The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1889-01-09


take seyenty-fve cents on the dollar, or fifty
cents, or twenty cents-coming TO this man
last Of all, he said: "No compromise; I'll
take 100 cents on the dollar, and can afford
TO wait" Well, the wheel turned, and after
while that man was in crisis OF business,
and he sent out his agents to compromise,
and the agents said to the merchants:
"Will you take fifty cents on the
dollari "No." "Will you take any thingi"
"We'n take 100 cents on the dollar. No
compromise" And the man who wrote
that inscription over his counting house
door died in desttution. o. we want moro
Of the kindness Of the gospel aud the spirit
OF love In our business enterprises How
many young men have found In the religion
OF Jesus Christ practical helpl How
many are there In this house to-day who
could teftify out Of their own experience
that godlinrss is profitable for the II fe that
now Is. There were times In their business
career when they went here for help, and
there for help, and yonder for help, and got
no help until they knelt before the Lord
crying for his de!iverance, and the Lord
rescued them.
In bank not far from our great metropo-
lisa village banR--an officer could not bal
ance his accounts. He had worked at them
day after day, night after night, and he was
was sick nigh unto death as a result He
knew that he had not taken one farthing
from that bank, but somehow, for some
reason inscrutable then, the accounts
wouldn't balance. The time rolled on. and
the morning Of the day when the books
should pass under the inspection Of the
other officers arrived, and he felt himself In
awful peril, conscious of his own integrity
but unable to prove that integrity. That
morning he went TO the bank early, and he
knelt down before God and told the whole
story Of his mental anguish, and he said;
10 Lord, | have done right; l have
preserved my integrity, but here
am about 10 be overthrown unless
Thou should come 10 my rescue. Lord, de-
liver me-" And for one hour he continued
the prayer before God, and then he rose and
went TO an old blotter that he had forgotten
all about. He opened it, and there lay
sheet of figures which he only needed to
add TO another line of hyures-some line OF
figures he had forgotten, and knew not
where he had laid them-anl tho accounts
were balanced, and the Lord delivered him.
You are an infdel II you do not believe IT,
The Lord delivered him. God answered his
prayer, as he will answer your prayer, o
man Of business, 10 every crisis when you
come to him. Now, II this be so, then am
persuaded, as you are, OF the fact that the
vast majority Of Christians do not fully test
the value OF their religion. They arc like
farmer in California, with fifteen thousand
acres Of good wheat land, and culturing
only quarter OF an aero. Why do you not
20 forth and make the religion Of Jesus
Christ a practical affair, every day OF your
business life and all this year, beginning
now, and tomorrow morning putting into
practical effect this holy religion and DEM
onstrating in your life that godliness Is
profitable hero as well as hereafterl
How can you get along without this re-
ligionl Is your physical health so good you
do not want this divine touicl Is your
mind so clear, so. vast, so comprehensive
that you do not want this divine inspirationi
Is your worldly business so thoroughly es-
tablished that you have no use for that re-
ligion which has been the help and deliver
.ance Of tens OF thousands OF men in crises
Of worldly trouble' And II what have
said this morning Is true, then you SEQ
what n fatal blunder II Is when man adj
journs TO life's expiration the uses OF re-
ligion. A man VINO postp1ne5 religion 70
sixty years Of age gets reli-, .on fifty years
too late. He may get into the kingdom Of
God by final repentance, but what can COM
lzeasaie him for whole lifetime unalleyi-
ated and uncomfortedi You want religion
to-day in the training Of that child. You
will want religion tomorrow In dealing with
that western customer. You wanted religion
yesterday TO curb your temper. Is your arm
strong enough TO beat your way through the
1oodsi Can you without being encased In
the mail OF Gods eternal help 30 forth amid
the assault Of all hell's sharpshootersi Can
you walk alone across these crumbling
graves and amid these gaping earthqualtesi
Can you, waterlogged and mast-shiv-
cred, outlve the galel o., how many
there are who, postponing the religion
Of Jesus Christ, have plunged into mistakes
they never could correct, although they
lived eighty years after. and like serpents
crushed under cart-wheels, dragging their
mauled bodies under the rocks 10 die; so
those men have fallen under the wheel OF
awful calamity, crushed here, destroyed for
ever, while vast multitude Of others have
taken the religion Of Jesus Christ into every
day life, and first, In practical business at-
fairs, and secondly, on the throne Of heaven
ly triumph, have illustrated, while angels
looked on and a universe approved, the
glorious truth that "Golliness IL profitable
unto all things, having the promise Of the
life which now is as well as Of that which is
10 come"