The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1888-04-12

the day between. and not be mere
periphrasis of sauctity. Our religion
ought to first clean our hearts, and
then it ought to clean our lives. Religion
is not, as some seem to think, a sort OF
church delectation, kind of confection-
cry, a sort of spiritual caramel or holy
gumdrop, or sanctified peppermint, or
theological an8 sthetic 1t is an
omnipotent principle-all controlling, all
conquering. You NAV get along will
something less than that, and you may
deceive yourself with it, but you can
not deceive God, and you can not de-
ceive the world. The keen business man
will put on his spectacles, and he will
look clear through to the back Of your
head and see whether your religion
is fiction or a fact. And
you can not hide your sam
Piles of sugar, or rice, or tea
or coffee if they are false; you can not
hide them under the cloth of a commun-
ion table. All your prayers go for moth
ing so long as you misreprssent your
banking institution, and in the amount OF
the resources you put down more specie,
and more fractional currency, and more
clearing house certificates, and more DIS
counts than there really are, and when
you give an account Of your liabilities
you do not mention all the unpaid divi-
bends, and the United States bank notes
outstanding, and the indi vidual deposits,
and the obligations to other banks and
bankers. An authority more scru tinizing
than that of any bank examiner will go
through and through and through your
business.
! stand this morning before many who
have trust funds. 1t Is compliment to
you that you have been SO intrus ted; but
/ charge you. in the presence of God and
the worl d, be careful, be as careful of the
property of others as you are careful of
your own. Above all, keep your own
private account at the bank separate from
your account as trustee Of an estate, or
trustee of an institution. That is the
point at which thousands of people make
shipwreck. They get the property of
others mixed up with their own property,
they put it into investment, and away it
all goes, and they can not return that
which they borrowed. Then comes the
explosion, and the money market is
shaken, and the. press denounces, and
the church thunders expulsion. You
have no right to use the property
of others, except for their advan-
tage, nor without consent, unless they
are minors. II with their consent you
invest their property as we'll as
you can, and it is all lost, you are not to
blame, you did the best you could, but do
not come into the delusion. which has
ruined so many men, of thinking, because
a thing is in their possession. therefore it
is theirs You have a solemn trust that
God has given you. In this vast assem-.
b! age there may be some who have mis-
appropriated trust funds. Put them back,
or. if you have so hopelessly involved
them that you can not put them back,
confess the whole thing to those whom
you have wronged, and you will sleep
better nights, and you will have the bet
ter chaDcs for your soul. What sad
| thing it would be if. after you are dead,
| your admin istrator should find out from
| the account books, or from the lack of
vouchers, that you not only were bank.
| rupt in stock, but that you lost your soul.
| II all the trust funds that have been mis-
appropriated should suddenly fly to their
| owners, and all the property that has
been purloined should suddenly go back
| to it's owners, it would crush into ruin
| every city in America.
A mis- sionary in one of the islands OF
| the Pacific preached on dishonesty, and
| the next morning he looked out Of his
| window and he saw his yard full of goods
| of all kinds. He wondered and asked thu
| cause of all this.
"Well," said the natives, "our gods
| that we have been worshiping permit us
to stea', but, according to what you said
! yesterday, the God of Heaven and earth
will not allow this, so we bring back all
these goods and we ask you to help US in
taking them to the places where they be.
long"
| II next Sabbath all the ministers in
America should preach sermons on the
abuse of trust funds and on the evils of
purloining, and the sermons were all
blessed of God, and regulations were
made that all these things should be
taken to the city halls, it would not be
long before every city hall in America
would be crowded from cellar to cupol a
| Let me say in the most emphatic man.
ner to all young men, dishonesty will
never pay. An abbot wanted to buy a
piece of ground and the owner would not
| sell it, but the owner finally consented to
let 1t to him until he could raise one crop,
and the abbot sowed acorns, a crop of two
| hundred years! And I tell you, young
man, that the dishonesties which GU plant
in your heart and life will seem to be very
insignificant, but they will grow up uat
they will overshadow you with horrible
darkness, overshadow all time and all
eternity. 1t will not be a crop for two
hundred years, buta crop for everlasting
ages.
I have also a word of comfort for al
who suffer from the malfeasancs O
others, and every honest man, woman
and child does suffer from what goes or
in financial scampdom. Society is 81
bound together that all the misfortune:
which good people suffer in business mat
tiers come from the misdeedes of others
Bear up under distress, strong in God. He
will see you through, though your mis-.
fortunes should be centupled. Philoso
piers tell us that column of air forty.
five miles in height rests on every mans
head and shoulders. But that is nothing
compared with the pressure that business
life has put upon many of you. God
made up his mind long ago how many OF
how few dollars it would be best foI
you to have. Trust to his appointment
The door will soon open to let you out
| and LAT Won mn What shock nj