The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1893-08-24
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
REV. THOMAS DIXON ON CHRISTIAN
ITY AND BUSINESS.

CAFE 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 Mer
chant" Text, Luke xix, 10, "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.
II is the talent of industry and enter
prise, a vast system for the relief of man
kind and for the development of the earth.
It is a vast system for the spiritualiza.
ton of matter. And yet it is more light
ly estimated by the world than the SOL
dier's work, the teachers work, the ply
sician's work, or the lawyers. 1t is
strange that it should be more lightly es-
timated than the soldiers work at first
glance. Ruskin has most beautifully
said on this point that we estimate the
soldier highly not because it is his bua.
ness to slay men, but because it is his
business to be slain. So we estimate all
the professions because of the sacrifice
involved in their pursuit.
SO we have despised the merchant be-
cause, persumptively, on the principles
of modern political economy his business
has been to look out for No. 1 solely.
RELIGIOUS EXTERNALs.
Yet it is true that the business of the
merchant is to provide for the nation, as
it is of the soldiers to defend it, the pas.
tors to teach it, the physician to keep it
in 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.
Piles 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 q
prayer meeting in the storehouse at noon.
A man need not stop in the midst of a
business transaction, as l once knew a
man to do, look at his watch and say to
q customer, II have got to go and pray"
1t is'not necessary to introduce the ex.
ternals of religious life. But IL 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
BILE, sacred, and is of the divine plan for
the redemption of the world.
FAITH IN FELLOW MEN.
First-The true merchant must be q
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 81
hours.
A boom in trade means a boom in faith.
A 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 by
the sum total of our currency.
We do not use money, as a 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
in his fellow man.
It 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. II
has hope. The eastern world is dead be.
cause it has lost faith in man. 1t has nc
hope. You may teach the Chinaman
and the Turk to runa steam engine. He
will do it mechanically. But to give him
the power of progress you must breathe
into his soul the faiths and hopes of the
western world. He must have an en-.
thusiasm for humanity before he will
truly work for it. No faith, no enthusi.
asm.
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 to guide. He will need the fash
of that deeper intuition Of right that can
only come from a vital communion with
God.
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
his return.
One of the most successful Italian fruit
dealers ] ever knew was man of the
broadest confidence in his customers.
He gave freely of his fruits, and he indi-
Gated in his methods that he had that
confidence in his customers which led
them to have confidence in him. If his
fruit was not good, he would tell you 80.
If his oranges were sour, he would tell
you so unhesitatingly, but told you he
hoped to have some sweeter ones next
week. The people in all the community
grew to know him and to believe in him.
They patronized him. His business grew
apace, and he is man Of prosperity.
A miser was afraid of banks, and took
his money and wrapped it up in an old
rag, opened the wall of his house and
put it between the walls for safe keep
ing. A few years afterward when he
exhumed 1t he found that the rats had
cut 1t into 10000 fragments and made
nests Of it in various parts of the house.
There was not single scrap of all his
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