The Monmouth inquirer., 1890-04-17

man, that Just one wrong into which
you slip rAay be link of long chain
of circumstances from which you can not
be extricated by any ingenuity of your
own, or any help from others, and the
tides will roll over you as they have
over many. When Pompey, the warrior,
wanted to take possession of city, and
they would not open the gates, he per-
suaded them TO admit sick soldier.
But the sick soldier after awhile got
we'll and strong, and he threw open the
gates and let the devastating army come
in. One wrong admitted into the soul
may gain in strength until, after awhile,
it filings open all the avenues of the inn
mortal nature, and the surrender is COM
plete.
Again, business men are sometimes
tempted to throw off personal RESPONSE
bility upon the monied institution to
which they belong. Directors in banks
and railroad and insurance companies
sometimes shirk personal responsibility
underneath the action of the corpora
ton. And how often, when some bank
ing house or financial institution ex-
plodes through fraud, respectable men
in the board of directors say, "Why l
thought all was going on in an honest
way, and I am utterly confounded with
this misdemeanor." The banks and the
fire and life and marine insurance COM
panies, and the railroad companies, will
not stand up for Judgment in the last
day, but those who in them acted
righteously will receive, each for him
self, a reward, and those who acted the
part of neglect or trickerv will. each for
himself, receive a condemnation. I'm
lawful dividends are not clean before
God because there are those associated
with you who grab just as big a pile as
you do. He who countenances the dis
honesty of the firm, or of the corpora
ton, or of the association, takes upon
himself all the moral liabilities. If the
financial institution steals, he steals.
If they go into wild speculations, he
himself is a gambler. If they needless
ly embarrass creditor, he himself is
guilty of cruelty. If they swindle the
uninitiated he himself is defrauder.
No financial institution ever had a
money vault strong enough, or credit
stanch enough. or dividends large
enough, or policy acute enough to hide
the individual sins of its members. The
old adage, that corporations have no
souls, is misleading. Every corporation
has as many souls as it has members.
Again, many business men have been
tempted to postpone their enjoyments
and duties to future season of entire
leisure. What a sedative the Christian
religion would be to all our business
men if instead of postponing its uses
to old age or death, they would take it
into the store or factory or worldly en-
gagements now! 1t is folly to go amid
the uncertainties of business life with
no God to help. A merchant in New
England village was standing by a
horse, and the horse lifted his foot
to stamp it in a pool of water,
and the merchant to escape the splash,
stepped into the door of an insurance
agent, and the agent said: 81 suppose
you have come to renew your fire insur-
ance. 80" said the m erchant, 81 had
forgotten that" The insurance was re-
newed, and the next day the house that
had been insured was burned. Was it
all accidental that the merchant to es-
| cape a splash from the horses foot,
| stepped into the insurance office? No.
! it was providential. And what mighty
solace for business man to feel that
things are providential! What peace
and equilibrium in such considera-
tien, and what grand thing if all bust
ness men could realize it!
Many, although now comparatively
Strengthened in worldly circumstances.
have goodly establishment in the
future planned ont. They have in i'm
agination built about twenty years
ahead house in the country not diff
cult of access from the great town. for
they will often have business, or old ac-
counts to settle, and investments to look
after. The house is large enough to ac-
com modate all their friends. The halls
are wide, and hung with pictures of
hunting-scenes and a branch of antlers,
and are comfortable with chairs that
can be rolled out on the veranda
when the weather is inviting, or set
out under some of the oaks that
stand sentinel about the house, and
rustling in the cool breeze, and songful
with the robins. There is Just land
enough to keep them interested, and its
crops of almost fabulous richness spring
ing up under application of the best
theories to be found in the agricultural
journals. The farm is well stocked
with cattle and horses and sheep that
know the voice and have kindly bleat
when one goes forth to look at them.
In this blissful abode their children will
be instructed in art and science and
religion. This shall be the old home
stead to which the boys at college will
direct their letters, and the hill on
which the house stands will be called
Oakwood or Ivy Hill or Pleasant Retreat
or Eagle Eyrie. May the future have for
every business man here all that and
more beside! Butare you postponing your
happiness to that time? Are you adiourn-
ing your joys to that consummation?
Suppose that you achieve all you ex-
pect-and the vision mention is not up