Money Valued at More Than Money's Worth
“And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” — Luke xii. 15.
Some vices are contrary to and inconsistent with other vices. In the providence of the Almighty, the flood of evil that has deluged the earth has been circumscribed within narrower limits by the opposite and mutually destructive character of its main ingredients. There are some sins so incongruous in their own nature, that they cannot nourish together in the same heart. The indulgence of one shuts a person out from the enjoyment of another. “When you have once chosen your course, there are some kindred lusts that feed and strengthen each other; but, as to the choice of the course, there are certain main lines that for the present start in opposite directions, though they meet at last in death. There are two main paths that lead to destruction, and Satan cannot make even his most willing subjects go by both. In avoiding the strait middle path that leads to life, yon may turn on the one side into the vices of dissipation, or on the other into the vices of covetousness; but those who serve the same master, and travel to the same end, do not keep company by the way. The bloated libertine in his hannt, and the precise worldling in church, are far apart from each other. They do not travel in company. The two paths are converging, and will meet in the grave; but in the mean time they are distant. The same rebuke will not meet both the wanderers. TTe must divide the Word to correspond with the divided paths in which the destroyed go. It is true, as was shown in the preceding lecture, that the vices are, in their nature, closely allied: but it is equally true that the vicious persons are, in position, generally kept far asunder.
In one audience, it is the duty of the preacher to level the most of his strokes against the vices of dissipation; in another audience, it is his duty to level the most of his strokes against the vices of avarice. If I were called to bear witness for God in the wretched haunts of vulgar vice, I would ciy aloud, “A drunkard shall not inherit the kingdom;” but in this assembly it is necessary and at least equally seasonable to cry, “Take heed, and beware of covetousness.” My object at present is not at all to restrain the reckless spendthrift, or awaken the drunken rake. These are not within hearing. I come forth with the Word of God in my hand, to meet and arrest some who are hastening to the same end, while they do not suspect it, because they are travelling far apart, and in more respectable company. My design at present is to deal exclusively with that passion for acquisition, that thirst for more, and effort to gratify it, wherewith the old serpent is fascinating the multitude from the upper strata of society, and drawing them, like silly fluttering birds, into his very jaws. It is known to the Lord who of this assembly have been ushered into the liberty wherewith Christ makes his people free, and who are still led captive by Satan at his will; but of those so led I think it probable that a much greater number are led by a covetous love of the world, than are led by a dissipated indulgence in less reputable sins. I think, therefore, that I am speaking a word in season when I reiterate in your ears this warning from the lips of the Lord, “A man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.”
I shall arrange the exposition of this text under two heads: —
I. The moral and spiritual condition of an individual or a community that calls forth such a rehuke from Him who knows what is in man.
II. The meaning and application of the rehuke so called forth.
The first uncovers the ailment; the second administers the prescribed cure.
I. The ailment: — The spiritual condition of men, which draws down this reproof from the Lord,
The rehuke recorded in the text rose originally out of an example of selfish worldliness, manifested in circumstances well fitted to show the grovelling nature of the passion, and the power which it melds over its victim. To the assembled people, Jesus the Prophet is presenting God, — Father, Son, and Spirit (ver. 5-12): the Father as God over all (ver. 5-7); the Son presented to sinners to be received and confessed (ver. 8, 9); the Spirit, the last Teacher, after whom there is none to strive with men (ver. 10-12). The Prophet paused. Tie had poured out the great things of the everlasting covenant on the listening ears of needy men, and you would expect to hear, when his voice had ceased, the cry of an anxious inquirer, “What must I do to be saved?” Instead of this, a wretched earth-worm, full of his gains, and watching his opportunity, exclaimed, “Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me.” It was in reference to this inopportune display of the ruling passion that the Lord uttered the memorable words, “Take heed, and beware of covetousness.” It is worthy of notice, however, that while he gave a specific answer to the person who had made the request — “He said unto him, Man, who made me a judge, or a divider, over you?” (ver. 14) — the instruction suggested by the display of this man’s avarice is addressed to the whole multitude: “He said unto them, Beware of covetousness.” We have here the example of the Lord for taking a lesson from one who is far gone in a specific vice, and applying it to those in whom it has not yet manifested itself, — who may be only dallying with its earliest approaches. On the authority of this example, and without farther reference to the original case, I proceed to draw from similar displays of worldliness a similar reproof.
The reproof was uttered on the assumption that a wrong estimate was prevalent on that most momentous question, What life is, and how it should he spent. How is this question practically settled in this community at the present day? What do men aim at? what do they live for? what do they value on the one hand, and despise on the other? In the bustling intercourse of this community, what class of interests is zealously attended to, and what class of interests is allowed to go to the wall? If I describe the age as a self-seeking, money-loving age, I do not mean to say that the description is applicable to all without exception. There are even now some — perhaps many more than a short-sighted and peevish prophet would be willing to believe — who have not bowed the knee to this Mammon-Baal. There are many amongst us of the Lord’s servants toiling away as busily as others in the traffic of earth, but whose treasure is in heaven, and whose hearts are there too. The Lord knoweth them that are his. They are safe in his keeping while a reproving word is cast indiscriminately abroad. I speak of a state of things that is common, indisputable, notorious. The world is steeped in covetousness, and the church is deeply tinged with the same spirit.* Perhaps the community of this land is
[* The Scottish Clergyrnan seems willing to allow us in the United States a pre-eminence in the sin of covetousness. We might say much in our defence — but where both are so deep more money-making, money-loving, than that of any other country on the face of the earth, except the United States of America. The Americans seem to he in this matter very like ourselves. There is a world of meaning in the sarcastic proverb which has gained currency regarding that country, that “the god of America is the almighty dollar.”
The precise point with which we are at present concerned is this: An erroneous estimate of
WEALTH PERVADES THIS COMMUNITY. Money is
valued at more than money’s worth. This lies at the root of the evil. The high esteem in which money is held, gives impetus to the hard race with which it is chased. The aim follows the estimate.
in the mire, we had better not discuss the degrees of our sin. We should like to know if the Church in Scotland — even the professed friends of Christ, are not a little more than “tinged” with this transgression — we should gladly be informed what the responsibilities of the church in Scotland may be for the covetousness of that country. We would not dare to measure or to delineate if we could, the responsibilities of our churches in this respect. Just imagine for a moment that Christians, laying aside their covetousness, should exhibit to the world a specimen of their Master’s kindness and beneficence, how would the hardness of the world melt before the exhibition! Does any one exclaim, This is a slander on Protestantism! We can but refer him to the author for the strength of his expression, “deeply tinged.” Certain it is, that in proportion as covetousness prevails, love is absent, and Christianity falls short. — C] “Whatever is in a community by common consent accounted most valuable, will be practically followed with the greatest eagerness. xY false reckoning has been cast up as to where the chief good of a country lies, and the mass is moving on in a direction many points aside from the course of safety. The public mind is in error to an appalling extent in the value that is set on ffold, and consequently in the busy market of life men pay too much for it. They give away for it that which is far more precious than it. One of the oldest memories of my mind relates to a case entirely analogous. The event lies far back in childhood — I might even say infancy. The French prisoners in a Government depot (now the general prison at Perth), were allowed to hold a kind of fair, where they sold from within their railings a variety of curious articles of their own manufacture, to visitors whom curiosity had attracted to see the strangers. Thither I was taken one day, with all my money in my pocket, to see the Frenchmen. During a momentary absence of the person in charge, I set my heart upon a rude bit of wood daubed with gaudy colors, and called Napoleon. The man who possessed it, seeing me alone, accosted me, told me in broken English that nothing could be more suitable for me, and offered to sell it: at once I gave him all the money I possessed, and carried off my prize. Search was made for the man who had cheated me, but he had disappeared behind his comrades, and we never saw him more. I was obliged to return home with a sad heart, and an empty hand, destitute of sundry useful articles which I had been led to expect, and which my pence would have purchased, if they had been rightly laid out. I distinctly remember yet the deep melancholy that came over my spirit, as the reality came home to me that the money was gone, and that there was no remedy.
It is lawful to obtain a lesson by comparing great things with small. Men are like silly children in the market-place of life. They are taken by the glitter of a worthless toy. They buy it. They give their all for it. If you give your time, your hands, your skill, your heart for wealth, you are taken in. Even the wealth you have obtained cannot be kept. Death will make the veriest miser disgorge his gains, if some minor disaster do not strip him before the last enemy appear. It is the foolish estimate of wealth that ruins us. We are surrounded by sharpers that prey upon our ignorance. If we could really learn the worthlessness of the glittering thing that they expose to dazzle us, we would be safe in the midst of the throng. This habit of accounting money the principal thing, a habit caught up in childhood from the prevailing tone in society, and strengthened by the example of those whom the world honors — it is this that lays bare our defences, and makes us an easy prey to the destroyer.
Those who have money usually plume themselves upon the possession of it, without reference to any other claim on the respect of mankind. Simply in virtue of their gold, they take a high place, assume an important air, and expect the homage of the multitude. A rich man is often found expecting deference on account of his riches, whether he has inherited them from his ancestors, or acquired them by his own industry. The only difference seems to be, that he who has no merit of any kind in acquiring the possessions, holds his head still more high than the man who has amassed an equal amount by his own exertions. A rich man will despise a poor man, though the poor man inherits a nobler genius, and leads a better life. But it were a small matter what the rich man might think of himself. The only question of importance to our present purpose is, in what estimation is he held by the community? If his claim to superiority on the ground of what is no personal qualification at all, were ridiculed by the unanimous voice of a discerning public, the claim might stamp himself a fool, but would leave no imputation on the sagacity of his neighbors. Here, however, the state of the facts will afford us no consolation. The claim made might expose the folly of a few; but the claim conceded fastens folly down as a general characteristic of the community. Every section of the population may be conceived as consisting of the rich man, and his neighbors who are not rich. He looks down upon them. That is a small matter. It would not bode much harm to the commonwealth if it stood alone. A more ominous circumstance is, they lock up to him. The people look up to the rich with a great variety of feelings indeed: some with ignorant, undefined awe; some with unmanly adulation; some with a cunning, cringing selfishness; some with ambitious emulation; some with discontented envy; a great specific variety there is in the feelings wherewith the rich man is regarded, but generically they are all the same — they are a looking -up to the rich man on account of his riches. How few there arc who will measure the man by his soul — who will neither fawn upon wealth, nor envy it — who on account of it will neither set its possessor up nor down — who, in judging of his character, will ignore altogether the accident of his weath, and award the honour which is due to the man, according as he fears God and does good to his brethren!
I repeat it; there is a most diseased overgrowth in the estimate of riches, in the minds both of those who have, and of those who want them. If a man with a gold ring and goodly apparel come into our Sabbath assembly, we do not then and there single him out in any very remarkable way to set him in a good place. Perhaps T might say — for there is no profit in giving overcharged pictures even of our own vices — that an aged reverent worshipper, who in evident poverty should enter one of our Christian congregations, would have more deference paid to him than one who was distinguished only by his riches. So far, well. It shows the power of God’s Word, and the effect of bringing men near the All-seeing. In God’s presence, where airy sense of it is realized, men dare not manifest so much respect of persons. But this estimate, acted on in the courts of the Lord’s house, is forgotten in the world. There, money carries the day. Some wrould permit a poor saint to sit beside them at the Lord’s table, who would not permit that poor saint to sit beside them at
8b MONEY VALUED AT MORE
their own. Nay, more, there are many, not themselves given to vice, who will admit vicious men into their houses and tables for the sake of their riches. Parents will cherish in their families, and honor before their children, a profane rich man, a Sabbath-breaking rich man, a drunken rich man, a licentious rich man. In the practical estimation of this community, riches cover a multitude of sins.
I was much interested in observing a comparatively healthy moral tone in some of the newspapers on this very subject, in connection with a case that obtained great notoriety in England not long ago. A person had amassed large sums of money by dishonorable practices. When his dishonesty was discovered, a very great cry of execration was raised against him by the thousands of disappointed speculators whom he had duped. At that crisis, a portion of the public press, without attempting to disguise the shame of the culprit, turned round upon the sufferers with the merited rebuke, that the man, as long as he was accounted rich, was nattered by all classes with an adulation the most disgusting, — and all for his wealth alone, inasmuch as his admirers could not point to any noble quality of his soul, or any noble deed of his life. They did not begin to bespatter their idol until themselves and he had fallen together in the mire.
Although a beam fixed in the bottom protrude above the surface of a still lake, there is no commotion of the water around it; but if such a beam is fixed in the bed of a running stream, it produces an agitation proportioned to the velocity of the current. The practical estimate of money, above all other things, is like a tide that is rushing over this land. Young and old are borne along by it. A generous sacrifice for truth and for God, here and there emerging from the stream, becomes a world’s wonder. If a man, after he becomes prosperous, pays his debts, when not under the compulsion of law, the deed is chronicled in every newspaper, and applauded as a heroism more than could have been expected of humanity. At the Disruption of the Scottish Church, it is well known that politicians thought they might lay as much pressure on the ministers as would keep them quiet for many years, without any danger of driving them off, seeing they were fastened to the Establishment by a money-bond of some two or three hundred a-year. The ministers of state gave them too little credit for self-sacrificing righteousness before the event; and after it, some portions of the public perhaps gave them too much. All these extremes are due to that inordinate estimate of money, which has, in a great measure, become the habit of the national mind. The very commotion produced by a resolute stand for truth, shows that the mass of the community are gliding down the course of the world. Oh, if men would learn to weigh it in the balance of the sanctuary, to see it in the light of eternity; if we could get now impressed on our minds the estimate of money which we will all have soon, it would not be allowed to exercise so much effect in our lives; it would not be allowed, like a mighty magnet, to shape the course of the young at the opening of life’s voyage — would not be felt like a huge millstone tied round the neck, dragging down the aged to the depths of perdition at its close!
II. The warning which such a moral condition drew forth from the Lord, and the reason by which it is enforced: “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” The best method of applying the caution will be to expound the specific ground on which it is here made to rest. There are three different senses in which “a man’s life” may be understood, all of them obvious, and each charged with a distinct practical lesson.
1. Life in its literal and natural sense — the life of the body — does not consist in the “abundance” of the things which one may possess. The life is in no degree dependent on the “surplus” over and above the supply of nature’s wants. A very small portion of the fruit of the earth suffices to supply a man’s necessities. The main elements are, a little food to appease hunger, and some clothing to ward off the cold. These, as a general rule, the poor man obtains, and what more can the rich man consume? In this matter, God has brought the rich and the poor very near to each other in life, and at death the slight difference that did exist will be altogether done away. As a general rule, it may be safely affirmed that the life of the rich is as much endangered by the luxuries of their abundance, as that of the poor by the meanness of their food. The life of a laboring man, as such, seems to be as secure as the life of a noble. The air and exercise connected with his labor go as far to preserve his health as the shelter and ease which the rich man enjoys. Looking simply to life — mere animal being and wellbeing — we are justified in affirming that abundance, or overplus of goods, is no advantage to it. This is a wise arrangement of our Father in heaven. He is kind to the poor. He has protected them by laws that men cannot touch — laws imbedded in the very constitution of the universe. In this view of the case, it is not consonant with right reason to make the acquisition of wealth the main object of desire and effort. Having food and raiment, let us therewith be content, is the truest philosophy as well as the soundest religion. If our desires as to this world’s goods were limited to things necessary, we would escape from many of the cares that crush us. A great amount of time and energy now wasted on things not needful, might be reserved for outlay in a more promising field — used so as to make life more sweet on earth, with the reversion of an inheritance that will not fade away.
2. “A man’s life” may be considered as the proper exercise and enjoyment of a rational, spiritual, immortal being — that use of life which the all- wise Creator manifestly contemplated when he arranged the complex constitution of man. Hitherto we have been speaking of animal life merely, common to us with the lower orders of creatures; now we Bpeak of such a life as becomes a creature made in the image of God, and capable of enjoying him for ever. A mans life, not a beast’s; the life that becomes his faculties, his place, and his destinies.
To this life, how very little is contributed by the surplus of possessions over and above what nature needs! Indeed, that smplus more frequently hinders than helps the highest enjoyment of man’s life. The parable wdiich immediately follows the text bears, and was intended to bear, directly on this subject. Besides the folly of the rich man, in view of death and eternity, he made a capital mistake even in regard to his life in this world, when he said to his soul, “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” Foolish man — and there are many such fools amongst us — corn laid up in a barn, or money deposited in a bank, is not proper food for a soul. A very small quantity of the corn will satisfy the body’s wants; but the superabundance of it — the remainder which the body did not need — the man proposed to feast his soul upon that. Alas! the more of such food that is presented to a soul, the more of an aching craving void that soul feels. ~No man, who has accumulated great wealth, enjoys more the wealth accumulated than he did the small competency which he possessed at first. The increase of riches does not increase a soul’s enjoyment. Some who have wealth are happy. Some very rich men enjoy, in its true sense, a “man’s life,” but their life does not consist in the superabundance of their wealth. They live in spite of it, not by means of it. It is a positive law of nature, impressed on the constitution of things by an omniscient Lord, that surplus of wealth does not increase the right use and real enjoyment of life by rational and accountable beings. In proportion as a rich man is indiiferent to his wealth, his enjoyment of life does not spring from it, but from other sources. In proportion as his heart is given to his wealth, his enjoyment of life decreases. It is a law — a law of God which misers feel — that, if a man loves money, then the more money he gets, the less he enjoys it.
3. Life in the highest sense, the life of the soul, obviously does not depend in any degree on the abundance of earthly possessions. The whole world gained cannot prevent the loss of the soul.
There are two things brought into comparison and competition here — “life,” and “abundance” of possessions. These are rival objects, each displaying its own attractions to win hearts to itself. The one looks forth invitingly from the folds of divine revelation; the other cries aloud in the market-place. On one side, the voice of the Kedeemer pleads, “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. Incline your ear and come unto me; hear, and your soul shall live.” — (Isa. Iv. 1-3.) On the other side, Mammon displays his coin, and whisper, that a diligent votary may he “worth” many thousands before he die.
Consider the first object, a mans life. It is the life of the dead in sin, the life by regeneration, the life quickened by the Spirit and sustained in Christ, the life which, being hid with Christ in God, shall never die. This is a great thing for a man. It is greater than all others. It is the one thing needful. What other thing is that over against it which so many are compassing about with painful, panting looks? A fortune! an abundance of possession! Hear the word of the Lord; that abundance is not your life. It is not so needful as your life. If you take it too near your heart, it wTill quench your life.
Ye cannot serve two masters. Expressly, ye cannot serve these two, God and Mammon. If you strive to serve both, you will please neither. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. I speak not against a legitimate industry. Diligence in business is a Christian duty. But the Lord knoweth the heart, and he knows when the love of money becomes the controlling power.
“We may not serve money; but money may be made to serve us, and to serve God through our means. Money, like fire, is a good servant, but a bad master. It is this surplus, this superabundance, that is the dangerous thing. When it is sought as if it were life to a soul, it becomes to that soul death. If you have life from the Lord — life in the Lord, it will not cost you a pang to let all the abundance go.
“When a man falls into deep water, he could easily preserve his life if he would permit his whole body to lie beneath the surface, except so much of his mouth and nostrils as is necessary for the admission of air. It is the instinctive, but unwise, effort to raise portions of the body above the water, that sinks the whole beneath it. It is the weight of that portion which has been, by a convulsive effort, unnecessarily raised, that presses down the body, and drowns the man. It is by a similar law in the province of morals that avarice destroys the life of the soul. The whole amount of money that a man obtains for the purpose of using, and actually does legitimately use, does no harm to the interests of his soul. It may be great, or it may be small, while it is kept beneath the surface, so to speak — kept as a servant, and used as an instrument for legitimate objects — it is as to spiritual matters indifferent. So far as money is concerned, the man is in equilibrium, and his spiritual character will depend on other influences. But when some portion is raised above the line — when it is taken from a servant’s place, and raised to that of a master — when a surplus is sought, not for use, but for its own sake — when the love of money begins — when it is set up by the man above himself, as an object of his affection — then that surplus, wThether great or small, presses down the soul, and the man sinks in spiritual death. It is this lust that “drowns men in perdition.” — (1 Tim. vi. 11.)