Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 November 1879 — Justice. [ARTICLE]

Justice.

Our mission, whatever may be its precise character, should be permeated with the spirit of religion. The secular and the sacred should never be separated, for the one should be sanctified by the other. Content, justice and charity should be as prominent in our daily business life as in our more formal devotions. These are the graces .that ennoble the humblest calling. We can never do our duty in the station to which we have been assigned by God’s providence so long as we are fretful, dissatisfied and envious. Contentment, singularly lightens the burden of toil and sweetens the bread we eat. But justice is even more important than contentment; yea, I will venture the thought, is even higher than charity. You are in business, and your earnings are large, and out of them you give liberally to the poor. So far, so good. That is charity. But how came you by your earnings? To win them have you ground the faces of the poor, have you oppressed the hireling in his wages? Have you given less than the sendee deserved? Have you taken advantage of the poor seamstress, that you might decorate more finely the costliest of your investments—your wife? Have you wrung cries, groans and curses from the wretched sewing-woman that you might economically fill your pala tial home with songs, laughter and benedictions? Have you deliberately planned the ruin of others? Have you tried to murder your neighbor’s reputation, and trampled on all rights, that you might rise in affluence and influence? God help you ffnd be merciful to you! Unjust in your dealings, all your benefactions, liberalities and charities are but “ as sounding brass and as tinkling cymbals,” the decorations of a sepulcher, the flowers on a corpse. Give the world more justice and it can .dispense with much of your charity. No wonder, when you empty your lifework of the former, that it appears contemptible and infinitely beneath the greatness of your nature. Justice dignifies any and every avocation. When it distinguishes the judge on the bench, the soldier on the field, the merchant in his counting-room, and even the mechanic in his labor, so that he puts honest muscle in every blow he strikes and good conscience in every brick he lays, their varied callings partake of a com-, mon character, and each is as morally sublime as the other.— From a Recent Sermon by Rev. Dr. Lorimer, of Chicago.