Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1892-01-01
REV. DR.. TAlMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUM-
DAY SERMON.
sUBJECr: "RELIGIoN vND BUSINESS. =

TEXT: I'm all thv wdys acknowledge
Him and He shall direct Lfy path"-
Proverbs ill.,, 6.
"A promise good enough for many kinds
OF life, but not for my kind Of llfen says
some business man; "the law OF supply and
demand controls the business world.h But
| have reason TO say that it is promise TO
all persons in any kind Of honest business.
There is no war between religion and bust
ness between ledgers and Bibles, between
churches and counting houses On the con-
trary religion accelerates business. sharpens
mems wits, sweetens acerbity OF disposition,
fllips the blood of phlegmatics and throws
more velocity into the wheels of hard work.
1t gives better balancing TO the Judgment,
more strength to the will, more muscle to
industry and throws into enthusiasm mora
consecrated FIRE. You cannot in all the round
OF the world show me man whose honest
business has been despoied by religion.
The industrial classes are divided into
three groups-producerS manufacturers,
traders. Producers such as farmers aud
miners. Manufacturers, such as those who
turn corn into food, and wool and fax into
apparel. Traders. such as make profit out
OF the transfer and exchange of all that
which is produced and manufactured. A
business man may belong to any one or all
VI luGbe NihsSSb, anu uOb Ouo ID lnutptlLtul
OF any other.
When the prince imperial Of France fell on
the Zulu battlefield because the strap fasten-
ing the stirTup TO the saddle broke as he
clung to it, his comrades all escaping, but he
falling under the lances of the savages, q
great many people blamed the empress for
allowing her son to go forth into that battle
field, and others blamed the English Govern
ment for accepting the sacrifice, and Others
nal fin Dt,l,t for I,nr
one most to blame was the harness maker
who fashioned that strap OF the stirrup out
OF shoddy and imperfect material as 1t was
found to have been atterward. II the strap
had held, the prince imperial would probably
have been alive to-day. But the strap br oke.
No prince independent Of harness maker.
High, low, wise, ignorant you in one
occupation, in another, all bound together.
So that there must be one continuous line Of
sympathy with each others work But
whatever your vocation if you have
multiplicity Of ensag 2ments, If into your
lie there come losses aud annoyances aud
perturbatons as well as percentages and
dividends, If you are pursued from Monday
morning until Saturday night, and from
January TO January by inexorable obliga-
tion and duty then you are business man
or you are business woman, and my sub
iect is appropriate to your case.
We are under the impression that the mol
and tug Of business life are IA prison into
which man is thrust, or that it is an un.
equal strife where unarmed Il man goes forth
10 contend. / shall show you that business
life was intended Of God for grand and glori-
ous education and discipline and il shall be
helped TO say what | want to say, shall rub
some of the wrinkles of care out OF your
brow aud unStrap some Of the burdens from
your back. am not talking 10 an abstrac-
zion Thpnph haEa haat, iy, hpu
lie, know all about business men.
In my first parish at Beleville, New Jar-
sey, ten miles from New York, large por-
tion of my audience was made up of New
York merchants Then went TO Syracuse,
place of intense commercial activity, and
then | went to Philadelphia and lived long
among the merchants OF that city, than
whom there are no better men on earth and
Tor more than twenty-five years / have
stood in this presence, Sabbath by Sabbath,
preaching to audiences, the ma ority OF
/ whom are business men and business women.
1t is not an abstraction to which speak but
reality with which am well acquainted
/ In the first place. l remark that business
life was intended as a school OF energy.
/ God gives us a certain amount of raw ma
/ terial out of which we are to hew our char
/ actar Our faculties are to be reset, rounded
and sharpened up. Our young folks having
/ graduated from school or college, need a
higher education, that which the raSping
and collision of everyday life alone can ef-
feet. Energy is wrought out only in fire.
After man has been in business activity
ten, twenty, thirty years, his energy is not
TO be measured by weights or plummets or
/ ladders. There is no height it cannot scale,
and there is no depth it cannot fathom, and
there is no obstacle it cannot thrash
Now, my brother, why did God put you in
that school OF energyi Was it merely that
you might be yardstick to measure cloth
or a steelyard to weigh flour2 Was it merely
that you might be better qualified to chatter
and higgle? No. God placed you in that
school of energy that you might be devel-
oped for Christian work. II the undevelopel
talents in the Christian churches of to-day
were brought out and thoroughly harnoSsed,
believe the whole world would be converted
to God in a short time. There are 30 many
deep streams that are turning no mill wheels
and that are harnessed to no factory bands
Now God demands the best lamb out of every
flock. He demands the richest sheaf of every
harvest. He demands the best man OF every
generation. A cause in which Newton and
Locke and Mansfield toled you and can
afford to toll in.
Oh, for fewer idlers in the cause of Christ
and for more Christian workers-men who
shall take the same energy that from Mon =
day morning to Saturday night they put
forth for the achievement of a livelihood or
I the gathering OF fortune, and on Sabbath
days put it forth to the advantage OF Christs
kingdom and the bringing OF mon to the
Lord. DIR. Duff in South Wales, saw q man
who had inherited great fortune. The man
said to him: ~ had to be very busy for
many years of my life getting my livelihood.
After awhile my fortune came to me, and
there has been no necessity that | toll since.
There came time when | said to myself,
Shall now retire from business, or shall |
go on and serve the Lord in my worldly occu-
pation?n He said: II resolved on the latter,
and have been more industrious in com
mercial circles than ever was before, and
since that hour have never kept a farthing
for myself. 1have thought 1t to be great
shame il couldn't toll as hard for tho Lord
as had toiled for myself, and all the pro
ducts of my factories and my commercial
establishments to the last farthing have gone
for the building of Christian institutions and
supporting the church OF Godn Oh, il thu
same energy put forth for tho world could
be put forth for Go1l Oh, il thousanC
men in these great cities who have achieved
fortune could see 1t their duty to do al
business for Christ and the alienation Of tht
worlds suffering.
Again, remark, that business life Is
school Of patience In your everyday liz,
how many things to annoy and to disquiet
Bargains will rub. Commercial men will
sometimes fail to meet their engagements
Cash book and money drawer will sometime
quarrel. Goods ordered for special emer
gency will come too late or be damaged II
the transportation. People intending n
harm will go shopping without any intention
Of purchase, overturning great stocks o
goods and insisting that you break the dozen
More bad debts on the ledger. More counter
felt bills in the drawer. More debts to pa
for other people More meannesses on til
part of partners in business. Annoyanc
after annoyance, vexation after vexatio
and loss after loss
All that process will either break yo
down or brighten you up. 1t is school {
patience You have known men under th