Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1900-09-21
IN some respects have to tell YOU

streets of great city there is one
lesson think which ought to strike
every intelligent Christian man, and
that is the world is scene of toll and
struggle. Here and there you find
man in the street who has his arms
folded and who seems to have no par
ticular errand but if you will stand at
the corner of the street and watch the
countenances of those who go by you
will see in most instances there is an
intimation that they are on an errand
which must be executed at the earli-
est moment possible, so you are
jostled hitler and thither by business
men, up this ladder with hod of
bricks, out of this bank with a roll
of bills, digging cellar, shingling a
roof binding a book, mending a
watch. Work, with its thousand eyes
and thousand feet and thousand arms,
goes on singing its song, "Work, work,
work." while the drums of the mill
beat it and the steam whistles fife it.
In the carpeted isles Of the forest, in
the woods from which the eternal
shadow is never lifted, on the shore
of the sea over whose iron coast losses
the tangled foam,. sprinkling the
cracked cliffs with a baptism of whirl-
wind and tempest, is the best place to
study God, but in the rushing, swarm
ing, raving street is the best place to
study man.
Going down to your place of bust
ness and coming home again charge
you look about; see these signs of
poverty, of wretchedness, of hunger,
of sin, of bereavement, and as you go
through the streets and come back
through the streets gather up in the
arms of your prayer all the sorrow, all
the losses, all the sufferings, all the
bereavements of those whom you pass
and present them in prayer before an
all sympathetic God. In the great day
of eternity there will be thousands Of
persons with whom you in this world
never exchanged one word will rise up
and call you blessed; and there will
be a thousand fingers pointed at you
in Heaven, saying: That is the man,
that is the woman who helped me
! when was hungry and sick and wan
dering and lost and heartbroken. That
is the man, that is the woman" and
the blessing will come down upon you
as Christ shall say: 81 was hungry
and We fed me, l was naked and We
clothed me, was sick and in prison
and We visited me; inasmuch as We did
it to these poor waits of the streets
we did it unto me-"
Again, in all these cities | am i'm
pressed with the fac. that life is full
of pretension and sham. What subter-
fuge, what double dealing, what two
facedness! Do all people who wish
you good morning really hope for you
a happy day? DO all the people who
shake hands love each other? Are all
those anxious about your aealth who
inquire concerning it? Do all want to
see you who ask you to call? Does all
the world know half as much as it pre-
tends to know? Is there not many a
wretched stock of goods with bril-
liant store window? Passing up and
down the streets to your business and
your work, are you not impressed with
the fact that society is hollow and
that there are subterfuges and preten-
sions? Oh, how many there are who
swagger and strut and how few PEG.
pie who are natural and walk! While
tops shipper and fools smoker and sim.
pletons giggle, how few people are
natural and laugh! / say these things
not to create in you incredulity OF
misanthropy, nor do / forget there are
thousands of people great deal bet
ter than they seem, but do not think
any man is prepared for the conflict
of this life until he knows this par,
ticular peril. Ehud comes pretending
to pay his tax to King Eglon, and
while he stands in front of the king
stabs him through with a dagger UNI
til the haft went in after the blade
Judas Iscariot kissed Christ
One of the mightiest temptations II
commercial life in all cities to-day i,
in the fact that many professed Chris
tan men are not square in their bar
gains. Such men are in Baptist
and Methodist and Congregations
churches, and our own denomination
is as largely represented as any O.
them. Our good merchants are fore
most in Christian enterprises; they
are patronizers of art, philanthropi'
and patriotic. God will attend Il
them in the day of His coronation
| am not speaking of them, but o
those in commercial life who are set
ting ruinous example to our younl
merchants. Go through all the store
and offices in our cities and tell me il
how many of those stores and office
are the principles of Christ's religion
dominant? In three-fourths of them
No. In half of them? No. In one
tenth of them? No. Decide for your
self. The impression is abroad some
how that charity can consecrate in
iquitous gains and that If man Civ
to God portion of an unrighteou
bargain then the Lord will forgiv
him the rest. The secretary Of ben
evolent society came to me and said
"Mr. So-and-So has given larg
; amount of money to the missionar
cause mentioning the sum. l said
81 can't believe it, de said: ut
So" Well, 1 went home, staggere
and COMPOUNDED. | never knew tn
) man to give anything. But ate
awhile | found out that he had bee
engaged in the most Infamous kin
of swindle, and then he promised t
T. compromise the matter with the Lore
saying: "Now, here is so much 70
2 thee, Lord. Please to let me off"
l want to tell you that the churc
I of God is not a shop for receivin
3 stolen goods and that if you hav
= +aLa, ony4b;no from vour falloxye w