+I. What a man of mercantile honour has.+--He has an attribute of
character which is in itself pure, lovely, honourable, and of good
report. He has a natural principle of integrity, and under its
impulse he may be carried forward to such fine exhibitions of himself
as are worthy of all admiration. It is very noble when the simple
utterance of his word carries as much security along with it, as if
he had accompanied that utterance by the signatures, the securities,
and the legal obligations which are required of other men. All the
glories of British policy and British valour are far eclipsed by the
moral splendour which British faith has thrown over the name and the
character of our nation. There is no denying the extended prevalence
of a principle of integrity in the commercial world.
+II. What a man of mercantile honour has not.+--He may not have one
duteous feeling of reverence which points upward to God. He may not
have one wish or one anticipation which points forward to eternity.
He may not have any sense of dependence on the Being who sustains
Him, and who gave him his very principle of honour as part of that
interior furniture which He has put into his bosom. He is a man of
integrity, and yet he is a man of ungodliness. This natural virtue,
when disjoined from a sense of God, is of no religious estimation
whatever; nor will it lead to any religious blessing, either in time
or in eternity.--_T. Chalmers._