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ELEMENTS NECESSARY 
 
 TO THE 
 
 \mitm of |iif JBrSl jjlamfifr. 
 
 By JOHN MACDONALD. 
 
 TORONTO: 
 WILLIAM BRIGGS, 78 & 80 KING STREET EAST. 
 
 MONTREAL: C. W. COATES. HALIFAX: 8. F. IIUESTIS. 
 
 1886. 
 
■^S"£52iH-Ir=---~ 
 
Elements Necessary to the Forma- 
 tion of Business Cliaracter.* 
 
 "T| AM going, at the commencement, to 
 -^ assume that among the many callings 
 open to one, in a young country like ours, 
 you have selected a business, and that you 
 are attending the various sessions of this 
 college with a view of fitting yourself to 
 that end. I am not going to inquire into the 
 motives which led you to this conclusion. 
 Whether you are here simply because you have 
 
 * A Paper read at the British American Commercial Colleffe, Toronto, 
 Friday, March 12th, 1886. 
 
 
been influenced by some friend or relative, 
 either with or against your own judgment; 
 whether you are here because of some impres- 
 sion you may have had that business is the 
 way to wealth and happiness ; or whether you 
 are here from an irresistible impulse which 
 led you on, determined to achieve whatever 
 there was for you to win ; whatever be the 
 motive, you are here. See to it that you 
 derive profit, substantial profit, from this your 
 first step, and this, it is well to remember, is 
 happily very largely in your own hands. As- 
 suming, then, that you have, after careful con- 
 sideration, selected business as your calling, and 
 that you have made up your mind to succeed, 
 for that is the dream of most men, let me 
 observe : 
 
 First — That in order that success may be 
 secured certain conditions are absolutely 
 necessary. 
 
Second — That there are certain principles 
 equally necessary to turn these conditions to 
 the best account. 
 
 Perhaps you inquire, What do you mean 
 by conditions ? This I will explain by two 
 figures. One would answer my purpose. I will, 
 however, refer to both. Let me suppose, then, 
 that I am going to set out an orchard, say ten 
 or twenty acres, of standard trees. The soil 
 requires not only to be good, but to be care- 
 fully prepared, drained, and sub-soiled; the 
 stock should be of the best quality; the loca- 
 tion should be advantageously situated for sun 
 and shelter. These are the conditions. 
 
 Then there are certain principles which are 
 needed to turn those conditions to best ac- 
 count, such as careful and symmetrical plant- 
 ing ; this includes proper distances, staking to 
 secure beauty and symmetry ; and, to secure 
 fruitfulness as well as beauty, mulching, and 
 
6 
 
 careful and judicious pruning. These condi- 
 tions neglected, and the result could not but 
 be disappointing. These conditions observed, 
 and the percentage of failure would be but 
 infinitesimal. 
 
 Let me suppose that I am going to build a 
 house. There are certain conditions which 
 are absolutely necessary : 
 
 First, The foundation. Who would think 
 of building upon a sandy foundation ? who 
 would think of building upon a springy 
 foundation ? The most important condition 
 connected with a building, then, is a sure foun- 
 dation. The next important matter is the 
 character of the material ; that must be such 
 as will endure the strain which it is likely to 
 be called upon to bear, and be such as will be 
 adapted to the use to which it is intended to 
 ' be put. Then there are principles needed to 
 combine and harmonize the entire variety of 
 
condi- 
 ot but 
 iierved, 
 be but 
 
 build a 
 which 
 
 , think 
 L? who 
 pringy 
 fndition 
 ■e foun- 
 is the 
 36 such 
 iely to 
 will be 
 nded to 
 eded to 
 riety of 
 
 material, making the superstructure upon this 
 sure foundation beautiful, symmetrical, and 
 commodious. And with due regard to these 
 needed conditions, and with due application of 
 these principles, it is hardly too much to say 
 that failure would be simply impossible. 
 
 I have said these are conditions which are 
 essential to success in business. These, in 
 addition to a sound mind in a sound body, 
 may be summed up in three words — time, 
 place, and circumstances. No one, for ex- 
 ample, would think of locating himself in a 
 desert for the purpose of carrying on business, 
 He must be where there is a population ; a 
 population which needs what he has to sell ; 
 a population which can pay for what it buys. 
 Time and circumstance^, like location, imply 
 so much that it would require greater time to 
 treat of them than could be given in a brief 
 paper such as this. In the consideration of 
 
8 
 
 these the counsel of others would doubtless be 
 helpful. But in these, as in so many other 
 matters, nothing will help you so much as the 
 exercise of your own common sense. 
 
 Then there are certain principles which are 
 needed to be so applied to these conditions as 
 to secure from them the best results, and turn 
 them to the greatest possible advantage, and 
 unless these be diligently applied the condi- 
 tions, however favourable, are unavailing. 
 
 It is a common saying that the percentage 
 of successful business men is not more than five 
 pej cent. Others with, I think, greater ac- 
 curacy, claim that it is not higher than 2| per 
 cent. But it may be somewhat startling to 
 affirm that it is possible to reverse these figures, 
 so that with the most favorable conditions, and 
 the untiring application of sound business prin- 
 ciples, the percentage of failure might not ex- 
 ceed 2 1 per cent, while the percentage of 
 
success would necessarily be 97 ^ per ccnc. But 
 3'ou will readily take in all that this implies : 
 without my going elaborately into details, 
 it implies, for example, that the supply ought 
 in no case to exceed the demand ; it implies in 
 each the maximum amount of ability ex- 
 erted under the most favorable conditions. 
 
 I am going to refer now to elements that are 
 absolutely necessary to the formation of a 
 business character, as forming the foundation 
 upon which it must rest, and which, if lacking, 
 will imperil the safety of the whole. 
 
 I am going to look into the remote past and 
 see if I can find any axioms whose force has 
 been acknowledged and acted upon by the 
 wise and thoughtful ; and I am going to ask 
 you to look with me and see whether or not 
 we can discover that durinfj the ajjfes that have 
 rolled on these have undergone any deterior- 
 ating change, and whether these axioms main- 
 
Hi 
 
 I I 
 
 fjh 
 
 10 
 
 tain the place in our clay which they did in the 
 past, and whether they are likely to remain 
 unchanged in the future. The elements to 
 which I would refer are two : — 
 
 The first : Truth. 
 
 The second : Honesty. 
 
 And the axioms which I find as having 
 reference to these are : — 
 
 First. — Buy the truth and sell it not ; and, 
 
 Second. — A false balance is abomination 
 to the Lord. 
 
 In presenting these axioms to you, as 
 coming down to us through the ages, we ask, 
 then, whether or not they have lost any of 
 their significance ? What constitutes, for ex- 
 ample, the value of history ? Its truth ; and 
 if that be lacking it is of no value. The duty 
 of a Court of Justice is to discover the truth. 
 Hence, witnesses are sworn to declare the 
 truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the 
 
 Ml! 
 
11 
 
 truth ; and the force of this will be seen when 
 we consider that reservation of a part of the 
 truth may destroy the value of the whole, and 
 forcibly illustrate the words of the poet, that 
 "A lie that is half the truth is always the 
 blackest of lies/' And this, in the forcible 
 and figurative language to which I have re- 
 ferred, we are exhorted to buy, no matter what 
 it costs us ; and, having bought it, to sell it 
 not. 
 
 And then there is the fact that a false 
 balance is abomination to the Lord. What 
 is meant by a false balance ? Not the beam 
 merely, which is so adjusted as always to place 
 the customer at a disadvantage; but the 
 selling a thing for what it is not— selling, 
 for example, the adulterated for the genuine, 
 taking advantage of the inexperience of 
 the customer to secure one's own profit. 
 All this has been declared to be abomina- 
 
12 
 
 ii 
 
 tion to the Lord. That was as it used 
 to be. How is it to-day ? It is the 
 same to-day. Truth and honesty are the es- 
 sential qualities in a bond between individuals, 
 in a treaty between nations ; truth and 
 honesty afford the only real security in tho 
 multiplied and ramified transactions of trade ; 
 truth and honesty are the barriers which 
 guard the family against the encroachments of 
 envy, of malice, of pride, of dissimulation, of 
 every hurtful and hateful vice ; truth and 
 honesty are bulwarks which protect the 
 nation — more powerful far are they than those 
 behind which are placed bristling cannon and 
 armed men. In one word, they are the pillars 
 upon which the whole fabric of society rests, 
 and are as unalterable and as imperishable 
 as is the nature of Him from whom they 
 come. Buy the truth, then, and sell it not I 
 And throughout your entire life remember 
 
13 
 
 that a false balance is abomination tc the 
 Lord. 
 
 I come now to consider the matter of thor- 
 oughness. What do I find in ancient records 
 to throw light upon this aspect of the case ? 
 This I find : 
 
 "A workman that needetk not to he ashamed!' 
 Few men master all the details of their callino-. 
 Why, I cannot tell. They are lazy, perhaps 
 —perhaps indifferent; possibly they feel like 
 leaving the matter to chance. Have we not 
 illustrations of this every day. Why did that 
 lawyer lose that case ? Want of application and 
 thorough mastery of it. Why did that physi- 
 cian lose that patient ? He was weak in some 
 essential element. The sense of this weakness 
 paralyzed his action, and the patient slipped 
 through his fingers. Why did that bridge fall, 
 carrying death and destruction in its crash ? 
 The principles combining strength and safety 
 
14 
 
 were not perfectly applied throughout the 
 structure, and the end was disastrous. Why 
 did that merchant fail ? He failed because he 
 had never made himself familiar with the 
 minute details of his business. I say minute, 
 for only give time, and the insignificant leak 
 will cause the noblest vessel to founder ; and 
 the business leak which is considered too 
 triflinjT to notice will, if not checked, wreck 
 the strongest concern. Try, then, to be "a 
 workman that needeth not to be ashamed." 
 Obtain a thorough mastery of the details of 
 your business. 
 
 I have touched upon Truth, Honesty and 
 Thoroughness. I now come to touch upon 
 Energy. And I look back and ask. What in 
 the past can be gathered as speaking to us 
 upon this subject ? and I find this, which 
 I think you will agree with me is at once 
 striking and suggestive : 
 
 Hill 
 
16 
 
 " ^''" '«««""• 'h hand iindeth to do, do it with 
 tli^i might." 
 
 This, of course, is taken in connection with 
 the principles of which we have been .speakin,. 
 Whatsoever is true, whatsoever is honest, do"; 
 but ,Io it with your mijjl.t. Throw your bein^ 
 into it ; be in earnest. Whatsoever is worth 
 Joing, is worth .loing well ; .lo nothin.. by 
 halves. An.l ,lo not leave until to-nio'row 
 that which you can ,lo, an,i that which you 
 ought to ,lo, to-aay. Now observe : a .nan «,ay 
 bo true ; a man may be honest ; he may per- 
 fectly un.Ierstan,l his business; but these prin- 
 ciples must be brought into active service, an,l 
 presented with unfaltering energy. 
 
 K you think that business success is to be 
 achieved by half-heartedness or by an energy 
 wliich is put forward by fits and starts, ylu 
 make a very great n.istake. There is in 
 busines.s, as in everything else, no royal road 
 
 n 
 
16 
 
 1 1 ■, 
 
 to success. It is Work, work — hard work. 
 It is At it, and always at it. The business 
 world has no room for idlers ! There is in it, 
 as there is in all callings and professions, 
 plenty of room at the top. 
 
 History abounds with instances where hard- 
 fought battles, which might have changed the 
 map of a continent, have proved fruitless 
 because of their not being followed up ; where 
 the entire advantage of the strongest party 
 has been lost simply because it did rot 
 improve its opportunity, — not only lost its 
 opportunity, but turned its victory into a 
 
 defeat ; so that the words of a great general 
 
 -Ik 
 
 might fittingly describe the situation : 
 " Another such victory and we are undone." 
 How often does history point to the failure 
 of important negotiations having for their end 
 the mutual benefit of nations ; the advantages 
 of reciprocal trade relations, with their 
 
 ! 'I! 
 
17 
 
 assured maintenance of peace, lost through 
 the weakness of ambassadors. 
 
 How often has the question been asked, 
 Why did that man fai] ? He had health,' 
 character, means, a knowledge of his business 
 —advantages which are so essential to suc- 
 cess. Why, with these, did he fail ? He did 
 not rightly use them ! 
 
 Look at fifty labourers working on some 
 great work, and a keen-sighted man in five 
 minutes will pick out the man who is going 
 to occupy the position of foreman, and^hal 
 perhaps before the sun goes down. Go into 
 a warehouse, or into an office, and you will not 
 be long there before you will pick out the 
 man or the men who are of service to that office 
 or warehouse; who are going to make their 
 work felt ; who are going to rise. What of 
 the others ? You will never hear of them, 
 nor will any one else ! Good qualities many 
 
im 
 
 18 
 
 of them may have had; but good qualities 
 unused are like the talent tied up in a napkin 
 — not only bringing in nothing to the owner, 
 but, through the want of energy of him to 
 whom it was entrusted, depriving the owner 
 of his lawful interest. 
 
 It is not the men, mark you, with the 
 brightest intellects who are always found 
 among the ranks of the successful in any pro- 
 fession. It is the men who are plodding, whose 
 attention is fixed upon the business of the 
 moment, and who do it well. For while the 
 one is too often appropriately likened to the 
 hare — very active, but very erratic — the other 
 is as appropriately likened to the tortoise — 
 slow, but sure ; slow, but persistent ; slow, 
 but bound to win ; for, as you know, in the 
 fable, in the long run the tortoise beat the 
 hare. 
 
 Let me stop here to administer a word of 
 
19 
 
 caution: You are possibly saying. That is 
 precisely the course I am goinc. to adopt 
 when I go into business for myself. That 
 will depend ! Depend upon what ? you ask. 
 Depend upon the manner in which you act 
 in this college ; depend upon the manner in 
 which you acquit yourself here and now; 
 depend upon the influence which these re- 
 marks, feeble and disjointed as they are, may 
 have upon you. Taking these as a gauge, 
 a keen observer will, out of any twen^ty 
 whom I am now addressing, photograph the 
 unsuccessful ones with an accuracy like that 
 with which the skilled physician will diagnose 
 the case of his patient, and in each instance 
 the description will be true to life. Do not, 
 I beg of you, deceive yourself; if your weight 
 is not thrown into the prosecution of your 
 studies here it will never be thrown into 
 anything which you may elect to follow. 
 
20 
 
 ill i 
 
 IIM 
 
 Should you fail, remember this warning ; 
 and, when too late to correct it, don't blame 
 the college. Be candid and you will say, 
 I had none but myself to blame ! 
 
 I look back again to that period from 
 which we gather the axioms upon which we 
 have been basing our remarks, and I ask 
 whether anything is recorded characterizing 
 results which follow the faithful working 
 out of these principles ? and I find this: 
 " The hand of the diligent shall bear ride ; " 
 and I find this, " Tlte thoughts of the dili- 
 gent tend only to plenteousness ; but of every 
 one that is hasty only to want. 
 
 Keep these thoughts before you for a 
 moment. Here, then, are three thoughts most 
 tersely put : " The diligent shall have plenty." 
 "The diligent shall rule." "The thoughts of 
 the hasty tend only to want." 
 
 Plenty is a comparative term. What would 
 
21 
 
 be deemed plenty by one would be deemed 
 want by another; but the plenteousness 
 spoken of here is that which comes by a 
 diligent attention to one's business. Slowly, 
 it may be, but certainly. An effect which 
 follows its cause with as much certainty as 
 night succeeds day in accordance with Hxed 
 laws. A plenteousness which is the reward 
 of honest application, which one enjoys with- 
 out having it grudged or envied. 
 
 And is this not so to-day ? Who are the 
 men in any of our cities who are the leaders 
 of men ? They are the diligent. 
 
 See those works rising up resemblinjr a 
 village in their extent, with the hundreds of 
 workmen to whom they give employment ; 
 look for the master mind under whom the 
 whole has grown up, and you will find in 
 him a diligent man. 
 
 It wa^ said of the late Mr. Brassey that 
 
:„ 
 
 he had at one time in his employment and on 
 his pay-roll as many men as there are in the 
 British Army ; and the men to-day who are 
 ruling men, who are moulding opinion, who 
 are giving direction to thought, are the diligent 
 men. You will find it true to-day as it was 
 when written — "The hand of the diligent 
 shall bear rule." 
 
 And what about the hasty man ? Is it still 
 true that his thoughts tend only to want ? 
 Still true ! 
 
 There are some men whose policy is con- 
 stantly to be adding a little. There are others 
 who want to crowd the results which are 
 ordinarily reached in a lifetime into a month 
 or a fortnight. The word hasty here is sy- 
 nonymous with oui* modern word speculating, 
 and the result to-day, as it -was then, may be 
 summed up in one word — disastrous ! 
 
 Be assured that unless there is diligence 
 
28 
 
 there cannot be prosperity. There is no matter 
 of detail too insignificant to be overlooked. 
 The smallest amounts steadily added to capital 
 will in time amount to a sum that will simply 
 astonish vou. There is nmch force in the old 
 proverb, " Take care of the penny and the 
 pounds will take care of themselves." Be 
 assured, that if you want to have a com- 
 petency as years increase, you must be careful 
 and dilif,^ent when you are young. 
 
 A word or two, then, as to what is essential 
 after you leave this coUenre ; and. 
 
 First — Be willing to begin at the bottom ; do 
 not think that when you have left this you 
 know everything. If you have learned the 
 secret of obtaining knowledge in your busi- 
 ness, and the spirit which will make you an 
 anxious and a willing learner, you have 
 learnt that which will prove of inestimable 
 value to you. 
 
24 
 
 Second — Be patient. Impatience is the 
 curse of thousands. Remember that Rome 
 was not built in a day ; that you do not find 
 upon the tree at the same time the fragrant 
 blossom and the ripened fruit ; that success is 
 a thing of slow growth ; that in the world of 
 mankind, as in the vegetable kingdom, that 
 which is enduring is but of slow development ; 
 that whose growth is rapid, just as rapid is its 
 decay. The young, for example, of lower ani- 
 mals begin to provide for themselves as soon 
 as they begin to live. The young lambkin 
 gambols in the sunlight of the same day 
 which beheld its birth. The early spring-time 
 witnesses the close of its brief life. Man^ 
 who by the strength of his own mind and his 
 own will, lays bare unopened continents, 
 changes the face of nature, takes the mightiest 
 forces, which unbridled would scatter death 
 and destruction everywhere, plays with them, 
 
 i: 
 
25 
 
 and makes them subservient to the accomplish- 
 ment of his purposes, to the development of 
 science, to the good of the race ; scans the 
 heavens in quest of new worlds ; brings up 
 from the depths of the ocean mysteries which 
 have been concealed for ages; reads hiero- 
 glyphics of the Egyptians, and makes an- 
 tiquities familiar to the humblest minds ; 
 grapples with the most herculean difficulties, 
 and surmounts them, and stops in the soaring 
 of his intellect only at the Infinite,— man, who 
 does all this, spends one-third of his being in 
 preparing for his life-work, much of it in the 
 utter helplessness of infancy, much of it in 
 the comparative helplessness of youth, much 
 of it as you are doing now preparatory to 
 your going out to battle with life. 
 
 On my own grounds there are oaks which 
 twenty-five years ago looked as though they 
 had been there a century or more. Every 
 
2G 
 
 year they continue to add to their bulk and 
 beauty, by the richness of their foliage and 
 the gratefulness of their sliade. Every year 
 they give back to the soil, in their burdened 
 foliage and abundance of acorns, more than 
 they take away, thus adding fruitfulness to 
 their many other qualities. Side by side with 
 them are lofty poplars, planted by my own 
 hand twenty-five years ago. For a dozen years 
 they made annually as much growth as the 
 oak would make in ten years. Then their 
 height was equal to that which the oak 
 had reached in a century. And what then ? 
 This, simply, that then they began to decay ! 
 The leafless branches presenting no beauty for 
 the eye ; the tree itself of no advantage to 
 the soil — nay, a positive disadvantage, ex- 
 tracting by its greedy and hasty nature from 
 its virtue, impoverishing and giving nothing 
 back ! Be an oak, not a poplar. 
 
27 
 
 Be patient. Be assure,! that there is no 
 royal road to success. It is to be achieved 
 only by work-hard work-and in the exer- 
 cise of a patience whicli is heroic. It was, I 
 think, Lord Cairns wlio found clients come to 
 him slowly after he had been called to the 
 bar. Yet he had the good sense to be patient 
 -the ^ood sense to realize that success was 
 not to be achieved in a day. He had his 
 office hours, and these he faithfully kept. 
 Still clients failed to make an appearance. 
 One Saturday he was urgently pressed to go 
 with some companions on a pleasure excursion. 
 He replied that he couhl not go in office hours. 
 That day found his first client in his office. 
 His steadiness of purpose was rewarded. 
 That client led to success-to the beginning 
 of a brilliant career. Had he listened tl 
 the persuasions of his friends his opportunity 
 might have been lost, perhaps for ever. 
 
k 
 
 28 
 
 Be patient. Do not begin to think after 
 you have been in a concern for six months 
 that you can run the establishment. Do 
 not think after you have been a year in a 
 house that you are greatly underpaid, and un- 
 less an important change is made in your 
 position that you will leave. 
 
 There is too much of that self-importance 
 to be found in youni^ men to-day ; too much 
 of the importance which forebodes failure. 
 You will leave, you say. Well, suppose you 
 do. Who do you think would be the loser ? 
 The establishment, or you ? Would the cus- 
 tomers leave the house ? Would the banker 
 inform the proprietor that his bank account 
 would liave to be curtailed ? Or do you sup- 
 pose the concern would collapse ? Oh, no ! It 
 would go on, and the probability would be 
 that you, like many others, would have abun- 
 dant opportunity of realizing (perhaps when 
 
29 
 
 too late) that you had made a grand mistake. 
 Do not be afraid that the ability you possess 
 will not be recognized. If it is there it will 
 shine out; it will make its effect; it will 
 meet with its acknowledgment; it will pro- 
 duce its results, and it will meet with its 
 reward. 
 
 The disappointment which is experienced 
 by so large a class who find difficulty in secur- 
 ing the employment, and with it the success, 
 for which they think their abilities eminently 
 fit them, arises mainly from the fact that 
 the ability of which they think themselves 
 possessed is not discovered by others, and 
 too often is found to exist only in their own 
 imagination. 
 
 Be patient. That physician whose last bril- 
 liant operation is the theme of admiration 
 among professional men, was unknown for 
 many years, unknown bevond his own im- 
 
30 
 
 t 
 
 I 
 
 mediate circle, until by patient industry he 
 made his power felt. That lawyer who has 
 won that most important case, and who has 
 perfectly electrified all who have heard him 
 by the subtlety of his reasoning, and his mas- 
 terful handling of facts, has been a toiler for 
 twenty years, for a great part of it compara- 
 tively unknown. That merchant whose opera- 
 tions reach away beyond his own continent, 
 and whose operations are estimated by millions. 
 was content to be a hard toiler for others for 
 many years, and for many years toiled hard 
 for himself, before his name and his power 
 became felt. But in all these cases the ability 
 was there, the strong common sense was there, 
 the patient industry was there, and in the end 
 they led to success. 
 
 Be patient. Oh, you say, that is all very 
 well. I do not want to wait until I am an old 
 man to become wealthy. I want to be wealthy 
 
31 
 
 now. Let me say to you, that the joy of the 
 successful man lies in achievinfr success ; and 
 that he tastes of this every day and every 
 hour, not when the structure is completed 
 merely, but when it is being put together. 
 Would you believe that the greatest calamity 
 that could possibly happen you would be to 
 receive the announcement, say, to-day, that a 
 sum of $10,000 had been left to you, and that 
 you had merely to call and give the satisfac- 
 tory acknowledgment and draw the amount. 
 In such circumstances about one man in ten 
 thousand would have common sense to save 
 him from making a fool of himself. With the 
 other nine thousand nine hundred and ninety- 
 nine it would disturb any plans of usefulness 
 they had formed, it would dwarf their enerc^ies 
 it would damp their ambiti^-ns, it would blast 
 their prospects. 
 
 Your own right arm, your own health, your 
 8 
 
I^i- 
 
 32 
 
 own business training, your own determination, 
 is capital to you vastly more valuable than any 
 chance bequest. Use these diligently in achiev- 
 ing success, and when that crowns your efforts 
 you will be able to realize that you have been 
 the architect of your own fortune. 
 
 Be patient. You cannot all go into busi- 
 ness ; you cannot all be merchants. But you 
 can all rise to positions of trust and responsi- 
 bility. The man who occupies a confidential 
 position in any house occupies a proud posi- 
 tion, one preferred by many because it is in 
 many respects freed from responsibilities 
 which attach themselves to large business 
 obligations. Aim at such positions ; for these 
 your training in this college should eminently 
 qualify you. 
 
 But one says, You have omitted speaking of 
 the Bible as a business hand-book. I have, 
 and the omission has been intentional. I have 
 
33 
 
 chosen rather to present to you a series of 
 statements founded upon certain axioms which 
 I feel none could gainsay ; which the sceptic 
 and the scoffer and the agnostic would 
 endorse ; which the man who is bad enough to 
 deny the existence of the Divine Being would 
 readily assent to ; which the man who says, I 
 have no faith in the Bible, but in these state- 
 ments you have presented I have. They con- 
 stitute my platform; Truth, Honesty, Thor- 
 oughness, and Diligence ; these I commend. 
 
 Where did you get them from? he enquires. 
 I got them from the Bible ! Every word, just 
 as presented to you, is from the Word of God. 
 And now, having made that statement to 
 you, let me add that if you are hoping for suc- 
 cess from any standpoint other than that 
 which the Bible teaches, give it up at once. 
 Do not waste your time, for you will not 
 succeed. 
 
34 
 
 If you want to pass unscathed through the 
 dangers which beset the path of the young 
 man ; if you want to go about your duty 
 free from the allurements of the destroyer; 
 if you want to bring into your daily life a 
 temperament that will enable you to enjoy 
 with continual zest all the blessings of lii'e ; 
 if you want to take the highest place in your 
 profession and to make it not only a means of 
 employment but a means of enjoyment ; if 
 you want to secure and retain the confidence 
 and esteem of your fellows ; if you want to 
 make the very best of health and wealth and 
 life ; if you want to know all that is implied 
 in an honoured and in a happy old age ; if, in 
 one word, you want to make the best and 
 the very best of both worlds, read your Bible. 
 Not read it only, but make it the man of your 
 counsel. Then, come what will — if the experi- 
 ence of the ages is of any value ; if the tes- 
 
35 
 
 timony of the best men living, as well as the 
 testimony of the great and good who have 
 passed away, be of any value— nothing can 
 hinder you, nothing will hinder you, from 
 being prosperous, contented and happy. 
 
 HONESTY. 
 
 Good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, 
 and running over.— Luke vi. 38. 
 
 Get wisdom, get understanding. —Prou. iv. 5. 
 
 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom ; the 
 fear of the Lord prolongeth days.— Prou. x. 27. 
 
 A false balance is abomination to the Lord, but a just 
 weight is His delight.— Prov. xi. 1. 
 
 The integrity of the upright shall guide them.— 
 Prov. xi. 3. 
 
 Divers weights and divers measures, both of them 
 are alike abominations to the Lord.— Prov. xx. 20. 
 
 It is naught, it is naught saith the buyer ; but when 
 he is gone his way then he boasteth.— Prow. xx. 14. 
 
ne 
 
 TRUTH. 
 
 Buy the truth and moII it not ; also wisdom, and 
 instruction, and undorstanding.— /Vou. xxiii. 23. 
 
 TEMPERANCE. 
 
 He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man ; he 
 that lovoth wine and oil shall not be rich.— Prou. 
 xxi. 17. 
 
 ENERGY. 
 
 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy 
 might.— ^cc^es. ix. 10. 
 
 THOROUGHNESS. 
 
 A workman that needeth not to be ashamed.— 
 2 Tim. ii. 15. 
 
 DILIGENCE. 
 
 The hand of the diligent maketh rich.—P rov. ix. 10. 
 
 The soul of the sluggard desireth and hath nothing ; 
 but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.— 
 Prov. xiii. 4. 
 
 Not slothful in business ; fervent in spirit ; ger\'ing 
 the Lord. — Rom. xii. 11. 
 
 The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I 
 shall be slain in the streets. —Prov. xxii. 13. 
 
37 
 
 The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteous- 
 ness ; but of every one that is hasty only to want.— 
 Prov. xxi. 6. 
 
 Be patient. 
 
 Be willing to begin at the bottom. 
 
 It is a calamity to make money until one 
 understands its use. 
 
 All cannot get into business. 
 
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