The Progress., 1893-08-26
THETDEALMERCHANT
REV. THOMAS DIXON ON CHRISTIAN
iTY AND BUSINESS.

External Pieiy and the Pious whine-Faith
In the business worId-Legitimates Self
HeIp-The End of Commercc-A Plea
Tor UnselGshness.
CAPE CHARLES, Va, Aug. 20.-Rev.
Thomas Dixon, Jr., continued today the
series of sermons on Money and Chris
tianity" The subject of the discourse
of the morning was THE Ideal MeT-
chant" Text, Luke xix. 13, And he
called ten servants of his and gave them
ten pounds and said unto them. Trade
We herewith till come"
The merchants business is the most
obvious and necessary relation of life. 1t
is one of the primal powers, original.
necessary, universal.
1t is the talent of industry ana enter
prise, vast system for the relief of man-
kind and for the hedevelopment of the earth.
1t is vast system for the spiritualiza-
ton of matter. And yet it is more light
ly estimated by the world than the sol
dicr's work, the teachers work, the phy-
sician's work, or the lawyers. 1t is
strange that il should be more lightly cS-
timated than the soldiers work at first
glance Ruskin has most beautifully
said on this point that we estimate the
soldier highly not because 1t Is his busi-
ness to slay men, but because it is his
business to he slain. SO we estimate all
the professions because of the sacrifice
involved i'll their pursuit.
SO we have despised the merchant be
cause, persumptively, on the principles
of modern political economy his business
has been to look ont for No. / solely.
RELIGIOUS ENTERNAIS.
Yet il is true that the business of the
merchant is TO provide for the nation, a.
it is of the soldiers to dcfend it, the pas
tors 70 teach it, the physician to keep it
i'll health, the lawyer to enforce justice
and the business of each on due occasion
to die for it.
We have much to learn in first princi-
pies in so far as the application of Chris
tianity to business is concerned. Men in
business transactions are afraid of the
pious whine Nor do we need to intro
duce external piety into the house of
business. We DO not need to have Il
prayer meeting i'll the storehouse at noon.
A man need not stop in the midst of Il
business transaction, as | once knew .
man to do, look at his watch and say to
customer, Il have got to 90 and pray"
1t is not necessary to introduce the ex-
ternals OF religious life. But it is neces-
sary to make trade Christian in itself.
that it shall be in itself high and holy
service to humanity.
The work of the true merchant is no
bic. sacred, and is of the divine plan for
the redemption of the world.
FAITH IN FELLOW MEN.
First--Thc true merchant must be a
man of large faith.
he must have faith in man and God
as the foundation of his commercial
world He could not run without it -
hours.
\ bOomin trade means ii boom in faith.
\ panic means lost faith.
High prosperity in the business world
means large faith in man.
a black Friday means the collapse of
confidence. Our commercial world is
not run by gold and silver. There is but
little gold and silver in the world, COM
putting the transactions of this world II,
the sum total Of our currency.
We 10 not use money, as matter of
fact We trade in faith, and the money
that we use is promise to pay. We
have faith in the government. So your
true man of commerce must have faith
IL his fellow man.
II is faith that is the basis Of enter
prise, of invention, of all progress. The
western world is alive because it believes
in humanity; believes in progress. 1t
has hope. The eastern world is dead be
cause it has lost faith in man. 1t has no
hope. You may teach the Chinaman
aud the Turk to run a steam engine. He
will do it mechanically. But to give him
the power Of progress van must breathe
into his soul the faiths and hopes of the
western world. He must nave an EN-
thusiasm for humanity before he will
truly work for it. No faith, no enthusi-
assn.
The true merchant must be man OF
faith in God, in whose hands rest the
storms and the seasons.
He will keep in perfect peace whose
mind is fixed on His eternal truth. There
will come to him puzzling hours in
which vital problems of business will
press upon his heart, and he will need
the illumination of all Gods spirit upon
his own 10 guide. He will need the flash
of that deeper intuition of right that can
only come from Il vital communion with
Cod
For lack of faith in the business world
nothing can atone. To the man was
given one talent He had no faith. He
was afraid. He laid it upon napkin.
He was condemned by the judge upon
Bis return.
One Of the most successful Italian fruit
dealers | ever knew was man of tho