COVETOUSNESS.
"WHAT is a miser?" asked the teacher of her pupils, and the bright boy
spoke up and answered: one who has a greed for gold. But he and all the
class were embarrassed as to how this greed for gold should be
qualified. The boy at the foot of the class came to the rescue, and
shouted out: misery.
Less wise answers are made every day in our schools. Misery is indeed
the lot, if not the vice, of the miser. 'Tis true that this is one of
the few vices that arrive at permanent advantages, the others offering
satisfaction that lasts but for a moment, and leaves nothing but
bitterness behind. Yet, the more the miser possesses the more
insatiable his greed becomes, and the less his enjoyment, by reason of
the redoubled efforts he makes to have and to hold.
But the miser is not the only one infected with the sin of avarice. His
is not an ordinary, but an extreme case. He is the incarnation of the
evil. He believes in, hopes in, and loves gold above all things; he
prays and sacrifices to it. Gold is his god, and gold will be his
reward, a miserable one.
This degree of the vice is rare; or, at least, is rarely suffered to
manifest itself to this extent; and although scarcely a man can be
found to confess to this failing, because it is universally regarded as
most loathsome and repulsive, still few there are who are not more or
less slaves to cupidity. Pride is the sin of the angels; lust is the
sin of the brute, and avarice is the sin of man. Scripture calls it the
universal evil. We are more prone to inveigh against it, and accuse
others of the vice than to admit it in ourselves.
Sometimes, it is "the pot calling the kettle black;" more often it is a
clear case of "sour grapes." Disdain for the dollars "that speak," "the
mighty dollars," in abundance and in superabundance, is rarely genuine.
There are, concerning the passion of covetousness, two notions as
common as they are false. It is thought that this vice is peculiar to
the rich, and is not to be met with among the poor. Now, avarice does
not necessarily suppose the possession of wealth, and does not consist
in the possession, but in the inordinate desire, or greed for, or the
lust of, riches. It may be, and is, difficult for one to possess much
wealth without setting one's heart on it. But it is also true that this
greed may possess one who has little or nothing. It may be found in
unrestrained excess under the rags of the pauper and beggar. They who
aspire to, or desire, riches with avidity are covetous whether they
have much, little, or nothing. Christ promised His kingdom to the poor
in spirit, not to the poor in fact. Spiritual poverty can associate
with abundant wealth, just as the most depraved cupidity may exist in
poverty.
Another prejudice, favorable to ourselves, is that only misers are
covetous, because they love money for itself and deprive themselves of
the necessaries of life to pile it up. But it is not necessary that the
diagnosis reveal these alarming symptoms to be sure of having a real
case of cupidity. They are covetous who strive after wealth with
passion. Various motives may arouse this passion, and although they may
increase the malice, they do not alter the nature, of the vice. Some
covet wealth for the sake of possessing it; others, to procure
pleasures or to satisfy different passions. Avarice it continues to be,
whatever the motive. Not even prodigality, the lavish spending of
riches, is a token of the absence of cupidity. Rapacity may stand
behind extravagance to keep the supply inexhausted.
It is covetousness to place one's greatest happiness in the possession
of wealth, or to consider its loss or privation the greatest of
misfortunes; in other words, to over-rejoice in having and to
over-grieve in not having.
It is covetousness to be so disposed as to acquire riches unjustly
rather than suffer poverty.
It is covetousness to hold, or give begrudgingly, when charity presses
her demands.
There is, in these cases, a degree of malice that is ordinarily mortal,
because the law of God and of nature is not respected.
It is the nature of this vice to cause unhappiness which increases
until it becomes positive wretchedness in the miser. Anxiety of mind is
followed by hardening of the heart; then injustice in desire and in
fact; blinding of the conscience, ending in a general stultification of
man before the god Mammon.
All desires of riches and comfort are not, therefore, avarice. One may
aspire to, and seek wealth without avidity. This ambition is a laudable
one, for it does not exaggerate the value of the world's goods, would
not resort to injustice, and has not the characteristic tenacity of
covetousness. There is order in this desire for plenty. It is the great
mover of activity in life; it is good because it is natural, and
honorable because of its motives.