At the time when Samuel Budget, afterward called “The Successful Merchant,” first went into business, pepper was laid under a heavy tax. In consequence it was commonly adulterated, and in almost every grocery store might be seen a cask marked “P. D.,” pepper dust, a dust looking like pepper, with which the pepper was mixed before it was sold. It had grown into a custom of the trade, and men who called themselves honest men, did it without stopping to think, or to ask, whether it was right or wrong.
A cask with “P. D.” on it was also found in Mr. Henry Budget’s store. As soon as Samuel Budget went into the firm, his conscience began to grumble. That “everybody did so” was an argument which had no weight with him. If everybody did wrong, he ought to do what was right. Some said, “It was only a trick of the trade.”
The more he thought of it, the more he hated the sight of that ugly cask. It looked like a hypocrite, and he liked genuine things, men or goods. He felt sure he could not ask the blessing of God upon the use of this “P. D.” This decided him, and he determined instantly to obey his conscience. It was night. He went into his store, rolled the cask down into an old quarry behind the building, where he broke it up, and scattered the “P. D.” to the four winds, and then his conscience was at rest.
Whether the tricks of the commercial world have decreased or otherwise, since the days of Samuel Budget, we do not stop to inquire, the above contains a fine example for those who have just commenced their Christian course, and whose desire is to walk so that they may have the testimony that they please God.
Now, as you wish to follow the Lord “with purpose of heart,” you must refuse to sanction anything and everything which the Lord will condemn, and upon which you “could not ask the blessing of God.”
After he had broken up the “ugly cask,” he possessed what money can never purchase, viz., a peaceful conscience and an uncondemning heart.
If you, dear young Christians, will walk in absolute subjection to the Word of God at all cost, you will have the testimony of a good conscience, and the approval of “your heavenly Father,” which will richly compensate for all the shame and reproach which may be heaped upon you, or for any temporary loss you may sustain. You will realize that communion with the Father and His Son which only those who possess “a good conscience” can enjoy.