SERMON L.
THE
USE OF MONEY.
“I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of
unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you unto everlasting
habitations.” Luke 16:9.
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,” 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.” (Verses 1, 2.) After reciting the method which the bad
steward used to provide against the day of necessity, our Savior adds, “His
Lord commended the unjust steward;” namely, in this respect, that he used
timely precaution; and subjoins this weighty refection, “The children of this
world are advised in their generation than the children of light:” (Verse 8:)
Those who seek no other portion than this world “are wiser” (not absolutely;
for they are, one and all, the veriest 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 yourself 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.”
But
is not all this mere empty rant? Is there any solid reason wherein? By no means.
For, let the world be as corrupt as it will, is gold or silver to 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 yourself 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 is 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
Nocens
ferrum, ferroque nocentius aurum: And
gold, more mischievous than keenest steel.
Hence the
lamentable complaint,
Effodiuntur
opes, irritamenta malorum. Wealth
is dug up, incentive to all ill.
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 wherein? 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) of doing all manner of good. It is true, were man in a state of
innocence, or were all men “tilled with the Holy Ghost,” so that, like the
infant Church at Jerusalem, “no man counted any thing he had his own,” but
“distributing was made to every one as he had need,” the use of it would he
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 traveler 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
defense 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!
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’s 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
expense of life, nor (which is in effect the same thing) at the expense 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 labor, as to impair our constitution. Neither should we begin or
continue in any business which necessarily deprives us of proper seasons far
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 steams 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 shows 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 idiosyncrasy, — 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 neighbor. But this we
may not, cannot do, if we love our neighbor as ourselves. We cannot, if we love
every one as ourselves, hurt anyone 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 anything 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 to be abundantly over-balanced 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 neighbor’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 neighbor’s
substance, without gaining the damnation of hell!
4.
Neither may we gain by hurting our neighbor in his body.
Therefore we may not sell anything 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; although there would rarely be occasion for them, were it not
for the unskillfullness 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 them only for this end? Do you know ten such distillers in England? Then
excuse these. But all who sell them in the common ways to any that will buy, are
poisoners in 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, though thou art
“clothed in scarlet and fine linen, and farest sumptuously every clay;”
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, though on 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 neighbor 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 neighbor
in
his soul; by ministering,
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 anything
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 innocence; hut 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 anything till tomorrow, which you can do
today. 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 he done by labor 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 experienced reading, and reflection, to
do everything you have to do better today than you did yesterday. And see that
you practice 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 expenses, 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 expense. Cut off all this expense! 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 neighbors, 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 expense 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, or their imagination, but their
vanity too. “So long as thou doest well unto thyself, men will speak good of
thee.” So long as thou art “clothed 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 honor that cometh from God.
5.
Who would expend anything in gratifying these desires, if he considered, that to
gratify them is to increase them? Nothing can be more certain than this: Daily
experience shows, the more they are indulged, they increase the more. Whenever,
therefore, you expend anything 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 anything 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 anymore; they have enough already;
nature has made ample provision for them: Why should you be at farther expense
to increase their temptations and snares, and to pierce them through with more
sorrows?
7.
Do not leave it to them to throw away. If you have good reason to believe they
would waste what is now in your possession, in gratifying, and thereby
increasing, the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eye, or the pride of
life; at the peril of theirs and your own soul, do not set these traps in their
way. Do not offer your sons or your daughters unto Belial, any more than unto
Moloch. Have pity upon them, and remove out of their way what you may easily
foresee would increase their sins, and consequently plunge them deeper into
everlasting perdition! How amazing then is the infatuation of those parents who
think they can never leave their children enough! What! cannot you leave them
enough of arrows, firebrands, and death? not enough of foolish and hurtful
desires? not enough of pride, lust, ambition, vanity? not enough of everlasting
burnings? Poor wretch! thou fearest where no fear is. Surely both thou and they,
when ye are lifting up your eyes in hell, will have enough both of “the worm
that never dieth,” and of “the fire that never shall be quenched!”
8.
“What then would you do, if you was in my case? if you had a considerable
fortune to leave?” Whether I would do
it or no, I know what I ought to
do: This will admit of no reasonable question. If I had one child, elder or
younger, who knew the value of money, one who, I believed, would put it to the
true use, I should think it my absolute, indispensable duty, to leave that child
the bulk of my fortune; and to the rest just so much as would enable them to
live in the manner they had been accustomed to do. “But what, if all your
children were equally ignorant of the true use of money?” I ought then (hard
saying! who can hear it?) to give each what would keep him above want; and to
bestow all the rest in such a manner as I judged would be most for the glory of
God.
III.
1.
But let not any man imagine that he has done anything, barely by going thus far,
by “gaining and saving all he can,” if he were to stop here. All this is
nothing, if a man go not forward, if he does not point all this at a farther
end. Nor, indeed, can a man properly be said to save anything, if he only lays
it up. You may as well throw your money into the sea, as bury it in the earth.
And you may as well bury it in the earth, as in your chest, or in the bank of
England. Not to use, is effectually to throw it away. If, therefore, you would
indeed “make yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness,” add the
Third rule to the two preceding. Having, First, gained all you can, and,
Secondly, saved all you can, Then “give all you can.”
2.
In order to see the ground and reason of this, consider, when the Possessor of
heaven and earth brought you into being, and placed you in this world, he placed
you here, not as a proprietor, but a steward: As such he entrusted you, for a
season, with goods of various kinds; but the sole property of these still rests
in him, nor can ever be alienated from him. As you yourself are not your own,
but his, such is, likewise, all that you enjoy. Such is your soul and your body,
not your own, but God’s. And so is your substance in particular. And he has
told you, in the most clear and express terms, how you are to employ it for him,
in such a manner, that it may be all an holy sacrifice, acceptable through
Christ Jesus. And this light, easy service, he hath promised to reward with an
eternal weight of glory.
3.
The directions which God has given us, touching the use of our worldly
substance, may be comprised in the following particulars. If you desire to be a
faithful and a wise steward, out of that portion of your Lord’s goods which he
has for the present lodged in your hands, but with the right of resuming
whenever it pleases him, First, provide things needful for your self; food to
eat, raiment to put on, whatever nature moderately requires for preserving the
body in health and strength. Secondly, provide these for your wife, your
children, your servants, or any others who pertain to your household. If, when
this is done, there he an overplus left, then “do good to them that are of the
household of faith.” If there be an overplus still, “as you have
opportunity, do good unto all men.” In so doing, you give all you can; nay, in
a sound sense, all you have: For all that is laid out in this manner is really
given to God. You “render unto God the things that are God’s,” not only by
what you give to the poor, but also by that which you expend in providing things
needful for yourself and your household.
4.
If, then, a doubt should at any time arise in your mind concerning what you are
going to expend, either on yourself or any part of your family, you have an easy
way to remove it. Calmly and seriously inquire, “(1.) In expending this, am I
acting according to my character? Am I acting herein, not as a proprietor, but
as a steward of my Lord’s goods? (2.) Am I doing this in obedience to his
word? In what scripture does he require me so to do? (3.) Can I offer up this
action, this expense, as a sacrifice to God through Jesus Christ? (4.) Have l
reason to believe, that for this very work I shall have a reward at the
resurrection of the just? “You will seldom need anything more to remove any
doubt which arises on this head; but, by this four-fold consideration, you will
receive clear light as to the way wherein you should go.
5.
If any doubt still remain, you may farther examine yourself by prayer, according
to those heads of inquiry. Try whether you can say to the Searcher of hearts,
your conscience not condemning you, “Lord, thou seest I am going to expend
this sum on that food, apparel, furniture. And thou knowest, I act therein with
a single eye, as a steward of thy goods, expending this portion of them thus, in
pursuance of the design thou hadst in entrusting me with them. Thou knowest I do
this in obedience to thy word, as thou commandest, and because thou commandest
it. Let this, I beseech thee, be an holy sacrifice, acceptable through Jesus
Christ! And give me a witness in “myself, that for this labor of love I shall
have a recompense when thou rewardest every man according to his works.” Now,
if your conscience bear you witness in the Holy Ghost, that this prayer is
well-pleasing to God, then have you no reason to doubt but that expense is right
and good, and such as will never make you ashamed.
6.
You see, then, what it is to “make yourselves friends of the mammon of
unrighteousness,” and by what means you may procure, “that when ye fail,
they may receive you into the everlasting habitations.” You see the nature and
extent of truly Christian prudence, so far as it relates to the use of that
great talent, money. Gain all you can, without hurting either yourself or your
neighbor, in soul or body, by applying hereto with unintermitted diligence, and
with all the understanding which God has given you; — save all you can, by
cutting off every expense which serves only to indulge foolish desire; to
gratify either the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eye, or the pride of
life; waste nothing, living or dying, on sin or folly, whether for yourself or
your children; — and then, give all you can, or, in other works, give all you
have to God. Do not stint yourself, like a Jew rather than a Christian, to this
or that proportion. Render unto God, not a tenth, not a third, not half; but all
that is God’s, be it more or less; by employing all on yourself, your
household, the household of faith, and all mankind, in such a manner, that you
may give a good account of your stewardship, when ye can be no longer stewards;
in such a manner as the oracles of God direct, both by general and particular
precepts; in such a manner, that whatever ye do may be “a sacrifice of a
sweet-smelling savor to God,” and that every act may be rewarded in that day,
when the Lord cometh with all his saints.
7.
Brethren, can we be either wise or faithful stewards, unless we thus manage our
Lord’s goods? We cannot, as not only the oracles of God, but our own
conscience, beareth witness. Then why should we delay? Why should we confer any
longer with flesh and blood, or men of the world?
Our kingdom, our wisdom, is not of this world: Heathen custom is nothing to us. We follow no men any farther than they are followers of Christ. Hear ye him: Yea, today, while it is called today, hear and obey his voice! At this hour, and from this hour, do his will: Fulfill his words in this and in all things! I entreat you, in the name of the Lord Jesus, act up to the dignity of your calling! No more sloth! Whatsoever your hand findeth to do, do it with your might! No more waste! Cut off every expense which fashion, caprice, or flesh and blood demand! No more covetousness! But employ whatever God has entrusted you with, in doing good, all possible good, in every possible kind and degree, to the household of faith, to all men! This is no small part of “the wisdom of the just.” Give all ye have, as well as all ye are, a spiritual sacrifice to Him who withheld not from you his Son, his only Son: So “laying up in store for yourselves a good foundation against the time to come, that ye may attain eternal life!”