Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1899-09-01

man will be wise for time and a fool for
eternity?
I remark also that business life is
school for integrity. No man knows
what he VIII 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
passed ne had taken of the public funds
for his own private use and was hurled
out of office in disgrace Distinguished
for virtue before. Distinguished for
crime after. You can call over the names
of men just like that, in whose honesty
you had complete confidence, but placed
in certain crises of temptation .ney
went overheard.
Never so many temptations to scoun-
drelism as now. Not law on the stat
ute book but has some back door
through which a misereant can escape.
All. how many receptions in the fab
ric Of the goodsi So much plundering
in commercial life that if a man talk
about living a life of complete CONNER
cial integrity there are those who as
crIbe 1T to greenness and lack OF tact
How many men do you suppose there
are in commercial life who could say
truthfully: 'In all the sales have ever
made L have never overstated the value
OF goods; in all the sales I have ever
made have never covered up an imper-
lection in the fabric; in all the thou
sands of dollars have ever made have
not taken one dishonest farthing?''
There are men, however, who can say
it, hundreds who can say it, thousands
who can say it. They are more honest
than when they sold their first fierce
of rice, or their first firkin of butter,
because their honesty and integrity have
been tested, tried and come out tri-
umphant. But they remember time
when they could have robbed partner,
or have absconded with the funds of
bank. or made a false assignment, or
borrowed illimitably without any eff
forts at payment, or got a man into
sharp corner and feeced him. But they
never took one step on that pathway
of hell fire. They can say their pray
ers without hearing the chink of dis
honest dollars. They can read their
Bible without thinking of the time
when with lie on their soul in the
custom house they kissed the Book.
They can think of death and the judg
ment that comes after it without any
finching-that day when all charlatans
and cheats, and jockeys and frauds
shall be doubly damned. 1t does not
make their knees knock together, and
It does not make their teeth chatter to
read ''as the partridge stitch on eggs
and hatcheth them not, so he that get
teth riches, and not by right, shall
leave them in the midst of his days, and
at his end shall be a fool.''
What a school of integrity business
life is! If you ever have been tempted
to let your integrity cringe before pres
ent advantage, if you have ever
wakened up in some embarrassment
and said: Now, will step little
aside from the right path and no one
will know it, and 1 will come all right
again, it is only once" That only once
has ruined tens of thousands Of men
for this life and blasted their souls for
eternity.
A man arose in Fulton street prayer
meeting and said: Il wish publicly to
acknowledge the goodness of God. L |
was in business trouble. l had money |
to pay, and 1 had no means to pay it, !
and 1 was in utter despair, of all human
help. and L laid this matter before the |
Lord, and this morning L went down |
among some old business friends 1 had |
not seen in many years just to make |
II call, and one said to me: why, I am |
so glad to see you! Walk in. We have |
some money on our books due you a |
good while, but we didn't know where |
you were, and therefore not having |
your address, we could not send it. |
We are very glad you have come" And |
the man standing in Fulton street |
prayer meeting said: 1.-THE amount they |
paid me was six times what L owed"
You say it only happened so? You are
unbeheving. God answered that mans
prayer.
Oh, you want business grace. Com
mercial ethics, business honor, laws
of trade. are all very good in their
place, but there are times when you
want something more than this world
will give you. You want God. For
lack of Him some that you have known
have consented to forge, and to mail
treat their friends, and to curse their
enemies, and their names have been
bulletined among scoundrels, and they
have been ground to powder, while
other men you have known have gone
through the very same stress of circum-
stances triumphantly. There are men
here to-day who fought the battle and
gained the victory. People come out
Of that mans store, and they say:
We'll, If there ever was a Christian
trader, that's one" Integrity kept the
books and waited on the customers.
Light from the eternal world flashed
through the show windows. Love to
God and love to man presided in that