Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1900-03-09

Soitte excursion mat you must make.
Of some Wine that you must drink. OF
some beautiful dancer that you must
see. They will try to take you away
from your regular work. Associate
with these men. and. first OF ali. YOU
will become ashamed of your apparel:
then you will lose yoar place. then you
will lose your responsibility. then you
Will lose your soul.
Door 60 yifIainy.
Idleness is the next door TO yillainy.
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 20 engage IN their
daily work. Some one came TO good
old Ashbel Green and asked him why
he worked ut so years of age when IL
was time for him to rest. "Oh," he re-
piled, Il work to keep out OF mischiefr'
And no man can afford TO be idle.
care not how strong his moral charac-
ter, he cannot afford to be idle
But you say: "A great many people
are suffering from enforced idleaess
During the hard times there were a
great many people out of employ
AANhe- NhOn ~. Oht thC liHttS VI
duliness in business are the times
when men ought to be thoroughly en-
gagged in Improving their minds and
enlarging 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 cultivat-
ed their minds and improved their
hearts They will get the fortunes aft
er awhile, while those men who hang
around their stores, never engaging i'm
any useful occupation, VIII be as poor
then as they are now. 1t is absurd for
Christian man to say he has nothing
to do.
/ went into a store In New York
where there were five Christian men,
and they said they had nothing TO do.
The whole world lying In sin. Poverty
to be cOmforted, sickness to be alleviat-
ed, Bible in the back office, every
opportunity OF mental culture, spir-
itual culture: every inducement to
work, yet n Christian man. sworn be-
fore high heaven to consecrate his
whole life TO usefulness, has nothing
TO do! IL you have not any business
for this world. my Christian friend,
then you ought to be doing business for
eternity.
People go to Florence and to Venice
and to Rome TO see one of the works
of the great masters. 1 think | can
show you the picture of one of the
great masters. 81 went by the field of
the slotbful and 10y the vineyard of
the man void-of understanding. and, 10.
il was ali grown over with thorns, aud
nettles had covered the face thereof,
and the stone wall thereof was broken
down. Then L saw and considered Il
well. I looked upon 1t and received
instruction. Yet n little sleep, n little
slumber. little folding of the hands TO
sleep. SO shall thy poverty come rs
one that traveleth and thy want as an
armed man." There is no more ex-
plosive passage i'm all the Bible than
that. 1t first begins to hiss like the
fuse Of n cannon and then bursts like
"a FOUNDER. The old proverb was true,
''The devil tempts most men. but idlers
tempt the devilr' Therefore seek
something to do. If no worldly bust
ness offers, then. in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ. go out on Christian
toll, and the Lord will bless you, and
the Lord wiz help you.
Avoid Pleasure Seekers
Again, counsel you, avoid the pleas
ure seeker, the man whose entire bust
ness IL is TO seek for recreation and
amusement. l believe I'm the amusc-
ments OF the world so far rs they are
innocent. could not live without
them. Any man of sanguine temporal
ho.
yet the amusements and recreations OF
life must administer to hard work.
They are only preparative for the occu-
ct'on TO which God has called us.
God would not have given us the
capacity to laugh IL he did not some
times intend us 20 indulge Il. God
hath hung In sky and set I'm wave and
printed on grass many roundelay.
But all the music and the brightness
OF the natural world were merely In
tended TO fit us for the earnest work or
life. The thundercloud has edges ex-
quisitely purpled, but IL Jars the noun
tain as IL says, II come down to water
the fields" The flowers standing un-
der the fence look gay and beautiful.
but they say, 1--WE stand here TO re-
fresh the husbandmen mt the incoming"
The brook frolics and sparkles and
foams, but 1t says: II so to baptlze
the moss; go to Stake the thirst OF the
bird; l turn the wheel of the mill; In
my crystal cradle 1 rock muckshaw
and water lily; play. but work"
Look out for the man who plays and
never works. Look out for that man
whose entire business Is to play ball
or sail yacht or engage in any kind of
merrlment. These things are all beau
tiful and grand In their places, but
when they become the chief work of
life they become a mans destruction
George Brummel was admired OF all
England. He danced with peeresses
and went round OF mirth and folly
until after awhile, exhausted of purse,
ruined OF reputation, blasted OF soul,
he begged n crust from a grocer, de-
ciar!ng as his deliberate opinion that
he thought that N dogs life was better
than u mans.
These mere pleasurists will come
around you while you are engaged In
your work, and they will try to take
you away. They have lost their places.
Why not you lose your place? Then
you will be one of them. oh, my
friends, before you go with these pleas
ure seekers. these men whose entire
life is fun and amusement and recrea-
ton, remember while after a man has
lived life OF integrity and Christian
conservation. kind TO the poor and ele-
waiting to the worlds condition, when
he comes TO die he has n glorious rem
iniscence lying on his death pillow, the
mere pleasurist has nothing by way CT
review but torn playful. ticket for
the race. an amply tankard or the cast
out rinds OF eaFousal. And as in
delirium of his awful death he clutches
the goblet and presses IL to his lips,
the dregs falling on his tongue will be-
gin to uncol and hiss with the adders
OF an eternal poison.
ba 49,