The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-11-17
DR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS.

all recommended in that short text What,
do you really think they can bs conjoined!
Oh, yes There is no war between religion
and business, between bibles and ledgers, be-
tween churches aud counting houses. On
the contrary, religion accelerateS bus
mess, sharpens mems wits, sweetens
acerbity of disposition, fillips the slow blood
of phlegmaticS and throws more velocity
into all the wheels Of hard work. 1t gives
better balancing to the Judgment, it gives
strength to the wealth, it gives muscle to in
duStry, it gives consecrated fire to enthu-
siasm, and in all the world and in all tn. ages
you cannot show me man whose honest
business has been despoiled or hurt by his re.
not help You do ought never to
be dore The industrial classes are
divided into three groups-producers manu-
aners and miners. Manufacturers, such as
those who take the corn and turn it into
fool, or the silk or the fax and turn it into
clothing. Traders, those who profit by the
transfer or exchange Of that which is pro-
duced or manufactured. Now, business
man may be:ong to any one of these classes,
or to all Of them. Whatever be your
calculate and bargain-if into your life there
come annoyances, veyations, eIasperations,
disappointments, as well as gains, percent
ages and divi1ends-if you are harasScd with
multiplicity of occupation in other words,
il from Monday morning until Saturday
are driven by relentless duty and obliga-
ton, then you are a business man or a
business woman, and my subject this
morning is especially appropriated to your
case. There is an idea abroad that business
life is a sort Of prison in which a man IS in
carcerated. or it is strife into which he goes
sometimes half armed But shall show you
II God will holr, that hllSi.
ness life is glorious education, and if shall
be divinely aided | will rub some Of the
wrinkles from your brow and unstrap some
of the burdens from your back.
Do yoa know that the time is coming
when the religion of Jesus Christ is going to
take entire pos :eSsion of the business worlds
Two rivals in bushes did each other as much
were in the same line Of busines and on the
same street. Aft while one of them was
converted to God, and he Immediately asked
himself: Now, how shall treat my rival!
Well" be said to himself, II will
treat him in this way: Whom man comes to
have not, Ill send him over to my rival" A
very hard thing to do. But the grace of
God will help man do anything that is
right So the plan was carried out, and this
ri, al in business found customers coming
from the other store and asked about it, aud
found that they were recommended by his
old rival So he called on him, and
said: "Hows this2 We warred against
each other for many years. and now I hear
you are sending me customers. Those who
cannot get certain styles Of goods in your
store you are sending to mine" Then tue
rival told him how he had been converted by
the grace Of God, and he had lea ned the
law Of kindness and love and generosity and
then they shook hands, and it was not many
yynat-s harora fha other into tD0
Kingdom Of God, and for many years
they did business in quietute and
prosperity and Christian kindness on
the same street. And that principle is going
to subnIerge the whole earth, perhaps not in
your day nor mine, but it will come as certain
ly as there is q God in Haven, and the Cos.
pei Of Jesus Christ is to triumph over all
nations. II we do not SEQ it perhaps our
children will see it But, taking things as they
are, want to show you, i'll the first
place, that business life is a school
for Christian energy. God starts us in the
world with certain amount Of raw mate
rial out of which we are to hew our charac-
ter" Every faculty needs to be reset,
rounded, sharpened up. After our young
folks have graduated from schools aud col-
leGes and universities they hsve to have
higher education, which they can only get
by the collisions and the rasPings of every day
life. Energy OF character is wrought out only
III Gu6 IlTe. ttlUoT DuSlucSS tIlcu udfc pccu III
these adversities ten, twenty or thirty years,
they have an energy which cannot be meas
ured by weights or ladders or plummets. 1t
can scale any height. 1t can plummet any
depth. It can thrash any obstacle. Now, oh
business man, you have in this school of
active life gained great deal Of energy.
Why has God put you in that school, and
why has this development gone o1s
lars and build large fortunes and spend
Ah, no. God intended you to bring atl that
energy into his service. What would occur
in these cities if all the business talent were
brought into the Kingdom OF Gods Do you
not know that in many Of our churches the
vast majority OF work IS being done by those
who have not had any especially opportunity,
while in all our churches there is a vast amount
Of energy settling into comparative idieness.
The deepest streams do not seem to be turning
the mill wheel or hauling on factory bands.
Do YOU not know that God demands the best
lamb out Of every flock: the richest sheaf
out of every harvest: the best men OF every
generation, and surely, in cause in which
Locke and Mansfield and Newton were proud
to be engaged. you and Ineed not be ashamed
to invest our interest. Oh. for fewer iders
and for more workers Oh, that the i'm
mense, the almost infinite business energy Of
these cities might be consecrated to God.
1 remark further that business life is
school for Christian patience. During ons
days engagement how many things to per;
turb and annoy and perplex. Bargains will
rub. Men will break their engagements.
Collecting agents will ccme back empty
handed. Tricksters in business will take ad-
vantage of the hard times when they do not
pay in good times Goods put on the
wrong Shelf. Cash book anil money
drawer in quarrel. People intending no
harm going shopping, having no idea of
making purchases, or after while trying to
cial nergency and not coming, or coming
damaged in the transportation. More
counterfeit bills in the d"awer. Anoth'r
ridiculous panic. Other mems notes
to pay. Annoyance after annoyance,
and under the pressure hundreds
and thousands Of men 90 down. They be.
come cross and cranky and pugnacious, aud
after while people leave their store and
their name becomes a positive detestation.
On the other hand, 1 could mention the
name of score of merchants, business men
in all departments, who have been frightened
up by the process. They can look back
to the time when they gave retort for
retort, sarcasm for sarcasm, wrong for
wrong, but not now. They remember when
they had to bite their lip. They remember
when they thought of the stingng answer
Der just how they could have overthrown
their antagonists in business But they have
conquered themselves and when man has
conquered himself he has conquered the
greatest obsta les in human life. He
has suppressed all this. 1t has been u
school Of patience to him. Christ CANT
through all the annoyances Of his life and
said to him: "Let patience have her perfect
work; in patience possess your soul" There
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