The Progress., 1893-12-30

! ht had uf a successful career. He might
have Put himself at the head of an ar
1 my ant conquered the ancient kingdom
of the Jews and thrown off the triple
yoke of Roman and kingly tyranny if
he had but so desired. He threw that
opportunity away again and again. He
might have been wealthy, if he had
used his magnificent powers to acCumu-
late wealth. He might have had the
great and powerful as his friends, but
when people came to crown him and
make him their leader he escaped. And
he died Il most miserable death, amid
the mock and jccr and scorn of his en-
emicS, cruciti"d between two thieves,
with not a grave that he could call his
own, his very clothes stripped from his
body, dying thus outside the walls of
Jerusalem, "A miserable felon, deserted
by his disciples, disowned by all who
knew him except few faithful women.
That is the kind of life he lived. That is
what he meant when he said, IF "a man
would save his life, let him lose it, and
if he would find it let him lay it down. "
WHAT FAITH Is.
The second principle of Christianity
is what we call faith-the power to be-
lieve in something to believe in God
and in man, our brother, the image of
God. The next principle is that of
love-love to God and man. That is to
be a Christian, and that is Christianity.
take it from the definitions of Jesus,
oh
his recorded word.
Second-What is business-modern,
e1"ccssful business today? In tn" first
place, 1t rests upon the antithy.iS of
sacrifice. Sacrifice represents one pole,
business the other pole, and the differ
ence that separates them is gulf as
deep and wide and as impossible as the
gulf that separates heaven from hell.
The first principle of your modern bust
ness world is war, competition, brutal
hght-every man for himself 1t is the
strongest arm that wins, and the weakest
ones are trampled to the earth and killed
and beaten without mercy. War and
pestilence are the only hope to regulate
our population, according to the princi-
pies of this modern business world.
The brutal survive, while the weak per-
ish. What is to become of this vast ar
my of weaklings? Well, our Malthusian
say: 1--WE will have pes
thence by and by, and God will send
us the cholera. Or if not God in his
goodness and mercy will send us a war,
and war will thin the ranks, and the !
battle will begin again. After the
weaklings have been eliminated the |
world will not be so crowded, and we
can proceed.
Such is the basis on which modern |
rests. In this battle, this
war, this madness, this struggle, the |
very competition which has been called |
the life of trade is its defeat. For you
have only to press competition to a GER
tain period when men who are fighting
each other know they must combine or
lie. Only press your competition far
enough, and it is either suicide or COM
This brings into your world,
governed by that principle, infinite CON
fusion, for when that defeats itself and
10 new system takes its place the result is
,haos-chealing. lying, swindling. steal
ng, crime, intemperance, suicide, de-
pair Why do men open saloons and sell
whisky? Why, because they have accept
ed this modern principle of the modern
world that the strongest man is the man
hat is worthy to survive; that it is
)attle, q war, and he who is victorious
ha fono N trh hni 10 Iaff ha I,,p
less be what it may. Hence the gam
der who does not hesitate about his
saying that might constitutes
he first principle of your modern
world. Daily facts these are. Lying in
he business world-so much there is of
t in all trades! Overreaching is what
thousands of men are after In the bust
less world. To overreach man and
ret the better of him by some trick; to
ret out of him more than we give in re-
urn. That is the sum total of the pur
,ose of some lives. If in war man is
you pass him by. Most heart
ess of all things in the world is your
modern business war. When a man fall
~ the wayside in modern business, the
world has no mercy, no heart, no ear to
,ity, no arm to save. That is modern
THE HONEST BUSINESS MAN.
Christianity is certainly in deadly
conflict with that sort of ife-success-
ul business with modern methods down
o date. There are business men who
ire honest. There are men who have
ct out in the world with the determi-
lation to make honor and truth and the
,ood of society their aim, and they have
,rown wealthy, some of those men. They
lave grown powerful. Now, that being
! fact, the man who departs from that
aw and says that he can justify him
elf on the grounds of success has be-
ieved lie that he may damn himself
n the process. There are men today
whose business career is absolutely
Ibove reproach. l might mention a
housand successful business enterprises
hat have been founded thus on integri-