Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1900-11-05

lawyers, young doctors, young me-
I chanicS. young artists. young farmers,
ct certain times there are those to
sympathize with you, but now that
/ you are becoming Il master of your
1 particular occupation or profession,
! how is it now, young lawyers, young
doctors, young artists, young farmers
/ how is it now? The greatest crime
! that you can commit is the crime of
| success.
Decision of Character.
! Again, my subject impresses me with
/ the value of decision of character in
any department Daniel knew that if
| he continued his adherence to the re-
! ligion Of the Lord he would be hurled
/ to the lions, but, having set his COM
! pass we'll, he sailed right on For the
] lack of that element of decision of
character, so eminent in Daniel, many
| men are ruined for this world, and
ruined for the world to come. A great
many at 40 years of age are not set
| tied in any respect, because they have
not been able to make up their minds.
Perhaps they will go west; perhaps
they will go east; perhaps they will
not; perhaps they will go north; per-
haps they may go south; perhaps they
will not; perhaps they may make that
investment in real estate or in rail-
roads; perhaps they will not They
are like a steamer that should go out
of New York harbor, starting for
Glasgow, and the next day should
change for Havre de Grace, and the
next for Charleston and the next for
Boston and the next for Liverpool.
These men on the sea of life everlast-
ingly lacking ship and making no
Roadway. Or they are like a man who
starts to build a house in the CORN
THAN style and changes it to Doric,
and then completes it in the Ionic,
the curse of all styles of architecture.
Young man, start right and keep on.
Have decision of character. Character
is like the goldfinch of Tonquin it is
magnificent while standing firm, but
loses all its beauty in flight. How
much decision of character in order
that these young men may be Chris
tiansi Their old associates make sar-
castle filings at them. They go on
excursions and they do not invite them.
They prophesy that he will give out
They wonder if he is not getting
wings. AS he passes, they grimace
and wink and chuckle and say, 'There
goes a saint" Oh, young man, have
decision of character. You can afford
in this matter of religion to be laughed
at. What do you care for the SCOTS
of these men, who are affronted be-
cause you will not go to ruin with
them? When the grave cracks open
under their feet, and grim messengers
push them into it, and eternity comes
down hard upon their spirit, and con-
science stings, and hopeless ruin lifts
them up to hurl them down, will they
laugh then?
Take Religion Into Business.
l learn also from my subject that
men may take religion into their world
ly business. This is a most appropri-
ate thought at this season of the year,
when so many men are starting out in
new enterprises. Daniel had enough
work to do to occupy six men. All the
affairs of state were in his hands
questions Of finance, questions of war,
of peace; all international questions
We're for his settlement or adjustment
He must have had a correspondence
vast beyond all computation. There
was uOL IL udI III dlI the edElu WHO
had more to do than Daniel, the secre-
tary of state, and yet we find him three
times a day bowling before God in pray
er. There are men in our day who
have not hundredth part of Daniels
engagements who say they are too
busy to be religious. They have an
idea somehow that religion will spoil
their worldly occupation; that it will
trip the accountants pen, or dull the
carpenters saw, or confuse the law
yer's brief. or disarrange the mer-
chants store shelf. They think reli-
gion is impertinent They would like
to have it very we'll seated beside them
in church on the Sabbath, to find the
place in the psalmbook or to nudge
them awake when they get sleepy IN
der the didactic discourse, or they
would like to leave it in the pew on
Sabbath evening as they go out, clos
ing the door. saying: Good night, reli-
gion! I'll be back next Sunday But
to have religion go right along by them
all through life, to have religion look
ing over their shoulder when they are
making a bargain, to have religion take
up a bag of dishonest gold and shake
1t and say. where did you get that?"
they think that is an impertinent reli
gion. They would like to have a reli-
gion to help them when they are sick
and when the shadow of death comes
over them, they would like to have re-
ligion as sort Of night key with which
to open the door of heaven, but religion
under other circumstances they take to
be impertinence.
No
Now. my friends, religion never rob-
he'd man of dollar Other thinOs