will not hear the church_, if he persist in his sin, _let him be to
thee as an Heathen man and a Publican_. You are under no obligation
to think of him any more: only when you commend him to God in prayer.
You need not speak of him any more, but leave him to his own master.
Indeed you still owe to him, as to all other Heathens, earnest, tender
good-will. You owe him courtesy, and as occasion offers, all the
offices of humanity. But have no friendship, no familiarity with him;
no other intercourse than with an open Heathen.
4. But if this be the rule by which Christians walk, which is the land
where the Christians live? A few you may possibly find scattered up
and down, who make a conscience of observing it. But how very few?
How thinly scattered upon the face of the earth? And where is there
any body of men, that universally walk thereby? Can we find them in
_Europe_? Or, to go no farther, in _Great Britain_ or _Ireland_? I
fear not: I fear we may search these kingdoms throughout, and yet
search in vain. Alas for the Christian world! Alas for Protestants,
for reformed Christians! _O who will rise up with me against the
wicked? Who will take_ God’s _part_ against the evil-speakers? Art
_thou the man_? By the grace of God wilt thou be one, who art not
carried away by the torrent? Art thou fully determined, God being
thy helper, from this very hour, to set a watch, a continual _watch
before thy mouth, and keep the door of thy lips_? From this hour wilt
thou walk by this rule, _speaking evil of no man_? If thou seest thy
brother do evil, wilt thou _tell him of his fault between thee and him
alone_? Afterwards _take one or two_ witnesses, and then only _tell it
to the church_? If this be the full purpose of thy heart, then learn
one lesson well. _Hear evil of no man_: if there were no hearers,
there would be no speakers of evil. And is not (according to the
vulgar proverb) the receiver as bad as the thief? If then any begin
to speak evil in thy hearing, check him immediately. Refuse to hear
the voice of the charmer, charm he never so sweetly: let him use
ever so soft a manner, so mild an accent, ever so many professions of
good-will, for him whom he is stabbing in the dark, whom he smiteth
under the fifth rib. Resolutely refuse to hear, tho’ the whisperer
complain of being _burdened_ till he speak. Burdened! Thou fool, dost
thou _travail with_ thy cursed _secret, as a woman travaileth with
child_? Go then and be delivered of thy burden, in the way the Lord
hath ordained. First, _Go and tell thy brother of his fault, between
thee and him alone_. Next, _Take with thee one or two_ common friends,
and tell him in their presence. If neither of these steps take effect,
then _tell it to the church_. But at the peril of thy soul, tell it to
no one else, either before or after. Unless in that one exempt case,
when it is absolutely needful, to preserve the innocent. Why shouldst
thou burden another as well as thyself, by making him partaker of thy
sin?
5. *O that all you who bear the reproach of Christ, who are in
derision called _Methodists_, would set an example to the Christian
world, so called, at least in this one instance! Put ye away
evil-speaking, tale-bearing, whispering: let none of them proceed
out of your mouth. See that you _speak evil of no man_; of the absent
nothing but good. If ye must be distinguished, whether ye will or no,
let this be the distinguishing mark of a _Methodist_, “He censures no
man behind his back: by this fruit ye may know him.” What a blessed
effect of this self-denial should we quickly feel in our hearts? How
would our _peace flow as a river_, when we thus _followed peace with
all men_? How would the love of God abound in our own souls, while
we thus confirmed our love to our brethren? And what an effect would
it have on all that were united together in the name of the Lord
Jesus? How would brotherly love continually increase, when this grand
hindrance of it was removed? All the members of Christ’s mystical body
would then _naturally care for_ each other? _If one member suffered,
all_ would _suffer with it; if one was honoured, all_ would _rejoice
with it_: and every one would love his brother _with a pure heart
fervently_. Nor is this all: but what an effect might this have, even
on the wild, unthinking world? How soon would they descry in us, what
they could not find among all the thousands of their brethren, and
cry (as _Julian_ the apostate to his Heathen courtiers) “See how these
Christians love one another!” By this chiefly would God convince the
world, and prepare them also for his kingdom: as we may easily learn
from those remarkable words in our Lord’s last, solemn prayer. _I pray
for them who will believe in me, that they all may be one, as thou,
Father, art in me, and I in thee――That the world may believe that thou
hast sent me!_ The Lord hasten the time! The Lord enable _us_, thus to
love one another, not only _in word and in tongue, but in deed and in
truth_, even as Christ hath loved us.
SERMON L.
THE USE OF MONEY.
LUKE xvi. 9.
_I say unto you, make unto yourselves friends of the mammon of
unrighteousness, that when ye fail, they may receive you into
the everlasting habitations._
1. OUR Lord having finished the beautiful parable of the prodigal
son, which he had particularly addressed to those who murmured at
his _receiving_ Publicans and sinners, adds another relation of a
different kind, addressed rather to the children of God. _He said unto
his disciples_ (ver. 1.) not so much to the Scribes and Pharisees,
to whom he had been speaking before――_There was a certain rich man,
who had a steward, and he was accused to him of wasting his goods.
And calling him he said, Give an account of thy stewardship, for thou
canst be no longer steward_, (ver. 2.) After reciting the method which
the bad steward used, to provide against the day of necessity, our
Saviour adds, _His Lord commended the unjust steward_, namely in _this
respect_, that he used timely precaution, and subjoins this weighty
reflection, _The children of this world are wiser in their generation
than the children of light_. (ver. 8.) Those who seek no other portion
than _this world, are wiser_, (not absolutely; for they are, one and
all, the veryest fools, the most egregious madmen under heaven, but)
_in their generation_, in their own way: they are more consistent with
themselves, they are truer to their acknowledged principles, they more
steadily pursue their end, _than the children of light_, than they who
see _the light of the glory of_ God, _in the face of_ Jesus Christ.
Then follow the words above recited. _And I_――the only begotten Son
of God, the Creator, Lord and possessor of heaven and earth and all
that is therein: the judge of all, to whom ye are to _give an account
of_ your _stewardship_ when ye _can be no longer stewards――I say
unto you_, learn in this respect, even of the unjust steward, _make
yourselves friends_, by wise timely precaution, _of the mammon of
unrighteousness_. _Mammon_ means riches or money. It is termed _the
mammon of unrighteousness_, because of the unrighteous manner wherein
it is frequently procured, and, wherein even that which was honestly
procured, is generally employed. _Make yourselves friends_ of this by
doing all possible good, particularly to the children of God: _that
when ye fail_, when ye return to dust, when ye have no more place
under the sun, those of them who are gone before _may receive you_,
may welcome you _into the everlasting habitations_.
2. An excellent branch of Christian wisdom here inculcated by our
Lord on all his followers, namely, the right use of money; a subject
largely spoken of, after their manner, by men of the world: but
not sufficiently considered by those whom God hath chosen out of
the ♦world. These generally do not consider as the importance of
the subject requires, the use of this excellent talent. Neither
do they understand how to employ it to the greatest advantage; the
introduction of which into the world, is one admirable instance of the
wise and gracious providence of God. It has indeed been the manner of
poets, orators and philosophers, in almost all ages and nations, to
rail at this, as the grand corrupter of the world, the bane of virtue,
the pest of human society. Hence nothing so commonly heard as,
_Ferrum, Ferroq; nocentius aurum_:
And “gold, more mischievous than keenest steel.” Hence the lamentable
complaint
_Effodiuntur opes, irritamenta malorum_.
Nay, one celebrated writer gravely exhorts his countrymen, in order to
banish all vice at once, to “throw all their money into the sea.”
_In mare proximum,
Summi materiem mali!_
But is not all this mere, empty rant? Is there any solid reason
therein? By no means. For let the world be as corrupt as it will, is
gold or silver to blame? _The love of money_, we know, _is the root
of all evil_: but not the thing itself. The fault does not lie in the
money, but in them that use it. It may be used ill: and what may not?
But it may likewise be used well: it is full as applicable to the best,
as to the worst uses. It is of unspeakable service to all civilized
nations, in all the common affairs of life. It is a most compendious
instrument, of transacting all manner of business, and (if we use it
according to Christian wisdom) doing all manner of good. It is true,
were man in a state of innocence, or were all men _filled with the
Holy Ghost_, so that like the infant church at _Jerusalem, no man
counted any thing he had his own_, but _distribution was made to every
one as he had need_, the use of it would be superseded: as we cannot
conceive there is any thing of the kind among the inhabitants of
heaven. But in the present state of mankind, it is an excellent gift
of God, answering the noblest ends. In the hands of his children, it
is food for the hungry, drink for the thirsty, raiment for the naked.
It gives to the traveller and the stranger, where to lay his head. By
it we may supply the place of an husband to the widow, and of a father
to the fatherless. We may be a defence for the oppressed, a means of
health to the sick, of ease to them that are in pain: it may be as
eyes to the blind, as feet to the lame: yea, a lifter up from the
gates of death.
♦ ‘word’ replaced with ‘world’
3. It is therefore of the highest concern, that all who fear God, know
how to employ this valuable talent: that they be instructed, how it
may answer these glorious ends, and in the highest degree. And perhaps
all the instructions which are necessary for this, may be reduced to
three plain rules, by the exact observance whereof, we may approve
ourselves faithful stewards of _the mammon of unrighteousness_.
I. 1. The first of these is (he that heareth let him understand!)
_Gain all you can_. Here we may speak like the children of the world:
we meet them on their own ground. And it is our bounden duty to do
this: we ought to gain all we can gain, without buying gold too dear,
without paying more for it than it is worth. But this it is certain
we ought not to do; we ought not to gain money at the expence of life:
nor (which is in effect the same thing) at the expence of our health.
Therefore no gain whatsoever should induce us to enter into, or to
continue in any employ, which is of such a kind, or is attended with
so hard or so long labour, as to impair our constitution. Neither
should we begin or continue in any business, which necessarily
deprives us of proper seasons, for food and sleep in such a proportion
as our nature requires. Indeed there is a great difference here: some
employments are absolutely and totally unhealthy: as those which imply
the dealing much with arsenic, or other equally hurtful minerals:
or the breathing an air tainted with streams of melting lead, which
must at length destroy the firmest constitution. Others may not be
absolutely unhealthy, but only to persons of a weak constitution. Such
are those which require many hours to be spent in writing; especially
if a person write sitting, and lean upon his stomach, or remain long
in an uneasy posture. But whatever it is which reason or experience
shews to be destructive of health or strength, that we may not submit
to; seeing _the life is more_ valuable _than meat, and the body than
raiment_. And if we are already engaged in such an employ, we should
exchange it as soon as possible, for some, which if it lessen our gain,
will however not lessen our health.
2. We are secondly, to _gain all we can_, without hurting our mind any
more than our body. For neither may we hurt this: we must preserve,
at all events, the spirit of an healthful mind. Therefore we may not
engage or continue in any sinful trade, any that is contrary to the
law of God, or of our country. Such are all that necessarily imply
our robbing or defrauding the king of his lawful customs. For it is
at least as sinful, to defraud the king of his right, as to rob our
fellow-subjects. And the king has full as much right to his customs,
as we have to our houses and apparel. Other businesses there are,
which however innocent _in themselves_, cannot be followed with
innocence _now_: at least, not in _England_: such, for instance, as
will not afford a competent maintenance, without cheating or lying,
or conformity to some custom, which is not consistent with a good
conscience. These likewise are sacredly to be avoided, whatever gain
they may be attended with, provided we follow the custom of the trade.
For, to gain money we must not lose our souls. There are yet others
which many pursue with perfect innocence, without hurting either their
body or mind. And yet perhaps _you_ cannot; either they may entangle
you in that company, which would destroy your soul: and by repeated
experiments it may appear, that you cannot separate the one from
the other: or there may be an idiosyncracy, a peculiarity in your
constitution of soul (as there is in the bodily constitution of many)
by reason whereof that employment is deadly to _you_, which another
may safely follow. So I am convinced from many experiments, I could
not study to any degree of perfection, either mathematics, arithmetic,
or algebra, without being a Deist, if not an Atheist. And yet others
may study them all their lives, without sustaining any inconvenience.
None therefore can here determine for another, but every man must
judge for himself, and abstain from whatever he in particular finds
to be hurtful to his soul.
3. We are, thirdly, to _gain all we can_, without hurting our
neighbour. But this we may not, cannot do, if we love our neighbour
as ourselves. We cannot, if we love every one as ourselves, hurt any
one _in his substance_. We cannot devour the increase of his lands,
and perhaps the lands and houses themselves, by gaming, by over-grown
bills (whether on account of physic, or law, or any thing else) or
by requiring or taking such interest, as even the laws of our country
forbid. Hereby all _pawn-broking_ is excluded: seeing whatever good
we might do thereby, all unprejudiced men see with grief, it is
abundantly overballanced by the evil. And if it were otherwise,
yet we are not allowed, to _do evil that good may come_. We cannot,
consistent with brotherly love, sell our goods below the market-price.
We cannot study to ruin our neighbour’s trade, in order to advance
our own. Much less can we entice away, or receive any of his servants
or workmen whom he has need of. None can gain, by swallowing up his
neighbour’s substance, without gaining the damnation of hell.
4. Neither may we gain, by hurting our neighbour _in his body_.
Therefore we may not sell any thing which tends to impair health.
Such is eminently all that liquid fire, commonly called _drams_ or
_spirituous liquors_. It is true, these may have a place in medicine:
they may be of use, in some bodily disorders: (altho’ there would
rarely be occasion for them, were it not for the unskilfulness of the
practitioner.) Therefore such as prepare and sell them _only for this
end_, may keep their conscience clear. But who are they? Who prepare
and sell them _only for this end_? Do you know ten such distillers in
_England_? Then excuse these. *But all who sell them in the common way,
to any that will buy, are poisoners-general. They murder his Majesty’s
subjects by wholesale, neither does their eye pity or spare. They
drive them to hell, like sheep: and what is their gain? Is it not
the blood of these men? Who then would envy their large estates and
sumptuous palaces? A curse is in the midst of them: the curse of God
cleaves to the stones, the timber, the furniture of them. The curse of
God is in their gardens, their walks, their groves; a fire that burns
to the nethermost hell. Blood, blood is there: the foundation, the
floor, the walls, the roof are stained with blood! And canst thou hope,
O thou man of blood, tho’ thou art _clothed in_ scarlet _and fine
linen, and farest sumptuously every day_: canst thou hope to deliver
down thy _fields of blood_, to the third generation? Not so; for there
is a God in heaven: therefore thy name shall soon be rooted out. Like
as those whom thou hast destroyed, body and soul, _thy memorial shall
perish with thee_.
5. And are not they partakers of the same guilt, tho’ in a lower
degree, whether surgeons, apothecaries or physicians, who play with
the lives or health of men, to enlarge their own gain? Who purposely
lengthen the pain or disease, which they are able to remove speedily?
Who protract the cure of their patient’s body, in order to plunder his
substance? Can any man be clear before God who does not shorten every
disorder, _as much as he can_, and remove all sickness and pain, _as
soon as he can_? He cannot: for nothing can be more clear, than that
he does not _love his neighbour as himself_; than that he does not
_do unto others, as he would they should do unto_ himself.
6. This is dear-bought gain. And so is whatever is procured, by
hurting our neighbour _in his soul_: by ministring, suppose, either
directly or indirectly to his unchastity or intemperance; which
certainly none can do, who has any fear of God, or any real desire
of pleasing him. It nearly concerns all those to consider this, who
have any thing to do with taverns, victualling-houses, opera-houses,
play-houses, or any other places of public, fashionable diversion. If
these profit the souls of men, you are clear; your employment is good,
and your gain innocent. But if they are either sinful in themselves,
or natural inlets to sin of various kinds, then it is to be feared,
you have a sad account to make. O beware lest God say in that day,
_These have perished in their iniquity, but their blood do I require
at thy hands_!
7. These cautions and restrictions being observed, it is the bounden
duty of all who are engaged in worldly business, to observe that
first and great rule of Christian wisdom with respect to money, _Gain
all you can_. Gain all you can by honest industry: use all possible
diligence in your calling. Lose no time: if you understand yourself
and your relation to God and man, you know you have none to spare.
If you understand your particular calling as you ought, you will have
no time that hangs upon your hands. Every business will afford some
employment sufficient for every day and every hour. That wherein _you_
are placed, if you follow it in earnest, will leave you no leisure for
silly, unprofitable diversions. You have always something better to do,
something that will profit you, more or less. And _whatsoever thy hand
findeth to do, do it with thy might_. Do it _as soon_ as possible:
no delay! No putting off from day to day, or from hour to hour. Never
leave any thing ’till to-morrow, which you can do to-day. And do it
_as well_ as possible. Do not sleep or yawn over it: put your whole
strength to the work. Spare no pains. Let nothing be done by halves,
or in a slight and careless manner. Let nothing in your business be
left undone, if it can be done by labour or patience.
8. Gain _all you can_, by common sense, by using in your business all
the understanding which God has given you. It is amazing to observe,
how few do this: how men run on in the same dull track with their
forefathers. But whatever they do who know not God, this is no rule
for _you_. It is a shame for a Christian, not to improve upon _them_,
in whatever he takes in hand. _You_ should be continually learning,
from the experience of others, or from your own experience, reading
and reflection, to do every thing you have to do better to-day, than
you did yesterday. And see that you practise whatever you learn, that
you may make the best of all that is in your hands.
II. 1. Having gained all you can, by honest wisdom, and unwearied
diligence, the second rule of Christian prudence is, _Save all you
can_. Do not throw the precious talent into the sea: leave that folly
to Heathen philosophers. Do not throw it away in idle expences, which
is just the same as throwing it into the sea. Expend no part of it
merely to gratify the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eye, or
the pride of life.
2. Do not waste any part of so precious a talent, merely in gratifying
the desires of the flesh; in procuring the pleasures of sense of
whatever kind; particularly, in enlarging the pleasure of tasting.
I do not mean, avoid gluttony and drunkenness only: an honest Heathen
would condemn these. But there is a regular, reputable, kind of
sensuality, an elegant epicurism, which does not immediately disorder
the stomach, nor (sensibly at least) impair the understanding. And
yet (to mention no other effects of it now) it cannot be maintained
without considerable expence. Cut off all this expence: despise
delicacy and variety, and be content with what plain nature requires.
3. Do not waste any part of so precious a talent, merely in gratifying
the desire of the eye, by superfluous or expensive apparel, or by
needless ornaments. Waste no part of it in curiously adorning your
houses, in superfluous or expensive furniture: in costly pictures,
painting, gilding, books: in elegant (rather than useful) gardens. Let
your neighbours, who know nothing better, do this: _Let the dead bury
their dead_. But _what is that to thee_, says our Lord? _Follow thou
me._ Are you willing? Then you are able so to do.
4. Lay out nothing to gratify the pride of life, to gain the
admiration or praise of men. This motive of expence is frequently
interwoven with one or both of the former. Men are expensive in diet,
or apparel or furniture, not barely to please their appetite, or to
gratify their eye, their imagination, but their vanity too. _So long
as thou dost well unto thyself, men will speak good of thee._ So long
as thou art _cloathed in purple and fine linen, and farest sumptuously
every day_, no doubt many will applaud thy elegance of taste, thy
generosity and hospitality. But do not buy their applause so dear.
Rather be content with the honour that cometh from God.
5. Who would expend any thing in gratifying these desires, if he
considered, that to gratify them is to increase them? Nothing can
be more certain than this: daily experience shews, the more they
are indulged, they increase the more. Whenever therefore you expend
any thing to please your taste or other senses, you pay so much for
sensuality. When you lay out money to please your eye, you give so
much for an increase of curiosity, for a stronger attachment to these
pleasures, which perish in the using. While you are purchasing any
thing which men use to applaud, you are purchasing more vanity. Had
you not then enough of vanity, sensuality, curiosity before? Was there
need of any addition? And would you pay for it too? What manner of
wisdom is this? Would not the literally throwing your money into the
sea, be a less mischievous folly?
6. *And why should you throw away money upon your children, any more
than upon yourself, in delicate food, in gay or costly apparel, in
superfluities of any kind? Why should you purchase for them, more
pride or lust, more vanity, or foolish and hurtful desires? They do
not want any more: they have enough already: nature has made ample
provision for them. Why should you be at farther expence, to increase
their temptations and snares, and to _pierce them thro’ with_ more
_sorrows_?