The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1899-09-02

esiy-more than Ia those times when
business was q plain affair aud woolens
were "oolens, and silk, were silks and
men were men,
no" many men do you suppose there
/ are in commercial life who could say
Iruthtnlly; "mull the sales have ever
| nade ! have never uycrstatcd the value
/ ~ goods; in an the sales | have ever
made have never covered up am imper-
lection In the fabric; In an the thou
sands Of dollar, have ever made have
not taken one dishonest fauhing?"
| There are men, however, who can say
II, hundreds who Gun say H., thousands
| who can say II, They are more honest
| man when they sold their first tierce
OF rice, or their first firkin Of butter,
because thcirhoncstya 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 illtmitably without any ef-
forts at payment, or got man into a
| sharp corner and tlceced 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.
! They can think of death and the iudg.
ment that comes after it without any
| tlinching-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 fool"
What a school of integrity business
life is! If you yer have been tempted
to let vcur integrity crnge before pres
ent advantage, if you have ever
Weakened up in some embarrassment
and said Nov, | will step 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.
\ merchant in Liverpool got a five
pound Bank of England note, and, hold
ing it up toward the light, he saw some
iaterdelineations in what seemed red
ink. He finally deciphered the letters
and found out that the writing had
| been made by slave in Algiers, say
ing, in substance: Whoever gets this
bank note will please to inform my
brother, John Dean, living near Carlisle,
| that am slave of the hey of Algiers."
! The merchant sent word, employed gov
eminent officers and found who this
man was spoken of in this bank bill.
After awhile the man was rescued. who
! for II years had been a slave of the hey
of Algiers. lie was Immediately eman-
cipated. but was so worn out by hard
ship and exposure he soon after died.
Oh. if some of the bank bills that come
through your hands could tell all the
scenes through which they have passed,
it would be a tragedy eclipsing any
drama of Shakespeare, mightier than
King Lear or Macbeth!
| had a friend who had many mis-
fortunes. Everything went against him.
He had good business capacity and was
of the best of morals, but he was one
of those men such as you have some
times seen, for whom everything seems
to 90 wrong. His life became to him
plague. When | heard he was dead,
| said: "Good-got rid of the sheritfs!"
Who are those lustrous souls before
the throne? When the question is
asked: "Who are they" the angels
standing on the sea of glass respond:
"These are they who came out of great
business trouble and had their robes
washed and made white in the blood of
the Lamb
4 man arose in Fulton street prayer
meeting and said; ~ wish publicly to
acknowledge tie goodness of God. [
was in business trouble. | had money
to pay, and | had no means to pay it,,
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
call, and one said to me: Why, | 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: THE amount they
paid me was six times what | owed"
You say it only happened SOP You are
unbelieying. 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 solle llldI u" h"'N hH"""
have consented to forge, and to mall
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:
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
through the show windows. Love to