Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-03-20


Gheir character. If there be large sums OF
money to be handled and the man is not
sure of his own integrity you have no right
70 run an unseaworthy craft into an
A man can tell by the sense
# weakness or strength 10 the presence OF
4 bad opportunity whether he is 10 a safe
place. How mary parents make AZ awful
mistake when they put their boys in bank
ing houses and stores aud shops and facto
ries and places of solemn trusts, without
once discussing whether they can endure
he temptation. You give the boy plenty
Of money and have no account of it. and
make the way down become very easy. and
you may put upon him a pressure that he
cannot stand. There are men who go into
positions full of temptation, considering
only the one fact that they are lucrative
positions. l say to the young people here
this morning, dishonesty will not pay in
this world or the world to come.
An abbot wanted to buy 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 spwed acorns, crop of two hundred
years! And tell you, young man, that
The dishonssties which you plant in your
heart and life will seem to be very insignih-
can't, but they will grow up until they will
overshadow you with horrible darkness.
will not be crop for two hundred years,
but crop for everlasting ages.
I stand this morning before many who
bave trust funds. It is compliment to
you tnat you have been so intrusted, but l
charge you, in the presence of God and the
world, be careful; be as careful Of the
property Of others as you are careful of your
own. Above all, keep your own private ac-
count at the bank separate from your ao-
count 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 ir into invest
ment, and away it all goes, and they cannot
return that which they borrowed. Then
comes the explosion and the money market
is shaken aud the press denounces and the
Church hunders 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 10
blame, you did the best you could; but 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 assembage
there may be some who have misappropri-
ated 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 Of nights
and you will have the better chance for
your soul. What sad thing it would be,
if, after you are dead, your administrator
should find out from the account books, or
from the lack of vouchers, that you were
not only bankrupt lin 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 shonld suddenly go
back to its owners, it would crash into ru-
in every CITY in'America.
A clustering young man arrived at a
hotel in the West and he saw man on
the sidewalk, and in rough way, as no
man has a right to address laborer, said
tc him, ''Carry this trunk upstairs" The
man carried the trunk upstairs and came
down, and then the young man gave him
auartcr OF dollar which was marked, and
instead or being twenty-five cents it was
worth only tweGty cents. Then the yoDng
man paae his card SO the laborer and said.
lyon take this up IT. Governor Grimes; |
want to see him." "Ah,' ssid the lsnorei,
81 am Governor Grimes" ''Oh." said the
Young man. 'syou-I-excnse me-" Then
the Governor said: 81 was much impress
ed by the letter you wrote me asking for
certain office in my gift, aud l had made
I'D my mind you should have it; but a
young man who will cheat laborer out OF
five cents would swindle the government of
the State if he got bis hands on it. don't
want you. Good morning, SIR" 1t never
pays. Neither in this world nor in the
world to come will it pay.
do not suppose there ever was better
specimen of honesty than was found IN the
Duke Of Wellington. He marched with
his army over the French froutier, and the
army was suffering, aud he hardly knew
how to get along. Plenty of plunder all
about, but be commanded none of the plum
der to be taken. He writes home these re-
markable words: "We are overwhelmed
with debts, and can scarcely stir out OF
my house on account of public creditors,
waiting to demand what is due to them."
Yet at that very time the French peasantry
we're bringing their valuabies to him TO
keep. A celebrated writer says OF the
transaction: "Notbing can be grander or
more nobly original than this admission.
This old soldier, after thirty years service,
this iron man and victorious general, es-
tablshed in an enemy's county at the
head oe an immense army, is afraid of his
creditors? This is a kind of fear that has
seldom troubled conquerors and invaders,
and doubt if the annals of war present
anything comparable to its Sabine sim
plicity."
Obi is it not high time that we preached
the morals of the Gospel, right beside the
faith of the Gospel. Mr.. Tr0ude the
celebrated English historian, has yritten
of his own country these remarkable words:
"From the great house in the city of Lon
don TO the village grocer, the commercial
life of England has been saturated With
fraud. So deep has it gone that strictly
honest tradesman can hardly hold his
ground against competition. You can no
Logger trust that any article you buy is the
thing whicb it pretends to be. We have
false weights, false measures, cheating. and
shoddy every where. And yet the clergy
have seen all this grow up in absolute in
difference. Many hundreds of sermons
have heard in England, many a disserta-
tion on the mysteries of the faith, on the
divine mission of the clergy, on bishops
and justification, and the theory of good
works, and verbal inspiration, and the eff.
ficacy of the sacrameuts; but, during all
these thirty wonderful years, never one
that can recollect on common honesty
Now, that may bs an exagge rated state
ment of things in England, but am very
certain that 10 all parts of the earth we
need to preach the moralities of the Gospel
right along beside the faith of the Gospel.
My hearer! What are you doing with
that fraudulent document in your pocket
Ny other bearer! How are you getting
along with that wicked scheme you have
now ou foo;s Is that "pool ticket you
have in your pocket? Why, o young man,
were you last night practicipg In copying
your employers signature? Where were
you last night? Are your habits as good as
when you left your fathers house? You
had Christian ancestry, perhaps, aud you
have had too many prayers spent on you to
go overheard.
DR.. Livingstone, the famous explorer
L