Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1889-01-16

With such a Christian disposition as that n
man is independent of all circumstances
Our piety will have a tinge OF our natural
temperament. IL a man DO cross and sour
and fretful naturally, after he becomes a
Christian he will always have to be armed
against the rebellion OF those evil inclina-
tions; but religion has tanned the widest
nature; it has turned %fretfulness into erar1-
tude, dependency into good cheer, N those
who were hard and ungovcrnable and nm
compromising have been made pliable and
concIliatory. Good resolution, reformatorv
effort, will not effect the change. 1t takes n
mightier arm and a mightier hand to bend
evil habits than the hand that bent the bow
OF ulysses, ana IL takes a stronger lasso than
ever held the buffalo on the prairie. A man
cannot go forth with any human weapons
and contend successfully against these Titans
armed with uptorn mountain. But Won have
known men into whose spirit the influence of
the Gospel OF Christ came, until their dis
position was entirely changed. So it was
with two merchants in New York. They
were very ~antagonistic. They had done ali
they could to iniure each other. They were
in the same line of business. One of the
merchants was converted to God. Having
been converted, he asked the Lord to
teach him how to bear himself toward
that cuisines antagonist, and he
was impressed with the fact that it was his
duty when a customer asked for certain
kinds of goods which he had not, but which
he knew his opponent had, to recommend
him to go to that store. / suppose that is
about the hardest thing a man could do; but
being thoroughly converted to God, he re-
solved to do that very thing, and being asked
for a certain kind of goods which he had not
he said: You &c to such and such a store,
and you will get 1t" After awhile, merchant
number two found these customers coming
so sent, and he found also that merchant
number one had been brought to God, and
ha SOUGHT the sauna raliOinu Nnrv than ora
good friends and good neighbors, the grace
of God entirely changing their disposition.
"Oh,h says some one, Il have a rough,
Jagged, impetuous nature, and religion can't
do anything for me- Do you know that
Martin Luthe and Robert Newton and Rich
ard Baxter were impetuous, alLconsuming
natures, yet the grace OF God turned them
into the mightiest usefulnessi A manufac-
turer cares but very Little for a stream that
slowly runs through the meadow, but a strong
torrent that lea ps from rock to rock,
and rushes with mad energy through the
valley and out toward the sea. Along that
river you will find huttering shuttles and
grinding mill and flashing water wheel. And
a nature, the swiftest, the most rugged and
the most tremendous, that is the nature God
turns into greatest usefulness. Oh, how many
who have been pugnacious, and hard TO
please, and irascible, and more bothered
about the mote in their neighbours eve than
N@0C1e tao D|-AA AAhV oAAR bAAAAR1t ~ Ah1AA OFF1
eye, who have been entirely changed by the
grace of God. and have found out that 'God-
illness is profitable for the life that now is as
well as for the life which is to come"
Again | remark that religion is good for a
mans worldly business. know the general
theory is, the more business the less religion,
the more religion the less business. Not so,
thought DIR. Hans, in his biography of a
Christian Merchant when he says: He
grew IN grace the last six years OF his life
more than at any time in his life; during
those six years he had more usine crowd
ing him than at any other time.n In other
words, the more worldly business a man has,
the more opportunity to serve God. Does
religion exhilarate or retard worldly bust.
nessi is the the practical question for you to
discuss. Does it hang like a mortgage over
the farml Is it a bad debt on the ledgeri Is
il a lien against the estatei Does it crowd
the door through which customers come for
broadcloths and silksl Now, religion Will
hinder your business IL it be a bad business,
or if it be a good business wrongfully con-
Quoted. IL you tell lies behind the counter,
If you use false weights and measures, If you
put sand in sugar, and beet-juice in vinegar,
and lard in butter. and sell for one thing that
which is another thing. then religion will in:
terfere with that business; but a lawful
business, lawfully conducted, will find the
religion of the Lord Jesus Christ its mightiest
auxiliary.
IAtllElDn VIII klNt An bAutloAf1 VI pa avs ~
will keep you from ebullitions OF ~temper-and
you know a great man fine businesses have
been blown to atoms by bad temper-it VIII
keep YOU from worriment about frequent loss,
it will keep You industrious and prompt 10
will keep you back from s~quandering and
dissipation, it will give you a kindness
Of spirit which viii be easily distinguished
from that mere store courtesy which
shakes hands violently with you, ask
ing about the health OF your family when
there is no anxiety to know whether your
child is well or sick, But the anxiety IS TO
know how many dozen cambria pocket
handkerchiefs you will take and pay cash
down. IL will prepare YOU for the practical
duties of everyday life. l do not mean 10
say that religion will make us financially
rich, but | do say that it Will giveus, IL
will assure US. of n comfortable sustenance
at the start. a comfortable subsistence all the
way through, and 1t will help US TO direct the
the bank, to manage the traffic. TO conduct
all our business matters. and TO make the
most insignificant affair of our life a matter
of vast importance gloribed by Christian
principle.
In New York city there was a merchant
hard in his dealings with his fellows, who had
written over his banking house. or his count
i~ng-house room: mo compromise. Then
when some merchant got in a crisis and went
down-no fault of his, but a conjunction OF
evil circumstances-and all the other mer-
chants were willing to
would take seventy-five cents on the dollar,
or fifty cents, or twenty cents-coming TO
this man last Of all, he aid: mo compro-
mise; I'll take one hundred cents on the dol
lar, and | can afford to wait" We'll, the
wheel turned, aud after a while that man
was in n crisis or business, and he sent out
his agents TO compromise. and the agents
said to the merchants. will you take iifty
cents ON the dollarf' ''No." "Wil you
take anythingFn ssWe1l AXE one hundred
cents on the dollar. No compromise. And
the man who wrote the inscription over bis
counting-house died in restitution On,
we want more OF the kindness OF
the Gospel and the spirit OF love IN
our business enterprises How many young
men rave found in the religion OF Jesus
Christ a practical helpl How many there
are in this house to-day whit could TESTIFY out
Of their own experience that Godliness IS
profitable for the life that now Is there
were times in their business career wnen
they went here for help, and there Tor heip,
and wonder for help. and got no help until
they knelt before the Lord crying tor MS
deliverance, and the Lord rescued them
l., = Io,t not for from nur great InetrOpO-