Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-09-27
THE RIGHT RELIGION
Is That Which Is Conducted Upon
the Principles of Business.
NO OTHER WAY WINS SUCCESS.
No Comparison Between Losses in Char
acter and in Dollars.
GOOD BUSINESS MEN ARE NEEDED
WRITTEN FOR THE prsPArcH.s

business principles In religion. Christ
himself pronounced the children of this
world wiser than the children of light.
We do not talk much nowadays about the
'tchildren of this world'' Or the "children
of light" These old phrases have ceased
out of our modern conversation. We never
hear them on Monday. They need transla-
tion. But what they mean when we set
them over into the language of our own day
is quite plain to see and easy Of under
standing. The children of this world are
the people who think more about this world
| than they do about the next, and the
| children of light are the people who have
been taught better than that, who ought to
see clearer than that.
THE PURITAN DISTINCTIONS.
1t is true that there is no such sharp dis
tinction possible in human society as would
enable us to divide our neighbors into these
two classes, and to set some here on the
right, and others there on the ignominious
left. God will do that one of these days
But, meanwhile, 'judge not before the
time" is good rule We will be wiser to
leave it alone. The Puritans tried it once,
and wrote down as the sinners all who did
not speak in the accent of their excellent
company. But the Puritans we're mistaken.
Saints and sinners are somehow inextric-
ably intermingled in the tangle of human
life. The tares and the wheat look so as
tonishingly alike that even the best theo-
logical botanists cannot certainly distinguish
the one from the other. We would better
let that alone. We are safe, however, in
recognizing the fworld'' and the eight" as
representing the two divisions into which
all the interests of life must fall, the eternal
and the transitory. These two divisions di-
vide between them the thoughts of every
human being. Even the saint cannot give
his absolutely undivided attention to things
eternal Bread and butter are not eternal.
DIFFERENCE OF EMPHASIS.
The difference which God sees among us,
which enables him to know some Of us as
children of this world, and others of us as
children of light, is difference of emphasis.
The question is not question of exclusion
but of preference. We must care for both
the transitory and the permanent, must
think about the things that perish and the
things that last-but which do we think
about and care about the most? That is
what God looks to see.
And Christ says that good many people
are wiser about transitory things than they
are about eternal things that they put more
sense into their business than they do into
their religion.
Everybody in the world, who has any
sense at all, desires to succeed in religion.
For it is evident upon the least reflection
that that is the only permanent success.
There will be no money in the world to
come. Among the ''many mansions" of
the holy city there will be none Of the sig
niicant differences which we see about US
here Anyhow, there will be no tenement
houcou nd fhoro xui11 ha M aooioI IL,
tinctions in that other.country, except the
differences which arc
BASED ON ACTUAL CHARACTER
The question as to what this man or that
is "worth" will not be answered there by
any sum of dollars. ALI that we will leave
behind us when we die. The only success
that lasts is success in religion. And re-
ligion has to do with God. There is no re- |
ligion without God. You know what the
Bible says about good works without faith;
It says that they are dead, that they count
for nothing at all, do not exist And faith
Is the upward look toward God.
You know what st. Paul saws about char
ty: That man may give all his goods to
ieed the poor, and yet, If he have not
charity, it profits nothing. Let nobody
hink he can be religious without God.
Morality is not religion. There is as much
Inference between morality and religion as
here is between dead man and live man.
The difference is in that vital spark, some
lines called faith, sometimes called charity
which brings the soul into conscious rela-
ion with God.
AN ALL-IMPORTANT LACK.
You may be the most moral man that ever
,ept the last six commandments, but unless
ou live your good life thinking of God,
vi L. |
ispleasure of God, striving to learn the |
ill of God and loving God-"one thing
hou lackest," and that lack so immeasur-
bly, important that all else is ruined by
hat lack 1 don't believe that any child
Tho didn't care for his father really pleased
is father. Religion is the pleasing of God
ur Father. Morality is the pleasing of {
ne's self or ones neighbors. The most i'm
ortant fact that enters into human life is ,
le fact of the existence of God Without !,
-od there is no religion.
Now, what we want is success in religion.
md what desire to say is that success .
l religion, like success in business, de-
ends on certain business principles.
One of these business principles is that !
obody can do anything without trying. ,,
obody can make any progress In either :
usiness or religion without trying There :
no success without attention. There is
o way in this world by which to get some
ling for nothing, except stealing Who =
yer wants anything worth having has got I
work for it.
BILLS WILL NOT PAY THEMSELVES.
Some people seem to think that the re-
gious part of life will somehow look after | I
self, that 1t can get along without atten-
on. But men know better than that in
uslnesS. less The goods won't sell themselves;
lie bills wont pay themselves. There are \
thousand things that must be done, must e
looked after, must be set down in the il
ooks and added up, must be thought out q
I'D decided, every day. The business man
no makes success of business gives his
ind to II. Why, not even garden nor v
lie roof OF house will get along with out v
tention. Whoever would make a sue O
'ss of religion must give attention to reli- o
on.
That means an endeavor, all day long, y
I'd every day, to please God. It means an !,
'plylng of the test of the appreciation of
cd to every detail of our ordinary life a
,e know pretty well what sort of things D
ease God. We know that telling the +
'nest truth pleases him, and straight for +
ard dealing, and brotherly speech, and T
e endeavor to help those who are :,
,wn. The Sermon on the Mount is not "
ritten in the Bible for nothing. G.
THE PURPOSE OF RELIGION. p
Now, to please God is the purpose of re- {
5ion just as money making is the purpose a
business. Let us see, then. We know, II
r example, what kind of words please God b
st as well as we know what kind of bar e.
ins make money. Don't enter into that II
lie, because you will lose by it-lose what7
Sc money, lose success in business. Don't
ter that speech because you will lose by N
l. L-4O l. L