Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1903-02-21

| H"stcf 81 ) 81 re n Sark Pre9by-
| terrain Caurch, Chicago
Chicago. Feb. -. - In this sermo
the preacher deals with the widel
prevalent vice Of running into debt q
result Of social and domestic extral
agance and false standard OF livin
and arraigns wllful debt as the caus
OF manifold miSerics. The text Is RI
mans Xiii. s. "Owe no man anything"
One day famous scholastic clergy
man was talking TO Il noted practica
preacher How is it," said he. "tha
you can collect such'great audiences +
hear you preach? have one Of tn
best private libraries in the world.
spend at least ten hours Il day In m.
study with my books, and yet the peo
pie prefer to hear you preach instea,
Of me. They want to hear your ser
mons, although you DO not work {
third as hard upon them as do. Hall
Of your days are spent in calling anC
in wandering about the streets and II
the stores" "Ah," answered the prac
teal minister to his scholastic friend
"the difference between us is that you
read books. while study the stuff out
of which books are made. You breathe
the atmosphere Of musty tones; |, by
close association. study the hearts OF
the men and women with whom come
in contact. You translate epitaphs of
dead men; | analyze the troubles and
and sins Of living men;
sit with them at the table; | go with
them into their stores; then. when l
begin to discuss their trials and temp
tauons, they naturally want to come
and hear me preach"
Paul was a practical minister and
not one famed for mere intellectual at
tainments. His rostrum was more of.
ten the ropemaker'S bench than the
pulpit. AS practical gos-
pei physician he in my text today dag
leses one Of the most distressing NOR.
II diseases of the human race. He saw
hat the men and women Of his time
we're living beyond their means and
In the quicksand Of debt
ust as many people are doing in the
wentieth century; therefore he gavh
n his Roman epistle the same advick
hat Horace Greeley once wrote: New
r run into debt. Hunger, cold. rags.
lard work. suspicion, unjust reproachI
re disagreeable. but debt is lnfnitelNl
worse than them all. Avoid pecuniaryl
bligations as you would pestilence
r famine. II you have not more than
cents and can get no more for a
Eeels buy peek of corn. parch it and
We on it rather than owe any man a
ollar." owe no man anything"
hat means in John Randolph's inter
rotation of the philosophers stone,
pay as you 20" That means that If |
OIL have 10 money with which TO sat |
fly your personal desires then let |
lem be unsatiSfipd. Allow no creditor
; n jailer to rivet heavy iron ball of
nanc,al obligation to your limbs. Do
OF buy Il feathcrcd singer unless at
le same time you have money to pur-
lasc Il cage in which to let your song
or abide.
Debt the OGspriEx of Pride.
Debt is generally tic offspring Of
'ide. The bare necessarics of life are
Try small Nearly every man can
axe enough money to provide for
ese neccsslri2s if he will only work
lrG. do bis best ard not waste his in
me Oil useless rXtrayaglnces. Henry
ard Bcccher once made the declara
IN that a nan could feed himself and
ife and Il family Of growing children
,on $1..O per week. For making this
ltcmcut M Beccher was sharply ar
igncd liy thousands Of critics. Many
WSpapcr editorials affirmed that the
ymOuth pastor vas advocating the s
.luctioa Of the laborers salaries to /
cents Il day lie was not attempting [
y such tain- What Mr.. Beecher O
cd to prove was this: The bare nee Il
sliics 0: life are very small; there @
re- most people can provide for their d
tual needs if they will only be ener- Z
tic ard at tie same time be fruga.. II
But tlis frugality. in many cases, r.
de will not permit them to practice. h
lde. with the smiling. superciliOus r
,e and bediamonded finger, usually r
mes to the young mans home with p
ch insinuating words as these: "My n,
end. you have no right to rear your nj
nily as you are doing. You should dl
t allow your wife to stand behind st
inter or to live in the back room Of de
. store with her two babies, as your bi
,ther once did. This is a different dc
. from that in which your father n q
rted out. If you do not let your IN
ldren grow up In a respectable 70
ghborhoOd and go to refined and ex-
lsive private schools, then their MI
lthful associates will be bad, and FIR
ined people will have nothing to do foI
-h them" So tie young man. who be-
S making a humble income and was bu
the highrOad to ultimate financial In,
cess. hires I private home on the Tai
ilevard. He moves his family away I'm,
IN the neighborhood of his store. lid
hires a clerk to do the work for Re
rly done by his wife. while he him IL
T is visiting the wholesale depart Y
ntS. The income, small before, be- In,
les less and less; thu expenses Of of
family sustenance are doubled and no.
ldrupled: haunted. worried, anX- do,
$ look cones over the young man's"T
@. Instead Of there being Il balance vii
the bank now there is deficit; in 70
I'd Of the wholesale stores allowing ,nc
young man all the credit he wishes, am
Y they begin to push him. and ono deo
Debt, Tie offspring of Pride. calls vor
he store to see how the young maue 2.
getting along. but instead Of Debt n
v coming with the obsequiousncssb bv
a visitor lie strides into that young % n
Ms store and hoJne with the mie1ano
the heavy step Of tyrant and agay
ster. nro
hen I see Debt call out to a veiledsas