Connecticut western news., 1882-11-22
A WARNING FROM ST. PAUL.
THE CURSE OF ILL-GOTTEN WEALTH.
Rev. Robert COllycr on the Danger of Specu.
 latiOn-A Warming to Young Men.

Rev. Robert Collycr on the Danger of Specu.
 latiOn-A Warning to Young Men.
 
 Rev. Robert Collyer, in sermon of "Homely Words for These Times" took his text from I. Thessalonians, iv., II, 12-"And that ye study to be quiet and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands as we commanded you; that ye may walk honestly toward them that arc without, and that ye may have lack of nothing" There was, when this was written, the preacher said, 6 spirit of speculation rife among the peo- ple of Thessaly and the Apostle Paul saw that they were mora given up to dreaming than to working. There was too much talk about the celestial city and about its wealth and it's treasures, and not enough endeavor to win the right of entry there. The people were trying to win and discover new roads and shcrt cuts to wealth, and in the mean time Paul saw that the true manhood and the true Christianity was rapidly evapor- ating out of them. So he warned them in worls plain and to the point that the way to prosperity, and to happiness and to godliness was for each man to do his appointed work, to contribute something to the general good, and so win the right to take something from society and the world. The world owes no man living, but 1t offtrs to each man @ chance to make an honest living, to enjoy all that can naturally be partaken of, and more than that no one man will demand.
 The warning which St. Paul uttered had, the preacher thought, special ap- plication in this day and generation. It was an era of speculation, and gilt-edged stocks were more talked about, more fought about and more thought about than the manhood which comes from successful career, whether the career be the humble one of handicraftsman or the more responsible one of director of great works. Men think of the celestial | city only as @ place where the gold lies so near the surface that there is no need of digging for 1t; where corner lots near the throne must be good holdings and l where there is to be eternal succession of good things without the necessity of any work to enjoy them. Men are wildly l seeking to reach the one goal of wealth by some by-way rather than the high way of work. We are drifting on and on toward crash. There is no talk of the values of things, but of the prices which may may be obtained. A man doubles his stock by some legerdemain of the printing press and then wonders to wake up some morning and find out that he has, after all, only diluted his previous wealth, and that as he has done nothing to merit reward, that he has canned nothing substantial. Men whom we thought drst-class suddenly find the Penitentiary door opening before them They were shams, and are but getting their deserts. Men who were princes of wealth turn out to be really beggars. They had contributed nothing to the world, and when their borrowed plumage was stripped off them only the gaunt skeleton of real poverty was found. Gods laws are not to be disobeyed with impunity. The righteous are never for saken, nor are His seed found begging bread, nor, on the other hand, are the ungodly and the undeserving long per mitted to enjoy that which they have moi earned. You will recall score of shin. ing contradictions to this law. An they are only seeming anomalies. Wait, and in Gods good time the cycle of retribu, tion will sweep them from your sight and the power of the law of Heaven made manifest.
 There is Q tendency to drift on to the very antithesis of communism it is no1 something for every man, but everything for some men. The fabric is rotten anc it must come down. And, again, ths words Of Scripture como to pass, tha there is lack of nothing when you d. your own business and work with you own hands. If you are baker or { preacher, @ doctor or blacksmith, at tend to your own business and let specu lation alone. There is comfort in none, honestly earned and well spent, but nont ia the gains that come from turn O stocks, from some manipulation by whicl you get the better of your fellows, ant that they could have robbed you as yol rob them is no justification. It doe notmake your enjoyment of tn money the greater to know that if yol had not got it by hook and crook tha somebody else would have gotten it so Gods command through His apostle and His disciples is directed to each 0 r you individually, and each one in his owl right and in his own person will be hel, to a account for the purity of that man hood which it should be his highest ain to cultivate
 In concluding, Dr. Collyer said he wa } moved to preach sermon on such topi and to use plain words, that young me , may be warned in time. There Is FOOT , enough for all and competence for eacl F ono that may seek it, but there are, a ' as well, many glittering pits of de l ceit, where there is a seeming substanc put really only pafteflng or manhoo ,, and womanhood for bauble Ther , were fine clothes and soiled manhood $ jeweled hands and blackened hearts, an ) the clothes and the jewels which coul be seen of men represented all that ther was of value about their wearers. The F were the veneering to 0 mass of decei
 and corruption, and God looked dow
 deep enough to see all that there was C
 a man or woman, no matter how finely h
 or she looked on the outside. He kne7