The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1883-11-14

den reverSes of fortune. How are you
going to get that grace Of patiencep Not
through hearing ministers preach about
1t. If you get it at all you will get 1T in
the world where you sell hats and plead
causes and tin roofs and plOw corn.
| pray God that through the turmoil and
strife OF every day life you may hear the
voice of Christ saying to you: In pa
thence possess your soul, let patience
have her perfect work."
Again, God intended business life to
be TO you a school for the attaining of
knowledge. Merchants do not read many
books, nor study many lexicons, nor go
into great prOfOunds. Yet through the
force of circumstances they get intelli-
gent on questions of politics, and geOg-
raphy, and finance, and ethics. Busi-
ness is a hard schOOlmistress. If her pu-
pills will not learn in any other way,
with unmeTciful hand she smites them
on the head and on the heart with mex
Orable loss. You went into some busi-
ness enterprise and 5000 got out of
your grasp. You say the 50 600 were
wasted. On, no. That was only tuition.
Expensive schooling, but it was worth
it. Misfortune with hard work comes
upon a man and wakes him up, and by
the very force of circumstances business
men become intelligent. Traders in
grain must know about foreign markets.
Traders in fruits must know about trOp-
ical productions. Manufacturers of
American goods must know about the
tariff on imported articles. Publishers
of books must know the new law of copy
right. Now, what is the use of all this
Intelligence unless you give 1t to Christi
Do you suppose God gives you these Op-
pOrtunities of Frightening up your in
tellect, and of increasing your knOwl-
edge, merely to get larger treasures
and gTander businessp Oh, no. Can it
be you have been learning about for
eign lands and people that dwell under
other skies, and yet have no missionary
spiritr Can it be you have been learn
ing the fOllies and trickeries and hOl
lOwnesses of the business world, and
yet you are not trying to bring to bear
upon them this Gospel which is to cor
rect all mistakes and abuses and abolish
all ignorance and crime, and irradiate
all darkness and lift up all wTetched-
ness? Can it be that, notwithstanding
your acquaintance with the intTicacieS
of business, you are Ignorant of those
things which shall last the soul long
after bills Of exchange and commissions
and invoices and consignment and rent
rolls have crumbled up and been CON
sumed in the fires of Judgment DayP
Again, God intended business life to
be to you aschOOl of Christian integrity.
No age of the world ever offered more
Inducements for sound religion as are
offered now. There is hardly statute
on the law books that has not some back
door through which miscreants can es.
cape. How many deceptiOns in the fab
Tic of goods? Commercial life piles the
land with trickeries innumerable, and
there are so many people in New York
and Brooklyn who live a life of plum
der, that when man proposes to do
straightforward business, it Is almost
charged to greenness and want of tact.
All, my brethren, this ought not to be.
But l have to tell you it requires more
grace to be honest now than it did in
the days of our fathers, when business
was plain, and there were no stock
gamblers, and wooden was wooden and
silk was silk, and men were men. How
rare it is to find man who can from his
heart say" IL never cheated in trade. L
never OVerestimated the value of goods
when was selling them. never COW
cred up defect in a fabric. i never
played upon the ignorance of a custom
er, and in all my estate there is not one
dishonest farthing." There are those
who can say it. They never let their in
tegrity bow or cringe to present advan-
tage. They are as pure and Christian
today as on the day they sold their first
tieTce of rice or their first firkin of but
ter. There were times when they could
have robbed partner; when they could
have abscOnded with the funds of a
bank; when they could have sprung a
/ snap judgment; when they could have
| borrowed illimitably; when they could
have made a false assignment; when
they could have ruined a neighbOr for
the purpose of picking up some of the
| fragments; but they never took one step
on that pathway of hellfire. Now they
can pray without being haunted by the
clink of dishonest gold. Now they can
read the Bible without thinking of the
| day when, with lie on their soul, they
kissed the book in a custom house. Now
/ they can look into the laughing faces
of their children, without thinking of
orphans left by them penniless and
homeless. Now they can think of death
without having their knees knock to-
gether, and their teeth chatter, because
there is a judgment where all defTaud-
ers, and tricksters and charlatans will
| be dOubly damned. ''As the partridge
sitteth OD eggs and hateheth them not,
| so he that getteth riches and not by
right, shall leave them in the midst of
his days, and at his end shall be fool" 4"
Alas, If any If you, for the purpose of
| getting out of temporary embarrass-
ment, dare to sell your soul or any pOr-
/ bAOh VI Ab1 yOu hAhJ WuhO uP IA ShO
| of embarrassment, and say: mo one
is looking. This transaction may be a
little out of the way, but 1t is only once,
only once" On that one occasion you
not only wreck your spiritual nature,
but you despOil your business prospects,
In the review of this subject there are
two or three things want to say. The
first is, let US have larger sympathy
for business men. l think it is a shame
that in our pulpits we do not Oftener
preach on this subject, and show that
we appreciate the sorrows and stTug-
giles and trials of every day life. Men
who toll with the hand are very apt to
be suspicious of those who move in the
world of traffic, and think they get their
money idly, and that they give NO equiv
alent. Men who raise the wheat and
corn and oats are apt to think that grain
merchants get easy profits. The fist is
very apt to be jealous of the brain
Plato and Aristotle were 80 opposed
to all kinds of merchandise
that they said commerce was
the curse of the earth, and they
recommended that cities should never
be built nearer the seacOast than ten
| TniIaa Rut ua haya hapOmp wiser than