The Penn's Grove record., 1895-07-12
REV. DR.. TRLmaGE.
Tht Brooklyn Divine's Sunday
Sermon.


We are at the opening door Of returning
National prosperity. The coming crops, tho
re-establishment of public confidence and
o all, the blessing of God will turn in
upon all sections of America the widest,
greatest prosperity this country has ever
seen. But that door of success is not vet
fully open, and thousands of business men
are yet suffering from the distressing times
through which we have been passing. ,
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 afford to extend to them her SYM
pathies and plead before heaven with all
ayailing prayer. The schools such men have
established, the churches they have built,
the asylums and benehcent institutions they
have fostered will be their eulogy long after
their banking institutions are forgotten.
Such men eau never fail. They nave their
treasures in banks that never break and will
be millionaires forever. But L thought 1t
would be appropriate to-day and useful for
me to talk about the trials and temptations
of our business men and try to offer some
curative prescriptions.
In the first place, l have to remark that n
great many of our business men feel ruinous
trials and temptations coming to them from
small and limited capital in business. 1t is
everywhere understood hat it now takes
thrse or four times as much to do business
well than it once did. Once a few hundre |
dollars were turned int goods. The mer-
chant would be his own storekeeper. his own
salesman, his own bookkeeper. He would
manage all the affairs himself, and every
thing would be net profit. Wonderful
changes have come. Costly apparatus, eX-
tensive advertising, exorbitant store rents,
heavy taxation, expensive agencies are only
parts OF the demand made upon our COM
mercial men, and when they have found
themselves in such circumstances with small
capital they have sometimes been tempted to
run against the rocks Of moral and financial
obstruction. This temptation of limited
capital has ruined men in two ways. Some
times they lave 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 auctions
eer's hammer. They blanched at the flnan-
cial peril. They did not understand that
there is such a thing as heroism in merchant
disc and that there are Waterloos of the
coanter and that a 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
bJ1 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 l have been trudging
along. Ihave been trying to be honest all
these years. 1 find it 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 a few thousand dollars
from friends who dare not refuse him, and he
goesb artering on a large scale. He reasons
IN this way: 'Perhaps l may succeed, and II
1 don't 1 will be no worse off than l am now,
for 800, 900 taken from nothing, nothing re-
uAins.H
Stocks are the dice with which he gam
bAs. He bought for a few dollars vast tracts
Of Western land. Som man at the East, liv-
ing on q fat homestead, meets this gambler
Of fortune and is persuaded to trade Off his
estate for lots In a 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 OF paperl
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 AID says, 81 wonder where that
man got I'LL his money! After a while the
bubble bursts. Creditors rush in. TIT law
clutches, but lind nothing in its grasp. The
men who we're swindled say, y DOM know
how I could nave ever been deceived by that
man" and the EDITORIALS, in handsome wood
outs, set forth the hero who in ten years had
genius enough to fail for $3.50, 600!
And that Is the process by which many
have been tempted through limitation OF
capital to rush into l%abyrinths from which
they could not be extricated. l would not
want to chain honest enterprise. l would
not want to block up any of the avenues for
honest accumulation that open before young
men. On the contrary, l would liketo cheer
them on and rejoice when they reach the
goal, bnt when there are sucn multitudes OF
men going to ruin for this life and the life
thAt Ii 10 come through wrong notions OF
what are lawful spheres of enterprise 1t Is
the duty Of the Church OF God, and the minis
tiers OF religion, and the friends of all young
men, to utter a plain, emphatic, unmis-
:akable protest. These are the influences
hist drown men in destruction and per-
Ution,
Again, a great many OF our business men
are tempted TO o~veranxlety and care. You
know that nearly all commercial businesses
AZ, oyerdone in this day. Smitten with the
love OF quick gain, our cities are OVID
with men resolved to be rich at all hazards.
They do not care how money comes II 1t
,uly comes. Our best merchants are thrown
INTO competition with men of more means
and less conscience, and II an opportunity
Of accumulation be neglected one hout
some n else picks 1t up. From
January to December the struggle goes
on. Night gives no quiet to limbs toss
Ing In restlessness nor to a brain thai
will not stop thinking. The dreams are
narrowed by imaginary loss and flushed
with imaginary gains. Even the SAB
bath cannot dam back the tide OF anxiety,
for this wave OF 4worldlinesS dashes clear
over the churches and leaves its foam on
Bibles and prayer books. Men who are
living on salaries or blythe cultivation OF the
,oil cannot understand the wear and tear oil
he body and mind to which our merchants
are subjected when they do not know but
hat their livelihood and their business
aonor are dependent upon the uncertainties
If the next hour. Tia excitement oil thf
orRln, this corrodsng eate OF the heart, TINS
train of effort shat exhausts the spirit
sends a great many of our best men IN mlu'
die life into the grave, their lie dashed oul
against money safes. They go with thel'
store on their backs. They trudge ike cam
Ala. sweating, from Aleppo to Damascus
They make their life a erucllxion. Stand,
ing behind desks and counters, banished
from the fresh air, weighed down by cark,
Ing cares, they are 50 many suicides On
| wish / could to-day rub out some OF thes'
| lines of care; that | could lift some OF the
burdens from the heart; that l could giv'
relaxation to some OF these worn muscles
II Is time for you to begin to take II a hltl'
easter, Do your best and then trust Cos
! for the rest. Do not fret. God manages al
Inc affairs Of your life, and He manage
!, them for the best. Consider the lilies. The,
always have robes.
Behold the fowls OF the air! They Away
HAYS nests. Take a long breath. Bethlnl
betimes that God did not make you for
pack horse. Dig yourselves out from anon
the hogsheads and the shelves, and in tn
light Of the holy Sabbath day resolve INA
YOU will give to the winds your Tears, an
| your ~fretlulness, and your dtstresses. 10
brought nothing into the world, n IL J
yary certain you can carry nothing out
Having food and rsiment be herewith con
| tent, me merchant came nome from IN
t,ore. There had been u great disaster there
He opene the front door and said in th'
nidsf OF his family circle; 81 am ruined
! Everything Is gone. l Inn all ruined" llii
| wife said. 81 am LETT and the little chllC
, threw up its hands and said, "Papa, l an
here" The aged grandmother, seated II
tho ROOM, said, ''rhen you haveall the prom
lees of God beside, john" And he burst IN
fAtears and said: "God forgive me that