Year: 1879

as book merchant, with high resolve. He
said "In my store there shall be no books that
would not have my family read" Time passed
on, and one day went into his store and found
some iniquitous books on the shelf, and said 10
him: How is 1t possible that you can consent to
sell such books as these /" "0h," he replied, ~
have got over those Purtanical notions. A man
can not do business In this city unless he does II
In the way other people do IT," To make o long
story short, he lost his hope Of heaven, and in a
little while he lost his morality and then he went
into mad.house In other words when man
casts off Cod God casts him off.


One Of the mighhest temptauonsin In commercial
life In all our cities to day is In the fact that many
professed Christian men are not square in their
bargains Such men are In Baptist and Metho
dist, and Congregational churches, and our own
denomination is as largely represented as any Of
them, Our good merchants are foremost in Chris
tian enterprises they are pstronzers Of art, phi
lanthrOpic and patriotic God will attend TO
them in the day Of His coronation. | am not
speaking of them, but of those in commercial life
who are se ting a ruinous example to our young
merchants Go through all the stores and Offices
in our cities and tell me In how many Of those
stores and offices are the principles of ChrisLs re
ligion dominantP In three. fourths Of them No.
In half of them No. In onetenth of them2 No
Decide for yourself.


The impression is abroad somehow that chart
ty can consecrate iniqutous gains and that II q
man give to God portion Of an unrighteous bar
gain then the Lord will forgive him the ret. The
nf a toY a oY1d
said: "Mr. soand so has given large amount
of money TO the missionary cause" mentioning
the sum. said II can't believe It," He said .
ut is So" Well, went home, staggered and con-
founded. never knew the man to give to any.
thing; but after awhile found out that he had
been engaged in the most Infamous kind of a
swindle, and then he promised to comprOmite the
matter with the Lord, saying Now here is so
much for Thee, Lord please to let me off W
want to tell you that the Church of Cod is not a
shop for receiving stolen goods, and that II you
have taken anything from your fellows, you had
better return to the man to whom 1t belongs. IT.
from the nature of the circumstances, that be im-
possible, you had better get your stove red hot
and when the flames are at their fercest toss in
the accursed spoil. God does not want It, The
commercial world to day is rotten through and
through, and many ofyou know better than can
tell you that 1t requires great strength Of moral
character to withstand the temptations Of bust.
ness dishonesties. Thank God, great many Of
you have withstood the temptations, and are as
pure and upright and honest as the day when you
went in business. But you are the exceptions In
the case. God will sustain man, however, amid
all the excitements Of business, II he will only
put his trust IN him, In the drug store In Phila-
delphia, young man was told he must sell
backing on the Lords Day. He said to the head
man of the firm: II can't possibly do that. am
willing to sell medicine on the Lords Day, for I
think that is right and necessary; but cant sell
this patent blacking." He was discharged from
the place. A Christian man, hearing of 1t, took
him into his employ, and he went on from one
success to another, until he was known all over
the land for his faith in God and his good works.
as well as for his worldly success. When man
has sacrificed any temporal financial good forthe
sake of his spiritual interests the Lord is on his
side, and one with God is a majority.


l notice In all our cities the pressure Of polit-
ical life. How many are going down under this
inhuence2 There is not one man out Of thou
sand that can stand political life In our cities
Once in while man comes and says: "Now,
love my city and my country, and, in the
strength Of God / am going in as sort Of mis-
sionary to reform politics" The Lord Is on his
side, He comes out as pure as when he went in,
and with such an idea believe he will be sus.
tanned; but he is the exception. When such an
upright pure man does step into politics the first
Inn Nalra 4. Ill
over, and they review all his past life and dlstort
everything that he has done, until from thinking
himself highly respected citizen, he begins to
contemplate what mercy 1t Is that he has been
80 long out Of jail. The most hopeless God for.
saken people In all our cities are those who, not
In missionary spirit but with the idea of sordid
gain, have gone into political life. pray for the
prisoners In Jail, and think they may be convert.
ed, but never have any faith TO pray for an old
politician.


Then look around and see the allurements to
an impure life. Bad books, unknown to father
and mother, vile as the lice Of Egypt, creeping
into some Of the best families Of the community;
and boys read them while the teacher Is looking
the other way at recess or on the corner of the
street when the groups are gathered. These
books are read late at night, Satan finds them
smooth plank on which he can slide down into
perditlon some Of your sons and daughters. Read.
ing bad boOks-one never gets over II. The
books may be burned, but there Is not enough
power In all the apothecSry'B preparations to
wash out the stain from the soul. Fathers
hands. mothers hands, sisters hands, will not
wash It out, None but the hands Of the Lord
can wash 1t out And what Ia more perilous In
regard to these temptations, we may not men.
tiOn them. While God in His Bible from chap.
ter to chapter, thunders his denunciatlons
against these crimes people expect the pulpit
and the printing press to be silent on the subject,
and just in proportion as people are impure are
they fastidiOus on the theme. They are so full of
decay and death they do not want their Sepul-
chres opened. But shall. not be hindered by
them. shall go on In the name Of the Lord Al
mighty, before whom you and must at last
come In judgment, and shall pursue that vile
sin and thrust 1t with the twoedged sword Of
Gods truth. though find 1t sheltered under the
chandeliers Of some Of your beautiful parlors
God will turn into destruction all the unelean,
aud no splendors Of surrounding can make
deceut that which he has smitten. God
will not excuse sin merely because 1t has costly
array and beautiful tapestry, and palatial resi-
dence, any more than he will excuse that which
crawls, blotch Of sores, through the lowest cell
lar. Ever and anon, through some lawsuit there
flashes upon the people Of our great cities what "a
transpiriDg in seemingly respectable circles. You
call 1t High Life" you call 1t Fast Living" you
call 1t Peoples Eccentricity." And while we
kick of the sidewalk the poor wretch who has not
the means to garnish his iniquity these lords and
ladies, wrapped in purple and linen, go unwhip-
ped ofpublic justice, AhI the most dreadful part
oft'e whole thing is that there are persons abroad
whose whole business is to despoil the young. Sal
aried by infamous establishments, these cormor.
ants OF darkness, these incamate aends, hang
around your hotels and your theaters, and they
iHsinuste themselves among the clerks of your
stores and, by adroitest art sometimes get in the
purest circles, On, what an eternity such a man
will haUpf AZ fhn 40 N l,