The Brookhaven leader., 1890-04-24

great links of which his foot slipped,
and il began TO swell and he could not
withdraw it. The tide began TO rise.
The chain could not be loosened nor
filed of in time, and a surgeon was
called to amputate the limb, but before
the work could be done the tide rolled
over the victim, and his life was gone.
And l have to tell you, young man.
that just one wrong into which
you slip may 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. Whom Pompey, the war
rior, wanted to take possession of city,
and they would not open the gates, he
persuaded them to admit sick soldier.
But the sick soldier after awhile got
we'll and stong, 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 immortal nature, and the sur
render is complete.
Again, business men are sometimes
tempted to throw off personal RESPONSE
bility upon the moneyed institution to
which they belong. Directors in banks
and railroad and insurance companies
sometimes shirk personal responsibility
underneath the action of the corpora
tion. And how often, when some bank
ing house or financial institution ex-
plodes, through fraud, respectable men
in the board of directors say: why,
thought all was going on in an honest
way, and l am utterly confound-
ed with this misdemeanor!" The
banks, and the fire and life and marine
insurance companies, and the railroad
companies, will not stand up for judg-
ment in the last day, but those who in
them acted righteously will receive,
each for himself, a reward, and those
who acted the part of neglect or trick
cry will, each for himself, receive
condemnation. Unlawful dividends are
not clean before God, because there are
those associated with you who grab just
as big pile as you do. he who coun-
tenances the dishonesty Of the firm, or
of the corporation, or of the associa-
tion, takes upon himself all the moral
steal, he steals. If they go into wild
speculations, he himself is gambler.
If they needlessly embarrass creditor,
he himself is guilty of cruelty. III they
swindle the uninitiated, he himself Is
defrauder. No financial institution ever
had 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 corpora
tion has as many souls as it has mem
berS.
The store and the counting house
have developed some of the most stall
wart characters. Perhaps originally
they had but little sprightliness and
force, but two or three hard business
thumps woke them up from their legar-
thy, and there came thorough devel-
opment in their hearts of all that was
good and holy and energetic and tre-
mendous, and they have become the
men in Christ's great army, as we'll as
lighthouses in the great world of traffic.
But business has been perpetual deple-
of him all benevolence, next all amia-
bility, next all religious aspiration, next
all conscience, and though he entered
his vocation with large heart and noble
character he goes out of it a skeleton,
enough to scare ghost.
Men appreciate the Importance of
having good business stand, a store on
the right side of the street or the right
block. Now, every place of business is
a good stand for spiritual culture.
Gods angels hover over the world Of
traffic to sustain and build up those who
are trying to do their duty. To-mor-
row if in your place of worldly
engagement you will listen for
it, you may hear sound louder
than the rattle of drays and
the shuttle of feet and the chink of dol
lars stealing into your soul, saying:
seek ye first the kingdom of God and
His righteousness, and all other things
shall be added unto YOU" Yet some of
those sharpest at bargain are cheated
out of their immortal blessedness by
stratagems more palpable than any
drop game" of the street. They
make investments in things ever
lastingly below par. They put their
valuables in safe not ire-proof.
They give full credit to influences
that will not be able to pay one cent on
the dollar. They plunge into laby-
rinth from which no bankrupt law OF
''two-thirds enactment will ever extri-
cate them. They take into their part
nership the world, the flesh, and the
devil, and the enemy of all righteous
ness will boast through eternal ages
that the man who in all his business life
could not be outwitted or overreached,
at last tumbled into spiritual defalca-
tion, and was swindled out of Heaven.
Perhaps some of you saw the fire in
New York in 1885. Aged men tell us
that it beggared all description. Some
stood on the house-tops of Brooklyn,
and looked at the red ruin that swept
down the streets, and threatened to
obliterate the metropolis. But the COM
mercial world will yet be startled by a
greater conflagration, even the last
Bills of exchange, policies of insurance,
mortgages and bonds and Govern
ment securities, will be consumed
in one lick of the fame. The
bourse and the United States Mint
| will turn to ashes. Gold will run mol
ten into the dust of the street. Ex-
changes and granite blocks Of mer-
chandise will fail with a crash that will