Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-05-08
business. Every way in which Q man II
defranded ia q thsft

OF BLK which came from the Wholesale
| factory, and every blemish he could find he
was to report to his employers, and they got
| an eighth of a yard off for it. And then they
| sold that silk, without taking off any eighths
| of yard, to their customers That is
| stealing.
What Christianity Really Means.
However, this Is all upon the outside Of
| the subject This would be true if the
sermon were upon the Mohammedan in
business, or the Buddhist in business, in
| stead of the Christian in business We need
to get nearer to the heart of the matter
than that. A man, say, may be church
| attendant and a church member and be
| perfectly orthodox along church lines and
| in addition to that may be perfectly hon.
est business man and yet not be Christian:
Because Christianity means all that and
more. 1t means the putting of something
else ahead of that. What is that? ''The
| kingdom of God and his righteousness. I"
And what does that mean? Divested of
| vagueness and sentimentality, what does
| that mean?
Why, it means, first of all, and In gen
eral, the setting of the higher before the
lower. No man who so attends to his busi-
| ness that it units him for the higher occu-
pations of life, for the higher pleasures of
| life, is the best kind Of Christian. A
man who so grinds at his business that he
becomes unfit for thinking, has untitled
himself at the same time to be an ideal
Christian.
Putting Too Much Time In Work.
would say, also, that man who spends
so much time at his business that he has no
time for his family, who is so good a busi-
ness man that he is very poor husband
and no kind of father, is not q Christian
IN tha frua nd
farther and say that the man who lets his
business obstruct his spiritual life, no mat
ter how honest his business is, is not
Christian. The man who let's his business
| come in between him and his prayers, and
makes the Lords Day simply a rest day
that he may 60 to work with the more vigor
on the morrow, is not conducting even an
honest business along Christian lines.
The Lord Jesus Christ was acquainted
with great many business men. He was
interested in and cared for business men.
He enjoyed talk with business man more
than he did with all the priests and all the
theological doctors in Jerusalem. When he
came to choose his, twelve apostles, he
chose twelve business men. When he
came to select place of residence, he left
Jerusalem, the city of worship, and took up
his abode in Capernaum, the city of work.
So that the Lord Jesus Christ knew very
well the temptation of the business man.
Jesus was forever warning men about lay
ing up all their treasure down here on earth
and being bankrupt up above.
Tho Tragic Question OF All Ages.
The invitation comes to-day which he
gave in that parable of the marriage Of the
kings son, the invitation to come into
higher living, to make really the most of
life, to emphasize that which is of chief i'm
portance. And still men say that they
must go and see about their merchandise.
And the tragic question is again asked that
the Lord Jesus Christ asked eighteen hun
dred years ago: "What shall it profit a
man if he gain the whole world and lose his
own soul?" Thus a man may conduct a
thoroughly honest business and yet fail of
being Christian.
But the kingdom of God means ore def
mite things than that. For the kingdom of
God, as Christ preached it, was meant to be
q reorganized society in which the Lord
God should be the head Of the state, and all
men should be brothers. The man who is a
Christian, who is Christ's kind of a Chris
tian, sets an emphasis on brotherhood be-
fore business and cares far more for men
than he does for money.
He's true to God who's true to man; where
ever wrong Is done
To the meanest and the weakest meath tho
That wrong is also done to us; and they are
slaves most base
Whose love of right is for themselves and
not for all the race.
The Christian Loves Men.
Prof Ely says that every man who claims
to be a Christian and is not philanthrop1st,
is a liar and a hypocrite. 1 question the
hypocrites very much, for the purpose of
preaching is not to abuse men, but to per-
suade them. But no man can be q Chris
ian unless he loves men.
Now, let us apply that. It touches the
wide question or the relation of the en-
ployer to the man in his employ. Here for
example, is one un-Christian thing that no
Christian employer will do. The Christian
man will not reduce the wages of his men
unnecessarily. The Christian religion does
not require anybody to do O losing business;
but take such case as this: A man looks
over the pay roll of his mill. He is doing
a fair business, making money, but he wants
to make more money, and he figures out how
much more money he can make if he insti-
tutes general reduction. What does that
mean? 1t means the taking of 80 much
bread out of the hands of hungry children.
1t means the rhrusting of men and women
into meaner dwellings. And all in order
that man who already has more money
than he needs may have little more.
Hours of the ToIiers.
Nor will the Christian man increase the |
hours of his mems work. For what does |
that mean? 1t means the taking of a man
SO much more away from his family. 1t |
means so much nearer an approach to the |
absolute destruction of family life. 1t means |
the transformation of human beings into |
machines, and for that same purpose-that a |
man may add to his store an unnecessary ad- |
dition. The Christian employer cares more |
for men than he does for money.
Is there a lack of Christianity in business? |
Is there not something wrong when man |
can work from the dark of morning to the |
dark of evening, and his wife work and his |
children work, and with all the labor of the
whole family in all their waking hours, get |
only a starvation dinner and sty to live in? |
The trouble is that nobody knows exactly |
what is the matter. The Christian man
ought to make it his duty to find out
All this applies not only to the way In |
which man treats the men who are under |
him, but also to the investment which |
man makes of his money. L was speaking |
the other day of the problem of poverty,
and in that connection, of the tenement
house evil. And 1 referred to the great re-
sponsibility that lies upon every man who
owns a tenement house, and somebody said:
eyes, and there is another responsibility |
upon a great many people who ought to
own tenement houses and do not.
Investing Money to Do Good.
A great responsibility does indeed lie
upon men who might so invest their money
that, with fair return financially, there
would be also = return in actual good done
TO their brother men in the erection of
dwellings, that might be fit to live in.
All that 1 have said concerning the en-
Dloyer and those in his employ applies to
he very smallest business IL q man has |