Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1888-03-21

u tnlS questlOn. Faith and repentance al
l. absolutely necessary, but faith and repent
y ance are no more doctrines of the Bib
J. than commercial integrity. Render to a
g their dues. Owe no man anything. An
Q while l mean to preach faith and repent
+ ance, more and more to preach them, l d
Q not mean to spend any time in chasing tn
t Utilities and Jebusites and Girgashites @
+ Bible times, when there are SO many evil
right around us destroying men and wome1
J for time and for eternity. The creates
evangelistic preacher the world ever saw
. man who died for his evangelism-peer
, less Paul-wrote to the Romans, "Provid
! things honest in the sight OF all men"
, wrote to the Corinthians, "Do that whicl
} is honest;'' wrote to the Philippians
! Whatsoever things are honest )" wrote tt
the Hebrews, ''Willing in all things to liv,
! honestly" The Bible says that faith with
out works is dead, which being LIBERAL.
translated means that if your business lifi
J does not correspond with your profession
} your religion is humbug.
Here is something that needs to be sound
ed into the ears of all the young men Of
!; America, and iterated and reiterated, il
this country is ever to be delivered from iti
calamities, and commercial prosperity is tC
be established and perpetuated, live within
your means.
l have the highest CONNER cial authority
for saying that when the memorable trouble
broke out in Wall street four years age
there were 1926, 600, 900 in suspense which
had already been spent. Spend no more
than you make. And let us adjust all ouI
business and our homes by the principles
OF the Christian religion.
Our religion ought to mean just as much
on Saturday and Monday as on the day
between, and not be mere periphrasis Of
sanctity. 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 delectatiop, kind
of confectionery, sort of spiritual caramel
or holy gumdrop, or sanctifed peppermint,
or theological anesthetic. 1t is an omnipo-
tent principle-all controlling, all conquer
ing. You may get along with something
less than that, and you may deceive your
self with it, but you cannot deceive God,
and you cannot deceive the world. The
keen business man will put on his specta-
cles, and he will look clear through to the
back of your head and see whether your
religion is a fiction or a fact. And you
cannot hide your samples of sugar, or rice,
or tea, or coffee if they are false you can
not hide them under the cloth of a COM
munion table. All your prayers 60 for
nothing so long as you misrepresent 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 legal
| tender notes, and more loans, and more dis
counts than there really are, and when you
give an account of your liabilities you do
not mention all the unpaid dividends, and
the United States bank notes outstanding,
aud the individual deposits, and the obliga-
tions to other banks and bankers. An
authority more scrutinizing than that of
any bank examiner will go through and
through and through your business.
l stand this morning before many who
have trust funds. 1t is compliment to
you that you have been so intrusted but
charge you, in the presence of God and
| the world, 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 insti-
tuition. That is the point at which thou
sands of people make shipwreck. They
get the property of others mixed up with
their own property, they put it into invest
meut, 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 advantage, nor without consent,
unless they are minors. If with their con-
sent 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, bat do
not come into the delusiOn which has ruin
ed so many men, of thinking because a
thing is in their possession, therefore it is
theirs. You have solemn trust that God
has given you. In this vast assemblage
there may be some who have misappropri-
ated trust funds. Put them back, or, if
you have so hopelessly involved them that
you cannot put them back, confess the
whole thing to those whom you have
wronged, and you will sleep better nights,
and you will have the better chance for
your soul. What a sad thing it would be
if, after you are dead, your administrator
should find out from the account books, OF
from the lack of vouchers, that you not
only we're bankrupt in estate, but that you
lost your soul. If all the trust funds that
have been misappropriated should suddenly
fly to their owners, and all the property
that has been purloined should suddenly go
|
every city in America.
| A missionary 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 the cause
of all this. "WelI' said the natives, "our
gods that we have been worshiping permit
US to steal 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 belong" If
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
cupola.
Let me say in the most emphatic manner
| 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 it to
him until he could raise one crop, and the
| abbot sowed acorns, a crop of two hundred
years And tell you, young man, that
the dishonesties which you plant in your
heart and life will seem to be very insig-
nificant, but they will grow up until they
will overshadow you with horrible dark
ness, overshadow all time and all eternity.
1t will not be a crop for two hundred
years, but crop for everlasting ages.
have also word of comfort for all who
suffer from the malfeasance of others, and
every honest man, woman and child does
suffer from what goes on in financial
scampdom. Society is so bound together
that all the misfOrtunes which good people
| suffer in business matters come from the
misdeeds of others. Bear up under Distress
strong in God. He will see you through
though your misfortunes should be eentu-
pied. Philosophers tell us that a column
Of air forty live miles in height rests on
every man. s 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 or how few dollars it wonld be
best for you to have. Trust to His ap-
pointment. The door will soon open to let
you out and let you up. What shock of
delight for men who for thirty years have
been in business anxiety when they shall
suddenly awake in everlasting holiday. On
the maps of the Arctic regions there are
two places whose names are remarkable,
given, suppose, by some Polar Expedi-