* Joseph Parker, Well Begun, 69.
ROMANS XII. II (AV) 253
God's blessing on him as a faithful servant. He may never have thought of God from beginning to end ; but what he has done is in full accord with the Divine mind and plan. N'ay ! the man who spends his working day in merely baking bread, or in laying one brick upon another, or in paving streets, is doing part of the world's needed work, and is ofiering daily Divine service ; for God wants men fed, and houses built, and streets made ; and thus the humblest toiler — at forge or loom, in the shop or in the street — may lift up his head and say, " I also am a servant of the Great Master — a subject of the Universal Lord and King." ^
^ I do not see how it consists with the temper of Christianity that any Christian should busy himself and spend his days for what is undisguisedly and exclusively a selfish result. The business of every Christian in this world is really not to serve himself only, but to serve his generation and his God. In every other calling he is bound to do that, and, in proportion as his Christian motives animate him, he actually does it. Why not in trade and commerce ? Work is dignified to all of us workers only when we can feel that what we are doing has some worth or value to society besides the pay it brings to the workers. Is business any fair exception to that rule ? Does the merchant serve no public advantage ? Is his not a ministry by which the world benefits ? Most assui'edly it is. The banker, the trader, the commission merchant, the stockbroker are useful because they either facilitate production itself or else they assist those great carrying agencies by which earth's productions become available to all the earth's scattered populations. You cannot justify the existence of any human industry except on the broad ground of its utility. Then I ask you this: Is it not a nobler and more Christian spirit which keeps the utiKty of one's work in view and feels itself to be the minister of the needs of society than is the sordid temper which is perpetually thinking of nothing but its pay ? For, of course, from this point of view, the profits of business are simply pay, simply that which accrues to every honest and useful occupation, whatever form it may take, of salary, or interest on capital, or profit drawn from extended labour and increased value of commodity. A trader's gain is his wage, and his moral right to it rests ultimately on the fact that he is a useful member of society, that he ministers in a way of his own to the common weaL^
3. It is a discipline of character. — If rightly and wisely con- ducted there is no better discipline for the formation of character
^ J. P. Hopp3. » J. Oswald Dykes.
254 BUSINESS
than business. It teaches in its own way the peculiar value of regard for others' interests, of spotless inte,Q;rity, of unimpeachable righteousness ; and the busy activities of life, considered in them- selves, are good and not evil. They are a part of God's great work, and are as much His appointment as the services of praise and prayer. I think we all need to be reminded of the dignity and sacredness of a worthy everyday life. God's Kingdom in- cludes more than the services of the sanctuary. The court-house is His temple too, and so is the chamber of commerce. It is just as holy a thing to work as it is to pray ; and the distribution of commerce, the helpfulness of trade, the feeding and sheltering of those belonging to us, and all the honourable ministries in which a high-minded business man engages are just as truly a part of God's service, if men could see and feel them to be so, as is the function of the preacher. But then, as St. Paul never failed to teach, these things are means, not an end. Their value lies not in themselves, but in the discipline, the character, the power which they give to do higher things.
^ Alexander T. Stewart, of New York, was probably the greatest merchant of his time. He built up his vast fortune by concentration of purpose, and by exercising the qualities of the born " man." He began life as a school-assistant, but soon saw greater possibilities in storekeeping. Without hesitation he made the change which some might have thought a step down the ladder. For years his working hours were from fourteen to eighteen per day. He carried out on his own shoulders the goods he sold, and thus saved the wages of a porter. The store speedily expanded. In course of time his industry, zeal, and capable perseverance made him a millionaire. Integrity of morals is very often a chief factor in preparing any prosperity that deserves the name. Stewart had in his establishment the fixed trading principle, " Honesty between buyer and seller." He was materially helped by the popular knowledge of the fact.^
(1) God intended business life to be a school of energy. He has started us in the world, giving us a certain amount of raw material out of which we are to hew our own character. Every faculty needs to be reset, sharpened. And when a man for ten, or fifteen, or twenty, or thirty years has been going through business activities, his energy can scale any height, can sound * "W". J. Lacey, Masters of To-morrow, 16.