Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1886-11-10
The kchO0l of Hard kn0ckS.'
THERE rs NO WAR BETWEEN RELIC
ION AND BUSINESS.
THE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS LIFE.
BETTER QUIET ALL FRETFULNEss
"CLOSED ON ACCOUNT OF THE
DEATH OF ONE OFTHE FIRM"
DIR. TALMAGE's SERMON, OCT. S1sr.

DR. IALMAGE'S SERMON, OCI. DIST
Brooklyn, N. T., October 31.-The serv
ices at the Brooklyn Tabernacle are attend
ed by large numbers of merchants and bust
ness men from all parts of this country,
and from foreign lands, and the following
sermon, preached by The Rev. Dewitt Tai
mage, ID. D., this morning, was timely
He selected for the opening hymn of the
service that beginning:
"Must Jesus bear the cross alone, a.
And all the world go free?
The text was Romans xiii, v. II: "Not
slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serv-
ing the Lord"
Industry, devotedness, Christian service
are all recommended in this one short text.
What Is it possible to conjoin them? o,
yesl There is no war between religion and
business, between Bibles and ledgers, be-
tween churches and counting houses. On
the contrary, religion accelerates business,
sharpens mems wits, sweetens acerbity of
disposition, fillips the blood of phlegmatic
and throws more velocity into all the
wheels of hard work. To the Judgment it
gives more skillcul balancing; to the will
more strength; to industry more muscle;
to enthusiasm more concentrated fire.
Y ou cannot show me man whose business
prospects have in any wise been despoiled
by his religion.
| The industrial classes are divided into
three gFoups--producers, manufacturers,
traders. Producers, such as farmers and
miners. Manufacturers, such as take the
corn and change 1t into food, or the wool
ana max ana change them into apparel
Traders, who make profit out OF the trans
l g. J.
Ter and exchange OF that which is produced
OF manuiactured. NOW, business man
| may belong to one OF these classes, or he
may belong to all OF them. Whatever be
your avocatlon. II you plan, calculate, bar
gain; If into your life there come annoy
ances, vexatlon and alsappolntments as
| we'll as gains, dividends and percentages;
II you are harassed with multiplicity OF
engagements; In word, II you are driven
January to January, with relentless obli-
CATION and duty, then you.are business
woman, and my subject Is appropriate to
your case. We are apt to speak OF the
moil and tug OF business life as though it
were an lnquisition or prison into which
| man Is thrown, or an unequal strife
where, half-formed. he goes to contend.-
Hear me this morning, while try to show
you that God intended business life 20 be
glorious education and discipline; and if |
shall be successful in what L want to say,
shall rub the wrinkles out of your brow
and unstrap some OF the burdens from your
back.
have first to remark, that God intended
business life to be to you a school of Chris
tian energy. God started US in the world,
giving us certain amount of raw material
out OF which we were to hew our own char
acter. Every faculty needs to be reset,
rounded, sharpened up. After our young
people have graduated from the school and
colleges and universities, they need higher
education, that whlfh the collision and rasp-
ing OF everyday lie alone can effect. En-
ergy OF soul is wrought out only IN the fire.
And when man f5r ten, or fifteen, or
twenty, or thirty years has been gong
through business activities, his energy can
no longer be measured by weights, or plum
NETS, or ladders. 1t can scale any height.
1t can plummet any depth. can thrash
any obstacle. NOW 90 you suppose that
God mas spent all TINS education on you
Tor the purpose OF making you more sue
rapidly accumulate dollars, making you
merely to be yard-stiek to measure cloths.
or steel-yard to weigh flour? Aud did
He intend you to spend your life in doing
nothing but to chatter and higgle? My
lrlend, lie mas put you IN This school to
develop your energy 1or Ills cause and king
dom. ihere is enough unemployed talent
III the churches, ana IN the world TO Gay, to
reform all empires ana an kingdoms, and
people ln thlee weeks. ", now much idle
ness amid strong muscles and stout hearts
how many oeep streams that turn no mill
wheels, ana haui Oh the oands OF no FAC
tory! God demands snat lie nave the best
lamo out OF every hock' the richest sheaf,
IN every narVess, the pest men OF every
generation; ana IN cause where the New
tons' ana the LocKes, ana the Manshelds
OF the eaIth' were PROUD 10 ehlisG, you and
need not pe ashameo TO toll. I, Tor few
er ldlers ana Ior more cohsecfated Christ
ian workers
Again: God intended business life to be
to you scnooi OF patience. How many
little thlngs mere are IN one Gays engage
menus 10 pertufO, ana annoy, ana disqulet
you. bargains VIII ruo, and men will
break their engagements. Collecting
agents viii! come back empty handed
Irlcksters IN business Will play upon what
they call the "hard times, when in any
times they never pay. Goods placed on
eAS niNi5 SAA~A-' O""AN DopAo eAhu hpbot
drawer in quarrel. Goods ordered for an
especial emergency falling to come, or, if
coming, damaged in the transportation
People who intend no harm going about
shopping, unrolling goods they do not
mean to buy, and trying to break the
dozen Men obliged to take up other peo-
ple's notes. More counterfeit bills in the
drawer More bad debts. Another ridic-
ulous panic Under all this friction men
break down, or they are secured up inte
additional brightness. How many you and
1 have known, who, in the past few years,
have gone down under the pressure and
have become petulant and choleric. and
Grabbed and sour and pugnacious. until
customers forsook their stores. and these
merchants have become insolvent, and
their names we're pronounced with detesta-
ton But other men have found in this
school for patience, They toughened un-
der the exposure. They were like rocks,
was time when thew had to choke down
their wrath. There was time when they
had to bite their lin. There was a time
I