Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1891-12-25

bananas Is 50 muca literature for a business
man. Now, my brother, Whist are you go~
Ing to do with the intslhgencel Do you sup.
pose God put you in this scnool Of informs
ton merely that you might be sharper In
trade, that you might be moro successful as
wording? Oh, no; it was that you might
take that useful information and use it for
Jesus Christ
Can it be that you have bsen dealing with
foreign lands aud never had the missionary
spirit, wishing the salvation OF foreign peo-
ple9 Can it be that you have become ac.
quaintsd with all the outrages inflicted in
business life, and that you have never tried
to bring to bear that Gospel which is to ex-
tripate all evil AMI correct all wrongs aud
iliumine all darkness an lift up all wretch
ednesS and save men for this world aud the
world to come? Can it be that understand
ing all the intr. cacies of business you know
nothing aoout those things which will last
long after ali ellis Of exchange and. consign-
ments and invoices aud rent rolls sail have
crunp!e1 up ami hsen consumed in the fires
Of the last great day. Can it bs that man
will be wise for time and fool for eternity
l remark, also, that business life Is
school for integrity. No man knows what
he will do when he is tempted. There are
thousands o; men wh) have kept their in-
tegrity merely because they naver have been
tested. A mau was elected treasurer of the
State of Maine soma years ago. He was dis
tlnguisaed for his honesty, usefulness and
uprightness, but before one year had passed
no had taken OF thu public fuu1s for his own
private u.s., AMI was hurled out OF otf1cs in
disgrace Distinguished for virtue before.
Distinguished for crime after. You ncall
over the names OF man Just like that in
whose honesty YOU hal compete confidence
iuJ paced in certain crises OF temptation
they went overboarI.
Never 50 many temptations to scoundre.-
ism as now. Not law on the statute book
out mas soma back door through which a
piscreant can ESCAPE. All! how many de-
captions in the fabric of gools; so much
plum 1ering in commercial lite, that If a man
talk about living q life OF complete COM
mercial accuracy there are those who
ascrbe it to greenness and lack Of
tact, More need Of honesty now than ever
before-trie1 honesty, complete honesty,
more than in those times when business was
a plain affair, and wcolens were woolens
and silks were 54ks and men were msn.
How many men do you suppose there are
In commercial life who could say truthfully,
"ln all the sales have ever made 1 have
never overstated the value OF goods; in all
the sales | have ever made bage never
covered up an imperfectiou in the fabric; Of
all tne thousands of dollars l have ever
made have not taken one dishonest far
thing" There are men, however, who can
>ay lt-hundreds who can say 1t, thous lnds
VINO can say II. Tney ara more nonsst tnan
when tney sold their first tiercs OF rice, o.
tneir first frkin OF butter, because
their honesty ard integrity have be,n
tested. tried and carried out triumph
ant. But they remember a time when
Al. kn1va hal o.sf
ner, Or absconded with the funds
of bank, or sprung snap
Judgment or made false as
signment or borrowed ilIimitably
without any effort at payment, or got man
into a sharp corner and feece1 him. But
they never took ore step on that pathway
OF hell-ire. They can say their prayers
without hearing the clinS Of dishonest dol
lars. They can read their Bible without
thinking OF the time when with lie on their
soul in the custom house they kissed tds
Book. they can think OF death and the
liz lgment that comes after it without any
finching-that day when all charlatans AMI
cheats and jockeys AMI frauds shall be
doublv damned. 1t does not make their
knees knock together ami 1t does not MAKE
Their teeth chatter to READ 'as the partridge
stitch on eggs and hatcheth them not, 50
be shat getteth riches and not by rignt,
shall leave them IN the midst OF his days
and az his end shall be a foo"
Oh. what a school of integrity business life
isl Ii vcu have ever been tempted to let
your integrity grunge before present aivan-
tage: if YOU nave ever waxened up III some
embarrassment and saidi Nov I'll step
little aside fren the right path and no one
will know ii, aud I'll come all right again.
Ii is only once" Oh, that only once mas
~ thousands of MGR ~ f1ic lfa
and blasted their souls for eternity. 1t lis a
tremendous school, business iife-a school OF
intsgIitv. A merchant in Liverpool got
i've pound BauS OF England note, and hol--
.ng II no toward the light he saw some inter
LHeaticns in what seemed red ink.
He finally deciphered the letters, and found
cut that the writing had been made by
slave in AlgerS saying in substance, who.
ever gets this bank note will please to inform
my Brother, John Dean, living near Carlisle,
that / am n slave of the bav Of Alcers"
The merchant SEPT wor !, employe Govern
ment ofias:s ami fount VINO this man was
sroGen OF in tlis bank bill. After awhile
the man was rescued, who Tor eleven years
had been slave Of the beg OF Algiers H.
was imme lately enancio7tst. but was 81
worn out Oy hardship aud exposure he soon
after died. o., soma OF the bank bills
that COME through your hands c0u d tell all
the scenes through W iich they have passed,
1t would be tragedy eclipsing any drama
OF Shakespeare, mightier than King Lear OF
Macbeth.
As | go on in this subject, l am impressal
with tbs imOortance OF our having more
sympathy with business Mon Is il not
shame that we in our pelpits do not oftener
preach about their struggles their trials and
their DDt1iionsl Men wno toll with the
hand are not apt to be very sympathetic With
those wno toll with the brain. The farmers
who raise the corn. and the oats, and the
wheat sometimes are tempted TO think that
grain merchants have an easy time, and
get their profits without giving any equiva-
lent. Plato aud Aristotle were so oppossi
TO merchan iiss that they declared commerce
TO be the curse Of ole nations, and they adj.
vised that cities be built at least ten mics
from the sescoast.
But You and l know that there are no
moro industrious or high minded men than
those vino move in the world OF traffic
Some OF them carrying burdens heavier
than hois of brick. and are exDose TO
-Garper things than Jne east wind, ami climb
mountains higher than the Alps Or Hima-
layas and il they are faithful Christ will
at last say TO then: "Well done. good and
faithful servant; thou hast been faithful
over a few things, / will make thee ruler
over many things. Enter thou into tue Joy
Of thy Lord"
We talk about the martyrs Of the PIED.
mont valley, and the martyrs among the
Scotch highlands, and the martyrs at Ok
ford. There was Just as certainly martyrs
OF Wall street aud State street. martyrs Of
Fulton street and Broadway martyrs of
Atlantic street ami Chestnut STREE, gong
through hotter fires, or having their nee IS
under sharper axes. Then it behooves us 10
banisn all fret. illness from our lives If this
suoject bs true. We look back to the tim 2
when we were at scoool, and we remember
the rod, and we remember the harl tasks.
AMI we complained grievously, but now we
see 1t was for the best. Business life is a
school AMI the tasks are hard. and tia chas-
t,sements sometimes are very grievous, hut
do not complain. The hotter the fire thu
better the refining.
There are men oefore the throle OF God
this day in triumph who on earth w.r Q
cheated out OF everything bat t13ir cofil.
They were sued, t0ey were imprisou ID for
debt they were throtJle1 by whole pack
o. colsGables WITH writs they were sold out
by the shsriffs, they nal no conpro Mise with
their creditors, they hal t. maze assign
ments Their dying hours were annoyed by
the sharp ringing o. the door-bsil by some
impetuous creditor who thought it was out
rageous au1 impu ent that a man should
dare IN die bpfora he maid tho last fhraa