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NOT SLOTHFUL IN BUSINESS.

ROM. 12: 11.

BY Z.

If the injunction of the Apostle had ceased with the heading of our article, no complaint could be made of the spirit of the present age. So far as diligence in business is concerned, there can be no doubt about the strict and literal obedience of the people of this generation. They are diligent to a fault. Early and late, from year's beginning to year's end, the ceaseless hurry of business is urged onward by all, and he who dares to raise his voice against this endless toil, this wearisome drudgery, is scoffed at as a dunce, or looked upon as a laggard.

To do the heaviest trade, to make the most money, is the measure of a man's character or worth, and he, who fails in this, is too often regarded as without either character or diligence-is marked as slothful.

To attain to this false standard of worth thus raised up by the world, men do not hesitate to use any means within their reach. It is true, that many business men are unexceptionally moral in the eyes of the world. They will not tell you a direct lie, nor will they cheat you in such a manner as to lay themselves open to public censure. In all their dealings with you, they may be honest so far as positive action is concerned, but negatively they will allow themselves to be guilty of the very acts they would spurn, if required to engage in them actively and positively. They will be silent when they should speak, and thus allow you to deceive yourself. They will allow you to engage in a transaction, which they know will result to their advantage and your loss, and never open their mouths to utter a word of warning. This is negative rascality, and the world is full of it. It is not only full of it, but it is excused and justified by the majority of men, upon the ground that every man is bound to look to his own interest, and is not bound to care for or defend that of his neighbor. It is the old cry of the first murderer, "Am I my brother's keeper," set to modern music with modern variations.

We have not started out, however, with the idea of only showing how this injunction of the Apostle is abused and perverted, but also to give what we conceive to be its true meaning and import. In the first place, we state as a truth, that diligence in business is not always crowned with marked or great success. diligence cannot be measured by his increasing wealth. He may be diligent in the fullest sense of the term; he may toil hard and

A man's

earnestly, and yet in the end die poor. His surroundings may be of such a nature, that great or even moderate success is impossible. Unfair competitions may perplex and harass him. Dishonest creditors may defraud him, and many other things may occur to prevent his success, which are not in the least the result of any slothfulness on his part. All that is required of him is to be not slothful, but diligent; or to use another word, faithful in business. Solomon says, "Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men," but almost immediately follows with this injunction, "Labor not to be rich."

Our holy Religion, in treating of this, as of every other subject relating to the duties and work of life, shows to us the true rule and displays perfect wisdom. It is not an abstract something, not a mere code of laws outside of man; but it is a living reality, which entered the world in the person of our blessed Lord, and passes as a life power into the heart of every true believer, making him partaker of that same life and spirit, which dwells in Christ, and which manifested itself in His works of mercy and love to all within his reach, whilst He dwelt amongst men. This new life sanctifies all the desires and passions of men. It does not only turn them in the way of love and worship towards God, as their Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier, but it compels them to regard and practice business, in a different spirit from the unregenerate man of the world.

In the unregenerate man, we have manifested the spirit of selfaggrandizement, the glorification of self above all things else. He lives for himself and for this world, and if in deference to the fashion of the times, he outwardly respects Christianity, and acknowledges Jesus as the Son of God, he has no idea that God in any sense concerns himself about the daily acts of his business life. To him God is something afar off-a great power which made the world and all that it contains, and, having made inan, dropped him on the earth to follow his own inclination and the desires of his own heart for a few short years, and then will take him to an eternity of bliss, if he has not been very bad, and will only send away from the glory of His presence very low criminals. It is impossible, so such an one thinks, that God can take notice of every little act of his daily or business life; it would be beneath His dignity All that He requires is for man to acknowledge Him in a general way, to give his assent to the truths or facts declared in the Bible, and not to be desperately bad or immoral, and in the end He will receive him into heaven.

We have met

We know that this picture is not overdrawn. many such persons in business life, and speak that which we do know. This spirit ignores Christianity. It sinks it to the level of a mere system of laws-a code of morals for the government of man's outward conduct. It denies it as a life, and in fact and in spirit sets aside the necessity of the incarnation, of the sufferings and death of Christ. It is not as good as Judaism; for that looked forward to the coming of the Messiah in the flesh; but this spirit

looks forward to nothing better in the future, but is satisfied with the dry husks of its own morality.

The motive for diligence in business, in such person as we have described, is a purely selfish one. They are diligent, that they may acquire riches. This is the end and aim of all their efforts. Were they certain that at the end of their lives, they would still be poor, could it be proven to them beyond doubt, that their diligence would not lead to wealth, they would soon sink into slothfulness. It is the hope of ultimate success-the almost mathematical certainty of wealth in a given time that prevents them from being slothful; take away this hope and all their diligence would vanish with it.

The Christian business man stands upon different ground, and moves in a different life. He recognizes the right of God to govern and direct him in all his ways. He believes that he is not his own, but that he belongs to his faithful Saviour Jesus Christ, and all his acts, both in and out of business, are ordered to promote His glory. Selfishness has no place properly in his heart. Believing that he is not his own, he cannot labor for his own advantage selfishly, but must so live, that all that he does may ultimately inure to the advantage of the great kingdom, of which he forms a living part. To him, humanity is not a gathering together of separate and independent parts; but an organic whole, into which the leaven of Christianity has come in the person of Jesus Christ, whose power has reached him and transformed him into a new creature. Moving and acting in this new life, no act of his that is prejudicial to the interest or welfare of his fellow man can result in bringing honor or glory to the giver of this life, and he cannot do it without doing violence to his own being. It is no longer philanthrophy, that prompts him to do well by his fellow man-to respect his rights and minister to his wants; but a purer, higher and holier feelingthe power of the new life he has in Christ. Regarding humanity as an organic whole and Christ as the head of the new creation within it, and himself as a living member of this new creation, he does all things for Christ's sake, that praise and glory may flow to

For Him he is diligent in business, because He has enjoined it. Riches or poverty are alike to him, because he knows that nothing comes by chance, but that all things are ordered and directed by the hand and will of Him in whom he lives. For Christ's sake he respects the rights of others because He has commanded that he should do unto others, as he would that others should do unto him. For Christ's sake he relieves the wants of the poor, visits and comforts the sick, and smooths the pillow of the dying.

He makes all things subordinate to the one great object of glorifying in his life and actions day after day the God whom he serves, and who cares for him so much, that without His will not even so much as a hair can fall from his head. It is this new life which has apprehended him, that constrains him to be honest in all his dealings. He will neither lie in words, nor suffer his silence to lie for him. He will not lay a trap to cheat or defraud another, nor will he take advantage of his ignorance or weakness. He cannot

in the very nature of things, be a speculator or gambler-synonomous terms if properly understood-because he will not take that for which he does not render a fair equivalent.

A strange notion prevails at the present day, even among sincere and earnest Christians. It is, that a Christian can scarcely be a successful business man. This idea is equally as false as the one noticed at the beginning of this article, that of measuring the diligence of a man by his success. To suppose that a man cannot be -a consistent Christian and a successful business man, is to doubt the power of God to bestow His gifts wherever he pleases. In the case of His people it is He that maketh rich and maketh poor. He has power over the hearts of men and can turn them as He will, and by this same power, He can give trade and prosperity to any of His children, whom it may please Him so to bless. That all Christian business men do not get wealth, is no argument against this truth; because there are but few indeed to whom riches are a blessing. Very few after God has given them riches, have grace enough to use them for His glory and the advancement of His kingdom, and their riches only in that case become to them a snare and a trap to lead them to destruction. Thus it is always in mercy, that riches are withheld from earnest, faithful Christians, who fail to secure wealth, although faithful and diligent in business; but this is far from proving that it is impossible for a Christian to be a successful business man. It only proves, that it is not in accordance with the merciful designs of his Heavenly Father to make him rich; but if he has been diligent in the position in which he was placed, his reward will be none the less because he has not succeeded in laying up treasures on earth. Diligence in business for the Christian (and the Holy Scriptures are not addressed, in this sense, to any body else), does not consist, merely in growing rich, or in acquiring a name for smartness or shrewdness among men. It is being earnest and faithful in whatever place or position is allotted you, and in endeavoring as "much as in you lieth," to make it work in every sense for the glory of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

THE BABY WALKS, THE BABY WALKS.

Joy fills the house; the baby stands

Alone upon her feet.

With quivering lip, she lifts her little hands,

And wonderingly doth gaze into her mother's face;

Thus timidly she starts upon life's fitful race.

How many hopes, how many fears,

How many smiles, how many tears,

Hang o'er her dangerous walk through coming years!
Almighty God! to Thee the child is given;

Guide home her weary steps at last to heaven.

THE PHEBE FAMILY.

THIRD ARTICLE.

BY THE EDITOR.

The ancestoral Phebe was an eminent and prominent Christian, and member of the Church. "A servant of the church which is at Cenchrea." The original word for "servant" is diakonon, which means a deaconess. This was an office in the primitive church held by females, corresponding with the office of Deacon as still filled by men. The Deaconesses were ordained to their office by the laying on of hands. The prayer used in that service is still extant, and may be seen in the Apostolic Constitutions. The office of Deaconess continued in the Latin Church down to the 11th century, and in the Greek till the 12th century. It is a great pity that it was ever lost; and the late endeavor to revive and restore it, made in the Church both in Europe and America, is worthy of all commendation.

The Deaconesses attended to female candidates for Baptism; instructed female catechumens; visited females that were sick, or prisoners, administering to them the instructions and consolations of the Gospel. It was their duty to seek such access to the female portion of the Church and the world around, in instances of misfortune and distress, as only their own sex could find and relieve, without affording occasion for scandal among the enemies of Christianity. They were hence chosen from among those more advanced in life, such as had attained the age of forty to sixty, and most generally of the class of widows; and in any case only the most sober, pious, and experienced were admitted to the office. The deaconesses were, in short, the spiritual mothers of the Church, whose maternal and cheering influences reached many humble and cheerless abodes of poverty and sorrow, carrying to depressed hearts those consolations which Christianity alone can bestow.

To such an office had Phebe attained. In such confidence did she stand. For such a sphere of labor and usefulness did her Christian character and spirit fit her.

Nor did she merely hold this office. She also performed its duties. "She hath been a succorer of many, and of me also." A succorer of many! We need only take the hint that lies in this single word "many," and permit our imagination to fellow her in those unwearied ministrations by which she reached and succored them, to get some idea of her labors and usefulness! In the neglected portions of the city we may find her, entering the dwellings of the poor and ignorant, with a heart full of sympathy, and

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