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Containing
the great obligations, and the great advantages of
making a wise and religious use of our estates and
fortunes.
AS THE
HOLINESS of Christianity consecrates all states and
employments of life unto God, as it requires us to aspire
after an universal obedience, doing and using everything
as the servants of God, so are we more specially obliged
to observe this religious exactness in the use of our
estates and fortunes.
The
reason of this would appear very plain, if we were only to
consider, that our estate is as much the gift of God, as
our eyes or our hands, and is no more to be buried or
thrown away at pleasure, than we are to put out our eyes,
or throw away our limbs as we please.
But,
besides this consideration, there are several other great
and important reasons why we should be religiously exact
in the use of our estates.
First,
Because the manner of using our money or spending our
estate enters so far into the business of every day, and
makes so great a part of our common life, that our common
life must be much of the same nature as our common way of
spending our estate. If reason and religion govern us in
this, then reason and religion have got great hold of us;
but if humour, pride, and fancy, are the measures of our
spending our estate, then humour, pride, and fancy, will
have the direction of the greatest part of our life.
Secondly,
Another great reason for devoting all our estate to right
uses, is this: because it is capable of being used to the
most excellent purposes, and is so great a means of doing
good. If we waste it we do not waste a trifle, that
signifies little, but we waste that which might be made as
eyes to the blind, as a husband to the widow, as a father
to the orphan; we waste that which not only enables us to
minister worldly comforts to those that are in distress,
but that which might purchase for ourselves everlasting
treasures in Heaven. So that if we part with our money in
foolish ways, we part with a great power of comforting our
fellow-creatures, and of making ourselves forever blessed.
If there
be nothing so glorious as doing good, if there is nothing
that makes us so like to God, then nothing can be so
glorious in the use of our money, as to use it all in
works of love and goodness, making ourselves friends, and
fathers, and benefactors, to all our fellow-creatures,
imitating the Divine love, and turning all our power into
acts of generosity, care, and kindness to such as are in
need of it.
If a man
had eyes, and hands, and feet, that he could give to those
that wanted them; if he should either lock them up in a
chest, or please himself with some needless or ridiculous
use of them, instead of giving them to his brethren that
were blind and lame, should we not justly reckon him an
inhuman wretch? If he should rather choose to amuse
himself with furnishing his house with those things, than
to entitle himself to an eternal reward, by giving them to
those that wanted eyes and hands, might we not justly
reckon him mad?
Now money
has very much the nature of eyes and feet; if we either
lock it up in chests, or waste it in needless and
ridiculous expenses upon ourselves, whilst the poor and
the distressed want it for their necessary uses; if we
consume it in the ridiculous ornaments of apparel, whilst
others are starving in nakedness; we are not far from the
cruelty of him, that chooses rather to adorn his house
with the hands and eyes than to give them to those that
want them. If we choose to indulge ourselves in such
expensive enjoyments as have no real use in them, such as
satisfy no real want, rather than to entitle ourselves to
an eternal reward, by disposing of our money well, we are
guilty of his madness, that rather chooses to lock up eyes
and hands, than to make himself forever blessed, by giving
them to those that want them. For after we have satisfied
our own sober and reasonable wants, all the rest of our
money is but like spare eyes or hands; it is something
that we cannot keep to ourselves without being foolish in
the use of it, something that can only be used well, by
giving it to those that want it.
Thirdly,
If we waste our money, we are not only guilty of wasting a
talent which God has given us, we are not only guilty of
making that useless, which is so powerful a means of doing
good, but we do ourselves this further harm, that we turn
this useful talent into a powerful means of corrupting
ourselves; because so far as it is spent wrong, so far it
is spent in support of some wrong temper, in gratifying
some vain and unreasonable desires, in conforming to those
fashions, and pride of the world, which, as Christians and
reasonable men, we are obliged to renounce.
As wit
and fine parts cannot be trifled away, and only lost, but
will expose those that have them into[14] greater follies,
if they are not strictly devoted to piety; so money, if it
is not used strictly according to reason and religion, can
not only be trifled away, but it will betray people into
greater follies, and make them live a more silly and
extravagant life, than they could have done without it.
If, therefore, you do not spend your money in doing good
to others, you must spend it to the hurt of yourself. You
will act like a man, that should refuse to give that as a
cordial to a sick friend, though he could not drink it
himself without inflaming his blood. For this is the case
of superfluous money; if you give it to those that want
it, it is a cordial; if you spend it upon yourself in
something that you do not want, it only inflames and
disorders your mind, and makes you worse than you would be
without it.
Consider
again the forementioned comparison; if the man that would
not make a right use of spare eyes and hands, should, by
continually trying to use them himself, spoil his own eyes
and hands, we might justly accuse him of still greater
madness.
Now this
is truly the case of riches spent upon ourselves in vain
and needless expenses; in trying to use them where they
have no real use, nor we any real want, we only use them
to our great hurt, in creating unreasonable desires, in
nourishing ill tempers, in indulging our passions, and
supporting a worldly, vain turn of mind. For high eating
and drinking, fine clothes, and fine houses, state and
equipage, gay pleasures, and diversions, do all of them
naturally hurt and disorder our hearts; they are the food
and nourishment of all the folly and weakness of our
nature, and are certain means to make us vain and worldly
in our tempers. They are all of them the support of
something, that ought not to be supported; they are
contrary to that sobriety and piety of heart which
relishes Divine things; they are like so many weights upon
our minds, that make us less able, and less inclined, to
raise up our thoughts and affections to the things that
are above.
So that
money thus spent is not merely wasted or lost, but it is
spent to bad purposes, and miserable effects, to the
corruption and disorder of our hearts, and to the making
us less able to live up to the sublime doctrines of the
Gospel. It is but like keeping money from the poor, to buy
poison for ourselves.
For so
much as is spent in the vanity of dress, may be reckoned
so much laid out to fix vanity in our minds. So much as is
laid out for idleness and indulgence, may be reckoned so
much given to render our hearts dull and sensual. So much
as is spent in state and equipage, may be reckoned so much
spent to dazzle your own eyes, and render you the idol of
your own imagination. And so in everything, when you go
from reasonable wants, you only support some unreasonable
temper, some turn of mind, which every good Christian is
called upon to renounce.
So that
on all accounts, whether we consider our fortune as a
talent, and trust from God, or the great good that it
enables us to do, or the great harm that it does to
ourselves, if idly spent; on all these great accounts it
appears, that it is absolutely necessary to make reason
and religion the strict rule of using all our fortune.
Every
exhortation in Scripture to be wise and reasonable,
satisfying only such wants as God would have satisfied;
every exhortation to be spiritual and heavenly, pressing
after a glorious change of our nature; every exhortation
to love our neighbour as ourselves, to love all mankind as
God has loved them, is a command to be strictly religious
in the use of our money. For none of these tempers can be
complied with, unless we be wise and reasonable, spiritual
and heavenly, exercising a brotherly love, a godlike
charity, in the use of all our fortune. These tempers, and
this use of our worldly goods, is so much the doctrine of
all the New Testament, that you cannot read a chapter
without being taught something of it. I shall only produce
one remarkable passage of Scripture, which is sufficient
to justify all that I have said concerning this religious
use of all our fortune.
"When
the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy
angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his
glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations: and
he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd
divideth his sheep from the goats: and he shall set the
sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then
shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye
blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world: for I was an hungered,
and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink:
I was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed
me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye
came unto me . . . Then shall he say unto them on the left
hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire,
prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was an
hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye
gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in:
naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye
visited me not. These shall go away into everlasting
punishment: but the righteous into life eternal."
[Matt. xxv. 31-64]
I have
quoted this passage at length, because if one looks at the
way of the world, one would hardly think that Christians
had ever read this part of Scripture. For what is there in
the lives of Christians, that looks as if their salvation
depended upon these good works? And yet the necessity of
them is here asserted in the highest manner, and pressed
upon us by a lively description of the glory and terrors
of the day of judgment.
Some
people, even of those who may be reckoned virtuous
Christians, look upon this text only as a general
recommendation of occasional works of charity; whereas it
shows the necessity not only of occasional charities now
and then, but the necessity of such an entire charitable
life, as is a continual exercise of all such works of
charity, as we are able to perform.
You own,
that you have no title to salvation, if you have neglected
these good works; because such persons as have neglected
them are, at the last day, to be placed on the left hand,
and banished with a "Depart, ye cursed." There
is, therefore, no salvation but in the performance of
these good works. Who is it, therefore, that may be said
to have performed these good works? Is it he that has some
time assisted a prisoner, or relieved the poor or sick?
This would be as absurd as to say, that he had performed
the duties of devotion, who had some time said his
prayers. Is it, therefore, he that has several times done
these works of charity? This can no more be said, than he
can be said to be the truly just man, who had done acts of
justice several times. What is the rule, therefore, or
measure of performing these good works? How shall a man
trust that he performs them as he ought?
Now the
rule is very plain and easy, and such as is common to
every other virtue, or good temper, as well as to charity.
Who is the humble, or meek, or devout, or just, or
faithful man? Is it he that has several times done acts of
humility, meekness, devotion, justice, or fidelity? No;
but it is he that lives in the habitual exercise of these
virtues. In like manner, he only can be said to have
performed these works of charity, who lives in the
habitual exercise of them to the utmost of his power. He
only has performed the duty of Divine love, who loves God
with all his heart, and with all his mind, and with all
his strength. And he only has performed the duty of these
good works, who has done them with all his heart, and with
all his mind, and with all his strength. For there is no
other measure of our doing good, than our power of doing
it.
The
Apostle St. Peter puts this question to our blessed
Saviour: "Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against
me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto
him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times, but, Until
seventy times seven." [Matt. xviii. 21, 22] Not as if
after this number of offences a man might then cease to
forgive; but the expression of seventy times seven, is to
show us, that we are not to bound our forgiveness by any
number of offences, but are to continue forgiving the most
repeated offences against us. Thus our Saviour saith in
another place, "If he trespass against thee seven
times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to
thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him."
[Luke xvii. 4] If, therefore, a man ceases to forgive his
brother, because he has forgiven him often already; if he
excuses himself from forgiving this man, because he has
forgiven several others; such a one breaks this law of
Christ, concerning the forgiving one's brother.
Now the
rule of forgiving is also the rule of giving; you are not
to give, or do good to seven, but to seventy times seven.
You are not to cease from giving, because you have given
often to the same person, or to other persons; but must
look upon yourself as[15] much obliged to continue
relieving those that continue in want, as you were obliged
to relieve them once or twice. Had it not been in your
power, you had been excused from relieving any person
once; but if it is in your power to relieve people often,
it is as much your duty to do it often, as it is the duty
of others to do it but seldom, because they are but seldom
able. He that is not ready to forgive every brother, as
often as he wants to be forgiven, does not forgive like a
disciple of Christ. And he that is not ready to give to
every brother that wants to have something given him, does
not give like a disciple of Christ. For it is as necessary
to give to seventy times seven, to live in the continual
exercise of all good works to the utmost of our power, as
it is necessary to forgive until seventy times seven, and
live in the habitual exercise of this forgiving temper,
towards all that want it.
And the
reason of all this is very plain, because there is the
same goodness, the same excellency, and the same necessity
of being thus charitable at one time as at another. It is
as much the best use of our money, to be always doing good
with it, as it is the best use of it at any particular
time; so that that which is a reason for a charitable
action, is as good a reason for a charitable life. That
which is a reason for forgiving one offence, is the same
reason for forgiving all offences. For such charity has
nothing to recommend it to-day, but what will be the same
recommendation of it to-morrow; and you cannot neglect it
at one time, without being guilty of the same sin, as if
you neglected it at another time.
As sure,
therefore, as these works of charity are necessary to
salvation, so sure is it that we are to do them to the
utmost of our power; not to-day, or to-morrow, but through
the whole course of our life. If, therefore, it be our
duty at any time to deny ourselves any needless expenses,
to be moderate and frugal, that we may have to give to
those that want, it is as much our duty to do so at all
times, that we may be further able to do more good. For if
it is at any time a sin to prefer needless vain expense to
works of charity, it is so at all times; because charity
as much excels all needless and vain expenses at one time
as at another. So that if it is ever necessary to our
salvation, to take care of these works of charity, and to
see that we make ourselves in some degree capable of doing
them, it is as necessary to our salvation, to take care to
make ourselves as capable as we can be, of performing them
in all the parts of our life.
Either,
therefore, you must so far renounce your Christianity, as
to say that you need never perform any of these good
works; or you must own that you are to perform them all
your life in as high a degree as you are able. There is no
middle way to be taken, any more than there is a middle
way betwixt pride and humility, or temperance and
intemperance. If you do not strive to fulfil all
charitable works, if you neglect any of them that are in
your power, and deny assistance to those that want what
you can give, let it be when it will, or where it will,
you number yourself amongst those that want Christian
charity. Because it is as much your duty to do good with
all that you have, and to live in the continual exercise
of good works, as it is your duty to be temperate in all
that you eat and drink.
Hence
also appears the necessity of renouncing all those foolish
and unreasonable expenses, which the pride and folly of
mankind have made so common and fashionable in the world.
For if it is necessary to do good works, as far as you are
able, it must be as necessary to renounce those needless
ways of spending money which render you unable to do works
of charity.
You must
therefore no more conform to these ways of the world than
you must conform to the vices of the world; you must no
more spend with those that idly waste their money as their
own humour leads them, than you must drink with the
drunken, or indulge yourself with the epicure: because a
course of such expenses is no more consistent with a life
of charity than excess in drinking is consistent with a
life of sobriety. When, therefore, any one tells you of
the lawfulness of expensive apparel, or the innocence of
pleasing yourself with costly satisfactions, only imagine
that the same person was to tell you, that you need not do
works of charity; that Christ does not require you to do
good unto your poor brethren, as unto Him; and then you
will see the wickedness of such advice. For to tell you
that you may live in such expenses, as make it impossible
for you to live in the exercise of good works, is the same
thing as telling you that you need not have any care about
such good works themselves.
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