1888 



GtEANINGS IN BEIE CULTUBE. 



581 



paying them. They had made so many 

 trips for It tliat tliey got disgusted, and de- 

 clared that they would not bother any more 

 about it. A tew days ago this woman mov- 

 ed away from town, and the crock of butter 

 is not settled for yet, and probably never 

 will be. What a record for a Christian ! 

 Think of the disgrace and dishonor that it 

 brings on the name of Christ Jesus ! O my 

 friends, as you value your peace of mind — 

 as you value your liupe of heaven, do not go 

 through life dragging such loads as this 

 poor woman must drag. I told you of the 

 new source of happiness I had found with- 

 in the past few days in giving peoi)le their 

 hard-earned money, even a little before they 

 expected it. Well, now, if you want to try 

 the contrary way, just do as that woman 

 did about the butter, and see if it does not 

 bring more gloom, doubt, and despondency 

 to your mind than any thing else. If you 

 wayit to \)% unhappy , ]\x?,t set about shirking 

 your just debts. If, however, you want 

 some real genuine enjoyment — if you want 

 to taste of the peace that Jesus alone can 

 give, start out this very vamwte^ fixing up if 

 not settling up these debts you owe your 

 neighbors. Money is a grand good thing to 

 start out with ; but it is better to start out 

 without it than not to start out at all. Go 

 and speak to these friends who have ac- 

 commodated you ; tell them you have not 

 forgotten their kind indulgence, and tell 

 them, too, that you will pay interest for the 

 trouble you have made, and then see that 

 you do it. 



Perhaps you say, "Oh ! yes, Mr. Root, 

 this is all very well and very nice when one 

 has plenty of money to do good with, as you 

 liave. Wlio would not enjoy itV 



And now, dear friends, this brings us to 

 tlie most interesting and to me the grandest 

 part of this whole matter. The best way in 

 the world to liave money— yes, and to liave 

 it in plenty — is to follow strictly the Bible 

 text at the head of our talk. To do this you 

 must not buy heedlessly nor unwisely. Let 

 both your purcliases and your proniises be 

 few — that is, until you have the wlierewith 

 to work on a larger scale. You know the 

 promise I have so often repeated to those 

 who are faithful in few things. 



Suppose one should start out in business, 

 not to make money, but to make people hap- 

 py . Now, like other matters that I have 

 talked to you about in these pages, you 

 must use good sound judgment and com- 

 mon sense— sanctified common sense is a 

 word I like. While paying our debts 

 promptly, and paying our just dues prompt- 

 ly, in the way I have indicated above, makes 

 people happy, it does not make them happy 

 to give them money they have not eained ; 

 nor does it make people happy to give them 

 a bigger price for things than you can afford. 

 I might have pleased my young friend who 

 raised the potatoes, by giving him more 

 money for the potatoes than I could sell 

 them for ; but it would not have been a ra- 

 tional proceeding. What I mean by doing 

 business for the purpose of making people 

 happy, is that yon shall .do business in a 

 business-like way, and yet have your sole 

 end and aim in life to give happiness ; to 



honor and glorify Christ Jesus, rather than 

 to make money. The best illustrations 1 

 can pick for any point I wish to enforce is 

 personal experience. Yet I know some peo- 

 ple wlio do not understand me very well 

 may think I am boasting when I speak of 

 my own personal experience. Well, you 

 know 1 am much given to hobbies ; and 

 since the time of my conversion, one of my 

 liobbies has l)een, as I have often told you, 

 to help my neighbcirs by giving them work, 

 and paying them promptly every Saturday 

 night. I think I am not mistaken when! 

 say that my love of business, after I started 

 out to follow tlie Savior, was not because of 

 the money that was to be made, but rather 

 because of the happiness it brought in doing 

 good in the way I have told you to-day. I 

 started out i)aying cash down for every 

 thing, because 1 felt that it honored Christ 

 Jesus by so doing; for, you know, I have 

 pretty vehemently advocated Christ Jesus. 

 If my daily transactions in business are not 

 such as commend themselves to my fellow- 

 men, I should not be honoring my profes- 

 sion. I try, in my humble way, to honor 

 the Savior, and he has seen fit to honor me. 

 Even at tliis comparatively dull season of 

 tlie year it is my pleasure and privilege to 

 pay my helpers alone over one hundred 

 dollars a day, and perhaps another hundred 

 is sent in different ways to different neigh- 

 bors scattered far and wide, each working- 

 day in the year. One thing that worries 

 and troubles me, however, in this matter is, 

 that I rarely find people for helpers who 

 love to pay money when it is due, as I do. 

 The book-keepers, and clerks who bring mer- 

 chandise from the trains, set m slow to get 

 hold of my wishes in this respt ct. Barrels 

 and boxes of wax come to us from friends 

 far away; and while I should like to have 

 them have their pay by the very fiist mail 

 after the wax is unloaded, there seem to be a 

 good many hitches in having it done. Some- 

 times I have to write apologies, because, by 

 somebody's neglect, the monev lias not been 

 handed over, even when it lay idle in the 

 bank, doing nobody any good. Do you want 

 a little further explanation in regard to this 

 money that lies idle in the bank a great 

 part of the year, dear friends? Well, I am 

 glad to give it. Wliile I honor the Savior in 

 the way I have indicated, he honors me by 

 saying, '' Here, child, take money and use 

 it. Take all you want; (Uily be sure that 

 the inmost purpose in your heart is to honor 

 me, and it shall come.'' I mean by this, 

 that, so long as I am trying to bring people 

 to Christ by the use of money, the money 

 comes of itself, i do not have to worry 

 about that. I do not mean that it is always 

 ahead, by any means, for the greater part of 

 every year we are paying interest on borrow- 

 ed money. The money is, however, usually 

 loaned to us by people who are glad to have 

 us take it ; and when it comes time to pay 

 them the interest, I enjoy paying interest 

 just the same as I enjoyed paying the man 

 for potatoes. So you see tliat, even in bor- 

 roiciiig money I have happiness and enjoy- 

 ment. A good many times there are peo])le 

 in my employ who have, by hard work and 

 careful saving, got a little ahead. When we 



