The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1885-08-05
Pay Your Debts.

mans character (says the Clarendon
Enterpr1Se( which, even though he
may be sunk very low, shine out and
cause his fellow men to have respect
for him. One of these only do we
wish to speak Of noia, and that is one
o. the most prominent that the ,pozid
judges a man by. There are some
men who rashly run in debt, and if by
any means they can avoid paying they
never do it. They allow bill after bill
to be presented to them, and never
make an effort to pay it. They
frequently add to their dishonesty by
promising to pay at a certain time, and
"hen that time comes they pay only
IN promise to pay ct another time.
ihIs thing continues until the poor,
unfortunate man regards not his
pIlghted word, honor ceases to be his
guide in business transactions, aud the
anger OF sc0rn points to him as
dishonest mg2-a man whose word is
utterly worthless. A dun has no more
effect on such being than an April
shower has on a mHscovy drake's back.
He may, by his il,gotten gains, move
IN CIRCLES far above his defrauded
creditors, but he has the respect of no
man. In this world a mans honesty
ls the touchstone Of his character. 1t
was Bishop Marvin, we believe, who
said Money gives the test of char.
acter; what man is, is ascertained in
his conduct with respect to property"
But here is an article on the same
subject that we clip from n religious
exchange, which put us on this line of
thought, and which so well expresses
our views that we give it entire:
Paying your debts is one Of Gam
Jones ways of emphasizing the prac.
teal side Of Christians life. We
give below some extracts from recent
sermon at Nashville. Such preaching
is what gives him his wonderful nn'a
on the confidence of the people. The
dishonest, smiling tnmbug that groans
a0d shouts IN meeting, hnt. Gpdres
"'ound 'he ) "ra-r tsssse l'stulof the
way Of his c;oa;to,, All plcSse Stand
ssi6e. Brother Jones has ,he nuor ::
"'Be honest and pay your debts.
There's too many men In the church
boarding with their wives. We've got
no character in church. Go down
town and talk your Methodism to a
merchant, and he'll tell you that if
you want goods on credit YOUR
Methodism "iu't worth cent on che
dollar. If You go and ask a merchant
for credit and tell him you're Pres.
byteriau, he'll say, Come back here
and look at tne PRESBYTERIAN names
on my books, and you'll see why am
forced to draw the line on P,esbyte-
rians.
"'This thing Of failing to pay your
debts Ia terrible thing. God pity
the man that'il ride in a $500 ca a.riage
and see his poor creditor walk along.
God pity the L!an who'll board with
his wife in a 100000 boarding house,
and be owing bill to some poor,
worn out woman who is dying from
poverty
"HoIi a moment! Sometimes a
good man can't NEE, his obligations.
He's not dishonest; he's simply unfor-
tunate. 4 right. We are not think.
ing about him. We are only writing
about those that Sam preached about.
Such men are not the meanest men in
the world. Oh, no. We quite agree
with the same preacher IN the follow
Ing pOrtraiture
Next to the meanest man in the
world is the mac who won't pay his
debts. But the meanest man is that
old money sharp, with long old bills
and teeth Ike sH alligator, that pushes
a poor debtor to the wall and crushes
the life out of him, and never leaves a
greasy spot"