The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1902-03-20

tho dollar?" "No.'' ''Will you talna
anything?" We'll take 100 cents a
the dollar. No compromise" And the
man who wrote that inscription ovee.
his counting house door died in desti-
tuition. oh. we want more Of the kind
ness Of the gospel and the spirit OF
love in our business enterprises! How
many young men have found In the
religion Of Jesus Christ practicar
help? How many there are to-day who
could testify out of their own expert
ence that goodness is profitable foe,
the life that now la! There were times
in their business career when they
went here for help and there for help
and yonder for help and got NO help
until they knelt before the Lord cry
ing for his deliverance, and the Lore
rescued them.
In bank not far from New York
a village bank-an officer could not
balance his accounts. He had worked
at them day after day, night after
night, and he was sick nigh unto death
as result. He knew he had not TAX
en- one farthing from that bank, but
somehow, for some reason, inscrutabla
then, the accounts would not balance.
The time rolled on and the morning OF
the day when the books should pass
under the inspection Of the other Of
fcers arrived, and he felt himself In
awful peril. conscious of his own IN
tegrity, but unable to prove that in
tegrity. That morning he went to the
bank early, and he knelt down before
God and told the whole story of mem
tai anguish, and he said: 20 Lord, !
have done right, have preserved my
integrity, but here am about to be-
overthrown unless thou shouldst come
to my rescue. Lord, deliver me-" And
for one hour he continued the prayer
before God, and then he arose and
went to an old blotter that he had for
gotten all about. He opened 1t, and
there lay sheet Of figures which he
only needed to add to another line OF
figures-some line CT figures he had
forgotten and knew not where he had
laid them-and the accounts were
balanced, and the Lord delivered him.
You are an infidel II you do not be-
lieve 1t. The Lord delivered him.
God answered his prayer. as he will
answer your prayer. oh, man of BUSH
ness, in every crisis when you come to
him.
Now, II this be SO, then l am per-
suaded, as you are, OF the fact that the
vast majority Of Christians do not
fully test the value of their religion.
They are like a farmer in California
with $4,000 acres of good wheat land
and culturing only quarter of an
acre. Why do you not go forth and
make the religion of Jesus Christ
practical affair every day of your busi-
ness life and all this year, beginning
now, and tomorrow morning putting
into practical effect this holy religion
and demonstrating that goodness is
profitable here as we'll as hereafter?
How can you get along without this
religion? Is your physical health so
good you do not want this divine
tonic? Is your mind so clear, SO vast.
so comprehensive, that you do not
want this divine inspiration? Is youri-
worldly business SO thoroughly estab-
lished that you have no use for that
deliverance of tens of thousands Of
men in crises of worldly trouble? And,
if what have said is true then you
see what fatal blunder it Is when q
man adjourns to life's expiration the
uses of religion. A man who post
pones religion to sixty years Of age
gets religion fifty years too late. He
may get into the kingdom Of God by.
final repentance. but what can COM
pensate him for whole lifetime un-
alleviated and uncontrolled? You
want religion to-day in the training Of
that child. You will want religion to-
morrow in dealing with that customer.
You wanted religion yesterday to curb
your temper. Is your arm strong
enough to beat your way through the
floods? Can you, without being in
cased in the mail of Gods eternal
help, go forth amid the assault of all
hell's sharpshooters? Can you walk
alone across these crumbling graves
and amid these gaping earthquakes?
Can you, waterlogged and mast shiv-
cred, outlive the gale? oh, how many
there have been who. postponing the
religion OF Jesus Christ, have plung-
ed into mistakes they never could cor
rect. although they lived sixty years
after, and like serpents crushed under
cart wheels dragging their mauled
bodies under the rocks to die. So
these men have fallen under the wheel
Of awful calamity, while vast multi
tude of others have taken the religion
of jesus Christ into everyday life and.
first, in practical business affairs. and,
second. on the throne of heavenly tri-
umph. have illustrated. while angels
looked on and a universe approved.
the glorious truth that goodness is
profitable unto all things. having the
promise of the life which now is as
well as Of that which is to come"
Hard to Tell Chinam.n's Age.
How old is Chinaman? Can you
give q good guess? It ia harder to tell