The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-08-24

while we go dow on that mission. |
While We are tying an elaborate knot |
in our cravat or while We are in the
! study rounding off some period theorf- !
cally We might be saving a soul from
! death and hiding a multitude of sins.
Oh. Christian laymen, go out on this
work. If you are not willing 10 go forth
yourself, then give of your means. and
if you are too lazy to go and If you
are too stingy to help. then get out OF
the way.
RUINOUS RIVALRY
In all cities, east, west, north, SOUTH,
l notice great temptations to CONNER
: cial fraud. Here says, I'm going TO be
honest" but on the same street, on the
same block, in the same business are
Shylocks. Those men to get the patro-
mage of any one Will break all under
standings with other merchants and
will sell at ruinous cost. putting their
n~eighbors at great disadvantage, ex-
pecting to make up the deficit in some
thing else. If an honest principle could
creep into that man's soul 1t would die
of sheer loneliness. The man twists
about, trying to escape the penalty Of
the law and despises God, while he is
lust a little nxiou about the sheriff.
The honest man looks about him and
says: well, this rivalry is awful. Per-
haps / am more scrupulouS than / need
be. This little bargain l am about TO
. Is d lLLllS cSL I44C4l u
shall do as the rest And so I had a
friend who started in commercial life
and as a book merchant with a high
resolve. He said, In my store there
shall be no books that 1 would not have
nv family read" Time passedon, and
one day | went into his store and found
some iniquitous books on the shelf, and
l said TO him, How is it possible that
you cen consent TO sell such books as
these?" oh" he replied, Il have got
over those p~uritanical notions. a man
cannot do business in this day unless
he does it in the way other people do
it," To make a long story short, he
lost his hope of heaven, and in a little
while he lost his morality, and then he
went into a madhouse. In other words,
when a man casts off God God casts
him off.
One of the mightiest temptations in
commercial life in all cities today is in
the fact that many professed Christian
men are not square in their bargains
such men are in Baptist and Methods
and Congregational churches, and oul
own denomination is as largely repre-
sented as any Of them. Our good mer-
chants are foremost in Christian enter
prises; they are patronizers of art
philanthropic and Datriotic. God viii
attend to them in the day of his coro-
nation. l am not speaking of them, blu
of those in commercial life who are Sc
ting a ruinous example to our youns
l merchants. Go through all the store:
and offices in our cities and tell me IL
how many of these stores and office
:. are the principles of Christ's religion
dominant? In three-fourthS of them
, Nc. In half of them? No. In one
l tneth of them? No. Decide for your
, self. The impression is abroad some
l how that charity can consecrate in
iquitous gains and that if a man Civ
to God a portion of an unrighteous bar
!, gain then the Lord will forgive him tn
: rest. The secretary of a b~enevolen
!. society came to me and said: Mr.. So
and-so has given a large amount o
! money to the missionary cause men
: tioning the sun I said. Il can't be
. lieve it." He said, cit is So" Well,
| went home staggered and COMPOUNDED
> 1 never knew the man to give any
|, thing. But after a while 1 found on
:, that he a been engaged in the mos
Infamous / of a swindle, and the
. he promised to compromise the matte
= with the Lord, saying: Now, here j
7 so much for thee. Lord. Please let m
l off"
e DISHONESTY NEVER PROSPERS
I want to tell you that the church Q
: God is not a shop for receiving stole
goods and that if you nave taken an
- thing from your fellows you had bette
e return it to the men to whom it be
IL IL a oIoS ololC III L llllduSIDIl1
s a young man was told that he mus
o sell backing on the Lords day. He sal
e to h head man of the firm: Il can
e possibly do that. 1 am willing to Sc
e medicines on the Lords day for
think that it is right and Necessary
but I can't sell this patent backing.
He was discharged from the place.
Christian man hearing Of it took hir
into his employ, and he went on fror
one success to 10TH until he wa
u known all over the land for his fait
in God and his good works as for hi
worldly success. When a man ha
sacrificed any temporal, financia
| good for the a k Of his spiritual in
terests the Lord is m his side, and on
o with God is a majority.
Il But if you have been much anon
a the cities yon nave also noticed tha
o they are full of temptations of a Pc
i l1t1cal character. 1t is not 81 more i
0 one city than in all the cities. Hun
o dreds of men going down in our cite
every year through the pressure o
politics. Once in a while a man W:
D come out in a sort of missionary spiri
t and say: Il am going into polite
n o to reform them and I am going t
reform the ballot box and I am goinl
e to reform all the people I come in con
t tact With" That man in he fear an.
love OF God goes into politics with tina
r idea and with the resolution that h
VAL SO4lS oul uIlCOlCdIu1ldUoO and a
r good as when he went in. But gener
ally the case is when a man steps int
i politics many Of the newspapers try t
e blacken his character and to distort a
r his past history and after a littl
: while has gone by instead Of consider
ing himself an honorable citizen he i
lost In contemplation and in admira
ton of the fact that he as so lon,
been kept out of jail If a man sha]
go into politics to reform politics an,
with the right spirit he will come GU
1 with the right spirit and unhurt. Tha
was Theodore Frelinghuysen of New
Jersey. was George Briggs O
MASSACHUSETTS. That was Judge Nc
= Lean of ohio.
Then look around and See the allure
= ments to dissipated life. a books
: unknown to father and mother, vile a
the reptiles Of Egypt, crawling int
. some Of the best of families of tn
community; and boys read them whit