The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1899-09-01

u lne ldst great Gay ian II De that a
man will be wise for time and fool for
eternity?
| remark also that business life is
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. lie was distin-
guished for his honesty, usefulness and
uprightness, but before one year had
passed he 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 .ncy
went overheard.
Never so many temptations to scoun-
drelism as now. Not a law on the stat
ute book but has some back door
through which a miscrcant can escape.
| All, how many receptions in the fab
| rio of the goods! SO much piundering
/ in commercial life that if man talk
| about living life of complete CONNER
| cial integrity there are those who as
| crbc it to grcenness and lack of tact.
How many men do you suppose there
are in commercial life who could say
/ truthfully: "lu all the sales have ever
| made have never oyerstated the value
of goods; in all the sales have ever
made have never covered up an impcr-
/ lection in the fabric; i'm all the thou
sands of dollars have ever made have
not taken one dishonest fathing?'
/ There are men, however, who can say
/ 1t. hundreds who can say IL, thousands
who can say it. They are more honest
than when they sold their first tierce
of rice. or their first frkin of butter,
because thcrhuucstya nd integrity have
been tested, tried and come out tri-
umphant. But they remember Il time
when they could have robbed partner,
or have 'absconded with the funds of a
bank, or made a false assignment, or
borrowed illimitabiy without any eff
forts at payment, or got man into
sharp corner and fleeced 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 a lie on their soul in the
custom house they kissed the Book.
!hey can think of death and the iudg-
ment that comes after it without any
Hinching-that day when all charatans
and cheats, and jockeys and frauds
shall be doubly damned. 1t does not
nuke their knees knock together, and
Il does not make their teeth chatter to
read las the partridge sitteth on eggs
and hatchcth 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 fool
What a school of integrity business
,;fe is! If you ever have been tempted
to let your integrity criuge before pres
emit advantage, if you have ever
Weakened up in some embarrassment
aud said: "Now, | will step a little
aside from the right path and no one
will know it, and | 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. /
WIS in business trouble. | had money
to pay, and had no means to pay if,
and was in utter despair, of all human
help, and laid this matter before the
Lord. and this morning | went down
among some old business friends | had
not seen in many years just to make
a call, and one said to me; why, am
80 glad to see you! Walk in. We have
some money on our books due you a
good while, hut we didn't know where
YOU were, aud 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: THE amount they
paid me was six times what | owed
You say it only happened so? You are
unbelieving. God answered that mans
prayer.
OH you want business grace. Com
mercial ethics, business honor, laws
O. 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
nave consented to forge, and to NAL
'reat their friends, and to curse their
enemies, and their names have been
bulletined among scoundreIs, 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
IF that mans store, and they say;
"Well, if there ever was Christian
trader, that is one Integrity kept the
books and waited on the customers.
Light from the eternal world flashed
! tbroDnb tbp gbpXu VinInNNs pua n