The Princeton union., 1895-07-18
] 7T'!A!'L.MAGE'S !! 4 SERMON.
"a WARNING TO THE OyERWORKED
a & BUSINESS MAN.
Il gers sOf the Mad Rush for Wealth
The Neglect OF Home md the Fam
ily stF4s Il

ily.
New York, Special.--In his sermon
for to-day Dr.. Talmage, who is still
on his Western lecturing tour, chose
a subject Of universal interest, VIZ,
"Business Troubles" the text Sc
lacted being Ezekiel xvii, "a: ''These
were thy merchants in all sorts Of
thngs.''
We are at the opening door Of re-
turning national prosperity. The com
ing crops, the establishment OF pub
lie confidence, and, above all, the
blessing Of God, will turn in upon al
sections Of America the widest, great
est prosperity this country has ever
seen But that door of success is not
yet fully open, and thousands Of busl-
ness men are yet suffering from the
distressing times through which we
have been passing. 6
Some Of the best men in the land
have faltered; men whose hearts are
enlisted in every good work, and
whose hands have blessed every great
charity. The church Of God can al
ford to extend to them her sympa-
thies and plead before heaven with
all-availing prayer. The schools such
men have established, the churches
they have built, the asylums and
beneflcent institutions they have fos-
tered will be their eulogy long after
their banking institutions are forgot
ten. Such men can never fail. They
have their treasures in banks that
never break, and will be millionalres
forever. But I thought it would be ap-
propriate, to-day, and useful, for me
to- talk about the trials and tempta-
tions of our business men and try to
offer some curative prescriptions.
In the first place l have to remark
that great many Of our business men
feel ruinous trials and temptations
coming to them from small and linn
tied capital in business. 1t is every
where understood that it takes now
three or four times as much to 90
business we'll as once it did. Once,
few hundred dollars were turned into
gocds-the merchant would be his own
store sweeper, his own salesman, ms
own bookkeeper; he would manage all
the affairs himself and everything
would be net profit. Many wonderful
changes have come; costly apparatus,
extensive advertising, exorbitant store
rents, heavy taxation, expensive agen-
cies are only parts of the demand
made upon our commercial, men; and
when they have found themselves in
such circumstances with small capt.
tai. they have. sometimes been tempted
to run against the rocks of moral and
financial destruction This temptation
| Of limited capital has ruined men i'll
two ways. Sometimes they have
| shrunk down under the temptation.
| They have yielded the battle before
| the first shot was fired. At the first
hard dun they surrendered Their
knees knocked together at the fall OF
the auctioneer's hammer. L
blanched at the financial peril. They
did not understand that there is such
a thing as heroism in merchandise
and that there are Waterloos Of the
counter, and that man can fight nc
Drawer battle with the sword than ne
can with the yard-stick. Their souls
melted in them because sugars were
up when they wanted to buy, anG
down when they wanted to sell, anC
unstable goods were on the shelf
and bad debts in their ledger. Tht
gloom of their coWntenances oyershad
owed even their dry goods and gro
ceries Desponaency, coming from
| limited capital, BLASTED them. Other:
have felt it in a different way. They
have said: Here have been trudg
ing along. I have been trying to bt
honest all these years. L find it is NJ
| use. Now it is make or break" The
small craft that could have stood tn,
stream is put out beyond the igh
| house on the great sea of speculation
He borrows q few thousand dollar
from friends who dare not refus'
him, and he goes bartering on a large
scale He reasons in this way: "Per
haps I may succeed, and if I don't
| Will be no worse off than l am now
for $4,000 taken from nothing, moth
ing remains Stocks are the dice witt
which he ga1EIbles. He bought for :
few dollars vast tracts of Western
land Sone unan at the East, living
on a fat homestead, meets this gam
bier of fortune and is persuaded t.
trade off his estate for lots in West
arn city with large avenues, and cost
" ya1a ces, and lake steamboats, which
lie smoking att the wharves, and raj
trains col3nE4g down with lightnln:
speed from every direction. There i
is all ON paper! The city has neve:
been ba1il, nor the railroads construct
ed, but everything points that way
and tine thing will be done as sure a.
you live We'll, the man goes on, stop
ping at no fraud or outrage. In hi;
splendid equipage he dashes past
while the honest laborer looks up ant
wipes the sweat from his brow, ant
says, Il wonder where that man go
all his money! After awhile the bub
BILE bursts Creditors rush in. Th,
law clutches, but finds nothing in it
grasp The men who were swindlet
say: II don't know how could eve
have been deceived by that man, ant
the pictorials, in handsome wood cuts
set forth the hero who in ten years
oad genius enough to fail for $15O, 900
And that is the process by Whicl
many have been tempted Through lin
ltation of capital to rush into laby
rinths from which they could not b.
extricated. would not want to chair
honest enterprise. would not wan
to block up any of the avenues 70
honest accumulation that open befor,