Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1869-10-12
The Balance of this Life

Of the differences in mans lot, Robert
son says:
1t is common thing to hear sentiment
tai wondering about the unfairness of the
distribution of things here. The unprin-
cipled get on in life; the saints are kept
back; the riches and rewards of life fall to
the lot of the undeserving. God has made
his world much better than you or l could
make it. Everything reaps its own harvest,
every act has its own reward, and before
you covet the enjoyment which another
possesses, you must first calculate the cost
at which it was procured. For instance,
the religious tradesman complains that his
honesty is hindrance to his success; that
the tide of custom pours into the doors of
his less scrupulous neighbors in the same
street, while he himself waits for hours
idle. My brother, do you think that God
is going to reward honor, integrity, high
mindedness, with this worlds coin? Do
you fancy that he will pay spiritual excel
lence with plenty of custom? Now consid-
er the price that man has paid for his sue
cess. Perhaps mental degradation and in
ward dishonOr. His advertisements are
all deceptive; his treatment of his work
men tyrannical his cheap prices made
possible by inferior articles Sow that
mans seed, and you will reap that mans
harvest. Cheat, lie, advertise, be unscru-
pulOus in your assertions, custom will come
to you. But if the price is too dear, let
him have his harvest, and take yours );
yours is a clear conscience, pure mind,
rectitude within and without. Will you
part with that for this? Then why do you
complain? He has paid his price; you do
not choose to pay it.
Again it is not an uncommon thing to
see man rise from insignificance to sud-
den wealth by speculation. In this case,
as in spiritual things, the law seems to
hold, HE that hath, to him shall be CIV
en-" Tens of thousands soon increase and
multiply to hundreds of thousands. His
doors are beseiged by rich and great. Roy
atty banquets at his tables, and mobiles
court his alliance. Whereupon some sim
pie christian is inclined to complain, How
strange that so much prosperity should be
the lot of mere cleverness p Well, are
these Gods chief blessings? Is it for such
as these you serve him? And would these
indeed satisfy the soul? Would you have
God reward his saintliest with these gauds
and gewgaws all this trash, rank and
wealth, and equipages, and plate, and
courtship from the needy great? Call you
that the heaven of the holy? Compute
now what was paid for that. The price
that merchant paid, perhaps with the blood
of his own soul, was shame and guilt. The
price he is paying now is perpetual dread
of detection, or, worse still, the hardness
which can laugh at detection; or one deep
lower yet, the low and groveling soul which
can be satisfied with these things as par.
adise, and ask no higher. He has reaped
enjoyment-ye and he has sown, too, the
seed of infamy. 1t is all fair. Count the
cost. He that saveth his life shall lose it
Save your life if you like, but do not com
plain if you lose your nobler life-your
self; win the whole world, but remembel
that you do it by losing your own SOUL
Every sin must be paid for; every sensual
indulgence is a harvest, the price forwhicl
is so much ruin for the soul. God is no
Knocked.