The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1893-07-20

tnat tne business OF the Christian Is to
die, is to sacrifice. The block and the
stake and the rack and the thumbscrew
and the red hot plowshare-these have
been his through the ages of the past.
When Christians could not live. they
died. They considered it their business
to die. Itis the Christians business to-
day to die as much as it was i'm the apos-
tolic age, in the age of the heroes and the
martyrs. Every age must have its heroes
and its martyrs. There is q call today
for the Christian merchant who is will
ing to die rather than to do wrong, as
there never was call for the Christian
soldier to march into the valley of death
for the cause of Christian civilization.
John RuslSin has most graphically and
powerfully expressed this truth in his
great essay on "The Roots Of Honor"
He shows that:
The soldiers profession is to defend
the nation.
The pastors to teach it,
The physicians to keep it in health.
The lawyers to enforce justice.
The merchants to provide for it.
occasion to die for it.
On due occasion-namely:
The soldier, rather than to leave his
post in battle.
The physician, rather than to leave
his post in plague.
The pastor, rather than to teach false
hood.
The lawyer, rather than to counte.
nance injustice.
The merchant-what is his due occa-
sion of death? Well does Ruskin say it
Is the main question for the merchant as
for all of us, for truly the man who does
not know when to die does not know
how to live. The difficulty in our world
of commerce has been that men have not
known how to die. They have fought
one another to the death. They have
fought the wounded as well as the strong.
They have fought one another instead Of
fighting their common enemies-hunger
and cold-and the forces of nature that
would destroy man. HE that would
save his life shall lose it" is the message
which Jesus brings to the world. 1t is
the message which should be written in
letters of fire across every Stock Exchange
in the hour Of its panic.
Is it utterly impossible today to be a
practical Christian and successful busi-
ness man? Is the basis of business anti
Christian2 So much the worse for bust
ness. We shall certainly not give up
Christianity. We must simply recreate
the business world and make it possible
for Christian to live in it. And until
it is thus recreated the curse of God, the
God of truth and righteousness, will
wither and blast and strike with destruc-
ton. The God of the widow and of the
orphan will have his days of reckoning.
The God of the homeless and of the
friendless and Of the wretched and help
less will have his day Of reckoning and
of wrath. 1t must come because his laws
have been violated in the course of the
daily life of our business world. The
business that clashes with Christianity
must go down. 1t clashes with the very
stars of heaven,
Hear the prophetic voice of John Rus
kin again:
"Any given accumulation of CONNER.
cial wealth may be indicative on the one
hand of faithful industries, progressive
energies and productive ingenuitias, OF
on the other it may beindicative Of NOR.
tai luxury, merciless tyranny, ruinOus
chicane. Some treasures are hedUy tciH
human tears, us i'll stored harvest with
untimely rain, and some gold is brighter
in sunshine than it is in substance.
"And these are not, observe, merely
moral or pathetic attributes of riches
which the seeker of riches may, if he
chooses, despise. They are literally and
sternly material attributes of riches, de.
preciating and exalting intellectually the
monetary Specification of the sum in
| question. One mass of money is the out
| come of action which has cTcated-an.
| other of action which has Gnlihilated-
ten times as much in the gathering of it.
| Such and such strong hands have been
| paralyzed, as if they lal been numbed by
nightshade; so many strong mems cour-
| age broken; SO many productive opera
ations hindered--this aud the other false
direction given to labOc and lying image
of prosperity set mp OF Dura plains dug
| INTO seven times heated furnaces.
THAT which seems to be wealth may
in verify be only the gilded index of far
| reaching ruin; a wrecker's handful OF
ooin CLEANED from the beach TO which
he has beguiled an argosy; camp fol-
lowers bundle of rags unwrapped from
the breasts of goodly soldiers dead; the
purchase pieces of potter's fields, where
in shall be buried together the citizen
ard the stranger.