? LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.? 
 
 # : t 
 
 f [SMITHSONIAN DEPOSIT.] 
 
 # 1 — # 
 
 | UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.! 
 

MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS i 
 
 ok, 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN LAYMAN CONTEMPLATED AMONG 
 
 HIS SECULAR OCCUPATIONS. 
 
 REVISED AND MODIFIED FROM Tin-: LECTURES OF 
 
 REV. HUGH' STO WELL, M. A., 
 
 INCUMBENT OF C1IKIST CHURCH, 8ALFORD. 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION, 
 
 By REV. DANIEL CURRY. 
 
 n<jf 
 
 PUBLISHED BY CARLTON & PHILLIPS, 
 
 FOR THE TRACT SOCIETY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 
 200 MULBERRY-STREET. 
 
 7 18 
 
 1855. 
 

 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, 
 
 EY CARLTON & PHILLIPS, 
 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District 
 of New-York. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 A work of the character of that herewith submitted 
 to the public has long been felt to be a desideratum 
 in our religious literature. Almost every other de- 
 partment of duty has been thoroughly and frequent- 
 ly discussed, and the Christian's walk, in most other 
 relations of life, than those of business, has often 
 been held up to serious consideration. But the in- 
 terested inquirer has long sought in vain for a 
 treatise examining the relations of secular business 
 to Christian character and influence. To meet this 
 want this volume is now given to the public. 
 
 The work was originally prepared and published 
 by Rev. Hugh Stowell, of Manchester, in the form 
 of lectures on the life and character of Nehemiah. 
 These lectures were at first delivered from the pulpit 
 by their reverend author, and afterward printed in 
 their original form. But in preparing the work for 
 the American public it was judged best to change 
 its form from that of a series of public addresses to 
 a plain and continuous treatise. In doing this, 
 whatever related specially to the history of its hero 
 was omitted, and many expressions modified into a 
 
4: PREFACE. 
 
 conformity with the changed character of the work. 
 This, however, has been done as sparingly as possi- 
 ble, so that the work as now presented is really the 
 same in substance that orignally came from the 
 hands of the preacher. 
 
 Some few unimportant changes and omissions 
 were found necessary to adapt it to American read- 
 ers. Of these the most considerable is in the twelfth 
 chapter, which originally consisted for the most part 
 of a plea for the national Church of England, a sub- 
 ject in which the religious public of this country 
 can have only a remote interest. This is, therefore, 
 omitted as unsuitable, and its place supplied with 
 more appropriate matter. 
 
 The work is now sent forth in its new form, with 
 the earnest and devout hope that it may prove a 
 stimulus to the practical piety of many of that large 
 and interesting class for whom it is especially de- 
 signed. And if these shall be its results, its ulterior 
 and remote consequences cannot fail to be eminently 
 beneficial to the Church and the world. That such 
 may be the effects has been the hope, and is still the 
 prayer of The Editor. 
 
 New-York, Dec, 1854. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 OHAPTER PAOK 
 
 INTRODUCTION 7 
 
 I. THE RULING PRINCIPLE 21 
 
 II. THE SECRET OF IIIS STRENGTH 45 
 
 III. HIS SPIRIT OF DEVOTION 63 
 
 IV. — RELIANCE ON GOD'S BLESSING 86 
 
 Y. — ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOD'S HAND 102 
 
 YI. HIS DETERMINATION OF PURPOSE 125 
 
 VII. UPRIGHTNESS IN DEALING 141 
 
 VIII. FORTITUDE IN DUTY 166 
 
 IX. JOY IN SERVING GOD 188 
 
 X. UNWORLDLINESS OF MIND 207 
 
 XI. — JEALOUSY FOR THE HONOR OF GOD 228 
 
 XII. HIS ZEAL FOR THE SANCTUARY 251 
 
 XIII. — HIS ZEAL FOR THE SABBATH 279 
 
 XIV. — HIS HOPE WHEN HE HAD DONE ALL 307 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " Ye are the salt of the earth," is the decla- 
 ration of the Saviour to his people. These 
 simple and brief words serve, to a very large 
 degree, to define the relations of the mem- 
 bers of the redeemed Church to the world 
 out of which they have been called. The 
 Church and the world are contradistin- 
 guished. They are not the same body, nor 
 is that a part or portion of this. 
 
 "They are not of the world," is the lan- 
 guage of the same blessed Saviour relative 
 to the same persons. They are called to 
 " come out from the world and be separate." 
 But it is evident that the intended separation 
 is one of spirit and character rather than of 
 personal association, since he elsewhere says, 
 " I pray not that thou shouldest take them 
 out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep 
 them from the evil." 
 
 Such is the purpose of the great Head of 
 the Church, such the mission that he has as- 
 
8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 signed to his followers on earth ; — to be in the 
 world and yet not of the world, and by their 
 contact with the corrupting mass of depraved 
 humanity to save it from coming ruin. 
 
 Among the practical heresies introduced 
 by the great Apostacy into the outward 
 Church, is that which makes the Church 
 consist virtually of only the ministers of 
 religion. By this the people are reduced 
 to merely passive recipients of the Church's 
 favor, with no duties but submission and 
 obedience, and no responsibilities to their 
 fellow-men for the exercise of their per- 
 sonal influence. By this is the applica- 
 tion of the words first quoted restricted to 
 certain official characters, and the work of 
 diffusing the savor of the gospel assigned 
 to a class or profession, rather than devolved 
 on the whole body. 
 
 Among the happy results of the great 
 Reformation is to be reckoned, as not the 
 least, the restoration of the original design 
 of the Saviour in this particular. As, on the 
 one hand, the specially ordained ministers of 
 religion are no longer looked to as possessing 
 sacerdotal powers and prerogatives, so, on 
 the other, the whole family of the faithful 
 are recognized as "a chosen generation, a 
 royal priesthood, a peculiar people." There 
 
INTRODUCTION. V 
 
 is a perfect harmony among the members 
 of Christ's mystical body : each has its own 
 functions, and all cooperate to promote the 
 glory of their common Head. The Church 
 is itself a body of believers : the same spirit 
 actuates each, and from each proceeds a 
 portion of that genial influence by virtue 
 of which the world is constantly made better. 
 In dispensing the gifts of his gospel, the 
 Author of grace identifies himself with the 
 Father of our spirits. The provisions and 
 demands of our holy religion all recognize 
 man's original character — the constitution 
 of his mental being. Man's individuality is 
 never for a moment lost sight of. He acts 
 for himself, and is individually responsible 
 for his actions, and to his own Master he 
 stands or falls. But without any detriment 
 to his individuality, he is also recognized as 
 a social being, intimately and inseparably 
 united to all about him, and by virtue of 
 this union he exerts a determining influence 
 upon all within the sphere of his action. 
 Whatever he is, he is not for himself alone, 
 but for others also. His loves and hates, his 
 prepossessions and aversions, — the sentiments 
 of his heart, the tendencies of his desires, 
 and the purposes of his will, are all felt be- 
 yond himself, actuating and inclining other 
 
10 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 minds in the same direction. He that is 
 good, from the necessities of the case will 
 do good, — will exercise a holy and sanctify- 
 ing influence over those with whom he is in 
 any way associated. So, also, no mask of 
 sanctity that conceals the deformities of a 
 corrupt heart can neutralize the tendency 
 of such a one to corrupt others. "A good 
 tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither 
 can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit." 
 The rule has no exception ; a man's influence 
 among his fellows is agreeable to his real 
 moral character. In this particular there 
 can be no successful hypocrisy. It is not 
 the design or wish of the individual that de- 
 termines in this matter: though his better 
 judgment may incline him to deprecate the 
 influence of his own example, his character 
 rather than his wishes will assuredly govern. 
 ]STo other consideration can so effectually 
 demonstrate to every man his responsibili- 
 ties as this. With what a tremendous power 
 has God armed every individual ! and what 
 fearful responsibilities has he devolved on 
 every one, — responsibilities for others as 
 well as for himself! None but a stranger to 
 himself and his own relations can ask, "Am 
 I my brother's keeper ?" Yerily every man 
 is his brother's keeper, — made so by God 
 
INTRODUCTION. 11 
 
 himself when he surrounded the individual 
 with an atmosphere of secret power, and 
 constituted him a magnet in the world of 
 intelligence and sensibility. And in this 
 way God intends that the Church shall save 
 the world. The fire that Christ came to 
 kindle has its focus in the regenerated 
 spirit, whence it diffuses its light and warmth 
 to all around. 
 
 A converted soul, is a candle not under a 
 bushel but on a candle-stick, giving light to 
 all in the room. The concourse of redeemed 
 souls in the congregation of the faithful in- 
 tensifies this light and heat, but still its 
 fountain is in the individual soul. Holy 
 men constitute holy Churches, and from the 
 assembly of the pious godly influences must 
 go forth. The aggregate of this influence 
 is made up from the contributions of each 
 and all. The most obscure, as well as the 
 most conspicuous, brings his part, and often 
 in a degree of which he is himself the least 
 aware. The clergy do not constitute the 
 Church, nor is the Church's influence de- 
 termined by the decrees of synods, and the 
 decisions of councils ; but every man, each 
 in his sphere, is an integral portion of that 
 mysterious whole, having his own powers 
 and responsibilities. 
 
12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 There is cause to suspect, that by neglect- 
 ing to consider these things, not a few 
 well-disposed persons have failed to recog- 
 nize the claims that are justly laid upon 
 them. Especially do laymen and devout 
 persons, whose duties call them into daily 
 contact with the world, fail to perceive that 
 this is the mission assigned them by the 
 Saviour, — that they are sent there to preach 
 Christ in the silent influences of a godly 
 example, and in all the varied opportunities 
 of social intercourse. In no other way can 
 the savor of the gospel be so thoroughly 
 diffused through society. Secular engage- 
 ments often bring the Christian into places 
 where the professional minister of religion 
 could not gain access, and opportunities of 
 silent and undiscovered religious persua- 
 sion are thus afforded. This is, doubtless, 
 the order of Providence. Every Christian 
 should bear in mind that the great business 
 of his life, as a child of grace and an heir 
 of salvation, is to glorify God, and to do 
 good by enlarging the light and influence 
 of the gospel in the world. For this pur- 
 pose the Head of the Church has called 
 some to the special work of the Christian 
 ministry; while to others, by the same author- 
 ity, is committed the less conspicuous, but 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 surely not the less honorable or important 
 duty of preaching Christ among the vari- 
 ous associations and relations of social life. 
 Every real Christian is a promoter of Christ- 
 ianity ; and it certainly is not beyond the 
 bounds of a sober and rational faith to be- 
 lieve that our positions in life are assigned 
 us by the All-wise One with special refer- 
 ence to this, our special duty. Our varied 
 relations all become to us occasions of in- 
 fluence over those to whom they unite us. 
 There are certain influences which pertain 
 specially to the relations of inferiority, — 
 to poverty, subordination, and dependence; 
 and hence some of God's dear children are 
 placed in these relations, that through them 
 they may be made a savor of life to those 
 about them. Other relations bring with 
 them another class of influences, and there- 
 fore they too are committed to some of the 
 family of the faithful, that the whole tissue 
 of the social system may be subjected to 
 the sanctifying influence of the gospel. 
 
 It should, however, be remembered, that 
 in this matter of personal and social influ- 
 ence, though it is to a great degree spon- 
 taneous and necessary, yet it is also to a 
 large extent subject to our own volition and 
 efforts. It is a talent committed to each 
 
14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 one to be used by the receiver to the glory 
 of the Great G-iver. As taught by Christ, 
 the distribution is unequal — even with a dis- 
 parity as wide as the proportion of one, five, 
 and ten. But it is required of a man ac- 
 cording to what is given, — responsibilities 
 are graduated according to opportunities. 
 But the talents committed to one may be 
 buried, and not used. True, as already re- 
 marked, a man's influence will partake of 
 the character that he possesses. But the 
 degree of that influence may be greatly 
 varied by causes over which he has a de- 
 ciding influence. The light under a bushel 
 is as truly a light as when brought out to 
 act against the surrounding darkness, but 
 its effects are not the same. So there is 
 cause to fear there may be many muffled 
 luminaries in this dark world, — much con- 
 cealed light, for want of which multitudes 
 continually go astray. Salt is always good, 
 always tends to save ; and yet it may lie in- 
 active, and ineffective of good in the midst 
 of putrefaction and decay. Unless brought 
 into contact with that which it is designed 
 to purify and preserve, notwithstanding its 
 inherent properties, it must be quite inef- 
 fectual. 
 
 The great want of the world at this time 
 
INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 is a stronger and more copious infusion of 
 the spirit of Christianity into the common 
 affairs of life. The elementary power by 
 which the world is to be saved is already 
 committed to our hands ; it needs now to be 
 brought to act directly upon its objects. 
 ¥e do not in any sense disparage the great 
 agencies by which the Church has hitherto 
 operated,— the ministry, 'the Sabbath, and 
 the ordinances of the sanctuary. But these, 
 though the most eminent, and therefore the 
 most conspicuous, are not all ; nor are they 
 in some aspects of the case so great and 
 effective as certain others. The work of the 
 ministry occupies one of a hundred Chris- 
 tians ; but the Lord has need of all in dif- 
 fusing the doctrines and influences of re- 
 ligion. The Sabbath occurs but once in 
 seven days ; but personal intercourse among 
 men is perpetually operative for good or evil. 
 The ordinances of God's house are only 
 occasional, and often to many inaccessible ; 
 but no member of the social body lives be- 
 yond the social influences which pervade 
 that body. Could all real Christians be fully 
 convinced that to themselves individually 
 are committed the gifts of the grace of life, 
 not solely as an individual endowment, but 
 also and especially as a sacred deposit for 
 
16 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the benefit of others, and that the reckoning 
 of the great day of accounts would refer 
 especially to the use made of this sacred 
 trust, we cannot doubt that there would 
 result a corresponding quickening of their 
 energies, alike beneficial to themselves and 
 the world. Did Christians properly realize 
 that they, in their several spheres, are each 
 called to labor for the diffusion of the truth, 
 — that to them is a dispensation of the gospel 
 committed, — and that so far as they neglect 
 the duty thus imposed must sin and ruin 
 pervade the world, we are certain that they 
 would awake and address themselves to 
 their holy calling, till society in all its rami- 
 fications should feel and confess the power 
 of an awakened religious consciousness in 
 the Church. 
 
 Nor is the work which pertains especially 
 to the laity of the Church one altogether 
 obscure and unillustrious. To the Christian 
 with whom his religion is manifestly the 
 unselfish devotion of the soul, who gains no 
 wealth by the craft, and who adheres to his 
 profession of the faith quite irrespective of 
 all professional influence or prejudices, — to 
 such a one is given the opportunity to con- 
 vince the gainsay ers, and to disarm preju- 
 dices, that cannot be enjoyed by one who, 
 
INTRODUCTION. 17 
 
 in the eyes of the world, seems to have less 
 unselfish motives in the matter. The dis- 
 advantages of the minister in this par- 
 ticular are perhaps necessarily incident to 
 his position. They are, however, not the 
 less really disadvantages ; and the attitude 
 of the Church would be much less advanta- 
 geous, were it not for the example of the un- 
 questionably disinterested devotion of non- 
 professional piety exhibited by our laity. 
 There is a power in the steady maintenance 
 of Christian principle — in the earnest devo- 
 tion of the life to Christian duty from the 
 love of these things — which always awakens 
 the admiration of the beholders. Among 
 the greatest exhibitions of moral sublimity 
 made by vitalized Christianity in the world, 
 few can equal that of the good man occu- 
 pied in his daily duties, " using the world as 
 not abusing it," — in the world and yet not 
 of the world, — breathing its tainted atmos- 
 phere, but not corrupted by it, — walking 
 among its pollutions, yet having his garment 
 undefiled. Such was Enoch, who walked 
 with God, and was also the father of a family, 
 and occupied his place in the social body: 
 such was Abraham, the friend of God, who 
 was a prince among the people : such was 
 David, the king of Israel, and the sweet 
 
18 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 psalmist of Zion: such was Nehemiah, a 
 prince and ruler, whose zeal for his God is 
 recorded as an illustrious example for the 
 imitation of Christian magistrates and lay- 
 men generally : such was Joseph of Arima- 
 thea, at once the burier of the outcast and 
 crucified Saviour, and a member of the great 
 council of the Jewish nation : and such was 
 Cornelius, whose prayers and alms came up 
 as a memorial before heaven while yet he 
 was at the head of his battalion, and discharg- 
 ing the duties of his position. In every age 
 and place the Church has presented its 
 examples of unselfish devotion, by which it 
 has been made the light of the world and 
 the salt of the earth. Its triumphs have 
 been achieved through this agency as well 
 as by that of the specially appointed dis- 
 pensers of the word and doctrine of the 
 gospel. These two agencies are equally of 
 divine appointment; they are complement- 
 ary to each other, so that in the economy of 
 grace both are alike necessary to the com- 
 pleteness and efficiency of the gospel. 
 
 The times demand especially the applica- 
 tion of Christian principles to mercantile 
 affairs, both to fix and enforce the claims of 
 mercantile morality, and to bring the claims 
 of Christianity to act directly upon the con- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 19 
 
 sciences of Christian merchants and men of 
 business. The increased facilities for suc- 
 cessful business pursuits now afforded are 
 drawing increased numbers of professed 
 Christians into the whirling and eddying 
 tide of commerce. If by this new dangers 
 are incurred by those thus occupied, there 
 are also afforded new facilities for doing 
 good by displaying in a new light the excel- 
 lence of the gospel. As the disciples of the 
 lowly Saviour are now found in the ex- 
 change, in the marts of trade, and in all 
 places "where merchants most do congre- 
 gate," so should Christ be there glorified in 
 the super-excellence of their probity, cour- 
 tesy, and unsullied integrity. Nor should 
 the power arising from such association be 
 left wholly to its own private action. Let 
 Christ be confessed in the manifestation of 
 his grace in the lives of his disciples ; — let a 
 godless world be taught that the rectified 
 and elevated morality which is confessed and 
 admired in the Christian man of business is 
 the fruit of piety, and the result of the pre- 
 cepts and spirit of Christianity in the hearts of 
 its subjects ; — let him who has been cleansed 
 not fail to return to give glory to Him who 
 wrought the cure ; — let him whose eyes have 
 been opened always confess the power and 
 
20 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the person of Him whose power brought to 
 him such blessing ; — let the Christian every- 
 where maintain his Christian profession, 
 always remembering that he may not safely 
 venture where his profession would be in- 
 congruous to his position and occupations. 
 
 The quickened activities of the age require 
 corresponding energy and devotedness in the 
 duties of Christianity. He who crowds years 
 into months, and compasses in a lifetime the 
 work of a generation, cannot be an inactive 
 Christian. If he serve God at all, he must 
 serve him earnestly, devotedly, and to 
 effect. His quickened powers must be con- 
 secrated to his divine Master in good works. 
 The gold that perishes, the object of his 
 daily thoughts and efforts, must be conse- 
 crated to Christ, lest it eat out his soul, and 
 reduce him to the state of an idolater. 
 Engaged from day to day in gaining the 
 unrighteous mammon, he must be careful to 
 make for himself friends of the mammon 
 of unrighteousness. 
 
 Impressed with these convictions, we 
 gladly avail ourselves of the opportunity of 
 presenting to the reader the following pages, 
 earnestly commending them to his prayerful 
 consideration, confident that great good will 
 result from their perusal. 
 
A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE RULING PRINCIPLE. 
 
 The religion of the Bible is not a sickly plant, 
 which requires the forcing-house to keep it 
 alive : it is a hardy tree, which flourishes 
 best in the open field. The servant of God 
 anywhere, is the servant of G-od everywhere. 
 Few notions have done more mischief than 
 the imagination that godliness belongs to 
 the closet and the sanctuary, the cloister and 
 the cell ; that it is a thing of sabbaths and 
 sacraments, of forms and creeds ; that it is 
 too ethereal to be interfused into the occu- 
 pations of secular life. How fond the fancy ! 
 For what a man is in his counting-house or 
 on the exchange, in the midst of his mer- 
 cantile pursuits, that he is in the house of 
 prayer, in the closet of devotion, in the sight 
 of Him who will judge him at the last day. 
 
22 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 How unscriptural, therefore, the sentiment, 
 so current in the world : " Religion is well in 
 its place, but has nothing to do with the 
 warehouse or the workshop, with the senate 
 or the cabinet !" On the same false assump- 
 tion, many men of business will affirm that 
 it is impossible to carry out the principles 
 of the gospel in the details of commercial 
 life. They look upon religion as a garment 
 which may be put on and off as occasion re- 
 quires, not as the divine weft on which the 
 whole warp of character is to be woven. 
 
 To refute such fallacies, and dispel such 
 illusions, there is no more effectual means 
 than the holy example of God's favored ser- 
 vants, as given to us in the sacred pages. 
 That example shows what can be done, and 
 at the same time points out the way in which 
 it may be accomplished. It teaches while 
 it stimulates, and while it encourages it di- 
 rects. Example, too, that it may be effective 
 must be pertinent, — it must come home to 
 the consciences and the circumstances of 
 those w T hom it is to influence. For this rea- 
 son the examples which the Holy Scriptures 
 exhibit are peculiarly appropriate, and by 
 their variety they afford lessons of instruc- 
 tion and encouragement to men in all the 
 varied circumstances of life. Especially 
 
THE RULING PRINCIPLE. 23 
 
 do those simple but striking biographical 
 sketches teach us the social and private vir- 
 tues of those eminent servants of God. 
 
 Though Enoch "walked with God," and 
 would seem to have had his conversation in 
 heaven while he yet remained on earth, 
 yet is he named among the fathers of the 
 people, and presented to our contemplation 
 as a man who performed his part in the du- 
 ties of life. 
 
 Noah, the preacher of righteousness, was 
 at once a man of his times and a man of 
 God. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Abim- 
 elech and Melchizedek, were not the less 
 eminent in their piety because they were 
 men of large business relations. Joseph's 
 piety was as thorough and as fervent when 
 " the Lord had made him ruler over all Egypt," 
 as when he abode in his father's tent, or 
 served as a slave or a prisoner. In the his- 
 tory of Moses, of David, of Elisha, and of 
 Daniel, we see exhibitions of the power of 
 true godliness to flourish alike in private 
 and in public life. But perhaps the most 
 pertinent, though somewhat less celebrated, 
 example for the man of business, is afforded 
 in the case of Nehemiah, the son of Hacha- 
 liah, one of the children of the captivity in 
 Babylon. In his early life elevated by the 
 
24 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 providence of God to an office of high trust 
 and distinction in the service of the king of 
 Assyria, being appointed his cup-bearer, and 
 thus surrounded by the seductions, and in 
 contact with the defilements, of an idolatrous 
 court; afterward led of God to repair to 
 Jerusalem, for the purpose of rousing and 
 succoring the remnant of his people to re- 
 store the desolated walls of the holy city ; 
 subsequently occupied in governing and es- 
 tablishing those whom he had rallied and 
 organized; at one time harassed by insidi- 
 ous and insulting foes, at another embar- 
 rassed by the misconduct of his own sub- 
 jects; now redressing grievances, now rec- 
 tifying abuses — through all, and in all, he 
 still demeaned himself as became a child of 
 the Most High, and "served his own gene- 
 ration according to the will of God." Bear- 
 ing adversity with fortitude, and prosperity 
 with soberness, he manifested how a man 
 may embellish with the beauty of holiness 
 every situation in life, and pass through the 
 vicissitudes of his career so as to be true to 
 his principles and faithful in his stewardship 
 Motives make the man. What the main, 
 spring is to a piece of mechanism, that the 
 master principle is to the life. What you 
 are in your heart toward God, that you are 
 
THE RULING PRINCIPLE. 25 
 
 in your character toward man, as estimated 
 by Him with whom we have to do. If the 
 eye be single, the whole body will be full 
 of light ; but if the eye be evil, the whole 
 body will be full of darkness. The vital 
 question in character, therefore, is, What is 
 the inner man? If that be wrong, it viti- 
 ates the whole ; if that be right, God will 
 have respect unto his servant, even though 
 there should be much of error in judgment, 
 and of infirmity in conduct. The intention 
 is the action, the principle, the practice, in 
 the eyes of Him who " desireth truth in the 
 inward parts." 
 
 It is not sufficient, therefore, that the out- 
 ward actions should be such as one may 
 commend : the motive that dictates the 
 action must be right and pure, and duly 
 elevated. In the review of life, the servant 
 of God will ever find that the portions of 
 his career upon which he looks with the 
 greatest satisfaction are just those in which 
 he was actuated by a pious reference to the 
 will of God in all that he did. The action 
 itself does not sufficiently determine this ; the 
 motive alone fixes their moral character, 
 and that motive must be " the fear of the 
 Lord." He indeed might say that he acted 
 thus because of the promptings of generos- 
 
26 A MODEL FOK MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 ity ; or because of a high sense of honor ; 
 or because of the patriotism which fired his 
 breast ; or because of the compassion which 
 melted his heart." But had any one of these 
 been the commanding motive of his be- 
 havior, though his actions would have 
 been the same, their moral quality would 
 have been utterly changed. They would at 
 once have been lowered into mere manifes- 
 tations of natural virtue — flowers of the 
 desert instead of flowers of Paradise — wild 
 olive-berries, fair to the sight but sour to 
 the taste, instead of fruits of grace from the 
 tree of life. A pious deference to the fear 
 of God alone gave the character of godli- 
 ness to his conduct j this transmuted what 
 would have been no better than fair tinsel 
 into the fine gold of the sanctuary. The 
 flesh can exhibit the former, the Spirit alone 
 can create the latter. 
 
 The fear of God in the Old Testament is 
 equivalent to the love of God in the New. 
 There is, indeed, little distinction between 
 the expressions ; yet if the general use of 
 the former under the old, and of the latter 
 under the new dispensation, has any special 
 significance, it indicates the severe aspect of 
 the one economy as compared with the 
 more gracious aspect of the other. The 
 
THE .RULING PRINCIPLE. 27 
 
 saint of the Old Testament had more of awe, 
 the saint of the New Testament has more 
 of confidence, in the service of God. This 
 confidence, however, is chastened by rever- 
 ence ; while that awe was softened by affec- 
 tion. The one, no less than the other, is 
 the gift of grace. Both are the fruit of 
 promise. "I will put my fear into their 
 hearts, that they shall not depart from 
 me," is the tenor of the ancient covenant. 
 Utterly apart is this fear from that servile 
 dread which sometimes scares and goads the 
 wicked, or that terror, ending in despair, 
 which worketh death. It is a filial fear, 
 springing out of attachment, not aversion ; 
 a fear which has in it the comfort of the 
 Holy Ghost ; a fear which grows out of faith, 
 justifying faith, in Christ Jesus ; a fear ever 
 accompanied with a secret satisfaction, an 
 ennobling sense of liberty ; a fear which dis- 
 enthrals the mind from the bondage of other 
 masters, by making it true to the one sole 
 Master whose service is perfect freedom. 
 "What viewed in one light is love, viewed in 
 another is godly fear. Love constrains — fear 
 restrains. They are but different aspects of 
 the same principle. If there be genuine 
 love of God, there cannot fail to be a holy 
 fear of offending him. This fear of the Lord 
 
28 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 is therefore "the beginning of wisdom," the 
 guardian of holiness, the seal of adoption. 
 
 Would that the power of this principle 
 pervaded the mercantile world ! How 
 mighty would be its working ! How much 
 is it needed ! Examine the morals of that 
 world in the light of Scripture ; and, even 
 in our own distinguished land, they will 
 be found fearfully faulty. True, there is 
 much that is honorable and of good report 
 among our merchant princes; true, our 
 country contrasts favorably in its commer- 
 cial character with other lands, and marvel- 
 ous is the amount of property consigned 
 to our gigantic traffickers, simply on the 
 strength of their honor and integrity ; yet, 
 if you penetrate into the recesses of com- 
 merce, you frequently detect a low and 
 shifting standard of equity — you discover 
 that a thousand practices are connived at, 
 and pass current in business, w^hich, when 
 weighed in the balances of the sanctuary, 
 are found utterly wanting. 
 
 Taking the morality of the commercial 
 world at the highest, how much of it is 
 genuine? What amount of fear of God 
 enters into its composition? If men are 
 upright in their dealings merely because 
 they have a selfish conviction that honesty 
 
THE RULING PRINCIPLE. 29 
 
 is the best policy, and that fairness will 
 answer better than fraud; or if they act 
 justly simply from a sense of honor, from 
 a pride which raises them above being 
 guilty of a low and disgraceful transaction ; 
 or if, to ascend higher in the scale of unre- 
 newed virtue, they do right because they 
 instinctively recoil from all that is base and 
 equivocal, from whatever would degrade 
 and disturb their mind ; then all their im- 
 posing array of mercantile virtues, however 
 lovely in the eyes of men, who can look 
 only at the outward appearance, however 
 meriting the meed of human admiration and 
 praise, are, after all, of the earth, earthy, hol- 
 low at the core, unprofitable in the sight of 
 God. The stamp of such coin is the stamp 
 of the world ; the stamp on the coin which 
 will be current in heaven, is the image and 
 superscription of the King of kings. How- 
 ever, therefore, our merchants may plume 
 themselves on their mercantile character, 
 their punctuality in their promises, and 
 their exactitude in their engagements ; yet 
 if, in all this, they are only offering sacrifice 
 to self as their idol ; if their highest aim is 
 to maintain their own unblemished reputa- 
 tion, or their own uncompromised self-re- 
 spect; and if, in all, they have no eye to 
 
30 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 the record on high, to their Master in 
 heaven, then it must be said of them, in 
 the face of all their excellence, and notwith- 
 standing their name and fame among their 
 fellows, that they have their reward ; that in 
 the sight of God they are no better than 
 painted sepulchers, or trees whose fruits, 
 while fair to look upon, only need to be 
 grasped, in order that, like the fabled apples 
 of Sodom, they may be crushed to ashes. 
 Of their virtues, as of the offerings of Israel 
 in ancient times, God may indignantly ask, 
 "Did ye them at all unto me, even unto 
 me?" - 
 
 Tried by this touchstone, the morality of 
 many who stand highest in the commercial 
 world would prove but shining dross ; and 
 if they are buoying themselves up with 
 the notion that what man has approved 
 God will not condemn, how frightful the 
 disappointment, how crushing the confu- 
 sion, which must await them in the day 
 " when the secrets of all hearts shall be 
 revealed!" Yet "why, even of themselves, 
 do they not judge that which is right?" for 
 they cannot deny that what is not done unto 
 God must be done unto some other master ; 
 and that such other master must be an idol 
 and usurper, because he occupies the tern- 
 
THE RULING PRINCIPLE. 31 
 
 pie and the throne of their Creator and Re- 
 deemer. What, then, are their secular vir- 
 tues but splendid idolatries, specious acts of 
 disloyalty to God ? Do not these very men 
 condemn themselves ? Do they not betray 
 the partiality and earthliness of their mo- 
 rality? For while they are so scrupulous 
 about defrauding men, how unscrupulously 
 will they rob God — rob him of the devotions 
 of the closet, rob him of the services of the 
 Sabbath, rob him of the ordinances of the 
 sanctuary, rob him of the homage of the 
 heart? They "render to Caesar the things 
 that are Caesar's," while they withhold from 
 "God the things that are God's." Their 
 very religion is human. "Their fear toward 
 God is taught by the precept of man." 
 They try to keep the commandments of the 
 second table of the law, so far as the letter 
 goes; but neither in the letter nor in the 
 spirit do they attempt to keep the command- 
 ments of the first. Thus, by their conduct, 
 they show that they look upon the duties 
 which relate directly to God as far less bind- 
 ing than those which relate more immedi- 
 ately to man ; and that they conceive that, 
 while they would incur heavy blame by vio- 
 lating the former, they may with impunity 
 set the latter at naught. Can such ungodly 
 
32 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 morality be mistaken for holiness? Can it be 
 imagined that faithfulness toward man will 
 be accepted as a substitute for loyalty toward 
 God ? Is it to be endured that men should 
 recognize the claims of justice, of gratitude, 
 and of fidelity toward their fellows, yet 
 turn a deaf ear and a faithless heart toward 
 the claims of their Creator, Preserver, Re- 
 deemer, and Judge? The very fact that they 
 thus acknowledge human ties, while they 
 disregard those which are divine, serves to 
 make their guilt the more palpable, if it will 
 not serve to enhance their condemnation. 
 How much, therefore, is it to be feared, that 
 many who stand high in credit and confi- 
 dence here, will hereafter be overwhelmed 
 with shame when they see the books opened, 
 and find when too late that they are bank- 
 rupt for eternity ! What will they answer 
 when God rises to judgment — what will they 
 say when He shall arraign them ! 
 
 As it is the fear of God alone which can 
 impart to mercantile morality intrinsic 
 worth, so it is that principle only that can 
 insure to it strength, stability, and univer- 
 sality. Even the virtuous qualities which 
 exalt a man in the commercial world, must 
 lack reality and consistency when they rest 
 on a lower ground. Hence, it is no uncom- 
 
THE RULING PRINCIPLE. 33 
 
 mon thing to find a man who was at one 
 period distinguished for his honor and in- 
 tegrity, at another period of his life making 
 utter shipwreck of character. While his 
 bark glided along in smooth water, and 
 his sails were filled with prosperous gales, he 
 steered an undeviating course ; but when 
 storms arose, and surges swelled, and his 
 vessel drifted amid quicksands and shal- 
 lows, he soon abandoned the compass of 
 honesty, and yielded himself to the force of 
 the current. Men are astonished at the 
 change. There is little need for astonish- 
 ment. His rectitude was the creature of 
 circumstance ; sustained by success, with 
 success it fell. In truth, the man is not 
 greatly altered ; his altered condition has 
 called out what was latent in his breast. 
 Fragile at best are the virtues which spring 
 from the unregenerated heart. 
 
 Whatever the moral excellences which 
 adorned a man before the fear of God was 
 implanted in his breast, that fear will give 
 them a reality and a worth which nothing 
 else can give them. What was done at 
 random, from mere impulse or to serve some 
 temporary purpose, will then be done from 
 principle, on system, and with the noblest 
 
 end in view. Whatsoever things he did 
 3 
 
34 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 aforetime that were lovely and of good report, 
 will not only be still done 5 but done far more 
 effectually than before, because they will be 
 done from his heart ; his outward conduct 
 will be the reflection of his inward nature. 
 But, above all, the matchless energy of this 
 principle will exert a strength and univer- 
 sality of influence which nothing else can 
 command. God being everywhere, the man 
 who fears him will fear him everywhere. 
 "With holy awe he will exclaim, " O Lord, 
 thou hast searched me and known me. Thou 
 knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising, 
 thou understandest my thought afar off. 
 Thou compassest my path and my lying 
 down, and art acquainted with all my ways. 
 For there is not a word in my tongue, but 
 lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether." Can 
 he then forget, that there is an Eye which 
 always discerns every feeling as well as every 
 act, and an Ear w r hich ever hearkens to the 
 unspoken thought ? Such faith will constrain 
 him to "be in the fear of the Lord all the 
 day long ;" and so, whether he eats or drinks, 
 or whatsoever he does, to do all to the glory 
 of God. Indeed it is impossible to delineate 
 fully the breadth and expansiveness of this 
 principle of action. It will go with a man into 
 the little as well as into the great, into the 
 
THE RULING PRINCIPLE. 35 
 
 hidden as well as into the open ; it will tell 
 upon him, with equal force, whether others 
 dissent from or concur in his course of 
 conduct ; whether he swim with the stream 
 or breast the current. It will elevate him to 
 freedom and independence of character as 
 simple as it is sublime ; he will no longer re- 
 semble the sun-dial, useless save in the light ; 
 he will be like the time-piece, which keeps 
 the tenor of its way alike in the shade as in 
 the sunshine. How calmly can he look down 
 upon the trifles which toss to and fro, agitate 
 or transport, the vassals of the world, — the 
 " men of the world, who have their portion 
 in this world," who are carried about by its 
 currents, as straws are whirled in the eddies 
 of the stream down which they are borne ! 
 It is not so with him who is actuated by the 
 fear of God. His helm is ever set for one 
 point, his prow ever turned toward the 
 haven of salvation. Instead of many masters, 
 one is his master. Instead of many desires, 
 one is his aim. He may fluctuate through 
 infirmity ; sinister influences may for a season 
 distract him; but the ruling principle will 
 still abide. So the needle, shaken by the 
 vibrations of the vessel, may oscillate for a 
 time ; yet, true to its magnetic property, will 
 it still tremblingly turn to the pole. The 
 
36 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 saint, like the sunflower, owns the center of 
 attraction, when clouded as well as when 
 clear. 
 
 How salutary and how separative the re- 
 straining power of this principle ! How will 
 it keep a man undefiled amid the defilements 
 of public life, like the pure stream that is 
 said to pass through the salt lake, and yet 
 retain its freshness! Young men, just 
 launching forth into the perils of the mer- 
 cantile world, here is your safeguard. You 
 will find much in the tone, the spirit, and 
 the practices of business which will at first 
 startle and distress you; you will shrink 
 from many of the expedients, manceuvers, 
 and subterfuges of trade. But there will be 
 great danger lest you should become famil- 
 iarized with such things — lest they should 
 benumb the tenderness of your conscience, 
 and lower your standard of moral judgment. 
 You will be tempted to think that you must 
 do as others do or you cannot succeed ; that 
 to be a clever man of business you must not 
 be too nice and scrupulous ; and that, if you 
 only fall in with the usages of the establish- 
 ment in which you are employed, the re- 
 sponsibility rests with the principal rather 
 than with the servant. You will be tempted 
 to argue. If my employer bid, or at least 
 
THE RULING PRINCIPLE. 37 
 
 prompt me to misrepresent and equivocate 
 in his service — if he wish me to beat down 
 the seller and overcharge the buyer — to take 
 advantage of the weak and the poor because 
 of his strength and capital, and of their 
 poverty and weakness — must I not obey 
 him ? Will the fault be mine — must I not 
 succumb to his authority ? No, young man, 
 you have a master in heaven ; " let Him be 
 your fear, and let Him be your dread !" 
 " How can I do this great wickedness, and 
 sin against God?" exclaimed the Hebrew 
 youth of old, when sin, clothed in the specious 
 guise of authority, would have seduced him. 
 Be your watchword the same. Fear, that 
 you may not fear. Fear God that you may 
 not fear man. Be it your resolve — whatever 
 doubtful things others may do, even some 
 who stand high on 'Change, yea even some 
 who pass for professors of godliness — "yet 
 •so will not I do, because of the fear of God." 
 ]STo human name can endorse what God has 
 dishonored — no human authority make that 
 right which he has pronounced to be wrong. 
 " What saith the Lord?"— not "What saith 
 the world ?" is the decisive question. 
 
 Mark the efficacy of the same principle in 
 fortifying against temptation in another form. 
 There are few things about which a com- 
 
38 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 mercial man is so sensitive as his reputa- 
 tion for tact and sagacity ; but he will find 
 that to take advantage of others, if only it 
 be done cleverly and without detection, is 
 deemed by many a mark of skill and shrewd- 
 ness. To the life did the Holy Ghost por- 
 tray the spirit of the present day, when he 
 thus portrayed the spirit of ancient times — 
 " It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer : 
 but when he is gone his "way, then he boast- 
 eth." How often do our buyers strive to 
 cheapen the articles for which they treat 
 beyond what they know to be fair, and, 
 when they have succeeded, they straightway 
 congratulate themselves, and boast of their 
 superior business talent ! Nor will the world 
 disallow their boasting. They will probably 
 win a name for dexterity and cleverness in 
 trade ; their services will command a high 
 price in the market ; and, as for their integ- 
 rity, it will be esteemed as of secondary 
 importance to their talent. They can get 
 on ; they can make a good bargain — that is 
 the cardinal point. Here, therefore, is an 
 ordeal for a godly tradesman. To be reputed 
 soft and behind the age, because he dare not 
 overreach his neighbor, will tend to stagger 
 his pride and test his principle. He must 
 endure to be accounted a fool, and to be 
 
THE RULING PRINCIPLE. 39 
 
 pitied as too scrupulous for success. He 
 must esteem the reproach of Christ greater 
 riches than the treasures of earth. When 
 he sees competitors prospering by doubtful 
 expedients, or hears them glorying in their 
 equivocal gains, his reflection and his joy 
 will be — " So did not I, because of the fear 
 of God." 
 
 As from the unrighteous expedients, so 
 from the unhallowed indulgences of the child 
 of this world will the fear of God restrain 
 the child of light. He will not ask what is 
 pleasant, what is customary, what is fashion- 
 able — but what is right. He is constrained 
 to come out from the course of this world, 
 and to be separate, that he may not touch the 
 unclean thing. His ambition is to be one of 
 the " peculiar people," who are "zealous of 
 good works." Peculiarity is essential to 
 Christianity ; not an affected peculiarity, 
 not the visor which designing men put on 
 for the purpose of deceiving — but that hon- 
 est, artless peculiarity, which springs from 
 fearing God rather than man. Alas ! that 
 this should he peculiar, even in the so-called 
 Christian world. 
 
 Therefore, O men of God, " if sinners en- 
 tice you, consent ye not." "Choose rather 
 to suffer affliction with the people of God, 
 
40 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a sea- 
 son." You may be branded as unsocial, 
 puritanical, precise ; but in reply to all such 
 charges, suffice it for you to answer, "So 
 dare not, and so do not I, because of the 
 fear of God." 
 
 ]STo less cogent will be the influence of 
 this motive in guarding you against desecra- 
 tion or profanation of the ordinances of the 
 day of God. "Worldly people think that if 
 they frequent the sanctuary in the morning, 
 the rest of the Sabbath may be spent in 
 sloth, recreation, or business. The newspa- 
 per or the ledger, the feast or the excursion, 
 occupies the principal portion of the day. 
 Yea, and the very courts of the Lord's house 
 are defiled by their buying and selling, in 
 thought and desire ; for their heart goeth 
 after their covetousness, while their knees 
 are bent in w T orship. Here, again, Divine 
 fear will be to you as a wall of fire, to 
 set you apart from the course of this world ; 
 you will abide faithful amid the faithless, 
 scrupulous amid the licentious, devout amid 
 the irreverent — " because of the fear of 
 God." 
 
 Glorious liberty of the sons of God ! Free 
 to do everything but sin, they are therefore 
 free indeed ! Bound by one silken tie, they 
 
THE RULING PRINCIPLE. 4:1 
 
 are disencumbered from a thousand chains. 
 He is the freeman, who is free to serve God. 
 He is the slave, who is not at liberty to 
 serve Him whose service is perfect freedom. 
 There is a yoke in that service, but it is easy 
 — a burden, but it is light. " His command- 
 ments are not grievous ; his ways are ways 
 of pleasantness." He is a master full of 
 grace, full of pity, full of tenderness. He 
 never forsakes those who fear him. " He 
 pitieth them as a father pitieth his children." 
 " He spareth them as a man spareth his own 
 son that serveth him." He will give them 
 the first-fruits of heaven. " The secret of 
 the Lord is with them that fear him." 
 " Walking in the fear of God, they walk in 
 the comfort of the Holy Ghost." Their fear 
 hath no torment, and their submission no 
 servility. 
 
 Such and so excellent is the master prin- 
 ciple which controls and actuates the servant 
 of God. We shall trace its mighty working 
 again and again, as we proceed with the 
 illustration of his character. In the career 
 of the faithful, it is seen now emboldening 
 him for conflict ; now stimulating him to 
 duty ; now restraining him from temptation ; 
 now upholding him under difficulties ; now 
 humbling him to the dust ; now lifting him 
 
42 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 above " the fear of man, which bringeth a 
 snare." 
 
 Let every one, therefore, as he values his 
 Christian integrity and consistency of char- 
 acter, examine his own heart, and see if this 
 sovereign motive is reigning there. Too 
 many will find it hard to discover what 
 holds the supremacy within them. So mani- 
 fold, capricious, and conflicting are the im- 
 pulses which sway them, that they resemble 
 the reed shaken with the wind, or the sea- 
 weed torn from the rock and tossed to and 
 fro on the weltering waves of the ocean. 
 One thing, at least, is clear, that if there be 
 any ruling sentiment in their souls, it is not 
 the fear of God. What, then, is the worth 
 of their Christianity ? Of what avail is their 
 creed or their profession? What part or lot 
 can they have in Christ? "Little children, 
 let no man deceive you; he that doeth 
 righteousness is righteous, even as He is 
 righteous." Whoever would be justified 
 through His blood, must be governedby His 
 fear. Let none say, " The standard set be- 
 fore us is too high for us ; we cannot attain 
 to it ; — to carry out the fear of God into all 
 the ramifications of commercial life is simply 
 impossible." "With man it is impossible, 
 but not with God ; for with God all things 
 
THE RULING PRINCIPLE. 43 
 
 are possible." "If, therefore, thou canst 
 believe, all things are possible to him that 
 believeth." Let the question be propounded 
 to the holiest and most consistent merchant 
 in your city, What is the secret of his excel- 
 lence? and he will answer, "By the grace 
 of God, I am what I am." The same grace 
 is sufficient for all. And let all who name 
 the name of Christ, see to it that they de- 
 part from iniquity; that they give no oc- 
 casion to the men of the world to say, 
 "These godly men pray in the closet, bow 
 down in the sanctuary, shine in the saintly 
 circle; but they can cheat, deceive, and 
 overreach like other men, when they come 
 down into the secularities of earth." Woe 
 to the man by whom such an offense cometh. 
 He is a practical libel on Christianity ; his 
 profession is a snare, and his confidence like 
 the spider's web. 
 
 But blessed are they who " adorn the doc- 
 trine of God their Saviour in all things;" 
 " who are in the fear of the Lord all the day 
 long." They are "epistles of Christ, known 
 and read of all men." Those who have to 
 do with them, take knowledge of them that 
 they have been with Jesus. "Fear not, 
 little flock, for it is your Father's good pleas- 
 ure to give you the kingdom." 
 
4:4 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 His holy fear ruling in the hearts, and 
 embodying itself in the lives of his faithful 
 ones, will ever prove itself sufficient to carry 
 them through all temptations, and keep 
 them blameless amid all corruptions, till they 
 reach the happy land where perils, adversi- 
 ties, and perplexity will be no more, and 
 where the fear of God will be swallowed up 
 in the fullness of his love. 
 
THE SECRET OF HIS STRENGTH. 4:5 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 THE SECRET OF HIS STRENGTH. 
 
 It is not life that we see in the living ; it is 
 the manifestation of life. Hidden in its es- 
 sence, it is apparent in its effects. The soul 
 can reveal its powers in a look, in a word, 
 in an action ; but the soul itself eludes dis- 
 covery. Even lower life lies concealed. The 
 life of the tree discloses itself in the tender 
 bud, in the fair blossom, in the ripe fruit ; 
 but who can detect the secret spring of all ? 
 If it be thus with natural life, much more 
 must mystery envelop the life of God in the 
 souls of his saints. The Holy Ghost thus de- 
 scribes that life : " Ye are dead, and your life 
 is hid with Christ in God." Evident in result, 
 fruitful in blessing, effectual in operation, it 
 yet is a mystery which the world cannot 
 conceive, and which the believer himself 
 cannot comprehend. "The wind bloweth 
 where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound 
 thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, 
 and whither it goeth : so is every one that 
 is born of the Spirit," — and so is every one 
 that lives in the Spirit. The action is hu- 
 
46 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 man, but the energy is divine. No mecha- 
 nism, however perfect, can dispense with a 
 motive power ; it is needed both to put it 
 into action, and to keep it in play after it 
 has been put in motion. So with the graces 
 and faculties of the inner man, the "hidden 
 man of the heart; 5 ' they have neither origi- 
 nated nor quickened themselves, neither can 
 they act of their own innate energy. The 
 excellency of the power is of Christ, and in 
 Christ. "Without me," saith he, "ye can 
 do nothing." The history of the believer's 
 spiritual life is, " I live, yet not I, but Christ 
 liveth in me ; and the life I now live in the 
 flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, 
 who loved me, and gave himself for me." 
 Even the master motive is not the spring of 
 action ; it is the effect of that spring. Just 
 as it is with the mighty wheel which moves 
 the whole machinery of the factory, it ap- 
 pears as though the impulse it imparts were 
 all its own; but in reality there is a latent 
 power by which that wheel itself is moved, 
 and without which it cannot act. 
 
 In the preceding chapter we considered 
 the master principle in the life of faith ; we 
 traced its potency ; how it restrains from 
 sin, how it constrains to holiness, how it ele- 
 vates a man above the fear of his fellows, 
 
THE SECRET OF HIS STRENGTH. 4:7 
 
 and gives him an ennobling liberty ; how it 
 brings " every imagination of the thoughts 
 of his heart into captivity to the obedience 
 of Christ." But this principle is not self- 
 acting; as it did not create, so it does not 
 sustain itself. While in one view the saint 
 is an agent, in another he is a subject; he 
 only wills and does as God works in him to 
 will and do, of his good pleasure. We now 
 propose to explore the fountain and secret 
 place of that power by which he is enabled 
 to overcome the world. 
 
 Human power depends largely on human 
 confidence. The man possessed of a certain 
 iron inflexibility of purpose, based on a 
 proud self-reliance, is the man who ordina- 
 rily accomplishes great things in the affairs 
 of earth. Marvelous is the mastery of such 
 a will over weaker and inferior wills ; so 
 that for a man whose highest aim is present 
 success, there cannot be a better rule than, 
 "Rely upon yourself, have confidence in 
 your own judgment, never despair of your 
 own efforts." God often allows men of this 
 character to succeed. They have their re- 
 ward. In self they have confided, and to 
 self they give the praise. But the very con- 
 verse holds in relation to the strength of 
 those who live not to themselves but to the 
 
48 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 Lord ; who live not the life of sense but the 
 life of faith. Just in proportion as they dis- 
 trust themselves, abandon self, and abide in 
 Christ, just in such proportion will his 
 strength be made perfect in their weakness, 
 and will they "be more than conquerors 
 through him that loved them." The curse 
 of man is, that he makes flesh his arm, that 
 he has lost his trust in the living God. How 
 intense this idolatrous tendency, this suicidal 
 fatuity in the heart of man ! So intense, 
 that men naturally confide in anything or 
 everything rather than in Him in whom they 
 "live, and move, and have their being." A 
 virtual atheism is practically the state of all 
 who have not been born again of the Spirit. 
 "God is not in all their thoughts;" they 
 plan without consulting him, labor without 
 leaning upon him, prosper without acknowl- 
 edging him. Man must be brought off from 
 this self-dependence before he can be brought 
 into that dependence on God which is the 
 law of his nature, and the condition of his 
 perfection. By trusting to the creature, he 
 fell from his Creator ; by renouncing faith 
 in the creature he returns to his Creator. 
 To reduce hirn to despair of his own power, 
 is a task so difficult that God alone can 
 bring it to pass. Men will more easily ad- 
 
THE SECRET OF HIS STRENGTH. 49 
 
 mit that they have done wrong, that they 
 are guilty before God, than that they cannot 
 return of themselves to the Lord, that they 
 have no power of themselves to help them- 
 selves. This is an admission which their 
 pride cannot brook. So prevalent, indeed, 
 is the notion of self-sufficiency, that most 
 men intend to turn to God and prepare for 
 eternity at some future period. It never 
 occurs to them to iftisgive their ability to do 
 so whenever they shall please. Strange that 
 they should be deaf alike to the testimony 
 of Scripture and to the lessons of experience 
 on the subject of man'«s spiritual impotency ! 
 Hearken to the voice of the lively oracles. 
 "Without me," says Christ, "ye can do 
 nothing." "We are not sufficient of our- 
 selves," says St. Paul, "to think anything 
 as of ourselves." " I know that in me, that 
 is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing." 
 "When we were without strength, in due 
 time Christ died for the ungodly." And 
 clear as is the witness of Scripture on this 
 point, no less clear is the confession of every 
 orthodox branch of the Christian Church. 
 
 "The condition of man since the fall of 
 Adam is such, that he cannot turn and pre- 
 pare himself, by his own natural strength 
 and good works, to faith and calling upon 
 4 
 
50 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 God. Wherefore we have no power to do 
 good works, pleasant and acceptable unto 
 God, without the grace of God by Christ 
 preventing us, that we may have a good 
 will, and working with us when we have 
 that good will." The work of Christ for us 
 was not more indispensable to our salvation 
 than is the work of Christ in us. If we are 
 justified wholly by his merit, we are sancti- 
 fied absolutely by his grace. 
 
 The evidence of experience fully sustains 
 the testimony of Scripture. Let any man 
 set about becoming what he feels he ought 
 to be ; let him strive to be perfectly upright 
 in all his thoughts and intentions, perfectly 
 accurate in all his words, perfectly kind and 
 charitable in all his feelings, perfectly sub- 
 missive and devout in all his sentiments to- 
 ward God. Let him make a conscience of 
 everything within him as well as without 
 him — of the issues of his heart, no less than 
 of the streams of his life ; let him struggle 
 to make himself love God with all his heart, 
 soul, and strength, and to love his neighboi 
 as himself; let him do all this with ever sc 
 much honesty of purpose and determination 
 of spirit, and what will be the inevitable 
 result? He will discover more and more 
 painfully the depth of his impoteixcy, and 
 
THE SECRET OF HIS STRENGTH. 51 
 
 the abortiveness of his efforts. Nay, more, 
 he will find that his inherent corruptions 
 gather intensity from the very resistance 
 which he opposes to them, as the current 
 chafes against the barrier which interrupts 
 but cannot check its course. 
 
 A man may, indeed, by his own power, 
 greatly control his external conduct ; he may 
 cease to be a drunkard, or he may abstain 
 from impure indulgences ; but without Christ 
 he can do nothing in the spiritual life ; he 
 cannot give birth to a holy desire, or a good 
 counsel, or a just work. Mere morality, 
 what is visible to man, can grow on the 
 stem of nature ; but "the fruits of righteous- 
 ness, which are by Jesus Christ to the praise 
 and glory of God," these can be borne only 
 by the tree of grace. 
 
 Hence it happens that you will frequently 
 find a man gifted with uncommon resolution 
 in the things of this life, who is yet like a 
 straw tossed in the eddies of a stream in re- 
 lation to the things of God. In the world, 
 a rock ; in the Church, " a wave of the sea 
 driven of the wind, and tossed." What en- 
 ergy in natural things will the same individ- 
 ual sometimes display, who in spiritual 
 things is the slave of passion and the sport 
 of caprice — led captive at his will by " the 
 
52 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 Prince of the power of the air, the spirit 
 that now worketh in the children of disobe- 
 dience!" How mournfully manifest, then, 
 that a moral paralysis has passed upon the 
 spiritual powers of man! How essential 
 that a living consciousness of this fact should 
 accompany the soldier of the cross through- 
 out his holy warfare ! If he lives in the 
 Spirit, he must also walk in the Spirit. 
 "While in the wilderness, he must still be a 
 pilgrim of faith, a tottering child held up by 
 an Almighty hand. The abiding sense of 
 his weakness will keep him hanging upon 
 Christ. " When I am weak," said one who 
 had made the highest attainments in the di- 
 vine life, — "when lam weak,"- — in the deep 
 experimental consciousness of my own weak- 
 ness, — "then am I strong; strong in the 
 Lord, and in the power of his might." 
 What a paradox ! What a beautiful paradox ! 
 To the Christian how clear, to the unbeliever 
 how strange ! What a precious peculiarity 
 of the glorious gospel of the blessed God ! 
 It makes known to man his real state — a dis- 
 closure exceedingly startling, distasteful, hu- 
 miliating to him ; but it does not stop there. 
 If it reveals to us our guilt, it is that it may 
 reveal to us our righteousness ; if it discovers 
 to us our disease, it is that it may discover 
 
THE SECRET OF HIS STRENGTH. 53 
 
 to us our remedy ; if it convinces us of our 
 impotency, it is that it may lead us to our 
 strength. Here is the crowning glory of 
 Christianity. Philosophy knew nothing of 
 these heavenly secrets. She could exhibit 
 our desolation ; and bitter, often, and un- 
 sparing were her strictures on the foibles and 
 the follies, the miseries and the incongrui- 
 ties of human nature ; but while she could 
 expose the malady, she could not make 
 known the remedy. She could laugh at our 
 helplessness, but she could tell us of no suc- 
 cor. She could paint the beauty of virtue, 
 but she could not enable us to attain it. She 
 could supply the lovely model, but it only 
 served to mock our attempts to copy its per- 
 fections. She dealt with us as Pharaoh 
 dealt with the children of Israel ; he bade 
 them make bricks, but he gave them no 
 straw. So philosophy bade man fear God, 
 be devout, upright, benevolent, truthful, 
 rise to the dignity of his nature, and seek 
 his heritage above ; but she spake to a par- 
 alytic which could not move — to a corpse 
 which could not hear. 
 
 Christ commands the palsied to arise and 
 walk, but he, at the same time, imparts the 
 power to obey the command ; he calls upon 
 the man with the withered hand to stretch it 
 
54 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 forth, and, in making the effort, the man is 
 healed. The word of Christ gives us the 
 fullest assurance that his aid shall not be 
 wanting to the faithful. It calls him by the 
 glorious name, "The Strength of Israel." 
 It declares, that "surely shall one say, In the 
 Lord have I strength." It affirms, that "the 
 Lord will give strength to his people." 
 Therefore shall each one of them resolve — 
 " I will go in the strength of the Lord God, 
 and will make mention of thy righteousness, 
 even of thine only." Absolute dependence 
 on the grace of God for justification, must 
 be accompanied with no less absolute de- 
 pendence on the strength of God for sancti- 
 fication. " Whatsoever we do in word or 
 deed, we must do all in the name of the 
 Lord Jesus." Fellowship with him is the 
 life of our life. It pleases God that we 
 should be continually reminded of our union 
 with his Son. He would not have us forget 
 him for a single hour. He therefore gives 
 us spiritual strength as he gives us natural 
 life, day by day, and hour by hour. He 
 gives us no stock in hand. He does not 
 lodge it in ourselves ; he retains it in him- 
 self, for us. He lives and walks " in us, that 
 we may live and walk through him." He 
 works in us to will and to do of his good 
 
THE SECRET OF HIS STRENGTH. 55 
 
 pleasure. He does not will and do for us, 
 nor does he act on us as on passive subjects; 
 but he works in us as rational and responsi- 
 ble agents. We will and do ; but it is be- 
 cause he works in us to will and to do. In 
 one view all is his work, in another all is 
 ours; his through us, and ours by him. 
 So that, when we have done all, our language 
 must be that of the apostle, " By grace I am 
 what I am." "I labored more abundantly 
 than they all ; yet not I, but the grace of 
 God that was with me." In the least as well 
 as in the greatest, in the secular as well as 
 in the spiritual concerns of the faithful, it is 
 not less their duty than it is their privilege 
 to strengthen themselves in the Lord. He 
 loves that they should have recourse to him. 
 They cannot urge a more prevailing plea 
 than that which the king of Israel used 
 when confronting an overwhelming army: 
 " Help us, O Lord our God, for we trust in 
 thee !" To such an argument he cannot 
 turn a deaf ear. " According to thy faith 
 be it unto thee." " If thou canst believe, all 
 things are possible to him that believeth," 
 will infallibly be the answer. How true, 
 then, and touching as true, the picture 
 drawn of himself as a pilgrim of faith, by 
 the sweet singer of Israel : "My soul hang- 
 
56 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 eth upon thee ; thy right hand upholdeth 
 me !" The figure he employs, brings before 
 ns the endearing sight of a father with his 
 little faltering child. The father is leading 
 the child along a dark and rugged way ; the 
 child clings fondly to the father's hand, 
 urged alike by the consciousness of its own 
 feebleness, and by its confidence in him. 
 And that very weakness so felt, and that 
 very confidence so reposed, prove with the 
 father, though a silent, a most pathetic plea. 
 How can he refuse the gentle grasp of the 
 tiny hand which is locked in his .? Its weak- 
 ness is irresistible. Even so it is with the 
 child of God. His Father holds his hand, 
 and he in consequence holds his Father's 
 hand. The firmer he is held, the more will 
 he cling ; and that very clinging constrains 
 the Almighty. Omnipotent in everything 
 else, he is, so to speak, impotent here ; he 
 cannot resist the clinging confidingness of a 
 helpless soul. The great point is to carry 
 this dependence everywhere, and into every 
 thing; into commerce as well as communion, 
 into the counting-house as well as the closet. 
 How difficult, yet how vital a lesson for the 
 servant of God to learn ! We must not only 
 ask strength from on high, but we must use 
 the strength for which we ask. This must 
 
THE SECKET OF HIS STRENGTH. 57 
 
 be done by the immediate exercise of faith 
 even while we are busied in the unbe- 
 lieving world, while we are mingling of 
 necessity in scenes of sore temptation. Then, 
 when most in danger, we stand most in need 
 of succor; when most surrounded by our 
 enemies, we most require the outstretched 
 arm of God. Our very foes should be our 
 sentinels, and warn us to fly for refuge to 
 the help, as well as the hope, set before us 
 in Christ. As we ought to be " in the fear 
 of God," so ought we to be in the strength 
 of God, " all the day long." The former is 
 effectual only as it is accompanied by the 
 latter. What is done in our own strength is 
 of the flesh, and what is of the flesh cannot 
 please God. How often does it happen that 
 Christian men are led astray, embarrassed 
 by temptation, entangled in false positions, 
 betrayed into giving occasion to the adver- 
 sary to rail, and to the weak to stumble, 
 because they set about things in their own 
 name, in their own wisdom, in their own 
 might ! Had they set the Lord before them, 
 they would not have been moved ; had they 
 honored him, he would have honored them. 
 
 The secret of the good man's strength lies 
 in the fact that in the face of taunting foes, 
 in emergencies however sudden, in perplex- 
 
58 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 ities however harassing, he turns for succor 
 to his God. Like the mystic locks of Sam- 
 son, this is the symbol of his power ; shorn 
 of it, he is weaker than the bulrush in the 
 gale. But why is it that even Christians 
 are sometimes so appalled by the sneers of 
 the ungodly, so warped by the maxims of a 
 world lying in wickedness, so seduced into 
 petty compliances with some of the doubtful 
 ■usages of trade ? Is it not because they fail 
 to realize the presence of God, to call in the 
 aid of Omnipotence, to set their backs 
 against the Eock of ages? Would they but 
 do this, the fear of man would vanish before 
 the fear of God ; then the inquiry in each 
 case would be, first of all, not what is gain- 
 ful, but what is godly ; then they would feel 
 themselves to be invincible, for the conflict 
 would no longer be theirs but the Lord's; 
 and his controversy must be triumphant. 
 No duty is too light to require the aid of 
 grace for its performance, nor any too 
 arduous to be practicable through grace. 
 " Even the youths shall faint and be weary, 
 and the young men shall utterly fail: but 
 they that wait upon the Lord shall renew 
 their strength ; they shall mount up with 
 wings as eagles ; they shall run, and not be 
 weary ; they shall walk, and uot f&int." " I 
 
THE SECRET OF HIS STRENGTH. 59 
 
 can do all things," said the noblest soldier 
 of the cross, " I can do all things through 
 Christ that strengtheneth me." " I can do 
 all things " — strange language from the lips 
 of a worm of the dust — " through Christ 
 that strengtheneth me," — the paradox is 
 solved ; how seemly, how grateful the words 
 from the tongue of a lowly believer ! Left 
 to himself, " the grasshopper is a burden" to 
 him ; Omnipotence aiding him, he can 
 " thresh the mountains." 
 
 ]STor does this derivation of power seem 
 strange; nor yet does it, in any bad sense, 
 make the saint of God a merely passive instru- 
 ment. The whole universe is in some sense 
 a machine ; there is no power but of God. 
 We talk of the laws of nature, of the forces 
 which keep planets revolving in their spheres; 
 but, after all, how are those laws maintain- 
 ed ? how are those forces actuated ? It is God 
 that " worketh all in all." " He upholdeth 
 all things by the word of his power." In 
 him all being centers. From the worm that 
 crawls the dust, up to Gabriel, the highest 
 archangel before the throne of God, none 
 has independent life, independent strength, 
 independent holiness, or independent happi- 
 ness. All is in God — as all is from God. 
 Why, then, should it be thought a thing 
 
60 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 incredible, that "man that is born of a wo- 
 man" — man, who is shorn through his fall of 
 all primitive purity and all spiritual power, 
 should be utterly dependent from first to 
 last, for the highest life, the life of the Spirit, 
 on the Spirit of " the living God." And is 
 it not meet and right that he should ever 
 realize his dependency, and be taught to 
 wait perpetually on the fountain of life ? 
 At this point we would earnestly say to the 
 Christian reader — Suffer the word of admo- 
 nition. Beware of self-confidence : " He 
 that trusteth his own heart is a fool." God 
 resisteth such a one : " The rich he send- 
 eth empty away." In vain are virtues, pur- 
 poses, or efforts while self is their staple. 
 Till that idol is abandoned, not a heaven- 
 ward step is taken. If the ship, however 
 rigged, equipped, and manned, cannot move 
 across the w T aters of herself, but must have 
 the winds to waft her, how much less can 
 the shattered bark of the human soul win its 
 way through the tempestuous ocean of life 
 to the haven of salvation, except it be borne 
 along by the breath of the Spirit ! But the 
 sails must be spread to invite and catch the 
 heavenly gale. 
 
 Let the Christian, then, ever remember, 
 that whatever is not done of the ability which 
 
THE SECRET OF HIS STRENGTH. 61 
 
 God giveth, is unprofitable and sinful. This 
 great truth ought to be realized in secular 
 business as well as in religious services ; grace 
 is needed to traffic aright no less than to 
 pray aright. At the same time let him see 
 to it that the grace afforded be both occupied 
 and confessed to the praise and glory of 
 His grace. Neither should he, for a mo- 
 ment, forget that no work of his can be 
 acceptable to God, but as presented by Him 
 who is the propitiation for our sins, whose 
 blood must sanctify, and whose merits must 
 perfume, all our services. 
 
 Let, then, the soldiers of the cross encour- 
 age themselves in the Lord, and despair of 
 no attainment, stagger at no duty, shrink 
 from no danger, to which the Lord calls 
 them. When he assigns a task, by that very 
 assignment he pledges himself to give the 
 power to perform it. "Fear not, only be- 
 lieve." "If thou canst believe, all things 
 are possible to him that believeth." Yea ; 
 and what a blessed thing it is that we are 
 privileged to live this dependent life ! If 
 our strength were in ourselves, we might 
 lose it ; but in Christ Jesus it is safe. Our 
 security is in his immutability. We are 
 " kept by the power of God, through faith, 
 unto salvation." He hath said, "I will 
 
62 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 never leave thee nor forsake thee ;" so that 
 we may boldly say, "The Lord is my 
 helper, and I will not fear what man shall 
 do unto me." Nay, verily, for he hath said 
 again, " My sheep hear my voice, and I 
 know them ; and I give unto them eternal 
 life; and they shall never perish, neither 
 shall any pluck them out of my hand. My 
 Father, which gave them me, is greater than 
 all; and none is able to pluck them out of 
 my Father's hand." 
 
HIS SPIRIT OF DEVOTION. 63 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 HIS SPIRIT OF DEVOTION. 
 
 The fire on the altar of burnt-sacrifice in the 
 Jewish temple was kindled from heaven. 
 God gave commandment concerning that 
 fire, that it should always be burning — it 
 should never go out. The appointed Levites 
 fed and tended it by night and by day. The 
 sacrifices were not always offering up, but 
 the fire was always in readiness to offer 
 them. How apt an emblem of what the 
 renewed heart should be ! The fire of its 
 devotion was lighted from on high ; it was 
 enkindled by the Spirit of God. That holy 
 fire ought to be burning ; it ought never to 
 go out. The sacrifices of prayer and praise 
 cannot be always ascending ; but the flame 
 of devotion to kindle them, as opportunity 
 may serve, ought never to wax dim. 
 
 Of all the habits of the new man, there is 
 none more distinctive, none more condu- 
 cive to his soul's health and happiness, 
 none more essential to his consistency of 
 conduct and beauty of holiness, than this de- 
 votional spirit. It has always distinguished 
 
64 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 those who have excelled in virtue ; it is the 
 distinctive trait of the truly good man, the 
 character we would now portray. We have, 
 in the foregoing chapters, examined the 
 mainspring of his holy life — the fear of 
 God, and traced the secret of his spiritual 
 strength — the strength of God made per- 
 fect in his weakness. We are now to ex- 
 plore the channel through which the spirit 
 of Jesus is infused into his soul. That chan- 
 nel is unceasing prayer. Throughout his 
 checkered career, not only on stated occa- 
 sions and in hallowed scenes, but everywhere, 
 and under all circumstances, whether in the 
 midst of foes or in the seclusion of the closet, 
 harassed by occupations or under the excite- 
 ment of dangers, you find him still true to 
 the mercy-seat, still lifting up his heart to 
 God. "Think upon me, O my God, for 
 good ;" " O God, strengthen my hands ;" 
 "Think upon me, and have mercy upon me, 
 according to the multitude of thy mercies." 
 Such are the devout breathings which again 
 and again break forth from his heart. 
 
 We propose, therefore, as the subject of 
 this chapter, to consider the exercise of 
 ejaculatory prayer — the habit of lifting up 
 the heart in brief aspirations to God in all 
 places and under all circumstances ; — thus 
 
HIS SPIRIT OF DEVOTION. 65 
 
 hallowing the commonest pursuits of life, 
 and turning the warehouse or the work-shop 
 into a house of prayer. God grant to us the 
 spirit of grace and supplication while we 
 dwell on this vital theme ! 
 
 Few have any just conception of the 
 essence of prayer. Yery many, when they 
 think of praying, think of it as necessarily 
 involving a formal kneeling down in the 
 closet or the sanctuary, and a presenting our 
 petitions in a set manner to God. This, no 
 doubt, when spiritual, is preeminently pray- 
 er ; but if a man never prays anywhere 
 save in the closet, the family, or the temple, 
 there is every reason to fear that he never 
 prays at all. For, if he prayed truly in 
 these consecrated spots, he could not repress 
 the silent aspiration that would sometimes 
 gush from his heart in the market-place, in 
 the counting-house, in the social circle, as 
 he sat in his house, and as he walked by the 
 way. If the spirit of genuine devotion ani- 
 mated his stated worship, it could not be 
 inert all the day besides. The sad formality 
 which man has superinduced on the religion 
 of Christ, has tended to foster many unscrip- 
 tural notions on the subject of devotion. 
 Hence it is that multitudes have thought 
 that they must come out of the world in 
 5 
 
66 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 order to hold communion with God — hence 
 they have sought the cell in the wilderness 
 or the gloom of the cloister, that they might 
 spend their days and nights in converse with 
 Heaven. But, counteracting God's purpose, 
 they have generally failed of their object, 
 and it is no breach of charity to say that, for 
 the most part, while they left the world the 
 world did not leave them ; and that, in 
 many instances, the monastery and the nun- 
 nery, instead of being houses of prayer, 
 were dens of thieves. The religion of Jesus 
 is far too practical to abstract us from the 
 duties of our stations, or from the relation- 
 ships of social life. Instead of interfering 
 with them, it secures that they shall be 
 effectually performed ; it cheers, sustains, 
 and sanctifies us in their performance. It 
 converts the toils, the cares, the ills of ordi- 
 nary life into a heavenly discipline ; bracing 
 our principles by bringing them into conflict 
 — strengthening our devotion by calling it 
 into exercise. The devout spirit, like the 
 well-strung JEolian harp, not only gives forth 
 sweet sounds when woke by the gentler 
 breathings that steal over its chords, but 
 when vibrating under the ruder blasts that 
 sweep across its strings. We could not have 
 the rule of life more beautifully expressed 
 
HIS SPIRIT OF DEVOTION. 67 
 
 than it is in the language of the apostle: 
 "£Tot slothful in business, fervent in spirit, 
 serving the Lord." Let us see to it, that 
 this fervency of spirit pervade our secular 
 occupations, and our business will invigorate 
 our devotion, while our devotion will hal- 
 low our business. To be slothful in business 
 will quench devotion as fatally as to pursue 
 business with inordinate affection. The 
 hardiest devotion is the healthiest. The 
 devotion of the cloister is for the most part 
 like the ghastly light that hovers over de- 
 composition and decay ; the devotion which 
 characterizes the diligent, spiritually-mind- 
 ed man of business, resembles the star 
 which shines on in the storm as in the calm 
 — when the sky is clouded as when it is 
 serene. 
 
 It is, then, utterly a mistake to suppose, 
 that except a man bend the knee and use the 
 language of supplication, he cannot pray to 
 God. How beautiful and appropriate is the 
 language of the Christian poet, in which he 
 celebrates the power of prayer, and it is 
 scriptural as it is lovely !— 
 
 " Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, 
 
 Utter'd or unexpress'd ; 
 The motion of a hidden fire 
 
 That trembles in the breast. 
 
68 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 " Prayer is the burden of a sigh, — 
 
 The falling of a tear, — 
 The upward glancing of an eye, 
 
 When none but God is near." 
 
 The sigh of the penitent is prayer in God's 
 ear ; the desire of the sorrowful is heard by 
 the Omniscient. Language is necessary to 
 communicate our sentiments and feelings to 
 our fellows ; not so to convey them to him 
 who knows our thoughts long before we 
 conceive them — " who know T eth what is the 
 mind of the Spirit, because he maketh in- 
 tercession for the saints, according to the 
 will of God." Be assured of it, there may 
 be no praying where there are long prayers 
 — there may be much prayer where not a 
 w r ord is spoken. There are groanings unut- 
 terable which the Spirit excites in the heart 
 of the believer that prevail mightily with 
 God ; while the long-spun address of the 
 Pharisee standing in the synagogue, or at 
 the corners of the street, is loathsome to 
 Him who requireth truth in the inward 
 parts. The more steadily the spirit of pray- 
 er burns in any soul, the more surely does 
 it prove that soul to be alive to God. For 
 prayer is to spiritual, what respiration is to 
 natural life. When we cease to breathe, 
 we cease to live ; when we cease to pray, 
 we die in the sight of God. If our breathing 
 
II IS SPIRIT OF DEVOTION. 69 
 
 be stopped for a little while, what an agony- 
 will ensue till we recover its play ! So with 
 the inner man. Let the exercise of prayer 
 be for a season suspended in the devout 
 heart, and there will be an agonizing strug- 
 gle till communion with God is renewed. 
 " While I kept silence my bones waxed old, 
 through my roaring all the day long," said 
 the Psalmist, when reviewing the dark 
 period in which he had restrained prayer 
 before God. 
 
 Where ought we not to pray ! The ear 
 of God is never shut — the mercy-seat is 
 never remote. It is as near in the ware- 
 house as in the chamber ; as accessible in 
 the market-place as in the sanctuary. The 
 arrow from the bow of faith pierces heaven 
 in the twinkling of an eye ; nor through the 
 Mediator does the faintest ejaculation fail of 
 a reply. The prayer of faith never fell to 
 the ground. In the disclosures of eternity 
 it will be found that not a believing desire 
 was ever unfulfilled. Its fulfillment cannot 
 always be discerned at present ; but it is not 
 therefore less sure or less real. 
 
 Ah ! who can represent in adequate terms 
 the importance and the privilege of thus 
 perpetually calling upon God? When can 
 it be out of season — where can it be out of 
 
70 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 place ? If a man can find the scene where 
 he needs not serve God, then he will have 
 found the scene where he needs not pray to 
 God. But wherever a man is bound to do 
 the will, there is he called upon to ask the 
 aid, -of the Master whom he serves. "We 
 cannot carry this principle too far : in spirit 
 we ought to live upon our knees. If in any 
 step we need not divine guidance, if in any 
 work we need not divine strength, if in any 
 enterprise we need not the divine blessing, 
 then in projecting that step, in prosecuting 
 that work, in undertaking that enterprise, 
 we need not pray. But if Christ is all and 
 in all, then always and in all must we call 
 upon his name. On how many occasions 
 does a servant of God suddenly require 
 special assistance, special counsel, special 
 care ! What urgent emergencies will unex- 
 pectedly arise ! How frequently are men of 
 business called upon to decide summarily 
 on questions big with importance, to make 
 up their judgment at once on measures the 
 issues of which they can neither over-esti- 
 mate nor foresee. At such critical junctures 
 ought they not to consult Him who knows 
 the end from the beginning, whose counsel, 
 it shall stand ; who has said, " in all thy 
 ways acknowledge me, and I will direct thy 
 
HIS SPIRIT OF DEVOTION. 71 
 
 paths?" Yet they cannot enter into their 
 closet ; opportunity for this does not serve. 
 What then ? Can they not with all the speed 
 of thought refer the case to God— call in his 
 wisdom to be made perfect in their foolish- 
 ness ? How it assures the understanding — 
 how it abates the crushing weight of un- 
 shared responsibility, so to take counsel with 
 the Omniscient! 
 
 Take a specific illustration. How com- 
 monly is the physician forced to form his 
 conclusion in a moment ; yea, to form it on 
 uncertain grounds and indeterminate symp- 
 toms? Yet a mistaken conclusion may en- 
 danger the life of his patient. Now if, in 
 such circumstances, the medical man rely 
 simply on his own skill, and confer with his 
 own judgment, to the neglect of calling in 
 the wisdom and blessing of the Almighty, 
 what a fearful risk and burden does he bring 
 upon himself! But let his heart breathe 
 forth the aspiration to God, "Lord, direct 
 me : Lord, I commit this case to thee : pros- 
 per me according to thy mercy !" Then, 
 having cast his burden on the Lord, having 
 invoked unerring skill, he will be able to 
 act with faith and calmness. Is this fanati- 
 cism ? The grossest fanaticism is that which 
 leaves out God. If he be anywhere, he is 
 
72 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 everywhere ; if he be in anything, he is in 
 everything. If he order the seraph's flight, 
 he ordains the sparrow's fall ; if he telleth 
 the number of the stars, he nnmbereth the 
 very hairs of the heads of his saints. The 
 minuteness of Providence is the perfection 
 of Providence ; and minute as is his provi- 
 dence, so minute, if possible, should be our 
 prayers ; the only limit of our supplications 
 should be the limit of his gracious interposi- 
 tions. Since he is above all, and through 
 all, and in all, let us look to him for all, let 
 us look to him in all. 
 
 The unforeseen vicissitudes to which we 
 are exposed, should keep us ever on the wing 
 of prayer. How suddenly do perils, changes, 
 and perplexities spring up ! What can we 
 do, then, but watch and pray? We cannot 
 watch as we ought without praying; we 
 cannot pray as we ought without watching. 
 Watch in all things, and you will pray in 
 all things. This reasoning gathers addition- 
 al strength from the fact that the opportuni- 
 ties for stated prayer which many persons 
 enjoy are few and straitened. Artisans 
 who toil late and early, young men who al- 
 most live behind the desk or the counter, 
 servants who are occupied from dawn till 
 night in their domestic duties, can seldom, 
 
HIS SPIRIT OF DEVOTION. 73 
 
 secure seasons for retirement dur- 
 ing the pressure of their daily tasks. Some 
 time may, indeed, be redeemed from the pil- 
 low to be consecrated to God by his people ; 
 but are they to have no further intercourse 
 with him throughout the day ? That must 
 not, need not be. While the hand is toil- 
 ing for the bread that perisheth, the soul 
 may be holding converse with the Father 
 of our spirits. However the mind may be 
 exercised in business, there may be paren- 
 theses of prayer, and interjections of praise, 
 checkering and elevating our occupations 
 all the while. Never let the busied servant, 
 never let the harassed tradesman say, "I 
 have no time for converse with my God." 
 Only take heed that your hearts be not ab- 
 sorbed by your worldly conduct, and you 
 will find many a fleeting opportunity for in- 
 tercourse with Him who is about your path, 
 and hearkens to your slightest thought. 
 
 The snares and foes which beset a career 
 of business, ought to turn one's eyes contin- 
 ually to " the stronghold whereunto you may 
 always resort." In the vicissitudes of com- 
 mercial affairs, in the complicated transac- 
 tions with his fellows, how subtly will 
 temptation often steal upon one ; sometimes 
 in the shape of a friend, who comes to draw 
 
74 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 him into some doubtful speculation; some- 
 times in the shape of an alluring offer of 
 gain at the cost of some small sacrifice of 
 conscience ; at another time in the form of 
 seductive openings, fitted to beguile him into 
 adventuring beyond what his resources war- 
 rant; in these and a thousand other dis- 
 guises will Satan lie in wait to deceive. 
 Meantime, in concert with the world and 
 with the wicked one, will man's own false, 
 foolish heart strive hard to deceive, and de- 
 ceiving, to betray him. We know not 
 where the trap is laid ; we know not whence 
 the shaft may be aimed. Where, then, is 
 our safety ? where, but in flying at the mo- 
 ment for refuge to our God? Were we 
 alive as we ought to be to the perils that 
 surround us in our pilgrimage through life, 
 we should never presume to lose sight of the 
 mercy-seat. Travelers make mention of a 
 bird so timid in disposition, and so liable to 
 the assaults of unnumbered enemies, that 
 she almost lives in the sky, scarcely ever 
 venturing to rest her wings; and even when 
 forced through very weariness to repose, she 
 seeks the loftiest rock, and there still keeps 
 her eyes only half shut, and her pinions only 
 half folded — in readiness on the first sign 
 of danger to spread her wings and soar away 
 
HIS SPIRIT OF DEVOTION. 75 
 
 to the heavens for safety. "What an apt 
 emblem of how the child jof God should 
 "pass the time of his sojourning here!" 
 Seldom should the wing of his devotion 
 droop, or the eye of his watchfulness close ; 
 and when he must repose, it should ever be 
 in an attitude of vigilance and prayerfulness, 
 prepared at the first signal of approaching 
 danger to mount upward, and find his re- 
 fuge in the bosom of his God. 
 
 Say not that devotion will be out of 
 harmony with some of the scenes in which 
 men of business mingle. Wherever duty 
 calls, devotion may accompany them. 
 Where a man would shrink from praying, 
 he ought to shrink from going. Tell me the 
 circle or the recreation where the Christian 
 cannot consistently lift up his heart to God, 
 where it would seem a kind of solemn 
 mockery to ask for his presence and blessing, 
 and I will tell you the circle or the recrea- 
 tion where, as a Christian, he should not be. 
 If it is not a place meet for prayer, it is not 
 a place meet for him. No engagement in 
 which he fears to ask the Lord to bless him 
 can be right. Take, as a sure test of the 
 character of any plan, pleasure, or pursuit, 
 the simple question, " Can I implore the di- 
 vine blessing upon it ?" If not, then let it 
 
76 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 be foregone. You cannot enter upon it 
 without guilt. . For " whatsoever is not of 
 faith is sin," and whatsoever cannot be sanc- 
 tified by prayer, is not of faith, and conse- 
 quently must be sinful in the sight of God. 
 This is a practical rule of much value. 
 Young men should carry it with them into 
 the midst of their avocations, their relaxa- 
 tions, their companionships ; let them apply 
 it honestly, and it will serve them faithfully. 
 Yery elevating and hallowing is the in- 
 fluence which a pervading habit of prayer 
 will exert on the mind of a man, however 
 he may be immersed in business. It will 
 keep him from being secularized by his oc- 
 cupations; it will save him from the debase- 
 ment of pursuing mere money-making as his 
 end, of expending the energies of the im- 
 mortal spirit on the accumulation of shining 
 dust ; it will keep him above the world, 
 while occupied in the world / it will enable 
 him to look upon it clearly, undazzled by its 
 meteors, and unbewildered by its mists. 
 Like the noble bird that, strong in wing, 
 towers far above the clouds, mounts into the 
 clear blue sky, hovers amid the undimmed 
 beams of the sun, and thence surveys the 
 landscape spread below him ; the loftier his 
 flight, the smaller appear the objects he has 
 
HIS SPIRIT OF DEVOTION. 77 
 
 left behind: so to those who in frequent 
 communion with God by faith mount up on 
 wdngs like an eagle — to them the things of 
 earth look very small — the things of heaven 
 incomparably great. 
 
 This is the secret for keeping the world in 
 its proper place. So kept, it will not be- 
 come our master — it will be our servant; and 
 it is a good servant, but a miserable master. 
 Need it be added, that a devotional spirit 
 will greatly tend to keep the temper unruf- 
 fled, and the mind serene? Too frequently, 
 even the sincere servants of God reflect little 
 of the meekness and lowliness of Christ amid 
 the excitements of business ; men cannot 
 "take knowledge of them that they have been 
 with Jesus." They betray an eagerness for 
 gain, a keenness in driving a bargain, an irri- 
 tability of feeling, an inordinacy of desire, a 
 want of kindliness, generosity, and forbear- 
 ance toward others, an absence of sympathy 
 toward their dependents, and of considera- 
 tion toward their equals, which mars the 
 harmony of their character, neutralizes their 
 influence for good, and brings reproach on 
 the holy name which they bear. And all 
 this occurs because they do not set the Lord 
 always before them. And this ' perpetual 
 recognition of God is to be secured only by 
 
78 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 calling upon him in everything. Let the 
 Christian who is of a peevish and excita- 
 ble temper, instead of justifying himself by 
 pleading that " it is natural " to him, learn a 
 lesson from that heathen philosopher of whom 
 we read, that being subject to paroxysms of 
 anger, he resolved to overcome the fault, 
 and in order to do so made it a rule, when- 
 ever he felt the first risings of wrath, to 
 repeat to himself some lines from Homer 
 which are of a very soothing and subduing 
 kind ; and such was the effect, that ulti- 
 mately he became as noted for his gentleness 
 as he had before been for his irritability. 
 Will not this heathen rise up in judgment 
 against many a Christian who ought to 
 know and follow a more excellent way? 
 Ought not he, when passion or perturbation 
 shake his breast, to lift up his heart to Him 
 who said to the winds and waves of the sea 
 of Galilee, " Peace, be still, and there was 
 a great calm ;" and who is no less able and 
 ready to rebuke the swelling surges of the 
 soul, and hush them into peace? 
 
 There is nothing a believer may not mas- 
 ter if he encounter as well as defy it in the 
 name of Jesus, and in the power of prayer. 
 However he may pray against his besetting 
 sin in the closet, if he forget God in the 
 
HIS SPIRIT OF DEVOTION. 79 
 
 moment of assault, there is little reason to 
 hope that he will prevail. He must meet 
 his enemy on his knees that he may con- 
 quer. Equally benign is the influence of 
 incessant prayer in keeping the mind from 
 being fevered by the excitements or fretted 
 by the anxieties of business. It will oil the 
 wheels and abate the friction of mercantile 
 life. It is not so much the physical toil or 
 the mental strain which a man undergoes 
 in the struggle of the world, that wears out 
 his health and exhausts his energies, as it 
 is the worry and vexation, the anxiety and 
 suspense, which naturally befall him in his 
 harassing career ; these are the things which 
 waste his spirits, consume his energies, and 
 precipitate his death. How, then, are these 
 effects to be averted ? How, but by " cast- 
 ing all your care on Him who careth for 
 you," " and in everything by prayer and 
 supplication, with thanksgiving, letting your 
 requests be made known unto God ? " This 
 is the antidote to the fret and fever which 
 consume so many of the eager traffickers 
 of our day. The breath of devotion will 
 diffuse a dewy freshness and calm over the 
 spirit even amid the heat and dust of the 
 harassing world. 
 
 Nor ought we to fail to notice how be- 
 
80 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 nignly the habit of ejaculatory devotion 
 will tell on our seasons of stated commun- 
 ion. It will effectually subserve the con- 
 verse of the closet, and the worship of the 
 sanctuary. Many can witness, that when 
 they enter the chamber or the temple, they 
 find it hard indeed to rally and concentrate 
 their thoughts, which are scattered amid 
 worldly plans and wandering after gains. 
 Complaints of distractions in prayer are con- 
 stant, and bitter as constant. But why is 
 it thus? Because the instrument, once un- 
 strung, is long before it can be tuned anew. 
 Let it be kept in tune all the day long, and 
 the time now lost in tuning it would be spent 
 in sweeping sweet music from its strings. 
 If men allow their business throughout the 
 day to chain their thoughts to earth, their 
 closet at eventide will hardly raise their 
 spirits to the skies. 
 
 He who does not take a prayerful spirit 
 into his house of merchandise, runs a great 
 risk of taking his business into the house of 
 prayer. He cannot spread his table for traffic 
 or for money-changing in the holy place ; yet 
 in the sight of God, he may desecrate it as 
 really as those who of old were driven from 
 the temple by Him who said, " The zeal of 
 thine house hath eaten me up." The way, 
 
HIS SPIRIT OF DEVOTION. 81 
 
 therefore, to have our heart in harmony 
 with the worship of the sanctuary and the 
 communion of the closet, is never to suffer its 
 chords to be jarred. It was said of a dis- 
 tinguished Christian of other days, that lie 
 lived on the steps of the mercy-seat. It is 
 the testimony borne to an eminent Chris- 
 tian of the present age that " he lives upon 
 his knees." This is to live safely — this is to 
 live in heaven. Hence it was said by a dy- 
 ing saint, "I am changing my place, but not 
 my company." Like Enoch, he had walk- 
 ed with God, and death to him was but ris- 
 ing from the foot -stool to the throne; or 
 like going out of the porch into the inner 
 sanctuary. 
 
 Is there not cause to fear many professed 
 Christians have never thought on this wise 
 of prayer ? It may be, that from childhood 
 they have repeated some form of devotion, 
 more or less statedly ; sometimes perhaps in- 
 termitted, and afterward resumed ; but has 
 it not been a body unquickened by a soul? 
 Had it been living, it would have been 
 breathing; and had it been breathing, the 
 breath of life would have given it quickened 
 activity. Let it sink deep into our hearts ; 
 for it is a true saying, if we confine our 
 prayers to our chambers, there is reason to 
 
82 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 fear that we never pray at all. For were 
 the flame of devotion kindled in the closet, 
 it could not be suppressed throughout the 
 occupations of the day ; the rather, as we 
 need the protection far more in the midst of 
 the world, than we need it in the hour of 
 retirement. It is not on parade, while going 
 through his exercises in peace, but when 
 called into the struggles of the battle-field, 
 that the soldier needs all his courage and his 
 skill. And so with the soldier of the cross : 
 it is when forced to grapple with the tempta- 
 tions, the difficulties, and the perils of an 
 evil world, that he most needs to pray, and 
 to watch unto prayer. Should this test con- 
 vince my reader that he has never prayed 
 in truth, let him now cry out as the apos- 
 tles did : " Lord, teach us to pray !" And let 
 him give no rest to the throne of grace till 
 the promise is fulfilled, "I will pour upon 
 them the spirit of grace and of supplication." 
 The body can no more breathe without the 
 soul, than the soul can breathe without the 
 Holy Ghost. He is the soul of the soul. 
 Spiritual life begins when he enters the soul. 
 Then, as the infant on its birth shows that it 
 is alive by its feeble cry, so will the new- 
 born babe in Christ evince its life by prayer ; 
 and the first aspiratiori that bursts from his 
 
HIS SPIRIT OF DEVOTION. 83 
 
 heart, is the first respiration of immortality 
 — a slight indication, but of a revolution so 
 stupendous, that only God can span it; a 
 change so lasting, that eternity alone can 
 measure it. 
 
 Christian men of business, in these days 
 of high pressure especially, ought to beware 
 lest the devotional spirit be overborne by 
 the world. Are they earnest and diligent in 
 their callings ? We do not find fault with 
 them for their diligence and earnestness; 
 on the contrary, we believe that as a man 
 cannot succeed in his pursuits without be- 
 ing diligent, so he should look upon dili- 
 gence as his obvious duty. But business 
 should never be allowed to smother devo- 
 tion. If it does, the trafficking is for hell ; 
 the merchandise of glory is bartered for the 
 merchandise of dust. A conscious depend- 
 ence upon God must everywhere be kept 
 alive. His presence must be realized in 
 every place ; his blessing must be asked on 
 every undertaking: this is wisdom, this is 
 safety, this is peace. Let any that can, look 
 back upon their lives and say that they 
 ever, in faithfulness and submission, asked 
 for God's guidance in forming, and for his 
 blessing in prosecuting, any plan, and found 
 reason at last to bewail the issue. But 
 
84: A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 how many steps taken, how many opinions 
 formed, how many engagements entered 
 into, how many undertakings ventured 
 upon, without seeking divine interposition, 
 have ultimately filled their subjects with 
 sorrow and shame ! Happy are they whose 
 own backslidings have corrected them — who 
 have reaped the fruit of their unfaithfulness 
 in this world. Whom the Lord loveth, he 
 rebuketh and chasteneth. If their prayer- 
 less purposes had prospered, their prosperity 
 would have been sent in anger, not in love. 
 Happy, too, will it be for us, if we learn wis- 
 dom from the things we suffer. We ought 
 to go to God with everything, nor fear to 
 weary his love. Nothing should be counted 
 too small for his notice. Does the frequency 
 of his child's appeals displease a tender 
 father? "Whatever interests us, will interest 
 our heavenly Father. Whatever is not too 
 minute to engage our attention, is not too 
 insignificant to be submitted to his. 
 
 No other habit can so effectually as this 
 counteract the secularizing influence of 
 trade ; no other will more smooth the rug- 
 gedness of life's path, or more secure the 
 consistency of Christian character. And 
 shall we not rejoice that the Lord's "ear is 
 ever open to our prayers ;" that Jesus " ever 
 
HIS SPIRIT OF DEVOTION. 85 
 
 liveth to make intercession for us?" Sur- 
 passing privilege ! Incomprehensible grace ! 
 Be it ours to make full proof of the grace — 
 to take full advantage of the privilege. Let 
 death find us in the spirit, if not in the act, 
 of prayer. 
 
86 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 RELIANCE ON GOD'S BLESSING. 
 
 One of the holiest and most devoted of 
 modern missionaries, when, after surmount- 
 ing almost insuperable difficulties, he had 
 accomplished the translation of Holy Scrip- 
 ture into a language of surpassing difficulty, 
 inscribed upon the last page of his manu- 
 script this memorable saying : — " I give it, 
 as the result of long experience, that prayer 
 and pains, with faith in Christ Jesus, will 
 enable a man to do anything." Pains, if 
 they be godly pains, will always be hallow- 
 ed by prayer ; and prayer, if it be genuine 
 prayer, will always be followed up by pains. 
 But that both may be successful, there must 
 be faith in Christ Jesus. "Whatever efforts 
 we make, and however we may be strength- 
 ened to make them, we cannot command 
 the result. The result is still with Him who 
 " doeth according to his will in the army of 
 heaven, and among the inhabitants of the 
 earth, and none can stay his hand, or say 
 unto him, What doest Thou ?" A profound 
 conviction of this truth is essential to the 
 
RELIANCE ON GOD'S BLESSING. 87 
 
 life of faith — essential to constrain us in all 
 our doings to hang only upon God. 
 
 We have endeavored, in the foregoing chap- 
 ters, to indicate the great principle that must 
 actuate the servant of God, and the secret 
 of the strength by which he may be enabled 
 to obey that principle, and also the channel 
 through which that strength is continually 
 derived to his soul. But the confidence that 
 shall suffice to uphold him in all and through 
 all his toils and perils must rest not only on 
 the succor that is promised to him, but on 
 the ultimate success of which he is no less 
 assured. He should not more entirely trust 
 in God that, in the fulfillment of his duty, 
 his blessing will crown his exertion. He 
 should regard himself as no less dependent 
 for the issue, than for the effort, on Him who 
 perfects his wisdom in his children's foolish- 
 ness, his strength in their weakness, his grace 
 in their un worthiness, and his sovereignty in 
 their success. He has undertaken a most 
 arduous work : a work beset with every 
 circumstance fitted to dishearten; a work 
 to which he confesses his own resources 
 and agencies are unequal ; a work which 
 has to be carried on in the face of the 
 bitterest antagonism of adversaries who 
 laugh it to scorn, — the strange work of liv- 
 
88 A MODEL FOR MElfr OF BUSINESS. 
 
 ing in the world and yet escaping its de- 
 filements. 
 
 The principle which underlies the practi- 
 cal recognition of God in all the events of 
 ordinary life is, that for results, just as 
 much as for duties, we are utterly dependent 
 upon him. We are very apt to lose sight of 
 this truth ; either, on the one hand, presum- 
 ing on consequences as inevitable, or, on the 
 other, not content with being vigilant and 
 energetic in the pursuit of our objects, we 
 harass ourselves about the issue of our en- 
 deavors. We take upon ourselves the bur- 
 den of the result, when we should only take 
 upon ourselves the yoke of obedience to the 
 will of God. Yea, and even for that obedi- 
 ence, as was shown in a former chapter, we 
 are to confide in the grace which is sufficient 
 for us. Surely if we rely upon God for 
 strength to fulfill every duty, we should no 
 less rely upon him to crown the discharge 
 of every duty with success. If no effort is 
 of us, but as it is of God, must not the up- 
 shot of all our efforts be still more palpably 
 in his hands? If, therefore, we have to con- 
 fide in him, in order that we may do any- 
 thing that is good, it follows that we. must 
 repose upon him, in order that what we do 
 may be brought to good effect. 
 
RELIANCE ON GOD'S BLESSING. 89 
 
 That we may exercise such reliance, it is 
 essential that we realize the all-pervading, 
 all-con troling government of the Lord God 
 Omnipotent. In creed, we all avouch that 
 sovereignty; yet in the practical details of 
 life, where is the Christian who carries out 
 this faith in all its bearings and in all its in- 
 fluences ? The general providence of God, 
 his sway over systems and worlds and na- 
 tions, and even over events of magnitude 
 and moment, we do not deny. To deny this 
 would be virtual atheism. But to own God 
 as fashioning every link in the complicated 
 chain of our history ; to discern his hand in 
 the least as well as in the greatest ; to realize 
 a providence which overrules what is evil, 
 as well as orders what is good — a providence 
 which restrains the unwilling, while it leads 
 the obedient — a providence so transcendent, 
 that none and nothing can thwart it; so 
 minute, that none and nothing can escape it 
 - — a providence which directs the insect's 
 wing and the atom's flutter, as well as the 
 planet's course and the archangel's flight — 
 to do this clearly, constantly, and experi- 
 mentally, is an attainment in the divine life 
 as rare as it is precious ; yet this, and noth- 
 ing less than this, is warranted, or rather 
 commanded, by such expressions as "in 
 
90 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 Him we live, and move, and have our be- 
 ing ;" " the wrath of man shall praise him, 
 and the remainder of wrath he will restrain ;" 
 " not a sparrow is forgotten before God ;" 
 " not a sparrow falleth to the ground with- 
 out our heavenly Father's will ;" " the very 
 hairs of our head are all numbered." We 
 must interweave these assurances with the 
 tissue and texture of our lives; they must 
 enter as an essential element into the forma- 
 tion of our purposes, and into the conduct 
 of our pursuits. It is thus we " must walk 
 with God." It is thus we must wait upon 
 him, as " working all things according to 
 the counsel of his will." It is thus we must 
 trust in him, and be " doing good ;" " com- 
 mit our way to him, that he may bring it to 
 pass." If, however, we are to have confi- 
 dence in God's paternal providence while 
 pursuing our designs, it is essential that we 
 should pursue them as his servants. "We 
 must be assured that we are obeying his 
 will. We must be diligent because obedi- 
 ent. " The God of heaven, he will prosper 
 us." What then? Shall we sit still, till 
 God accomplish the work by miracle ? shall 
 we wait, expecting that God will fulfill his 
 own designs? ISTo, but because of his prom- 
 ised aid, we will be the more diligent ; we 
 
RELIANCE ON GOD'S . BLESSING. 91 
 
 will labor, "forasmuch as we know our labor 
 is not in vain in the Lord." It is thus, in 
 doing the will of God, that we must look for 
 the blessing of God. So that, if we are not 
 satisfied that the purpose we are cherishing, 
 or the friendships we are forming, or the 
 undertaking we are enterprising, has the 
 divine sanction, and is in harmony with 
 our duty, we cannot proceed in the calm 
 hope that " God will prosper us." Nothing 
 can animate and sustain a Christian like the 
 persuasion, " I am about my Father's busi- 
 ness ; I am where he would have me be ; I 
 am doing what he would have me do." The 
 first question, therefore, in all cases is, "Lord, 
 what wilt thou have me to do ?" " Is this 
 thy way ?" " Then it shall be my way." 
 " Is this thy pleasure ?" " Then it shall be 
 my pleasure." We must take every step in 
 faith. We must " hear a word behind us, 
 saying, This is the way, walk ye in it ; when 
 we turn to the right hand or turn to the left." 
 Then, only then, shall we pursue our path in 
 the sweet conviction that all must be well, 
 everlastingly well ; for the result is not ours, 
 but His whom we serve. 
 
 While, however, we reckon, without wa- 
 vering, that God will insure to us a happy 
 result, we must leave the time, and the cir- 
 
92 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 cumstances, and the character of the result 
 entirely in his hands. We are not to pre- 
 scribe, but to submit; we are not to say, 
 "Thus it must be," but "Father, thy will, 
 not mine, be done !" It is enough for us to 
 know that the issue shall be " according to 
 the good pleasure of his will," though it may 
 not prove according to our narrow forecast- 
 ings, or congenial to our natural desires. 
 Disappointment may be the result, and yet 
 God have prospered us; heaviness and 
 trouble the consequence, and yet God have 
 blessed us. He may have been disappoint- 
 ing our earthly expectations for the purpose 
 of strengthening our heavenly hopes. He 
 may have been overshadowing our prospects 
 here, for the purpose of brightening our vis- 
 ions of the future. He may have been de- 
 nying us perishing wealth, in order to aug- 
 ment our imperishable riches. He may 
 have been bereaving us of the honor that 
 cometh from man, in order to give us more 
 of the honor that cometh from himself. It 
 is indispensable that we should bear this in 
 mind, else we may be haunted with the im- 
 pression that God has failed to prosper us, 
 though we began to build in his name. Suc- 
 cess, in the judgment of God, is widely dif- 
 ferent from success in the judgment of men. 
 
RELIANCE ON GOD'S BLESSING. 93 
 
 The Lord often fulfills his promises by seem- 
 ing to break them. Abraham went forth 
 from his home and country in the obedience 
 of faith ; yet, when he reached the promised 
 land, God " gave him no inheritance in it — 
 no, not so much as to set his foot on." By 
 faith, Moses led Israel out of Egypt, yet he 
 was shut up forty years in the wilderness, 
 and never printed his footmark on the holy 
 land. We must see " the end of the Lord," 
 before we fully understand his ways. Mean- 
 time, suffice it that he has assured us, in re- 
 lation to the man whose " delight is in the 
 law of the Lord," that " whatsoever he doeth 
 shall prosper." Here let us rest. To this 
 let us cling. Here is a sheet-anchor which 
 never drags. Bear in mind, that in this 
 world we see but fragments of the divine 
 plan ; we catch but glimpses of the concat- 
 enation of the divine chain. When we shall 
 see as we are seen, and know as we are 
 known, then will the symmetry of the plan, 
 and the perfection of the chain, be clear as 
 the light of heaven. Then shall we discern 
 what now it is so hard to conceive, that " all 
 things work together for good to them that 
 love God ;" that the almighty Master of the 
 universe harmonizes all things, however 
 jarring, in our history, in such wise as to 
 
94 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 make all eventuate in one chorus of eternal 
 praise. 
 
 Such is the principle which a Christian 
 ought to carry into all the duties of his sec- 
 ular, and all the struggles of his spiritual life. 
 He will find its influence alike practical and 
 blessed. Truly practical, it will give sails to 
 his vessel — oil to his machinery. A man toss- 
 ed to and fro with apprehensions is unfitted for 
 exertion ; he wastes in a flickering blaze the 
 oil which should feed a steady flame. So- 
 licitude about the result, paralyzes his effort 
 for its attainment. But relieve him of this 
 burden, and you prepare him for his task. 
 Nothing so effectually unnerves the arm as 
 an anxious mind. And whence does such a 
 mind usually spring? From taking upon 
 ourselves the care of consequences, instead 
 of devoting our attention to duties alone. 
 Let the Christian commit his way unto the 
 Lord, trust in him, and be doing good, and 
 what hung like a millstone round his ener- 
 gies will be gone, and he will gird up his 
 loins and pursue his course, like the un- 
 chained eagle mounting into the sky. Noth- 
 ing so effectually emboldens a man to do 
 right as the confidence that all things are in 
 his Father's hands. What can divert, what 
 dishearten, what withstand him who can, in 
 
RELIANCE ON GOD'S BLESSING. 95 
 
 the depth of conscious sincerity, say, "The 
 God of heaven will prosper me." 
 
 And the principle is potent as it is practi- 
 cal. "Knowledge is power," says the phi- 
 losopher. " Faith is power," says the saint. 
 It endues the believer with a sort of derived 
 omnipotence. " If thou canst believe," said 
 Christ, " all things are possible to him that 
 believeth." And what is faith ? Confidence 
 in God — confidence in his almighty power 
 and faithfulness ; a confidence which nerves 
 the soul for every task. Whether, therefore, 
 for spiritual or for secular duty, whether for 
 duty in the outer or the inner life, there is 
 no principle can brace a man like the prin- 
 ciple of implicit trust in God. Let a be- 
 liever once rise to the height of this princi- 
 ple, and he will smile at difficulty, and be 
 calm in danger. Let him be assured that 
 God says, "Do this," and he will say, "It 
 shall be done ; Thou wilt enable me to do 
 it. I am but a clay vessel for thee to use ; 
 the excellency of the power is all thine own. 
 The Lord is my light and my salvation; 
 whom then shall I fear ? The Lord is the 
 strength of my life ; of whom then shall I be 
 afraid ?" Here is the power which enabled 
 the saints of old to " quench the violence of 
 fire, to stop the mouths of lions ; out of weak- 
 
96 A MODEL FOE MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 ness to be made strong, to wax valiant in 
 fight, to put to flight the armies of the 
 aliens." In the might of this confidence, 
 the believer can advance through the storm 
 as through the calm, in the midst of dark- 
 ness as in the midst of day. Nor is this 
 faith less fitted to regulate, than it is to in- 
 vigorate in all circumstances and in all anx- 
 ieties. Is the result with God ? Then the 
 grand inquiry is, not what is pleasant, but 
 w T hat is right; not what is plausible, but 
 what is sound ; not what looks most likely to 
 prosper, but what can anticipate success 
 from God. This singleness of reliance will 
 secure singleness of judgment; and the 
 believer will have but one supreme study in 
 all his pursuits, earthly as well as heavenly — 
 to ascertain and fulfill the will of his Father 
 in heaven. Steering by this chart, how 
 steady will be his course, and how fixed his 
 helm ! "While others are tossed to and fro 
 by conflicting winds and opposing currents, 
 he will be borne along as by a gulf-stream, 
 and wafted as by a trade-wind. 
 
 ]STeed it be added, that this principle will 
 sweetly compose and calm the Christian in 
 the pursuit of his earthly duties? He who 
 is actuated by it can be tranquil under re- 
 proaches, misconstructions, and misrepresent- 
 
RELIANCE ON GOD'S BLESSING. 97 
 
 ations. He will "hold him still in the 
 Lord," as the Psalmist beautifully expresses 
 it. "Still in the Lord" — self-possessed and 
 unruffled in him, as overruling all things — 
 as doing all things well. Such a one will 
 be able to act on the counsel given in the 
 same expressive psalm: "Rest in the Lord, 
 and wait patiently for him : fret not thyself 
 because of him who prospereth in his way, 
 because of the man who bringeth wdcked de- 
 vices to pass." " Commit thy way unto the 
 Lord; trust also in him, and he shall bring it 
 to pass ; and he shall bring forth thy righte- 
 ousness as the light, and thy judgment as the 
 noonday." Hence it was that the man of 
 God, already specially referred to, was not 
 careful to answer the bad men who laughed 
 his design to scorn, and charged him with 
 treason against his king. He contented 
 himself with simply protesting, " The God 
 of heaven, he will prosper us ; therefore we 
 his servants will arise and build." Them 
 who thus honor God, he will honor. No 
 matter how dark the path which the believer 
 pursues, if only he pursue it without falter- 
 ing ; for " light is sown for the righteous," 
 however long it may be before it spring 
 forth. " Though it tarry, wait for it ; for at 
 last it shall come, and shall not tarry." 
 1 
 
98 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 Your labor cannot be in vain, if it be labor 
 in the Lord. 
 
 Is it not then clear as the sunshine, that a 
 single eye to the blessing of God, as the 
 spring of all exertion and the source of all 
 success, is of vital moment in all our under- 
 takings, whether spiritual or secular ? Here 
 must we find nerve and confidence for the 
 mighty work which is accomplishing, or has 
 to be accomplished, within us- — personal sal- 
 vation. Let us consider the natural condition 
 of our souls. Does it not resemble a city in 
 ruins, " the walls broken down, and the 
 gates thereof burned with. fire?" But it is 
 not the will of God that our moral being 
 should remain thus desolate. " This is the 
 will of God, even your sanctification." This 
 is the will of God, even that out of the ruins 
 of our nature there should be raised up a 
 temple within us for " a habitation of God 
 through the Spirit." Let no one, then, stag- 
 ger at the greatness of the task, or at the 
 difficulties which beset it, or at the impo- 
 tency of his own efforts. Let him set about 
 the glorious work in the assurance that God 
 is with him, and will not suffer him to fail 
 in the attempt. Listen to his exhortations, 
 which are all likewise gracious promises. 
 " Build up yourselves on your most holy 
 
RELIANCE ON GOD'S BLESSING. 99 
 
 faith, praying in the Holy Ghost." " Giving 
 all diligence, add to your faith virtue ; and 
 to virtue knowledge ; and to knowledge 
 temperance ; and to temperance patience ; 
 and to patience godliness ; and to godliness 
 brotherly kindness ; and to brotherly kind- 
 ness charity" — till the top-stone of the living 
 temple be brought forth " with shoutings of 
 grace, grace unto it." Be " confident of this 
 very thing, that he which hath begun a good 
 work in his children, will perfect it until 
 the day of Christ." 
 
 Take this principle, and apply it also in 
 our efforts " to set forth the glory of God, 
 and set forward the salvation of all men." 
 In these latter days, God sets before his 
 people many great and effectual doors of 
 usefulness. Let no one say, " I am weak, 
 and have small resources — how can I ac- 
 complish aught ?" It is the same with God 
 to save by the few, as by the many — to dis- 
 comfit his enemies by the crash of earthen 
 pitchers, as by the serried hosts of the 
 mighty. " Who hath despised the day of 
 small things?" How slight the first streak 
 of dawn ! How minute the grain of mus- 
 tard-seed ! Some of the noblest exploits in 
 the Church have had the feeblest beginnings. 
 Look at the birth of the great work of latter- 
 
100 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 day evangelization. A few Christian men 
 met together in obscurity and seeming 
 feebleness ; they pondered and prayed over 
 the state of the heathen world ; they con- 
 ceived and planned the glorious enterprise 
 of evangelizing all Pagan lands. "What has 
 been the result? The God of heaven has 
 prospered them. The missionary enterprise 
 has assumed a definite form, and put forth 
 the inherent energy of vital Christianity, 
 and now counts the children which it has 
 borne to God by tens of thousands ; mission- 
 aries are preaching in almost every tongue 
 the wondrous works of God ; and all the 
 ends of the earth are white already unto 
 the harvest. " What hath God wrought ?" 
 "Behold how great a matter a little fire 
 kindleth" — if only it be fire from above. 
 
 Regard not, then, the difficulties that may 
 block up the path of usefulness, but have 
 respect to the promises of God. Say not 
 with the slothful, "There is a lion in the 
 way," nor with the faithless, " It cannot be 
 done." Ask, Is it right— am I called to at- 
 tempt it ? Then ask no more. What may 
 not the humblest believer achieve, who sets 
 about his work in the strength, and rests for 
 the result upon, the arm of the Almighty? 
 
 O that Christians would learn to ask great 
 
RELIANCE ON GOD'S BLESSING. 101 
 
 things — attempt great things — expect great 
 things! only to ask in faith, attempt in 
 strength divine, and build all their expecta- 
 tions on the faithfulness of Him that hath 
 promised, — that they would carry this wait- 
 ing upon God alone into all their commercial 
 and secular affairs ; enter into no partner- 
 ship, form no scheme, embark in no specu- 
 lation, upon which they cannot invoke the 
 blessing of the Lord. And, having so done — 
 having asked counsel of God — then let them 
 be not wavering or distrustful as to the issue ; 
 patiently pursuing the course that is set be- 
 fore them, and letting the Lord do what 
 seemeth him good. Results are his alone. 
 We have no right to intermeddle with them. 
 They are the province of another. "The 
 morrow shall take thought for the things 
 of itself; sufficient unto the day is the evil 
 thereof." God is as much in the future as 
 he is in the present ; there is no variable- 
 ness, no darkness, no futurity with him. 
 " We walk by faith, not by sight." So, even 
 amid all the temptations, perplexities, sor- 
 rows, and failures to which good men will 
 be subjected in this strange, transitory scene, 
 " the peace of God, which passeth all under- 
 standing, shall keep their hearts and minds 
 through Christ Jesus." Amen. 
 
102 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 CHAPTEE Y. 
 
 ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOD'S HAND. 
 
 Hard by the altar of burnt- offering stood 
 the altar of incense in the ancient Temple. 
 As the one symbolized the atonement to be 
 made by Christ, and the other the fragrant 
 merits of that atonement ; so did the former 
 represent also the offering of prayer to God 
 through Christ's mediation by his faithful 
 people, and the latter the oblation of praise, 
 presented through the same intercession as a 
 sweet-smelling savor to the Lord. Prayer 
 and praise are twin services. They should 
 go hand in hand in the life of the pilgrim 
 of faith. How beautifully are they linked 
 together in the precepts of Scripture ! 
 
 In the lessons of inspiration we have in 
 one verse the injunction — "Pray without 
 ceasing ;" and in the next the kindred com- 
 mand — " In everything give thanks." So, 
 when we are bidden to be " careful for 
 nothing, but in everything, by prayer and 
 supplication," to let our requests be made 
 known unto God, it is added, "with thanks- 
 giving." Incense ought always fo be min- 
 

 ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOD'S HAND. 103 
 
 gled with the burnt-offering; the prayer 
 that is not savoured with praise is lacking 
 in sweetness. Yet such is the pride, the 
 selfishness, and the unbelief of the human 
 heart, that there is no duty — we ought rather 
 to say, no privilege — more shamefully slight- 
 ed than the duty — the privilege — of praise. 
 How many will sue to God in the storm, 
 who straightway forget him in the calm ; 
 how many will call upon him in the day of 
 their trouble, who fail to acknowledge him 
 in the day of their deliverance ; how many 
 will cry unto him for succor in the hour of 
 peril, who never own his hand, w r hen res- 
 cued from their danger, in answer to their 
 cries! If there be one token more than 
 another that bespeaks the depth of our fall, 
 it is the depth of our ingratitude. Ungodli- 
 ness is the spiritual epidemic of our nature ; 
 unthankfulness, one of the most palpable evi- 
 dences of that ungodliness. Men who will 
 be grateful, most grateful, to the mother that 
 bare and nursed them— men who will be 
 grateful, most grateful, to the father that fed 
 and taught and trained them — men who will 
 glow with gratitude toward the friend that 
 stood by them in the hour of their distress; 
 — these very men will never think of the 
 Father of their spirits — never think of Him 
 
104: A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 who has loved them with infinitely more 
 than a mother's tenderness, and be all cold- 
 ness toward the friend who so loved them 
 that he laid down his life for them. How 
 loathsome is ingratitude toward man, even 
 in the eyes of men ! How would a person 
 be reprobated, and almost execrated, as un- 
 worthy of the name of man, who should 
 behave toward a mortal benefactor as too 
 many of us behave toward the Father of 
 mercies and God of all consolation ! 
 
 The genuine and truly noble servant of 
 God acts not on this wise. He not only 
 lifts up his heart in prayer when he is in 
 distress, but after his prayer has been an- 
 swered, he does not overlook the hand that 
 had succored him. Nor does he ascribe 
 to himself the success of his measures, nor 
 burn incense to his own vanity, and rob 
 God of the glory due to his name. We 
 have traced out the spirit of devotion which 
 pervades his character ; we have seen how he 
 communes with God, not only in the closet 
 and the sanctuary, but how in the midst 
 of multitudes, when encompassed with perils 
 and insults and perplexities, he still holds se- 
 cret converse with the skies. Now the same 
 spirit of faith that leads him thus to live in 
 prayer, leads him also to live in praise. 
 
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOD'S HAND. 105 
 
 Now it is this spirit, pervading the daily 
 walk of the devout man of business, leading 
 him to recognize the divine hand in all of his 
 mercies — acknowledge all his blessings as 
 coming from God — regard all his acquisi- 
 tions as belonging to God — use all his tal- 
 ents and possessions as the fruits of God's 
 manifold grace — it is this excellent spirit 
 that we would portray, and commend as 
 worthy of all acceptation. 
 
 Ingratitude is the child of pride ; thank- 
 fulness, the offspring of humility. A proud 
 man will never be truly grateful ; an humble 
 man possesses the first element of gratitude. 
 Even in the intercourse of man with man, you 
 will find this rule hold good. Benefit a vain 
 man, and he will ascribe the service to his own 
 desert, he will look upon it as no more than 
 a just tribute to his excellence ; but serve a 
 lowly man, and he will attribute the service 
 to the kindness of his benefactor. A proud 
 child thinks that he has laid his parents 
 under obligations: a lowly child feels that 
 he can never liquidate the debt of gratitude 
 •he owes to them. The same rule holds in 
 relation to God. You must be lowly, if you 
 would be grateful. The bird that builds the 
 lowest nest, soars the highest in the bright 
 blue sky. The lark hides her nest in the 
 
106 A HODBL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 grass, but her flight is far up in the heavens ; 
 she loves to lose herself in the beams of the 
 sun, till you can tell where she is hovering, 
 only by the gushing strains which she pours 
 from on high. It is so with the true servant 
 of God ; in proportion as he lays self in the 
 dust he will mount upon the wings of thank- 
 fulness to heaven; praise will fill his lips, 
 because humility fills his heart. Were we 
 more profoundly impressed with the sense of 
 our own indesert, we should be more vividly 
 impressed with the sovereign grace and over- 
 flowing goodness of our Father in heaven. 
 Men naturally imagine that they have a 
 claim to all they have — yea, and to a great 
 deal more than they possess. They are 
 prone to dwell on what they lack, rather 
 than on what they enjoy: they compare 
 themselves w T ith those more favored, not 
 with those more suffering than themselves. 
 Can we wonder, then, that the world is filled 
 with discontent, instead of thankfulness — 
 with mourning, instead of praise ? See the 
 hateful effects of such a spirit terribly illus- 
 trated in the history of the haughty Haman. 
 But the contrite heart of the believer re- 
 minds him that everything short of hell is 
 mercy to a sinner; that a cup of cold water 
 is far beyond his deserts. Take this as the 
 
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOD'S HAND. 107 
 
 standard by which to measure our mercies, 
 and what a tide of blessing is poured even 
 on the meanest and most desolate of the hu- 
 man race ! 
 
 Next to humility, there must be faith, in 
 order to thankfulness. In the last chap- 
 ter the attempt is made to show how the 
 special providence of God ought, in all 
 places and on all occasions, to be realized 
 by the believer — in the counting-house as 
 well as the sanctuary — in the ramifications 
 of business as well as in the ordinances of 
 worship. This minute recognition of di- 
 vine interposition is essential, in order to the 
 grateful acknowledgment of the hand of 
 God in our mercies. The believer in chance, 
 who ascribes everything to fortune or to 
 fatality — how can he own the divine hand ? 
 It must be seen to be trusted — it must be 
 trusted to be glorified. Faith, therefore — ■ 
 faith discerning the Almighty hand within 
 the machinery of second causes, as actua- 
 ting, controling, determining all — such a 
 faith is the parent of unfailing praise. 
 
 Men of business, from the very nature of 
 their occupations, are specially liable to lose 
 the lively exercise of this practical faith. 
 Their attention is of necessity largely ab- 
 sorbed in the measures which they must 
 
108 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 adopt — the steps which they must take — the 
 instrumentalities which they must employ, 
 in order to success ; so that they are apt to 
 fall into a secular, material state of mind, 
 which recognizes little beyond physical ma- 
 chinery ; or at most, confines the providence 
 of God to a kind of vague universal super- 
 vision, but does not trace it as interwoven 
 with the details of life. The frequent con- 
 sequence is a hardness of spirit, an unthank- 
 ful, undevotional frame of heart, seldom in 
 contact with God, craving little of his pres- 
 ence, and enjoying little of his peace. It is 
 therefore of the utmost importance, ye men 
 of engrossing occupation, that ye should 
 accustom yourselves to realize the fact that 
 God is j ust as much the agent where the 
 most complicated machinery is employed, 
 as where there is scarcely a shadow of in- 
 strumentality ; that he is just as much the 
 agent in giving "seed to the sower and bread 
 to the eater," by means of the sun, and the 
 seasons, and the rain, and the gases of the 
 earth, and the thousand other influences 
 which concur to produce the harvest, as he 
 was the agent when he took the five loaves 
 and the few little fishes in his hand, and 
 multiplied them as they were being distribu- 
 ted among the multitude. In the one case, 
 
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOD'S HAND. 109 
 
 we call the agency creation ; in the other, 
 providence — but is it not equally, in both, 
 the finger of God? "Were it otherwise, 
 how could God govern the universe ? Did 
 causes or creatures act independently of his 
 control, where were the certainty of his pur- 
 poses, or the stability of his throne ? O, 
 could we but keep his hand in view as it is 
 our privilege and duty to keep it, not all the 
 apparatus of means — not all the efforts we 
 employ in our diversified pursuits — not all 
 our devotedness in the prosecution of our 
 multitudinous objects, would make us either 
 unmindful of our dependence, or ungrateful 
 for his ceaseless care ! 
 
 It is this practical faith that is needed in 
 order to the perpetual acknowledgment of 
 the goodness of God. Christians ought to 
 beware how they ever ascribe their success 
 to any skill or power of their own. They 
 should take heed that they do not boast be- 
 cause they may have been vigorous and 
 healthy ; or because their knowledge may 
 have been clear, and their judgment prompt 
 and sound; or because, having laid their 
 plans with consummate prudence, they car- 
 ried them out with consummate address ; or 
 because, having adopted every precaution 
 against what the world calls accident and 
 
110 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 chance, their precautions were crowned 
 with the happiest result. What though all 
 this be true, are they therefore to vaunt with 
 the godless Assyrian, "My own hand hath 
 got it me, and my wisdom, because I am 
 prudent?" If we so boast, God will leave us 
 to our self-sufficiency, and our prosperity 
 w T ill be our ruin. Rather than this, it had 
 been better to have failed in every plan, to 
 have been baffled in every speculation, — 
 been beggared instead of being enriched. 
 
 The merchant has most reason to watch 
 and pray in the day of his prosperity. It is 
 easier to bear the ebb of disappointment 
 than the flood-tide of success. The vessel 
 that had weathered the storm sometimes 
 springs the leak, or goes to pieces on the 
 sunken rock, in the midst of the calm. So 
 it has often been with the professor of godli- 
 ness : after having borne the heavings and 
 tossings of the tempestuous deep, he has 
 made shipwreck on the glassy sea, amid the 
 sunshine of gladness. We have most reason 
 to watch when we think ourselves most se- 
 cure. It was the beautiful remark of a poor 
 Christian, when unexpected relief was given 
 to her — " O ! what a blessing it is to be poor, 
 that one may see the hand of God so plain." 
 How just the sentiment ! The hand of God 
 
ACKNOYvXEDGMENT OF GOD'S HAND. Ill 
 
 is often concealed from the opulent in the 
 very affluence of its gifts; while to the 
 pious poor it is quite naked, though spread- 
 ing their table but with bread and water, 
 A dinner of herbs so seasoned with gratitude, 
 is incomparably sweeter than a stalled ox 
 eaten in selfish thanklessness. Think not 
 that there is no danger of your being be- 
 trayed into such a spirit of unthankfulness. 
 Remember the conduct of Hezekiah — the 
 good King Hezekiah. When the blasphem- 
 ing monarch of Assyria came up against 
 Jerusalem and besieged it, and the Jewish 
 prince was driven to sore extremity, then he 
 sought his God right humbly, and spread 
 the letter of his adversary before the mercy- 
 seat, and cried aloud for deliverance ; and 
 the Lord hearkened unto his prayer, and the 
 angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in 
 the camp of the Assyrians, till " they were 
 all dead corpses." And again, when he was 
 in -sickness, and nigh unto death, he turned 
 his face to the wall, and wept and prayed 
 and plead ; and God had respect to his sup- 
 plication, and added fifteen years to his life. 
 But what was the result ? At first, indeed, 
 the king was filled with gratitude, and ex- 
 claimed, " The living, the living, he shall 
 praise thee, as I do this day ; the father to 
 
112 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 the children shall make known thy truth ; 
 all the day long will I sing thy praise !" — 
 yet the sad record of his after days is, " but 
 llezekiah rendered not again unto the Lord, 
 according to the benefit done unto him ; for 
 his heart was lifted up." Is it not often so 
 among ourselves? Where are those who 
 were sick, and called upon God in their 
 sickness, and he restored them ? Have they 
 rendered unto the Lord according to the 
 benefit done unto them ? Christ said of 
 the lepers whom he had healed, "Were 
 there not ten cleansed, but where are the 
 nine ?" In like manner we may say, Were 
 there not ten raised from the bed of lan- 
 guishing, but where are the nine ? Were 
 there not ten prospered in their plans, but 
 where are the nine? Were there not ten 
 rescued from impending peril, but where are 
 the nine? Were there not ten who escaped 
 the pestilence that walked in darkness, but 
 where are the nine? One, here and there, 
 — sometimes the outcast and the stranger, 
 sometimes the man we should have least ex- 
 pected, — returns to give glory to God. But 
 where are the heartless, thankless multitude 
 of recipients ? 
 
 However prevalent the sin of ingratitude, 
 there is none God abhors with a deeper ab- 
 
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOD'S HAND. 113 
 
 horrence, there is none which he will more 
 assuredly punish. "He w r ill not give his 
 glory to another." Behold an instance. 
 Who was more prosperous than the haughty 
 Nebuchadnezzar ? Yet what said he in the 
 pride of his heart, when he had finished his 
 matchless city ? He said, " Is not this great 
 Babylon, that I have built for the house of 
 the kingdom, by the might of my power, 
 and for the honor of my majesty?" And 
 what was the consequence? "The same 
 hour the king was driven from men, and did 
 eat grass as oxen ; and his body was wet 
 with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were 
 grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like 
 birds' claws." God turned into a beast the 
 man who was so brutish that he did not 
 know, or so arrogant that he would not own, 
 the hand that gave him all. But after he 
 had been reduced to the lowest debasement, 
 when at length his understanding returned 
 unto him, then he " blessed the Most High, 
 and praised and honored him that liveth for 
 ever ;" and " who doeth according to his 
 will in the army of heaven, and among the 
 inhabitants of the earth." 
 
 But it is good that we should be reminded 
 of the benign influence which the spirit of 
 continual acknowledgment of the hand of 
 
114 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 God will exert upon us. One of its happiest 
 effects will be to enable us to bear prosperity 
 with meekness. If a man's success is as- 
 cribed to himself, he is sure to be intoxicated ; 
 but if to God, that very success will humble 
 him. Then is he able to carry the overflow- 
 ing cup steadily, and to sip from it with 
 safety ; then will he taste of it thankfully, 
 but not drain it to the dregs. Receiving all 
 as from God, the more he has the more will 
 he be stimulated to faithfulness in his trust. 
 He will realize that he is not the proprietor, 
 but the steward ; that he is not the master, 
 to do what he will with his own, but the 
 servant, to trade with his Lord's money, that 
 when he cometh and reckoneth with him, 
 he may receive his own with usury. As 
 every man expects his servant to be faithful 
 to him in the use of his property, so should 
 all feel that so God expects them to be faith- 
 ful to him in the administration of that which 
 is his. How effectually will this thought 
 guard a man against being lifted up or car- 
 ried away by what God intrusts to him. 
 "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are 
 not consumed, because his compassions fail 
 not," will be the language of the believer in 
 the hour of his distress ; and " I am less than 
 the least of all his mercies," will be his sen- 
 
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOD'S HAND. 115 
 
 timent in the day of his fullness and pros- 
 perity. Such a man will be more humbled 
 the more he is exalted ; and the more God 
 gives him and enables him to do, the more 
 will he feel his unworthiness. Beautifully 
 was this spirit exemplified in St. Paul : "I 
 labored more abundantly than they all," 
 says he, "yet not I, but the grace of God 
 that was with me." So, again, " Behold I 
 live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." 
 And after God had done such great things 
 by him among the Gentiles, he said, "To 
 me, who am less than the least of all saints, 
 is this grace given, that I should preach 
 among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches 
 of Christ." All of grace — himself nothing. 
 The same spirit will make a man generous 
 and large-hearted. Where God is forgotten, 
 it is pitiful to see how riches harden the 
 heart of him who gains them. Sometimes 
 the man who was liberal while he was poor, 
 becomes niggardly as he becomes wealthy. 
 The tendency of gain is to nourish selfish- 
 ness, if the hand that bestows it is overlook- 
 ed; and the thirst of selfishness can never 
 be slaked. The reservoir of the covetous 
 never overflows. Recognizing no obligation, 
 he yields to no claim. A man of this sort 
 once said, " Others never give to me, why 
 
116 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 should I give to others f M Infatuated man! 
 is there none that ever gives to thee ? What 
 hast thou that thou hast not received? Has 
 God given thee nothing? Who gave thee 
 reason, life, success? Who prospered thy 
 plans ? Who gave thee power to get wealth ? 
 Who has kept thy dwelling safe ? Who has 
 warded off from thee a thousand calamities 
 which have overtaken thy fellows? And 
 art thou then indebted to none — has none a 
 right to thy bounty ? Wilt thou rob God ? 
 Shall he have no share of what is his own ? 
 Remember he cometh to reckon with thee, 
 and then thou must account for "thy Lord's 
 money." 
 
 Nor will the habitual acknowledgment of 
 God's hand serve only to enlarge a man's 
 heart in bountifulness ; it will at the same 
 time save him from self-complacency when 
 he has done all ; it will constrain him to as- 
 cribe to his Father in heaven both the abil- 
 ity and the disposition to give. If he lets 
 his light shine before men, it is that they 
 may see his good works, not himself ; and 
 glorify not him, but his Father which is in 
 heaven. When he relieves the poor and 
 needy, it is not in the fond notion of making 
 God his debtor, but in grateful acknowledg- 
 ment of the hand that has filled him with 
 
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOD'S HAND. 117 
 
 plenteousness. Thus, by laying up less 
 treasure for himself on earth, he becomes 
 more rich toward God; for what a man 
 freely gives, that is placed to his account in 
 heaven. Keep back what is the Lord's, and 
 in robbing him you rob yourself; give what 
 is his out of love to him, and you secure it 
 to yourself. Look to man for your reward, 
 and you have it ; but none shall await you 
 above. Be rich for yourselves, and you shall 
 be poor toward God ; be poor toward your- 
 selves, and you shall be rich toward him. It 
 is, therefore, the lowly sense of the divine hand 
 in all, which will effectually avert the tempta- 
 tion to which the generous giver is exposed, 
 to trust in himself, and thus let the spirit of 
 self-righteousness mar his charity, and bereave 
 him of " the recompense of the reward." 
 
 How beautifully is the union of munifi- 
 cence and humility exemplified in the char- 
 acter of the man after God's own heart! 
 When David, once a poor shepherd, became 
 abundant in riches, they did not estrange his 
 heart from God. No, his whole soul was on 
 fire to devote his wealth to the erection of 
 " an habitation for the mighty God of Ja- 
 cob ;" and when he had been warned 
 that the glory of the work was reserved 
 for his son, to which decision he submit- 
 
118 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 ed without a murmur, he set himself at 
 once to make the most magnificent prepara- 
 tions for the intended palace for God. Yet 
 when he had done all — when he and his peo- 
 ple, animated by his example, had provided 
 a store of gold and precious things, unprece- 
 dented in costliness and amount, was the 
 oblation tarnished by a single sentiment of 
 self-satisfaction ? Far from it. Hearken to 
 his glorious language: — "Then the people 
 rejoiced, for that they offered willingly, be- 
 cause with perfect heart they offered wil- 
 lingly to the Lord: and David the king 
 also rejoiced with great joy. Wherefore 
 David blessed the Lord before all the con- 
 gregation : and David said, Blessed be thou, 
 Lord God of Israel, our Father, for ever and 
 ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, 
 and the power, and the glory, and the 
 victory, and the majesty: for all that is in 
 the heaven and in the earth is thine ; thine 
 is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art ex- 
 alted as head above all. Both riches and 
 honor come of thee, and thou reignest over 
 all ; and in thy hand is power and might : 
 and in thy hand it is to make great, and 
 to give strength unto all. Now therefore, 
 our God, we thank thee, and praise thy 
 glorious name. But who am I, and what is 
 

 ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOD'S HAND. 119 
 
 my people, that we should be able to offer 
 so willingly after this sort? For all things 
 come of thee, and of thine own have we 
 given thee. For we are strangers before 
 thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers : 
 our days on the earth are as a shadow, and 
 there is none abiding. O Lord our God, 
 all this store that we have prepared to build 
 thee a house for thine holy name, cometh 
 of thine hand, and is all thine own." 
 
 What gracious words ! Could language 
 be more expressive of utter self-renun- 
 ciation and simple acknowledgment of the 
 grace of God, not only in the abundance 
 which he had been able to present, but in 
 the joyful willingness with which he had 
 been endued to make the offering? Indeed, 
 his thankfulness was greater for the willing 
 mind than for the overflowing hand. Flesh 
 and blood had not taught him this, but the 
 Spirit of his Father in heaven. Far better 
 to be rich in heart and poor in hand, than 
 poor in heart and rich in hand. The mite 
 of the poor widow, cheerfully given, is of far 
 greater worth in heaven than the costliest 
 gifts of the rich, if grudgingly bestowed. 
 
 Let us especially remark the transport of 
 joy which filled the breast of the son of 
 Jesse when he offered so willingly to the 
 
120 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 Lord. It is an evidence of the genial influ- 
 ence which the spirit of gratitude and praise 
 exerts on the happiness of him in whom it 
 dwells. God has bound up our happiness 
 in our duty; and in no duty more than in 
 that of thankfulness. Even when felt to- 
 ward a human benefactor, how sweet the 
 emotion of gratitude — except to a proud and 
 selfish heart ! But if it be so in relation to 
 an earthly friend, the exuberance of whose 
 kindness may, because of the narrowness of 
 his resources, oppress us ; how much more 
 must it hold good in regard to that Father 
 of mercies, whose gifts can never burden, 
 because they are given out of an infinite full- 
 ness ! The obligation to love and adore him, 
 is an obligation to be joyful and glad. Praise 
 is the fragrance breathed from the flower of 
 joy. He is happiest who is thankfulest. 
 This lesson is taught us by the lower crea- 
 tures themselves. Morose and unkindly 
 animals express as little of enjoyment as 
 they do of gratefulness by their snarling and 
 growling sounds. The beasts and birds of 
 night are rarely gladsome. But the lambs 
 which sport and gambol in their green pas- 
 tures, and the birds which in the early morn- 
 ing wake the echoes of the woodland with 
 their songs, all tell most unmistakably that 
 
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOD'S HAND. 121 
 
 they are happy. How much more, then, 
 must it be the blessedness of man " to look 
 through nature up to nature's God," and 
 glorify the Giver in all his varied gifts ! 
 
 It is a pleasant thing to be thankful. 
 Xothing will more soothe our toils, beguile 
 our cares, or animate us, amid all the hard- 
 ships, emergencies, vexations and vicissitudes 
 of life. The busy callings of life can be pur- 
 sued in no other way so fitted to abate the 
 wear and tear to which they subject men, as 
 by carrying into the counting-house or the 
 warehouse, the manufactory or the shop, this 
 spirit of humble dependency and gratitude. 
 What elasticity does it give to their minds 
 — what cheerfulness to their labors ! It 
 brings down much of heaven to earth — fore- 
 stalling angelic bliss. We are nearest to 
 heaven, and likest to angels, when we are 
 most absorbed in praise. 
 
 In blessing God, we are blessed of him. 
 There are not a few men laden with the 
 riches of this world, abounding in honors, 
 "clothed in purple and fine linen, and faring 
 sumptuously every day ;" yet full of rest- 
 lessness, repining and discontent; satiated 
 with pleasure, and weary of life. Why is 
 it so with them ? Because, instead of using 
 the world, they abused it ; instead of being 
 
L23 A HODBL for ION OF m six ESS. 
 
 filled with thankfulness, they were torment- 
 ed by covetousnese. There are also others 
 
 Coarsely clad, poorly housed, and sparingly 
 fed, who yet walk in sunshine and toil in 
 
 peace — just because they season the dinner 
 of herbs with thanksgiving, and beguile their 
 daily task with praise. An unthankful man 
 can never be happy; a thankful man cannot 
 be wretched. It is not what a man has, but 
 what he enjoys, that signifies to him. How 
 beautifully just the sentiment of Addison! 
 He says in one of his hymns — 
 
 " And not the least a thankful heart, 
 That doubles all my store." 
 
 Give such a one a crust of bread and a cup 
 of water and he will relish them ; w r hile the 
 selfish man will devour the stalled ox in 
 bitterness. The lark will sing amid the 
 wires of his cage, as well as in the sunny 
 sky ; and the loving Christian can raise 
 his anthem in the dungeon, as well as in 
 the sanctuary ; in poverty, as w r ell as in 
 affluence; in the storm, as w r ell as in the 
 calm. Thankfulness will make the bed of 
 anguish easy, and the yoke of labor light. 
 
 To crown all — no spirit will more adorn a 
 Christian's walk and conversation than a 
 spirit of praise. Whether in the warehouse, 
 
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOD'S HAND. 123 
 
 the counting-house, or the shop, an unthank- 
 ful man of business dishonors God, and 
 brings a reproach upon his service. Instead 
 of a generous, genial, elastic mind, he ex- 
 hibits a worried, repining, selfish temper. 
 The world will lay this to the account of his 
 religion. They will not be won by such an 
 example. That man will reflect neither the 
 beauty nor the blessedness of serving Christ. 
 The garment of holiness is then most comely, 
 when it is fastened by the golden clasp of 
 thankfulness. When the Christian is thus 
 adorned, men take knowledge of him that 
 he has been with Jesus ; they will be led to 
 covet that happiness which the world can 
 neither give nor take away. What shall I 
 more say of the spirit of thankfulness? It is 
 alike acceptable to the Creator and beseem- 
 ing to the creature — the glory of angels and 
 the element of heaven. 
 
 What a want there is throughout Christen- 
 dom of the devout acknowledgment of the 
 hand of God ! What a want of it in our 
 own privileged land! We perceive it in the 
 councils of the nation — we note it in the 
 debates of the senate — we trace it in the 
 measures of our statesmen — we discover it 
 in the tone of the public press — we detect it 
 in the literature of the age — we discern it 
 
1-1 A MODEL FOB MEN OF BUSINi: 
 
 alike in the transactions of business and in 
 the concerns of domestic life. God grant 
 the spirit of repentance to our land for her 
 past delinquencies in this matter! and may 
 be lead all classes in the community, sena- 
 tors, merchants, tradesmen, ministers, labor- 
 ers — all, from the highest to the lowest, to 
 recognize his hand in everything ; lest he in 
 righteous wrath " curse our blessings," and 
 take away from us the vineyard, whose 
 fruits we have failed to render him in their 
 season ! 
 
 But what guilt has not each individual 
 contracted in this matter? Can the reader 
 say, "I have rendered to the Lord according 
 as he has given to me ; I have used his 
 talents as a faithful steward; my praises 
 have kept pace w T ith his mercies ?" Rather 
 must not every one confess, I have rejoiced 
 in his gifts rather than in himself, the giver; 
 I have ascribed my success to my own wis- 
 dom, or resolution, or good fortune, (as the 
 language of the world has it;) I have sought 
 to glorify myself rather than my God; it 
 is of the Lord's mercies that I am not con- 
 sumed. May the precious blood of Jesus 
 wail] away the stains of our unthankfnlness; 
 may hjs Spirit kindle on the altar of our 
 hearts a never-ceasing sacrifice of praise! 
 
HIS DETERMINATION OF PURPOSE. 125 
 
 CHAPTEK VL 
 
 HIS DETERMINATION OF PURPOSE. 
 
 Pitiful was the sketch which Jacob on his 
 death-bed drew of his eldest son : he said 
 unto him, " Unstable as water, thou shalt 
 not excel." Instability is fatal to excellence. 
 No man can do anything great, who is not 
 firm in his resolves, and constant in his un- 
 dertakings. The ancient Greeks had an 
 aphorism which is worthy of remembrance 
 — " He is formidable who does one thing." 
 The concentration of the energies of the soul, 
 the faculties of the mind, and the efforts of 
 the life, on some one master end, will give a 
 tone, a coherence, and a grandeur to the 
 character. A man must have a fixed de- 
 sign, or he will not have a steady course. 
 As the instrument tuned to no key-note, so 
 is the man whose spirit is strung to no com- 
 manding aim. In vain does the vessel 
 launch forth from the harbor if she have no 
 haven for which to steer, and no helm by 
 which to shape her voyage; but let her obey 
 her rudder well, and keep her point in view, 
 and then, however she may be driven to and 
 
126 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 fro by adverse winds and opposing currents, 
 she will still return to her track, and urge 
 her way to the longed-for port. The travel- 
 er will never reach his distant home unless 
 he set that home before him — he may 
 wander, but he cannot journey; he may 
 seek, but he cannot find. Even so in the 
 journey of life. A supreme end, even of an 
 earthly kind, will give a certain force and 
 coherence to character. The ambitious man, 
 in the pursuit of the object which absorbs 
 his soul, (evil though that object be when 
 tested by God's truth,) imparts a sort of 
 dark grandeur to his character, in conse- 
 quence of the stern resolve with which he 
 pursues his purpose. Now, he does it to 
 obtain a corruptible crown ; but what ought 
 to be the master aim of every candidate of 
 immortality ? The catechism of the Church 
 of Scotland furnishes the answ T er to this 
 question excellently. " What," it is asked, 
 "is the chief end of man?" and in reply it 
 is said — " Man's chief end is to know, to 
 serve, to glorify, and to enjoy God forever." 
 Worthy, only worthy end of a being so 
 created and endowed as man ! If, then, 
 such be our being's purpose, all who would 
 live for immortality must live for the ac- 
 complishment of that design. Take a just 
 
HIS DETERMINATION OF PURPOSE. 127 
 
 view of your life, and all is but dung and 
 dross in comparison with your final accept- 
 ance with God. This is the object, the one 
 object which you must enterprise, prosecute, 
 and secure, in order that life may be a bless- 
 ing to you, and immortality an enhancement 
 of the blessing. What a work is before us ! 
 — a work for the achievement of which God 
 " spared not his own Son, but delivered him 
 up for us all" — a work for the attainment of 
 which, the eternal Word, who " was in the 
 form of God, and thought it no robbery to 
 be equal with God, made himself of no rep- 
 utation, and took upon him the form of a 
 servant, and was made in the likeness of 
 men' 7 — a work for the accomplishment of 
 which God incarnate " humbled himself, 
 and became obedient unto death, even the 
 death of the cross" — a work for the accom- 
 plishment of which Jesus won his glorious 
 resurrection and ascension, and became 
 "head over all things to his church" — a work 
 for the effectuation of which God the Holy 
 Ghost is sent down by the Father and the 
 Son into the souls of those that are saved, 
 and dwells there, and works there, and car- 
 ries on a new creation, and builds them up 
 in holiness, and fits and fashions them for 
 heaven — a work the dimensions and issues 
 
128 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 of which it will require eternity to unfold, 
 and eternity to comprehend ! 
 
 In this work every ransomed child of man 
 ought to be intensely engaged. His language 
 should be — " I have a soul to be saved, a 
 God to glorify, a Saviour to follow, a gene- 
 ration to serve according to the will of God, 
 unnumbered adversaries to vanquish, an evil 
 host to crucify, eternal life to win; whatever 
 I neglect, these things must not be neglected 
 — all must be subordinated to the things that 
 belong to my peace." To all the imperti- 
 nences of earth which would divert me, to all 
 the cares of the world which would distract 
 me, I will say, " I am doing a great work, so 
 that I cannot come down : why should the 
 work cease, while I leave it, and come down 
 to you?" Such will be the concentrating 
 power of faith in the soul of the believer ; 
 such the energy of that living principle 
 which makes the things unseen, evident — 
 the things hoped for, substantial — the things 
 far off, contiguous — the things future, present. 
 The mighty mastery of this power over all the 
 energies of the inner man, is not to be over- 
 estimated. It serves to bring everything in- 
 to it< place — to give all things their true rel- 
 ative proportion ; to make the little, little — 
 and the great, great; the grand, grand — and 
 
HIS DETERMINATION OF PURPOSE. 129 
 
 the insignificant, insignificant ; the temporal, 
 temporal — and the eternal, eternal ; the hu- 
 man, human — and the divine, divine. It 
 gives a man a " right judgment in all things." 
 It will sway his desires, and determine his 
 choice. How illustriously we see this prin- 
 ciple exemplified in the character of David ! 
 Surrounded with all the fascinations and se- 
 ductions of his palace and his empire, he yet 
 could exclaim — " One thing have I' desired 
 of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may 
 dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of 
 my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, 
 and to inquire in his temple." In him was 
 thus fulfilled the promise made of God to his 
 people by the prophet — " I will give them one 
 heart and one way" — unity of purpose, result- 
 ing in uniformity of life. But if there be one 
 human character which, more than all others, 
 illustrates the glorious force of the high pur- 
 pose which a commanding faith inspires, it 
 is the character of the apostle Paul. From 
 the hour when he tremblingly cried, "Lord, 
 what wilt thou have me to do ?" to the hour 
 when he said, "I am now ready to be offer- 
 ed," — he was borne along by its resistless 
 energy. Hearken to his own description of 
 the singleness of his aim, and the indomi- 
 tableness of his pursuit. "Yea doubtless, 
 
130 A MODBX K>B MEN OF Bl 
 
 and I count all things btlt loss for the excel- 
 lency of the knowledge of Christ Jeans my 
 Lord : for whom I have suffered the loss of 
 all things, and do count them hut dung, that 
 I may win Christ, and be found in him, not 
 htfving mine own righteousness, which is of 
 the law, but that which is through the faith 
 of Christ, the righteousness which is of God 
 by faith: that I may know him, and the 
 power of his resurrection, and the fellowship 
 of his sufferings, being made conformable 
 unto his death ; if by any means I might 
 attain unto the resurrection of the dead. 
 Not as though I had already attained, either 
 were already perfect : but I follow after, if 
 that I may apprehend that for which also I 
 am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, 
 I count not myself to have apprehended : 
 but this one thing I do, forgetting those 
 things which are behind, and reaching forth 
 unto those things which are before, T press 
 toward the mark for the prize of the high 
 calling of God in Christ Jesus." Glorious 
 al >s< >rption of the soul ! Sublime supremacy 
 of faith! No marvel that he could at last 
 hear witness — " I have fought a good fight, 
 I have finished my course, I have kept the 
 faith ; henceforth there is laid up for me a 
 crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the 
 
HIS DETERMINATION OF PURPOSE. 131 
 
 righteous judge, will give me in that clay." 
 The man thus swallowed up in the high de- 
 sign of life, soars above the insignificant 
 things, the laborious trifling, in which so 
 many waste their energies. He bids away 
 from him the allurements of the world, the 
 blandishments of the flesh, and the entice- 
 ments of the devil, when they would divert 
 him from his lofty career, by the greatness 
 of the work in which he is engaged. This 
 he feels must be attended to, whatever is 
 neglected — this secured, whatever is placed 
 in jeopardy. All that would hinder him in 
 working out his own salvation with fear and 
 trembling, he will cast behind him ; all that 
 is conducive to that end, he will steadily 
 pursue. Living according to this rule, gives 
 an earnestness, a reality, a consistency to the 
 life, which nothing else can impart. Time 
 will never hang heavy on the hands of one 
 so employed; an object of surpassing great- 
 ness, motives of constraining power, will 
 never be wanting to him; the commonest 
 duties will be invested with dignity, and the 
 most secular occupations stamped with sa- 
 credness. Whatsoever his hand shall find 
 to do, he will do it with his might. He will 
 run for glory — he will toil for immortality. 
 Constancy of purpose gives weight and 
 
L8I A MOOKL BOB KEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 force to Christian character. Men are influ- 
 enced — wonderfully influenced by it. The 
 world respects it, even though it enven- 
 oms their hatred. Bad men are overawed, 
 and good men emboldened, by its influ- 
 ence. A fickle Christian belies his princi- 
 ples; a determined one adorns them, lie 
 ought to be firm as a rock who has God 
 enthroned within him. 
 
 Neither will anything conduce more to a 
 wholesome self-respect and self-confidence 
 than this oneness of design. There is a self- 
 respect and self-reliance which is no better 
 than a proud delusion. But there is a self- 
 respect, springing out of consciousness of 
 singleness of purpose, and of integrity of 
 heart, which, while it is consistent with all 
 humility, is essential to holy boldness. Such 
 was the spirit of St. Paul when he said — 
 "Our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our 
 conscience ; that in simplicity and godly 
 sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by 
 the grace of God, we have had our conver- 
 sation in the world." Assured of the integ- 
 rity of his heart, as evinced in the simplicity 
 of his aim, he enjoyed a glorious liberty, a 
 confidence which made him not ashamed. 
 
 Bow little of this sublime determination 
 of Christian purpose is to be met with in the 
 

 HIS DETERMINATION OF PURPOSE. 133 
 
 Christian world ! How often does the char- 
 acter change with the changing circumstan- 
 ces of life ! How frequently do men borrow 
 their tint from the light or shadow which 
 falls upon them, instead of exhibiting the 
 same unvarying color in the sunshine as in 
 the shade ! How many are " ever learning, 
 and never coming to the knowledge of the 
 truth !" Of multitudes it must be said, as 
 St. Paul said of the Galatians, " I stand in 
 doubt of you." In these soft and silken days 
 of lax profession, nothing is more needed 
 in the Church than nerve and bone and 
 sinew — vividness of conviction evinced in 
 steadiness of career. Let there be more of 
 this material in our piety, and the ungodly 
 and the scoffing will acknowledge that God 
 is among us of a truth ; the world will bow 
 before the power of the soldiers of the cross. 
 But while the children of this world are all 
 earnestness in pursuing their shadows, and we 
 all heartlessness in pursuing our infinite re- 
 alities, is it to be wondered at that the world 
 should have an overmastering sway, and the 
 Church exert but a feeble influence ? Con- 
 sistency is mighty ; inconsistency, weak. 
 The Christian ought to be staid. It is his 
 prerogative to be independent of all things, 
 because dependent on God alone. It is his 
 
L34 A MODEL FOR MEN Or BUSINESS. 
 
 privilege to govern circumstances, rather 
 than to be governed by them. It is his, not 
 <>nlv to bring every imagination into captiv- 
 ity to the obedience of Ohrist, but to bring 
 into captivity to that obedience all the vicissi- 
 tudes of life, all the social influences to which 
 he may he exposed, all the temptations by 
 which he may be assailed. Serving one mas- 
 ter, he should find that service perfect free- 
 dom ; free to obey, he should be free indeed. 
 
 Young men embarked on the waves of 
 business, set your helm for the port of sal- 
 vation; steer according to the chart of God's 
 word and by the polar star of faith ; urge on 
 your way, fearless of consequences, regard- 
 less of sneers ! He is with you in your bark, 
 who saved of old the little ship which was 
 tossed on the sea of Galilee. He will keep 
 you from foundering in the billows, or shiv- 
 ering on the rocks ; and will at last moor 
 your vessel safely in the haven, where the 
 u wicked cease from troubling, and the weary 
 are at rest." 
 
 Firmness of purpose should distinguish 
 the Christian in everything. As in the su- 
 preme, so in the subordinate concerns of 
 life he should be steadfast. There are good 
 men, true to the sen ice of their Saviour, yet 
 irresolute and fitful in their earthly pur- 
 

 HIS DETERMINATION OF PURPOSE. 135 
 
 suits. This is not as it ought to be : — the 
 good man ought to be a pattern of steadi- 
 ness in all things, whether in the count- 
 ing-house or behind the counter, in the 
 workshop or in the sanctuary, in transactions 
 of business or in the endearments of friend- 
 ship. It is not to the honor of his vocation 
 if he is characterized by infirmity of pur- 
 pose — if men cannot reckon on his behavior 
 in the minutest things. Even in secular 
 matters, a Christian should strive to be con- 
 sistent, to aim at a character which is not a 
 piece of patchwork, but a garment of the 
 same weft and warp throughout. This gives 
 weight — dignity- — influence. Let him, on 
 his fidelity to God, give no occasion for it to 
 be said that the godly man of business is a 
 fickle or an undiscerning man — that his re- 
 ligion spoils him for the engagements of life. 
 Far from it ! A Christian ought to be pre- 
 scient in design — for Christianity clears the 
 intellect ; tenacious in purpose — for Christi- 
 anity imparts firmness to the judgment; 
 and steady in pursuit — because Christianity 
 sustains the spirit. 
 
 Write, therefore, on your scene of occupa- 
 tion, O Christian! the heavenly rule — "Not 
 slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving 
 the Lord." Serve the Lord in your secular 
 
136 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BISIM 
 
 concerns, and whatever your hand findeth 
 to do you will do it with your might The 
 
 spring of your activity will always be elastic. 
 How graceful has been the career of some of 
 our ( ihristian merchants! From the time that 
 they entered on the duties of the counting- 
 house, they walked as became the gospel of 
 Christ ; while they maintained the inner life 
 of the soul amid all the distraction and bus- 
 tle of business, they manifested that life in 
 their decision of character, steadiness of 
 purpose, serenity of spirit — their punctuality 
 in all their engagements, and their exacti- 
 tude in all their transactions. Steering for 
 heaven, they followed one pole-star, and 
 pursued one course. Such men are the 
 lights of the exchange. — the moral heroes of 
 commerce. They adorn the Church, and 
 win from the world a reluctant admiration. 
 
 The examples of such men should be emu- 
 lated by the young men of the Church ; to 
 the rising race of Christian men of business 
 we would commend its consideration. Let 
 such especially heed the admonition of the 
 Preacher: "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to 
 do, do it with thy might." The path of toil 
 is the path to excellence, and the law of dili- 
 gence is the law of happiness. An indolent 
 man cannot fail to be an unhappy man — a 
 
HIS DETERMINATION OF PURPOSE. 137 
 
 diligent one can scarcely be miserable : such 
 is the law of nature, and the law of nature is 
 the law of God. Not only must plans be 
 laid down ; they must also be accomplished. 
 To realize a design, is to gain fresh moral 
 strength : to abandon an undertaking, is to 
 impair self-reliance, and enfeeble the nerve 
 of the soul. It is of vital concern, therefore, 
 in the culture of our spirits— that most 
 essential of all cultivation — that we should 
 always " be zealously affected in a good 
 thing." There ought to be no blanks in 
 life — when one undertaking is finished, let 
 another be begun. The irons should be 
 always in the fire. Let him that is not 
 bound to toil for his bread, take heed not to 
 convert this advantage into a snare. Rather 
 let him be all the more diligent in doing 
 good : " to whom much is given, of the 
 same much will be required." Neither let 
 the man of business, w T ho toiled devotedly 
 in the counting-house or the manufactory, 
 when he retires from business be less devo- 
 ted in the prosecution of his heavenly call- 
 ing, less earnest in " serving his generation 
 according to the will of God." The hope of 
 doing good ought to animate more than all 
 the hopes of successful speculation or ac- 
 cumulating gain. Zeal for God is urgently 
 
138 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 needed The great necessity of the Church 
 
 is nol money, but men. u Thc harvest truly 
 is plenteous, but the laborers are few." We 
 
 Wanl an earnest Church to make a happy 
 World. Christians, and especially Christian 
 men of business, have no right to live to 
 themselves. "None of us liveth to himself, 
 and no man dietli to himself." Let not 
 such, then, provoke the startling question, 
 "Why stand ye here all the day idle ?" Life 
 is all too short for life's great work. We are 
 not designed to be like the gay butterfly, that 
 sports in the sunshine and then perishes ; 
 but like the thrifty bee, that flies to and fro, 
 but it is to gather the sweet store which she 
 treasures up against the winter season, and 
 who, as a consequence, survives in the stor- 
 my day. We must settle it in our minds, 
 wherever we go, whatever we do, each one 
 for himself, — "In all, through all, above 
 
 ALL, I MUST WORK OUT MY OWN SALVATION. 
 
 I must follow my Saviour's steps, and secure 
 my Saviour's approval. A steward with 
 certain talents committed to me, my one high 
 aim must be to hear my Master say at last — 
 ' Well done, thou good and faithful servant ; 
 thou hast been faithful over a few things, I 
 will make thee ruler over many things : enter 
 thou into the joy of thy Lord." May the 
 
HIS DETERMINATION OF PURPOSE. 139 
 
 anticipated sound of these words be ever 
 ringing in our consciences — be ever quick- 
 ening us to run " with patience the race that 
 is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the 
 author and finisher of our faith." May not 
 our earthly concerns secularize us, but rather 
 may we spiritualize them. Our worldly av- 
 ocations must be converted into a heavenly 
 discipline. They must exercise our faith, 
 meekness, charity, truth, uprightness ; so 
 may we be strengthening the inner man 
 by the toils of the warehouse, as well 
 as by the devotions of the closet and the 
 sanctuary. 
 
 Energy of faith is the spring of earnest- 
 ness of life. When the things unseen 
 mightily impress, and the love of Christ 
 mightily constrains, then there will be a 
 lofty decision of character: then will the 
 world, with its impertinences, its blandish- 
 ments, its vexations, and its artifices, be 
 kept in its proper place. However it may 
 beset or assail, whether it threaten or allure, 
 it is effectually repulsed by the majestic re- 
 ply — " I am doing a great work, so that I 
 cannot come down : why should the work 
 cease while I leave it and come down to 
 you V' To those who are thus occupied, how 
 appropriate is the address of the great 
 
140 A IfODBL FOR MEN OF BU8DODM. 
 
 Apostle, himself the besi example of this 
 Lofty determinatioD of purpose — "Here- 
 fore, my beloved brethren, be ye stead- 
 fast, immovable, always abounding In the 
 
 work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know 
 that vour labor is not in vain in the 
 lord." 
 
UPRIGHTNESS IN DEALINGS. 14:1 
 
 CHAPTER YII. 
 
 UPRIGHTNESS IN DEALINGS. 
 
 The perfection of a painting is its keeping. 
 The perfection of a building is its architec- 
 tural proportion and symmetry. Nothing 
 can make amends for a fault in this respect. 
 As it is in things material, so it is in things 
 moral. The perfection of a character is its 
 unity and congruity. Study the character 
 of Him who presents to us the only spotless 
 character that the world ever beheld — study 
 the character of Immanuel, and you will 
 find that its crowning excellency is its 
 unity and harmony. In speaking of his 
 servants we speak of their distinguishing 
 graces ; we cannot so speak in speaking of 
 the Master. He had no distinctive virtues, 
 for distinctive virtues are such as stand out 
 beyond the proportion of the rest. But in 
 him every virtue was so exquisitely balanced 
 and adjusted, that you cannot say he was 
 more just than true, or more true than char- 
 itable, or more charitable than intolerant of 
 evil. In the character of Jesus everything 
 is so symmetrical, that you may compare it 
 
1 U A K0DHL FOB MKN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 to the beautiful bow — that emblem of the 
 tenant of grace— in which all the primi- 
 tive colors melt into each other with such 
 perfect harmony, that no one of them over- 
 uother, but all equally delight the 
 eye. Now, just in so for as a follower of 
 rist attains to the measure of the stature 
 of the fullness of Christ, will he resemble 
 his Lord in this perfection. He will not be 
 -imply a man of prayer, or simply a man 
 of practical integrity; he will be both in 
 lovely unison. He will be in the closet 
 what he is in the market-place, and in the 
 market-place what he is in the closet. He 
 will be before God what he is before man — 
 such, at least, will be his aim. He will 
 never set up one class of duties in opposition 
 to another, nor look upon the performance 
 of a few as a counterpoise to the neglect of 
 the rest. His aim and his effort w T ill be, 
 to "have respect to all" the command- 
 ments of God, from the least to the greatest 
 — if we may presume to graduate precepts 
 which are alike enjoined by the same sov- 
 eign authority. Sad is it wdien men who 
 " name the name of Christ," divorce what 
 dod lias united; some speaking of them- 
 selves bci evangelical, in contrast to being 
 moral ; and others as being moral, in con- 
 
UPRIGHTNESS IN DEALINGS. 143 
 
 trast to being evangelical. Such antagon- 
 isms have no place in the economy of grace ; 
 jthey are the figments of human passion and 
 prejudice. According to the glorious gos- 
 pel, no man is truly moral that is not evan- 
 gelical, and none honestly evangelical that 
 is not truly moral. 
 
 From the root of grace, through the stem of 
 faith, there stretch forth two main branches; 
 the one the love of God, the other the love 
 of our neighbor. From these two shoot out 
 and depend all the ramifications of obedi- 
 ence. Where the one is not, neither is the 
 other ; and where the one is found, you 
 may be sure the other is not wanting. 
 How beautifully were they combined in 
 the character of Cornelius! "His prayers 
 and his alms came up for a memorial 
 before God ;" there was devotion toward 
 God, there was bountifulness toward man. 
 
 TTe trace the same beautiful combination 
 in the character which we are endeavoring 
 to portray in these pages ; the character of 
 him who is preeminently a man of faith 
 and piety. 'We have in the foregoing chap- 
 ters explored the secrets of his closet; we 
 have penetrated into the recesses of his soul; 
 we have examined the deep spring of all the 
 energy and magnanimity of his career ; we 
 
144 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 have seen how he walks and communes with 
 God. But he is a man of probity and char- 
 ity, no less than of piety and prayer; and 
 we delight especially to contemplate the be- 
 nign influence of his devotional spirit, and 
 the living efficacy of his godly fear, as mani- 
 fested in all the diversified duties of secular 
 life : now sustaining him under every diffi- 
 culty ; now emboldening him against every 
 assailant ; now securing him from every se- 
 duction. 
 
 No topic can be more practical or more 
 pertinent to a commercial community than 
 the moral relations of pecuniary transactions. 
 If the sins that easily beset men vary ac- 
 cording to the circumstances that surround 
 them, the sins that will most easily beset 
 mercantile men will be the sins to which 
 they are specially exposed by their mercan- 
 tile circumstances. It is, therefore, but rea- 
 sonable to presume that, in a community 
 where every man is in some degree a traf- 
 ficker, trespasses against the strict law of 
 uprightness will be peculiarly prevalent. 
 Consequently, the avoidance of such offenses 
 will constitute one of the clearest evidences 
 of the sincerity of our godliness ; and the 
 commission of them, one of the surest signs 
 that we have no religion of the heart. For 
 
UPRIGHTNESS IN DEALINGS. 145 
 
 if any one wishes to apply a touchstone to 
 character, let him take this as the most 
 searching— the exercise of those graces 
 which a man is most tempted to neglect, 
 and the eschewal of those iniquities which a 
 man is most tempted to indulge. He who 
 can stand this test, is sterling in the sight of 
 God. 
 
 In treating so appropriate a subject, it 
 may be needful to enter into more than or- 
 dinary minuteness of detail. Nor should it 
 be deemed a descent from the dignity and 
 solemnity of our theme to endeavor to carry 
 home that " commandment which is exceed- 
 ing broad" into all the ramifications of com- 
 mercial transaction. 
 
 We will, then, first of all, lay down some 
 of the great principles which ought to gov- 
 ern the Christian in his mercantile career. 
 "We shall then strive to point out some of the 
 deviations from these principles which are 
 the most plausible, and therefore the most 
 perilous. We shall afterward show how 
 important it is to cleave unswervingly to 
 the path of integrity and truth, despite of 
 every enticement, and in defiance of all that 
 the world may say or do. And let it not be 
 thought that these considerations refer to 
 
 extensive capitalists only — to leading mer- 
 10 
 
146 A HOTEL BOB WBB OF BCSZF] 
 
 chants and manufacturers. They arc no less 
 ;ihm1 for subordinates than for principals 
 
 — for the servant than for the master. They 
 bear alike on all — on the faithful in little, as 
 well as on the faithful in much; on the un- 
 just in little, as well as on the unjust in 
 much. It is not the amount of the gain of 
 injustice that constitutes the sin; it is the 
 deviation from integrity in which the trans- 
 gression lies. 
 
 The first principle by which a Christian 
 tradesman ought to regulate his transactions 
 is — To love his neighbor as himself. "Love 
 is the fulfilling of the law ;" " love w r orketh 
 no ill to his neighbor ;" therefore, love se- 
 cures effectually the accomplishment of the 
 commandment. To love our neighbor as 
 ourselves, is to have the same regard and 
 affection for him that we cherish for our- 
 selves ; so that his interest, his well-being, 
 /us success, shall he dear to us as our own ; 
 and hi$ sorrows, his losses, Ids distresses, his 
 disappointments) shall be felt by us as even 
 rwr own. Will you say — "This is a stand- 
 ard utterly beyond our attainment?" If it 
 is, indeed, beyond our attainment, it ought 
 not to be beyond our aim — nay, it is a stand- 
 ard which every Christian must strive to 
 reach. We must not lower the precept to 
 
UPRIGHTNESS IN DEALINGS. 147 
 
 our defective attainments, but labor to bring 
 up our attainments to the precept. The 
 authority which binds the injunction upon 
 us, forbids our attempting to relax its strin- 
 gency. He that said, " Thou shalt love the 
 Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with 
 all thy soul, and w r ith all thy strength," said 
 also, " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy- 
 self." The question, therefore, is not what 
 we can attain, but what God requires. Per- 
 fection must be our goal, though imperfec- 
 tion will be the present result of our efforts. 
 We may love that to which we cannot yet 
 attain, and loathe that from which we can- 
 not yet get wholly free. Ceaselessly ought 
 we to struggle to counteract that selfishness 
 which was the chief cause of the fall, and 
 which so powerfully serves to keep us fallen. 
 We must show no mercy to that desire, to 
 make everything contribute to our own 
 pleasure and advantage irrespectively of the 
 interests of others, which has taken such 
 root in our heart. We must deny ourselves 
 that we may benefit others. Self-love must 
 be supplanted by the love of our neighbor. 
 Benevolence alone can subdue the idolatrous 
 love of self. 
 
 The next great principle which ought to 
 pervade all our intercourse with our fellows 
 
148 A HOpEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 is — ^ Whatsoever ye would that men should 
 do to you, do ye even so to them." What 
 condescension in the great Lawgiver, that he 
 should not only give us the details of our 
 duty, but that he should also give us sundry 
 summaries of his will — summaries so plain 
 that the simplest reason may understand 
 them, and so compendious that the feeblest 
 memory may retain them ! As hi commerce 
 an immense sum is sometimes represented 
 by a small note ; so in the Scripture we fre- 
 quently find a code of morals condensed into 
 a sentence. Thus it is in the golden maxim 
 on which w r e are dwelling. Only let a man 
 carry out this rule with an honest conscience 
 in his daily transactions, and he will seldom 
 be puzzled with points of casuistry. As on 
 no occasion can it be inapplicable, so on no 
 occasion, if fairly used, can it mislead. No 
 doubt, indeed, it is often perverted and mis- 
 interpreted. The poor man distorts it, when 
 he holds that it binds the rich man to give 
 him all that he may choose to ask ; and 
 the rich misunderstand it, when they set it 
 aside as hyperbolical and impracticable. 
 But understand the rule in its two-fold bear- 
 ing, and you will perceive that it acts like 
 the governor or fly-wheel in one of our in- 
 genious pieces of machinery — it maintains 
 
UPEIGHTNESS IN DEALINGS. 149 
 
 the balance between antagonistic forces. 
 Let a man study and cherish that content- 
 ment and moderation of mind which w r ill 
 lead him to expect from others only what is 
 fair and reasonable, and then others will- 
 have no right to demand from him anything 
 more than what is right and equitable. The 
 precept is designed to control our personal 
 desires, as well as to regulate our dealings 
 with our neighbor. Exorbitant expectation 
 violates the canon, even as it is broken by 
 unrighteous dealing. This exquisite princi- 
 ple, therefore, has a two-fold action. It tells 
 upon a man by moderating his wishes, no 
 less than by influencing his treatment of 
 those with whom he has to do ; so that he 
 has only to conform to the rule in its double 
 bearing, and he may steer by it, as by an 
 infallible compass, through all the intricacies 
 of social intercourse. 
 
 In fulfilling one's duty toward his neigh- 
 bor, care must be used to cherish a further 
 principle of paramount moment — to be faith- 
 ful in the little, even as in the great — to 
 shrink from the lighter, as well as from the 
 darker shades of dishonesty. He who de- 
 spises little things, will fall by little and little. 
 The guilt of transgressing is to be measured 
 by the willfulness, rather than by the degree 
 
150 A MODEL FOE MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 of transgression. He who deliberately of- 
 fends on a small scale, only lacks boldness 
 or opportunity to commit a more flagrant 
 offense. The poor man who defrauds his 
 master of the time for which he is paid, or 
 who uses the property of his emploj^er waste- 
 fully, betrays the germ of the grossest dis- 
 honesty. On the other hand, the master 
 who, while ostentatiously honorable in his 
 transactions with his equals, takes stealthy 
 advantage of his servants, and, instead of 
 giving them "that which is just and equal," 
 screws them down to the uttermost in their 
 wages, or exercises his ingenuity in contriv- 
 ing pretexts for abatements from their gains 
 — this man adds hypocrisy to his fraudulency. 
 In truth, the best test of godly integrity is 
 the little, not the great — if a man be faithful 
 in the former, he can hardly be unfaithful in 
 the latter. He who shows his principle in 
 avoiding grosser, while he indulges in slight- 
 er deviations from uprightness, proves his 
 principle to be earthly, not heavenly — taught 
 by the fear of man, not by the love of God. 
 The Lord estimates the guilt of the tres- 
 pass, not by the magnitude of the act, but 
 by the defiance of his authority which it 
 involve-. 
 
 Profane men have dared to sneer at the 
 
UPRIGHTNESS IN DEALINGS. 151 
 
 fact, that man lost paradise, and incurred 
 eternal death, by partaking of the forbidden 
 fruit; and they have presumed to arraign 
 the punishment as utterly disproportionate 
 to the crime. Yet, in very deed, the small- 
 ness of the temptation may be regarded as 
 the gauge of the depth of the faithlessness 
 and rebellion of the creature in disobeying 
 his Creator. The slightness of the induce- 
 ment to violate the prohibition, enhances 
 instead of alleviates the turpitude of the 
 violation. The more gentle the test of loy- 
 alty, the more aggravated the heinousness of 
 disloyalty. But if God doomed a world to 
 death for what some deem a small transgres- 
 sion — what shall be thought of the man who 
 makes light of petty dishonesties, and how 
 shall he stand before His judgment-seat who 
 has said, "Whosoever shall keep the whole 
 law, and yet offend m one point, he is guilty 
 of all?" 
 
 Such, then, are the principles which must 
 constitute the platform of the Christian's 
 everyday course and conversation, if he 
 would approve himself in His sight, whose 
 he is, and whom he delights to serve. Let 
 us next endeavor, with all faithfulness, to 
 consider some of the less obvious deviations 
 from these principles which pass current in 
 
152 A MODBL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 the mercantile world, amid all its boasted 
 moralitv. 
 
 How common is it for men to defraud so- 
 ciety by idleness and self-indulgence ! An 
 indolent man is not simply a negative char- 
 acter, he is a positive injury to others, lie 
 robs the community of its rights, and God 
 of his service. The "slothful servant" 
 is denounced as a "wicked servant" — the 
 man who hid his lord's money as having 
 wronged his master. The idle man is a 
 cumberer of the ground ; he wastes the soil 
 where a fruitful tree might flourish. Yet 
 how seldom is slothfulness reputed a crime ! 
 
 Another prevalent, widely ramified, and 
 subtly-disguised class of dishonesty, is that 
 which is either committed, or connived at, 
 by public bodies. What, commonly, more 
 vague and elastic than a corporate con- 
 science ? Men will do and sanction in part- 
 nership what they would recoil from in their 
 individual capacity — as though shared re- 
 sponsibility were diminished responsibility, 
 or guilt incurred with a crowd could be 
 cloaked by the crowd. But what saith the 
 Scripture? "Every man shall bear his own 
 burden;" "so, then, each one of us shall 
 give account of himself to God." And as 
 men will deal in bodies as they would not 
 
UPRIGHTNESS IN DEALINGS. 153 
 
 individually, so will they deal with bodies 
 as they would not with individuals. How 
 much equivocation, chicanery, and subter- 
 fuge, are practiced in relation to the claims 
 of civil government? By many, to elude 
 those claims is thought to be at most a ve- 
 nial fault. Yet God himself has vindicated 
 the rights of the community. "Tribute to 
 whom tribute is due ;" " custom to whom 
 custom," is his decision. The very same 
 law that binds a man not to cheat his neigh- 
 bor, forbids him to cheat the commonwealth 
 which throws its shield around his life and 
 property. " The powers that be are ordain- 
 ed of God;" and he who instituted the 
 powers ordained the means for their main- 
 tenance. Yet, obvious as is the duty of sub- 
 mitting cheerfully to the impositions of the 
 state, you cannot be conversant with the 
 ways of the world, and not know how ex- 
 tensively taxes are evaded, how frequently 
 false returns of property are made, how art- 
 fully the excise and the customs are in num- 
 berless instances defrauded. You are aware 
 with what skill and adroitness some who 
 thus practice deceit contrive to elude detec- 
 tion ; while others, glorying in their shame, 
 will even plume themselves on the clever- 
 ness they have displayed in cheating the 
 
L64 A MODEL FOB Mix OF r.rsiM 
 
 revenue. Cleverness I It is a cleverness 
 from beneath. 
 Contemplate another Held of fraud less 
 
 Startling, and therefore more insidious than 
 the former. By selfish extravagance, or 
 
 rash speculations, what numbers subject 
 themselves to liabilities which their re- 
 sources do not warrant, or plunge into debts 
 which they have no prospect of discharg- 
 ing! It is not uncommon for the commer- 
 cial world to be shaken, convulsed, dislo- 
 cated, by the gambling spirit which seems 
 periodically to take possession of it, impelling 
 men to stake all upon a throw. In their 
 haste to be rich, they leave principle and 
 prudence behind them. Bent on their own 
 enrichment, they have no regard for the in- 
 terests of others. No doubt there is a whole- 
 some enterprise in business which ought not 
 to be discouraged, and to which a certain 
 range and latitude must be accorded; but 
 when that range and latitude intrench on 
 the rights of others, they intrench, however 
 stealthily, on the law of God. It is not 
 enough that a man's intentions are honest — 
 his measures must be prudent. While in- 
 tegrity actuate-, wisdom must restrain. I 
 do not deny thai a man of integrity may be 
 unsuccessful in his plans, that insolvency 
 
UPRIGHTNESS IN DEALINGS. 155 
 
 may overtake him unawares ; lie may find 
 himself involved in difficulties which he 
 could not avert, and embarrassments which 
 he could not foresee ; and he may shine all 
 the more brightly by his conduct in such 
 circumstances. But when a man launches 
 out into speculations far beyond the margin 
 of his capital, or when he indulges in a style 
 of living which he has no income to justify, 
 then at once is he making shipwreck of up- 
 rightness, he is sacrificing others to himself. 
 " Owe no man anything," is as much a di- 
 vine precept as "Thou shalt not steal," or, 
 " Thou shalt do no murder." Fearful is the 
 amount of inconsistency which, when tried 
 by this standard, many who name the name 
 of Christ betray ; by reason of whom " the 
 way of truth is evil spoken of," and the gain- 
 say er is hardened in his unbelief. " Let us 
 judge ourselves" in these things, "that we 
 be not judged of the Lord." " Happy is he 
 that condemneth not himself in that which 
 he alloweth." 
 
 Then, again, how diversified the deceptions 
 practiced in trade for the purpose of taking 
 advantage of the purchaser ! Inferior arti- 
 cles are made to wear a superior appearance ; 
 old and damaged goods are vamped up, and 
 glossed over, that they may pass for new; 
 
156 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 domestic manufactures are sold as foreign; 
 the names of certain makers are attached to 
 articles which they never made; false rep- 
 resentations are given of the cost of produce, 
 or the state of the markets; the unpracticed 
 dealer is charged more than the accomplish- 
 ed trafficker; prices are regulated by what 
 can be obtained, rather than by the real 
 worth of that which is sold. These things 
 are the curse and canker of business — a moral 
 leprosy which taints the community. How 
 hardly shall a faithful tradesman keep him- 
 self pure ! How great watchfulness he re- 
 quires, that he may not be " partaker of 
 other men's sins !" 
 
 On the other hand, how r frequently will 
 the buyer avail himself of the necessities of 
 the seller ; force him to forego his legitimate 
 profit, or disparage and depreciate his goods, 
 in order that he may beat down their price. 
 It is still as it was in the days of the wise 
 man : " It is naught, it is naught, saith the 
 buyer) but when he is gone his way, then 
 he boasteth." 
 
 And what shall we say of the various 
 ways in which articles of merchandise are 
 adulterated I The production of spurious 
 and counterfeit goods forms an extensive 
 branch of manufacture. And to such a 
 
UPRIGHTNESS IN DEALINGS. 157 
 
 pitch has this species of fraud been carried 
 in some departments, that a strictly honest 
 man often finds it most difficult to stand his 
 ground against such fraudulent competition. 
 In all this, a two-fold guilt is incurred- — the 
 guilt of dishonesty, and the guilt of deceit. 
 To cover the violation of the eighth com- 
 mandment, the ninth is tacitly, if not ex- 
 pressly, violated. A lie is acted, if it be not 
 uttered ; and an acted lie is at least as bad 
 as a spoken lie. Nor is this all ; the subor- 
 dinates are usually implicated in the guilt 
 of the principals; indeed, the latter will 
 sometimes require the former to do what 
 they would shrink from doing themselves. 
 Pitiful subterfuge ! What a man does by 
 another he does himself; yea, and such em- 
 ployers are far more criminal than the agents 
 whom they employ. Not content with 
 serving Satan themselves, they become his 
 allies in enslaving their dependents. Not 
 satisfied with selling their own consciences, 
 they traffic in the consciences of others. As 
 though it were not enough to practice deceit, 
 they become manufacturers of deceivers. 
 These things are too notorious to be denied, 
 too flagrant to be passed over in silence. Nor 
 is the dark catalogue of social injustice yet 
 filled up. How often do masters oppress 
 
158 A BfODEE W>B MEN OF r.rsiNi 
 
 the servant and the hireling in their wages! 
 Instead of u giving them that which is equal 
 and right," they strive to beat and screw 
 down their hire to the uttermost, taking ad- 
 vantage of their necessities. Yet if there be 
 one kind of fraud more dastardly, dishonor- 
 able, and aggravated than another, it is that 
 which wrests from the laboring man the fair 
 recompense of the sweat of his brow — the 
 very price of his sinews, his flesh, and his 
 blood. "The Lord is the avenger of all 
 such, as we also have forewarned you and 
 testified." Is it not notorious, that in too 
 many instances wages are the first, instead 
 of the last, thing to be retrenched when 
 times are unfavorable? Are not employers, 
 with some honorable exceptions, far more 
 ready to lower wages when trade is bad, 
 tli an to raise them when trade is good ? 
 How seldom do the workmen share propor- 
 tionally in the prosperity of their master? 
 Hardest and meanest of all is it, when, as is 
 sometimes the case, under the pretext that 
 hi- work has been damaged or deficient, 
 heavy abatements of the remuneration of 
 his toil are forced on the hapless artisan, 
 who has no alternative but to submit to the 
 wrong, or to be thrown out of employment. 
 At all events, little hope can the poor and 
 
UPRIGHTNESS IN DEALINGS. 159 
 
 the weak have in contending against the rich 
 and the strong. As a consequence, there 
 often follows a fearful retaliation ; the work- 
 people, smarting under unmerited imputa- 
 tions, and goaded on by a sense of wrong, 
 take the law into their own hands, and fancy 
 that they are warranted to do wdiat they 
 have been falsely charged with doing, and 
 are justified in taking stealthily what they 
 ought in fairness to receive. Thus, injustice 
 on the one side begets injustice on the other. 
 But it must not be forgotten, that however 
 guilty the dependent who has in this way 
 been disciplined into dishonesty, sevenfold 
 heavier is his guilt who made him dishonest. 
 How would all this be averted if only and 
 always the master were to deal with the 
 servant, and the servant with the master, as 
 each would desire to be dealt with by the 
 other, were their relation inverted ! 
 
 Much shade might still be added to this 
 dark picture, were we to explore, the ram- 
 ified injustice and unfaithfulness which so 
 often disgrace trusteeships and executor- 
 ships. What sad scenes and stories here 
 crowd on the mind — the interests of the 
 helpless and dependent cruelly neglected, 
 the confidence which friendship reposed in 
 the undeserving shamefully betrayed. O! 
 
160 A MODKL VOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 how do the sighs of the widow and the tears 
 of the fatherless cry, and their "cries are en- 
 tered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth !" 
 Fearful must be the retribution which awaits 
 those who, instead of defending the cause of 
 the fatherless and widow, take advantage of 
 their weakness to bereave and oppress them. 
 But I w r ill not pursue this melancholy train 
 of illustration any further. Enough has been 
 said to remind all wdio will give heed of the 
 perils which beset our social relationships, 
 and to warn them not to "walk according 
 to the course of this world." 
 
 Christian reader, let me remind you how 
 beautiful and blessed would be the state of 
 society if all this were reversed — if, instead 
 of the sordid maxim of the worldling holding 
 true, "Where you find a man's interest there 
 you will find the man," it could be said uni- 
 versally, " Where you find a man's duty 
 there you w T ill find the man." Why should 
 it not bo, so with us all? Secular interest 
 itself demands it at our hand. Honesty is 
 the best policy. In the long run, the Up- 
 right man will ordinarily be the successful 
 man. Or, if he be not prosperous here, it is 
 because God has better things in store for 
 him hereafter, and trains him by earthly 
 discipline for an enduring and undefiled in- 
 

 UPRIGHTNESS IN DEALINGS. 161 
 
 heritance. At all events, he will enjoy the 
 melody of the testimony of a conscience 
 void of offense — a melody which can glad- 
 den the home of guileless penury, but for 
 lack of which the costly mansion of fraud 
 will have no true gladness. "Better a din- 
 ner of herbs," the fruit of integrity, than a 
 " stalled ox," imbittered by guilt : yea, and 
 often even in this world God sets his brand 
 on the gains of dishonesty. It is no uncom- 
 mon thing to see wealth which had been 
 doubtfully accumulated, melt away like snow 
 before the summer's sun. Or else to find, 
 that the usurious owner had heaped up rich- 
 es and could not tell who should gather 
 them ; for, either he leaves no descendants 
 to inherit his wealth, or else his posterity 
 squander in profligacy the stores for which 
 he had sacrificed his conscience and his soul. 
 Far more frequently than the heedless no- 
 tice, is it thus made manifest, that "doubt- 
 less there is a God that judgeth in the earth." 
 A few more practical suggestions must 
 close this chapter. How vain his expecta- 
 tion who hopes, by meeting the requirements 
 of the law, to stand acquitted before God ! 
 Tried even by his favorite table — that which 
 enjoins his duty toward man — is he not 
 daily adjudged to be guilty? Can he plead 
 
16:2 a model for men of business. 
 
 that he has always from his heart loved liis 
 neighbor as himself, or done in all things to 
 Others as he would have others do to him? 
 Is it possible for self-love so to blind him, 
 that lie should venture so to plead? But if 
 he cannot justify himself in relation to the 
 law as bearing upon his conduct toward his 
 fellow-creatures, how can he hope to justify 
 himself in relation to the law as bearing 
 upon his conduct toward his Creator ? 
 Surely, then, " by deeds of the law shall no 
 man living be justified." Surely, u by the 
 law is the knowledge of sin." Surely, " the 
 law is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, 
 that w r e may be justified by- faith ;" for " he 
 is the end of the law for righteousness to 
 every one that believeth." Surely, none 
 can stand before the Judge of quick and 
 dead, except that Judge have " blotted out 
 as a thick cloud his transgressions, and as a 
 cloud his sins." 
 
 At the same time it must never be forgot- 
 ten, that there will be repentance toward 
 God whenever there is " faith toward our 
 Lord Jesus Christ." Fruits meet for repent- 
 ance will follow. Where this is the case, he 
 that has done wrong w T ill strive to do so no 
 more ; and where he can make reparation, 
 reparation will be made. " Behold, Lord," 
 

 UPRIGHTNESS IN DEALINGS. 163 
 
 said the penitent and believing Zaccheus, 
 " the half of my goods I give to the poor, 
 and if I have taken anything from any man 
 by false accusation, I restore him fourfold." 
 Then said Jesus, "This day is salvation come 
 to this house, forasmuch as he also is a son 
 of Abraham" — a son not only after the flesh 
 but also " after the Spirit," because possessed 
 of the living faith of Abraham — a faith fruit- 
 ful in all good works. The Christian must 
 aim high. He ought not to come down to 
 the standard of the world, but strive to attain 
 to the standard of Christ, remembering the 
 declaration, " Ye are a chosen generation, a 
 royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar 
 people." "What, then, do ye more than 
 others?" In the counting-house or on the 
 exchange, in the manufactory or in the 
 workshop, let men be compelled to " take 
 knowledge of him that he has been with 
 Jesus " — not by much talking about religion 
 out of place, but by his acting on its princi- 
 ples and carrying out its precepts in all his 
 dealings and relations. The ordinary busi- 
 ness of life should be penetrated with the 
 spirit of the gospel. " Be not partakers of 
 other men's sins." "Keep yourselves pure." 
 Our inquiry should be, not what is customary, 
 but what is right. In pursuing such a 
 
164 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 course one may have to suffer from unscru- 
 pulous competition, be may have to forego 
 tempting advantages, he may see no pros- 
 pect of success — but let him not be anxious. 
 Let him bear in mind what the prophet an- 
 swered the king of Judah when he asked, 
 " But what shall we do for the hundred 
 talents which I have given to the army of 
 Israel?" "The Lord is able to give you 
 much more than this." So ought men to 
 reckon that He whom they serve can give 
 them manifold more than they lose for his 
 sake, even in this world, and in the world to 
 come life everlasting. Above all, let each 
 realize that as it would profit him nothing to 
 gain the whole world and lose his own soul, 
 so it will disadvantage him little, if he lose 
 the whole world and save his own soul. 
 May our treasure be in heaven ! 
 
 " Let integrity be the guide of your life." 
 " If riches increase, set not your heart upon 
 them ;" if they diminish, let not your heart 
 be troubled. How much better is honorable 
 poverty than dishonorable opulence ! Woe 
 to the " men of the world, who have their 
 portion in this world ;" but blessed are they 
 who are " as poor, yet making many rich ; 
 as having nothing, and yet possessing all 
 things." 
 
UPRIGHTNESS IN DEALINGS. 165 
 
 There are few characters more honorable 
 or more useful than that of the Christian 
 man of business, who sets an example of 
 truth, of uprightness, and of diligence ; and 
 who labors to have a conscience void of of- 
 fense toward God and man. Mercantile 
 men of this description are the salt of the 
 commercial world, and "the substance" of 
 the nation. God grant that the number of 
 such men may be greatly multiplied ! and 
 may the reader be of that number! 
 
166 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 FORTITUDE IN DUTY. 
 
 By our Christian baptism we are form- 
 ally united to Christ; and among the great 
 designs of that holy ordinance as to our- 
 selves, is that it should serve for a " token 
 that we should not thereafter be ashamed to 
 confess the faith of Christ crucified, and 
 manfully to fight under his banner against 
 sin, the world, and the devil, and to continue 
 Christ's faithful soldiers and servants unto 
 our lives' end." As professed Christians, 
 therefore, we are called to fight as soldiers, 
 as well as to obey as servants. Indeed, we 
 cannot do this without doing the other also ; 
 for no man can serve God in this wicked 
 world unless he contend in order that he may 
 obey. But in a soldier there is no quality 
 so shameful as cowardice, and no excellency 
 so essential as courage. A cowardly soldier 
 has no right to be in the army — a cowardly 
 Christian has no right to be enrolled under 
 the standard of the Captain of our salvation. 
 Hence it is, that when St. Peter enumerates 
 the chief graces which we are to give all 
 
FORTITUDE IN DUTY. 167 
 
 diligence to attain, he places fortitude next 
 to faith: "Giving all diligence," says he, 
 " add to your faith virtue" — the primi- 
 tive sense of the word employed in the 
 original is valour ; even as in the Latin 
 tongue, and in our own language, the word 
 virtue originally signified courage — an ex- 
 pressive fact, which indicates how closely 
 the two qualities are allied. The Spirit of 
 God thus proves, that the next thing to be- 
 lieving in Christ in order that we may be 
 saved, is boldnesss through Christ to avow 
 that belief; for "with the heart man be- 
 lieveth unto righteousness, and with the 
 mouth confession is made unto salvation." 
 If there be not, therefore, the courage to 
 avouch Christ with the lip and in the life, 
 the seal and superscription of the faith that 
 saves is lacking. 
 
 Mingling, as the Christian man of busi- 
 ness necessarily does, in scenes of secu- 
 lar distraction; brought into contact, day 
 by day, with worldly and ungodly men; 
 occupying his business in the midst of 
 those who deride his principles and lie in 
 wait to betray him; breathing an atmos- 
 phere charged with false sentiments, false 
 maxims, false feelings, — how much he needs 
 to add to his faith, virtue, — to see to it that 
 
168 A MOm.L WOB KEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 while he is "not slothful in business, but 
 ferwnt in spirit, serving the Lord," he is 
 a]so "strong and of good courage," fighting 
 manfully under the banner of his Lord, and 
 confessing him before men. 
 
 The nature of holy courage must be an- 
 alyzed, in order that we may not misunder- 
 stand its elements. It is not that natural 
 bravery which belongs to some men consti- 
 tutionally. This quality, if you examine it, 
 resolves itself into little more than strength 
 of nerve and robustness of animal spirits. 
 It is found largely among our soldiery, 
 and, in a thousand instances, apart from 
 Christian principle. It is rather the brav- 
 ery of the lion than the bravery of the 
 mind and the man. There is, however, 
 a courage of a far higher order — that which 
 springs from a sense of honor, from a proud 
 disdain of what is mean and pusillanimous 
 — which dreads a spot more than a wound 
 — a reproach more than a calamity. In 
 this there is much that is specious and 
 lovely, yet is it after all a plant of earthly 
 growth — fair, but without abiding root. 
 This is the heroism which captivates the 
 world. They can appreciate; they can ad- 
 mire it. They make it their standard ; they 
 talk rapturously of heroes ; they well-nigh 
 
FORTITUDE IN DUTY. 169 
 
 worship them. But, after all, sucli heroism, 
 when weighed in the balances of Holy 
 Scripture, is found utterly wanting. It is 
 lacking in universality of influence — it is 
 lacking in personal subjugation. Hence it 
 is by no means uncommon to find a man 
 who can conquer in battle, conquered him- 
 self in the struggle with his own nature ; to 
 find the victor vanquished, and the waraor 
 who led others into captivity taken captive 
 by his own corruptions. Some of the most 
 valorous have been the most depraved ; and 
 some who dragged their enemies at their 
 chariot-wheels, have themselves been drag- 
 ged through the mire of pollution by their 
 own appetites and passions. The history of 
 the world furnishes a thousand proofs that 
 the hero of the battle-field is not always a 
 hero in private life, and that worldly honor 
 cannot save a man from sensual bondage. 
 As the stream cannot rise higher than its 
 fountain, neither can a moral quality rise 
 higher than its principle. Earthly valor can- 
 not raise a man above the earth; but the 
 courage of a Christian springs from the fear 
 of God, from " seeing him who is invisible," 
 from realizing his omnipotent sovereignty, 
 from prizing his favor more than life, and 
 dreading his displeasure more than death. 
 
170 A MODEL FOB KEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 Hence the soldier of Christ is fearless to do 
 right, fearful to do wrong — afraid to sin, but 
 Dot afraid to Buffer. He dares not deviate 
 from honesty, but lie dares encounter loss for 
 being honest; he dares not tell a lie, but he 
 dares to suffer for speaking the truth ; he dares 
 not " make a mock at sin," but he dares set 
 at naught the mockery of sinners ; he dares 
 not " follow the multitude to do evil," but 
 he dares to follow the commandments of 
 God, though the whole world should threaten 
 or assail. This exalted grace is exercised 
 not more in withstanding the evil that is 
 without, than in overcoming the evil that is 
 within ; it displays itself most decisively in 
 the believer's warfare with self; its noblest 
 achievements are achievements on the bat- 
 tle-field of the heart. Its exploits are often 
 unknown save to God and conscience. Its 
 triumphs are chronicled in the archives of 
 heaven. 
 
 The need and scope for this virtue amid 
 the ordinary occupations of life, claim spe- 
 cial attention. People are apt, when we 
 speak of courage, to think of battle and of 
 peril; and when we speak of fortitude, to 
 think of bonds and imprisonments — the con- 
 fessorta tortures and the martyr's stake. But 
 heavenly heroism, whether it be active or 
 
FORTITUDE IN DUTY. 171 
 
 passive, is constantly called into play where 
 the world has no conception that it can be 
 exercised. It is essential in order that a 
 man may do the will of God— for to do that 
 will is to master his own will ; and in order 
 that he may "be spiritually minded, which 
 is life and peace," he must mortify "the 
 carnal mind, which is enmity against God." 
 He, therefore, that will be a follower of 
 God must take up arms against himself; 
 he must enter into habitual conflict with his 
 own nature. The very terms of his enlist- 
 ment under the Captain of his salvation are, 
 " to deny himself, and take up his cross 
 daily, and follow Christ." But to do this, 
 to crucify the flesh with the affections and 
 lusts, to keep the body under, and to bring 
 it into subjection — holding it down, as the 
 wrestler does his antagonist when he has got 
 him undermost, despite of all his spasmodic 
 struggles to rise — yea, and not to wrestle 
 against flesh and blood only, but " against 
 principalities, against powers, against the 
 rulers of the darkness of this world, against 
 spiritual wickedness in high places;" io 
 "quench all the fiery darts of the wicked," 
 and face all the artillery of hell — this re- 
 quires a mighty moral valor indeed : a cour- 
 age, how far surpassing all the daring of 
 
178 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 the earthly warrior! "He that ruleth his 
 own spirit, is greater than lie that taketh a 
 city ; M and he that conquers himself, than he 
 that conquers a kingdom. It was finely 
 said by llichard Cecil, that "an humble 
 Christian, battling against the world, the 
 flesh, and the devil, is a greater hero than 
 Alexander the Great." No doubt he is in 
 the sight of angels. His record is on high. 
 " He shall be a pillar in the temple of his 
 God." Meanwhile, however, how protracted 
 often, how wearying the warfare! There 
 must be no truce — no suspension of hostili- 
 ties. It will last while life lasts — it can be 
 finished only when we finish our course, 
 and " enter into the joy of our Lord." 
 
 Then, again, it requires a courageous spirit 
 to have respect to all God's commandments. 
 They are very short, but they are " exceed- 
 ing broad." They extend to every thought, 
 and word, and work — to every movement of 
 the inner, and every act of the outer man. 
 The law of God is like the atmosphere we 
 breathe — it encompasses us always and 
 everywhere. But always and everywhere 
 to strive after conformity to it — at whatever 
 cost, risk, sacrifice, or suffering — what holy 
 intrepidity does this demand! Well might 
 Joshua, when lie was taking leave of the 
 
FORTITUDE IN DUTY. 173 
 
 hosts of the Lord, say to them, "Be ye there- 
 fore very courageous" — for what purpose? 
 To vanquish their enemies ? — to root out the 
 remnant of the Canaanites? No; but " to 
 keep and to do all that is written in the book 
 of the law of Moses." Courage was re- 
 quired by them to obey rather than to fight ; 
 to subdue themselves rather than to dis- 
 comfit the Hittite and the Perizzite. Let 
 them do the former, and the latter would 
 follow. Look at the history of Israel, and 
 you will find it a commentary on this truth. 
 Never were they faithful to the Lord, but 
 their enemies fled; never were they unfaith- 
 ful to him, but their enemies triumphed 
 over them. "The battle is not to the 
 strong." Surrounding Jericho, at God's com- 
 mand the walls fell prostrate, without a 
 sword having been drawn or an arrow shot 
 — going against Ai, when they had pro- 
 voked the Lord to anger, they were smitten 
 down before the men of that insignificant 
 city. ^ 
 
 It is further requisite that the servant of 
 Christ should be of good courage in order 
 that he may overcome the world — in order 
 that he may not be "conformed to" it, but 
 "transformed by the renewing of his mind." 
 He is not of the world, even as his Master 
 
174- A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSTN1 
 
 is Dot of the world. Jesus "gave himself 
 for us, that he might redeem us from the 
 present evil world." It is true the religion 
 of Christ does not lie in singularity; yet, 
 even in this land, we are strangers to living 
 Christianity unless we are singular ; for 
 the multitude of those among us are as 
 truly of the world as are the pagans in 
 heathen lands, who do not even know that 
 name. Hence, those who have the mind that 
 was in Christ, cannot fail to be "a peculiar 
 people" in the midst of Christendom, even 
 as they would be in the midst of Paganism. 
 The features which distinguish them from 
 those by whom they are surrounded, may 
 not be so palpable in the one case as in the 
 other ; but they are not on that account less 
 real. The children of God, wherever they 
 dwell, must, in spirit and character, " come 
 out from among" the world "and be sepa- 
 rate." They dare not "walk according to its 
 course," else they would walk "according to 
 the prince of the power of the air." "They 
 are crucified to the world, and the world to 
 them." Their path is narrow, and therefore 
 their fellow-travelers are few. They must 
 welcome the world's frown rather than court 
 it- -mile. "If they were of the world, the 
 world would love its own; but because they 
 

 FORTITUDE IN DUTY. 175 
 
 are not of the world, for Christ has chosen 
 them out of the world, therefore the world 
 hateth them." If we bear his image, we 
 shall share his "reproach." For, though 
 some think that the beauty of virtue must 
 captivate, and the loveliness of holiness dis- 
 arm all — yet when He who was virtue em- 
 bodied and holiness impersonated, walked 
 the world, instead of being captivated by 
 the beauty of his holiness, and ravished by 
 the loveliness of his virtue, the men of the 
 world hated him, and mocked him, and 
 scourged him, and buffeted him, and spat 
 upon him, and crowned him with thorns, 
 and crucified him. Such was the world's 
 appreciation of the excellency of virtue, 
 and the perfection of holiness! And if 
 they persecuted Christ, will they not per- 
 secute his people? — if they called the mas- 
 ter of the house Beelzebub, will they not 
 much more call them of his household ? 
 The more closely we resemble our Lord, the 
 more shall we be honored with the world's 
 enmity. The " offense of the cross " hath 
 not ceased. If we escape the offense, it 
 must be by hiding the cross. Strange, that 
 while Mahommedans and Pagans glory in 
 their shame, and never think of blushing to 
 own their superstitions — Christians should 
 
17*) A MOREL FOB MKN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 s.» often be ashamed of their glory 1 Mys- 
 terious evidence that the cross is of God! 
 Paganism never provokes the enmity of the 
 carnal mind ; it is the cross that stirs its an- 
 tipathy. Here, therefore, is a wide field for 
 Christian courage. To confess Christ before 
 men, to glory in his cross, to identify our- 
 selves with his people — this is hard to flesh 
 and blood — harder to many than to face 
 the cannon's mouth. "The fear of man 
 bringeth a snare ;" — the fear of his frown, 
 his contempt, his ridicule, his scorn — how 
 often does this false feeling ensnare the soul ! 
 The vaunted valor of the world betrays its 
 hollowness here. He who will rush on the 
 battle's edge, dares not face the sneers of 
 fools. In defiance of conscience and the 
 fear of God, he will stand to murder or to 
 be murdered, lest he should be branded as 
 a coward. What pusillanimous bravery ! 
 What dishonorable honor! In noble con- 
 trast was the spirit of that man of holy in- 
 trepidity — " Colonel Gardiner ;" who, when 
 challenged to a duel, answered majestically, 
 " You know I am not afraid to fight, but I 
 am afraid to sin." Still more sublime was 
 the conduct of another illustrious soldier, 
 who — when a rash and insolent young man, 
 after having challenged him in vain for the 
 
FORTITUDE IN DUTY. 177 
 
 purpose of provoking him to fight, first went 
 so far as to strike him, and then spit in his 
 face — calmly took out his handkerchief, and 
 wiping his cheek, said solemnly, " Young 
 man, if I could as easily wipe your blood 
 from my conscience as I do this from my 
 face, I would chastise your insolence." No 
 marvel that the youth, stung to the quick 
 by such magnanimity, fell on his knees and 
 craved forgiveness. That was a glorious vic- 
 tory ! The Christian hero, by conquering 
 himself, conquered his enemy ; so fulfilling 
 the precept, " Be not overcome of evil, but 
 overcome evil with good." The world's 
 heroes overcome evil with evil, and there- 
 fore are vanquished; the Christian hero 
 overcomes evil with good, and therefore is 
 more than conqueror. 
 
 And let it not be supposed that, in the 
 daily and common-place pursuits of business, 
 there is no scope for the exercise of this 
 grace. In its lowlier and less impressive, 
 but not less important exercises, it is fre- 
 quently called into play. Occasions for its 
 manifestation occur where the unbelieving 
 never perceive them. For instance, a com- 
 mercial man has to do with men who, in the 
 transactions of business, adopt certain prin- 
 ciples, and pursue a certain line of policy, 
 12 
 
ITS A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 which, though consistent with the world's 
 standard of morality, is not in harmony with 
 the high demands of scriptural integrity. 
 In such a case, there can be no doubt what 
 path a Christian must choose; but in choos- 
 ing it, he will not only have to forego a 
 seeming advantage, but he will have also to 
 provoke the dislike, if not the censure, of 
 those whom by such a choice he tacitly re- 
 bukes. He will be thought, if he is not 
 called precise, puritanical, wanting in spirit 
 and enterprise, never likely to succeed in 
 the world. Here moral courage is brought 
 into requisition, in order to embolden him 
 to encounter resentment and contempt, to 
 stem the current of custom, and brave the 
 strictures of the oracles of trade. Or per- 
 haps he is a servant, accustomed to submit 
 to his employer, dependent upon him for his 
 daily bread. He is required to act deceitfully, 
 or to concur in dishonesty, or to profane the 
 day of holy rest. His situation is at stake 
 if he refuse. Yet he must " not be a parta- 
 ker of other men's sins ;" he must obey God 
 rather than man. Now, therefore, the for- 
 titude of faith must intervene ; he must 
 trust in God, cleave to that which is right, 
 and commit the issue to his hands. Or it 
 may be that his ordinary avocations compel 
 

 FORTITUDE IN DUTY. 179 
 
 him to mingle with profane, impure, and 
 licentious men, whose mouths are full of un- 
 cleanness and ungodliness : he breathes a 
 tainted atmosphere, like that of Sodom and 
 Gomorrah. What courageous resolution it 
 requires to keep himself, like Lot in Sodom, 
 undefiled by the pollution which encompasses 
 him, to own Christ where all deny him, and 
 glory in his cross where all pour contempt 
 on his name ! What but a strength made 
 perfect in weakness can keep him pure 
 amid surrounding impurity, reverential amid 
 surrounding profaneness, truthful amid sur- 
 rounding deceit? 
 
 But he may be called {some are called, 
 multitudes have been called) to severer tests 
 of holy fortitude than these. "AH that will 
 live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer perse- 
 cution. " Few, however, have in these lat- 
 ter days drunk deeply of the bitter cup. 
 But there is reason to think that it is filling 
 again for the faithful. The indications of 
 prophecy and the aspects of Christendom 
 seem alike to betoken a return of fiery trial 
 for the righteous. 
 
 Already on the continent of Europe, as in 
 the case of the Madiai and other meek con- 
 fessors, "the man of sin" is threatening to 
 wield again that sword which, though forced 
 
ISO A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 for a season to sheath, lie never laid aside. 
 Everywhere he is grasping at political power 
 under the guise of spiritual authority, and 
 onlv let him, either by himself, or in alliance 
 with infidelity, acquire a more complete as- 
 cendency, and the fires of persecution will 
 again blaze, and new ranks be added to 
 " the noble army of martyrs." Are we pre- 
 pared for the ordeal ? Were the tempest to 
 rise, how much chaff would it sweep from 
 the threshing-floor of the Church ! how little 
 wheat would it leave there ! Were the fur- 
 nace to be heated, how much shining dross 
 would be consumed! how little fine gold 
 would remain, only purified by the flame ! 
 At all events, though we may never be called 
 upon to share the martyr's crown, we are 
 called upon to imbibe the martyr's spirit. 
 No man can be Christ's who has not the 
 spirit of a martyr. For what is the martyr's 
 spirit? Is it not to count all things but 
 dung, so that Christ may be won? And 
 can any win Christ without so estimating 
 him? Nay, verily; for he himself has de- 
 clared, " If any man come to me, and hate 
 not his father and mother, and wife and 
 children, and brethren and sisters, yea, and 
 his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." 
 This is to be a martyr in heart. And let us 
 
FORTITUDE IN DUTY. 181 
 
 not forget that he who has this mind, will 
 show it in the little as he would in the great, 
 in the calm as he would in the storm; in 
 enduring the contradiction of sinners, as 
 he would in confronting the rack or the 
 stake. 
 
 It is clear, then, that there is a wide range 
 for the display of godly courage in our ordi- 
 nary walk and warfare. There are daily 
 occasions to repel the suggestions of carnal 
 policy, the insinuations of worldly wisdom, 
 and the promptings of unbelief, with one of 
 the Lord's faithful ones. 
 
 How ennobling this spirit ! Even natural 
 valor has something grand in it; but the 
 heavenly heroism of him who fears God, 
 and therefore fears none else, possesses a 
 majesty which bespeaks it divine — the 
 rather, because it is often displayed by the 
 naturally timid and weak, yea, even by lit- 
 tle children. As it is written: "O Lord, 
 our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all 
 the earth ! who hast set thy glory above the 
 , heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and 
 sucklings hast thou ordained strength, that 
 thou mightest still the enemy and .the 
 avenger." So, of the great " doud of wit- 
 nesses " whose exploits are chronicled in the 
 eleventh chapter of the epistle to the He- 
 
182 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 brews, how many were frail and faint, but 
 " out of weakness they were made strong ;" 
 omnipotent strength was made perfect in 
 their weakness ; — hence, though but worms 
 of the dust, they threshed mountains, or 
 sustained worlds. "When I am w r eak," 
 said the great apostle, " then am I strong." 
 And can the archives of the w r orld exhibit 
 any grandeur of soul to be compared witli 
 Paul's? In the near prospect of " bonds and 
 imprisonments" he said: "But none of these 
 things move me, neither count I my life 
 dear unto myself; so that I might finish my 
 course with joy, and the ministry w r hich 1 
 have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify 
 the gospel of the grace of God." And, in 
 the immediate view of a cruel death, he ex- 
 claimed : " I am now ready to be offered, 
 and the time of my departure is at hand. I 
 have fought a good fight, I have finished my 
 course, I have kept the faith: henceforth, 
 there is laid up for me a crown of righteous- 
 ness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, 
 shall give me at that day." Equally sub- 
 lime was the bearing of Shadrach, Meshach, 
 and Abed-nego, when — as the burning fiery 
 furnace blamed before them, and the infuriate 
 tyrant overwhelmed them with threatenings 
 — they calmly answered, "O Nebuchadnez- 
 
FORTITUDE IN DUTY. 183 
 
 zar, we are not careful to answer thee in this 
 matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve 
 is able to deliver us from the burning fiery 
 furnace, and he will deliver us out of thy 
 hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto 
 thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, 
 nor worship the golden image which thou 
 hast set up." No marvel that they over- 
 came their furious , persecutor, and wrung 
 from his heart admiration of their conduct 
 and adoration of their God. ~No quality 
 adds so much weight and dignity to Chris- 
 tian character as this quality. The timid, 
 trimming, compromising, inconstant profes- 
 sor disgraces the banner under which he 
 marches, and betrays the Captain whose 
 name he bears. The very world, which 
 snares or seduces him from his steadfastness, 
 will be the first to despise him when it shall 
 have entangled him, and to speak of him and 
 exult over him as fallen. In their estima- 
 tion, therefore, he is exalted when he will 
 not come down to them — he will have de- 
 graded himself by fearing their fear and 
 coveting their applause. When he will not 
 flee from his duty to save his life, then the 
 w^orld respects while it hates him ; but when 
 betrayed into hiding himself in " refuges of 
 lies," the world sets him at naught. " Their 
 
1S4 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies 
 themselves being judges." 
 
 And what a blessed confidence and liberty 
 does this virtue give the soul ! " The wick- 
 ed flee when no man pursueth; but the 
 righteous are bold as a lion." "Ye have 
 not received the spirit of bondage again to 
 fear; but ye have received the spirit of 
 adoption, whereby we >cry Abba, Father." 
 " God hath not given us the spirit of fear ; 
 but of power, and of love, and of a sound 
 mind." Numbers are held back from fol- 
 lowing Christ fully, through a cowardly 
 shame. Well might Bunyan in his "Pil- 
 grim's Progress" say, "No enemy so belied 
 his name as Shame; for he was the most 
 shameless villain that hung upon the pil- 
 grim's steps, and clung to him to the last." 
 Many would fain come to Jesus, like Nico- 
 demus, by night. They are afraid of losing 
 social caste and position ; they are ashamed 
 of being numbered among " fools and fanat- 
 ics ;" they covet the crown but they shrink 
 from the cross. Rather should the Chris- 
 tian be ashamed of such shame, and afraid 
 of such fear. " Sanctify the Lord God in 
 your hearts* Let him be your fear, and let 
 hi in be your dread." " If we suffer, we shall 
 also reign with him: if we deny him, he 
 
FORTITUDE IN DUTY. 185 
 
 also will deny us." There is special need 
 that those should be admonished who occupy 
 their business in the midst of a world that 
 lieth in wickedness, to be more than ever 
 " valiant for the truth ;" — that they should 
 be addressed as St. Paul addressed the Cor- 
 inthians, "Watch ye; stand fast in the faith; 
 quit you like men ; be strong." Our age is 
 one of compromise and concession. A piti- 
 ful, dastardly spirit of expediency has set 
 aside the sway of stern and sterling principle : 
 — from our statesmen and legislators down 
 through all ranks of the community, the 
 canker of a false liberalism has diffused it- 
 self; truth is sacrificed to peace, and wisdom 
 to selfish policy. Let the godly beware of 
 this leaven — hold fast the "wisdom which is 
 first pure then peaceable,"— judge all things 
 by the Bible, — assert its supremacy in all 
 things and over all things, — smile at the 
 charge of bigotry and blindness. H Blessed 
 are ye when men shall revile you, and per- 
 secute you, and shall say all manner of evil 
 against you falsely, for Christ's sake." 
 
 To young men especially, who are just 
 launching forth on the sea of public life, do 
 these considerations address themselves. At 
 their age, the mind is most keenly alive to 
 opinion — the heart most sensitive to reproach 
 
l s *> a HODlKi you MSB OF nrsiNi 
 
 and contempt Many a hopeful youth lias 
 been laughed out of his conscience, and ban- 
 tered out of hie character. Such, tlierefore, 
 peculiarly need moral courage. To them 
 would we say : — Fear, that you may not fear. 
 Fear God, that you may not fear man. 
 Hearken to the voice of your "Leader and 
 Commander:" — "Fear not them who, after 
 that they have killed the body, have no 
 more that they can do ; but I will forewarn 
 you whom ye shall fear : Fear Hirn which, 
 after he hath killed, hath power to cast into 
 hell ; yea, I say unto you, fear him." " Be 
 strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." 
 Take for your models the glorious examples 
 of youthful heroism with which Scripture 
 abounds. Imitate Joseph, who braved dan- 
 ger but dared not sin against God. Copy 
 Daniel, wdiom the den of lions could not 
 affright — who would not so much as cloak 
 hie fidelity to the Lord. Be followers of 
 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who 
 smiled at the burning fiery furnace — endur- 
 ing, as " seeing Him who is invisible." Imi- 
 tate St. Paul, who "conferred not with flesh 
 and blood, and counted all things but dung, 
 so that he might win Christ, and be found in 
 him.* 5 Above all, strive to remember Him 
 who "endured the cross, despising the 
 
FORTITUDE IN DUTY. 187 
 
 shame, and is set down at the right hand of 
 the throne of God ;" and who has said, " To 
 him that overcometh, will I grant to sit with 
 me on my throne ; even as I also overcame, 
 and am set down with my Father in his 
 throne." " Thanks be to God, w T hich giveth 
 us the victory through our Lord Jesus 
 Christ !" 
 
 
 
188 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 JOY IN SERVING GOD. 
 
 He knows nothing of genuine Christianity 
 who does not know it as the well-spring of 
 happiness. For what is the gospel? It is 
 the revelation of God's plan for making man 
 happy again. This accomplished in us, it 
 has accomplished its design ; this frustrated 
 in us, its purpose has been defeated. Away, 
 then, with the lie and the libel which Satan 
 lias forged and the world has fostered — that 
 the service of Christ is a service of gloom 
 and sadness. It has its own sorrows, but it 
 has its own joys; it has disquietudes pecu- 
 liar to itself, but it has a peace all its own ; 
 and its peace passeth all understanding, 
 and its joy is " unspeakable, and full of 
 glory." ' 
 
 There is joy in the service of God. We 
 might have anticipated that such would be 
 the case. Infinitely blessed in himself, he 
 must delight in blessing. It follows that he 
 must delight in communicating blessedness 
 to all that he creates. The happiness of his 
 creatures, in subordination to his own glory, 
 
JOY IN SERVING GOD. 189 
 
 to which all things are necessarily subservi- 
 ent, must be his design. 
 
 If, therefore, the Christian revelation be a 
 revelation from God — a revelation springing 
 out of his mercy — we should at once infer 
 that it would have for its object the restora- 
 tion of happiness to those who through dis- 
 obedience had lost the blessing. What rea- 
 son would thus lead us to anticipate, revela- 
 tion abundantly realizes ; the Word of God, 
 from first to last, points to the happiness of 
 every one that receives the truth in reality 
 and with power, as its natural scope and 
 crowning result. We need only refer to the 
 testimony of the Old Testament Scriptures 
 on this subject. They abound in such dec- 
 larations as these : — " Blessed is the man 
 that trusteth in the Lord." " O Lord of 
 hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in 
 thee." " Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye 
 righteous ; and shout for joy, all ye that are 
 upright in heart." " Happy is the people 
 that is in such a case ; yea, blessed is that peo- 
 ple whose God is the Lord." "Blessed is 
 the people that know the joyful sound : they 
 shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy coun- 
 tenance: in thy name shall they rejoice all 
 the day." " Delight thyself in the Lord, 
 and he shall give thee the desires of thy 
 
190 A MODEL FOB MEN OF BUMN1 
 
 heart." " Her wavs are ways of pleasant- 
 ness, and all her pathfl are peace." Or if 
 we |»a>s on to the testimony of the New 
 Testament, what is the spirit which it 
 breathes I Christianity was ushered into 
 the world with the proclamation, " Behold, 
 L bring you glad tidings of great joy." The 
 Redeemer's invitation to the burdened and 
 the sad was, " Come unto me, all ye that 
 labor and are heavy laden, and I will give 
 you rest." To his disciples he said, " These 
 things have I spoken unto you, that my joy 
 might remain in you, and that your joy 
 might be full." His promise to them when 
 leaving the world was, "I will see you 
 again, and your heart shall rejoice, and 
 your joy no man taketh from you." The 
 epistles bear the same witness : " The king- 
 dom of God is not meat and drink, but 
 righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy 
 Ghost." "Rejoice evermore." "Rejoice 
 in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice." 
 "The peace of God, which passeth all un- 
 derstanding, shall keep your hearts and 
 minds, through Christ Jesus." "The fruit 
 of the Spirit is joy." "Whom having not 
 seen, ye love ; in whom, though now ye 
 see him n<>t, yet believing, ye rejoice with 
 joy unspeakable, and full of glory." Such 
 
JOY IN SERVING GOD. 191 
 
 are the sweet notes of the silver trumpet of 
 salvation. 
 
 Shall we appeal to the experience of the 
 saints, as recorded in Scripture? "Your 
 father Abraham," said Christ, " desired to 
 see my day, and he saw it, and was glad." 
 The sweet singer of Israel thus tuned his 
 harp to joy: "The Lord is my shepherd; I 
 shall not want : he maketli me to lie down 
 in green pastures ; he leadeth me beside the 
 still waters." " Thou hast put gladness into 
 my heart, more than in the time that their 
 corn and their wine increased." In like 
 manner the prophet TIabakkuk, when he 
 foresaw and foreshadowed the desolations 
 that were coming on Israel, exclaimed, "Al- 
 though the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither 
 shall fruit be in the vines ; the labor of the 
 olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no 
 meat; the flock shall be cut off from the 
 fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls : 
 yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in 
 the God of my salvation." Equally rich in 
 examples of the beatific influence of grace 
 are the Scriptures of the New Testament. 
 When the aged Simeon embraced the Babe 
 that brought salvation, his whole soul was 
 filled with joy, and he said, "Lord, now 
 lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, ac- 
 
192 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 cording to thy word; for mine eyes have 
 seen thy Salvation." What were the emo- 
 tions of St. Paul, " when it pleased God to 
 reveal his son Jesus Christ in him?" lie 
 thus expressed them : " God forbid that I 
 should glory " — rejoice — exult — " save in the 
 cross of Jesus Christ, by whom the world is 
 crucified to me, and I to the world." What 
 was the invariable effect of "the word 
 preached," " when mixed with faith in them 
 that heard it?" At first, indeed, they were 
 pricked in their hearts, but afterward they 
 were " those who received the word gladly " 
 that were baptized ; and then we read, " they 
 did eat their meat with gladness and single- 
 ness of heart " — so speedily did the fragrant 
 flower of joy spring forth from the root of 
 pain. They sowed in tears ; but " in a little 
 moment" they reaped in joy. "Beauty 
 was given them for ashes ; the oil of joy for 
 mourning, and the garment of praise for the 
 spirit of heaviness." So it was with the 
 Ethiopian eunuch. Philip joined him on 
 his homeward way, and "preached to him 
 Jesus ;" he believed — confessed his faith — 
 was baptized — and " went on his way re- 
 joicing." How striking the case of the 
 Philippian jailer ! One moment trembling — 
 affrighted — overwhelmed — asking with in- 
 
JOY IN" SERVING GOD. 193 
 
 tensest anxiety, " Sirs, what must I do to be 
 saved ?" the next moment, having " believed 
 on the Lord Jesus Christ," and " being bap- 
 tized, he rejoiced with all his house." Need 
 we add that the epistles all speak of the joy 
 of those to whom the word of salvation came 
 in power? They record of some, that they 
 " received the word in much tribulation," 
 yet "with joy of the Holy Ghost." Of 
 others, that they " took joyfully the spoiling 
 of their goods, knowing in themselves that 
 they had in heaven a better, that is, an en- 
 during substance." 
 
 Abundant room and reason is there for 
 this heavenly joy. It is "the joy of the 
 Lord" It is a joy that centres in the Lord, 
 and is imparted by the Lord. It is a drop 
 from the ocean of the blessedness " of the 
 blessed God." It is a joy in himself; not 
 in sacraments and signs, not in gifts or 
 graces, not in outward things. These are 
 channels that may convey the living water 
 to the soul ; but they have it not in them- 
 selves: they are golden pipes that, if not 
 made idols, bring refreshing streams to the 
 thirsty spirit; but they are not the well- 
 spring of those streams. The fathomless 
 fountain is in the Lord Jesus, in whom alone 
 are all the fresh springs of his people. " Re- 
 13 
 
L9£ A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 price in the Lord always, and again I say 
 rejoice." Each saint will say with the 
 blessed virgin, "My soul cloth magnify the 
 Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God 
 my Saviour." Is there not joy in him — joy 
 unspeakable — for the poor, blind, burdened, 
 weary, condemned, despairing sinner, when 
 he finds in him the righteousness divine, 
 which justifies him freely — the blood divine, 
 that cleanses from all sin — the Almighty 
 Spirit, that quickens him to life eternal — the 
 hope that maketh not ashamed — the title 
 " to an inheritance incorruptible, and unde- 
 filed, and that fadeth not away?" Can a 
 man have his sins, which were as scarlet, 
 made white as snow? Can he pass from 
 darkness to light, and from the power of 
 Satan unto God ? Can he be translated out 
 of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom 
 of God's dear Son ? Can he be rescued out 
 of the prison-house, from the bondage of sin 
 into the glorious liberty of the sons of God ? 
 Can he exchange the husks which the swine 
 do eat, for the " feast of fat things " which 
 crowns his Father's table ? Can all this take 
 place, and the man experience no holy joy 
 as the consequence of a revolution, compared 
 with which all the changes which enrapture 
 the men of this world are but as the toys of 
 

 JOY EST SERVING GOD. 195 
 
 infancy, or the sports of childhood ? Their 
 wells of joy have no depth — they are all sur- 
 face. They are like the shallow water — soon 
 stirred to the bottom by the slightest breeze. 
 Their gladness is easily dispelled; but the 
 happiness of the believer resembles the 
 ocean, which even when its face is ruffled 
 has calm in its soundless depths below. He 
 who minds earthly things has all his treas- 
 ures embarked in barks of bulrushes — one 
 is wrecked, another swamped, another run. 
 down ; and by-and-by he himself dies, and 
 in that very hour all his thoughts perish. 
 Not so with those who mind heavenly things. 
 Their choicest treasure is stored in the ark 
 of immortality, whose anchor is cast within, 
 the vail, and abideth sure and steadfast. 
 The vessels which bear their earthly hopes 
 may be whelmed in the waters; but that 
 vessel cannot fail to land its freightage 
 on the eternal shore ; for Christ is its pilot^ 
 the Spirit swells its sails, and the Father 
 has pledged his oath that it shall never 
 sink. 
 
 "Your joy," said Jesus, "no man taketh 
 from you." It is joy in himself — and he is 
 " the same yesterday, to-day, and forever." 
 The happiness of the worldling — if happiness 
 it can be called — is transient as " the flower 
 
196 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 of the grass," uncertain as a shadow, soiled 
 with the dust, and drawn from " broken 
 cisterns." The happiness of the saint is sure 
 as the truth of God, permanent as eternity, 
 pure as the crystal river that issues from be- 
 neath the throne in heaven, and full as the 
 ocean from which it is derived. " These 
 things have I spoken unto you," said the 
 Redeemer, "that my joy might remain in 
 you, and that your joy might be full." This 
 joy of the Lord is communicated by him, as 
 well as found in him. It comes not by the 
 will of man ; it is not lodged in any ordi- 
 nances — they only convey, but they never 
 contain it ; it is imparted by the Spirit of 
 Jesus, who taketh of the things of Jesus and 
 reveals them to the soul. He prepares the 
 heart for joy, by purifying the heart from 
 sin. He prepares it by breaking the heart 
 of stone, that he may then bind up the broken 
 heart with sovereign balms of consolation — 
 pouring in the oil and wine of heaven. He 
 is, therefore, called the Comforter, and "the 
 Spirit of Adoption. 5 '* Precious Comforter! 
 There is no wound he cannot mollify, no pain 
 he cannot alleviate, no sorrow he cannot 
 soothe, no despair he cannot irradiate. His 
 consolations and joys are the first-fruits of 
 heaven. Hence it is said, " Now he that 
 
JOY W SERVING GOD. 197 
 
 hath, wrought us for the self-same thing is 
 God, who also hath given to us the earnest 
 of the Spirit." "The fruit of the Spirit is 
 joy;" and " in the presence of God is full- 
 ness of joy." Grace is glory in the germ. 
 The river of water of life, which rises in 
 heaven, has streams on earth — streams 
 which make glad the city of God below. 
 
 There is joy to the servant of God in the 
 service of his Father in heaven, and the joy 
 which he feels is " the joy of the Lord." 
 Let him thirst for it ; drink of it abundantly ; 
 "draw water with joy out of the wells of 
 salvation." He need not fear the living 
 draught. It cannot intoxicate ; it never 
 palls. While it refreshes it invigorates ; 
 while it animates it sustains. For " the joy 
 of the Lord is your strength." 
 
 It is our strength for active duty. It is the 
 oil on the wheels of exertion, which makes 
 them run freely and smoothly. It is not 
 the sickly, dreamy, selfish* emotion of the 
 quietist or the recluse — the hothouse flower 
 that shrinks from the open air, and needs 
 perpetual forcing. The joy of the Lord 
 nerves for toil, and braces for conflict ; makes 
 the yoke of Christ easy, and his burden light. 
 What a man does happily, he will do hearti- 
 ly, and what he does heartily, he will do 
 
L98 A MODEL FOR MIX OF Bl 
 
 well. u I will run the way of thy command- 
 ments," said David, M when thou shalt en- 
 large my heart." So, in withstanding the 
 allurements or the onsets of the world ; in 
 maintaining the good fight of faith; in fin- 
 ishing the course assigned us to fulfill; in 
 keeping the faith once delivered to the saints, 
 even unto death ; — there is nothing which so 
 nourishes the inner man, so fortifies the spirit, 
 so imparts elasticity to the step, vigor to the 
 arm, and nerve to the heart, as "joy in the 
 Holy Ghost." It makes the devoted Chris- 
 tian — by making the satisfied Christian. 
 The husks which the swine eat may excite 
 the hankering of him that is in want ; but 
 he who feasts at his Father's table turns from 
 them with loathing. To delight in God is 
 the way to delight in his service. The slave 
 who dreads, and therefore hates, his master; 
 or the hireling, who works only for wages — 
 performs his irksome task with distaste and 
 with weariness. But the dutiful and affec- 
 tionate son, who labors without wish for 
 present recompense save his father's smile of 
 >weet approval — he pursues his work with 
 relish because he pursues it with joy. Love 
 makes the labor sweet because it makes the la- 
 borer happy. Thus the Christian serves God 
 because he finds his service perfect freedom 
 
JOY IN SERVING GOD. 199 
 
 — lie finds that " the work of righteousness 
 is peace;" — he turns to the divine will 
 through the power of attraction, as the 
 needle turns to the pole or the sunflower to 
 the sun ; for his sun and his pole are Christ 
 Jesus his Lord, from whom springs all his 
 light of gladness. On the other hand, he 
 who finds no fruition in his religion, is al- 
 most sure to be weak and wavering in his 
 choice. Finding, or rather seeming to find, 
 that the cup of salvation does not satisfy his 
 soul, he will be tempted to raise to his lip 
 the impure cup of earthly pleasure. Hence 
 it is that many of the young who did run 
 well are drawn aside to folly. They failed 
 to taste the bread from heaven — the angels' 
 food, else they would not have hankered 
 after the garlics and the cucumbers of 
 earth. 
 
 "The joy of the Lord" strengthens faith 
 as well as obedience. If faith do not ripen 
 into joy, it leaves the professor open to the 
 suggestions of unbelief, to the insidious insin- 
 uations of Satan — that God is a hard master, 
 that his service is gloomy, and that his com- 
 mandments are grievous. But let the servant 
 of God find " peace and j oy in believing," and 
 his belief so sealed will be established ; he will 
 know that in embracing the gospel he has not 
 
200 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 M believed B cunningly devised fable," for he 
 will have a witness in himself that it is in- 
 deed k% glad tidings of great joy." So it will 
 come to pass, that he will be confident, and 
 courageous in his confidence, and shielded 
 from " the fiery darts of the wicked." He 
 that is happy in his faith, will also be stead- 
 fast in his faith ; but where restlessness 
 and discontent intrude, they fill the heart 
 with questionings and misgivings. In like 
 manner, holy joy will be the strength of the 
 believer's patience amid all his sorrows, and 
 of his serenity amid all the vexations, dis- 
 tractions, and uneasiness of life's daily task. 
 They who are occupied from early to late, 
 and from Sabbath to Sabbath, in the vortex 
 of mercantile affairs — know how much they 
 meet with to fret the spirit and chafe the 
 temper. They often feel faint and jaded 
 and oppressed. Not a few of our traffickers 
 are worn out prematurely by the high pres- 
 sure of modern business. The overtasked 
 brain and overstrung nerves give way. Yet 
 it is not so much the effort, as it is the anxi- 
 ety, the application, or the excitement of 
 their occupations which works the mischief. 
 And what then will abate this fatal pressure? 
 What will save the machinery from derange- 
 ment and dislocation? — what, but the joy of 
 
JOY IN SERVING GOD. 201 
 
 the Lord ? That will keep a man tranquil in 
 the midst of commotion — cheerful in the 
 midst of disappointment — self-possessed in the 
 midst of dangers — steadfast when all around 
 are driven to and fro, and tossed up and down 
 like the leaves of " the trees when shaken 
 by the wind." This well-spring within will 
 also refresh the spirit in the dreariest hours ; 
 yea, give to the mourner songs in the night 
 season. There is no more beautiful sight in 
 this vale of tears, than a child of God rising 
 sublimely above all that the world can threat- 
 en or inflict — enjoying most of heaven when 
 he has least of earth. As a holy sufferer 
 once said, while writhing in an agony — " I 
 never had such anguish, but I never had 
 such joy." Or as one of the martyrs, when 
 burning at the stake, exclaimed — " Tou ask 
 for a miracle, behold one ! these flames are 
 to me as a bed of roses." Was this illusion? 
 — then what is real ? Was this enthusiasm? 
 — then what is sound and sober ? A fiction, 
 a sentiment, an emotion, could never have 
 upheld " the glorious army of martyrs ;" 
 never have enabled them to wake the echoes 
 of the dungeon with psalms of thanksgiving, 
 and mount triumphant in their chariot of 
 fire to their Father's arms. Their spiritual 
 joy so absorbed the inner man, that the tor- 
 
202 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 tares of the outer man were scarcely felt. 
 Such is the power of this heavenly grace. 
 It imparts a strength which no burden can 
 crush, no weariness exhaust, no disasters 
 overwhelm. 
 
 Why, then, should any be miserable, when 
 in Christ there is full provision made for the 
 happiness of every child of Adam ? " Ho, 
 every one that thirsteth, come ye to the wa- 
 ters, and he that hath no money ; come ye, 
 buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk 
 without money and without price." " And 
 the Spirit and the Bride say, come ; and let 
 him that heareth say, come ; and let him 
 that is athirst, come ; and whosoever will, let 
 him take the water of life freely." " And 
 whosoever drinketh," saith Christ, "of the 
 water that I shall give him, shall never thirst; 
 but the water that I shall give him shall be 
 in him a well of water, springing up into 
 everlasting life." Poor, weary, wandering 
 child of earth ! — whose heart is panting af- 
 ter satisfaction other than earth can supply 
 — who say est in thy secret heart, " O that I 
 knew where I might find rest ; that I could 
 discover the portion of my soul!" — I tell 
 thee, as they told the son of Timeus of old, 
 a Be of good comfort, rise ; he calleth thee." 
 Jesus the friend of sinners calls thee ; that 
 
JOY IN SERVING GOD. 203 
 
 yearning of thy spirit is from him ; he waits 
 to bless thee. Cast away the garment of 
 self-righteousness. Lay aside every weight 
 that would retard thee, and hasten to the 
 Saviour. Fall at his feet in faith, yield thy- 
 self into his hands ; and he will speak peace 
 to thy mind— he will send thee on thy way 
 rejoicing. Hearken to his expostulation 
 and assurance — "Wherefore do ye spend 
 money for that which is not bread; and 
 your labor for that which satisfieth not? 
 Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that 
 which is good, and let your soul delight it- 
 self in fatness." 
 
 How sad it is, that so many who name the 
 name of Christ drag on a morose, repining, 
 wearisome life ; and thus bring up an evil 
 report of the promised land ! They show no 
 beautiful clusters of the vine of heaven, and 
 consequently men of the world, taking ad- 
 vantage of such caricatures of Christian life, 
 are ready to say — "These men are less happy 
 than ourselves ; they are fuller of complain- 
 ings, more cankered with cares, more troubled 
 about many things. We are told that the 
 gospel is glad tidings of great joy; but are 
 these the evidences ?" It is not in this way 
 that Christianity can be commended. We 
 must covet the joy of the Lord, in order that 
 
20i A ICODIL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 "our tight may so shine before men," that 
 ing .»ur bleeeedneee as well as our holiness, 
 "they may glorify our Father which is in 
 heaven." Let men of business, immerBed in 
 public avocations, study amid the hurry, vex- 
 ation, tumult and toil of the world, to main- 
 tain a genial spirit, a heavenly sunshine of the 
 soul — irradiating and tinging all their course, 
 making it evident that they have a hidden 
 light which earth never kindled, and which 
 earth cannot quench. There have been 
 many bright examples of such a career. 
 "Who that knew the generous Thornton — 
 who that came into contact with the manly 
 Buxton — who that communed with the ge- 
 nial Wilberforce, but saw in them that they 
 had a joy which no man could take from 
 them? And ought not the believer to be 
 joyful? What! — if his sins are forgiven, 
 and he is reconciled to God in Christ; what! 
 if Jesus is his friend, his shepherd, his broth- 
 er ; what ! — if the Holy Ghost is his com- 
 forter and his guide; what! — if angels are 
 his attendants and all holy beings his breth- 
 ren : what I — if God is his portion — heaven 
 his eternal home; what! — if all things are 
 his, whether Paul or Apollos, or Cephas or 
 the world, or life or death, or things present 
 or things to come, all are his, and he is 
 
JOY IN SERVING GOD. 205 
 
 Christ's, and Christ is God's — ought he not 
 to " rejoice ever more" — to rejoice with " a 
 joy unspeakable and full of glory ?" Let not, 
 therefore, the humble but faithful servant of 
 God be afraid of holy joy, as though it were 
 presumptuous. If it tend to holiness, it can- 
 not be from evil. O that good men would 
 no longer grieve the Holy Ghost by mis- 
 trusting his gift ; neither think of it as a dis- 
 tant attainment which only a favored few 
 are privileged to possess — or that it is reserv- 
 ed for the hoary saint only — if not for the 
 heavenly state alone. It should rather be 
 regarded as enjoined upon the very babe in 
 Christ : for is it not written, " Let the heart 
 of them rejoice that seek the Lord ?" We 
 may stagger at appropriating a promise — 
 but can we stagger at obeying a precept? 
 But " Rejoice in the Lord always," is as 
 much a precept as " Thou shalt not steal," 
 or " Thou shalt not commit adultery." And 
 do we not need the blessed cordial to strength- 
 en our hearts for life's toil and struggle ? Do 
 we not need it to bear us up against the 
 world's disappointments and dishearten- 
 ments — to secure us from the world's se- 
 ductions, and arm us against the world's 
 assaults — to inspirit us in the evil day, and 
 calm us in the stormy hour? Let us then 
 
206 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 follow after it — for it is commanded; ao 
 
 pepl it — for it is promised. "In His pres- 
 ence li fullness of joy; and at his right 
 band there arc pleasures for ever more." 
 Let the su?i of hea/oen be the morning star 
 qf \ 'irth. 
 
UNWOKLDLINESS OF MIND. 207 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 TJNWORLDLESTESS OF MOTD. 
 
 It was the peculiar and predicted character 
 of Israel, that they should " dwell alone, and 
 not be numbered among the nations." Such 
 was their condition in Egypt; such it re- 
 mained while they dwelt in the land of 
 promise ; such has it continued to be since 
 they were scattered abroad as chaff to the 
 four winds of heaven. However dispersed, 
 they are still distinct ; a Jew is everywhere 
 a Jew ; his nationality has not been lost in 
 his dispersion ; the people are like oil upon 
 the waves of the sea — everywhere diffused, 
 yet nowhere blended. In this respect, as in 
 other things, Israel after the flesh were an 
 expressive type of Israel after the Spirit. 
 Not more truly were the former nationally 
 separate from the nations of the uncircum- 
 cised, than are the latter spiritually separated 
 from a world that lieth in wickedness. They 
 are so, however scattered, however inter- 
 spersed among the ungodly, however they 
 must have their habitations and their occu- 
 pations in the midst of the men of this world, 
 
208 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 " who have their portion in this world." 
 Still they are a "peculiar" people, or as the 
 word in the Greek signifies an "appropri- 
 ated," a "purchased" people — because they 
 are redeemed by the blood, and set apart by 
 the Spirit of Jesus from "the present evil 
 world." 
 
 It can hardly be denied, that those whom 
 Christ calls, are called out of the world, 
 called to be of another spirit than that which 
 actuated them when they were of, as well as 
 in the world. It is specified as the grand 
 purpose of Christ's ^ujfering, that " he died 
 for our sins to redeem us from this present 
 evil world, according to the will of God." 
 Can we then be partakers of his redemp- 
 tion, unless we are rescued from the world? 
 To the same effect is the language of God 
 addressed to all his people : " Come ye out 
 from among them, and be separate, and 
 touch not the unclean thing ; and I will re- 
 ceive you, and be a father to you, and you 
 shall be my sons and daughters, saith the 
 Lord Almighty." In like manner the Spirit 
 spake by St. Paul, "Be not conformed to 
 this world, but be ye transformed by the re- 
 newing of your mind." No language could 
 be more expressive. It is abundantly clear, 
 then, that there must be an essential differ- 
 
TJNWORLDLINESS OF MIND. 209 
 
 ence between the world at large, and the 
 chosen children of God. It is clear that the 
 latter will be discriminated from the former, 
 however they may be intermingled in their 
 society. But wherein does the distinction 
 consist? Does it consist in withdrawing 
 from the occupations of life, in shrinking 
 into the hermitage, or in skulking into the 
 monastery? Far from it. Our Master, 
 when interceding for his disciples, said, "I 
 pray not that thou shouldest take them out 
 of the world, but that thou shouldest keep 
 them from the evil," — the evil in the world. 
 We are enjoined to be not " slothful in busi- 
 ness, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." 
 Are we not bound, then, as enjoined by one 
 of those excellent epitomes of our holy re- 
 ligion, which a portion of the Church has 
 put into the hands of her children, " to learn 
 and labor truly to do our duty, and get our 
 own living in the state of life to which it has 
 pleased God to call us ?" It is quite possible 
 for a man to come out of the world physic- 
 ally, and not to come out of it spiritually — 
 it is quite possible for a man to retreat into 
 the convent, and yet to carry the world with 
 him in his heart; on the other hand, it is 
 quite possible for a man to live in the midst 
 of the busiest occupation, and yet to be cru- 
 14 
 
210 A MODEL FOB MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 Olfied to the world, and the world unto him. 
 It is, therefore, in the spirit rather than in 
 the letter, that we are to be separated from 
 the world. And this separation is to be as 
 real in these times as it was in primitive 
 times ; in these lands as it must be in pagan 
 countries. 
 
 There is a baptized world as well as an 
 unl >aptized ; a world of practical unbelievers, 
 as well as of nominal and avowed ones. All 
 are not Israel that are called Israel. All 
 are not Christ's that are called Christians. A 
 soldier of the cross must fight manfully 
 against the world here, even as he would 
 have to do were lie in the heart of heathen 
 lands ; yea, it is much harder to maintain 
 the conflict in the former case than it would 
 be in the latter. An ambushed enemy is 
 more dangerous than an open foe. 
 
 But what is the spring of an unworldly 
 spirit? Faith, the mighty power of faith. 
 "This is the victory that overcometh the 
 world, even our faith. Who is he that over- 
 cometh the world, but he that believeth that 
 Jesus is the Son of God?" The believer 
 knows in himself that he has in heaven a 
 better, that is, an enduring substance. His 
 native country is on high. He looks upon 
 the present world as no more than "the 
 
TUSTWORLDLESTESS OF MIOT). 211 
 
 house of his pilgrimage ;" consequently lie 
 reckons that he ought to occupy himself in 
 it, and feel toward it, and hope from it, sim- 
 ply as a sojourner, who "looks for a city 
 that hath foundations, whose maker and 
 builder is God." Of such a one it may 
 well be said, that his "citizenship" is in 
 heaven — as the Greek word used by St. 
 Paul, which we render " our conversation is 
 in heaven," might be more literally rendered. 
 And there was a peculiar force in the ex- 
 pression as employed by one who was him- 
 self a Roman citizen — as he once pleaded in 
 arrest of an injustice that was about to be 
 inflicted upon him — for Rome, being the 
 "mighty mistress of the then known world, 
 gave such peculiar immunities and privi- 
 leges to her citizens, that a Roman retained 
 his rights wherever he might have his dwell- 
 ing ; and whether he abode in Gaul, or in 
 Britain, or in the extremities of the earth, 
 still, wherever the Roman scepter stretched 
 its sway, there he might claim and avail 
 himself of his illustrious prerogative ; he be- 
 longed not the less to the great metropolis — 
 challenged its protection, and gloried in its 
 name. 
 
 All this aptly represents the state of those 
 who are citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem. 
 
212 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 They enjoy their citizenship, not only when 
 inclosed within its crystal walls, but where- 
 ever they may be scattered abroad in the 
 midst of this evil world ; in the body, or out 
 of the body, they are free of the celestial 
 city ; their honors, their home, their treas- 
 ure, and their heart are there. Consequent- 
 ly, they pass through this world as the scene 
 of their pilgrimage — " as a strange country" 
 — as a place of tabernacling. Like Israel 
 in the wilderness, they "are journeying to 
 the land of which the Lord hath said, I will 
 give it you." Their conversation is in heaven. 
 This is the essence of an unworldly mind. 
 Actuated by this spirit, a Christian trades- 
 man will not be enslaved by business, but 
 will keep it in subjection to his soul's good. 
 The unearthliness of his spirit will be mani- 
 fest not only in the closet, the sanctuary, or 
 the congregation of the faithful, but will ex- 
 ert its indirect influence on the most secular 
 and distracting of his avocations and pur- 
 suits. In the counting-house, in the ware- 
 house, in the exchange, he will still be a 
 spiritual man. His unworldliness will show 
 itself not in a forced or formal demeanor, 
 not in affectation of dress, or look, or speech ; 
 but it will appear in moderation of desire, 
 in crucifixion to the world, in meekness of 
 
UNWORLDLTNESS OF MIND. 213 
 
 spirit, in deadness to the lust of the flesh, 
 the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. 
 He must " walk in the flesh, but he will not 
 war after the flesh." He lives amid, but he 
 does not live according to the things of 
 sense. "They that are after the flesh do 
 mind the things of the flesh ; but they that 
 are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit." 
 True, instead of being less punctual, he will 
 be more punctual than others in his engage- 
 ments; instead of being less, he will be 
 more assiduous in his avocations ; but all with 
 a sobriety, a subduedness of spirit, which will 
 broadly distinguish him from the groveling, 
 idolatrous world around him. It is thus the 
 people of God maintain a certain unearthly 
 peculiarity throughout all their relationships 
 to earth ; they do not become assimilated to 
 the crowd through which they hold the 
 tenor of their way. Like that limpid stream 
 of which we are told, that, entering a salt 
 and bituminous lake, it clears its way through 
 the uncongenial waters, untainted and un- 
 commingled, so that it issues forth below as 
 pure as when it entered, — so the current of 
 God's people, passing through the dead sea 
 of this evil world, does not blend w T ith its 
 waters, but speeds on undefiled to the clear 
 ocean in heaven. On this wise it is that we 
 
214 A MO 
 
 must be diligent in earth's duties, yet apart 
 from earth's spirit; bodily in its midst, yet 
 mentally and morally separate. 
 
 But let us descend to particulars, that we 
 may see how this spirit will tell upon the 
 every day course of mercantile men strug- 
 gling with the difficulties, and busied in the 
 concerns, of the world. It will restrain 
 them from intimacy, though they cannot 
 avoid intercourse with the ungodly. They 
 cannot altogether escape from companying 
 " with the fornicators of this world, or with 
 the covetous, or extortioners, or with drunk- 
 ards, for then must they needs go out of the 
 world ;" but they will disrelish such society, 
 and recoil from its tone of sentiment ; to 
 mix with such will be a cross, to escape 
 from them a relief. The Christian will feel 
 it a mortification to be obliged to consort 
 with a vain, sensual, faithless generation : it 
 will be like breathing an oppressive atmos- 
 phere, till he can again return to the sanc- 
 tuary, the closet, or the family circle, where 
 he may breathe a congenial element, and 
 feel his soul at home. In like manner he 
 will be distinguished from the world by the 
 moderation with which he forms his plans 
 and prosecutes his undertakings. Earnest- 
 ness and industry are perfectly compatible 
 
UNWORLDLINESS OF MIND. 215 
 
 with soberness of mind. " Let yonr moder- 
 ation be known unto all men ; the Lord is at 
 hand." He will not have his soul absorbed 
 in his speculations as they have whose all is 
 embarked on an earthly raft; for his treasure, 
 his hope, his heritage are beyond the reach 
 of peril and vicissitude. It will be seen 
 that he has something in view far surpassing 
 all that occupies him here ; and that he 
 engages in secular avocations out of a sense 
 of duty toward God, rather than from choice, 
 or interest, or affection. What those around 
 him treat as matters of overwhelming impor- 
 tance he regards as little better than showy 
 impertinences, which have more of sem- 
 blance than reality ; and with which he 
 would gladly be done, were it not that he owes 
 it to God, and to his generation, to undergo 
 the toil, the struggle, the discipline, the weari- 
 ness of life's appointed task. He will also 
 show " another spirit " in the friendships 
 which he forms, and the associations which 
 he chooses. It is one thing to be forced 
 to come into contact with " the children 
 of this world" in the way of duty, and 
 another to conform to them in their customs, 
 and consort with them in their amusements. 
 Kind to all, he is intimate with few, and 
 selects none for his friends who are not 
 
216 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 friends of Christ. He copies Daniel — the 
 man greatly beloved — in the Persian court. 
 Surrounded by the corruptions of a palace, 
 "he defiled not himself with the king's 
 meat," he kept himself unspotted from the 
 world. He imitates Joseph, who, whether 
 in the house of Potiphar, or in the palace 
 of Pharaoh, fulfilled the duties of his office, 
 yet feared to "sin against God." And the 
 God whom he served was to him as " a wall 
 of fire," and as "a little sanctuary in the 
 midst of the heathen." The Christian is 
 safe while he is separate. He runs little 
 risk while he goes no further than duty 
 leads him ; but when once he unnecessarily, 
 through heedlessness or eagerness for gain, 
 enters into close relations w T ith ungodly men, 
 let him be sure that he is taking a step 
 pregnant with danger, not to say disaster. 
 So it proved in the case of Lot when he 
 chose the plain of Sodom, regardless of the 
 wickedness of its inhabitants, because it was 
 well watered and fruitful as the garden of 
 the Lord ! His lust of earthly gain and sen- 
 sual enjoyment plunged him into vexation, 
 and peril, and loss, and desolation, and a 
 terrible snare. So, again, it proved with 
 Jehoshaphat, when he ventured upon un- 
 hallowed alliances witli the wicked. In the 
 
TJNW0ELDLINE8S OF MIND. 217 
 
 first instance lie joined his forces with those 
 of Ahab, to go up with him to battle against 
 Ramoth Gilead : but the unblessed expedi- 
 tion came to naught, the king of Judah had 
 to flee for his life, and the prophet of God 
 thus sternly rebuked him, "Shouldest thou 
 help the ungodly, and love them that hate 
 the Lord? therefore is wrath upon thee from 
 before the Lord." Yet, forgetting past 
 warning and correction, he subsequently 
 joined himself " with Ahaziah, king of Israel, 
 who did very wickedly: he joined himself 
 with him to make ships to go to Tarshish ;" 
 but God confounded the unprincipled coali- 
 tion, for the ships were broken at Ezion- 
 geber, " so that they were not able to go to 
 Tarshish. 55 
 
 These things were written as beacons to 
 warn Christian men that they should not 
 form intimate connections in business with 
 godless men ; for such alliances cannot come 
 to good. They will prove sources of sorrow, 
 if they do not of sin ; and happy will it be 
 for the Christian who has been so ensnared, 
 if the Lord rend asunder the unequal yoke, 
 and the loss of property avert the loss of 
 peace, and consistency, and "good report." 
 Let then the Christian man of business 
 guard against unnecessary entanglements 
 
218 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 with the worldly. More especially let the 
 young beware of connecting themselves 
 with those who do not fear God in that rela- 
 tion which is at once the closest and the 
 most influential in life: — "Be not unequally 
 yoked together with unbelievers." He or 
 she who marries, but not in the Lord, will 
 assuredly smart for the step ; God will infalli- 
 bly make that individual see that it was an 
 evil and bitter thing not to have consulted 
 the Lord in a matter of such surpassing 
 moment. 
 
 Need I add, that an unworldly mind will 
 restrain its subject from that greediness of 
 gain which, more than ever, characterizes 
 the w r orld in the present age? In what 
 strong terms does Scripture brand avarice 
 and the slave of avarice. It denounces the 
 covetous man as " an idolater ;" it speaks 
 of him as one " whom God abhorreth ;" and 
 it affirms that " covetousness is idolatry." 
 Stronger still, if possible, is its language 
 when it asserts that the "love of mone} 7 is 
 the root of all evil;" implying that there is 
 no form of sin which does not originate in, 
 or is not aggravated by, that accursed dispo- 
 sition. Yet, how it binds men with its spell ! 
 How, at the present moment, is it driving 
 headlong the mercantile world! It is but 
 
UNWOKLDLINESS OF MIND. 219 
 
 faithfulness in the minister of Christ to tes- 
 tify, that the system of business as now car- 
 ried on in this country is, to a large extent, 
 unchristian and pernicious. Such is the 
 high pressure of traffic, that it is hard for 
 those engaged in it to retain unimpaired 
 either their bodily powers or their mental 
 faculties ; much more is it hard for them 
 to retain the calmness, cheerfulness, spiritu- 
 ality, and self-control which befit the citi- 
 zen of heaven, whose heart and treasure 
 are not here. In consequence, it needs an 
 uncommon measure of grace and watchful- 
 ness, in order that they who are occupied 
 in these things may not be swept along by 
 the torrent of the age; in order that they 
 may be of another spirit than that which sur- 
 rounds them ; mastering the world, instead 
 of being mastered by it ; ruling circumstan- 
 ces, instead of being their victims and their 
 sport. To be the former, is to be a man 
 — an immortal — a saint — a king ; to be the 
 latter, is to be a slave — a shadow — a dupe — 
 who will awake at last to find that he has 
 " sown the wind and reaped the whirlwind" 
 — "sown to the flesh, and must of the flesh 
 reap" everlasting "corruption." 
 
 There is, therefore, need of the utmost 
 carefulness, to escape the danger of being 
 
220 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 borne along by the spring-tide of covetous- 
 noss which surges around the Christian 
 tradesman. lie must take care that he keep 
 the prow of his little bark ever toward the 
 haven above. " Set your affection on things 
 above, not on things on the earth." The 
 thrilling appeal of Christ should always 
 echo in his heart, " What shall it profit a 
 man, if he shall gain, the whole world and 
 lose his own soul?" Yet a little while, and 
 a costlier coffin, more sumptuous funeral 
 trappings, and a more garnished tomb than 
 others have, will be all that untold wealth 
 can do for him who has sold the birthright of 
 his immortality for handfuls of shining dust. 
 It remains to be added that if a man be 
 of an unworldly spirit he will have a large 
 and open hand for the claims of God, the 
 service of his Church, the furtherance of his 
 truth, and for the relief of the poor and 
 needy, " especially of them who are of the 
 household of faith." How sad the tendency 
 of wealth to contract the heart of him who 
 gains it ! Melancholy, but not uncommon, 
 the spectacle of a man whose liberality has 
 diminished in proportion as his resources 
 have expanded ; who gave largely when he 
 was Comparatively poor, and gives grudging- 
 ly now that he has waxen rich. The love of 
 
UNWORLDLINESS OF MIND. 221 
 
 accumulation steals into the breast like a ser- 
 pent — poisoning the fountains of kindness. 
 Wealth ministers to selfishness — and selfish- 
 ness has nothing to spare. How fearfully 
 significant, therefore, is the admonition of 
 the Saviour, "Take heed and beware of 
 covetousness." "If riches increase, set not 
 your hearts upon them." Nothing is more 
 alarming as to the soul's safety- than this 
 craving after constant accessions to one's pro- 
 perty; this passion for adding field to field 
 and house to house ; for having splendid 
 dwellings, and sumptuous equipages, and 
 vast estates, that he may call the lands by 
 his own name, and transmit them to his de- 
 scendants. Such ambition should be left to 
 the world — to those who have no other por- 
 tion, who seek no higher reward. But you, 
 O Christians, are not of the world. You 
 profess to have a kingdom and a treasure 
 " in the land that is very far off." Thither, 
 therefore, export your riches. "Make to 
 yourself friends of the mammon of unright- 
 eousness." Leave it to the heirs of earth to 
 " walk in a vain shadow, and disquiet them- 
 selves in vain ; to heap up riches, while they 
 cannot tell who shall gather them." " This, 
 their way, is their folly, and their posterity 
 laud their doings." But so should it not be 
 
222 A 1C0DBL FOB MKN OF BU8I5E88, 
 
 with you. If God gives largely to you — give 
 you largely to God ; secure your gains by 
 parting with them, and make them truly 
 your <>wn by laying them at your Saviour's 
 feet. Is it for you to wish to have it said, 
 when you shall have gone to your account, 
 that you died worth so many thousands of 
 pounds I Worth ! — if that be all your worth, 
 you are worthless indeed. Is it for you to 
 be bent upon bequeathing to your children 
 superfluous wealth — fortunes which are fitted 
 to encumber their souls, and interpose be- 
 tween them and heaven? Rather seek first 
 for your children, even as for yourselves, 
 the kingdom of God and his righteousness. 
 Bequeath to them the fragrant memories of 
 your good deeds ; leave them a rich heritage 
 in the prayers and benedictions of the father- 
 less and widows. 
 
 Many parents, who ought to have done 
 better, have drowned their children's souls 
 in affluence and luxury. Will those child- 
 ren thank them when they meet before the 
 judgment-seat I I do not say that we may 
 not enjoy in moderation what God has given 
 us, for we are told that "God hath given us 
 all things richly to enjoy." I do not say we 
 ought to forego the table of hospitality, or 
 furnish it meagerly. Neither do I say that 
 
UNWORLDLINESS OF MIND. 223 
 
 we ought not to make any provision for our 
 offspring. We are taught that the fathers 
 ought to lay up for their children. Yet 
 should we take heed that we do not, in the 
 name of our children, rob our God, lest, hap- 
 ly, we entail upon them a curse instead of a 
 blessing. In every part of the land, how 
 many profligate sons have soon squandered 
 in riotous living all the substance for which 
 their fathers had toiled ; making shipwreck 
 alike for time and eternity ! Happy had it 
 been for both parents and children had more 
 been dedicated to God, and less heaped up 
 to prove a mockery and a snare ! 
 
 O how beautiful, how truly excellent is 
 this unworldly spirit ! How it adorns the 
 doctrine of God our Saviour ! How it bears 
 a living witness to Christ! How it ever 
 preaches a sermon intelligible to all ! one in 
 its silent eloquence most persuasive — capti- 
 vating others into an unearthly conversation. 
 If Christians would let their light so shine 
 before men that their good works might be 
 seen, and their Father which is in heaven 
 thereby glorified; if they would have the 
 \jorld take knowledge of them that they 
 have been with Jesus, it must not be by 
 pretense, or affectation, or formalism, but by 
 the ethereal spirit which they breathe, by 
 
'224- A MODEL FOB MEN OF BUSUff] 
 
 salted tenor of their life, by making it 
 manifest that they have a secret power which 
 the world knows not ; that they pursue busi- 
 ness as others do not pursue it; that they 
 endure Losses as others do not endure them ; 
 and above all, that they bear prosperity as 
 men of the world cannot bear it. If the 
 more they have of earth the less earthly they 
 become — if riches humble instead of exalt- 
 ing them, expand instead of contracting 
 their hearts — the most worldly will admit 
 that this is the power of God. We speak of 
 adversity as a touchstone, and so it is; but 
 prosperity is a much more searching test. 
 It is related of one of the hearers of the ex- 
 cellent Richard Cecil, that he sent to his 
 minister a slip of paper requesting the pray- 
 ers of the Church for one who had come into 
 sudden fortune — that the event might not 
 endanger his soul. That individual knew 
 something of his own heart, and realized the 
 force of the startling saying — " How hardly 
 shall a rich man enter into the kingdom of 
 heaven I" In the same spirit of wisdom we 
 are taught to pray not only " in all time of 
 our tribulation," but " in all time of oiy 
 wealth," good Lord, deliver us. Yet few 
 there are who pray to God to keep them 
 when they are prosperous, while in adversity 
 
UlSrWORLDLINESS OF MIND. 225 
 
 multitudes will pray to be delivered out of 
 their affliction. In very deed, however, 
 there is more need to pray to God that he 
 would hold us up when the tide of the world 
 is in our favor, than when the waves and 
 blasts of trouble beat upon us. 
 
 Let the young set out in life resolved 
 through strength divine to cultivate a heav- 
 enly mind. It is true that many of our 
 young men have to ply their daily task in 
 warehouses, counting-houses, or manufacto- 
 ries, where they breathe an atmosphere im- 
 pregnated with secularity ; where the world, 
 the world's gain, success in business, clever- 
 ness in bargaining, are everything. How 
 hard for such — susceptible as they are of the 
 plastic power of circumstances, and easily 
 seduced by surrounding example — how hard 
 for them to keep the mind in communion 
 with God ; and while compassed with earth- 
 ly influences, not to inhale them, but, through 
 the golden tube of prayer, to draw down the 
 air of heaven amid that tainted atmosphere 
 which would otherwise soon quench the liv- 
 ing lamp of godliness within the soul! 
 
 Let then the young man dare to be singu- 
 lar — not in affectation, but in righteousness. 
 Let him be assured that, if only he is consist- 
 ent, the world will respect even while it re^ 
 15 
 
226 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 proaches him ; and his employers, though 
 they may not be able to appreciate his mo- 
 tives, will ultimately confide in his character; 
 yea, and those who at first made him the 
 butt of their ridicule, will by and by say 
 within themselves, " May our souls be with 
 theirs when we have to give our account to 
 our Judge !" 
 
 Let no one suppose that to cast out the 
 spirit of the world is to create a void within 
 - — to crush the energies, and dry up the sym- 
 pathies ; far from it, Christ does not simply 
 dislodge, he displaces the world. If he ex- 
 pel the love of it from our hearts, it is by 
 substituting the love of himself; if he wean 
 us from glittering clay, it is by holding forth 
 to us " an enduring substance ;" if he draw 
 our affections from this land of shadows, and 
 changes, and decoys, it is by the mighty at- 
 traction of "a kingdom that cannot be 
 moved." If we are ready then to give up 
 all for Christ, we shall find all in Christ. If 
 we eat abundantly of the children's bread, 
 we shall disrelish the husks of earth. If we 
 look much at the bright battlements of "the 
 city of habitation," all here will look faded 
 and dim. The soul smitten with the love of 
 the Saviour turns away from its allurements, 
 and sings : — ■ 
 
UNWORLDLINESS OF MIND. 227 
 
 That uncreated beauty which has gain'd 
 My ravished heart, has all your glory stain'd; 
 Its loveliness my soul has prepossessed, 
 And left no room for any other guest. 
 
 God Almighty give to us all grace to use 
 this world as not abusing it ; to improve it 
 as the scene of duty, but not to love it as a 
 place of rest ! It is at best a verdant quag- 
 mire : if we build upon it, we shall be en- 
 gulfed; if we tread lightly over it, we shall 
 escape its pollution. 
 
228 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 JEALOUSY FOR THE HONOR OF GOD. 
 
 There was much good sense and Christian 
 wisdom in the reply which was once given 
 to a dignitary of the Church by a simple 
 rural pastor. The latter had said to the 
 former, while remonstrating with him on 
 account of some unwise step that he was 
 about to take, " If you act so, what will the 
 people say?" To which the other replied 
 with disdain, " Do you care what the people 
 say?" The rejoinder of the plain man was, 
 " I care as little as any man what the people 
 say ; but I care a great deal what the people 
 have a right to say." How just the distinc- 
 tion ! Human opinion ought to have no 
 weight with us when it contravenes duty ; 
 but it ought to weigh much with us when 
 we incur its censure by the violation of duty. 
 It does not speak well for a man that he is 
 regardless, though it would have been no 
 less wrong if he had made an idol of his 
 reputation. Our own name is to be of little 
 estimation in our mind, except as it may 
 affect the name of our Master. If he be 
 
JEALOUSY FOR THE HONOR OF GOD. 229 
 
 wounded through us, then indeed we ought 
 to feel the smart ; if we bring reproach on 
 that holy name by which we are called, then 
 indeed we ought to be confounded. It is 
 always of the nature of love and loyalty to 
 be sensitive in relation to the fame of their 
 object. The soldier who is true to his coun- 
 try and his captain cannot be more keenly 
 stung than by hearing them reviled; the 
 more so if in anywise his own conduct has 
 occasioned the reproach. And is the soldier 
 of the cross to be less alive to the honor of 
 the Captain of his salvation, who redeemed 
 him with his blood ? Is he to feel less pierced 
 when Jesus is wounded in the house of his 
 friends ? 
 
 God has a people in the world. He has 
 never failed to have a little flock — a ran- 
 somed, reconciled, renovated few, who, in 
 the language of the apostle, are " called to be 
 saints," chosen out of, set apart from an evil 
 world. Of these it is that God says, " This 
 people have I formed for myself," and im- 
 mediately adds, " They shall show forth my 
 praise." They stand, therefore, in a peculiar 
 relationship toward the rest of mankind; 
 they are the candlesticks of God's truth — 
 the temples of his Spirit — the models of his 
 workmanship. They are set as confessors in 
 
230 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 the midst of gainsayers; as lilies in the 
 midst of thorns. In them God is pleased to 
 enshrine his light and concentrate his grace ; 
 so that it is through them, and by them, he 
 brings his light and grace to bear upon the 
 dark and corrupted world in which they 
 dwell. Hence Christ said to the little group 
 which he had gathered to himself, " Ye are 
 the light of the world ; ye are the salt of the 
 earth." Through them the lamp of life is to 
 cast its bright beams on the darkness that 
 encompasses them ; from them the savor of 
 the divine influence is to transfuse itself into 
 the mass of corruption by which they are 
 surrounded. The ungodly will judge chiefly 
 of Christianity by those who profess it, and 
 be largely won or scandalized by the man- 
 ner in which it is adorned or disgraced by 
 them. As God said of old to his Church, so 
 he says still, "Ye are my witnesses, saith the 
 Lord." How sublime, how dignified, how 
 responsible a position — to be the visible wit- 
 nesses of the invisible God — the selected 
 vessels of clay to convey to mankind the un- 
 searchable riches of Christ! Such and so 
 exalted is the destiny of God's people, in re- 
 lation to his grace and truth in their bearing 
 upon the world. What then follows ? Sure- 
 ly that it is their paramount and imperative 
 
JEALOUSY FOR THE HONOR OF GOD. 231 
 
 duty to see that God's grace be glorified, his 
 truth exemplified, his honor vindicated, his 
 kingdom maintained by them. Their watch- 
 word must be, " Let your light so shine be- 
 fore men, that they may see your good 
 works, and glorify your Father which is in 
 heaven." What is to be dearest to them? 
 Their wealth— their success — their distinc- 
 tion — their standing among men — their fam- 
 ily — their life itself? No ! these are to be 
 to them but as dross in comparison with His 
 name whom they serve. This is to be their 
 pole-star. Reputation, ease, relations, life, 
 must be sacrificed rather than Christ denied, 
 God dishonored, truth betrayed, and occa- 
 sion given to the enemies of the Lord to 
 blaspheme. 
 
 But if this be the spirit of the faithful — 
 and it must be if they love their Master — ■ 
 then they cannot but be exceedingly sensi- 
 tive to reproach cast upon his holy name. 
 No evidence will more unequivocally show 
 their loyalty to their Lord than this godly 
 jealousy. Would you give much for the 
 affection of a friend who, in your absence, 
 heard you traduced and misrepresented, yet 
 cared not to espouse your cause ? Would 
 you set much value on the devotedness of a 
 child who could sit by while the reputation 
 
232 A MODEL FOB MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 of his father was assailed, and yet bear to be 
 
 silent in its defense! Is it not one of the 
 surest signs of the fidelity of love that it is 
 wounded, when the object on which it is 
 placed is wounded ; } T ea, that the wound is 
 felt more keenly by him that loves than if it 
 had been inflicted on himself? How touch- 
 ingly beautiful is this delicate, disinterested 
 sensibility of love ! It will make the timid 
 bold, the stammering eloquent. See it in 
 the mother vindicating her child ; see it in 
 the patriot vindicating his country ; but see 
 it most sublimely and thrillingly manifested 
 in the martyr pleading for his Lord. The 
 cold carnal world cannot indeed appreciate 
 the latter ; but angels hover round it with 
 admiring sympathy, and the King of angels 
 stands up to watch the mighty working of 
 his own strength, " made perfect in weak- 
 ness." There is an affected plilosophy in 
 the language of the world on this subject. 
 "How can the Infinite be honored or dis- 
 honored by an insignificant creature of clay ? 
 Can man reflect the slightest light, or breathe 
 the slightest stain on majesty divine?" Ab- 
 solutely he cannot, but relatively he may. 
 The portrait cannot affect the original in- 
 trinsically, yet it may represent or misrepre- 
 sent the object which it portrays; conse- 
 
JEALOUSY FOR THE HONOR OF GOD. 233 
 
 quently, such abstract subtilty does not in 
 the least lessen the obligation to glorify God, 
 or extenuate the guilt of such as blaspheme 
 God, or of such as can bear with cool indif- 
 ference to hear the blasphemy. Nor must 
 we forget that, whatever the guilt of the 
 godless who blaspheme, their guilt is sur- 
 passed by the guilt of those who, while 
 professing to know and love the Lord, can 
 make light of that blasphemy and try to 
 gloss it over — arguing that neither the good- 
 ness nor the wickedness of worms of the dust 
 can have any influence on Him that inhabit- 
 eth eternity. So to apologize for profaneness 
 is to participate in its guilt. 
 
 But if loyalty to God will make us keenly 
 alive to anything which touches his honor 
 on the part of others, much more will it make 
 us shrinkingly sensitive to anything in our- 
 selves which might give occasion to the ene- 
 my to revile. Unless this be the rule of our 
 moral sensibility, we have reason to suspect 
 that our profession of zeal is hypocritical. 
 Were it sincere, we must dread most the 
 scandals for which we are most responsible. 
 However the beam in our brother's eye 
 might disgust us, the mote in our own eye 
 would distress us still more. " Let the god- 
 less and profane speak all manner of evil 
 
284 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 against us falsely, and for Christ's name 
 sake ; but let not the contumely cast upon 
 us recoil upon our Lord." " Outrage me as 
 you will," the genuine soldier of the cross 
 will say — " but do not insult the Captain of 
 my salvation. My reputation is of little 
 worth — only let not my Master be blas- 
 phemed." It is thus we must strive to shield 
 the name we bear. It is thus we must seek, 
 above all things, to give no cause to the ad- 
 versary to rail, or to the weak to stumble. 
 Let the enemies of the truth be able to find 
 no fault in us, except it be concerning the 
 law of our God. Like Daniel let us brave 
 the lion's den rather than betray our Mas- 
 ter's honor. 
 
 Religious men of business should there- 
 fore take heed that amid the affairs of ordi- 
 nary life, they give no occasion of reproach 
 — neither in the counting-house, nor in the 
 exchange, nor in the manufactory, nor be- 
 hind the counter — to those who lie in wait 
 for. their halting. The w T orld will judge of 
 their profession in the sanctuary by their 
 practice in the market-place ; their evangel- 
 ical principles will be measured by the in- 
 tegrity of their secular conduct, and by the 
 spirit which they breathe, when mingling 
 with the world. The ungodly are keenly 
 
JEALOUSY FOR THE HONOR OF GOD. 235 
 
 alive to deviations from what becometh the 
 gospel of Christ, much as they pretend to 
 slight its authority, and deny its power ; ex- 
 orbitant in their expectations from the right- 
 eous, while they suspect the reality of their 
 faith. Transgression directly against God, 
 indeed, they will smile at, and easily forgive ; 
 but transgression against man they bitterly 
 resent. Their standard of guilt is in an in- 
 verse ratio to that of "the first and great 
 commandment." Against this inversion the 
 Christian must boldly protest, maintaining, 
 according to the order of Scripture, that " to 
 render to God the things that are God's," is 
 a paramount duty; while to render to man 
 the things that are man's, "is like unto it." 
 Yet, at the same time, special heed must be 
 taken not to give the world occasion to say, 
 "These saints are as hard in their dealings, 
 as ready to take advantage of the unwary, 
 as keen in their bargaining, as prone to 
 commit ingenious frauds, if only they can 
 do it without compromising their character, 
 as those who neither profess to know nor to 
 serve the Lord. The honor and honesty of 
 skeptical men are brighter than theirs." Woe 
 to those who provoke such imputations! 
 " It must needs be that offenses come ; but w r oe 
 to that man by whom the offense cometh." 
 
236 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 Let it not be inferred, however, that we 
 would have Christiana become the dupes of 
 the dishonesty of others; or that we would 
 discountenance their watching for and 
 taking advantage of openings for commercial 
 enterprise — favorable changes in the mar- 
 ket — opportunities for sober speculation. 
 Far from it; rather should they strive to 
 excel their fellows — for the truth's sake — as 
 in virtue, so in skill. It was strikingly said 
 by John Newton, that a Christian ought, in 
 proportion to his talents, to surpass all other 
 men in his own calling ; because, serving a 
 heavenly Master, and actuated by loftier 
 motives and consequently following his voca- 
 tion with greater cheerfulness, alacrity, and 
 efficiency — if he were only a shoe-black, he 
 ought to polish shoes better than a godless 
 servant. How just the sentiment! Sound 
 religion qualifies, instead of unfitting us for 
 the performance of our allotted task. Let, 
 therefore, the disciple of Christ be earnest in 
 the prosecution of his occupation ; let him 
 be active, punctual, sagacious — and, if it 
 please God — successful in business ; but let 
 hi in take heed that he does all this without 
 imbibing that selfish, grasping spirit, which 
 will impel him to overlook the interests of 
 others in his own, and to purchase success 
 
JEALOUSY FOR THE HONOR OF GOD. 237 
 
 even by the sacrifice of principle. If riches 
 increase, let him not set his heart upon them. 
 Let him never provoke God to say, " Thou 
 fool, this night thy soul shall be required of 
 thee ; then whose shall those things be which 
 thou hast provided ? So is he that layeth up 
 treasure for himself, and is not rich toward 
 God." Let him, then, because he is a Chris- 
 tian, and by virtue of his fidelity to his holy 
 calling, be enterprising — be prosperous — if 
 it should seem good to the Lord to prosper 
 him ; only let his enterprise and his prosper- 
 ity be unsullied by the slightest deviation 
 from rectitude ; let them be the result of 
 upright dealing, straightforward industry, 
 and honorable skill. It should be made evi- 
 dent to the men of this world with whom he 
 may have to do, that as they cannot take 
 advantage of him, so he will not take advan- 
 tage of them ; that, while his principles re- 
 strain him from dealing wrongfully, they do 
 not lead him to act foolishly ; that, instead 
 of blunting his discernment, they give it a 
 finer and truer edge. Thus may he convince 
 them that "the children of light" only judge 
 the more soundly even in matters of this 
 life, because they judge according to truth. 
 It is not seemly that the believing merchant 
 should allow himself to pass for a fool in the 
 
W 2:N A MODEL FOR MEN OF BU8TNESS. 
 
 things of trade, though lie must expect to be 
 charged with folly in the things of the Spirit. 
 It is by such a course, combining sagacity 
 with i% innocence," manly good sense with 
 Simplicity and godly sincerity, that he can 
 best vindicate the holy faith he professes, 
 and justify the wisdom that is from above. 
 Thus may he hope to constrain the gainsay- 
 ers to glorify God in the day of visitation. 
 They may refuse to listen to the ministra- 
 tions of the ministers of religion, they may 
 also refuse to lend an ear to his words. 
 There may be times when Christian discre- 
 tion will compel him to act upon the caution, 
 " Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, 
 neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest 
 they trample them under their feet, and turn 
 again and rend you ;" but they cannot shut 
 their eyes to the beauty of holiness, nor turn 
 away their ears from the eloquence of a 
 blameless example. This is the simplest 
 and most effectual way of contending with the 
 wicked ; as it is said in Holy Scripture, 
 " lie that keepeth the commandments con- 
 tendeth with the wicked." No controversy 
 is so. effectual as that of the holy with the 
 unholy — that of the honest with the dishon- 
 est — that of a consistent saint with all the 
 worldliness, ungodliness, vanity, selfishness, 
 
JEALOUSY FOR THE HONOR OF GOD. 239 
 
 and turbulence of the scene in which he 
 lives and labors. 
 
 While, however, we are to be supremely 
 jealous for the honor of God in our own 
 conversation, we ought to extend that jeal- 
 ously to the conduct of our Christian breth- 
 ren. These have special charge of the 
 name and truth of God. As for the multi- 
 tude, though nominally believers in Christ, 
 they can hardly be confounded with his 
 cause. It is not to them the godless look as 
 Christ's witnesses ; it is not they who can 
 betray him most sorely. It is the little 
 flock who strive to act up to their profession, 
 and who are therefore branded as exclusive, 
 sanctimonious, peculiar — these are they with 
 whom the glory of God is identified on earth, 
 who have it most in their power either to 
 belie or to justify "the wisdom which is 
 from above." Over these, therefore, Christ's 
 ministers are bound to watch with a holy 
 solicitude — not as censors, much less as ac- 
 cusers of the brethren; but as those who 
 " consider one another to provoke unto love 
 and good works," as those who are mindful 
 of the exhortation, "Thou shalt not suffer 
 sin upon thy neighbor; thou shalt in any- 
 wise reprove him." "Faithful are the 
 wounds of a friend." Let this then be your 
 
240 A IfODEL POK MSN OF r.FSTNESS. 
 
 rule of action, () man of God, in all suitable 
 occasions; if vou sec your "brother sin a 
 sin which is not unto death," not only "ask 
 God" but also warn him. Beware of mak- 
 ing light of the faults of your fellows, be- 
 cause they belong to your party, or because 
 they hold an orthodox creed. Rather feel 
 them with special sensitiveness; not indeed 
 in a harsh and censorious spirit, which many 
 mistake for godly zeal, but so as to bemoan 
 them in private, and to tell them, not to 
 others — but to the transgressors themselves. 
 This is the part of a friend and brother. 
 
 Yet not only when " that holy Name by 
 which we are called " is defiled by his own 
 people, are we to be pained, but we must 
 keenly feel blasphemy and contempt poured 
 upon it in the so-called Christian world, 
 and in the unbelieving world at large. It is 
 a sign that our godliness is of a low and tor- 
 pid character, when we are little grieved 
 by the dishonor which our Master under- 
 goes from the wicked. It was not so with 
 the prophets of old ; one of whom exclaimed, 
 " Horror hath taken hold upon me because 
 of the wicked that forsake Thy law ;" and 
 again, "My zeal hath consumed me, because 
 mine enemies have forgotten Thy words." 
 Such were the sentiments of holy men of 
 
JEALOUSY FOR THE HONOR OF GOD. 241 
 
 old ; and such is the mind God loves to see 
 in his people. A hard, cold, insensible spirit, 
 he beholds afar off ; but in the tender and 
 susceptible soul he delights. When of old he 
 gave — as Ezekiel in vision saw, commission 
 to his angels with their slaughter -weapons 
 to execute judgment on his apostate people, 
 he first bade one among them who was 
 clothed with linen, with a writer's inkhorn 
 by his side, to go through Jerusalem, and 
 " set a mark upon the foreheads of the men 
 that sighed and that cried for all the abom- 
 inations that were done in the midst thereof." 
 These mourners in Zion were thus set apart 
 by God for himself; near them the destroy- 
 ers were not suffered to come. And should 
 judgments come, as they may come soon — 
 as they will come ultimately — on apostate 
 Christendom, should the power of "The 
 man of sin" once more rally for persecu- 
 tion, or infidel anarchy spread desolation on 
 every side, there is much reason to infer 
 that the faithful few who have witnessed in 
 public and wept in private will be sheltered 
 in the evil day. It shall be said to them, 
 " Come, my people, enter thou into ihy 
 chambers, and shut thy doors about thee : 
 hide thyself, as it were for a little moment, 
 
 until the indignation be overpast." How 
 16 
 
349 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSIN1 
 
 sweet will sound that "still small voice" to 
 them, when the tempest shall be mantling, 
 ami the distant thunder bursting on the 
 affrighted world ! 
 
 Happy for us, if we are comparatively in- 
 different to reproach cast upon ourselves, 
 because so much more alive to the dishonor 
 done to our Redeemer. Happy for us, if the 
 fearful desecration of his day ; the profane- 
 ness and impiety pouring forth from the 
 press ; the overflowing tide of dissipation 
 and debauchery ; the horrible prevalence 
 of drunkenness and excess ; the loathsome 
 crimes which disgrace our favored land, and 
 open the mouths of our adversaries against 
 us — happy for us, if we regard these things 
 not with bitterness, not with self-righteous 
 complacency, not with scornful disdain, but 
 with shame, humiliation, and heaviness of 
 heart — bemoaning them in our closets, and 
 testifying against them in our lives. 
 
 Nor must the faithful be indifferent to 
 God's honor as involved in the government 
 of the nation. They cannot be, if they hold 
 as they must hold, that the Lord is King 
 of kings, and Lord of lords; that by him 
 "kings reign and princes decree justice." 
 Maintaining this, they cannot but maintain 
 that the nation, in its national capacity, 
 
JEALOUSY FOR THE HONOR OF GOD. 243 
 
 ought to avouch the Lord for its God ; to 
 legislate for the furtherance and vindica- 
 tion of his truth ; to discountenance heresy, 
 and repress profaneness and blasphemy ; to 
 conform its laws to the divine Word, and 
 recognize in everything its dependence on 
 the divine blessing. When, therefore, God 
 is betrayed in the high places of national 
 assembly ; when his truth is sacrificed to a 
 pitiful state policy ; when the question is not 
 what is right, but what will serve a passing 
 end, or secure a party purpose ; when a 
 selfish, shifting, pusillanimous expediency 
 usurps the place of eternal principle ; and 
 when the opinions and view^s of the worldly- 
 wise override the decisions of that Word 
 which liveth and abideth for ever — then the 
 people who know the Lord must not only 
 mourn in secret, but lift up their voice 
 like a trumpet, and affirm the eternal 
 rights of the Most High. Away with 
 the vile sentiment, so popular in these lat- 
 ter days, that nationally we have nothing 
 to do with religion ; that in the exercise of 
 his political rights and the discharge of his 
 political functions, the Christian may consult 
 commercial interests, or have regard to party 
 considerations, but that he is to ignore alto- 
 gether the claims of faith and the counsels 
 
244 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 of Scripture. A man is to fear God in the 
 family, but to forget him at the ballot-box ! 
 In such godliness there must be some fault 
 at the core. We are not indeed to be politi- 
 cally religicrus — that is hypocrisy; but Ave 
 are to be religiously political — that is con- 
 sistency. Would that this land were alive 
 to the high position which God has given 
 her, and to the awful responsibility involved 
 in that position; that our rulers were just men, 
 fearing God and using the authority commit- 
 ted to them for his glory ; but the responsi- 
 bility for all this recoils largely on the constit- 
 uency of the country. The electors choose 
 the representatives who legislate falsely. 
 How much, therefore, rests on the electorate ! 
 Every faithful man possessing the right of a 
 citizen, ought to regard it as a sacred trust 
 from God, to be exercised for the good of the 
 country and the honor of God. He ought 
 to ask direction in praj T er; he ought to 
 give to religious considerations the supreme 
 weight in his decision ; he ought to arrive 
 at his conclusion in the fear of God. This 
 is what we ask of Christian citizens ! We 
 may differ in judgment, we may hold di- 
 verse political views — but at least let us 
 unite in upholding the supremacy of God 
 in all matters, public as well as private, 
 
JEALOUSY FOR THE HONOR OF GOD. 245 
 
 civil as well as ecclesiastical. Nor should 
 ministers of the gospel, on account of any 
 fear of being charged with trenching on 
 political ground, be deterred from speaking 
 out boldly on a point where misconception 
 of the grossest kind widely prevails. They 
 are guardians of public as well as of private 
 morality, and they must follow the examples 
 of the prophets of old, who challenged sub- 
 mission to their Master's claims in the pal- 
 ace no less than in the cottage, in national 
 councils no less than in domestic affairs. 
 God forbid, then, that they should be afraid 
 or ashamed to contend manfully for the 
 right of God to rule in all and over all ! 
 
 It remains that we enforce some of the 
 lessons of wisdom which our subject sug- 
 gests. While the world makes an idol of 
 reputation, we must not esteem it lightly. 
 Only let our aim be single. The world re- 
 gards it as an end ; we must regard it as a 
 means to a better end. Self is the object of 
 the world's honor ; Christ of the believer's. 
 If he shrinks from reproach, it is when he 
 fears that it may in anywise obscure the 
 great name he bears. He values a good 
 name only in the Lord. He will take pleas- 
 ure in reproaches for Christ's sake. How 
 incomparably elevated is such a spirit above 
 
246 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 the spirit of worldly honor! that spirit 
 which will goad a man to risk being mur- 
 dered, or becoming a murderer, rather than 
 encounter the scorn of the foolish world. 
 ♦Jealousy for the honor of our Master will 
 cast out this proud, selfish sentiment. Very 
 gracefully did the holy and courageous Col- 
 onel Gardiner say to one who had challenged 
 him, " You know I am not afraid to fight, 
 but I am afraid to sin." That was true he- 
 roism, the sense of honor which comes from 
 God: a principle as much surpassing the 
 tinsel substitute for it, of which the world 
 makes boast, as the glorious sun in the firm- 
 ament transcends the painted sun on the 
 signboard of a tavern. The one is rational 
 — real — sublime ; the other a pretentious 
 mockery — a glittering hypocrisy. See to it, 
 reader, that your star of honor is the honoi 
 of your Lord ! 
 
 But let no one fondly suppose that he 
 can maintain this high standard unless he 
 has the Spirit of God. It is he who must 
 form in us the mind which was in Christ 
 Jesus ; who, in the prospect of shame, and 
 outrage, and agony, simply prayed, " Father, 
 glorify thy name." Let Christ be formed in 
 the heart the hope of glory, and then will 
 that soul seek the honor th&t cometh from 
 
 i 
 
JEALOUSY FOR THE HONOR OF GOD. 247 
 
 God only — then will he be crucified unto the 
 world and the world unto him — as the needle, 
 true to the loadstone, is uninfluenced by 
 other attractions. 
 
 Above all, ought we to beware that the 
 way of righteousness be not evil spoken of 
 through our misconduct. " It must needs 
 be that offenses will come, but woe unto him 
 by whom the offense cometh." " Only let 
 your conversation be as it becometh the 
 gospel of Christ." Consistency will make a 
 man bold ; inconsistency, weak and coward- 
 ly. It was a keen and cutting, but merited 
 rebuke, which, was once administered to a 
 noisy, unstable professor, by a venerable 
 minister ; the former had vauntingly said^ 
 "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ." 
 — " Ah ! but," rejoined the latter, " the gos- 
 pel of Christ has much reason to be ashamed 
 of you." They are the worst enemies of the 
 cross of Christ who assume it to betray it ; 
 who make it the badge of licentiousness, in- 
 stead of the symbol of purity. The lives of 
 professing Christians should be in harmony 
 with their lips. Their characters should be 
 as crystal, to reflect around the light which 
 grace enkindles in the soul ; not as dark 
 lanterns to conceal, or stained reflectors to 
 discolor the heavenly flame. In order to 
 
2-iS A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 this there must be no conferring with flesh 
 and blood, no double-mindedness. The path 
 i^ duty must be pursued with unswerving 
 steadiness. There is no danger save in doing 
 wrong. " By well-doing put to silence the 
 ignorance of foolish men." We may com- 
 pel men to respect our uprightness, however 
 they may hate our sanctity. So did some 
 consistent students in one of our colleges, 
 w T hen they extorted from their principal, 
 who was strongly prejudiced against their 
 views, the emphatic testimony — " I hate the 
 notions of these saints, but I admire their 
 conduct." 
 
 How ennobling in its tendency is this 
 .habit of aiming at the glory of God in all 
 things ! It will make us like the eagle, 
 whose eye is on the sun, and whose flight is 
 above the clouds. It will supply us with a 
 motive ever mighty, and with an object ever 
 satisfying. It will prove to us a pole-star, 
 always beaming brightly on our path; 
 whether in sorrow or in joy, whether amid 
 darkness and tempest, or amid clearness and 
 calm — it will tinge the murkiest clouds with 
 silver. It will trace a track in the stormiest 
 seas. He who labors thus to glorify God 
 will also live a life worthy of his mysterious 
 and deathless being. We were not designed 
 
JEALOUSY FOR THE HONOR OF GOD. 249 
 
 to be mere engines for scraping together 
 shining dust ; nor mere machines, to obey 
 the external impulse of circumstances. No, 
 we were fearfully and wonderfully made, 
 sublimely and angelically endowed, that we 
 might fulfill the will and reflect the glory of 
 "the Lord God Omnipotent." Thanks be to 
 God that we can be raised through the rich- 
 es of his grace by Christ Jesus ! Waste we 
 not, then, our energies on anything short of 
 the divine glory. Thus shall we attain to 
 everlasting distinction. For them that honor 
 the Lord he will honor ; but " they that de- 
 spise him shall be lightly esteemed." 
 
 How vitally important is it that they who 
 are plunged in business, and especially that 
 those who are yet young in public life, may 
 retain a tender conscience — a sensitive scru- 
 pulosity about disgracing the Christian name ! 
 How careful should they be not to suffer con- 
 tact and collision with the world to blunt the 
 edge of their moral sensibility, or to lead 
 them to adopt the Satanic suggestion — "I 
 must take leave of my scrupulousness, or I 
 must take leave of success !" Translate the 
 sentiment, and to what does it virtually 
 amount? Is it not, "I must serve Satan, or 
 I cannot prosper — he is greater than God ?" 
 Are we startled at the naked blasphemy? 
 

 250 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 Let us, then, shrink from the principle in 
 which it is involved. Success should be 
 measured by the standard of eternity. 
 Serve God — and success is certain ; or if we 
 fail of sublunary gain, yet will our light 
 affliction, which is but for a moment, "work 
 out for us a far more exceeding and eternal 
 weight of glory." We may at all times say, 
 whatever temptations beset us, "I am not 
 bound to be rich, but I am bound to be 
 faithful ; I am not bound to bequeath a vast 
 fortune to my posterity, but I am bound to 
 lay up treasure in heaven ; I am not bound 
 to be courted and admired as the most suc- 
 cessful merchant on 'change, but I am bound 
 to give such an account of my stewardship 
 to God in the last day, as that I may hear 
 him say, ' Well done, good and faithful ser- 
 vant, thou hast been faithful in a few things, 
 I will make thee ruler over many things; 
 enter thou into the joy of thy Lord/ " God 
 Almighty grant that such may be the read- 
 er's stewardship in time, and such his testi- 
 mony and triumph in the great day ! 
 
 
HIS ZEAL FOR THE SANCTUARY. 251 
 
 
 CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 HIS ZEAL FOR THE SANCTUARY. 
 
 The spirit of the real Christian is eminently 
 devotional. Whether contemplated in the 
 closet, or engaged in his secular occupations, 
 or mingling with the great congregation in 
 the house of worship, he is everywhere dis- 
 tinctively a man of prayer. Happy are the 
 men of business w T ho possess and enjoy this 
 spirit. Such do not permit their occupations 
 to secularize their devotions, but they hallow 
 their occupations by their devotions ; these, 
 arm and animate them for those, and those 
 brace and stimulate them for these. No one 
 stands more in need of the ordinances of the 
 sanctuary than he who is most afloat on the 
 busy world ; none is more dependent on 
 those ordinances for keeping alive the flame 
 of godliness in his breast. At the same time 
 none is more in danger of being estranged 
 from the temple by the absorbing force of 
 business, by the thirst for gain, and by the 
 influence of surrounding example. None is 
 more strongly tempted to let earthly cares 
 encroach upon the Sabbath, and either to 
 
252 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 prefer the counting-house to the house 
 of prayer, or to let the shadow of the 
 former overcast the latter. It is, therefore, 
 eminently fitting that those who are thus 
 situated should avail themselves of all helps 
 within their reach; and he who best knows 
 both his dangers and the way to escape 
 them, will most highly value the privileges 
 afforded by the sanctuary of God's house. 
 
 The arguments to dissuade Christians from 
 " forsaking the assembling of themselves to- 
 gether" are plain and unanswerable. God 
 has clearly ordained public worship. He 
 made man to be social ; social in virtue of 
 his sorrows, his joys, his wants, his affections, 
 his relationships. If he formed men to be 
 social in things natural, he no less formed 
 them to be social in things spiritual. The 
 isolation of selfishness is of sin ; the union of 
 love is of God. But union is cherished bj 
 communion, and communion strengthened 
 by united worship. The faithful ought 
 therefore to assemble themselves together in 
 their Master's name. Accordingly, fellow- 
 ship in worship may be traced from the 
 earliest period. It seems not improbable 
 that, as our great poet has represented, even 
 in paradise the primitive pair had some 
 chosen bower whither they resorted to offer 
 
HIS ZEAL FOR THE SANCTUARY. 253 
 
 up their stated homage to their Maker. But 
 be that as it may, no sooner do we find men 
 beginning to call upon the Lord after the fall, 
 than we find them calling upon him in fellow- 
 ship. Where the patriarch pitched his tent, 
 there he built his altar; and round that altar 
 the household statedly gathered themselves 
 while the patriarchal priest offered the family 
 sacrifices. Then as soon as ever God had 
 singled out a people for himself, he bade 
 them raise a tabernacle of witness and of 
 worship, giving the minutest instructions for 
 its construction, its furniture, and its ordinan- 
 ces. He added this memorable promise, 
 which remains in all its force, " Wherever I 
 record my name I will come to thee and 
 bless thee." And gloriously did he record 
 his name — first in the tabernacle, and after- 
 ward more gloriously still in the temple. 
 He dwelt between the cherubim over the 
 mercy-seat, and poured his blessing on all 
 who truly sought him there. Passing on to 
 the Christian dispensation, we find the as- 
 semblies of the saints carefully cherished. 
 Jesus honored the temple. He loved to re- 
 sort to his Father's house. He was very 
 jealous of its desecration; the zeal of it ate 
 him up. There he was wont to teach ; there 
 he wrought many miracles. After he had as- 
 
254 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 cended into heaven, his disciples loved to meet 
 for worship, sometimes in the synagogue, 
 sometimes in the upper chamber, sometimes 
 at the river side, where prayer was wont 
 to be made ; and no sooner did opportunity 
 serve, than they set apart holy places for 
 the ordinances and worship of God. They 
 were mindful that the Holy Ghost had warn- 
 ed them against " forsaking the assembling 
 of themselves together, as the manner of 
 some was." Indeed, the sentiment of the 
 faithful in every age has been that of " the 
 sweet singer of Israel :" — " One thing have I 
 desired of the Lord, that will I seek after : 
 that I may dwell in the house of the Lord 
 forever, to behold the beauty of the Lord, 
 and to inquire in his temple." If, therefore, 
 any man have the mind of the Spirit — love 
 the Saviour and those whom the Saviour 
 loves — he cannot but say of the solemn 
 assembly, " I will not forsake the house of 
 my God." 
 
 The special manifestations of the divine 
 presence vouchsafed in the congregations 
 of the saints ought to endear to us such 
 privileged scenes. Never has the promise 
 failed, " Where two or three are met to- 
 gether in my name, there am I in the midst 
 of them." Always have his chosen found, 
 
HIS ZEAL FOR THE SANCTUARY. 255 
 
 that " the habitation of his house is the 
 place where his honor dwelleth." They 
 have sought and seen his " power and glory 
 in the sanctuary." The history of the 
 Church in all ages is rich in illustration of 
 this fact. The patriarchal altar was many 
 a time illumined from on high : the cloud 
 of glory often rested on the tabernacle of 
 witness. The mystic splendor which shone 
 amid the wings of the cherubim, reflecting 
 a radiance on the mercy- seat, (that symbol 
 of the propitiation of Jesus,) testified that 
 " God dwelt with men on the earth " — that 
 "his dwelling-place was in Zion." There, 
 by voices and by visions, by "Urim and 
 Thummim," and by secret communications 
 of his grace, he revealed himself to his peo- 
 ple. And now — what though the temple, 
 with its magnificent ceremonial and impres- 
 sive ordinances has passed away — what 
 though no visible Shekinah irradiates the 
 simple house of prayer — have we no signs, 
 no tokens left ? Have we not the substance 
 instead of the shadow ; the spirit in lieu of 
 the letter? If the carnal worshiper sees 
 less — does not the spiritual worshiper see 
 more abundant glory? " If the ministration 
 of condemnation be glorious, much more 
 doth the ministration of righteousness exceed 
 
256 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 in glory." Are there not still memorials of 
 a present Lord among us — memorials sub- 
 limely simple, exquisitely expressive — his 
 blessed gospel — bis living sacraments — the 
 preaching of his word? Neither are there 
 lacking demonstrations of his power and love. 
 His Spirit works mightily, and his cross puts 
 forth its saving energy. True it is, that they 
 who come not in faith find him not here ; 
 but those who come believingly, hear a 
 voice the unbelieving do not hear — feel a 
 presence the unbelieving do not feel — enjoy 
 a blessing the unbelieving cannot receive. 
 If, then, God manifests himself surpassingly 
 in the sanctuary ; if he has never failed to 
 betoken his special favor toward the social 
 services of his children ; it follows that they 
 who love the Lord and love to meet him, 
 cannot but say, "We will not forsake the 
 house of our God." 
 
 As the sanctuary has been the place of his 
 rest, so has it been the scene where the Lord 
 has imparted richest gifts to his worshipers. 
 On the day of Pentecost it was, " when they 
 were all with one accord in one place," that 
 " suddenly there came a sound from heaven 
 as of a rushing mighty wind, and filled all the 
 house where they were sitting." And there 
 appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of 
 
 
HIS ZEAL FOR THE SANCTUARY. 257 
 
 fire, and it sat upon each of them : " and 
 they were all filled with the Holy Ghost." 
 It was when the multitude were gathered 
 together to the preaching of the word, that 
 God poured out such a blessing, that in one 
 instance three thousand, and in another five 
 thousand, were added to the Church. Pur- 
 sue the history of the Church ever since, 
 and you will find that of the multitudes of the 
 believing, the largest proportion have been 
 born for eternity in the house of God. It is 
 there God has given the mightiest proofs of 
 his power, and the brightest manifestations 
 of his love. If not brought forth in the 
 sanctuary, the saints have at least been 
 nursed and nourished there. It is there 
 they have spiritually eaten the flesh and 
 drunk the blood of the Lamb of God ; there 
 they have been strengthened with the hid- 
 den manna of divine truth, and refreshed 
 with living water drawn from the wells of 
 salvation; there has God met with them, 
 and answerd them from above the mercy- 
 seat ; there have they received special tokens 
 of his favor, and enjoyed precious first- 
 fruits of the heavenly vintage. Many a 
 time has the worshiper entered the sanc- 
 tuary in darkness, and left it full of light; 
 many a time has he entered it sorely beset 
 17 
 
258 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 with temptations, but returned with the 
 snare of the fowler broken; ofttimes has he 
 cmne perplexed, and departed assured; 
 eome burdened, and gone back enlarged; 
 come prostrate, and gone back exalted; 
 come mourning, and returned rejoicing; 
 come cold, and gone back enkindled ; come 
 secularized, and gone back spiritualized; 
 come weary, and gone back revived ; come 
 earthly-minded, and gone back heavenly- 
 minded. And does not God still give testi- 
 mony to the word of his grace, and to " the 
 place where his honor dwelleth ? " Does he 
 not still send down the fire from heaven to 
 kindle the sacrifice on the altar of the heart, 
 and give responses, breathed by the Spirit 
 through the lively oracles, to the humble 
 inquirer ? 
 
 But the servant of God will love the courts 
 of the Lord, and will not forsake them, be- 
 cause in them he tastes most of heaven be- 
 low. If he would realize to himself what 
 heaven is, he cannot form a better concep- 
 tion of it than by fixing on the happiest 
 Sabbath and the happiest hour of worship 
 on the happiest Sabbath he ever enjoyed in 
 the assembly of the saints. Then and there, 
 withdrawn from the world's vanities and dis- 
 quietudes; then and there, abstracted from 
 
HIS ZEAL FOR THE SANCTUARY. 259 
 
 things seen and temporal, and absorbed in 
 things unseen and eternal; then and there, 
 all tranquillity without and calm within ; 
 then and there, faith almost turned into 
 sight and hope into fruition — all earthly dis- 
 tinctions forgotten, the poor and the rich all 
 one in fellowship and love, the whole assem- 
 bly in unison, like many instruments all true 
 to one key-note ; then and there he has a 
 miniature of heaven, he reaches the very 
 vestibule of that temple not made with hands, 
 where congregations never break up, and 
 Sabbaths never end. He, then, who loves 
 not such scenes on earth — how could he love 
 the heavenly habitation of holiness? He 
 who has no taste for the fellowship and the 
 songs of the saints below, how would he 
 weary of the ceaseless thanksgiving and the 
 eternal communion of the glorified in immor- 
 tality ? How can he expect to go to heaven, 
 w T ho has no relish for the table which is 
 spread with its first-fruits here ? And of all 
 men, the busy, harassed, wearied, mercan- 
 tile man, forced to plunge dayly into the 
 dust and din of the world's mart, is the very 
 man who most requires the refreshment and 
 savor of the sanctuary. If the tradesman 
 is not at least as earnest on the Sunday as 
 he is on the Monday; if he is not as much 
 
260 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 bent on the merchandise of wisdom as he is 
 on the gains of commerce ; if he never sighs 
 for the return of the day of rest, while he 
 longs for the day of traffic — such a one 
 lias either never been crucified to the world, 
 or else the world is regaining its hold on 
 his heart. The spiritual vegetation of the 
 soul will soon fade, if the soul thirst not 
 for the dew which distills on the holy 
 hill. Many can bear witness that a Sunday 
 passed in living worship sheds a hallowing 
 influence on the days of toil; and that the 
 odor of sabbatical communion with God 
 in the place where he has recorded his 
 name, will hang round the heart throughout 
 the secularity of the week. Some too can 
 witness that when on the evening of the 
 stated service, which forms the half-way 
 well in the week, they have broken away 
 from their places of business, and been 
 glad to go up to the house of the Lord, rich 
 has been the return of blessing and comfort 
 into their bosoms. The very effort which 
 the attendance costs makes the enjoyment 
 all the greater. It is not a healthy sign of 
 the times that our week evening services 
 are not frequented as they once were. They 
 furnish a surer test of thirst for the waters of 
 life than do the services of the Sunday. Be- 
 

 HIS ZEAL FOR THE SANCTUARY. 261 
 
 sides, they are specially wholesome, as inter- 
 rupting the current of earthly care, and sus- 
 pending for a little the play of the over- 
 wrought machinery of the mind. To the 
 Christian man of business the evening of 
 divine service should be reckoned as an en- 
 gaged evening. And, as such men are exact 
 in keeping their appointments with their 
 fellows, much more should they be scrupu- 
 lous in keeping their appointments with their 
 Maker. Alas! with what punctuality do 
 many frequent the counting-house, who are 
 seldom seen in the solemn assembly ! How 
 many hasten with eager steps to their buy- 
 ing, and selling, and getting gain, who re- 
 pair with lingering pace to the scene where 
 they ought to transact the affairs of eter- 
 nity! What numbers who never think of 
 contenting themselves with a single visit to 
 the warehouse on the Monday, yet content 
 themselves with a solitary attendance at 
 church on the Sunday ! What numbers are 
 all alive and alert in the exchange, who are 
 sluggish and uninterested in waiting on 
 God ! — as though the toys and shadows of 
 time and earth surpassed in magnitude 
 and moment the illimitable realities of im- 
 mortality ! 
 
 And now, having suggested some simple 
 
2(52 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 reasons why we should not forsake the 
 house of prayer — whatever be the name it 
 bears, if only God is worshiped there in 
 truth, and the name of the Lord Jesus is 
 magnified, and his word and ordinances are 
 faithfully administered — let us consider a 
 few plain arguments why we should cling 
 steadfastly to the Church of our fathers — or 
 to that religious body or denomination to 
 which in the order of Providence we have 
 become attached, uphold it, and defend it, 
 and do it good. This we may do without 
 tending to narrow our charity — while we 
 most assuredly increase our stability. We 
 ought to appreciate our own privileges, with- 
 out judging or despising others. 
 
 In recommending a steadfast adherence 
 to the Church of our early associations, it is 
 presumed that that Church is Scriptural in 
 its creed, and evangelical in its practices. 
 If, on a fair and candid investigation of the 
 subject, one becomes persuaded that the 
 doctrines taught in his Church are not in 
 harmony with the Holy Scriptures, that 
 they are defective as to certain essential 
 truths, or are erroneous on radical and vital 
 points, then is it plainly his duty to with- 
 draw himself from such a Church, and seek 
 another and more Scriptural one. The same 
 
HIS ZEAL FOR THE SANCTUARY. 263 
 
 great law which gives to every man the 
 right to examine and judge of the doctrines 
 he hears from the pulpit, devolves on him 
 the responsibility of hearing the truth, and 
 turning away from error. So likewise, if 
 with a Scriptural creed, and a ministration 
 of doctrines not positively opposed to the 
 gospel, are associated unscriptural observ- 
 ances ; or, if there is a practical disregard 
 of religious duties, and the activities of 
 Christianity, then may even an orthodox 
 Church be forsaken, because its orthodoxy is 
 only that of the letter, and not of the spirit. 
 But even in such cases great caution should 
 be used. Objections should be w T ell exam- 
 ined before they are received as altogether 
 valid. The Scriptures must be carefully and 
 thoroughly studied before it is safe to form 
 a system, varying in important points from 
 that in which the inquirer was educated; 
 and especially must such an examination be 
 prosecuted with a mind sincerely desiring 
 to come at the truth — open, ingenuous, and 
 not prepossessed. 
 
 Nor is it safe always to reject one's Church 
 whenever it is found that some of its less 
 important doctrines or practices are not well 
 sustained by the word of God. Many things 
 pertaining to ecclesiastical affairs are left 
 
264 V MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 undetermined by the Scriptures, and so are 
 matters to be regulated by human knowl- 
 edge and discretion. Nor is it strange that 
 what is so determined by fallible men should 
 be imperfectly done. But as the whole sub- 
 ject is one of expediency, it will often be 
 found better to endure the imperfection of 
 what is established, than to forego its advan- 
 tages. And of the more vital points that 
 pertain to the substance of gospel truth, not 
 every degree of error is fatal to the truth 
 with which it is mingled. Much of the dif- 
 ference found among genuine Protestant 
 Churches is rather in modes of statement 
 than in the substance of the doctrine set 
 forth. Doubtless there are real differences ; 
 nor are these wholly unimportant, though they 
 are for the most part non-essential. It is at 
 least the part of wisdom to be slow to con- 
 demn as very wide of the truth, the faith in 
 which we have been educated, and by whose 
 agency w r e have been brought to the knowl- 
 edge of salvation, until thorough and pray- 
 erful examination has settled in our minds 
 the conviction of its real and radical errone- 
 ousn< 
 
 Especially should we be slow to make any 
 such changes on account of the differences 
 of ecclesia>tical orders found among different 
 
HIS ZEAL FOR THE SAJSTCTUARY. 265 
 
 religious bodies. Few questions have been 
 canvassed with so much learned diligence, 
 as those relating to the forms of Church 
 government, and the essential conditions of 
 churchship ; and if all this learned inquiry 
 has made anything evident, it is that no form 
 of administration may claim especial favor, 
 either from the word of God or from its prac- 
 tical workings among men. Churches of all 
 forms of government are found to be about 
 equally successful, or otherwise, in edifying 
 their own members, and in turning sinners 
 to righteousness, according as they more or 
 less faithfully set forth the great truths of 
 religion, and employ the appliances of the 
 gospel in their ministration. The unerring 
 notes of genuine churchship are to be chiefly 
 sought, not in outward signs and accidental 
 circumstances ; but in the evidences of the 
 divine favor manifested in the gifts of the 
 Holy Ghost, building up the faithful and 
 obedient, and arresting and reclaiming the 
 outcast and disobedient. At various times 
 and places this saving power has been man- 
 ifested in nearly all religious denominations 
 among whom the great doctrines of Chris- 
 tianity have been cherished. Let each, 
 therefore, abide in the relations in which 
 Providence has placed him, unless some 
 
268 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 better reason fof change is found. The 
 same considerations apply with equal force 
 to the subject of ceremonies and forms of 
 worship. It is certain that the Holy Scrip- 
 tures have left these things undetermined ; 
 and thus clearly imply that they constitute 
 no part of the essence of Christianity. There 
 is, also, an abundance of evidence that they 
 have been often modified and arranged to 
 suit external and accidental circumstances ; 
 and in all these various circumstances the 
 same blessed influences have followed the 
 use of the means of grace. Prayer is an- 
 swered without regard to the bodily posture 
 of the suppliant ; the holy supper becomes a 
 spiritual feeding upon Christ, whether re- 
 ceived kneeling or sitting, if received in 
 simple gospel faith ; and the word of divine 
 truth is equally the power of God unto sal- 
 vation to all them that believe, whether 
 dispensed by ministers of one order or an- 
 other. 
 
 But while these things seem to be altogeth- 
 er indifferent, it is often the case that the 
 tilings which we have learned to associate 
 with our holy exercises receive from them 
 a relative sacredness, which we may not dis- 
 rd without serious loss. The early forms 
 of our worship are often inseparably united 
 
HIS ZEAL FOR THE SANCTUARY. 267 
 
 with that sacred exercise in our after life ; 
 things indifferent in themselves become in- 
 calculably important to us by association, so 
 that to separate from them would often be 
 equivalent to an abandonment of the services 
 of the sanctuary. The Christian man of 
 business is zealous for the sanctuary — the 
 Church in its general and diffused character, 
 on account of its essential excellence, and its 
 practical utility among men. Contemplat- 
 ing it in its wide extension, the real " holy 
 catholic Church," he feels that by his con- 
 nection with it, he is associated with the pious 
 and holy of all lands, and in all ages. Over- 
 looking mere outward forms and sensible 
 signs, and disregarding names and conven- 
 tional observances, he recognizes all who 
 hold the common Head as his brethren, and 
 fellow-heirs of God in Christ Jesus. Look- 
 ing backward along the past ages of the 
 Church's history, he recognizes its verity not 
 only under the gospel dispensation, but pass- 
 ing beyond he finds it established on Mount 
 Zion, or dwelling in the tabernacle in the 
 wilderness, or in Abraham's tent at Moreh, 
 or in the ark with the few faithful ones found 
 in the earth, or among the older patriarchs 
 with whom God spake face to face, and 
 among whom were cherished the same faith 
 
268 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 and hope that now animate and sustain the 
 Church in the glory of the gospel day. Of 
 this "chosen generation" lie feels himself to 
 be a member, and in this he exults more 
 tli an in all worldly honors. To be one of 
 that "peculiar race" he feels to be an honor 
 greater than the world can bestow r ; and as 
 he values the honor thus laid upon him, his 
 love for the source of his honor is enhanced. 
 lie also finds great excellence in the sanctuary, 
 since to it belong the great doctrinal truths 
 of the gospel, and the holy ordinances 
 through which it is brought to operate to 
 the salvation of those who use them. Though 
 he may seem to set but little value on the ab- 
 struse questions of theology that have divided 
 good men, yet in the essential truths of that 
 system he finds an ever-enduring worth. 
 Like the Psalmist, he delights in the law of 
 the Lord, and from his love of the blessed 
 word he meditates upon it day and night. 
 He also finds a sacred delight in the ordin- 
 ances of worship and means of grace thus 
 afforded to him. And because of the honor 
 which God has laid upon the Church, in 
 making it the depository of his truth and the 
 dispenser of his grace, he too delights in the 
 spiritual Zion, and loves the courts of the 
 Lord's house. 
 
HIS ZEAL FOR THE SANCTUARY. 269 
 
 The society into which he is brought, as a 
 worshiper in the house of his God, is such 
 as he most heartily delights in. Yery possi- 
 bly he may there mingle with a company, 
 the social position of many of whom are be- 
 low his own ; but here the rich and the poor 
 meet together on a perfect level, as children 
 of a common Father, and heirs to the same 
 glorious heritage. Here kindred spirits 
 unite in common and joint acts of prayer 
 and praise, while from the assembled band 
 goes up a sweet incense to the throne of God. 
 Though not blind to the frailties and imper- 
 fections of truly good men, and though com- 
 pelled, however reluctantly, to believe that 
 some with whom he meets in the guise of 
 Christians are not what they would seem to 
 be, he is, nevertheless, still convinced that 
 in that association alone may he look for 
 those characteristics of mind and heart in 
 which he chiefly delights. There the pious 
 ones meet together, drawn by a common at- 
 traction, and in obedience to the same great 
 commandments. There only does he hope 
 to find true virtue ; for he knows that such 
 virtue can only flourish when rooted in piety, 
 and piety always leads its subjects to the 
 sanctuary. While he contemplates these 
 things he finds cause to bless God for the 
 
270 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 distinguishing mercy through which his lot 
 
 was cast among such favorable circumstances, 
 and in the fullness of his confidence in the 
 divine beneficence, he is ready to exclaim, 
 " Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me 
 all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in 
 the house of the Lord forever." 
 
 The genuine Christian has a high regard 
 for the sanctuary, because of the happy 
 influences which come through it and its 
 ordinances to the world. Knowing from his 
 own experience something of the evil of sin, 
 and seeing all around him the moral dark- 
 ness and consequent degradation that sin is 
 producing in the world, he looks to the sanc- 
 tuary — the power of a vital Christianity em- 
 bodied and set forth in the doctrines and or- 
 dinances of the Church — for the only ade- 
 quate remedy. He knows that there is 
 " balm in Gilead, and a physician there." 
 He has seen somewhat of the healing efficacy 
 of the gospel ; and as he pities the ruin of 
 our fallen race, he loves the means provided 
 for their recovery and salvation. And he 
 has confidence in its power to save. In 
 himself it lias proved its sufficiency to save 
 from guilt and guilty fears ; from the powers 
 of the carnal mind, and the slavery of the 
 world; and by the same "Holy Spirit of 
 
HIS ZEAL FOR THE SANCTUARY. 271 
 
 promise" is he " sealed unto the day of eter- 
 nal redemption." 
 
 As a Christian he is often occupied in 
 efforts to do good to the souls and bodies of 
 men, " to visit the fatherless and the widow 
 in their afflictions," to carry consolation to 
 the house of woe, and as far as in him lies to 
 diminish the fearful sum of human groans and 
 tears and bitter lamentations. And while 
 thus dealing with wretchedness and sorrow, 
 he cannot fail to see how very intimately is 
 all this connected with sin. He would, if it 
 were possible, dry up these streams of sorrow; 
 but this, he very well knows, can only be 
 done by staunching the fountain of sin in the 
 depraved hearts of men — a work to which 
 all human agencies are utterly inadequate. 
 But he also knows that there is power in 
 the gospel equal to this apparent impossibil- 
 ity — that the word of God's truth, dispensed 
 according to God's appointment, and accom- 
 panied by the energy of the divine Spirit, is 
 able to transform the polluted and fallen 
 ones of earth into children of grace and 
 heirs of eternal life. He has learned, both 
 by instruction and experience, that there is, 
 agreeable to the ancient prophecy, " opened in 
 the house of David and to the inhabitants of 
 Jerusalem ;" that is, in the Church of Christ, 
 
272 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 and for all who come to enjoy its sacred 
 privileges, "a fountain that cleanses from 
 sin and from transgression." Because of the 
 happy influence of the streams from this 
 fountain, which he meets with on every side, 
 as a friend to his race he loves the sanctuary 
 of his God. 
 
 In this good work he finds, too, that he is 
 not alone. Others are also engaged in like 
 efforts to do good. But who are they whom 
 he finds thus engaged ? Are they the pro- 
 fane, the godless, the unbelieving, and the 
 revilers of religion ? Far from it. It may, 
 indeed, be conceded that some not personal- 
 ly devout have been beneficent and humane ; 
 but even such have been made what they 
 are by influences emanating from Christian- 
 ity, and their "good w r orks" should injustice 
 be set down to the credit of religion. But 
 while it is gladly conceded that some who 
 are not pious toward God are kindly dis- 
 posed toward men, it must also be asserted 
 that this is much rather the exception than 
 the general rule in such matters. As we 
 know that the devout man is a benevolent 
 one, so we shall not often err if we conclude 
 that the benevolent man is also a devout 
 worshiper of his God. It is a fact known 
 to all who inquire into these things, that our 
 
HIS ZEAL FOR THE SANCTUARY. 273 
 
 vital Christianity — the religion inculcated in 
 our evangelical congregations, and professed 
 by those who, with the name of Christ, re- 
 ceive also his law as the rule of their con- 
 duct and his Spirit as the guide of their life 
 — that this only seems sufficient to actuate 
 and sustain the efforts needful to mitigate 
 human sufferings and carry consolation to 
 the house of woe. 
 
 He sees, too, that almost every instance of 
 combined efforts and instituted agencies for 
 this purpose have had their origin in the 
 Church, or under its immediate influences. 
 Wherever the Church has been set up and 
 gained for itself a place among the active 
 social institutions of the people, there is 
 found the hospital for the sick, the asylum 
 for the insane, the alms-house for the desti- 
 tute, and the prison, a place of refuge and 
 restraint for the vicious and injurious. The 
 Church itself, in its special organization, for 
 ages filled these important offices, and now 
 accomplishes the same good purposes, in part 
 through her own appliances, and in part 
 through other agencies to which the Spirit 
 of the gospel, diffused in community, has 
 given rise : so that he who delights in see- 
 ing " good works" multiplied among men; 
 
 who sympathizes with sorrow, and with the 
 18 
 
274 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 joy that succeeds to sorrow redressed, should 
 confess and honor the source of all these 
 blessings. The good man whom God has in- 
 structed in the way — the Christian man of 
 business whose acquaintance with the prac- 
 tical workings of things enables him to judge 
 correctly in these matters, sees at once their 
 happy results, and the spring from which 
 they rise. He traces the thousand rivulets 
 that irrigate this arid waste of sin and mis- 
 ery back to its fountain in the divine good- 
 ness; a fountain which pours its streams 
 through the sanctuary, for the healing of the 
 people. And in the same degree that he 
 loves his fellow-men, and pities the misery 
 of the outcast and degraded, he learns to 
 honor the Church of his God, and is inclined 
 to promote her elevation and influence in 
 the world. Caring at once for the temporal 
 and the eternal interests of those about him, 
 he seeks to promote both by extending the 
 praises of the house of God. Let our Chris- 
 tian men of business consider these things, 
 nor rob the house of God of its just honor 
 and service, lest in so doing they rob their 
 own souls. Let them carry the habitual 
 promptness and punctuality of their secular 
 callings into the affairs of religion. As they 
 go early to their places of daily occupation, 
 
HIS ZEAL FOR THE SANCTUARY. 275 
 
 so should they, at the proper time, hasten to 
 the house of prayer. Let the man who is 
 busiest in his worldly affairs during the six 
 days of labor, be also the most diligent man 
 on the Sabbath. If he is seen to be all life 
 during the former, and all listlessness during 
 the other, he but too plainly indicates that his 
 heart is not set on the things above. And 
 if he has no relish for the brief services of 
 the earthly tabernacle, how would the unend- 
 ing worship of the eternal temple pall upon 
 his taste ! Let, then, no suitable opportuni- 
 ty be passed unimproved ; the one carelessly 
 omitted may be the very one designed by 
 infinite Goodness to be the vehicle of the 
 richest blessings. Nor is it less important to 
 love and cherish in our hearts the sanctuary, 
 than to frequent its services, and wait upon 
 its ordinances. To love the house of God — - 
 " the place where his honor dwelleth," is a 
 condition on which depends much of the ad- 
 vantage offered us in the sanctuary. And 
 this favor must be manifested in correspond- 
 ing actions. Our free-will offerings must be 
 given in the spirit, if not in the measure, of 
 her who " cast all her living" into the treas- 
 ury. There has, indeed, been a great im- 
 provement in this matter within a few years 
 past. Much has been done, both by pecu- 
 
276 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 niary contributions and by personal efforts, 
 to meet the religious demands of the age. 
 In this all good men do and will rejoice. 
 There is still, however, a wide and necessi- 
 tous field to be cultivated ; nor should any 
 who are jealous of the honor of God's house 
 cease from their efforts till the Church em- 
 brace and bless our whole race. Here let 
 our "young men" who "are strong, and 
 have overcome the evil one," put forth their 
 patient efforts to do good. Here let our 
 men of wealth consecrate their riches and 
 their energies. Too often we see this class 
 of persons pursuing quite another course — a 
 course as disadvantageous to the temporal as 
 the eternal interests of themselves and their 
 families. They build magnificent mansions, 
 they purchase lordly estates, they bequeath 
 unwieldly heritages to their posterity — to be 
 spent, perhaps, in gambling, debauchery and 
 show — to prove a snare and curse to them. 
 Is not this to walk in a vain show ? Is not 
 this to "sow the wind and reap the whirl- 
 wind?" Rather should they "make them- 
 selves friends of the mammon of unrighte- 
 ousness ;" better were it for them to love the 
 people of God, and build synagogues for his 
 worship ; and so would they lay up in store 
 for themselves a good foundation against the 
 
HIS ZEAL FOR THE SANCTUARY. 277 
 
 time of trouble. Here is an ambition wor- 
 thy of a renovated and undying soul. 
 
 The times call for this kind of Christian 
 activity and devotedness. Strong and subtle 
 foes are actively striving against the cause 
 of Christ. On the one hand is seen the wily 
 machination of Anti-Christ, attempting to 
 subvert our social and religious privileges, 
 and to bring us into the bondage from which 
 our fathers of the Reformation, by the grace 
 of God, freed themselves, and their Church 
 and country. On the other is covert infidel- 
 ity, assuming the guise of a specious liberal- 
 ism, but which is intensely and almost ex- 
 clusively hostile to the spirit and institutions 
 of our holy religion. The greed of gain, so 
 characteristic of the present age, is power- 
 fully antagonistic to the unworldly spirit 
 of the gospel, and the unblushing boldness 
 with which long-condemned practices are 
 now recommended in high places, all indi- 
 cate that the time of conflict is not past, and 
 that whoever is on the Lord's side should 
 boldly assert his position and vigorously 
 maintain the cause of truth and right. Un- 
 der God, our land has yet been preserved in 
 the enjoyment of a pure Protestant Chris- 
 tianity ; let every patriot remember that our 
 Protestantism and our liberties must stand 
 
278 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 or fall together. The whole world is looking 
 to this and other Protestant countries for the 
 maintenance of the pure gospel, and the vin- 
 dication of the sacred freedom to worship 
 God according to his word. May he equip 
 and strengthen his people for the struggle ! 
 and may it appear in the event, that accord- 
 ing to the promise, " Thy people are willing 
 in the day of thy power." 
 
HIS ZEAL FOR THE SABBATH. 279 
 
 CHAPTER XHL 
 
 HIS ZEAL FOR THE SABBATH. 
 
 As God appointed his holy day for the indi- 
 vidual to keep it to his glory, so he appointed 
 it for the nation as a sign of his covenant with 
 a people. Yiewed in this light, the dese- 
 cration or the sanctification of the day of 
 rest is largely the criterion of a Christian 
 country's faithfulness or infidelity ; and will 
 prove, in the long run, a main hinge of the 
 prosperity or the downfall of that kingdom. 
 It was in this view that God spoke of his 
 day, when he said, " Hallow my Sabbaths, 
 and they shall be a sign between me and 
 you, that ye may know that I am the Lord 
 your God." It was in this view he spoke of 
 it when he declared that he would pour 
 forth his fury upon Israel because they had 
 defiled his Sabbaths ; and it was in the same 
 light he regarded it, when he said, " If ye 
 will not hearken unto me to hallow the Sab- 
 bath-day, and not to bear a burden even 
 entering in at the gates of Jerusalem, on the 
 Sabbath-day, then will I kindle a fire in 
 the gates thereof, and it shall devour the 
 
280 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be 
 quenched." As God threatened, so he did. 
 The desecration of his day was one of the 
 most crying of the sins of Israel. Their dis- 
 persion, desolation, and captivity were the 
 consequence. And when God had brought 
 back a remnant, who had restored the tem- 
 ple, and raised from ruin the walls of their 
 holy city — everything depended on their 
 faithfulness to God, on their steadfastness in 
 his covenant. Then, too, their pious leader 
 showed himself not more jealous for the 
 honor of the house and the name of his 
 God, than for the authority and sanctity of 
 the Sabbath. 
 
 We are now to consider the subject of the 
 holy day, the Christian Sabbath, and the 
 man of business in his relations to it, how 
 he ought to recognize and uphold its author- 
 ity, how he ought to enter into its spirit, 
 and how he ought to realize its blessings. 
 These three branches of illustration will 
 make up the subject matter of this chapter. 
 
 In the outset, it behooves us solemnly to 
 recognize the divine authority of the day of 
 rest. We ought to be fully persuaded in 
 our minds on this point. It underlies all 
 the rest. If a man be loose and speculative 
 here, it is clear that he will be capricious 
 
HIS ZEAL FOR THE SABBATH. 281 
 
 and unreal in his observance of the ordin- 
 ance. It is strange that there should ever 
 have arisen any question in the case, so 
 manifest is the mind of God on the subject. 
 The doubt can hardly have sprung from the 
 head ; it must have originated in the heart 
 — the " evil heart of unbelief." Men have 
 disliked the restraint of the day, and have, 
 therefore, set to work to weaken its obliga- 
 tion. Alas ! that some from whom better 
 things might have been expected, should 
 have lent the weight of their names to such 
 an attempt. They must not, however, influ- 
 ence us — to the law and to the testimony 
 alone we appeal. 
 
 The time and purpose of the institution of 
 the Sabbath ought to silence all controversy 
 as to the universality and perpetuity of its ob- 
 ligation. It was instituted for Adam in the 
 time of his innocency, when the whole hu- 
 man race was yet in his loins ; it could not 
 therefore be designed for a particular peo- 
 ple ; it must have been intended for man- 
 kind in general. It was ordained in com- 
 memoration of an event which equally 
 relates to all generations — the consumma- 
 tion of the work of creation. The ordin- 
 ance was consequently as long anterior 
 to the Mosaic law, as was man himself. 
 
282 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 That law did not therefore enact — it only 
 confirmed, the law of the Sabbath. It is 
 true that Scripture history is silent respect- 
 ing the observance till the time that Israel 
 sojourned in the wilderness; but it is no less 
 true that Scripture history is silent on sev- 
 eral other salient subjects during the same 
 period. Meantime we have strong presump- 
 tive evidence that it was sanctified from the 
 beginning by those who called upon the 
 name of the Lord, though its sanctification 
 by them is unrecorded. For when it is 
 again brought to view, it is an ordinance re- 
 cognized and regarded by the Israelites, 
 and that antecedently to the giving of the 
 law from Sinai. When receiving instruc- 
 tions respecting the gathering of the manna, 
 they were simply directed to gather and pre- 
 pare a double portion on the sixth day, be- 
 cause the morrow would be " the rest of the 
 holy Sabbath unto the Lord." Thus the 
 institution reappears on the current of 
 inspired history, not as a stranger, but as a 
 familiar friend — as acknowledged by the 
 people, and upholden by God. This reason- 
 ing is greatly strengthened by the mode of 
 expression employed by God when, on Sinai, 
 he enacted afresh the law of paradise. He 
 said not, Thou shalt keep holy the Sabbath- 
 
HIS ZEAL FOR THE SABBATH. 283 
 
 day; but, "Remember the Sabbath-day to 
 keep it holy." Clearly, therefore, this com- 
 mandment enforced what was known, not 
 what was new. 
 
 And where did the Almighty Lawgiver 
 place the precept when he proclaimed it 
 afresh ? Was it among the ritualistic or the 
 political institutes of Israel ? Was it among 
 the typical arid the transitory? Had he 
 done so, it might have been inferred that 
 the obligation of the observance was limited 
 to one nation, and peculiar to one economy. 
 But the divine finger wrote the command 
 in the very center of the moral law. It is 
 placed as the golden clasp that binds both 
 tables of the law together — duty to God 
 and duty to man. Since, then, God em- 
 bodied it in the moral law, who shall dare 
 to tear it thence ? If he has designated it 
 as a moral precept, who shall presume to set 
 it aside as a positive one ? He who has the 
 hardihood to blot out the fourth might just as 
 well obliterate the sixth or the seventh com- 
 mand. The same authority which makes 
 the latter, makes the former binding. He, 
 therefore, that should keep the whole law, 
 and yet offend in this one point, would be 
 guilty of all ; for he would snap the chain 
 which binds the whole upon us. 
 
284 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 And let us not forget that the ten com- 
 mandments are surrounded with a surpass- 
 ing majesty and awfulness. Other injunc- 
 tions were given mediately through Moses, 
 who wrote them and communicated them to 
 the people. But God himself, from his 
 pavilion of darkness, proclaimed the moral 
 law. Sinai was all in a flame — the moun- 
 tains trembled — the trumpet pealed — the 
 thunder roared — the lightnings blazed — ■ 
 while the voice of Deity was proclaiming — 
 " Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it 
 holy." Afterward, in common with the 
 other nine commands, it was engraven on 
 tables of stone by the Creator's hand ; and 
 ultimately lodged in the ark of the covenant, 
 beneath the mercy-seat, within the mystic 
 precincts of " the Holy of Holies." 
 
 Passing from the law to the prophets, we 
 find that in most of their writings, and espe- 
 cially in those of Isaiah, the holy day is 
 signally magnified; heavy judgments are 
 denounced against those who violate, and 
 glorious promises made to those who hal- 
 low it. And when we come to the New 
 Testament, though there is no express repe-| 
 tition of the commandment, yet Christ him- 
 self glorified it by his obedience, and rati- 
 fied rather than relaxed its universal author- 
 
HIS ZEAL FOR THE SABBATH. 285 
 
 ity, by declaring, "The Sabbath was made 
 for man." Here, however, we are encoun- 
 tered by what seems to many a formidable 
 difficulty — -the gradual transfer of the Sab- 
 bath rest from the last to the first day of the 
 week. To some, it seems that the force of the 
 divine command has thus been neutralized. 
 Yet, why should this circumstance affect the 
 stringency of the precept ? Why should not 
 the sacredness of the institution continue on 
 whatever day it may please God that it 
 should be observed ? The essence of the or- 
 dinance lies in the dedication of one day in 
 the seven to God, not in the precise day that 
 is devoted. This, reason itself would infer, 
 since it would be impossible for the same 
 identical time to be kept by the faithful in 
 all parts of the earth. The mode of expres- 
 sion used in the commandment, as it is given 
 in Scripture, leads to the same inference; for 
 though through some strange oversight it is 
 said in the English Prayer-book that God 
 blessed the seventh day and hallowed it ; in the 
 Bible it is written, " God blessed the Sabbath- 
 day and hallowed it." So the consecration 
 and the blessing were attached to the day of 
 holy rest, not to the seventh day absolutely. 
 Yea, and even under the old dispensation 
 was there not intimation of a new and no- 
 
286 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 bier Sabbath? How else can we understand 
 the Psalmist, when he says, " The stone 
 which the builders refused, is become the 
 head-stone of the corner. This is the Lord's 
 doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This 
 is the day which the Lord hath made — we 
 will rejoice and be glad in it?" Surely it 
 was indicated here, that as the consumma- 
 tion of the first creation was immortalized 
 by the setting apart of a holy birthday to 
 commemorate it ; so the elevation of the top- 
 stone in the second creation — when the Re- 
 deemer had finished his work of atonement, 
 burst the bars of death, and led captivity cap- 
 tive — should have its own special day of high 
 commemoration — overshadowing, but not 
 superseding, the memory of the former. 
 Was it not meet that so it should be ? For 
 if the first work had glory, how much does 
 the second excel in glory ! 
 
 " 'Twas great to speak a world from naught, 
 
 'Twas greater to redeem." 
 
 Redemption has eclipsed creation, as the 
 risen sun shrouds with his splendor the 
 morning star. Besides, the Sabbath of the 
 seventh day was dimmed, for it reminded us 
 of Eden lost through sin; but the Sabbath 
 of the first day is glorious, for it tells us of 
 
HIS ZE.iL FOR THE SABBATH. 287 
 
 Paradise restored through grace — and points 
 to the endless Sabbath rest that " remaineth 
 to the people of God." Beautifully and be- 
 fittingly, therefore, did Jesus rise on the first 
 day of the week, instead of on the seventh, 
 and so hallow and bless " the Lord's day" 
 — making it the first-fruits of our time, as 
 he is " the first-fruits of them that slept." 
 In like manner, all his chief appear- 
 ances, after his resurrection, were on his 
 own selected day. On that day, too, the 
 promised Spirit was poured out upon the 
 apostles, and " cloven tongues like as of fire" 
 rested on their heads. It was on that day 
 the disciples were wont to meet together for 
 breaking of bread and for prayer. It was 
 on that day, "when the disciples came to- 
 gether to break bread," that Paul preached 
 unto them at Troas, " ready to depart on the 
 morrow, and continued his speech until mid- 
 night." It was of that day the apostle John 
 spake in the opening of the Apocalypse, 
 when he said, " I was in the Spirit on the 
 Lord's day" — thus proving that the first day 
 of the week was recognized even then by 
 the universal Church as the day of the £ord. 
 And throughout all subsequent ages, has 
 not the Lord set his seal abundantly on the 
 Christian Sabbath? 
 
2SS A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 There is, then, ample proof that the day 
 of rest is bound upon us by the law of God ; 
 that it is no less a clear duty, than it is an 
 unspeakable privilege, to keep it holy. As 
 such, the Spirit writes it on every renovated 
 heart. The appeal may be made to the 
 holiest of the saints. Has He not manifest- 
 ed himself on that day as on none beside ? 
 Has not great grace preeminently rested on 
 its solemn assemblies ? Has it not been the 
 birthday of unnumbered souls ? Has it not 
 been a season of special refreshing and edify- 
 ing to the flock of Christ? Is it not rich in 
 holy memorials, gracious records, heavenly 
 traditions ? In every age and clime have not 
 his children been all taught of God to prize 
 and reverence his day ? Have they not had 
 the fourth commandment, as distinctly as the 
 other commandments, written " on the fleshly 
 tables of their heart" — so that spontaneously, 
 not as of compulsion, but of taste and choice, 
 they have "remembered the Sabbath-day 
 to keep it holy?" Thus the Spirit in the 
 heart has witnessed with the Spirit in the 
 word, that the obligation of the ordinance 
 abides, while the blessedness of the ordinance 
 is mhcuKk d. 
 
 Now, therefore, let us contemplate the 
 spirit in which the man of business ought 
 
HIS ZEAL FOR THE SABBATH. 289 
 
 to keep the day. He should keep it with a 
 solemn reverence of mind. Whatever per- 
 tains immediately to God challenges honor 
 and solemnity. Whatever he has inscribed 
 with " holiness unto the Lord," must be sa- 
 cred to us. And he has said, " Reverence 
 my Sabbaths :" he teaches us to call them 
 " honorable;" he " hallowed" the day which 
 lie set apart for himself. Far from us, there- 
 fore, be lightness and frivolity, secularity 
 and distraction, carnal indulgence, or heart- 
 less indifference, on the day of God. Let it 
 always shed upon our souls a soothing influ- 
 ence, a vivid sense of things unseen. 
 
 At the same time, the day which God 
 blessed ought not to be a day of severity 
 and gloom. They scarcely honor it more 
 who observe it morosely and ascetically, 
 than they do who turn it into an occasion of 
 mirth and frivolity. We are told to call it 
 "a delight." It is a festival to the Lord. 
 We should put on " the garment of praise," 
 not " the spirit of heaviness," when we hear 
 the sweet chime of its bells. We should 
 " enter into his gates with thanksgiving, 
 and into his courts with praise." The deep- 
 est joy is serious and chastened. We should 
 be sober, yet be glad ; and adorn the day 
 
 with holy cheerfulness. Our servants, our 
 19 
 
290 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 children, our friends, should see that we en- 
 joy the ordinance; that it is congenial to 
 our spirit ; that it is to us a foretaste of the 
 rest of heaven — a day we would like to have 
 last forever. Never let us forget that if the 
 brief Sabbath of earth be a weariness to us, 
 how wearisome would that Sabbath be pro- 
 tracted to all eternity ! Yet an everlasting 
 Sabbath-keeping is one of the most beautiful 
 and expressive conceptions which the Holy 
 Ghost gives us of the ceaseless fruition of 
 those who shall be accounted worthy to en- 
 ter the kingdom of heaven. 
 
 The great thing is, to enter into the spirit 
 of the day, not to rest in the cold letter. To 
 refrain from secular occupations, to forego 
 worldly pleasures, to abstain from vain con- 
 versation, to give special attention to the 
 Bible, to be punctual and decorous in the 
 services of the sanctuary — all this is well; 
 but all this may be, and yet the day be un- 
 sanctified in His sight who searches the 
 heart. The soul must be attuned to the day. 
 The outward demeanor must be the reflec- 
 tion of the inward frame. The mind must 
 be disencumbered of its burdens, disentan- 
 gled from its cares, and, like the unchained 
 eagle, set free to mount up into communion 
 with God. This is the essence of the observe 
 
HIS ZEAL FOR THE SABBATH. 291 
 
 ance. This must give reality and life to all. 
 Then will our Sabbaths be to us vestiges of 
 paradise, green spots in our pilgrimage 
 through the wilderness, where we will find 
 our freshest springs, and where we will 
 breathe an atmosphere cooled with the dews 
 of heaven. Then will we wish to lengthen, 
 not to abridge the hours. Then will we ask, 
 not how much, but how little we can attend 
 to things below on the day set apart for 
 " things above." It is the lack of this sab- 
 batic tone that leads so many, who name the 
 name of Christ, to while away the day in 
 listless trifling, or to weave excuses for en- 
 croaching on its precincts. By one, urgent 
 business letters must be read, if not written, 
 on the day ; by another, impending sickness 
 is staved off till the leisure day which can 
 best be spared for nursing it ; because they 
 are only spiritual concerns that then demand 
 attention ; a third steals a few hours for jour- 
 neying, because it is the genteel day on 
 which to travel, and because, by setting out 
 betimes, he can reach his destination soon 
 enough to attend the evening service ; or, 
 having attended church in the forenoon at 
 home, he can afterward so improve the 
 time as to gain the point where he wishes to 
 begin his business with the Monday's dawn 
 
292 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 — thus, with wondrous dexterity, saving 
 time, yet satisfying conscience! Are not 
 these things so? Are not many carried 
 away by conformity to the usages of the 
 world in this matter — " by reason of whom 
 the way of godliness is evil spoken of?" 
 And are, then, the engagements of the holy 
 day so insignificant ? Can they be so lightly 
 postponed to the calls of secular avocations? 
 Is one-seventh of our time too much to de- 
 vote exclusively to eternity? Are the in- 
 terests and destinies of immortality subordi- 
 nate to the gains and losses of threescore years 
 and ten ? Have we so learned Christ ? so 
 weighed the worth of the soul ? so estimated 
 the price with which it was bought? 
 
 Our influence with our servants and de- 
 pendents must be used in support of the day 
 of rest. Not only ought we to shrink from 
 unnecessarily employing them either for our 
 pleasure or our profit ; not only ought we to 
 secure to them full opportunity to enjoy the 
 services of the sanctuary ; but we ought to 
 see to it that they avail themselves of the 
 opportunity afforded. Sad will it be, should 
 we give them occasion to infer that the holy 
 day lias no holiness for them ; that for us it 
 has its obligations and its duties, but that for 
 them it has neither; that their toil is never 
 
HIS ZEAL FOR THE SABBATH. 293 
 
 to be relaxed — their salvation never worked 
 out. Strive to make it to them, as to your- 
 selves, the brightest, the most refreshing day 
 of the seven. 
 
 In order to sanctify the Sabbath, and arrest 
 the current of secularity, which is all too apt 
 to overflow the fences of the day, it is highly 
 important that our mercantile men should 
 have what the Jews of old had — " the prepa- 
 ration," when the Sabbath draws on. Hap- 
 py, therefore, will it be, if recent arrange- 
 ments for suspending business at an early 
 hour on the Saturday should enable the 
 Christian merchant not only to close his 
 counting-house betimes, but to abstract his 
 mind from his speculations, his risks, and 
 his responsibilities — lest haply, like the 
 money-changers and sellers of doves in the 
 temple, he should virtually, though not ac- 
 tually, make the house of God " a den of 
 thieves." Much depends on the attitude 
 and readiness in which we await the day. 
 We ought, as it is so graphically said in the 
 book of Isaiah, to "turn away our foot" from 
 the Sabbath — to halt on its confines, lest in 
 our eager career we should overleap the di- 
 vine barrier, and with our shoes still on our 
 feet desecrate the sacred inclosure. 
 
 The man who is earnest in hallowing the 
 
2D4 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 Sabbath himself, cannot fail to be zealous for 
 its observance by his neighborhood and his 
 nation. lie cannot therefore but " sigh and 
 ctv for all the abominations" which defile 
 the holy season in our own land; for the 
 dissipation and profaneness which rush down 
 our streets ; for our open beer-houses ; for our 
 scenes of bacchanalian carousal and blasphe- 
 mous diversion ; for our pleasure gardens 
 and musical saloons, alluring thousands of 
 the young and heedless into the pitfalls of 
 ruin which they conceal. And what shall 
 be said of the gigantic profanations of the 
 Sabbath which are not only sanctioned, but 
 even required by the laws of the land? 
 "What of our postal regulations, enforcing, as 
 they do, an almost unrelieved amount of toil 
 on tens of thousands of our fellow-citizens ? 
 It is not that we want a law to compel the 
 observance of the day. What we need is a 
 law to restrain men in authority from forcing 
 their dependents to violate the day. It is 
 not that we can make men religious by au- 
 thority of government ; but we can, by legis- 
 lative enactment, restrict employers from 
 constraining those whom they employ to be 
 irreligious. As it is, existing laws counten- 
 ance, nay, in some instances, demand, the 
 infringement of the divine law. By moral. 
 
HIS ZEAL FOK THE SABBATH. 295 
 
 though not by physical force, multitudes are 
 compelled to be Sabbath-breakers, or to suf- 
 fer great disadvantages for conscience' sake. 
 Over these things, every one who is jealous 
 for the Lord God of hosts, and trembles for 
 the land we live in, w T ill deeply mourn ; and 
 by his example, by his protest, by his influ- 
 ence, by his efforts, will do all that lieth in 
 him to check the accumulation of national 
 guilt in this matter; threatening, as that 
 guilt does, to bring down judgments on the 
 nation. Let us never forget that the Sab- 
 bath is a token of the covenant of God 
 with our country; it is a rainbow round 
 about our throne, which when bright and 
 clear, witnesses that God will not suffer us 
 to be overwhelmed ; but which, when dim- 
 med and defaced by desecration, betokens 
 impending disaster to the community. 
 
 But we may safely assure the man of 
 business, that as surely as he enters into the 
 spirit of the day, so surely shall he realize 
 its blessings. The Lord " blessed" as well 
 as " hallowed" the day: he not only set it 
 apart for holy purposes, but annexed a 
 special blessing to its observance. It is for 
 our good. It is for our happiness. We love 
 to view it in this light. Duty — authority — 
 these are cold words to use in urging the 
 
1 }< J(J A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINE68. 
 
 Christian to do what (Jod bids him, and en- 
 joy what God promises him. Rather would 
 we speak to him of grace — of privilege — of 
 blessedness. "The Sabbath was made for 
 man." It is the gift of love. It is the 
 pledge of peace. It meets our wants ; it 
 suits our frame. True, it is a yoke, but that 
 yoke is easy; a restraint, but that restraint 
 is " perfect freedom." Why did God sepa- 
 rate one-seventh portion of human life from 
 the pursuits of time? Why! but for the 
 comfort, refreshment, and edification of man, 
 in subservience to his own glory. Nor did 
 " the High and Lofty One" think it beneath 
 him, in like manner, to secure repose to the 
 ox and the ass-; the beasts that toil in our 
 service. Even with a view to the physical 
 constitution of man, the law of the Sabbath 
 is a law of love. One of our most distin- 
 guished medical men, when examined by a 
 committee of the House of Commons on the 
 question of the Lord's day, gave it as his 
 testimony, based on large experience, that 
 the man who does not rest one day in seven 
 will, ordinarily, wear out his energies before 
 the time, and bring upon himself premature 
 decrepitude and death. He added — and it 
 was an interesting addition — that medical 
 science had arrived at the conclusion, that 
 
HIS ZEAL FOR THE SABBATH. 297 
 
 the very portion of time fixed upon by his 
 Creator, is that which man needs for repose. 
 Upon its being observed to him that some of 
 the ministers of religion take no day of rest, 
 he replied that they could not stand incessant 
 effort ; and that, except they would secure 
 an equivalent for the repose of the Sabbath, 
 they must, sooner or later, fall victims to the 
 unrelaxed strain on their energies. How 
 benignly, therefore, has God made provision 
 for the recruital of our physical nature ! But 
 it is when we contemplate the ordinance in 
 its bearing on the well-being of the human 
 spirit, that it rises upon our view in all its 
 benignity. It is peculiarly the friend of 
 fallen man ; for if, amid the hallowed scenes 
 of Eden, there was needed a day on which 
 the sinless dressers of the garden should in- 
 termit their gentle toil, how much more 
 urgently must blighted, guilty man, amid 
 the temptations, and cares, and pollutions, 
 and distractions to which he is now subject- 
 ed, stand in need of one day in seven to 
 give him opportunity to find and follow the 
 ways of restoration to God, and holiness, and 
 heaven! The first days of his weeks are 
 steps in the mystic ladder up which he may 
 climb till he reach the land where the sun 
 of the Sabbath shall never set, and the wor- 
 
298 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 ship of the Sabbath never close. Blot out 
 that day — and you would well-nigh blot out 
 the service of God from the face of the earth. 
 Close all our sanctuaries — stop all our Sun- 
 day schools — withdraw all the influences of 
 the day of rest — and what would be the con- 
 sequences? How would earth's ills be en- 
 venomed — earth's woes embittered — earth's 
 toils enhanced? To the Christian man of 
 business the privation would be irreparable. 
 His dearest reminiscences, his richest enjoy- 
 ments, his brightest hopes, are all bound up 
 with the Sabbath. How subservient is it to 
 his soul's health! How conducive to his 
 peace ! How his salt would lose its savor if 
 it were not impregnated afresh by the influ- 
 ence of the holy day ! 
 
 Can we overrate the blessing of the ob- 
 servance to those of the faithful who are un- 
 avoidably harassed and strained from day 
 to day by the overwrought machinery of 
 modern trade ? To them how unspeakable 
 the relief of having the moving power stop- 
 ped, the whole mechanism of traffic suspend- 
 ed, and being able to withdraw from the din 
 and hurry, and distraction of the commercial 
 world — exchanging them for the calm of the 
 closet, the communion of the family, the 
 avocations of mercy, and the soothing ser- 
 
HIS ZEAL FOR THE SABBATH. 299 
 
 vices of the house of prayer ! The Sabbath 
 is to such, as the green and watered oasis is 
 to the worn and fevered traveler in the 
 Arabian desert. The dew of the day abides 
 upon their spirits. A Sabbath meetly sancti- 
 fied, gives a tone to the days that follow. 
 The week may be compared to a harp of 
 seven strings : the first — the master cord — 
 gives the key-note to the rest — let that be 
 tuned by heaven, and the others will sound 
 in consonance. You may forecast the char- 
 acter of the week from the way in which 
 you begin it — from the tone of your spirit 
 on the day of God. If you have been happy 
 and heavenly, then much of happiness and 
 heavenliness will ordinarily pervade your 
 occupations ; but if you were earthly and dis- 
 tracted then, still more of earthliness and 
 distraction will cleave to you when you re- 
 sume the tasks of life. On the Sabbath the 
 lamp must be replenished with oil ; on the 
 Sabbath, the loins must be girt anew ; on 
 the Sabbath, " we buy wine and milk, with- 
 out money and without price," that we may 
 be strengthened for our warfare and our 
 journey! Blessed day! Symbol of grace, 
 bond of fellowship, birthright of the poor, 
 reflection of heaven, who would not love 
 thee ? who would not seek to taste thy sweet- 
 
300 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 ness? Some, indeed, of our philosophizing 
 Christians say disparagingly, that every day 
 ought to be a Sabbath to the saint. And so 
 it should be : but who is likeliest to sanctify 
 every day ? Is it not he who most remem- 
 bers the Sabbath day to keep it holy ? There 
 are those who would bring down the hallow- 
 ed day to the level of the days of labor, in- 
 stead of striving to bring up the latter to the 
 standard of the former — and to do so by 
 making use of the former as a purchase for 
 the purpose. He who knoweth our frame, 
 knew w T hat we had need of, when he ordain- 
 ed for us a day specially consecrated to the 
 things that belong to our peace. 
 
 Let it be remembered that if we love best 
 the day which God has hallowed, that love 
 is to us a pledge and prelibation of heaven. 
 Once in the porch of a church, at the close 
 of the Sunday evening service, the minister 
 found an aged woman still lingering after all 
 her fellow- worshipers were gone, who, on 
 his asking her why she did not hasten home 
 as the night was fast approaching, answered, 
 with pathetic earnestness and simplicity, 
 " O, sir ! I love to linger here : I was wish- 
 ing that I never had to leave church, and 
 that Sunday would last forever." "Hap- 
 py are you," said he ; " for you will soon 
 
HIS ZEAL FOR THE SABBATH. 301 
 
 have your wish fulfilled in the enjojaxient of 
 a never-ending Sabbath, and of a temple 
 from which the worshipers shall no more 
 go out." The very God of grace and peace 
 grant the reader to be like-minded with that 
 simple saint ! 
 
 Time would fail us to enlarge on the be- 
 nign influence of a well-kept Sabbath on the 
 community — on the nation at large. How 
 it humanizes, how it harmonizes the people, 
 bringing together the ranks of society, and 
 soothing the asperities of secular intercourse. 
 The different sections of our own country il- 
 lustrate both the happy influences resulting 
 from hallowing the Sabbath, and the evils 
 of desecrating its holy time. See, also, 
 how Scotland is distinguished for its observ- 
 ance of the day of rest , and how high the 
 state of its morality, and how sound and 
 prosperous its social condition ! England, 
 with all her faults, contrasts favorably in this 
 respect with continental nations ; so that the 
 strangers who flocked from all countries to the 
 Great Exhibition, were specially struck with 
 the reverence for the Sabbath which charac- 
 terizes the inhabitants of this land. They 
 were filled with astonishment when they 
 learned that the stupendous structure was 
 raised, and furnished, and finished, without 
 
302 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 the sound of a hammer having been heard, 
 without a nail having been driven, on the 
 holy day. Nor were they less astonished to 
 find the doors of the Exhibition so strictly 
 closed on the Sunday, that neither the peer, 
 nor even the artist anxious to copy various 
 objects in quietness, was suffered to enter on 
 the Lord's day. Not by way of invidious 
 comparison, but in thankfulness to God that 
 there is yet so right a sentiment left among 
 the people of our fatherland, we record these 
 facts. Those who have traveled on the con- 
 tinent well know, that there is nothing 
 shocks more the American or British tourist 
 — if worthy of the name — than the manner 
 in which the day of God is there profaned. 
 Changed into a carnival of amusement, it 
 seems more Satan's " holiday" than Christ's 
 holy day; the theaters wide open, the ball- 
 rooms thronged, the bazaars all alive, the 
 military review or the political banquet 
 furnishing popular excitement; these are 
 the features of a continental Sunday. Shame 
 on the American or the British traveler w T ho 
 yields to the current ! he disgraces alike his 
 national and his religious connections. "We 
 owe it to our Protestant principles and insti- 
 tutions, that there is so much homage still 
 paid among us to the blessed ordinance. The 
 
HIS ZEAL FOR THE SABBATH. 303 
 
 Romish Sabbath is half formal, half carnal 
 — a forenoon of idolatry, ending in an after- 
 noon of frivolity. And no marvel, when 
 the " holiday " of the Church is held to be 
 paramount to the holy day of the Lord of the 
 Church. Let us not, however, " be high- 
 minded, but fear." Have we not had latter- 
 ly fearful encroachments on the sanctity of 
 the observance ? Are not our unclosed 
 taverns, and our thinly- vailed haunts of riot 
 and revelry, on his day, crying to God 
 against us ? And are there not even now 
 mighty efforts making to break down still 
 more the fences of the day? If, therefore, 
 we love our country, and the day which God 
 has made so largely the channel of blessings 
 to our country, we must hold fast the Pro- 
 testant distinction of an unmutilated Sab- 
 bath, as well as of au unadulterated Bible, 
 and an unsensualized ritual. Let lost ground 
 be recovered. Let all the haunts of drunk- 
 enness and dissipation be closed on the holy 
 day. Let the vagrant multitudes be won to 
 the house of prayer. " Then God, even our 
 own God, will give us his blessing." 
 
 And now, to the younger readers of these 
 pages who may be just launching on the sea of 
 business, we would more particularly address 
 the word of affectionate admonition. En- 
 
304 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 grave it as an axiom on your minds, that to 
 hold fast the Sabbath is to hold fast a sheet- 
 anchor; while to abandon its observance, is to 
 drift from your moorings. And whither may 
 not the unmoored bark be driven? From 
 the very gallow r s hundreds have pointed to 
 the first broken Sabbath — w 7 hen, for the first 
 time, they turned their backs on the sanctu- 
 ary and their faces toward the haunts of 
 vanity — as the first open step down the de- 
 clivity which has ended in the abyss of ruin. 
 The sacred hours of God's holy day must be 
 sacrificed neither to pleasure nor to business. 
 To companions who would allure to this sin 
 let the answer be — " We will not ;" and to 
 employers who would command it, "We 
 cannot do this wickedness and sin against 
 God." "One is our Master." We must 
 keep his charge, and leave consequences in 
 his hands. Let those in like circumstances 
 imitate that man, who, when young, was 
 required by his employer to transact bu- 
 siness on the Lord's day ; upon which he 
 said — " I will come to your place of business 
 at one o'clock on Monday morning, and 
 work till twelve o'clock on Saturday night, 
 but I cannot break the fourth command- 
 ment ; if you insist upon my doing so, you 
 must seek another servant, and I another 
 
HIS ZEAL FOR THE SABBATH. 305 
 
 master." What was the consequence? He 
 was dismissed, and to all appearance thrown 
 out of bread. But what was the sequel? 
 After having tried in vain to find a man less 
 scrupulous — but no less punctual and trust- 
 worthy — than the one whom he had cash- 
 iered, his late employer sent for him again, 
 raised his salary, and placed unlimited con- 
 fidence in him. Since then that individual 
 has thriven, and he now fills a public post of 
 considerable importance and responsibility — 
 thus furnishing one among the many exem- 
 plifications that might be given, that God 
 honors those who honor him by honoring 
 his day. The only appropriate labor on Sun- 
 days is the labor of love. As very many have 
 little time to do aught expressly for God on 
 other days, they ought to be all the more 
 careful to do what they can on the sacred 
 day to set forth his glory, and set forward 
 his truth. "What a noble opportunity for 
 doing good is presented by our Sunday 
 schools ! There, in watering, we may be 
 watered — in teaching, taught — in blessing, 
 blessed. Let it be further remembered, that 
 the work to which the Sabbath is sacred, is 
 the one thing needful — salvation through 
 Christ by the sprinkling of his blood, and 
 
 the renewing of his Spirit. This is the 
 20 
 
306 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 grand end of the Sabbath; this, the grand 
 end of life. O that Christians would awake 
 to the thrilling interest of the occasion, 
 imprint the marks of holiness upon their 
 holy days, that on their death-bed the 
 ghosts of murdered Sabbaths may not haunt 
 them with remorse, nor witness against them 
 at the judgment seat ; but solace the one 
 with sweet remembrances, and witness be- 
 fore the other, that they received not the 
 grace of God in vain. "So shall an entrance 
 be ministered to us abundantly into the rest 
 that remaineth to the people of God." 
 
HIS HOPE WHEN HE HAD DCXfrE ALLL. 307 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 HIS HOPE WHEN HE HAD DONE ALL. 
 
 The bird which soars the highest, builds the 
 lowest nest. Who is there that loves the 
 green fields in the vernal season, but must 
 have watched with interest the joyous lark? 
 Her nest is down in the grass, while her 
 flight is up in the sky. Now she is hidden 
 in the brightness of the sunbeams, and can be 
 traced only by the gushing music she pours 
 from on high — now she drops down again, 
 fleet as the flight of an arrow, into her own 
 secret home on the earth. How apt an 
 emblem of him who is taught effectually by 
 the Spirit of God! The more he is lifted 
 up in communion with heaven, the deeper 
 is his abasement in his own eyes. The 
 more he is enriched with the treasures of 
 grace, the more he abounds in the fruits of 
 holiness — the more will he disclaim all merit 
 of his own, and prostrate himself at the foot 
 of the cross. You may have marked the 
 ears of barley how they grow. When they 
 first appear, and while their grain is light, 
 they lift their heads toward the sky ; but as 
 
308 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 they fill with corn, they bend toward the 
 dust ; and the heavier their freight, the 
 nearer they stoop to the ground. Even so 
 with "the children of the kingdom ;" the 
 holiest are the humblest, those who bear 
 most fruit have least " confidence in the 
 flesh." It was so with the great apostle of 
 the Gentiles. In his earliest stage of faith, 
 he styled himself " not worthy to be called 
 an apostle." In riper maturity of grace, he 
 described himself as " less than the least of 
 all saints." But when he had become such 
 a one as Paul the aged, and was not a whit 
 behind the very chiefest of the apostles — 
 when he had " fought a good fight, and fin- 
 ished his course, and kept the faith" — he 
 spake of himself in yet lowlier style, saying 
 — " Of sinners I am chief." Thus, as he 
 ascended in holiness he descended in humil- 
 ity; the more he was honored of God, the 
 more he abased himself. 
 
 Whenever we become acquainted with a 
 person distinguished by other graces of the 
 Spirit, we should be sorely disappointed, did 
 we not find him adorned with this crown- 
 ing virtue; a grace of which Augustine 
 said, when he was asked, " What is the first 
 thing in religion ?" — " humility." " What 
 the second ? — " humility." " What the 
 
HIS HOPE WHEN HE HAD DONE ALL. 309 
 
 third?" — " humility." A deep humiliation 
 on account of the flesh is wholly consistent 
 with joyful consciousness of the work of 
 the Spirit, in the divine life. Not to recog- 
 nize and acknowledge the Spirit's work in 
 the soul which he is sanctifying, is to grieve 
 the Holy Spirit of God whereby we are 
 sealed unto the day of redemption ; and is 
 only less blind than for the saint to arrogate 
 to himself what he owes to the Comforter. 
 In proportion to the progress of renewal, 
 will be the progress of spiritual sensibility 
 and discernment in the soul; ancl in pro- 
 portion as these are matured will be the per- 
 ception, as of the old man that still hinders 
 and harasses the new man, so also of the 
 new man which is winning the victory over 
 the flesh. The same apostle that said, "This 
 is a faithful saying, and worthy of all accep- 
 tation, that Christ Jesus came into the world 
 to save sinners, of whom I am chief;" said 
 also, " Our rejoicing is this, the testimony of 
 our conscience, that in simplicity and godly 
 sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by 
 the grace of God, we have had our conver- 
 sation in the world, and more abundantly to 
 youward." The two sentiments perfectly 
 harmonized in his breast. He knew that in 
 him (that is, in his flesh,) dwelt no good 
 
310 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 tiling ; and yet lie was equally assured, that 
 by grace lie was what he was, and that the 
 grace given to him had not been in vain. 
 
 It would indeed imply a fatal flaw in the 
 texture of a character — one which would 
 mar the soundness and beauty of the whole 
 — to be wanting in that fundamental grace 
 — an humble, penitential reliance on the 
 mercy of God. To delineate this distinctive 
 trait of the righteous, in order that it may 
 be coveted and copied, is the purpose of 
 this chapter; and that will fitly finish the 
 model which has been here presented for 
 imitation. 
 
 Pride is the parent sin in the universe — it 
 kindled rebellion in heaven; pride is the 
 parent sin in the world — it introduced diso- 
 bedience into Paradise. Angels fell because 
 they "kept not their first estate." Man fell 
 because he desired to be " as God, knowing 
 good and evil." Adam fell, and in him fell 
 the human race. As man fell through pride, 
 he must rise through humility. As he fell 
 by seeking to be as a god, he must rise by 
 learning that he is "a worm, and no man." 
 As he lost his crown by being unwilling to 
 wear it in dependency on his Creator, he re- 
 gains it by becoming lowly enough to wel- 
 come it as altogether the gift of sovereign 
 
HIS HOPE WHEN HE HAD DONE ALL. 311 
 
 grace. One of the chief barriers between 
 man and salvation is the pride of his heart 
 — the fond conceit of his own goodness. 
 However utterly apostate from God, how- 
 ever sinning in everything he does, because 
 in everything coming short of the glory of 
 God — such is the blindness and infatuation 
 of his heart, that he is still bent on saving 
 himself; he would fain pass by the cross on 
 the way to the crown. Almost invariably, 
 whenever men begin to feel any anxiety 
 about their future destiny — whether on a 
 sick-bed, or in sorrow, or when disquieted 
 by conscience — they set to work to be their 
 own saviours. Each has his own scheme for 
 making his peace with God — but whether 
 by repentance, or by amendment, or by 
 restitution — self is the hinge of all. Man 
 must be driven off these foundations of sand ; 
 hunted out of all his " refuges of lies ;" re- 
 duced to a sense of helpless, hopeless, moral 
 bankruptcy; convinced that he cannot so 
 much as think a thought, conceive a motive, 
 or do an act, acceptable to God, till he is in 
 Christ, till he is justified freely through the 
 merits of Christ, and quickened effectually 
 by the spirit of Christ — before he can be 
 constrained to fly for refuge to lay hold 
 upon the hope — the only hope set before a 
 
312 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 sinner. Then, and not till then, will he 
 stoop low enough to enter in at the strait 
 gate, and become meek enough to travel the 
 narrow way. The beginning of wisdom 
 with him is, therefore, to awake to the 
 consciousness that he is spiritually dead, 
 and that the sentence of eternal death is re- 
 corded against him. For apart from Christ 
 — however beautiful his morality, however 
 bright his honor, however unblemished his 
 reputation — though he may be the idol of 
 his circle, and though men may point him 
 out as a pattern of mercantile probity ; — yet 
 must he appear in the sight of God as an 
 unreconciled rebel. The Pharisee who 
 prayed, " God, I thank thee that I am not 
 as other men are" (and whose professions 
 are not denied) returned from the temple 
 unforgiven ; while the publican, who, bowed 
 down with a sense of his sin, durst not so 
 much as lift up his eyes unto heaven, but 
 smote on his breast, saying, "God be mer- 
 ciful unto me a sinner," this man went 
 down to his house justified rather than the 
 other; "for every one that exalteth himself 
 shall be abased, but he that humbleth him- 
 self shall be exalted." Here is the key to 
 acceptance with God. From the depth of 
 despair breaks the dawn of hope. Despair 
 
HIS HOPE WHEN HE HAD DONE ALL. 313 
 
 of self heralds hope in Jesus. The abandon- 
 ment of our own righteousness, prepares us for 
 the reception of "the Lord our righteous- 
 ness." So long as the wrecked sinner trusts to 
 rafts of his own construction, or clings to frag- 
 ments of the wreck, he can find no rest nor 
 safety ; but when loosing his hold of all beside, 
 he grasps the cable stretched out to him by 
 sovereign mercy; or, to change the figure, 
 when he is "apprehended of Christ," and 
 lifted into the life-boat — the ark of salvation 
 — then he may look back on his peril with 
 calmness, and round on the boisterous bil- 
 lows with peace. One so rescued will never 
 fail to own, " I did not make the ark myself 
 — neither did I find it— neither did I enter 
 it, of myself: Jesus provided it ; he brought 
 it nigh to me ; he delivered me out of the 
 deep waters. He laid hold upon me, as he 
 did on Peter when sinking, and " put a new 
 song in my mouth, even praise unto my 
 God." " By the grace of God I am what I 
 am." "I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth 
 in me ; and the life I now live in the flesh, 
 I live by the faith of the Son of God, who 
 loved me, and gave himself for me." 
 
 Be assured, that the more holy a man's 
 spirit becomes, the more sensitive will it be- 
 come ; and the more sensitive his spirit, the 
 
314 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 deeper and livelier will be his sense of sin- 
 fulness. Shut up an individual in a dark 
 apartment, hung round with cobwebs, and 
 defiled with dust, and he will be insensible 
 to its condition ; then admit a little light, 
 and he will begin to suspect its state ; admit 
 more and more, and the clearer the light, 
 the more clearly will he discern the impuri- 
 ties which were hidden before ; yea, though 
 a process of purification may be going on 
 the while, it will seem to him as if the room 
 looked only the more repulsive: not that 
 its defilements are undiminished, but that 
 the light which reveals them is stronger. So 
 when "God, who commanded the light to 
 shine out of darkness, hath shined in the 
 heart" of a sinner, the light imparted makes 
 manifest to him at once the dark secrets of 
 his history, and he discovers in his inner 
 parts things never suspected before; and 
 still, as "the shining light shines more and 
 more," it will disclose to him trespasses 
 more multitudinous, and recesses more 
 black; yet not to drive him to despair, but 
 to shut him up to Christ. Thus it was with 
 Paul : he w T as " alive without the law once ;" 
 conviction came, and all his fond hopes and 
 confidences w T erc slain; but then, out of 
 self-despair, sprang living hope. Dropping 
 
HIS HOPE WHEN HE HAD DONE ALL. 315 
 
 his hold of the rope of sand, he clung 
 to the sheet-anchor, "which entereth into 
 that within the vail." Hearken to his own 
 glowing words, " What things were gain to 
 me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea 
 doubtless, and I count all things but loss for 
 the excellency of the knowledge of Christ 
 Jesus, my Lord : for whom I have suffered 
 the loss of all things, and do count them but 
 dung that I may win Christ, and be found 
 in him, not having mine own righteousness, 
 which is of the law, but that which is through 
 the faith of Christ, the righteousness which 
 is of God by faith." Thus, when the spe- 
 cious structure which he had raised with so 
 much toil and regarded with so much com- 
 placency, was smitten by the hammer of 
 the law, and shivered into atoms, it was 
 that he might be driven to hide and dwell 
 beneath the shadow of the great rock in the 
 weary land. 
 
 The world cannot understand the paradox 
 — that the saint should loathe and condemn 
 himself, as the sinner never loathes and con- 
 demns himself. They suspect that he must 
 be either a fanatic or a deceiver. They 
 know not how the stars of nature's night 
 fade away before the revelation of the Sun 
 of Righteousness. Until sanctified wholly, 
 
316 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 the more we discern liis purity, the more 
 must we discern our own impurity ; the more 
 we behold his majesty, the more must 
 we perceive our vileness. See how it was 
 with the patriarch Job : chafed by contra- 
 diction, shattered by calamities, and writh- 
 ing under a weight of unjust accusation, he 
 for a season spake unadvisedly with his 
 lips ; but mark the effect of the display of 
 the power and greatness of God upon his 
 mind. He said, " Behold, I am vile ; what 
 shall I answer thee ? I will lay my hand 
 upon my mouth. I have heard of thee by 
 the hearing of the ear ; but now mine eye 
 seeth thee : wherefore I abhor myself, and 
 repent in dust and ashes." Yet J ob was not 
 less holy when he thus spake, than when he 
 affirmed his blamelessness, and contended 
 against every charge alleged against him ? 
 Rather, he was more thoroughly refined in 
 the furnace. The depth of his humility was 
 the gauge of his grace : and the more he 
 abhorred himself in the presence of God, 
 the more God delighted in his servant. For 
 " to this man will I look, saith the Lord, 
 even to him that is poor and of a contrite 
 spirit, and trembleth at my word." The 
 lowliest soul is the dearest to God. The man 
 who has most absolutely abandoned all but 
 
 
HIS HOPE WHEN HE HAD DONE ALL, 317 
 
 Christ, is the wisest, the safest, and the hap- 
 piest of men. He is nearest to the spirit of 
 heaven, where the palm and the crown are 
 cast before the throne of the Lamb, and the 
 song of the ransomed which ceaselessly 
 sounds is, " Thou wast slain, and hast re- 
 deemed us by thy blood to God, and hast 
 made us unto our God kings and priests." 
 These are they " that have washed their 
 robes, and made them white in the blood of 
 the Lamb." No less overpowering was the 
 effect of the vision of the Almighty on the 
 spirit of Isaiah the prophet, when he " saw 
 the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and 
 lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 
 Above it stood the seraphim ;— and one 
 cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, 
 holy, is the Lord of hosts : the whole earth 
 is full of his glory. And the posts of the 
 door moved at the voice of him that cried, 
 and the house was filled with smoke." Then 
 said the prophet, " Woe is me ! for I am un- 
 done ; because I am a man of unclean lips, 
 and I dwell in the midst of a people of un- 
 clean lips: for mine eyes have seen the 
 King, the Lord of hosts." Thus was he 
 driven to despair by the terribleness of the 
 majesty of the God of heaven. But he was 
 laid low that he might be exalted. " Then 
 
318 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 flew one of the seraphim unto him, having 
 in his hand a live coal taken from off the 
 altar, which he had taken with the emhleni 
 
 of the atoning sacrifice, that cleanseth from 
 sin : and he laid it upon his mouth, and said, 
 Lo ! this hath touched thy lips, and thine 
 iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged." 
 Thus strengthened — filled at once with hu- 
 mility and confidence — no sooner did he 
 hear the voice of the Lord saying, " "Whom 
 shall I send ? and who will go for us ?" then 
 he said, "Here am I, send me." He was 
 now ready for reproach — or danger — or 
 death, in fulfilling the commission of God. 
 
 In like manner, when Jesus gave Peter a 
 glimpse of his divine glory in the miracu- 
 lous draught of fishes at the sea of Galilee, 
 the apostle, overwhelmed with the con- 
 sciousness of his guilt as seen in that light, 
 fell at Jesus' knees and said, " Depart from 
 'me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." 
 The effulgence which flashed upon him, laid 
 open to him the dark recesses of his heart, 
 as the gleam of lightning discovers the 
 depths of the forest. How interesting and 
 instructive thus to trace the uniformity of 
 effect produced by the self-knowledge which 
 springs from the knowledge of God! As it 
 was with the holy men of old, so has it been 
 
HIS HOPE WHEN HE HAD DONE ALL. 319 
 
 with the holiest and best in after times. 
 The most eminent of them — "the noble 
 army of martyrs" — have been the most dis- 
 tinguished for their lowliness. "There," 
 used the martyr Bradford to say, when he 
 saw a criminal led to the scaffold, " there, but 
 for the grace of God, goes John Bradford." 
 All that is holy in the believer is of the 
 Spirit ; all that is corrupt in him is of the 
 flesh. Hence it is, that last as well as first 
 he glories in Christ Jesus, and has no confi- 
 dence in the flesh ; hence it is, that he looks 
 for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, even un- 
 to eternal life ; hence it is, that when he plants 
 his footsteps on the threshold of heaven, he 
 clings the most absolutely to the mercy of 
 God in Christ, Yes, it is then that all who 
 are taught of God arrive at one point. We 
 have heard of the death-bed scenes of many 
 of the righteous, and with thrilling interest 
 have considered their experience in that 
 most solemn and most searching hour ; and 
 we have found that all, whether babes or 
 fathers in Christ, have alike hung only on 
 the hope of the cross ; while the holiest have 
 ever been the humblest in that last struggle. 
 The language of that beautiful hymn, in 
 which confidence and humility are so ad- 
 mirably united, best expresses the one sen- 
 
320 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 timent of their hearts as it throbs, and 
 flutters, and ceases to beat : — 
 
 " In my hand no price I bring, 
 Simply to thy cross I cling/' 
 
 Yes, however aforetime some of them may 
 have been tempted to look upon themselves 
 with complacency, or to attach importance 
 to their doings or their observances, in that 
 decisive moment, all vanishes from their 
 view but the saving grace of their Saviour. 
 Neither privileges, nor sacraments, nor ob- 
 lations, nor praise of men, nor ecclesiasti- 
 cal distinctions, nor arm of priest or pastor, 
 shares their reliance; but "Christ is all* 
 and in all." Every other anchor drags, 
 every other cable snaps, before the pressure 
 of the tide that sweeps the soul into eternity. 
 One, and only one hope retains its imperish- 
 able moorings — it is the hope set before us 
 in Jesus. This can enable the expiring 
 saint to exclaim, " O death, where is thy 
 sting ? O grave, where is thy victory ? 
 Thanks be to God, which giveth us the vic- 
 tory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 Let us then hear the conclusion of the 
 whole matter. The Christian should abound 
 in all good works ; he should be fruitful in 
 everything that adorns the doctrine of God 
 his Saviour ; an ensample of them that be- 
 
HIS HOPE WHEN PIE HAD DONE ALL. 321 
 
 lieve; doing to others as lie would that 
 others should do unto him. He must con- 
 fess his Master's name, and be jealous of his 
 honor ; and yet after all, and when he has 
 done all, he abandons all as supplying the 
 slightest foundation of confidence ; and with 
 the apostle still protests, " God forbid that I 
 should glory save in the cross of Jesus Christ." 
 He begins with mercy, continues in mercy, 
 and closes w r ith mercy. To pride ourselves 
 in our w T orks is to mar all. The fly is intro- 
 duced into the ointment which will make it 
 unsavory. 
 
 We have thus set before the reader a 
 rough outline of a character to be copied, 
 one every way worthy of his study and imi- 
 tation. It is not the character of a divine or 
 a recluse ; but of one whose occupation is in 
 the midst of the w r orld, of one w T ho has to 
 encounter difficulties, overcome temptations, 
 sustain cares and endure trials, such as are 
 common to men engaged in the active du- 
 ties of life. Let it be his ambition to real- 
 ize that character in himself. Let Christian 
 men of business know their calls to shine as 
 lights in their several spheres in the great 
 mercantile world. It is theirs to irradiate 
 with holiness each one his own peculiar 
 scene of action, whether it be the counting- 
 21 
 
322 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 house or the manufactory, the work- shop 
 or the ware-house. To them the Church 
 must look to furnish to the world a living 
 demonstration that faith establishes the law ; 
 that they who repudiate all confidence in 
 works are the most careful to maintain 
 them. Thus shall they compel those who 
 denounce the principles of professed Chris- 
 tians to admire their practice, and "with 
 w T ell doing put to silence the ignorance of 
 foolish men." The truly evangelical work 
 as though all depended on their working, 
 and yet they trust as knowing that all de- 
 pends on the aids of divine grace. As his 
 first prayer w r as "God be merciful to me a 
 sinner, so will the spirit of his last prayer be 
 the same. At the cross he begins and at the 
 cross he closes his race. In his utmost at- 
 tainments his sole confidence is still, that 
 great as may be his sins, the mercies and 
 merits of Christ are infinitely greater ; and 
 crimson as may be his guilt, his blood 
 washes it white as snow. "Let not the wise 
 man glory in his wisdom, neither let the 
 mighty man glory in his might ; let not the 
 rich man glory in his riches; but he that 
 glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." 
 
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