Chapter 64—Business Integrity
The Bible a Source Book of Business Principles—There is no
branch of legitimate business for which the Bible does not afford
an essential preparation. Its principles of diligence, honesty, thrift,
temperance, and purity are the secret of true success. These principles,
as set forth in the Book of Proverbs, constitute a treasury of practical
wisdom. Where can the merchant, the artisan, the director of men in
any department of business, find better maxims for himself or for his
employees than are found in these words of the wise man:
“Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before
kings; he shall not stand before mean men.”
“In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to
penury.”
“The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing.”
“The drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsi-
ness shall clothe a man with rags.” ...
How many a man might have escaped financial failure and ruin
by heeding the warnings so often repeated and emphasized in the
Scriptures:
“He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.”
“Wealth gotten in haste shall be diminished; but he that gathereth
by labor shall have increase.”
“The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to
and fro of them that seek death.”
“The borrower is servant to the lender.”
“He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it: and he that hateth
suretiship is sure.
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The eighth commandment condemns ... theft and robbery. It
demands strict integrity in the minutest details of the affairs of life. It
forbids overreaching in trade and requires the payment of just debts or
wages.
1
Education, 135, 136
.
2
Patriarchs and Prophets, 309
.
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