Connecticut western news., 1899-08-31


 could be put forth for God. Would that a thousand men in these great cities who have achieved a fortune could see 1t their duty now to do all business for Christ and the allevia- tion of the worlds suffering!
 Again, I remark that business life Is a school of patience. In your every day life how many things to annoy and to disquiet? Bargains will rub. Com mercial men will sometimes fail to meet their engagements. Cash book and money drawer will sometimes quarrel. Goods ordered for a special emergency will come too late or be damaged in the transportation. People intending no harm will go shopping without any intention of purchase, overturning great stocks of goods and insisting that you break the dozen. More bad debts on the ledger. More counterfeit bills in the drawer. More debts to pay for other people. More meannesses on the part of partners in business. Annoyance after annoyance, vexation after vexation and loss after losS
 School of Patience.
 All that process will either break you down or brighten you up. It Is a school of patience. You have known men under the process to become petu- lant, and choleric, and angry, and pug nacious, and cross, and sour, and queer. and they lost their customers, and their name became detestation. Other men have been frightened up under the process. They were tough ened by the exposure. They were like rocks, all the more valuable for being blasted. At first they had to choke down their wrath, at first they had to bite their lips, at first they thought of some stinging retort they would like to make, but they conquered their impa- tience. They have kind words now for sarcastic filings. They have gentle be- havior now for unmannerly customers. They are patient now with ulfortunate debtors. They have Christian refiec- tions now for sudden reverses. Where did they get that patience? By hear ing a minister preach concerning 1t on Sabbath? Oh, no! They got it just where you will get tiff you ever get it at all-selling hats, discountina notes, turning banisters, blowing corn, timing roofs, pleading causes. Oh, that amid the turmoi, and anxiety and exasperation of everyday life you might hear the voice of God saying: "In patience possess your soul. Let patience have her perfect work"
 1 remark again that business life Is a school of useful knowledge. Mer- chants do not read many books and do not study lexicons. They do not dive into profounds of learning, and yet nearly all through thek occupations come to understand questions of finance, and politics, and geography, and jurisprudence, and ethics. Busi- ness Is a severe schoolmistress. If pupils will not learn, she strikes them over the head and the heart with se- were losses. You put $5,000 into an enterprise. It Is all gone. You say, 'That Is a dead loss" Oh, no! You are paying the schooling. That was only tuition, very large tuition-I told you 1t was severe schoolmistress- but 1t was worth 1t. You learned things under that process you would not have learned In any other way.
 Traders in grain come to know some thing about foreign harvests, traders In fruit come to know something about the prospects of tropical production, of American goods come to understand the tariff on i'm ported articles, publishers of books must come to understand the new law of copyright, owners of ships must come to know winds and shoals and and every bale of cotton. and every raisin cask, and every ten box, and every cluster of bananas Is 50 much literature for business man. Now, my brother, what are you going to do with the intelligence? Do you suppose God put you in this school of merely that you might be sharper in trade, that you might be more successful as a worldling? Oh, no! It was that you might take that useful information and use 1t for Jesus Christ.
 Need of Honesty.
 Can it be that you have been dealing with foreign lands and never had the spirit, wishing the saliva ton of foreign people? Can it be that you have become acquainted with all the outrages inflicted In business life and that you have never tried to bring to bear that gospel which Is to extir- pate all evil and correct all wrongs and Illuminate all darkness and lift up all wretchedness and save men for this world and the world to comet Can 1t be that understanding all the intrica- cies of business you know nothing about those things which will last aft CT all bills of exchange and consign- ments and invoices and rent rolls shall have crumpled up and been consumed in the fires of the last great day? Can 1t be that man will be wise for a time and fool for eternityf
 l remark, also, that business life is a school for Integrity. No man knows what he will do until he Is tempted. There are thousands of men who have | kept their integrity merely because they never have been tested. A man was elected treasurer of the state of Maine some years ago. He was distin- guished for his honesty, usefulness and uprightness, but before one year had I passed he had taken of the public | funds for his own private use and was | hurled out of office In disgrace. Dis 1 for virtue before. Distin- guished for crime after. You can call | over the names of men just like that, | in whose honesty you had complete | but placed in certain crises of temptation they went overheard.
 Never so many temptations to scoun- drelism as now. Not a law on the | statute book but has some back door | through which miscreant can escape. | An, how many deceptions in the fabric | of goods; so much plundering in com | mercial life that if a man talk about | living a life of complete commercial | there are those who ascribe 1t | to greenness and lack of tact! More | need of honesty now: than ever before, |