MONEY.
Money has been defined as _the measure and standard of value, and the
medium of exchange_. It represents everything that may be purchased.
He who possesses money has potentially in his possession everything
that can be bought with money. Money is thus power. It seems to have
in itself all earthly possibilities.
There are three things which should be borne in mind in regard to money:
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, friendship, nobleness 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 furnishings are no substitute 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 scrape 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 hell 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 God, 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 God
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 stewardship_.--Money is a trust
committed to us, for which we are to give account unto God. We are
answerable to Him for the use we make of it. If we have amassed
wealth, from God 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 stewardship, for thou mayest be no longer
steward." If we remember this great truth we shall be rightly guided,
both in regard to the accumulation 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 stewardship. In the "Life
of Mr. Moore," the successful merchant, by Smiles, this is most
admirably shown. He amassed, by industry and by enterprise, great
wealth; he lived a noble 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 God.
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 accumulated 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 God 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,
Assiduous 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 coarse
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 shilling 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 appetite, 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
shipwreck.
[1] Sir Henry Taylor, _Notes from Life_.
[2] _Life Questions_, by M. J. Savage.