The record-union., 1898-09-12

prompt and full payment of honest
debts. Some men think it clever to
skip their creditors. Men who have
taken advantage of the bankrupt court,
will be seen living luxuriously a few
months after.
There are honest failures. Out OF the
mercantile clouds, may come a finan-
cial cyclone, that will fatten to the
ground the strongest business house
on the street. There is. such lac
ing and interlacing of business life that
the fall of one firm drags down other
firms with it.
The point 1 make is, if a man has
failed and is afterward successful, he
will recognize the moral claim OF the
old debt and pay it, though there is no
legal claim. His conscience Will not
permit him to live in luxury, while
men around him are deprived of the
money he owes them. Men should
have sensitive consciences in these mat
ters They should feel debt as dis
grace. Some men do. I remember
funeral I conducted a few years ago
in an Eastern city. The room from
which we carried the body Of the dead
man was small and very plainly fur
nished. That man had been for years
working hard and living poorly to pay
debts for which he was not legally re-
sponsible. He felt that the moral
claim was obligatory, and was work.
ing heroically to meet it. Men in the
highest financial and social circles, fol-
lowed him to the grave, feeling that ne
was worthy their highest esteem. And
he was The love of display and ex-
travagant living are at the root OF this
sin of debt There is a hypocrisy of
wealth as we'll as of religion. People
spread themselves so as to give the i'm
preston that they are nascent million
aires The peacock is not the only
creature that parades fine feathers. The
difference between the peacock and
some people is, the peacock parades his
own feathers, not borrowed or stolen
ones. I have known men on s1he ragged
edge of poverty, whom, if you saw on
the street, you would fancy they owned
half the city, and had a mortgage on
the other half.
Young men and women, listen to wise
counsel. and resist the temptation to
display and debt. Be manly enough
and womanly enough to live within
before you have earned it. Do not at
tempt to digest an unpaid beefsteak,
or wear garment that the tailor has a
mortgage on. Never attempt to live
an eight hundred-dollar life on a six
hundreddollar salary. Have courage
to say Of this and that 'I cannot af-
ford it" Regard the margin between
income and expenditure as sacred
ground Look on the credit system as
q, sugar-coated temptation and relig-
iously have nothing to do with it. Pay
as you go, and if you can't pay don't
go. Keep on the right side Of the dol
lar. Own it and not owe it. The dif-
ference between owning a dollar and
owing 1t, IS the difference between in
tegrity and perfdy. Remember the
scripture injunction which says "Owe
no man" Pay every account as though
God Himself wrote out the bill. Emu
late and initiate the village black
smith whom Longfellow has immortal
lied
His brow is wet with honest sweat,
He earns whate'er he can
And looks the whole world in the face.
For he owes not any man."
Shakespeare gives you good counsel
when he says Costly thy habit as thy
purse can buy but no costlier. New
er be argued out of your soul, never be
argued out Of your honor, and never
be argued into believing that soul and
honor do not run a terrible risk. If YOU
are so foolish as to load yourself with
the burden of a debt. To spend all
you earn is folly. To spend more than
you earn is crime
The difference between saving and
spending Is the difference between a
civilized man and a savage The saw
age makes no provision for the future
The civilized man saves for to-mor-
rows need. The young man who uses
up everything as he goes along. ranks
himself on a level with the savage
Jesus enjoined economy and prudence
when He said to His disciples gather
up the fragments that nothing be lost"
BY that command. Jesus teaches His
disciples to save and not to waste. Null
titudes fail Of life's highest things be-
cause they ignore these common-sense
Bible precepts. He that provideth not
for his own household is worse than
an infidel Many a young man in this
city is spending on cigars and drinks
what he should be saving for future
business investments and for home
making. If what he spent in cigars
alone We're invested in a life insur-
ance, it would secure him an amount
that would put him and those depend
ent on him, beyond the touch of want
in their declining years.
There is another side to my text
Provide things honest" not only en-
joins wise prudence It also prohibits
dishonest and dishonorable ways of
getting money We are not only to
provide things, but we are to provide
things honest. We must not only get
our dollar before we spend 1t, but we
must be sure that our dollar is a clean
honest dollar
n friend of mine has recently written
a book, in which he takes the position
that mans character is revealed
more in the way he uses his money.
than in the way he gets it. NY con-
tention is that how man gets his
money, is as important a question. in
morals, as how he uses it, "He that
getteth riches and not by right is con-
demned in the Bible in strongest terms
The curse Of God rests on tainted mon
ey. Every dollar you have gotten dis
honestly, Will rise in the judgment of
God against you to condemn you
An honest dollar means a good deal.
It means industry. 1t means enter