St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1899-03-11

means that il your business life does
not correspond with your profession
your religion is humbug.
Here il something that needs TO b
sounded in the cars Of all the young
men Of America and iterated and reit-
Grated il this country IL ever to be de-
livered from its calam!tiee and COM
mercial prosperity is to. Be established
and perpetuated-live within your
means. Spend NO more than you
make. And let us adjust all our bust
ness and our homes by the principles
Of the Christian religion. Our religion
ought to mean rs much on Saturday
and Monday as on the dag between and
rot to be mere periphrasis Of sane
tity. Our religion ought TO first clean
our hearts, and then it ought TO clean
our lives. Religion is not, as some
seem TO think, a sort of church dedica-
ton, kind Of confectionery, a sort Of
spiritual caramel or holy gumdrop or
sanctified peppermint or theological
anaesthetic. 1t is an omnipoaent prin-
ciple, ali controlling, all conquering.
You may get along with something less
than that, and you may deceive your
self with it, but you cannot deceive
God, and you cannot deceive the world.
The keen business man will put on his
spectacles, and he will look clear
through to the back of your head, and
see whether your religion is fiction
or fact. And ycu cannot hide your
samples of sugar or rice, CT tea CT
coffee, ii they are false; you cannot hide
them under the cloth Of communion
table. All your prayers go for nothing
SO long as you misrepresentation bank
ing institutions, and in the report OF
the resources you put down more spe-
Gle. and more fractional currency, and
more clearing house certificates, and
more legal tender notes, and more loans,
and more discounts than there really
are, and when you give an account Of
your liabilities you do not mention oil
the unpaid dividends and the United
States bank notes outstanding. and the
individual deposits, and the obligations
to other banks and bankers. An au-
thority more scrutinizing than that OF
any bank examiner win go through
and. through and through your bust
ness.
Gathered in oil religious assemblages
there are many who have trust funds.
1t is a compliment to you that you
have been so intrusted, but / charge
you, in the presence of God AID the
world, be as careful of the property of
others, as you are careful Of your own.
Above all, keep your own private &C.
count at the bank separate from your
account as trustee of an estate or trustee
of an institution. That is the point at
which thousands OF people make ship
wreck. They get the property Of 9th
ers mixed up with their own property.
They put it into investment, and away
it. all goes. and they cannot return that
which they borrowed. Then comes the
explosion, ard the money market is
shaken. and the press denounces, and
the church thunders expulsion. You
have no right to use the property Of
others, except for their advantage, nor
without consent, unless they are minors.
If with their consent you invest their
property as well as you can, and it is
all lost, you are not to blame. You
did the best you could, but do not come
irto the delusion, which has ruined so
many men, of thinking because thing
is in their possession therefore it is
theirs. You have a solemn trust that
God has given you. In any asemblage
there may be some who have misap-
propriated trust funds. Put them back.
CT if you have so helplessly involved
them that you cannot put them back,
confess the whole thing to those whom
you have wronged, and you will sleep
better nights, and you will have the
better chance for your soul. What a
sad thing it would be il, after you are
dead, your administrator should find
out from the account books or from the
lack of vouchers. that you are not only
bankrupt in estate, but that you lost
your soul. II oil the trust funds tina,
have been Incorporated should sud-
denly fly to their owners and all the
property that has been purloined
should suddenly go back to its owners,
it would crush into ruin every city in
America.
4 missionary in one of the islands Of
the Pacific preached on dishonesty, and
the next morning he looked out of his
window, and he saw his yard full of
goods of all kinds. He wondered and
asked the cause of all this. We'll" said
the natives, ''our gods that we have
been wcrshiping permit US to steal, but
according to what you said yesterday
the God Of Heaven and earth will not
allow this, so we bring back all these
goods. and we ask you to help us in
taking them to the places where they
belong" If next Sabbath all the minis
tiers in America should preach sermons
on the abuse of trust funds, and on the
evils Of purloining, and the sermons
were all blessed of God, and regulations
were made that all these things should
be taken to the city halls. it would not
he long before every city hall in Amer
lea would be crowded from cellar to
cupola.
Let me say in the most emphatic
to all young men. dishonesty
will never pay. An abbot wanted to
buy a piece Of ground. and the owner
would not sell il, but the owner finally
to let it TO him until he could
mise one crop, and the abbot sowed
acorns, q crop OF 200 years! And I tell
you, young man. that the dishonesties
which you plant in your heart and life
will seem to be very insignificant. but
they will grow up uatil they will over
shadow you with horrible darkness.
overshadow all time and all eternity.
It will not be q crop for 200 years, but
4 crop for everlasting ages.
/ have also q worI of comfort for all
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