The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1883-05-17
Beecher on Merchants and Ministers

D00Cuer Oh m0rCnanLS ana Ministers
At the Merchants Banquet, held in New
York last "Wednesday night, Rev. Henri,
Ward Beecher made one of his character
istie speeches. We give it below in full
In response to the toast of Merchants ant
Ministers, = Mr.. Beecher said
| Mr.. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN MER
CHANTS: 1t may seem little strange that
in one toast two 50 very dissimilar profes
sions should be associated. | suppose it il
partly because one breaches and the Other
practices. There are very many functions
| that are performed in common. Merchants
| are usually men forehanded ministers are
men generally empty-handed, and mer-
chants form important pillars in the struc-
ture of the church. Ministers are appoint
ed often to go forth to councils and associ-
ations and a delegate is always sent with
them. The object of the delegate is to keep
the minister sober and to pay his expenses.
They are a very useful set of men in the
church. But there are some moral func-
lions that they have in common. 1t is the
business of the minister to preach the
truth. Is is the interest of the merchant
to practice it. / hold that not the church
itself is more dependent upon fundamental
mOralitieS than is the whole commercial
structure of the world. There are three
great elements that are fundamental ele-
ments. They are the same everywhere
among all people and in every business
truth, honesty and fidelity. And it is my
mission tonight to say that, to a very large
extent, | fear the pulpit has somewhat for
gotten to make this the staple of preaching
1t has been given too largely recently, from
the force of education and philosophical
speculation, to discourse upon what are
considered the higher topics Theology
against which | bring no charge. But
theology itself, that is not based on the pro-
foundest morality is an empty cloud that
sails through the Summer air, leaving as
much drought as it found. / believe that
there is theology that pertains to the
higher experiences of the human soul.
To-day, | have been transplanting mag
nolia trees. | am speaking tonight as the
farmer of Westminster county. There is
one that stands among the earliest plant
ed, 20 years ago, and now it is a vast ball
of white. | suppose 100000 magnificent
caps are exhaling thanksgiving to God after
the long winter has passed. Now, no man
need tell me that that root that neStles in
the OrOnn1 ic hon on, ao1I
sweet as these vases in the air, but should
like to know what would become of all
these white caps in the air if the connec-
ton between those dirt-covered roots and
the blossom should be cut tonight. The
ology and all the rhetoric of preaching is
well enough in its place, provided there is
a clean and clear passage from all beauty
and all speculation and all doctrine down
to fundamental, common, practical moral
tiles without doubt. | hold, then, that it
is the interest both of the church and the
store to see to it that truth is spoken, and
that honesty and equity prevail between
man and man, nation and nation, people
and people, and that men should be wor-
thy of trust all over the world. Speaking
the truth is an artificial matter. Men are
no more born to speak the truth than they
are to fire rifles, and, indeed, it is a good
deal like that. 1t is only now and then
that a man can hit the bulls eye, and
great many can't hit the target at ALL
Speaking the truth requires that man
should know little about what is truth.
1t is not an easy thing to be a true man,
but the Importance of truth to the COM
mercial interests of men is this Com
merce dies the moment and is sick in the
degree in which men cannot trust each
other. 1t is the case in the smallest com
and is more marked the greater
the magnitude of commercial enterprises
Ii a man can invest his hundreds of thous-
ands on the ocean, in distant continents,
1t shows there is trust between men and
men, buyers and sellers, and the increase in
the magnitude of business the world over
is a silent testimony that bad as men lie
they don't lie bad enough to separate man
from man. Go back to the old republics
where commerce lived and died. and You
will find that disintegration began when
individuals became so corrupt and selfish
that you could not believe them.
81 call your attention to one unpleasant
state of facts. 1t is not to me so very sur
prising that men intrusted with large in
terests are found to be so breakable. There
is nothing in the makeup of President
that should make him make off with the
funds committed to has management.
There is nothing in being a Cashier or Di-
rector that ought to rot out man so that
he snaps under temptation. l admit that
all men are breakable. Men are like tim
Der. Oak will bear stress that pine won t,
but there never was stick of timber on
the earth that could not be broken at some
pressure. There never was man born on
the earth that could not be broken at some
always the same nor put in
the same place. There is many man
who cannot be broken by money pressure,
but who can be by pressure of flattery.
There is many a man impervious to flat
terry who is warped and biased by his social
There is many man whom
you cannot tempt with red gold but you
can with dinners and convivialities. One
way or the other every man is yincible.
There is a great deal of meaning in that
simple portion of the Lord S Prayer, Lead
us not into temptation. No man knows
what he will do according to the nature of
the temptation as adapted to the peculiar
weakness Of his constitution. But this is
that which is peculiar-that it requires
piety to be a rascal Itwould almost seem
as if man had to serve us q Superintend-
ent of Sunday school as a passport to
Sing Sing. How is it that leading men in
the church are running off with 100000
or 100000? 1t would seem as if religion
was simply cloak for rascality and vii
lainy. 1t is time for merchants and min
listers to stand together and take counsel
on that subject. Truth is falling in the
street. say the time has come when we
have got to go back to old-fashioned, plain
talk in our pulpits on the subject Of COM
mon morality, until men shall feel not so
much about Adam as about his posterity,
not so much about the higher themes of