CHRISTIANITY AND COMMERCE.

AFTER having lived so long under the influences of a degrading Paganism, or a lamentably corrupt form of Judaistic religion, the early disciples of Christianity must have felt considerable difficulty in attempting to solve certain social problems, which would suggest themselves to earnest and reflective minds. One of these gordian knots, which many a priest and philosopher had failed to untie, was this;-the relation existing between things moral and things mercantile. We can well imagine a neophyte in revealed truths proposing questions like the following:-"May I continue in my present occupation, or is it incompatible with fealty to God? Year by year I have obtained my own livelihood, and that of those near me by a certain kind of handicraft: am I to maintain the same course, or is it to be abandoned as displeasing in the Master's sight?" Faithful to the honourable yet responsible charge laid upon them, the men who were divinely inspired that they might rightly direct the movements of the Church, were not slow to answer and even anticipate such inquiries. Writing to the Corinthians, Paul meets any difficulty which might exist by saying, "Let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God." The obvious meaning of the Apostle's injunction, we take to be this;-"You have no need to forsake your wonted occupations. Adhere to them. At the same time, they must be associated with piety. Continue in your various spheres of secular industry, but let it be with God -with a consciousness of His approbation-an approbation resulting from your having conducted yourselves as godly men ought to do in their worldly transactions." Such is the general rule upon which he advises them to act. Of course there were exceptions. To the Christian who had been accustomed to obtain his livelihood by the gladiatorial combat, or by offices which he sustained in a heathen temple, he would never say, "therein abide." But as a broad, general principle he affirmed that commercial pursuits were not to be regarded as necessarily hostile to vital religion and therefore need not be relinquished.

This, like many other valuable truths, is, however, in danger of being ignored. It is frequently practically denied, and sometimes theoretically. Why this is the case we do not stay to ask. Perhaps "the wish is father to the thought:" a wrong state of heart is productive of a wrong creed, and vice versa. Whether it is so in the present instance, our readers must judge our object is to listen to the objections made to the principle, and to offer some suggestions by way of reply. When maintaining the possibility of a man's developing his moral and spiritual powers in the scene of work, as well as in that of worship, we are not seldom met with a strain of remark to the following effect: "We can hardly agree with you when you state that the shop in common with the sanctuary, may be made a means of grace. There are some occupations which really do appear conducive to the production of godly emotions and thoughts, but they are not the occupations of tradesmen and merchants. Indeed, one can hardly conceive of a greater contrast than that which obtains between the employments of the christian philosopher and theologian on the one hand, and those of the christian men of business on the other. Look at the christian philosopher. Are not the themes of his investigation eminently calculated to promote his spiritual well-being? As he surveys

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the human frame, so wonderfully and graciously constructed, or the mind of man, with its almost God-like powers, the star-studded heavens in their nightly glory, or the sun-lit earth smiling in plenty and singing with joy, how can he feel otherwise than more humble in view of all this magnificence, and more devout in view of all this goodness? Look, too, at the theologian. His is a nobler and wider field of inquiry. His is the queen of sciences, the crown of knowledge. Redemption and creation, nature and revelation, alike range themselves under the sphere of his researches. Undoubtedly his occupation tends to develop personal religion. While he thinks upon the vast wisdom which proportioned the development of truth to the capacities of men in different ages of the world's history, the infinite love which endured the agony of Gethsemane, and the shame of Golgotha on our behalf, and the matchless power which strikes from the hands of enslaved humanity the trammels of sin-his soul must swell with new gratitude for the past, and holier resolve for the future. But how different from this is the position of the christian tradesman. Instead of the quiet of the laboratory, or the silence of the study, he has the din of the warehouse, shop, or wharf. What is there to elevate in the sale-room, the factory, or the counting-house? Is buying and selling likely to make him a better man? Is casting up accounts, driving bargains, and examining the quality of goods calculated to increase devout and upright purposes? Surely not." Plausible as this reasoning may appear, we think it will not stand the test of a rigid inspection in the light of reason and revelation. We shall now endeavour briefly to show this, but before we advert pointedly and directly to the objection which we have just supposed, we invite the attention of our readers to two or three considerations in proof of the general principle that religion and business are not necessarily incompatible.

It will be admitted by all that labour is a divine institution. Unfallen man was placed in Eden's garden not to be idle, but for activity. It was expected of him that he should "dress and keep it." Fallen man is not meant for sloth: the fact that he has hands and head is an evidence that he was meant for physical or mental toil. We advance a step yet further, and venture to affirm that commerce, like work, is a divine ordinance. Any disposition of mind which is co-extensive with humanity, must partake of the nature of an instinct, and what is instinctive is divine. Tell us of a nation, barbaric or civilized, remote or near, which is destitute of trade? Give us the name of that land, whose inhabitants are strangers to a bartering propensity? It cannot be done. Men everywhere know something of trade, both in theory and practice, therefore trade is an innate principle of their nature-an idea inbred in their very being by God. Moreover, here-as elsewhere-the God of Nature is the God of Providence also; the works of the Supreme Being in one sphere exactly accord with His works in another. Not merely as Creator has He made commerce an instinct of our nature, but as Providence He has made it a necessity. We cannot exist in comfort and security without it. The provisions essential to our entire well-being are not all to be found in the land in which we live. Fully to secure our physical and social happiness we require animal, vegetable, and mineral productions, which are to be obtained only in other climes. Hence the necessity of trade. From these two facts, we conclude that commerce is of more than earthly origin, that it is a

divine ordinance. In view of this conclusion, we ask, would a God of infinite rectitude and beneficence make business an intuition and a necessity, if it was essentially opposed to the culture of those emotions and the doing of those actions which he enjoins upon us as our duty? Perish the thought!

Glance at the subject in another aspect. The poet frequently declares that there is more than one end contemplated by God in nature. She ministers to our physical wants as the most idle observer may see. Is this all? No she also ministers to our æsthetic faculty. She meets the demands of our bodies, and has also abundance wherewith to satisfy our love of the beautiful. In the works of creation there is grace and elegance alongside utility. There is a delicate bloom on the fruit. The fields of corn are not more nourishing than picturesque when they roll to and fro like the restless sea. The rivulet not only quenches his thirst but ripples soothing music to the weary traveller who bends his hot brow over its surface.

"All things have something more than barren use;

There is a scent upon the brier,

A tremulous splendour in the autumn dews,
Cold snows are fringed with fire.

The clodded earth goes up in sweet-breathed flowers;
In music dies poor human speech,

And into beauty blow these hearts of ours,

When love is born in each."

The divine and the moralist say as much of the social world. According to them there is a grand final end in whatever takes place. There is a design contemplated by the great disposer of events in all our experience. The varying incidents common to us, the heavy cloud of sorrow, the laughing morning of prosperity, the resistless storm of bereavement,-these do not exist for themselves alone; there is an object which God seeks to accomplish through their medium. The end is-our spiritual welfare. Life is a school, a battle, a gymnasium. Our fortunes and misfortunes, losses and gains, are to discipline us in righteousness, patience, and beneficence. Now if we do not scruple to admit this with respect to the general events of life, why should we refuse to grant it in reference to each particular incident? If it be true that the occurrences of the domestic circle are intended to school us in godliness, why should it not be equally true that the affairs of business have the same end in view? Yet so inconsistent are some, that while they will see in a bereavement, or in the formation of a new friendship, something adapted to strengthen their patience and fidelity, they profess not to be able to find in commercial successes and failures a stimulus to their better nature.

Commending the above thoughts to the attention of those who question whether religion and business can be combined, we now take another and brief view of the subject, and one which bears more directly on the objections mentioned in the course of previous remarks. It is asked whether the christian merchant is not placed in a more disadvantageous position than the christian philosopher or theologian? We do not hesitate to reply in the negative. Let it be granted that the occupations of the former afford a finer scope for thought than those of the latter; what of that? Is the understanding of a grand truth, or the comprehension

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of a noble idea the thing of chief importance? desideratum is to act out truth and to embody great thoughts. This is "the one thing needful." Of what avail is the most accurate acquaintance with the doctrines of revelation if that acquaintance does not lead to practice? Verily, it profiteth nothing. Now, it is in the transactions of commerce that the widest sphere is afforded in which to convert creed into custom. Do you believe that we ought to "speak truth every man with his neighbours," and "do unto others as we would they should do unto us?" If so, you cannot find a better place for the embodiment of these ethics than the store and the market-place. Moreover, conditioned as we now are, opposition and trial seem essential to a strong, vigorous, enduring piety. Place a plant in a hot-house: what will be the result? It will grow very fast: it will send forth its roots and branches with great rapidity. But will it be strong and healthful? Not in the strictest sense of the terms. Let it remain in the open air, exposed to the vicissitudes of cold and heat, rain and drought, and although its growth may not be so rapid as if reared by artificial means, it will acquire far greater strength. It is thus in the moral world. The man who secludes himself from his fellows, and avoids the secular occupations of life, may grow in sentimental piety, but not in spiritual force: he will have no great power of resistance and endurance. But he who having armed himself with divine thoughts and ideas, enters the arena of mercantile competition, and braves every temptation, will find himself day by day a morally stronger man. Goodness untried does not merit the name of virtue. Before the ore is pure it must be subjected to intense heat. Keep the silver of piety aloof from the crucible of temptation, and it will still be amalgamated with sin. "Perfect, through suffering" is the plan of Christianity.

One other thought, and then we have done. Commerce affords a fine medium for the importation of christian thought and principle. The shop and warehouse are localities in which there is a continual exchange of opinion and feeling. Buyer and seller, master and servant, incidentally discuss questions which do not directly relate to merchandise and its barter. Who does not see that the disciple of Christ has thus a means of spreading the truths and influences of his Master and Teacher? Let not our meaning be misconstrued. We are no advocates for the use of what may be fitly termed religious slang, neither do we think that there is either utility or dignity in the adoption of those sanctimonious gestures, which Pharisees in every age of the world delight to display. Nor do we believe that intermixing conversation with quotations from secondrate hymns, and disfiguring our discourse by little pietisms, is calculated to do good. There is a more excellent way. Live near the infinite Father, and then, as the natural result of so doing, your words and works will be pure and devout. When Moses descended from the mount in which he had held communion with God, the people saw that his face was bright and shining. So if we dwell much with the source of moral beauty, we shall receive somewhat of His glory, and men will not fail to mark and admire the lustre of our character which is our spiritual countenance. If, respected reader, you are engaged in business, go to the scene of com. merce with brave heart and resolute will. Go, not as a slave, but as a free man in Christ. Go to it believing that it need not be, what it too often is, the mouth of perdition, but that it may be the gate of heaven. Go to it as to an arena in which you shall show the might of godliness by

fighting right manfully against self and wrong. Go to it that principle may be perfected and truth tested, for although by trial hypocrisy is unmasked, by trial also are the weak made strong. T. R. S. Ilkeston.

THE EXHAUSTLESS FULNESS.

"IT pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell;" dwell, not come and go, like a wayfaring man who tarrieth but a night, who is with us to-day, and away to-morrow; not like the shallow, noisy, treacherous brook that fails, when most needed, in heat of summer; but like this deepseated spring, that rising silently though affluently at the mountain's foot, and having unseen communication with its exhaustless supplies, is ever flowing over its grassy margin, equally unaffected by the long droughts that dry the wells, and the frosts that pave the neighbouring lake with ice. So fail the joys of earth; so flow, supplied by the fulness that is in Christ, the pleasures and the peace of piety. It cannot be otherwise, "If a man love me," says Jesus, "he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him "

I have read how, in the burning desert, the skeletons of unhappy travellers, all withered and white, are found, not only on the way to the fountain, but lying grim and ghastly on its banks, with their skulls stretched over its very margin. Panting, faint, their tongue cleaving to the roof of their mouth, ready to fill a cup with gold for its fill of water, they press on to the well, steering their course by the tall palms that stand full of hope above the glaring sands. Already, in fond anticipations, they drink where others had been saved. They reach it. Alas! sad sight for the dim eyes of fainting men,the well is dry. With stony horror in their looks, how they gaze into the empty basin, or fight with man and beast for some muddy drops that but exasperate their thirst! The desert reels around them. Hope expires. Some cursing, some praying, they sink, and themselves expire. And by-and-bye the sky darkens, lightenings flash, loud thunders roll, the rain pours down; and, fed by the showers, the treacherous waters rise to play in mockery with long fair tresses, and kiss the pale lips of death.

But yonder, where the cross stands up high to mark the fountain of the Saviour's blood, and Heaven's sanctifying grace, no dead souls lie. Once a Golgotha, Calvary has ceased to be a place of skulls. Where men went once to die, they go now to live; and to none that ever went there to seek pardon, and peace, and holiness, did God ever say, "Seek ye me in vain." There are times when the peace of God's people, always like a river, is like one in flood, overflowing its margin, and rolling its mighty current between bank and brae. There are times when the righteousness of God's people, always like the waves of the sea, seems like the tide at the stream, as, swelling beyond its ordinary bounds, it floats the boats and ships that lie highest, driest on the beach. But at all times and seasons, faith and prayer find fulness of mercy to pardon, and of grace to sanctify, in Jesus Christ. The supply is inexhaustible.

Mountains have been exhausted of their gold, mines of their diamonds, and the depths of ocean of their pearly gems. The demand has emptied