The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1899-02-10
SUBSCRIPTION: Sl.OO Per Year.

| There are times when we all borrow
and borrow lcgitimately. and borrow
with the divine blessing for Christin His
sermon on the mount enjoins: From
him that would borrow of thee turn
lot thou away" a young man rightly
borrows money to get his education.
Purchasing u house and not able 10
pay all down in cash, the purchaser
rightly borrows it on mortgage. Crises
! come in business when it would be
wrong for man not to borrow. But
roll this warning through all these
aisles, over the backs of ali these pews,
never borrow to specuate-not do.-
lar, not cent. not a farthing. Yourg
men. | warn you by your worldly pros
pects and the value of your immortal
souls, do not do it. There are breakers
distinguished for their shipwrecks-
The Hanways, the Needles, the Caskets,
the Douvers, the Anderlos, the Skerries
and many a craft has gone to pieces
on those rocks, but l have to tell you
that all the Hanways, and the Needles,
and the Caskets, and the Skerries are
as nothing compared with the long line
of breakers which bound the ocean of
commercial life north, south, east and
west with the white foam of their de-
spair and the dirge of their damnation
the breakers of borrow.
If 1 had only worldly weapon to use
on this subject, l would give you the
fact, fresh from the highest authority,
that 90 per cent. of those who go into
wild speculation lose all, but l have al
better warning than worldly warming.
From the place where men have per-
is hed-body, mind, soul-stand off,
stand off! Abstract pulpit discussion
must step aside on this question. Faith
and repentance are absolutely neces-
sary, but faith and repentance are no
more doctrines of tie Bible than COM
mercial integrity. Render to all their
dues" "Owe no man anything" And
while l mean to preach faith and re-
rentance, more and more to preach
them, | DO not mean to spend any time
in chasing the Utilities and Jebusites
and Girgashites of Bible times when
there are so many evils right around us
destroying men and women for time
and eternity. The greatest evangelis-
tic preacher the world ever saw, man
who died for his vangelism-peerless
Paul-wrote to the Romans: Provide
things honest in the sight of all mem"
wrote to the Corinthians: "Do that
which is honest;" wrote to the Phil
ippians: "Whatsover things are hon
est" wrote to the Hebrews; willing in
all things to live honestly" The Bible
says that faith without works is dead,
which, being literally translated,
means that if your business life does
not correspond with your profession
your religion is Il humbug.
Gathered in all 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 and the
world, be as careful of the property of
others, as you are careful of your own.
Above all, keep your own private ac-
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, and 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 min ors.
If with their consent you invest their
property as we'll as you can, and it is
all lost, you are not to blame. You
did the best you could, but do not come
into 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,
cr 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 if, 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 If all the trust funds that
have been misappropriated 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.
A 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. well" said
the natives, 'our gods that we have
been worshiping 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
ters 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
be long before every city hall in Amer
lea would be crowded from cellar to
cupola.
Practical Classics.
Mrs. Timkins was taking her son to