The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1891-12-25

have an easy time and get their profits
without giving any equivalent.
Plato and Aristotle were so opposed
to merchandise that they declared CON-
MERGE to be the curse of the nations; and
they advised that cities be built at least
ten miles from the seacoast. But you
and | know that there are no more in
dustrious or high minded men than
those who move in the world of traffic.
Some of them carry burdens heavier
than hods of brick, and are exposed to
sharper things than the east wind, and
climb mountains higher than the Alps
or Himalayas, and If they are faithful
Christ will at last say to them well
done, good and faithful servant; thou
hast been faithful over a few things,
will make thee ruler over many things.
Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord"
THE MARTYRS OF BUSINESS.
We talk about the martyrs of the
Piedmont valley, and the martyrs
among the Scotch highlands, and the
martyrs at Oxford. There are just as
certainly martyrs of Wall street and
State street, martyrs of Fulton street
and Broadway, martyrs of Atlantic
street and Chestnut street, going
through hotter fires, or having their
necks under sharper axes. Then it be-
hooves us to Danish all fretfulness from
cur lives if this subject be true. We
look back to the time when we were at
school, and we remember the rod and
we remember the hard tasks and we
complained grievously, but now we see
it was for the best.
Business life is school, and the tasks
are hard, and the chastiselnents some
times are very grievous; but do not
complain. The hotter the fire the better
the refining There are men before the
throne of God this day in triumph who
on earth were cheated out of everything
but their coffin. They were sued, they
were imprisoned for debt, they were
throttled by constables with whole
pack of writs, they were sold out by
the sheriffs, they had no compromise
with their creditors, they had to make
assignments. Their dying hours were
annoyed by the sharp ringing of the
doorbell by some impetuous creditor
who thought it was outrageous and i'm
pudent that a man should dare to die
before he paid the last three shillings
and sixpence.
l had friend who had many mis-
fortunes. Everything went against
him. He had good business quality
and was of the best of morals, but he
was one of those men, such as you have
sometimes seen, for whom everything
seems to go wrong. His life became to
him plague. When l heard he was
dead, 1 said, Good, got rid of the
sheriffs!" Who are those lustrous souls
before the thrones When the question
is asked, ''Who are they2" the angels
standing on the sea of glass respond,
''These are they who came out of great
business trouble and had their robes
washed and made white in the blood
of the Lamb"
A man arose in Fulton street prayer
meeting, and said: II wish publicly to
acknowledge the goodness of God. I
was in business trouble. l had money
to pay, and l had no means to pay it,
and was in utter despair of all human
help, and I laid this matter before the
Lord, and this morning went down
among some old business friends had
not seen in many years, just to make a
call, and one said to me, Why, I am SO
glad to see you, walk in. We have
some money on our books due you a
good while, but we didn't know where
you we're, and therefore not having
your address we could not send it. We
are very glad you have GOMEZ" And
the man standing in Fulton street
prayer meeting said, ''The amount
they paid me was six times what 1
owed" You say it only happened soY
You are an infldel. God answered that
mans prayer. Oh, you want business
grace.
Commercial ethics, business honors,
laws of trade, are all very good in their
place, but there are times when you
want something more than this world
will give you. You want God. For
the lack of him some that you have
known have consented to forge, and to
maltreat their friends, and to curse
their enemies, and their names have
been bulletined among scoundrels, and
they have been ground to powder,
while other men you have known have
gone through the very same stress of
triumphant. There are
men here today who fought the battle
and gained the victory. People come
out of that mans store, and they say,
"Well, if there ever was Christian
trader that is one." Integrity kept the
books and waited ON the customers.
Light from the eternal world flashed
through the show windows. Love to
God and love to man presided in that
Dtorehouse.
Some day people going through the
street notice that the shutters OF the