Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1898-02-18

Work For Chflstldns.
Then there are all the ordinary bust
ness men. They need divine and Chris
tian help. When we begin 70 talk about
business life, we shoot right off and talk
about men who did business on a large
scale and who sold millions Of dollars
of goods a year, and the vast majority
of business men do not sell a million
dollars Of goods, nor half a million, nor
quarter of million, nor the eighth part
OF a million. Put all the business men
of our cities, towns, villages and neigh
borhoods side by side, and you will find
that they sell less than a hundred thou
sand dollars worth of goods. All these
men in ordinary business life want di-
vine help. You see how the wrinkles
are printing on the countenance the
story Of worriment and care. You can
not tell how old business man is by
looking at him. Gray hairs at 30; a
man at 45 with tho stoop Of a nOnoge-
marian. No time TO attend to improved
dentistry; the grinders cease because
they are few Actually dying Of old age
at 40 or 80, when they ought to be at
the merchant Many Of these business
men have bodies like a neglected clock
70 which you come, and when you wind
it up it begins to buzz and roar, and
then the hands start around very rapid
ly, and the clock strikes or 10 or 40,
and strikes without any sense, and then
suddenly stops. SO is the body Of that
wornout business man. 1t is a neglect
ed clock, and. though by some summer
recreation it may be wound up, still the
machinery is all out Of gear. The hands
turn around with velocity that excites
the astonishment of the world. A1n
cannot understand the wonderful actly-
ity, and there is a roar and buzz and
a rattle about these disOrdered lives, and
they strike 10 when they ought to strike
8, and they strike ~ when they ought
to strike 6, and they strike 40 when
they ought to strike nothing, and sud
denly they stop. Postmortem examlna-
ton reveals the fact that all the springs
and piyots and weights and balance
wheels Of health are completely de-
ranged. The human clock is simply
run down, and at the time when the
steady hand ought to be pointing to the
industrious hours on a clear and sunlit
dial the whole machinery Of body, mind
and earthly capacity stops forever Oak
Hill and Greenwood have thousands Of
business men who died Of old age at
30, 95. 40, 45.
Wants of Business Life.
Now, what is wanted is grace-di-
vine grace for ordinary business men,
men who are harnessed from morn till
night and all the days Of their life
harnessed in business. Not grace to lose
800. 600, but grace to lose $40. Not
grace to supervise $50 employees IN a
factory, but grace to supervise the book
keeper and two salesmen and the small
boy that sweeps ont the store. Grace to
invest not the $50 600 of net profit, but
the 50, 500 Of clear gain. Grace not to
endure the loss Of whole shipload OF
spices from the Indies. but grace to en-
dure the loss Of . paper OF collars from
the leakage of displaced shlngle On
poor roof Grace not to endure the tardl-
ness of the American congress IN pass
ing a necessary law. but grace to endure
the tardiness of an erTand boy stopping
TO play marbles when he ought to de-
liver the goods. Such a grace as thou
sands of business men have today
keeping them tranquil, whether goods
sell or do not sell, whether customers
nay or do not pay, whether tariff Is up
or tariff is down, whether the crops are
luxuriant or a dead failure-calm IN
all circumstances and amid all yicissi-
tudes. That is the kind Of grace we
want
Millions of men want it, and they
may have it for the asking. Some hero
or heroine comes 10 town, and as the
procession passes through the street the
business men come out, stand on iptoe
on their store step and look at some one
who in arctic cline, or IN ocean Storm
or in day of battle. or in hospital ago
nies did the brave thing, not realizing
that they. the enthusiastic spectators,
! have gone through trials III business
life that are just as great before God.
There are men who have gone through
freezing arctics and burning torrids and
awful Marengos Of experiences with
out moving five miles from their door
step.
Christ's Friendship.
Now. what ordinary business men
need is TO realize that they have the
friendship of that Christ who looked
after the religious interests OF Matthew,
the custom house clerk, and helpe,
lydia Of Thyatira TO sell the dry goods
and who opened a bakery and FISH mar
ket in the wilderness Of Asia Minor tc
feed the 1000 who had come out on q
religious picnic and who counts the
hairs of your head with as much partic'
ularity as though they We're the plume'
of a coronation, and who took the trou
ble 10 stoop down with his finger writ
ing on the ground, although the mrs.
shuttle of feet obliterated the divine
caligraphy, and who knows Just no"
many lOcusts there were IN the Egyp
tian plague, and knew just how many
ravens were necessary to supply EliJah
pantry by the brook Cherith, and VINO
as floral commander, leads forth all tn'
regiments of primroses, toxgioves
daffodils, hyacinths and lilies whici
pitch their tents of beauty and kindi'
their campfres Of color all around INT
hemisphere-that that Christ and tina
God knows the most minute affairs o
your business life and however neon
siderable, understanding all the affair
of that woman who keeps thread AM
needle store as well as all the affairs o
a Rothschild and Barring.
Then there are all the ordinary farm
ors. We talk about agricultural life
and we Immediately shoot off to tai
about Cincinnatus, the patrician, wh
went from the plow to high position
and after he got through the dictator
ship in 2l days went back again to tn
plow. What encouragement is that
ordinary farmers? The vast majority
them-none Of them will be patrlciani