Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-01-19

the general theory Is, tue more business
the less religion, the more religion Tine
less business. Not SO thought DR.. Hans
in his TYPOGRAPHY Of q Christian Mer-
chant, when he says: He grew in
grace the last six years Of lis life more
than at any time Of his life; during those
six years he had more business crowding
him thau at any other time" In other
words the more worldly business a man
has the more opportunity to serve God.
Does religion eXhilarate or retard worldly
bnsinessl ls the practical question for you
10 discuss. Doesi Il hang like a mortgage
over the farm? Il II a bad debt on the
ledger? Is it . lien again the estate?
Does il crowd the door through which
customers come for broadclothsand silks?
Now, religion will hinder your business
If it be a bad business, or if il be a good
business wrongly conducted. If you tell
lies behind the counter, if you use false
weights aud measures, if you put sand in
sugar and beet Juice in vinegar and lard
in butter and sell for one thing that which
is for another thing, then religion will in
%terfere with that business; but a lawful
business, lawfully conducted, will lind
the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ its
mightlest auxiliary.
Religion, will give an e~quipoise of
spirit, il will keep you from cbullitionsof
tempcr-and you know "a great many fine
businesses have been blown 10 atoms by
bad temper-it viii keep you from wor-
rlment about frequent loss, it will keep
you industrious and prompt, it will keep
you back from squandcring and dissipa.
ton, 1T will give voa a kind
ness Of spirit which will be easily dis.
tinguished from that mere store courtesy
which shakes hands violently with you,
asking about the health CT your family
when there 10 no anxiety 10 know
whether your child is well or sick, but
the anxiety ~ to know now many dozen
cambria pocket handkercnicfs you will
take and pay cash down. Ii viii prepare
YOU cor the practical duties Of every day
life. | do nor mean 10 say that religion
viii make us financially rich, but | do
say that IL will give us, il Will assure us
o. d comfortable %sustenancc at the start, n
comfortable subsistonanCc all the way
through, and i viii hcip us to direct the
bans, to manage the traffic, to conduct
all our business matters, and 10 make the
most Insignificant affair Of cur he a
matter CT vas; importance glorified by
Christian principle.
In New York city there was a mer-
chant hard in his dealings with his fel-
lows, who had written over his banking
house, or his counting room: mo com
promise" Then when some merchant
got in Il crisis and went down-no fault
of his, but a conjunction of evil circum-
stances-and all thcother merchants were
willing to cOmpromisc-they would take
~scventy-five cents on the dollar, or fifty
cents, or twenty cents-coming to this
man last of al, hesaid: mo compromise;
I'll take II hundred cents on the dollar,
and | can afford to wait" Well, the
wheel turned, and after a while that man
Was in a crisis of business, and he sent
out his agents to compromise, and the
agents said to the merchants: win you
take fifty cents on the dollar No"
will YOU take any thing" We'll take
one hundred cents on the dollar. No
compromise" And the man who wrote
that inscription over the counting house
DOR died in restitution. Oh, we want
more Of the kindness Of the
Gospel and the spirit of love in
u business enterprise! How many
young men have found in the religion of
Jesus Christ a practical help? How
many there are in this house today who
could testify out of Their own experience
that Goodness is profitable for the life
that now is. There were times in their
business career when they went here for
help, and yonder for help, and got no
help until they knelt before the Lord cry
ing for His deliverance, and the Lord
rescued them.
In a bank not far from our great metro
polis-a village bank-an Ger could
not balance his accounts. lie had
worked at them day afterday, night after
night, and be was sick nigh unto death
as a result. He knew he had not taken
one faIthing from that bank, but m
how, for some reason inscrutable then,
the accounts wouldn't balance. The
tine rolled on, and the morning Of the
day when the books should pass under
the inspection of the other officers ar
rived, 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;
20, Lord, | have done right; | have
preserved my integrity, but here | am
about to be overthrown unless Thou
should come to my rescue. Lord, deliver
me- And for one hour he continued
the prayer before God, and then he rose
and went To an old biotter that he had
forgotten all about. He opened it, and
there lay a sheet Of figures which he only
needed TO add to another line OF figures
some line Of figures he had forgotten, and
knew not where he h0dlaid them-and the
accounts were balanced, and the Lord
delivered him. You are an inhdel
If YOU do not believe it. The Lord
delivered him. God answered his prayer
as tie will answer your prayer, q man
OF business, in every crisis when you
come to him. Now, if 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 are like a farmer in California,
with Is, coo acres of good wheat land and
culturing only q quarter Of an acre. Why
do you not 90 forth and make the re-
lieion 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 demonstrating in your
life that goodness is profitable here as
well rs hereafter?
How can you get along without this
r%eliriOn2 Is YOUR phVsical health SO