The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-03-26
DR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.


among the elders of the land" For what her hand findeth to do she doeth with all her might. She gatherth the rewards of an earnest and practical industry. She inevitably giveth to the holder of her family name all the necessities for hap py competency and a healthful physical and mental existence.
 You can see this fact demonstrated in i almost every department of life. Hon. esty Is the best policy" whether it is found within church walls or down in the busy commercial section of great city. My text does not say, Be good, and you will be financially poor" Oh, no! If 1t did, that statement would not be true. It would not be true in pro- fessional life, in mercantile life or in do- nestle life. I go to you and say: Why is Judge so-and-so, the leader of the bril- liant bar of one of our great cities? They tell me that his practice is worth s5OoOO a year. He never impressed me as one who had very brilliant mind.' NO you answer, The has not. He is not Rufus Choate nor a William Wirt nor an Edmund Randolph nor Pickney. He is however a good, fair lawyer. But, above all, he is an honest man. On ac- count of his honesty his clients leave their property to him as their executor, often without bonds. When men go to him with legal difficulties they know his chief purpose is to keep them out of the law courts rather than to push them in. Other lawyers may be more brilliant mentally, but Judge So-and-so holds his clients to him with links of steel Tney all know he will look after their interests as though they were his own"
 Why does your family physician haYe such a large practice? You trust him not only as a good doctor, but as an honest man. You know when he Is called he will not put you to bed for an attack or grip and call it pneumonia and charge you $100 to cure you of disease you never had. You know he will not run up useless bills against you as some dis honest dentists do, who if they cannot find any cavities in your teeth, Will pore holes into them just to send you pili .o make you support them and their faml- lies. You know that wonder merchant mas a large business, not because he oners better goods than his rivals, but because you can believe his statements in reter- ence to those goods Indeed, I go further than my original assertion in reference 10 my text good man is more often found in a comfortable home than 1t IS in hovel.
 Where Good Names Are Found.
 Seek ye first the kingdom of God and lis righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you" That means clothing, food, home, education. AS Il rule, these blessings accompany the in dustry of a good name. In order to wln a good name, sacrifices you will have to make. In order to win the battle of Wa terloo, Wellington had to make awful sacrifices A short time after his famous conquest the English commander wrote to dear friend as follows: What do you think of the total defeat of Bonaparta by the British army? Never was there in the annals of the world so desperate or so hard fought an action or such de- feat. It was really the battle of the giants. My heart is broken by the ter rible loss I have sustained, of my old friends and companions and my poor soldiers In the battle of Waterloo, in which you have. to struggle for good name, you will have to make many sac riices, as did Wellington. But. as rule. you will not have to suffer poverty, hun ger homelessness and cold A good name is won by industry, frugality, purity, honesty and doing with all your heart and mind what your hand finds to do. These characteristics of man, earnestly and faithfully followed through life, will inevitably land man in better place than the poor house potters field It does not follow because you are f1nan- cially poor that you are holy; 1t does not follow because you live in a palace that you are rascal. Beau Brummel died pauper; Peter Cooper lived in rich mans mansion.
 But good name does more than pay your butchers and bakers and grocer's and clothier's bills. It does more than give you a little deed to the house in which you live. It offers to you the most priceless gift on earth, next to the gift of Jesus Christ, the love of your family and your friends and the love and respect of the community in which you live. There Is an old proverb which says: "A man cannot live on love alone. When poverty knocks at the door love flies out of the window" Poor proverb that The richest home on earth where