The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1900-03-10

NP'A' H"fos AApy AOA NV Ai
Death says: at is too late to pray
you have only three seconds more 4
live. and | will count them off-ont
two, three. Cone" Where? Where
! Carry him out and lay him down besid
his old father and mother who diet
under the decisions of the Christian
religion singing the songs of victory.
Again. avoid rhe idlers-that is. thos'
people who gather around the store ol
the shop or the factory and try to sc
duce you away from your regular call
ing and in your business hours try to
seduce you away. There is nothing
that would please them so well as to
have you give up your employment and
consort with them.
These idlcrs you will find standing
around the engine houses or standing
at MONDAY or about noon on the
steps of some hotel or fashionable res
taurant, giving the idea they have
dined there. They have not dined
there. They never will dine there
Before you invite young man into your
association ask him plainly: What
do you do for living?" If he says:
Nothing; | am a gentleman" look
out for him. care not how soft his
hand or how elegant his apparel or
how high sounding his family name,
his touch is death
Idleness is the next door to villainy,
When the police go to find criminals.
where do they go to find them? They
find them among the idle-those who
have nothing to do. or. having some
thing to do, refuse to engage in their
daily work. Some one came to good
old Ashbel Green and asked him why
he worked at so years of age when it
was time for him to rest oh" he
replied, Il work to keep out of mis-
chief" And no man can afford to be
idle. l care not how strong his moral
character, he cannot afford to be idle.
But you say: "A great many peo-
pie are suffering from enforced idle
ness. During the hard times there
were a great many people out of en-
ployment." | know it, but the times |
of dullness in business are the times
when men ought to be thoroughly en-
gagged in improving their minds and
their hearts. The fortunes
to be made 20 years from now will be
made by the young men who in the
times when business was dull cult
vated their minds and improved their
hearts. They will get the fortunes
after awhile, while those men who
hang around their stores, never en-
raging in any useful occupation, will
De as poor then as they are now. 1t
S absurd for Christian man to say
lie has nothing to do.
went into store in New York
where there were five Christian men,
nd they said they had nothing to do.
The whole world lying in sin. Pow
rty to be comforted. sickness to be ;
lleviated, Bible in the back office,
very opportunity of mental culture, ,
piritual culture; every inducement ,
0 work. yet Christian man. sworn j..
efore high Heaven to consecrate his
hole life to usefulness, has nothing
do! If you have not any business
'r this world, my Christian friend.
len you ought to be doing business .
,r eternity. /
People go to Florence and to Venice
I'D to Rome to see one of the works d
the great masters. I think 1 can d
low you the picture of one of the 3
'eat masters. II went by the field i
the slothful and by the vineyard It
the man void of understanding. II
I'd, 10, it was all grown over with II
orns, and nettles had covered the p
ce thereof, and the stone wall there u
was broken down. Then / saw and D
nsidered it well. I looked upon it D
d received instruction. Yet little sc
eep, little slumber little folding ia
the hands to sleep. So shall thy III
verify come as one that traveleth nj
d thy want as an armed man" III
lere is no more explosive passage in D,
the Bible than that. 1t first be- IL
rs to hiss like the fuse of cannon eS
d then bursts like a 54-pounder. yt
e old proverb was true: "The mi
VII tempts most men. but idlers ce
npt the DEVIL" Therefore seek in
to do. IF no worldly bust oV
IS offers, then, in the name of the du
rd Jesus Christ, go out on Christian
|, and the Lord will bless you, and 10
Lord will help you. so
lgainI counsel you, avoid the pleas We
} seeker. the man whose entire as
'lness it is to seek for recreation
amusement. [ believe in the an
usements of the world so far as tn
y are innocent. I could not live pr
hout them. Any man of sanguine ha
lperament must have recreation or TIL
And yet the amusements and re- Blu
atoms of life must administer to frc
d work. They are only prepare do,
for the occupation to which God as,
called us. MIG
cd would not have given us the ca lig
ity to laugh if he did not some. bla
rs intend us to indulge it. God hath tho
G in sky and set in wave and print phi;
N grass many roundelay. But all wit
music and the brightness of the wit
lral world were merely intended bru
t us for the earnest work of life. gri
thundercloud has edges exquisite ant
urpled, but it jars the mountain as a d
avs: Il come down to water the S
s." The flowers standing under tur
fence look gay and beautiful, but off
say: I'VE stand here to refresh Sha
1usbandmen at the morning" The this
k frolics and sparkles and foams, you
It says: Il go to baptize the moss; der
to Stake the thirst of the bird; mel
the wheel of the mill; in my crys- gen
radle rock muckshaw and water gen
play. but work. Chr