Whatever, Lord, we lend to Thee, Repaid a thousand fold shall be; Then gladly will we give to Thee, Who givest all. The first duty of every man under the competitive system is to secure the survival of his own business; so on the Sabbath, when he comes to deal with eternity, he is practical and explicit: Nothing is worth a thought beneath But how I may escape the death That never, never dies; How make mine own election sure, And when I fail on earth secure A mansion in the skies. Just as the priest of the aristocratic caste figures God as a mighty Conqueror-- Marching as to war With the cross of Jesus Going on before so the preacher to the trader figures the divinity as a glorified Merchant keeping books. This Head Merchant has a monopoly in His line; He knows all His rivals' secrets, so there is no getting ahead of Him, and nothing to do but obey His Word, as revealed through His clerical staff. The system is oily with protestations of divine love; but when you read the comments of Luther upon Calvin and of Calvin upon Luther, you understand that this love is confined to the inside of each denomination. And even so restricted, there is not always enough to go around. Recently I met a Presbyterian clergyman, to whom I remarked, "I see by the papers that you have just finished a church building." "Yes," he answered; "and I have had three offers of a new church." I did not see the connection, and asked, "Because you were so successful with this one?" The reply was, "They always take it for granted that you want to change when you've finished a new building, because you make so many enemies!"