Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1904-02-04
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED
"cOMMERclALISM."
A Pertinent Talk on Present-Day Prob
lem, by tho Rev. DR.. Reese f. AlsOp-
Jesus Christ is the Measure Of the
-. Stature of the Perfect Man.

~
Jesus Christ is the Measure Of the
Stature of the Perfect Man.
BROOKLYN, II. Y-Dr. Reese F. Alsop,
rector OF st. AIMS Church on the Heights,
preached Sunday morning on CONNER
cialism.' He took his text from St: Luke
Xii: :l5: Mans life consisteth not in the
abundance Of the things which be pos
Sesses.'
Dr. Alsop said:
I heard lately from = brilliant speaker
m address on aCommercialism. To the
surprise of all, 1t was a panegyric rather
than diatribe. His argument was that
commercial, that is, business activity, the
industrial epoch in which we live and
whose push we feel, engenders certain USE
full and even moral qualities, such as thrift,
underlying all accumulations of capital:
full trading; trust, without which the vast
credit system Of the day could not exist;
the sense of responsibility shown in the
honesty Of the great army Of clerks and
place holders, among whom breaches of
trust, defaults and the like are compara-
being surprisingly high. At the same time
our Civil War and the Boer War have
shown that the commercial spirit did not
extinguish heroism and iberality. Wit
ness the gifts of rich men to education and
| charities.
Now that is all true, and yet there is =
| bad flavor about the word commercialism.
| It has another cannotation. Is~it not
matter of emphasis? Jesus says, ss.Seek ye
first the kingdom of God" He says again,
| ''What will a man give in exchange for his
| ife?" What are men exchanging their life,
velopment, for? What are they seeking
cess? St. Paul says: Having food and
raiment we have enough" The feeling of
to-day scorns such moderation. A modest
competence is nowadays nothing accounted
| Of. To make a living is not enough; to
achieve comfort for self and family is a
| small thing; men aim and toll and struggle
for. more dazzling prlzes-a success that
makes noise and is talked Of; that ght-
ters and dazzles the eye.
This is commerciahsm as [ understand
it.; the measuring of success by the stand
ard of the market place, the sinking of
| other aims in the eager rush after gain.
There are high things possible for man:
Culture of body, mind, growth in moral
snd ,.p spiritual i attalnmenats, expansion IL IN
cent careers open to him in science, in art,
in literature, in philanthropic service.
Over against all these stands the spirit OF
the age and cries follow me. The ideal is a
man who turns everything to gold that he
touches; man who gets and holds and
then goes on to get more and hold more.
Two conversations lately overheard illus
trate the point DR.. Rainsford, Of St
Georges Church, walking down New
York avenue, overheard the talk of three
or four university men before him. Look
did dresses fitting by, one said to another:
II tell you. boys, it is money that goes in
this town, is it not?" The belief that it is
money that goes-the feeling that it il
money that ought to go-are evidences o1
an almost universal sentiment.
| T.Wbn huiI1inp hat ory oop(
house," said one to another. "Oh that il
to be the residence of SO and SO. He usec
to be a poor Baptist preacher, but Rocke
feler found out that he had business abil
ity, and I tell you he did not leave hin
long a Baptist preacher. He took hin
into the Standard Oil Company, and now
see what a success he has achieved" There
speaks commercialism. There is the voice
Of the ideal which has almost hypnotizee
our generation.
Agassiz,S splendid reply to the lecture
bureau. Il have no time to make money
sounds like piece of insanity. Gordon
refusal to accept reward from the Chinese
Emperor for his help in the Tai Ping re
bellion sounds like a piece of Quixotism
, The simple ife," as lived by Thoreau il
hf thv woods 1p 1 pexssd d2ssm by Se SMagnsr pSau
learning for ]earning's sake, the service c
man with no itch for reward, the quiet
unostentatious sacrifice OF personal interes
for the good of others, these are repu
dated ted as folly The maddening , ;ag,4 crowd row d
) It draws like the song of the siren. Llk
the suction of a vast maelstrom, it seize
men and draws them in. By and by, dig
zied by the fierce whirl, they forget tn
high things and are content to be simpl
money-makers. That is what understand
by commerciaiism; the thrusting into tn
front place OF merely material success. l
is a corruption of the spirit i'll which hfe i
: llvld. 1t is low, wrong motive. 1t bring
In and holds before the soul false stand
J real success Of life. It subordinates tn
man to his possessions. It is radical col
ruption of the ideal-an absolute reversa
of what our text says. Commerclailsm de
clares and persuades that mans life doe
Z consist in the abundance of the thing
= let him love supremely those things; 1e
him aim at them. follow after them, sin
! his very life in them Let him for the1
, forego, if needs be, mental culture, artist
development, moral elevation. spiritual a.
tivity and all that goes to make full d.
L all lofty aspirations: Get things, gathe
n them about you, enthrone yourself on an
other faculty so your faculty for gettin
: and getting on grows stronger.
: Let me give an illustration or twt
l d
> to keep safe a very precious thing that h
took it with him into a closet, set his cal
! die on the floor and then diligently naile
8 fast the door, only, to find, as his cand
fickered out, that he had shut himself
with his treasure. Nailed and encofine
in his own strong box: Here is another
I read some time ago of young man, wh'
d upon graduation from college, found hin
n self the possessor of $50, 900 a year. He ha
= health, strength, educationsr position
Choices lay open before him. He might G
:. in for political life, for philanthropic ser,
q ice, or college settlement work. He Nigh
> become a student and patron of art, {
literature. He might throw himself int
the civic life Of his day. In any Of doze {,
e ways he might find his life by losing it
e the service of man and of God. But alas
= he was dazzled by the ideal Of the ag'
| Ambitious to turn his one million int
It many, to win the power or notoriety vas
e wealth can bring, he flung himself into
. mites that invited him he forewent simp]
: and only that be might increase his pile
pile which was already sufficiently, larrg
Grant him all the success he coveted, whs
o would be the end? A dwarfed man, wit
| -. ;.n-.rco Mia hoaned m around him.