Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1895-07-19
TALMAGE'S SERMON
INTERESTING THEME BY THE
INV YORK PREACHER.
Subject: Cuisines Troubles"

.
l We are at the opening door Of rsturnin.
National prosperity. The coming CROPS. IN,
. establishment 81 public confidence. and
above all. the blessing Of God will turn ID
3 upon all sections u America the widest
greatest prosperity this country has evei
I seen. But that door Of success j. not Vel
. fslly open. and thousands 81 business men
are vet suffering from the distressing time.
through which We have been passing.
I Some Of the best men In the land have
I faltered, men who's. hearts are enlisted in
every good WlrS and whose hands have
/ blessed every great charity. The church OF
Z God can AFFORD L. extend To- them her SYM
I pathies and plead before heaven with all
I awaiting PRAYER. The schools such men have
I established the churches they have built,
? the asylums and beueHceut institutions they
have fustered will be their eulOgy long after
/ their banking institutions are forgotten.
/ Such men can never fail They have their
/ treasures in banks that never break and will
/ be millionaires forever. But thought 1t
I would be appropriate to-day and useful for
/ me TO talk about the trials and temptations
[ OF our business men aud try 10 offer some
curative prescriptions.
In the first place, have to remark that a
[ great many Of our business men feel ruinuu-
/ trials and temptations coming t. them from
small and limited capital in business Ii j.
tNFIN NlcEc AuutTsloou lldl II now taxes
three or four times as much tn do business
we'll than it once did. One, few hundred
dollars were turned int goods. The mer-
chant would be- his own storekeeper his own
salesman. his own b0OkkeeIer He would
manage all the affairs himself, and every
thing would he net profit. Wonderful
changes have come. Costly apparatus, eX-
teHsiye advertising, eXorOitant store rents.
heavy taxation, expensive agencies are only
Df the IarnauH L.
mercial men, and when they have fOunl
themselves in such circumstances with small
capital they have sometimes been tempted To-
run against the rocks Of moral and financial
destruction. This temptation Of limited
capital has ruined men in two ways. Some
times 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 auction
GERS hammer They blanched at the finan-
ciai peril. They did not understand that
there is such thing as herOism in merchant
disc and that there are WaterlOOs of the
counter and that man can fight no Drawer
battle with the sword than he can with the
yardstick. Their souls melted in them be-
cause sugars were up when they wanted to
buy and down when they wanted TO sell. and
unstable goods were on the shelf and
bad debts in their ledger The gloom OF
their cOuntenances overshadOwed even their
dry goods and groceries. Dependency
coming from limited capital blasted them.
Others have felt it in a different way. They
have said: Here | have been trudging
along. have been trying to be honest all
these years find il is Of no use. Now it
Is make or break" The small craft that
could have stood the stream is put out be-
yond the lighthouse on the great sea Of spec.
ulation. He borrows few thousand dollars
from friends who dare not refuse him, and he
goes bar;ering on a large scale. He reasons
in this way: Perhaps | may succeed, and if
don't | will he no worse off than am now.
Tor 100000 taken from nothing, nothing re-.
mains
Stocks are the dice with which he gam
bles. He bought for few dollars vast tracts
OF Western land. Some man at the East liv-
ing on fat homestead. meets this gambler
OF fortune and is persuaded to trade off his
estate for lots in Western city. with large
avenues, and costly palaces, and lake steam
ers smoking at the wharves and rail trains
coming down with lightning speed from
every direction. There it is all on PAPER
The city has never been built nor the rail
roads constructed, but everything points that
way. and the thing will be done as sure as
you live. Well, the man goes on, stopping
at no fraud or outrage. In his splendid
equipage he dashes past, while the honest
laborer looks up and wipes the sweat from
his brow and says. II wonder where that
man got all his money! After while the
bubble bursts. Creditors rush in. The law
but finds nothing in its grasp. The
men who were swinded say II don't know
how could have ever been deceived by that
man, and the pictorias, in handsome wood
cuts, set forth the hero who in ten years had
genius enough to fail Tor @l00 600
And that IS the process by which many |
have been tempted through limitation OF
capital to rush into labyrinths from which |
they could not be eXtricated | would not /
want to chain honest enterprise. | would /
not want to block up any Of the avenues for /
honest accumulation that open before Young !
men. On the contrary. would like to ehesr
them on and rejoice when they reach the |
goal, but when there are such multtudes of |
men going to ruin for this life and the life |
that is to come through wrong notions of |
what are lawful spheres of enterprise il is
the duty Of the Church Of God, and the minis
ters of religion ana the friends of all Young
men, TO utter a plain, emphatic, unms- .
taxable protest These are the influences
that drown men in destruction and per
iition.
Again, great many of our business men
are tempted to overanXiety and care. Yon
Know that nearly all commercial businesses
ire overdone in this day. Smtten with the
Owe OF quick gain, our cities are crowded
Win men resolved to be rich at all hazards,
lhey do not care how money comes if il
only comes. Our best merchants are thrown
nto competition with men Of more means
ma less conscience, and ii an opportunity
IL accumulation be neglected one hour
ome one else picks it up. From
January to December the struggle goes
IN. Night gives no quiet to limbs toss.
ng in restIessness nor to brain that
Viii not stop thinking. The dreams are
narrowed by imaginary loss and flushed
vain imaginary gains. Even the Sab
'ath cannot dam back the tide of anxiety
or this wave OF worldlipess dashes clear
yer the churches and leaves its foam on
3ibles and prayer books. Men who are
wing on salaries or blythe cultivation of tha
oil cannot understand the wear and tear of
he body and mind to which our merchants
re subjected when they do not know but
nat their livelihood and their business
onor are dependent upon the uncertainties
1 the next hour. This excitement of the
rain, this cOrroding care of the heart. this
train OF effort that exhausts the spirit
ends great many Of our best men in mid
lie lie into the grave, their life dashed out
galnst money safes. They go with their l
tore on their backs. They trudge like cam :
,s, sweating. from AIeppo to Damascus. !
hey make their life crucifixion. Stand
lg pehind desks and counters, banished l
rom the fresh air, weighed down by cark !
~ cares. they are 50 many suicides. Oh.
'lsh L could 10 day rub out some of these
ines OF care; that l could lift some of tho
urdens from the heart; that 1 could give ,,
to some of these worn muscles. =
Is Time Tor you to begin to take it a little .
asler. DO your best and then trust God +
or the rest. Do not fret. God manages all =
ne affairs of your life, and He manages =
mem Tor the best. Consider the lilies. They +
lways have robes. !
Behold the fowls of theair They always