Part 3 (1/2)
I. Money itself is neither good nor bad.--It is simply force. It is like the lightning or the sunlight: it withers or nourishes; it smites or does other bidding; it devastates or fertilizes, according as it is used by us. Whether money is good or bad depends on whether it is sought for in right or wrong ways, used wisely or unwisely, squandered where it does harm, or bestowed where it does good. (_a_) That it may be a power for good is evident to all. It enables men to benefit their fellow-creatures; it gives a man independence; it procures him comforts he could not otherwise have obtained. It is, as it has well been termed, ”the lever by which the race has been lifted from barbarism to civilization. So long as the race could do nothing but barely live, man was little more than an animal who hunted and fought for his prey.
When the race began to think and plan and save for tomorrow, it specially began to be human. There is not a single feature of our civilization to-day that has not sprung out of money, and that does not depend on money for its continuance.” (_b_) That money may be a power for evil is equally evident. Much of the crime and sin and sorrow of the world spring from its misuse. ”The love of money,” as Scripture says, ”is a root of all evil.” In the haste to be rich men too often lose their very manhood. Money, it is often said, does wonders, but ”the most wonderful thing that it does is to metalize the human soul.”
II. Money and our relation to it is a test of character--The making and the using of it is an education. If we know how one gets and spends money, we know what a man is. ”So many are the bearings of money upon the lives and characters of mankind, that an insight which would search out the life of a man in his pecuniary relations would penetrate into almost every cranny of his nature. He who, like St.
Paul, has learnt how to want and how to abound, has a great knowledge; for if we take account of all the virtues with which money is mixed up--honesty, justice, generosity, charity, frugality, forethought, self-sacrifice, and their correlative vices--it is a knowledge which goes to cover the length and breadth of humanity, and a right measure and manner in getting, saving, spending, taking, lending, borrowing and bequeathing would almost argue a perfect man.” [1] Nearly all the virtues and all the vices are connected with money. Its acquisition and its distribution are almost certain indications of what we are morally.
III. There are some things that are better than money, and that cannot be purchased with it--These are indeed the best things. All that can be bought money possesses actually or potentially, but there are some things that cannot be bought. Love, friends.h.i.+p, n.o.bleness of soul, genius, cannot be purchased. We must estimate rightly the power of money. It is great, but it may be exaggerated, (_a_) _Honesty_ is better than money. If a man gains money at the expense of honesty and integrity, he pays too great a price. He is like a savage who barters jewels for a string of beads. (_b_) _Home_ is better than money. If a man, struggling and striving to be rich, has no time for the joys of family and the rich blessings that circle round the fireside, if he knows nothing of the charm of love and the pleasures that spring from the affections, he pays too great a price--”a costly house and luxurious furnis.h.i.+ngs are no subst.i.tute for love in the home.” (_c_) _Culture_ is better than money. If a man grows up in ignorance and vulgarity, shut out from the world of art, literature and science, and all that refines and elevates the mind--a rude, uncultured boor--he pays too great a price for any money he may sc.r.a.pe together. (_d_) _Humanity_ is better than money. The rich man who leaves Lazarus untended at his gates, who builds about him walls so thick that no cry from the suffering world ever penetrates them, who becomes mean and stingy, close-fisted and selfish, pays too great a price. Of such a man it is said in Scripture that ”in h.e.l.l he lifted up his eyes.”
Surely he made a bad bargain, (_e_) _Spirituality_ is better than money. He who has made an idol of his wealth, who in gaining it has lost his soul, who has allowed money to come between him and G.o.d, has paid too great a price for it. He has well been depicted by John Bunyan as the man with the muck-rake gathering straws, whilst he does not see the golden crown that is held above him. Christ tells us G.o.d regards such a man as a fool.
There are certain rules of conduct which may be laid down, drawn both from Scripture and experience, in regard to money.
1. _We are especially to remember our stewards.h.i.+p_.--Money is a trust committed to us, for which we are to give account unto G.o.d. We are answerable to Him for the use we make of it. If we have ama.s.sed wealth, from G.o.d has come the power that enabled us to do so. All we have is His--not our own. To each of us shall be addressed the words, ”Give an account of thy stewards.h.i.+p, for thou mayest be no longer steward.” If we remember this great truth we shall be rightly guided, both in regard to the acc.u.mulation and the distribution of money. We shall not inordinately desire it, for we shall feel that with its increase comes new responsibility; and we shall be careful how we spend it, for the question will ever be present to our minds, What would the great Master, to whom we have to give account, wish us to do with it?
Those who have most wisely used their money are the men who have realized most intensely the thought of their stewards.h.i.+p. In the ”Life of Mr. Moore,” the successful merchant, by Smiles, this is most admirably shown. He ama.s.sed, by industry and by enterprise, great wealth; he lived a n.o.ble and benevolent life; he was honored by all men for his character and his generosity. But at the root and foundation of his life was the thought that all he had was a trust committed to him by G.o.d.
2. _We should do good as we go_.--There are those who allow that they should do good with their money, but they defer carrying out their intention till they have acc.u.mulated something that they think considerable. If they ever become rich, then they will do great things. The folly of this is apparent, (_a_) They lose the happiness which the humblest may daily reap from small deeds of kindness; and (_b_) they lose the power which will enable them to do anything if the great opportunity they desire comes. ”Doing good,” it has been well said, ”is a faculty, like any other, that becomes weak and atrophied, palsied for lack of use. You might as well stop practising on the piano, under the impression that in a year or two you will find time to give a month to it. In the meantime, you will get out of practice and lose the power. Keep your hand and your pocket open, or they will grow together, so that nothing short of death's finger can unloose them.”
[2] However little money we may have, we should use a portion of it in doing good. The two mites of the widow were in the eye of Christ a beautiful offering. Giving should always go with getting. Mere getting injures us, but giving brings to us a blessing. ”Gold,” says holy George Herbert, ”thou mayest safely touch; but if it stick it wounds thee to the quick.” George Moore, to whom we have referred, wrote yearly in his diary the words of wisdom--
What I saved I lost, What I spent I had, What I gave I have.
What proportion of our money we should give every one must determine for himself, but we are not safe spiritually unless we cultivate the habit of generosity. ”The Lord loveth a cheerful giver.” ”There are many,” it has been satirically said, ”who would be Good Samaritans without the oil and the two pence.” All of us, however humble our station, are bound to give ”as G.o.d hath prospered us” for the help of man and the cause of Christ; and the discharge of the obligation will become to us one of the greatest pleasures in life.
3. _We should cultivate thrift_.--Thrift is just forethought. It is reasonable prudence in regard to money. It provides for ”the rainy day.” If poverty be our lot, we must bear it bravely; but there is no special blessing in poverty. It is often misery unspeakable. It is often brought upon us by our self-indulgence, extravagance and recklessness. We are to use every means in our power to guard against it. The words of the poet Burns are full of common-sense:
To catch Dame Fortune's golden smile, a.s.siduous wait upon her, And gather gear by every wile That's justified by honor; Not for to hide it in a hedge, Nor for a train attendant, But for the glorious privilege Of being independent.
The squalor and wretchedness which often fall upon people come from their not having exercised a little thought in the use of their money.
A little self-denial would have saved them, and those depending on them, from many sorrows. A saving habit is good. ”It is coa.r.s.e thinking to confound spending with generosity, or saving with meanness.” The man who puts by a little week by week or year by year, against possible contingencies is wise. However small may be our salary and limited our income, we should try and save part of it.
Every young man should be a member of a savings bank, or a benefit club, by means of which he can make provision for the future. The honest endeavor to make such provision is in itself an education.
4. _We should earnestly endeavor to avoid debt_.--Debt means slavery.
It is loss of independence. It is misery. ”He” (says a Spanish proverb) ”that complains of sound sleep, let him borrow the debtor's pillow.” Every s.h.i.+lling that we spend beyond our income means an addition to a burden that may crush us to the ground. ”Pay as you go,”
is a good rule. ”Keep a regular account of what you spend,” is another. ”Before you buy anything, think whether you can afford it,”
is a third. But whatever rule we follow in regard to our expenditure, let us see that it does not exceed our income. The words of Horace Greeley, a great American writer and politician who had a large experience of life, are not too strong: ”Hunger, cold, rags, hard work, contempt, suspicion, unjust reproach, are disagreeable, but debt is infinitely worse than them all. Never run into debt! Avoid pecuniary obligation as you would pestilence or famine. If you have but fifty cents and can get no more a week, buy a peck of corn, parch it, and live on it, rather than owe any man a dollar.”
5. _We should resolutely set our face against gambling_.--Gambling is one of the curses of our time. It is the endeavor to get money by dispensing with labor, to make it without honestly working for it. It entails widespread ruin and degradation. Its consequences are often of the most appalling character. When the gambling spirit is once aroused, like drunkenness, it becomes an overpowering appet.i.te, which the victim becomes almost powerless to resist. Gambling is in itself evil, apart from its deadly effects. (_a_) It proposes to confer gain without merit, and to reward those who do not deserve a reward, (_b_) It proposes to benefit us while injuring our neighbor. ”Benefit received,” says Herbert Spencer in his _Sociology_, referring to gambling, ”does not imply effort put forth; but the happiness of the winner involves the misery of the loser. This kind of action is therefore essentially anti-social, sears the sympathies, cultivates a hard egoism, and produces general deterioration of character and conduct.” The young should specially guard against this vice, which has been a rock upon which many a promising life has made disastrous s.h.i.+pwreck.
[1] Sir Henry Taylor, _Notes from Life_.
[2] _Life Questions_, by M. J. Savage.
CHAPTER VI.
TIME.
”Time,” it is said, ”is money.” So it is, without doubt. But to the young man or young woman who is striving to make the most of himself or herself time is more than money, it is character and usefulness. They become great and good just as they learn how to make the best use of their time. On the right employment of it depends what we are to be now, and what we are to be hereafter, ”We all complain,” says the great Roman philosopher Seneca, ”of the shortness of time, and yet we have more than we know what to do with. Our lives are spent either in doing nothing at all, or in doing nothing to the purpose, or in doing nothing that we ought to do. We are always complaining that our days are few, and acting as though there would be no end of them.”
In regard to the right use of time--how to make the most of it and to get the most out of it--there are certain things that we should bear in mind and keep in constant remembrance. We may arrange them for convenience under four heads: _Economy, System, Punctuality and Prompt.i.tude_.