St. Landry democrat., 1886-11-13
BUSINESS LIFE.
Sermon by Rev. T. De Witt Tai
mage, d. D.
What God Intended to Be a School Of Chris
sfan Energy, of Patience, for the At
tainment of knowledge, and
of Christian Integrity.

tafnment of knowledge, and
Of Christian Integrity.
BReoKlYN, n. Y, Oct. 31.-Dr. Talmage.
10 his services at the Tabernacle this morn,
ing took for his text Romans 12:1: mot
slDthful in business fervent in spirit; serv.
ing the Lord" He said:
Industry, devotedness, Christian service,
are All recommended in this one short text.
What, is it possible to conjoiu thems o,
veg; 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, tillips the blood Of phlegmat-
ics, and throws more velocity into the
wheels of hard work. To the Judgment it
gives more skillful balancing-to the will
more strength-to industry more muscle
to enthusiasm more concentrated fire.
You can not show me man whose business
prospects have in any wise been despoiled
by his religion.
The industrial classes are divided into
three groups-producers, manufacturers,
traders. Producers, such as farmers and
miners; manufacturers, such as take the
corn and change it into food, or the wool
and flax and change them into apparel;
traders, who make profit out of the trans
fer and exchange Of that which is produced
or manufactured. Now, business man
may belong to one of these classes, or he
msy belong to all of them. Whatever be
yuur ayocation, If you plan calculate, bar
gain; 1T into your life there come annoy
ances, vexations and disappointments, as
well as gains, dividends and percentages:
if yon are harrassed with multiplicity of
engagenents-in word, if you are driven
from Monday morning to Saturday night,
and from January to January, with relent-
less obligations and duty, then you are
Business man or business woman, and my
subject is appropriate to your case.
We are apt to speak Of the MOL and tug
Of business life as though it were an inqui-
sstion or prison into which a man is
thrown. or an unequal strife where, half
armed, he goes to contend. Hear me this
morning, while I try to show you that God
intended business life to be glorious edu-
cessfui in what say shall rub the wrir,-
Mes cut Of your brow and unstrap some Of
the burdens from your back.
have first to remark to you that God ia-
tended business life to be to you school of
Christian energy. God started US in the
world, giving US certain amount of raw
material out Of which we were to hew our
avn character Every faculty needs to he
reset, rounded, sharpened up. After our
young people have graduated from the
schools and colleges and universities, they
need higher education, that which the
collision and rasping of every day life alone
can effect. Energy Of soul is wrought cut
only in the fire, and when a man for ten,
fifteen, or twenty Or thirty years has been
going through business activities, his en-
eFgy can no longer be measured by
weights, or plummets, or ladders. It can
scale any height. 1t can plummet any
depth. 1t can thrash any obstacle. Now,
do you suppose that God has spent all this
education on you for the purpose OF max
ing you o more successful wording, of
enabling you to more rapidly accumulate
dollars, making you sharp in tradea Did
God make you merely to be yardstick to
measure cloths, or a steelyard to weigh
-four! And did He intend you to spend
your life in dong nothing but chatter and
hi9Rles
MY friend, He has put You in this school
to develop your energy for His cause and
kingdom. There is enough unemployed
talent in the churches, and in the world,
to-day to reform all empires, and all king
doms, and all people, in three weeks. o,
how much idleness and strong muscle and
stout hearts-how many deep streams that
turn no minwheels and haul on the bands
Of no factory! God demands that He have |
the best lamb out Of every flock, the richest
sheH in every harvest, the best men Of |
every generation; and in a cause where |
the Newtons and the Lockes and the Mans |
Rn17 r thn wi, t<n CT
and need not be ashamed to toll. o. for |
Christian workers.
Again: God intended business life to DO |
TO you a school of patience. How many
little things there are in one days engage
Inents to perturb, and annoy, and disquiet |
you. Bargains will rub, and men will |
sreak their engagements; collecting
agents will come back empty handed;
5rickstsrs In business will play upon what
hey call the "hard times,n when in any
limos they never pay; goods placed on the
wrong shelf; cash book and money.
,rawer in a quarrel; goods ordered for an
special emergency failing to come, or, il
coming, damaged in the transportation;
aeople who intend no harm going about
shopping, unrolling goods they do not
mean to buy, and trying to break the
lozen; men obliged to take up other peo-
lies notes; more counterfeit bills in the
lrawer; more bad debts; another ridlcu-
Gus panic.
Under all this friction men break down,
" they are secured up into additional
Brightness. How many you and have
snoWn who, in the past few years, have
une down under the pressure, and have
ecome petulant, and choleric, and Grabbed,
md sour, and pugnacious, until customers
crsook their stores, and these merchants
lsve become insolvent, and their names
we're pronounced with detestation. But
Their men have found in this school for
atience. They toughened under the ex-
osure. They were like rocks, more serv-
seable for the blasting. There was