"_He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he
that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity. When goods
increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to
the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes? The
sleep of the laboring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but
the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep. There is a
sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the
owners thereof to their hurt_."
Isn't that true? Is the covetous man ever satisfied with his
possessions? Aren't they vanity? Does he have peace of mind? Don't
selfish riches always bring hurt?
The folly of covetousness is well shown in the following extract: "If
you should see a man that had a large pond of water, yet living in
continual thirst, nor suffering himself to drink half a draught for
fear of lessening his pond; if you should see him wasting his time and
strength in fetching more water to his pond, always thirsty, yet
always carrying a bucket of water in his hand, watching early and late
to catch the drops of rain, gaping after every cloud, and running
greedily into every mire and mud in hopes of water, and always
studying how to make every ditch empty itself into the pond; if you
should see him grow grey in these anxious labors, and at last end a
thirsty life by falling into his own pond, would you not say that such
a one was not only the author of his own disquiet, but was foolish
enough to be reckoned among madmen? But foolish and absurd as this
character is, it does not represent half the follies and absurd
disquiets of the covetous man."
I have read of a millionaire in France, who was a miser. In order to
make sure of his wealth, he dug a cave in his wine cellar so large and
deep that he could go down into it with a ladder. The entrance had a
door with a spring lock. After a time, he was missing. Search was
made, but they could find no trace of him. At last his house was sold,
and the purchaser discovered this door in the cellar. He opened it,
went down, and found the miser lying dead on the ground, in the midst
of his riches. The door must have shut accidentally after him, and he
perished miserably.