A SERMON ON COMMERCE.

By the President of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce.

THE position which our commercial leaders have taken in the modern world seems to be open to two principal remarks. In the first place they have, it must be admitted, done great good in the exercise of their calling, but this they have done too frequently without any conscious design, and the good therefore has followed as a necessary result of the place they have occupied, and not by a deliberately formed purpose which they have ever set before themselves in their own thoughts. In the next place, apart from their business life, they have made a noble use of the wealth and power they have acquired. They have applied themselves, and in this case consciously, to the encouragement of arts, of science, of literature, and religion.

But all this has been no part of their business, and has been done by them, therefore, not as merchants but as citizens. Our great merchants and manufacturers are in possession, as such, of public trusts of incalculable importance, and they may find the fullest scope for their energies and ambition in the endeavour to discharge them efficiently. It is their office to supply, through the medium of wages, a maintenance to the hundreds and thousands who are dependent on them, and to give them the means not only of living, but of living worthily and well. Let them set this, therefore, before them as the duty they are called upon to discharge, and not be content with the mere fact that whether they will or no, they already in some degree discharge it; nor let them excuse their omission by the plea that they do good in some other way which less properly belongs to them.

There has been in England a general tendency to regard commerce and commercial pursuits too exclusively as a means, and not always as a means to the right end. This tendency has prevailed almost equally among the friends and enemies of commerce. The latter have always represented commerce as a mere means of money-making; the former have too frequently contented themselves with replying that the money gained is often put to noble uses. But of the many aims which commercial men have had and have, some undoubtedly are far more worthy than others—though it is a very different thing to amass money for its own sake, and to amass it for the purpose of encouraging art, of furthering happiness, even of rendering possible a refined and civilized luxury-it is still evident in all these cases that commerce is not regarded as something in itself worthy to occupy the attention and to shape and determine even the unselfish purposes of those who are engaged in it. So to use one's own trade or commercial pursuit as Perthes used his-as to be in virtue of its exercise a benefactor to the State and a good citizen-is an object which has been very seldom clearly and distinctly kept in view, and which has been therefore but accidentally, as it were, and partially attained.

The result of this want of distinct and conscious aim is that we have been too much given in commerce to observing the measure of sufficiency rather than the measure of excellence. Just as it is the painter's business to make the portraits as good as possible, and to keep the rest of his picture subservient to these, so, too, must merchants and manufacturers, if they are to play their part worthily, propose to themselves to do their business in the best manner possible, and to perform their part in the relation of the individual to the State, not as patrons of art merely, not as donors of charities, not even as members of Parliament, or members of municipalities, but each in his own vocation and speciality as commercial men. They have before them a sufficiently honourable task, and if they were only sensible of its nature they would feel no need to look outside it for the exercise of their benevolence and patriotism. The lives and comforts of vast numbers of their fellow-men depend absolutely upon the right discharge of the great duties of their position. They are in truth the captains of an industrial movement which has taken the place of the warlike energy of our forefathers, and which, while it is infinitely more useful, is assuredly not one whit less honourable.

A word as to the means by which this new position may be taken. Whatever is sold or manufactured must be not merely of apparently sufficient goodness—it must be really fit for the purpose for which it is intended. Every operation performed-every piece of business transacted-must have regard to something more than mere profit. Those who are concerned in it must not for any moment forget their duties as citizens, and must even, at an occasional sacrifice to themselves, be constantly zealous and forward in discharging them; and while we use the utmost diligence to encourage this habit of mind in ourselves, let us never forget that one of the main duties of our position is to encourage it likewise in those whom we employ.

This point has been overlooked in many of the disquisitions on the relations between employers and employed which we have heard in late years. What may be called the patriarchal relation, according to which the employer is bound to look after the comfort and morals and intelligence of the employed, is perhaps neither absolutely impossible nor absolutely unnecessary. The ideal of a mercantile or manufacturing business is an association of individuals formed for producing some necessary and useful result. To this result the various parties will each in their own way contribute. The master will both feed those who are acting under him, and furnish them with the machinery they require; and he will supply them with intelligence, which will assist them by directing their efforts to the best attainment of their common purpose. It is the workman's part to recognise the service which his employer renders him—a service without which his own unaided efforts would be indeed inconsiderable and powerless. In all this, and by both parties concerned in it, there are two ends which may be aimed at and attained- —a higher and a lower end, not necessarily incompatible with one another. There is the public service rendered to the community at large, and there is the profit to the individual who renders it. The higher end ennobles, and as it were sanctifies the lower; but we must look to the lower to supply the force and energy which are needed before the work can be undertaken. It is impossible, therefore, that the lower end can be wholly put out of sight. Both are in fact indispensable. Without the former the work will not be done as it ought to be; without the latter it will not be done at all. But none the less must the lower and more personal object be kept within bounds, and not be suffered to usurp a place which does not properly belong to it. Unselfish work, in which the individual surrenders himself wholly to the service of others, with no other motive than the satisfaction which the performance of a high duty carries with it—this may be an ideal, perhaps, but in actual life, and as a general rule, it is simply and absolutely unattainable. But that even a very imperfect approach to it would be a great and essential service to all parties concerned, and that approaches more or less perfect are possible, seem to be positions which it would be difficult indeed to dispute. To put commerce in its right (because its proper and peculiar) position—to animate every one of those who in humble or higher place are its professed ministers with such a spirit that each should pursue his own work with all his might, as a means to an end not wholly selfish-to ensure general recognition of the fact that commerce is a branch, and no mean branch of politics, and that by simply attending to it a commercial man may, and cannot so well in any other way discharge his duty to the State; these are objects I would recommend to others, as I have humbly tried to recognise and forward them.

RICHARD JOHNSON.

SECOND EDITION.-NOW READY.

PORTRAIT OF DAN TAYLOR. See General Baptist Almanack. 1876.

WHAT GENERAL BAPTISTS BELIEVE. See General Baptist Almanack.

MISTAKES CONCERNING GENERAL BAPTISTS. See General Baptist Almanack.
For List of GENERAL BAPTIST LOCAL PREACHERS, with their addresses, see
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MOST of you have parents, brothers, and sisters; and all of you are sure to know many people with whom you often talk. Have you ever noticed how different they are? Some young, with bright rosy faces and laughing eyes; and some old, with grey hair and wrinkled foreheads: one, perhaps, very poor, scarcely able to get bread for himself or his loved ones; and another with a purse that you can see has always got some money in it: one like "Uncle John," who knows so much, and is always able to answer every question you put to him; and another like little cousin Tommy, who scarcely knows his A B C. Yes; how different they all are; and yet, in one respect, they are all alike-they are all pilgrims.

You have heard of pilgrims; they are travellers who go on a journey, and who start from one place to find another. Every step takes them nearer the end of their way. They must not loiter on the road. They dare not stay for a week in one town, or a month in another, or they would cease to be pilgrims; on they must go till they reach the city or the holy place whither they are bound. And you and I are pilgrims. We are going on a journey-a journey through earth to another country. We start at the cradle, and we walk straight on to the grave. We cannot stop if we would. Every day takes us nearer and nearer to the end of the way. We must go on. God has not asked us whether we will be pilgrims or not. But what he does ask is, "Which way will you go? You may choose which way you will; the broad or the narrow; that of the just or that of the wiched."

It will not do to say that you hope to get to heaven, unless you choose the way to it. If you want to go to Edinburgh, it would not do to start from London by the first path you found, without asking the way. If you did, every step might take you further away from it. Find the right way, and then start. And you must choose the way to heaven, before you can hope to get there. Jesus is that way. You must choose Him to teach and guide you home.

It was a cold winter's morning, and the snow was drifting into the faces of two travellers crossing a long bleak moor. Sometimes they were talking and laughing, and sometimes sad; and now and then they ate and drank of the provisions they had brought with them. A messenger comes across their way, and says, "Do you know where you are going? On the other side the moor the path you are taking leads to a wilderness, where there are wild beasts, and no house to shelter in, and no friends to help. If once the darkness sets in upon you there, you must be lost; no one ever escaped alive from that dark wilderness. Come with me up this way. Don't you see the palace yonder? The king who lives there sends me to tell you you are welcome there. Will you come ?" But they said one to another, "We are getting on very comfortably; plenty to eat and to drink, and our companionship is pleasant. Let us go on as we are.' Afterwards a second messenger from the king accosted them. "Surely you will not foolishly throw your lives away. You are wandering in the broad way that leads to certain death. Will you not turn now into this narrow way that leads up to the king's palace ?" And one said to the other, "I think I will. I do not like the path we have been going. I cannot see the end of it. It looks black this side of the moor, and the palace looks pleasant and safe. I will start for it." The other tried to dissuade him, but in vain. One went with the messenger into the narrow way, upward and onward; and at evening time he reached the palace gates, and the Lord of the palace came out to greet him, and loving hands grasp his hands, and music bursts forth in the welcoming song"Come in, come in;

Eternal glory thou shalt win."

Yet

But the other pilgrim continued his journey over the wild black moor. again another messenger met him. 'Oh beware, beware; the day is far spent, the night is at hand; if once the Lord of that palace rises up and shuts to the door, there will be no hope of resting there." But he would not listen; he set

his teeth and closed his ears, and wandered on till the night set in, and perished in the darkness the other side the moor.

Which of these two travellers represents you? Are you walking up to the Father's house by the narrow way, or wandering on through life's pilgrimage in the broad way to darkness and death?

Perhaps some of you think you will have to give up happiness if you love Jesus and serve Him. Jesus said that "the devil was the father of lies;" and I believe the biggest lie even he ever told was that trusting and serving Jesus made boys and girls miserable. Why, how can you be happy as a pilgrim, unless you know what there is for you at the end of the way?

Some time ago I was taking one of my daughters to a school in Devonshire, and the last eighteen miles of the journey was performed in a country cart, part of it over a wide moor called Broad Bury. It was the summer time; the sun shone brightly upon us; the mountain air fanned our cheeks and made our spirits gay; the birds sang their merry song, and the little mountain flower peeped up at us out of the mountain grass; and all were cheery and glad, laughing and talking, enjoying the trip most thoroughly. But as we went we overtook a poor rough-looking man, with hands in pockets, with head hung down-the very picture of slouching wretchedness. But how was this? The summer sun shone down on him just as upon us; the mountain breeze cooled his brow; for him the birds sang their joyous song; the little mountain flowers looked up at him out of their little nests in the grass. Why was he so cheerless? Let's ask him. 66 Going home late this afternoon over the moor, are you not?" And he grumbled out, "Home? I've no home." Ah, that was it. He was a poor tramp! No home to go to when he reached the other side the moor; no loving voice to greet him; no friendly hand to grasp his, and bid him welcome: but he must find his rest in a barn, or a cart, or anywhere, he knew not where.

And our life; what is it but a little trip across the moor of time? And who is the happier, the one who knows where he is going, who has a home ready, and a friend—the dearest friend of all, Jesus Christ-waiting for him to conduct him safely to the Father's house; or the one who knows not the future, who has no hope, no home, no friend, no light beyond the grave.

Have you a home the other side the moor? If so, you can be happy on the way. But if not, I am sure you cannot be happy in your pilgrimage.

Ask Jesus to be your guide as well as Saviour. He has Himself been every inch of the way from the cradle to the grave, and He knows it well, and will conduct you safely across the moor. And when you reach the palace on the other side, it will be His kindly voice that will bid you welcome, and His loving hand that will lead you to a seat by His side upon the throne; no more a stranger or a pilgrim on the earth, but a child at home in Heaven.

OUR MAGAZINE FOR 1876.

S. D. RICKARDS.

THE six years' service of the churches we have been privileged to render as Editor of our denominational Magazine, has fixed in us a strong conviction of the real use of our literature to the churches. To champion principles like those we hold, to help in work such as our churches undertake, to feed the springs of Christian activity, and purify Christian thought and life, can never be rated too high. It saves men. It builds up character. It tends to the glory of God. We therefore appeal to every church officer, minister, elder, and deacon, and to every reader, to increase the number of our subscribers. Make a vigorous effort to double the circulation in your midst. In many quarters we are below the maximum of readers. Make the Magazine known. Introduce it. Give it away. Somehow or other, let it have the chance of speaking for itself. We have printed SIX THOUSAND. Help to circulate them. Now we scarcely need "letters of recommendation to you." You know us and it. But we may add that we feel so keenly the responsibility of the work, that we will spare nothing within our power to carry the GENERAL BAPTIST MAGAZINE up to our ideal of an instrument meant to help all the Associated Churches in all their corporate and individual work. We trust to loving hearts, and know that we do not trust in vain. The work is God's, and you will not fail to help it.

SCRAPS FROM THE EDITOR'S WASTE BASKET.