our longings, and our consecrations — think of them in whatsoever terms you will, they are, in their last analysis, considerations which throw us back upon God.”

[Then he quotes excerpts from the poem, “Each In His Own Tongue,” by William Herbert Carruth. It’s not clear to me why he chose to recite parts of this poem, but it does address the big questions of life and includes the line, “Some call it Evolution/And others call it God.”] He continues:

“It will give you personal power to have, in reserve, some deductions of your own which have led you irresistibly into the presence of Him who is your Father.

“This is no idle fancy but an attested fact, that ‘they who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

by Ronald R Johnson

From the title page of “Buried Treasure.” In Sermons [4], Box 3, Lloyd C. Douglas Papers, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan. © University of Michigan.

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field which, when a man found, he concealeth; and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth that field” (Matthew 13:44).”

This is the text of a sermon entitled “Buried Treasure,” which Lloyd C. Douglas preached at the First Congregational Church of Ann Arbor on November 9, 1919. (It can be found in Sermons [4], Box 3, Lloyd C. Douglas Papers, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan. © University of Michigan.)

In this sermon, Douglas emphasized the following point: in order to get the treasure, the buyer must also purchase the field. Douglas says:

“Have you not sometimes coveted an extraordinary gift in the character of a friend and wished it were yours — his poise, for example [there’s that word again], his absolutely perfect balance that keeps him strong and sound and fine and fair, regardless of his circumstances? You often think it would be, indeed, a great blessing to your turbulent and restless life to possess an anchorage like that; if you could have such perfect equilibrium, it would be like discovering a rich treasure.

“Well, doubtless you can have it; but there are a few conditions attached to the possession of such a grace of character — long, patient, unfailing diligence in dealing dispassionately and calmly with difficulties; practicing your science consistently through the petty irritations of daily routine, as earnestly as under the heavy strains that all but crush. One does not take this treasure without accepting also the field in which it lies.

“Sometimes young people have been known to envy an influential man his gift of leadership. Just to possess his exceptional ability to direct the thought and action of large numbers of people — that [ability], they think, would constitute the most desirable acquisition in life. Yet, one does not take that gift of leadership without accepting also the somewhat drastic conditions which invariably accompany it — the almost complete abrogation of most of the simple yet exceedingly precious joys of private life; the sheer loneliness of it; the criticisms that bark and snap at it; the ridicule, the reviling, the invective. He who takes this treasure must also contract to take the field in which he found it; and a jolly rough piece of land it is, too, if they are to be believed who hold deeds to such property.

“Says another of his friend whose happiness seems to overflow continually, and [who] appears to be going through life on the crest of a wave that never dips or breaks, ‘Oh, if I could have that man’s radiant personality! I should give anything to be like that!’ But it just happens that people who have extraordinary capacities for happiness and good humor, who never seem to take anything very seriously: ah, but how they can suffer with a suffering that nobody is able to understand but other people of the same temperament.

“Says one, ‘I would give ten years of my life to have been able to write that song.’ Ten years of your life! That would be getting off rather easily. Before he was able to write that song, this man had to have his heart broken, and everything humanly desirable swept out of his life.”

Regarding the scripture text, Douglas says, “There are many bridges to be burned as one makes toward the Kingdom. Jesus states the case very simply, but very clearly, in this parable. Here is the discoverer, in the very ‘ecstasy of eagerness’ over his find. Here is the treasure, a chest of potential happiness, which may possibly be his if the right processes are pursued. And here is the field, which he does not want at all, but must take if he is to claim the treasure. And if he does take the field, it will cost him everything.

“All that he has gathered up in his life until now must be sacrificed. His little home, doubtless fraught with many associations very dear — it must go.

“It is just at this point that many a finding man who has stumbled upon the Kingdom hidden in a field fails to meet the conditions governing its possession.

“Certain old friendships hold him back, friendships with men who by their cynicism and unfaiths make it impossible for the discoverer of the treasure to claim his find. And he knows that if he is to own this treasure, he must cut loose from the old ties, the old influence, the old environment.

“It means a very great deal for him to dispose of everything, just to be able to negotiate for this field that he doesn’t want.

“It is at this point, I say, that most people miss their chance of achieving the Kingdom of Heaven in their hearts.

“The Master recognized the difficulty in the way. Indeed, he sometimes called special attention to it when he feared some zealous convert was about to take a step too long for him. Jesus never tried to induce anybody to accept the Kingdom of Heaven on easy terms. He never proposed an excursion rate, or a short cut, or a remnant sale.

“Intuitive psychologist that he was, the Lord knew that anybody who achieved the Kingdom of Heaven in his heart without giving anything for it would never realize any happiness in its possession. And following the logic of this bargain to its finest conclusion, he argues that if the Kingdom is to produce the highest degree of happiness, the discoverer must be willing to surrender all that he has, and take not only the treasure but the field as well.”

Tag: Poise

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