Chapter 17—Diligence in Business
“Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before
kings; he shall not stand before mean men.” “He becometh poor that
dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.”
“Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor pre-
ferring one another; not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving
the Lord.”
The many admonitions to diligence found in both the Old and the
New Testament plainly indicate the intimate relation existing between
our habits of life and our religious feelings and practices. The human
mind and body are so constituted that plenty of exercise is necessary in
order to a proper development of all the faculties. While many are too
much engaged in worldly business, others go to the opposite extreme
and do not labor sufficiently to support themselves or those dependent
upon them. Brother-----is one of this class. While he occupies the
position of house band to his family he is not this in reality. The
heaviest responsibilities and burdens he allows to rest upon his wife,
while he indulges in careless indolence or busies himself about small
matters that tell little for the support of his family. He will sit for
hours and chat with his sons or his neighbors upon matters of no great
consequence. He takes things easy and enjoys himself while the wife
and mother does the work which must be done to prepare food to eat
and clothes to wear.
This brother is a poor man and always will be a burden to society
unless he asserts his God-given privilege and becomes a man. Anyone
can find work of some kind to do if he really desires it; but if he is
careless and inattentive, the positions which he might have secured he
will find filled by those who had greater activity and business tact.
God never designed that you, my brother, should be in the position
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of poverty that you are now in. Why did He give you that physical
frame? You are just as responsible for your physical powers as your
brethren are for their means. Some of these would today be gainers
could they exchange their property for your physical strength. But if
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