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COVETOUSNESS 
 
 BROUGHT TO 
 
 THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 
 
~& ' /"'At; 
 
 COVETOUSNESS 
 
 BROUGHT 
 
 TO THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE; 
 
 A BRIEF INQUIRY 
 
 INTO THE NATURE AND EVIL OF THAT SIN. 
 
 By JAMES GLASSFORD, Esq. 
 
 Beware or CovETocs.s'ESs." — Luke xii. 16. 
 " Occupy till I come." — Lu&cxix. 13. 
 
 EDINBURGH: 
 
 JOHN JOHNSTONE, 2, HUNTER SQUARE; 
 
 AND JAMES NISBET AND CO. ? LONDON. 
 
 MDCCCXXXVII. 
 

 
 
 *£ //St. 
 
 JOHN JOHNSTONE, PRINTER, HUNTER SQUARE. 
 
IN 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 In consequence of circumstances well known to most 
 readers, the subject considered in the following- pages has 
 lately attracted more than usual attention; and, after the 
 able works in which it has been recently treated, the pre- 
 sent may appear to be uncalled for and superfluous. The 
 Author's excuse for still offering this Essay to the public, 
 which was written before either of the volumes referred 
 to had appeared, and of course without any knowledge of 
 their method and plan, is, that in a matter of great practical 
 importance, it is not unprofitable to exhibit the subject under 
 a variety of aspects, and even at the risk of some repetition. 
 It was no part of his design in preparing these remarks, 
 either to advance new opinions, or to study any ornament of 
 style ; but simply to examine the nature and evil of Covet- 
 ousness, particularly as set forth in the Word of God ; and 
 to show, by some illustrations, the extent of its influence 
 in our own country. 
 
 Edinburgh, July 1837. 
 
INQUIRY, &c. 
 
 There is no sin which the Word of God has denounced 
 more frequently, or stigmatized in stronger terms, than 
 the sin of covetousness. The love of money is declared 
 to be the root of all evil; and the covetous man is 
 described as an idolater, and one whom God abhorreth. 
 The danger as well as evil of this sin is a prominent 
 subject of our Lord's addresses to his disciples, and of 
 the letters of his inspired apostles to their Christian 
 brethren. 
 
 Yet, notwithstanding these repeated warnings and 
 denunciations, there is reason to fear that of all the sins 
 which dwell in the heart of man, there is none that 
 lies deeper, and more easily besets or oftener pre- 
 vails even to deform and mar the character of those 
 who are followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, than this 
 very sin of avarice, or the inordinate love of worldly 
 possessions. It is one of those insidious and hidden 
 temptations which assail the Christian unaware, because 
 it approaches him while in the exercise of that which is 
 
8 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 in itself lawful ; because it proceeds by imperceptible 
 advances which sound no alarm to the conscience, and 
 because it is a secret and personal sin lurking in the 
 inw r ard part ? which does not, like anger and other vio- 
 lent passions, break forth at once into outward acts, or 
 necessarily inflict any immediate and direct injury on 
 a fellow-creature. 
 
 It becomes, therefore, an important and interesting 
 object to examine into the real nature of this sin of 
 covetousness ; and into the grounds and reasons of 
 that sentence of condemnation which is passed upon it 
 by the unerring Word of God. And it is the more ex- 
 pedient and necessary to attempt this inquiry, because 
 Christian writers in general, while anxious to combat 
 and expose the prevailing vices of sensual indulgence 
 and extravagant and wasteful profusion, have too much 
 overlooked this opposite passion of avarice and the love 
 of money. 
 
 The inquiry may be naturally divided into those three 
 branches: — 1. What is covetousness? 2. Wherein 
 does the evil and sinfulness of it consist? And, 3. 
 What is the judgment of God against it, as revealed in 
 his word ? 
 
 After a short consideration of each of these questions, 
 it will be suitable to close the subject with some admo- 
 nitory cautions addressed to the Christian reader, as to 
 the use and abuse of riches. 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE, 
 
 SECTION L 
 
 WHAT IS COVETOUSNESS? 
 
 Here it is to be remarked in the outset, that it is not 
 every kind or degree of what may be called coveting, 
 that is sinful or reprehensible, To covet, in the gene- 
 ral acceptation of the word, is to desire with earnestness 
 any thing which is good and valuable, or which is so con- 
 sidered, and to desire a large amount of such things. But 
 it is plain that there are some things which, being really 
 and absolutely good in themselves, it is not merely per- 
 mitted and lawful, but proper, and a commanded duty, 
 to seek with eagerness, and to seek in abundant measure 
 and full supply. Hence the apostle desires the Chris- 
 tians at Corinth to covet earnestly the best gifts.— 
 1 Cor. xii. 31. And it is evident that the favour of 
 God, an interest in the Sariour, the communication of 
 the Holy Spirit, and all Christian graces and disposi- 
 tions, may and ought to be desired with the greatest 
 fervency, and without limit. We may also, without 
 blame, covet the favour and good opinion of those among 
 
10 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 our fellow-men, who themselves enjoy the favour of 
 God, if that good opinion is not sought at the expense 
 of duty, but in the discharge of it. The Psalmist 
 declares that his desire was to the " excellent of the 
 earth/' and their society and communion was often the 
 earnest longing of his heart. The prophet denounces a 
 woe upon him that coveteth an evil covetousness, — Habb. 
 ii. 9 ; thus distinguishing it from one that is lawful and 
 right, namely, a desire and pursuit after spiritual gifts 
 and graces. 
 
 Considered, then, as an irregular and unlawful in- 
 dulgence, covetousness does not consist in the measure 
 or strength of the desire, but in the direction which it 
 receives, and the nature of its objects. In this limited 
 and proper signification, it has reference to the pursuit 
 of objects and possessions which are of an earthly and 
 temporal kind, and are not fitted to be the satisfying por- 
 tion of a spiritual and immortal being. 
 
 But farther, it is not every degree of earnestness in 
 the pursuit even of earthly objects and attainments, 
 of things connected with this present state of existence, 
 as distinguished from things spiritual and heavenly, that 
 constitutes the sin of covetousness. Man is endowed 
 with a reasonable soul ; the Spirit of the Almighty 
 has given him understanding ; and he has been placed, 
 by the gift of intellectual faculties and capacities, in 
 a high rank among created beings. The culture of 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 11 
 
 these faculties is both lawful and commendable. By the 
 improvement of these powers, he is not only enabled to 
 procure many advantages and comforts pertaining to 
 his natural life, but also enabled to attain a fuller 
 knowledge of his Creator, to discern the majesty and 
 glory of his character, as manifested in this lower world, 
 to trace the operation of his hand, his sustaining and 
 directing Providence, and, through a knowledge of the 
 creature to reach a larger and more distinct knowledge 
 of the all-powerful, all-wise, and all-good Creator. — 
 " For the invisible things of Him from the creation of 
 the world are clearly seen, being understood by the 
 things that were made." — Rom. i. 20. And the more 
 extended and ample that our knowledge is both of the 
 works and the providence of God, so much greater is 
 the room and scope for that homage of reverence and 
 love, which are the reasonable service, and constitute 
 the greatest happiness of his intelligent creatures. To 
 covet such knowledge therefore is allowed and com- 
 mended. " Wisdom is a defence," and is " better than 
 strength," or " the weapons of war." — Eccles. vii. 12, 
 ix. 16 — 18. "Buy also wisdom, and instruction, and 
 understanding." — Prov. xxiii. 23. For "to get under- 
 standing is rather to be chosen than silver." — Prov. xvi. 
 16. Also, " The heart of him that hath understanding 
 seeks knowledge." — Prov. xv. 14. 
 
 This is not the place to inquire into those mistakes 
 
12 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 which may be committed in the pursuit of these trea- 
 sures of knowledge, or to consider the spirit in which 
 that pursuit ought to be conducted ; one observation, 
 however, is not altogether foreign to the present subject, 
 namely, that not a few persons have been found whose 
 minds were wholly bent upon amassing the stores of 
 human learning, without deriving from such treasures 
 of knowledge any real advantage either to themselves 
 or others. These may be considered as intellectual 
 misers, the obscure collectors of unprofitable lore ; and 
 whose labour, in so far as they may not have left their 
 discoveries upon record, must altogether perish with 
 themselves and come to nought. But though, in the 
 pursuit and accumulation even of intellectual riches, 
 there may thus be vanity and excess, and a like in- 
 ordinate desire may be manifested in seeking the 
 applause of men, and a reputation in the world, by 
 the exercise of other powers and faculties of our 
 nature, the more appropriate and more frequent ex- 
 amples of this sinful affection of covetousness are to 
 be found in the pursuit of things altogether earthly and 
 sensual ; of gold, and silver, and houses, and lands ; of 
 all those possessions which minister to the gratification 
 of appetite and sense. The nature of the passion is 
 to be considered then, in this, its usual and restricted 
 sense, namely, that love of money, the representative 
 of all worldly possessions, which is denoted by the term 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE, 
 
 avarice, and is called in Scripture the mammon of un- 
 righteousness. 
 
 The desire to accumulate property is natural to man 
 at every season of life, and in every condition. Next 
 to pride, that universal passion of the human heart, the 
 wish to amass wealth appears to be the most prevailing 
 disposition in the mind of man. A striking remark is 
 made on this subject, by a late American traveller : # — 
 " We have found pride in the remotest Indian lodge 
 we ever visited, and have hardlv . ever engaged in ten 
 minutes' conversation with a northern Indian, without 
 discovering it not only to exist, but, where there was 
 moral energy at all, as constituting the primary motive 
 to action. It has always been found, however, unac- 
 companied by one of its most constant concomitants in 
 civilized life, namely, the desire of wealthe" The ex- 
 ception thus noted, and by which a strong confirmation 
 is afforded of the general rule, may be accounted for 
 by the situation and modes of life of the North Ameri- 
 can Indians. But, though such be the case with these 
 and some other nomadic tribes, where shall we ever 
 expect to find a country or people advanced even to the 
 earliest stages of social improvement, among whom the 
 accumulation of property, beyond the mere natural and 
 recurring wants of the individual, is not the first and 
 
 * Narrative of an expedition through the Upper Mississippi, 1832, 
 New York. 
 
14 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 universal object of pursuit ? And in proportion to the 
 progress of civilization does this passion commonly in- 
 crease and gather strength. 
 
 In ascertaining how far the indulgence of this natu- 
 ral desire is lawful to the Christian, or otherwise, an 
 important line of distinction is to be drawn. For it is 
 not a mere possession of the good things of this life, or 
 labour bestowed in the acquisition of them, which is in- 
 jurious and forbidden, as constituting the sin of covet- 
 ousness. On the contrary, we know that God has 
 given us all things richly to enjoy; that " every crea- 
 ture of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be 
 received with thanksgiving." — 1 Tim. iv. 4. The 
 earth and its abundance was given for the use of man 
 in his state of innocence ; and the only difference in 
 this respect as to fallen man, is the condition of labour 
 in the attainment of these blessings, and the command 
 to eat bread in the sweat of his brow. Nor is there 
 any difference between the produce of the soil and that 
 which represents it in the interchange of men, namely, 
 money, which is a lawful and convenient instrument in 
 that exchange. It is not money, but the love of money 
 which is the root of evil ; it is the inordinate desiVe 
 and thirst of obtaining and increasing wealth which is 
 forbidden and condemned. The rich man, of whom it 
 is said that he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven, 
 is he who trusteth in his riches ; who has set his heart 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 15 
 
 upon them, and makes the possession of riches a su- 
 preme object of his care and affection. In the parable of 
 the unjust steward, our Saviour does not prohibit the 
 possession or the use of worldly wealth, but directs to 
 the right employment of it. So likewise in the parable 
 of the talents, it is not the possession of money or 
 other worldly gifts, whether they be few or many, that 
 is condemned, but solely the neglect to apply them as 
 they were intended and ought to be applied. 
 
 There is no gift of God, then, even connected with 
 things earthly and temporal, which may not be possess- 
 ed and thankfully enjoyed. The blessings offered to 
 his people of old comprehended those of the basket 
 and the store ; and the promises of the Gospel extend, 
 in like manner, to things of the life that now is, in ad- 
 dition to those of the life that is to come. The error 
 and the transgression consist in giving those things an 
 undue place in our affections, or in the abuse of them, 
 whether by employing them for evil, or by not employ- 
 ing them for good. Hence the apostle, in the passage 
 last referred to, while he says that no creature of God 
 is to be refused, if received with thanksgiving, adds this 
 farther important condition and direction, " for it is 
 sanctified by the word of God and prayer." — 1 Tim.iv. 5. 
 
 Having shortly considered what is not included in 
 
 the sin of covetousness, it is now to be ascertained 
 
 wherein that evil passion actually consists. It may be 
 a 2 
 
16 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 defined an inordinate love of earthly and temporal pos- 
 sessions, and desire after them. It is applicable to these, 
 in every variety and kind ; whether the object of desire 
 be the goods of others, or such as are not thus appro- 
 priated. When money? as distinguished from other 
 goods, is the object of this inordinate affection, we 
 usually give it the more peculiar name of avarice. 
 
 He who applies himself greedily to acquire and 
 heap up earthly possessions, of whatever kind, may do so 
 either for the purpose of using them in the gratification 
 of his own desires and pleasures, and the aggrandizement 
 of himself and his family, or merely for the purpose of 
 accumulation and amassing a treasure, without any other 
 immediate and definite end. The sin is the same in 
 both cases. In the former, indeed, some advantage may 
 be derived to others, who, by their labour and skill, 
 minister to the pursuits of the covetous man, and to his 
 means of enjoyment; while, in the latter case, no such 
 consequence may directly follow. But the sensualist 
 and the miser, who, in different ways, thus pursue after 
 their covetousness, lie, in the sight of God, under equal 
 condemnation. The guilt, indeed, may be aggravated 
 in certain cases, by adding to the sin of covetousness 
 other sins to which it often leads. When David coveted 
 the wife of Uriah, the Hittite, he added to that first sin 
 those of adultery and murder. When Achan coveted 
 the goodly Babylonish garments, and the silver and the 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 17 
 
 gold of the captives, he added to that sin both disobe- 
 dience to the command of his superiors, and artful and 
 fraudulent concealment, endangering the safety of the 
 army. The people of Israel and Judah, whom the prophet 
 Micah denounced for " coveting fields which they took 
 by violence, and houses, and taking them away," — Mic, 
 ii. 2, — added to their greed, injustice and oppression. 
 When Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, followed Naaman, 
 and, under false pretences, obtained from him two 
 talents of silver and two changes of raiment, he added 
 to his sin of avarice the sin of lying, and the sin of dis- 
 obedience and treachery toward the prophet. And 
 when Judas, for thirty pieces of silver sold his Master, 
 he added to the sin of covetousness the sins of blackest 
 ingratitude, treason, and murder. But, in all these 
 cases, it w r as still the same sin of covetousness which was 
 the root and origin of these aggravated evils and crimes. 
 It is evident, then, that whether this passion be indulged 
 for the purposes of priae and voluptuous enjoyment, or 
 for the miser's gratification of penurious hoarding, and 
 whether the acquisition of wealth is made by extortion 
 and rapacity, or the more indirect methods of fraud, or 
 by unjustly withholding from others that which is their 
 due, the evil and the sin are the same. The prophet 
 thus speaks of Shallum, king of Judah : — " Woe unto 
 him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his 
 chambers by wrong : that useth his neighbour's service 
 
18 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 without wages, and giveth him not for his work ; that 
 saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers? 
 and cuttethhim out windows, and it is ceiled with cedar? 
 and painted with vermilion : Shalt thou reign because 
 thou closest thyself in cedar ? Did not thy father eat 
 and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it 
 was well with him ? He judged the cause of the poor 
 and needy ; then it was well with him : Was not this to 
 know me? saith the Lord : but thine eyes and thy heart 
 are not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent 
 blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it." — 
 Jerem. xxii. 1 3 — 17. Yet we see that the judgment is 
 not less severe which is denounced by the apostle against 
 them who hoard up their treasures of gold, and silver, 
 and apparel, till, through accumulation and want of use, 
 they are wasted and become corrupt. " Go to now, 
 ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall 
 come upon you ; your riches are corrupted, and your 
 garments are moth-eaten ; your gold and silver is can- 
 kered, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, 
 and shall eat your flesh as it were fire : Ye have heaped 
 treasure together for the last days." — James v. 1-3. 
 
 But, since the earth is given for the use of man, and 
 the enjoyment of temporal things is not forbidden, it 
 may be asked, what is the degree and amount of that 
 care for temporal goods which is lawful in itself? and 
 at what point does the pursuit of them, with a view to 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 19 
 
 such enjoyment, become unlawful, and degenerate into 
 covetousness ? The answer must be sought in the de- 
 clarations of Scripture ; for the address is more espe- 
 cially made to those who acknowledge the obligation and 
 authority of the law and word of God. On reference 
 to that perfect canon and rule of life, w r e are taught as 
 follows : — 
 
 1 . There is no direct and absolute limitation to the 
 amount of earthly possessions w 7 hich may lawfully be 
 acquired. The goods of this life, like every thing else 
 which we have or can procure, are the gifts of God, 
 and may be used according to the measure in which 
 he bestows them, provided that they are employed 
 agreeably to his will, and with an eye to his glory, and to 
 that account which he will require of us. " Every man 
 also to whom God hath given riches, and wealth, and 
 hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his 
 portion, and to rejoice in his labour ; this is the gift of 
 God." — Eccles. v. 19. " When thou hast eaten and 
 art full, then shalt thou bless the Lord thy God for the 
 good land which he hath given thee." — Deut. viii. 10. 
 Among the promises of God to Solomon, are " riches, 
 and wealth, and honour." — 2 Chron. i. 12. " There- 
 fore," said the patriarch, in that blessing which fell 
 upon Jacob, " God give thee of the dew of heaven, 
 and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and 
 wine." — Gen. xxvii. 28. " And ye shall eat the fat of 
 
20 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 the land," says God himself to his people. — Gen. xlv. 
 18. Nehemiah, the governor, after prayer and solemn 
 reading of the law to the children of the captivity, 
 66 said unto the people, go your way, eat the fat, and 
 drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for w T hom 
 nothing is prepared ; for this day is holy unto our Lord : 
 neither be ye sorry ; for the joy of the Lord is your 
 strength." — Neh. viii, 10. " If ye be willing and 
 obedient," says God by his prophet, " Ye shall eat the 
 good of the land." — Is. i. 19. " And Joseph said, 
 peace be to you ; fear not : your God and the God 
 of your father hath given you treasure in your sacks." — 
 Gen. xliii. 23. Peter said to Ananias, while thy 
 land " remained, was it not thine own ? and after it was 
 sold, was it not in thine own power ? " — Acts v. 3, 4. 
 Ananias had not sinned, although he had retained his 
 possessions ; but he was guilty of covetousness, as well as 
 lying and hypocrisy, in retaining part of that which he 
 pretended to bestow. 
 
 Temporal goods, then, as one of the gifts of God, 
 and even the abundance of them, may lawfully be re- 
 ceived and used ; and the measure of that use is gra- 
 ciously left by him to be governed by the circumstances 
 and the wants of his people* The natural and implant- 
 ed desires of man will never fail to direct and prompt 
 him to the acquisition of what is needful. " He that 
 laboureth, laboureth for himself: for his mouth craveth 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 21 
 
 it of him." — Prov. xvi. 26. But, besides that suffi- 
 ciency, he is graciously permitted and encouraged to 
 provide what is requisite to render life comfortable to 
 himself and useful to others. Agur prays not only to 
 be kept from the snare of riches, but from the tempta- 
 tions of poverty. And the apostle enjoins his fellow- 
 Christians to provide things honest in the sight of all 
 men ; and showed, by his example, that he knew how 
 to abound, as well as how T to suffer want. A sufficient 
 latitude, in short, is given as to temporal blessings, both 
 for the wants of the individual, and the communication 
 of kind offices to others; all that is really desirable 
 both for life and godliness. 
 
 Nor is it merely a permission and tolerance which 
 is granted for the enjoyment of temporal comforts and 
 advantages ; but farther, the acquisition of them, under 
 qualifications to be immediately noticed, is a command- 
 ed duty ; and activity, in the necessary business of life, 
 is a Christian obligation. " The hand of the diligent 
 maketh rich." — Prov. x. 4. " He that gathereth by 
 labour shall increase." — Prov. xiii. 11. " Thou ought- 
 est to have put my money to the exchangers ; and then, 
 at my coming, I should have received mine own with 
 usury," that is with profit — Matt. xxv. 27. Earthly 
 possessions, like the bodily and mental powers, and 
 every other gift, are talents committed to man, in trust, 
 and are to be employed with diligence, as well as 
 
22 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 fidelity, in the service of the Giver. Hence the re- 
 proof of our Saviour to the negligent servant, in the 
 words last quoted. And hence his injunction to his 
 disciples : " Make to yourselves friends of the mammon 
 of unrighteousness," that is, of worldly riches ; for 
 " he that is faithful in that which is least, will be faith- 
 ful also in much." — Luke xvi. 9, 10. Hence the 
 command, not to be slothful in business, along with the 
 command, to serve the Lord. 
 
 But, though there is no restriction imposed on the 
 amount of earthly possessions, which, as the gift of God, 
 may lawfully be received and thankfully used, there are 
 very important limitations laid down in his word, as to 
 the degree of earnestness with which they may be 
 sought after and pursued, the methods by which this 
 pursuit may be conducted, and the purposes for which 
 these possessions, when acquired, may be employed. 
 These limitations shall briefly be adverted to in their 
 order. 
 
 2. It is to be observed, then, that a condition and 
 limitation is prescribed to the pursuit of temporal goods, 
 both as regards the extent of them, and the urgency 
 with which they may be sought. God said of the king 
 whom his people were to set over them, " He shall not 
 multiply horses to himself, — neither shall he greatly 
 multiply to himself riches and gold." — Deut. xvii. 16, 
 17. The promise given to Solomon of earthly pos- 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 23 
 
 sessions and honour was not given in answer to 
 prayer for these blessings, but as a gracious reward 
 bestowed by God in consideration of the more spirit- 
 ual blessings which he did supplicate : " Because this 
 was in thine heart, and thou hast not asked riches, 
 wealth, or honour, — but hast asked wisdom and know- 
 ledge for thyself, that thou may est judge my people, 
 over whom I have made thee king ; wisdom and know- 
 ledge is granted unto thee, and I will give thee riches, 
 and wealth, and honour, such as none of the kings have 
 had that have been before thee, neither shall there any 
 after thee have the like."— 2 Chron. i. II, 12. " Labour 
 not to be rich," says that king, who was himself thus 
 
 endowed with riches Prov.xxiii. 4. " Feed me," savs 
 
 Agur, " with food convenient for me." — Prov. xxx. 8. 
 " Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay 
 field to field, till there be no place ; "■ — Isaiah v. 8, — who 
 are eagerly set upon the^ enlargement of their bounds 
 and the increase of their inheritance. The Gospel 
 abounds in precepts and warnings to the same effect. 
 " Woe unto you that are rich, — w 7 oe unto you that are 
 full." — Luke vi. 24, 25. " Lay not up for yourselves 
 treasures upon earth. — Take no thought," no anxious 
 and unbelieving concern, " for your life, w T hat ve shall 
 eat, or what ye shall drink, nor yet for the body, what 
 ye shall put on." — Matt. vi. 19, 24. " Labour not for 
 the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endur- 
 
24 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 eth unto everlasting life." — John vi. 27. Do not labour, 
 that is, for the first, with the same earnestness as for the 
 latter ; much more, do not labour for the first to the 
 exclusion of the last. " Having food and raiment, let 
 us be therewith content." — 1 Tim. vi. 8. " Be* content 
 with such things as ye have." — Heb. xiii. 5. " Love 
 not the world, neither the things that are in the world." 
 — 1 John ii. 15. Many other passages of a similar 
 import might be referred to, if necessary, from which 
 may be deduced this two-fold proposition, that there is 
 no direct promise in the word of God to encourage 
 those in their pursuit who desire more than a convenient 
 and competent supply of temporal goods ; and that to 
 labour even for such a portion of them with our chief 
 anxiety and supreme care, betrays a want of Christian 
 faith and dependence upon the providence and the pro- 
 mises of God. The Christian, while engaged in the 
 pursuit of things temporal, is to feel a holy indifference 
 for the result, both as regards the success of that pur- 
 suit, and the amount of the acquisition. His zeal is to 
 be in the prosecution of heavenly things, and his soul 
 to " follow hard " after God. — Ps. lxiii. Under the in- 
 fluence of these feelings, and this submission to the will 
 of God, he will be content with such things as he has, 
 and will know how to use them according to God's ap- 
 pointment, so that gathering little he will lack nothing, 
 or gathering much he will have nothing over. 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE, 25 
 
 3. There is a farther limitation imposed as to the 
 manner of obtaining earthly possessions, and the way in 
 which that object is pursued. There are some methods 
 of acquiring them which are lawful and commendable, 
 namely, by the industrious exercise of the various 
 powers and faculties bestowed upon man, whether of 
 body or mind ; or by the voluntary act of his fellow- 
 men, or whatever other instrument of the providence of 
 God. And there are many other ways and methods 
 which are plainly unlawful. In one case the blessing of 
 God may, under the conditions and limits already men- 
 tioned, be expected to accompany the possession. In 
 the other case, that blessing can by no means be looked 
 for. It is evident that to desire and seek after that 
 which is the lawful property of another person, without 
 his consent in the way of purchase or exchange, is in all 
 cases forbidden, and constitutes the direct sin of covet- 
 ousness, whether the attempt is made by open violence, 
 or by secret fraud and stealth. " Thou shalt not 
 covet thy neighbour's house ; thou shalt not covet thy 
 neighbour's wife," &c. — Ex. xx. 17. " He that getteth 
 riches and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of 
 his days, and at his end shall be a fool." — Jerem. xvii. 
 11. " Treasures of wickedness profit nothing. — Tie 
 Lord casteth away the substance of the wicked,"— Prov. 
 x. 2, 3. " He that maketh haste to be rich," who is set 
 upon obtaining wealth without considering whether the 
 
26 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 means be lawful or otherwise, shall " not be innocent. — 
 He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye," he will fall 
 into transgression, and will envy and covet that which 
 is another's.— Prov. xx. 22. " Hear this, O ye that 
 swallow up the needy, — saying, when will the new 
 moon be gone, that we may sell corn, and the Sabbath 
 that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, 
 and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by de- 
 ceit ? that we may buy the poor for silver, and the 
 needy for a pair of shoes, yea, and sell the refuse of the 
 wheat ? The Lord hath sworn, by the excellency of 
 Jacob, surely I will not forget any of their works ; shall 
 not the land tremble for this ? " — Amos viii. 4-8. 
 
 In the catalogue of the sins of Judah, it is said by 
 the prophet, " In thee have they taken gifts to shed 
 blood : thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast 
 greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion, and hast 
 forgotten me, saith the Lord God." — Ezek. xxii. 12. 
 " Are there yet," says the Lord, by another prophet, 
 " the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wick- 
 ed ? and the scant measure that is abominable ? Shall 
 I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with 
 the bag of deceitful weights? — for the rich men thereof 
 are full of violence. — Therefore also will I make thee 
 sick in smiting thee," &c. — Mic. vi. 10-13. It was the 
 condemnation of the sons of Samuel, that " they turned 
 aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judg- 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 2/ 
 
 merit." — 1 Sam.viii. 3. " Woe to him that increaseth 
 that which is not his. How long ? And to him that 
 ladeth himself with thick clay. — Woe to him that buildeth 
 a town with blood, and establisheth a city by iniquity," — 
 Habb. ii. 6-12. Felix, the Roman governor, was 
 ready, through covetousness, to receive a bribe. For 
 " he hoped that money should have been given him 
 of Paul, that he might loose him ; wherefore he sent 
 for him the oftener, and communed with him." — 
 Acts xxiv. 26. Of similar character are those false 
 teachers of whom the apostle Peter says, " Through 
 covetousness shall they with feigned words make mer- 
 chandize of you — an heart they have exercised with 
 covetous practices — and are gone astray, following the 
 way of Balaam, the son of Bosor, who loved the wages 
 of unrighteousness." — 2 Pet. ii. 3-14, &c. Here, as 
 in the case of the sons of Samuel, we see covetous- 
 ness entering even into the house of God, and the 
 Church of Christ : men, who, in the corresponding lan- 
 guage of Jude, will even turn "the grace of our God into 
 lasciviousness," to the gratification of their worldly de- 
 sires, and will " run greedilv after the error of Balaam 
 for reward." — Jude 4-1 1 . . 
 
 4. Lastly, on this part of the subject, there are 
 important conditions and restrictions under which the 
 goods of this world are given and may be enjoyed, 
 in so far as concerns the uses and purposes to which 
 
28 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 they may lawfully be applied. Let these conditions 
 be shortly considered, having reference here, as in 
 other cases, to the word of God as the authority and 
 rule. 
 
 The primary purpose of temporal possessions is for the 
 life and well-being of the individual to whom thev are 
 given, and of those who are dependent upon him. The 
 earth is allowed for the use of man ; the fruits of it and 
 the produce of man's industry, are bestowed for his sus- 
 tentation and comfort, to be received with thanksgiving. 
 Here, too, as in all his dispensations, the benevolence 
 of the gracious Giver is conspicuous. For there is no 
 absolute and determined limit, as already observed, to 
 the prescribed enjoyment of worldly blessings. God 
 giveth largely ; and the Gospel dispensation is, with 
 respect to things temporal as well as spiritual, enlarged 
 in its principle and expansive in its operation. As 
 earthly possessions, whether these have been acquired 
 by the personal exertions and lawful industry of the in- 
 dividual, or poured into his lap through the providence 
 of God, may be held by the Christian in abundant 
 measure, without rebuke or blame; so, in the distribution 
 of them again, he is not restricted to particular and 
 single objects, but is allowed an ample scope of valuable 
 and important purposes to which he may lawfully apply 
 them, in the greatest extent and variety. God, who is 
 rich in bounty, wills not to restrain the receiver by po- 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 29 
 
 sitive rules as to the employment of his gifts, but only 
 by general laws and principles, which resolve into the 
 promotion of his own glory and the happiness of his 
 creatures ; principles not different or opposed, but co- 
 incident and the same. The promotion of the Re- 
 deemer's honour, bv the extension of his kingdom in 
 
 ' %J o 
 
 the earth, is the great instrument to this end ; but the 
 subordinate means and channels by which this end may 
 be reached, are numerous and diversified. To use the 
 abundance of temporal wealth for purposes of human 
 pride and ambition, and sensual indulgence, is nowhere 
 warranted in the word of God. But to employ it in 
 the various ways which contribute to the improvement 
 of man's social and intellectual condition, or add to the 
 sum of human happiness and comfort, is nowhere in that 
 word forbidden. God has revealed himself, not only 
 by his written word, but also by his created works ; and 
 whatever tends to make s these works more fullv and 
 more exactly known, tends also to exalt the Creator ; 
 and, next to the diffusion of his word, is a fit and com- 
 mendable object wherewith the talent of worldly riches 
 may be occupied. It cannot be doubted that the cul- 
 tivation of human science, and literature, and art, when 
 conducted with Christian humility, and subordinate to 
 higher objects and ends, is not only consistent with 
 Christian principle, but may be rendered the hand- 
 maid of Christian faith ; and, in common with the whole 
 
30 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 physical and moral powers of man, may be rendered an 
 instrument of God's glory, as it has too often, through 
 the perverseness and sinful passions of men, been used 
 as an instrument to dishonour him. 
 
 But further, not only may the possessor of worldly 
 riches employ them for the uses and comforts of life, 
 and bestow them in numberless wavs for the benefit, 
 direct or indirect, of others ; but he may also, for allow- 
 ed objects and purposes, lay up in store for the future. 
 This, indeed, is not only lawful, but in measure is re- 
 quisite and necessary for the ends of life ; subject to 
 those conditions and limits which follow from the gene- 
 ral precepts of Christian duty, forbidding all excess in 
 temporal enjoyments, and requiring the follower of Christ 
 to let his moderation be known unto all men ; subject 
 also to a constant and prevailing sense of that account 
 which is to be rendered of every talent committed to his 
 trust. When thus regulated, there is no sin in laying 
 up a portion of the fruits of industry. It may even be 
 a moral and religious duty so to do. The apostle gives 
 this injunction to the Christians at Corinth : " Upon 
 the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by 
 him in store, as God hath prospered him ;" for the pur- 
 pose, that is, of ministering to the saints who were in 
 
 nee d. 1 Cor. xvi. 2. " If any provide not for his 
 
 own," says the same apostle, " and specially for those 
 of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 31 
 
 than an infidel/' — 1 Tim. v. 8. That is, he who 
 makes not the necessary provision for those who, in the 
 order of providence, are thrown upon his care, whether 
 of his kindred or of the poor, acts not upon Christian 
 doctrine, and falls short even of the unbeliever, who is 
 destitute of that higher principle. The injunction, in- 
 deed, is not unfrequently wrested to a false application ; 
 for it is important to remember, that he who is under 
 this moral and Christian obligation of providing for 
 those of his own house, is liable to the same condition 
 as in providing for himself. He is bound to provide 
 things requisite and lawful, but not at liberty, either in 
 his own case or that of others, to lay up in store for the 
 gratification of inordinate desires, or of worldly pride 
 and ostentation, thus making " provision for the flesh 
 to fulfil the lusts thereof." 
 
 There are occasions, too, of a public and general 
 nature, when even a very large and extraordinary ac- 
 cumulation of provision and treasure may be proper 
 and fitting ; of which we see various examples in Scrip- 
 ture history. When Joseph gathered all the money 
 in Egypt, he was not reproved for that act, which was 
 done in the public character which he then held, and 
 for public purposes, not for his personal aggrandize- 
 ment or indulgence. When Solomon collected the 
 wealth of kings, and treasures of gold, and silver, and 
 all precious things, and provided his treasure-house and 
 
32 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 his armoury, this care and industry was an act of piety 
 and kingly state, for the service of God and the defence 
 of his kingdom. 
 
 The acquisition and accumulation of temporal goods 
 may become sinful in two several ways. There is a 
 positive abuse of wealth, which consists in employing it 
 improperly ; and there is what may be called a negative 
 abuse of it, which consists in not putting it to those 
 uses for which, in the providence of God, it is bestowed, 
 and which latter is, in a more peculiar sense, the sin of 
 avarice. Though we may thus distinguish two classes 
 of persons, those who collect for the purpose of expend- 
 ing on worldly uses and gratifications, and those who 
 collect merely for amassing what they cannot employ, 
 and have no intention of using, there is little difference 
 as to the sin or its degree. The evil principle of con- 
 duct is the same, though the character of the individu- 
 als may, in other respects, be very different. The man 
 who sets his affections upon the attainment of riches, 
 for either of these purposes, is alike guilty of the sin of 
 covetousness, or the undue desire of worldly posses- 
 sions. This is not the place to enlarge upon the first 
 mentioned abuse of riches, though it is the most com- 
 mon, because it rather resolves into other sins on which 
 it closely borders, and which are not the present subject 
 of inquiry; sins of sensuality, pride, and ambition. It 
 is scarcely necessary to prove the unlawfulness of gather- 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 33 
 
 ing stores of worldly wealth for the purpose of sensual 
 and luxurious gratification. The Israelites " tempted 
 God in their heart," says the Psalmist, " by asking 
 meat for their lust." — Ps. lxxviii. 18. " Ye ask and 
 receive not," says the Apostle James, " because ye 
 ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." — - 
 James iv. 3. M Go to now ye rich men; weep and 
 howl for your miseries that shall come upon you... ye 
 have heaped treasure together for the last days... ye 
 have lived in pleasure on the earth and been wanton ; 
 ye have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter." 
 — James v. 1, 3, 5. 
 
 A religious man cannot be an avowed sensualist. To 
 increase wealth for such purposes will immediately be 
 condemned by every one who professes the faith ;of the 
 Gospel. The Christian will, in general, go farther, 
 and condemn equally those vain indulgences which in 
 Scripture language are described as the pride of life. 
 He will not claim the right to accumulate wealth and 
 great possessions, in order to aggrandize his family and 
 relations, to obtain pre-eminence on the earth, and that 
 homage and subserviency which is paid by worldly men 
 to those who have large possessions. But if any Christian 
 should secretly cherish in his heart such feeling, and 
 give way, through the contagion of worldly influence, 
 to such motives of pride and ambition, as an excuse for 
 the pursuit of wealth, let him reflect upon the following 
 
34 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 declarations of the word of God : — " Be not conformed 
 to this world." — Rom. xii. 2. " Ye cannot serve God 
 and mammon." He who has his affections placed 
 upon the riches of this world, who makes them the chief 
 and principal object of his concern, cannot look to God 
 as the supreme object of his desire ; he cannot love and 
 serve him with his whole heart, and mind, and strength. 
 It is one of the characters of the citizen of Sion, that 
 " he putteth not out his money to usury ;" that is, for 
 undue gain and advantage. — Ps. xv. 5. " Let not the 
 rich man glory in his riches," says the prophet ; let 
 him not make his wealth a subject of boast or of confi- 
 dence. — Jer. ix. 23. It is part of Job's imprecation 
 while protesting his innocency, " If I have made gold 
 my hope, or have said to the fine gold, thou art my con- 
 fidence ; if I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and 
 because mine hand had gotten much," &c. — Job xxxi. 
 24, 25. The treasures of silver and gold which the 
 people of Israel heaped up were the stumbling-block of 
 their iniquity, and one of the reasons of their final over- 
 throw. — Ezek. vii. 19. Thus, too, the prophet says of 
 Tyre, " With thy wisdom and with thine under- 
 standing thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten 
 gold and silver into*thy treasures ; by thy great wisdom 
 and by thy traffic hast thou increased thy riches ; and 
 thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches ; therefore, 
 thus saith the Lord God, because thou hast set thine 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. OO 
 
 heart as the heart of God," in thy pride and confi- 
 dence, " behold, therefore, I will bring strangers upon 
 thee, the terrible of the nations." — Ezek. xxviii. 4-7. 
 The judgment of God, that is to say, came upon 
 them because of their presumption on account of wealth 
 and worldly prosperity. " Woe to him that coveteth an 
 evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest 
 on high, that he may be delivered from the power of 
 evil." — Habb. ii. 9. " Woe unto you that are rich," 
 says the Lord Jesus ; you, that is, who trust in your 
 riches, " for ye have received your consolation." — Luke 
 vi. 24. 
 
 The state of mind in the worldly man, as contrasted 
 with his real condition in the sight of God, is thus 
 strongly depicted in the word of inspiration. " Their 
 inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for 
 ever, and their dwelling-places to all generations : they 
 call their lands after their own names... .This their way 
 is their folly. . . . Like sheep they are laid in the grave ; 
 death shall feed on them ; and the upright shall have 
 dominion over them in the morning" of the resurrec- 
 tion.../ 4 Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, 
 when the glory of his house is increased : for when he 
 dieth he shall carry nothing away ; his glory shall not 
 descend after him." — Ps. xlix. 11-17. " They that 
 will be rich fall into temptation, and a snare, and into 
 many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in 
 
36 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 destruction and perdition. For the love of money is 
 the root of all evil ; which, while some coveted after, 
 they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves 
 through with many sorrows." — 1 Tim. vi. 9, 10. " Let 
 your conversation," your life and walk in the world, 
 " be without covetousness." — Heb. xiii. 5. 
 
 But though it is a common, perhaps the most frequent 
 case, that the covetous man multiplies to himself lands, 
 and houses, and silver, and gold, for the purposes of 
 selfrindulgence, and vanity, and worldly power, he may 
 be greedy of gain without contemplating these objects, 
 and without an immediate aim at such gratifications. 
 This forms the second abuse or misapplication of 
 worldly possessions, which it was proposed to notice, 
 and is the counterpart of the former. In this, the means 
 are converted into the end, and the desire of riches ter- 
 minates in the mere accumulation, in the single act of 
 amassing treasures which it is no part of the possessor's 
 design to employ for the above or any other use. This 
 is avarice in the unqualified sense of the term, and ex- 
 hibits the passion of covetousness in all its naked defor- 
 mity. As the productions of the earth, which are the 
 gift of God, may be abused by intemperance and excess, 
 so they may also be abused by not employing them for 
 the purposes on account of which they are bestowed. 
 The Christian is not to misuse his Master's goods, 
 either by waste, — Luke xvi. U or by diverting them from 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 37 
 
 their proper ends, — Matt. xxiv. 49. Earthly possessions 
 are a trust, and ought to be expended in the service of 
 the Giver ; and the good of man is a prominent part of 
 that service. One of the purposes for which wealth is 
 bestowed in greater abundance upon some than upon 
 others is, that occasion may be given for the exercise of 
 brotherly kindness. But the sensualist and the miser 
 equally disappoint this gracious end. 
 
 If every just man that now pines in want 
 Had but a moderate and becoming share 
 Of that which lewdly pampered luxury 
 Now heaps upon some few with vast excess, 
 Nature's full blessings would be well dispensed 
 In unsuperrluous even proportion, 
 And she no whit encumbered with her store ; 
 And then the Giver would be better thanked, 
 His praise due paid.* 
 
 The miser who hoards the gift, and applies it not, is 
 equally unprofitable and not less unfaithful than the 
 spendthrift. In a certain sense, indeed, it is a Christian 
 duty to spare and to save of earthly goods ; but in the 
 sense only of abstaining from sinful and unnecessary indul- 
 gence, and in order to bestow them upon purposes that 
 are useful and commanded. The duty of self-denial 
 does not consist merely in abstinence from sensual grati- 
 fication, but in the resistance of all immoderate desire ; 
 and while there are many who must exercise this denial 
 by sparing in their expenditure, so there are some who 
 
 * Milton, 
 
38 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 must exercise it by enlarging that expenditure. The 
 niggardly man is unjust both to himself and others. 
 He denies himself the lawful comfort of his goods and 
 estate, which are profitable to the sustentation and well- 
 being, not only of the body, but also of the mind and 
 soul ; and he never draws out his heart and affections 
 to his fellow-creatures. He who amasses an earthly 
 store, without using or distributing, is not the only 
 example, indeed, perhaps not the most remarkable, of 
 those who hide the Lord's talent ; but that he is one of 
 that number cannot be doubted. 
 
 It would be easy to enlarge on the folly and unhap- 
 piness attending this passion of avarice. By the consent 
 of whole nations and people, the avaricious man has 
 been placed out of the pale of society, as one excluded 
 from the ordinary sympathies of his fellow-creatures; 
 and even in their speech he has been designated as 
 a man of wretchedness and misery ; as, peculiarly and 
 emphatically, the " unhappy" man. The writer of 
 romance, the comic poet, and the satirist, have ex- 
 hausted their ingenuity and their powers of language 
 in presenting the portrait of the miser in the deepest 
 lines, and most offensive colouring; and they have 
 been unable to exaggerate the truth, or even to equal 
 the reality. For biography affords not a few remark- 
 able examples of this vice, exceeding in actual history 
 all which the most fertile imagination could suggest of 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 39 
 
 what is base and sordid in human character. But it 
 is not the present purpose to delineate the particular 
 features of this vice, or adduce instances of its power, 
 so much as to characterise the general nature of the 
 sin, and that state of heart and mind in which it con- 
 sists. And for this purpose the appeal must be made 
 again to the declarations of Scripture as the unerring 
 authority : 
 
 " There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath no- 
 thing." — Prov. xiii. 7. Here is the case of the covetous 
 man, who has no profit by his toil, who amasses a store, 
 but knows not how to enjoy or use it. Of another such, 
 it is said by the wise man, " He hath neither child nor 
 brother, yet is there no end of all his labour, neither is 
 his eye satisfied with riches, neither saith he for w 7 hom 
 do I labour, and bereave my soul of good ? " — Eccles. 
 iv. 8. He has not even a successor for whom he 
 destines his wealth, but is actuated by the single 
 unqualified lust of gold, Solomon recurs again and 
 again to this case, to expose the folly and condemn the 
 vice. " There is a sore evil which 1 have seen under 
 the sun, namely, riches kept by tho owners thereof to 
 their hurt ; but those riches perish by evil travail." 
 —Eccles. v. 13, 14. " There is an evil which I have 
 seen under the sun, and it is common among men : a 
 man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and 
 
 honour, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all 
 
 b 2 
 
40 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 that he desireth ; yet God giveth him not power to eai 
 thereof, but a stranger eateth it ; this is vanity, and it 
 is an evil disease." — Eccies. vi. 1, 2. Riches thus 
 hoarded are not only unprofitable, but a burthen $ and 
 shall become a curse. They will either perish with 
 the owner, or, by the overruling providence of God* 
 be given to others, while he himself shall lie down as 
 a fool. " The wealth of the sinner is laid up for the 
 just." — Prov. xiii. 22. " So are the ways of every one 
 that is greedy of gain ; which taketh away the life of the 
 owner thereof."- — Prov. i. 19. 
 
 But while they are alike condemned who either abuse 
 the gift of wealth by intemperate and lavish waste, or 
 pervert it by withholding its right application, we are 
 not left ignorant as to the just use of worldly posses- 
 sions, and our duty in respect to the management of 
 them. And here the leading principle and direction to 
 the Christian is, to employ them in the service of the 
 Giver and to his glory. " The silver is mine, and the 
 gold is mine, saith the Lord of Hosts." — Hagg. ii. 8. 
 As they came from him they are to revert to him. 
 Every talent is to be occupied in the way which is 
 agreeable to the will of Christ, through whose purchase 
 they are received ; and love to Him is the motive of 
 obedience. His command is, " Occupy till I come." 
 As the loan is from him, and the account is to be 
 rendered to him, there can be no doubt that the uses 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 41 
 
 nre to be such as he will approve : and the direction is 
 to be found in the two great principles of Christian 
 conduct, love to God, and love to man : when these 
 are the governing motives, the blessing 1 mav be ex- 
 pected, for it is promised, " Honour the Lord with 
 thy substance, and with the first-fruits of all thine in- 
 crease ; so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and 
 thy presses shall burst out with new wine."— Pro v. iii. 
 9, 10. " There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth :. 
 and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it 
 tendeth to poverty. The liberal soul shall be made fat, 
 and he that watereth shall be watered also himself." — 
 Prov. xi. 24, 25. Of the avaricious man it is said, " He 
 eoveteth greedily all the day long; but the righteous 
 giveth and spareth not." — Prov. xxi. 26. " Is not this 
 the fast that I have chosen," says the Lord, " to deal 
 thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor 
 that are cast out to thy house ? when thou seest the 
 naked that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thy- 
 self from thine own flesh. Then shall thy light break 
 forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth 
 speedily ; and thy righteousness shall go before thee : 
 the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward. Then 
 shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer ; thou shalt 
 cry, and he shall say, Here I am.... If thou draw out 
 thy soul to the hungry," draw thy affections from self, 
 selfish enjoyments and interest, extending them to others 
 
42 COVETOtTSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 who are in need, " and satisfy the afflicted soul, then 
 shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as 
 the noon-day: and the Lord shall guide thee continually, 
 and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones ; 
 and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring 
 erf water, whose waters fail not." — Isa, lviii. 6-11. 
 Jesus said to the young man who desired to become his 
 disciple, and on whom he looked with complacency, " If 
 thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give 
 to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven ; 
 and come and follow me." — Mat. xix. 21. And to all 
 his disciples he says, " Give, and it shall be given unto 
 you ; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, 
 and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For 
 with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be 
 measured to you again." — Luke vi. 38. Upon these 
 principles did his early disciples act. " For as many as 
 were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought 
 the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them 
 down at the Apostles' feet." — Acts iv. 34, 35. " And 
 all that believed were together, and had all things com- 
 mon ; aa'd sold their possessions and goods, and parted 
 them to all men, as every man had need. And they, 
 continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and 
 breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat 
 with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and 
 having ( favOur with all the people."* — Acts ii. 44-47* 
 
THE BAH OF SCRIPTURE. 43 
 
 It is unnecessary to stop here for the purpose of in- 
 quiring into the peculiar circumstances of the Christian 
 church in Jerusalem at that time, when the small num- 
 ber of believers situated in the midst of a hostile popu- 
 lation, and exposed to the watchful and persecuting 
 jealousy of the rulers and governors, not only drew the 
 bonds of their union closer, but enabled them to main- 
 tain with greater advantage, that entire community of 
 goods. The principle from which it arose, however 
 modified it may be by other and opposite conditions of 
 society, remains ever the same, and will manifest itself 
 according to the occasion and necessity, in love to the 
 brethren, and the communication of every good office 
 and gift. It will ever lead the Christian who has this 
 world's good, to distribute to the necessity of others ; 
 especially to them that are of the household of faith ; and 
 when he sees a brother have need, not to shut up his 
 bowels of compassion from him : " Charge them that 
 are rich in this world— 4hat they do good, that they be 
 rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to com- 
 municate ; laying up in store for themselves a good 
 foundation against the time to come." — 1 Tim. vi. 
 17-19. " Withhold not good from them to whom 
 it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do 
 it. Say not to thy neighbour, Go, and come again, 
 and to-morrow I will give, when thou hast it by thee. ,r 
 — Prov. hi. 27, 28. 
 
44 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 Some important conclusions may be drawn from this 
 last passage of Scripture, as exemplifying the different 
 forms which this vice of covetousness can assume, 
 and the various covers under which it may be veiled* 
 One of those most frequently to be observed, is the 
 endeavour to delay and postpone the payment of lawful 
 debts, even where there may be no intention ultimately 
 to refuse, or altogether to evade discharging the obliga- 
 tion. A covetous debtor, unwilling in every case and 
 slow to part with his money, will seek many pretexts 
 to avoid immediate payment, and in numerous cases to 
 the great inconvenience, and it may be the positive loss 
 or even ruin, of his disappointed creditor. How many 
 persons, too, if not always and directly from the same 
 avaricious motives, but in part from a carelessness and 
 indifference scarcely less culpable, are in the habit of 
 delaying payment of their personal or household accounts 
 to tradesmen, shopkeepers, and merchants, or to the 
 domestic servants or labourers in their employment ; thus 
 not only inflicting immediate loss on the individuals, 
 but encouraging or compelling them to adopt a similar 
 conduct towards others, deranging the regular course of 
 fair dealing, and weakening the inducements to lawful 
 industry. In these, and similar ways, too generally prac- 
 tised not to be at once recognized and acknowledged,, 
 an incalculable amount of injury and distress is occa- 
 sioned in society through a violation or disregard of the 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE.. 45- 
 
 plainest dictates of honesty ; chiefly, too, on the part of 
 those who, holding the higher stations in the commu- 
 nity, ought rather to be examples of moral conduct. To 
 the mere man of the world this may unhappily appear 
 a light matter. But that any one professing obedience 
 to Christian precept as the rule of duty should so act, is 
 to be accounted for on no principle but the blinding 
 influence and canker of a covetous spirit. 
 
 Farther, and in connexion with this evil and injustice 
 of procrastination, there are many other ways of sayings 
 " to-morrow I will give," and which are exemplified 
 perhaps as often in the conduct of professing Christians 
 as in that of any other class of men ; and which, though 
 not amounting to injustice in the strict and legal import 
 of the term, are nevertheless opposed to the spirit of 
 liberal charity, and can only be traced to the same pre- 
 vailing passion, that love of money, which is the root of 
 evil. These shall be very shortly noticed, but are well 
 deserving of attention frpm those who do not deny the 
 duty of communicating to others, but who delay and 
 linger in the discharge of the duty so acknowledged, 
 and habitually put off to some later day their works of 
 kindness and compassion. Such is the case, too com- 
 mon in practice, of those who imagine, or at least act as 
 if they imagined, that the obligation is sufficiently dis- 
 charged by bequeathing a portion of their goods for the 
 benefit of others, for the relief of the needy and indi- 
 
46 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 gent, or for similar objects of benevolence, to take effect 
 at the period of their death ; while they continue to live in 
 opulence, and retain their large and superfluous wealth to 
 that last hour. However such persons may disguise it to 
 themselves, the reservation is founded upon, and resolves 
 into that love of money which is covetousness. To 
 accumulate the treasures of silver and gold as long as 
 that accumulation is practicable, to grasp them with 
 tenacity and eagerness, notwithstanding the calls of 
 duty for the supply of the necessitous, or the promotion 
 of objects of usefulness, and to part with them only 
 when they can no longer be enjoyed or held, is not to 
 occupy the talent, or to fulfil the stewardship for which 
 they shall be called to give an account. For to such 
 the hour is actually come, and the Lord has already 
 returned before that talent has been laid out. Let not 
 this deceit be practised, or this flattery laid to the soul. 
 " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do," in the deeds of 
 love and compassion, as well as in works of labour and of 
 toil, " do it with thy might," and in this the accepted 
 season, " for there is no work, nor device, nor know- 
 ledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whither thou goest." — 
 Eccles. ix. 10. " The time is short ; it remaineth that . . . 
 they who buy be as though they possessed not, and they 
 that use this world as though they used it not.*" — 
 1 Cor. vii. 29,30, 31. 
 
 * So rendered according to the version 1599. 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 47 
 
 More fatal stili is that other delusion which men 
 frequently have practised upon themselves, to divide the 
 period of life itself in certain partitions between God and 
 the world ; in which they have commonly allotted the 
 largest share and portion to the latter ; allowing them- 
 selves in the pleasures and ambitious pursuits, of this pre- 
 sent life till the close of it, which they dedicate to God's 
 service in acts of devotion and deeds of charity. This 
 compromise is evidently full of hazard, for the expected 
 time may not be given. But if it should, the allowed 
 sin, w T hich enters into the calculation,, is destructive of all 
 integrity and uprightness. Besides, God will have the 
 first and best fruit, both of the affections and the sub- 
 stance, from all his creatures ; and they who intend or 
 contemplate this deception can have no hope for peace 
 in the end ; they must expect to lie down in sorrow. 
 
 Thus it has been attempted to ascertain the nature 
 and quality of covetousness, and those conditions and 
 limitations, as they are to be collected from the word of 
 God, under which temporal possessions may lawfully be 
 acquired and used. The result is, that the pursuit and 
 enjoyment of them becomes sinful only when they are 
 allowed to hold an undue place in our affections ; when 
 they are not ascribed to God, and accepted as gifts from 
 him, being sanctified both by prayer and praise : praise 
 for the mercy, and prayer to be kept from evil in the 
 enjoyment of them, so that they may not be abused by 
 
48 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 misapplication to improper purposes, or not improved to 
 the ends for which they are given. The statement may 
 be illustrated by reference to some examples, taken 
 from Scripture history, of individual character and 
 conduct. 
 
 Abraham was a man of wealth ; for the Lord had 
 prospered him, and he " was very rich in cattle, in 
 silver, and in gold." — Gen. xiii. 2. Yet Abraham was 
 honoured above all men ; for he was called and chosen 
 to be the father of the faithful, and was distinguished by 
 the high and peculiar name of the Friend of God. But 
 his heart was not set upon his riches ; nor did his great 
 possessions make him slow to obey the divine call when 
 summoned to leave his country, and to go into a land 
 which he knew not. And when, on account of their 
 great substance, the land was too narrow for him and his 
 kinsman, and for their flocks and herds, he was not 
 willing that strife should arise between his kinsman and 
 himself, on account of any preference or choice of ter- 
 ritory. " If thou wilt take the left hand," he said to Lot, 
 " then I will go to the right ; or, if thou depart to the 
 right hand, I will go to the left." — Gen. xiii. 9. And 
 when the king of Sodom offered him his goods, in order 
 to propitiate his favour, he was equally disinterested. 
 For Abraham said to the king, " I have lift up my hand 
 unto the Lord, the Most High God, the possessor of 
 heaven and earth, that I will not take from a thread even 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 49 
 
 to a shoe latchet, and that I will not take anything that 
 is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abraham 
 rich ; save only that which the young men have eaten, 
 and the portion of the men which went with me." — 
 Gen. xiv. 22-24. He accepted the offer, only so far 
 as ministered to the relief and immediate necessity of 
 those who accompanied him. 
 
 Lot also, like Abraham, was a man of great posses- 
 sions ; yet he was a " just man," and a servant of the 
 Lord, and enjoyed his favour. His w 7 ealth was not his 
 chief good ; or, at least, did not continue to be so 
 esteemed by him, though at one period he appears to 
 have been actuated by the ensnaring desire of increasing 
 his earthly possessions, at the expense of higher princi- 
 ples of duly ; and he was spared in the destruction of 
 the cities of the plain, " the Lord being merciful unto 
 him." He was even honoured to intercede successfully 
 for Zoar : and God said unto him, " See, I have ac- 
 cepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not 
 overthrow 7 this city for the which thou hast spoken." — 
 Gen. xix. 21. The patriarch Jacob increased, through 
 God's blessing, in wealth as w r ell as in family. And we 
 find him ascribing that prosperity, not to his own arm 
 or his own desert, but directly to the providence and 
 unmerited goodness of God. " And Jacob said, O 
 God of my father Abraham, and God of my father 
 Isaac, the Lord which saidst unto me, return unto thy 
 
50 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with 
 thee ; I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and 
 of all the truth which thou hast showed unto thy servant ; 
 for with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am 
 become two bands." — Gen. xxxii. 9, 10. And to Esau 
 he said, " These are the children which God hath 
 graciously given thy servant ;" and of the presents which 
 he offered to him, he said, " Take, I pray thee, my 
 blessing that is brought to thee, because God hath 
 dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough." — 
 Gen. xxxiii. 5-11. 
 
 Job affords another example, and, in some respects, 
 still more remarkable, on this subject. That patriarch 
 was, in regard to earthly possessions and honour, " the 
 greatest of all the men of the East : his substance was 
 seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and 
 five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-asses, 
 and a very great household." — Job i. 3. Yet he was a 
 " perfect and upright man, one that feared God and 
 eschewed evil." — Ver. 8. And when Satan was per- 
 mitted to sift him, uy cutting off at one blow the whole 
 of his worldly riches and store, he held fast his integrity, 
 and refused to let it go : for Job said, " Naked came 
 I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return 
 thither : The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken 
 away; blessed be the name of the Lord."— Ver. 21. 
 Neither was this a transient burst of piety y or effort of 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 51 
 
 resignation ; for, in the midst of his deepest affliction 
 and aggravated grief, he could appeal to the Searcher 
 of hearts, that in his prosperity as in his adversity his 
 heart was right with God. " If I have withheld the 
 poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the 
 widow to fail ; or have eaten my morsel alone, and the 
 fatherless hath not eaten thereof. ..if I have seen any 
 perish for want of clothing, or any poor without cover- 
 ing ; if his loins have not blessed me, and if he were 
 not warmed with the fleece of my sheep., .then let mine 
 arm fall from my shoulder-blade, and mine arm be 
 broken from the bone.,. if I have made gold my hope, 
 or said to the fine gold thou art my confidence ; if I 
 rejoiced because my wealth w r as great, and because mine 
 hand had gotten much." — Job xxxi. 16-25. And this 
 appeal was received, and answered by God; for he jus- 
 tified his servant Job, and also made him intercessor for 
 his friends. " Take unto you now," said the Lord to 
 them, " seven bullocks, ^and seven rams, and go to my 
 servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt-offering : 
 and my servant Job shall pray for you ; for him will I 
 accept." — Job xlii. 8. " The Lord also accepted Job . . . 
 also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. 
 Then came there unto him all his brethren ...and com- 
 forted him . . . every man also gave him a piece of money, 
 and every one an ear-ring of gold. So the Lord blessed 
 the latter end of Job more than the beginning," &e. — - 
 
52 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 Job xlii. 9-15. Here we have the striking picture of 
 one who, though greatly tried, was blessed in his 
 wealth; for he made a godly use of his possessions. 
 He visited the fatherless and widows in their affliction ; 
 he w r as ready to distribute, willing to communicate ; 
 and the cause which he knew not, he searched out. 
 Whether the history be received as a narrative of real 
 events, or as a sublime and touching allegory, " writ- 
 ten by inspiration of God for our learning," it teaches, 
 among the other instructions with which it is pregnant, 
 that the greatest abundance of earthly treasure may be 
 received from God, and enjoyed with his approbation 
 and blessing. 
 
 The example of Solomon affords evidence of a similar 
 kind. Temporal honour and wealth were not the lead- 
 ing objects of his desire; and, therefore, God was pleased 
 to bestow them : "for king Solomon exceeded all the 
 kings of the earth for riches," as well as for " wisdom." 
 God conferred them also with a farther and higher 
 blessing ; for he gave him therewith " largeness of 
 heart," to use these gifts aright. And, accordingly, 
 when the Lord had given him " rest on every side," 
 his first care was, not to live at ease in Sion, employing 
 his wealth in personal and selfish gratification, but to 
 build an house to the name of the Lord his God, as it 
 had also been in the heart of his father to do. — 1 Kings 
 v. 5. It is true that, in his latter age, the heart of 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 53 
 
 Solomon was " turned away after other gods," and that 
 " the Lord was angry with Solomon ;" and a message 
 was sent that " the kingdom should be rent from him, 
 and given to his servant." But the transgression of that 
 idolatry, of which he was guilty, came not through covet- 
 ousness, but by another and a different snare ; and, in 
 the course of a long and prosperous reign, before this 
 great departure, he afforded an example of the sancti- 
 fied use of worldly honour and prosperity. 
 
 In the character of Nehemiah we see another beau- 
 tiful instance of this pious and disinterested spirit, 
 which leads to the contempt of selfish gain, and to the 
 employment of riches, when possessed, to the relief 
 and comfort of others, and to the honour and glory of 
 God. While engaged in rebuilding the holy city, he 
 not only rebuked those who exacted of their brethren, 
 but showed himself an example of liberality in all points, 
 refusing the accustomed taxes and tribute which had 
 been paid to former governors for the maintenance 
 of their state, knowing that they were a poor and op- 
 pressed people ; and this he did because of the fear of 
 the Lord. " From the time that I was appointed to be 
 their governor in the land of Judah, — that is, twelve 
 years, I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of 
 the governor. But the former governors that had been 
 before me were chargeable unto the people, and had 
 taken of them bread and wine, beside forty shekels of 
 
§4 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 silver ; but so did not I, because of the fear of God. 
 Yea, also, I continued in the work of this wall ; neither 
 bought we any land. . . . Moreover, there were at my 
 table an hundred and fifty of the Jews and rulers, be- 
 side those that came unto us from among the heathen 
 that are about us," — thus feeding the stranger and the 
 alien, — " yet for all this required not I the bread of the 
 governor, because the bondage was heavy upon this 
 people. Think upon me, my God, for good, according 
 to all that I have done for this people."— -Nehem. v. 
 14-19. 
 
 Similar lessons are taught in those historical passages 
 of the New Testament, which have reference to the 
 present subject. Joseph was " a rich man of Arima- 
 thea," and " an honourable counsellor ;" but " he also 
 himself was Jesus' disciple, and " one" of those " who 
 waited for the kingdom of God." He was not even 
 ashamed to confess his Master after the crucifixion, 
 when his own immediate disciples deserted him and fled. 
 For " he went in boldly unto Pilate and craved the 
 body of Jesus." He considered it an honour to receive 
 that precious and sacred deposit ; and he " bought fine 
 linen, and wrapped the body therein, and laid it in his 
 own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock." 
 Evangelists — passim. Here we have an example of 
 strong and disinterested piety, combined with wealth and 
 high station among men. 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE, 55 
 
 Zaccheus was " the chief among the publicans; and 
 he was rich." But salvation came to his house, and if 
 he had formerly yielded to the temptation which his 
 calling exposed him to, he appears to have brought 
 forth the fruits of repentance, when touched by the 
 Saviour's condescending love ; and he, too, followed 
 Jesus, and was honoured to receive him as his guest. 
 
 The Ethiopian was an officer of trust and authority 
 under Candace, the Queen, and had the charge of all 
 her treasure. He may reasonably be supposed, there- 
 fore, to have been himself a man of more than or- 
 dinary wealth. But he was also a religious man r who 
 searched the Scriptures, and who had " come up to 
 Jerusalem to worship." We find, accordingly, that 
 God favoured him, and the Holy Spirit instructed 
 Philip, by a special message, to seek out this worship- 
 per ; and that when " Jesus was preached unto him," he 
 received the seal of baptism, and H went on his way re- 
 joicing." — Acts viii. 27-39. 
 
 Crispus, " the chief ruler of the synagogue," (who 
 may therefore be supposed a man of wealth as well as 
 note,) " believed on the Lord with all his house."— 
 Acts xviii. 8. 
 
 Dionysius, the Areopagite, a supreme judge among 
 the Athenians, was among the number of those who 
 " clave to Paul and believed." — Acts xvii. 34. 
 
 These are some of the instances where riches were 
 
 c 
 
56 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 possessed with godliness, and were not held to the hurt 
 of the owners thereof. If we take some examples of 
 the contrary, we shall see for what reason their wealth 
 or their covetousness excluded them from the kingdom 
 of God, or involved them in difficulties and danger. 
 
 Lot, though a servant of the Lord, and in the end 
 delivered by him, in the overthrow of the wicked, was 
 at an earlier time tainted with -this vice, and coveting 
 the plain of Jordan, though inhabited by the ungodly, 
 was exposed to many severe trials, and much jeopardy. 
 
 The rich man in the parable, who " lifted up his eyes 
 in hell, being in torment," is described as one who 
 " was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sump- 
 tuously every day ;" and not only did he thus consume his 
 wealth in sensual indulgence, but he allowed his poor 
 and suffering fellow-creature to lie at his gate, day after 
 day, unassisted and unheeded. He is not condemned 
 for his riches, but for his abuse of them, and for the 
 hardness of his heart. — Luke xvi. 19-23. 
 
 The ruler of the Jews, who professed to have kept 
 the commandments from his youth up, was unwilling to 
 be a disciple of Jesus, at the expense of parting with his 
 goods, and distributing to the poor. He was covetous 
 in heart, and his love of the world and the things of the 
 world prevented him from following Christ. — Luke xviii. 
 
 Demetrius was u opposed to that way" which Paul 
 preached ; and we are furnished with the reason by the 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE, 57 
 
 sacred historian ; namely, that he was in the receipt of 
 great gains by his craft of image-making ; and the love 
 of money prevailed, and shut his ears against the truth." 
 — Acts xix. 24 . 
 
 It is unnecessary to pursue these illustrations farther. 
 Enough has been said to show from the word of God, 
 and it is confirmed by the daily experience of human 
 life, that it is not money, but the love of it, which is 
 the root of evil. 
 
58 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 WHEREIN CONSISTS THE EVIL AND SIN OF 
 COVETOUSNESS? 
 
 Having examined the nature and varieties of this pas- 
 sion of covetousness, it may next be inquired, Wherein 
 the sinfulness of it consists? To a certain extent this 
 question has necessarily been anticipated in the preced- 
 ing remarks, and it might appear sufficient merely to 
 refer to those passages of Scripture which have been 
 already quoted, and some others of a similar import. 
 But, in order to understand more clearly the ground 
 and reasons of that condemnation which is passed against 
 this sin with so much earnest repetition in the word of 
 God, it may not be unprofitable to examine this part of 
 the subject somewhat more closely, by attempting to 
 analyze the effect and operation of the passion of covet- 
 ousness upon the heart and mind of the individual, and 
 as affecting his character and duty toward God and 
 toward man. 
 
 And here it is proper to advert first to the very dif- 
 
THE BAR 0£ SCRIPTURE. 59 
 
 ferent light in which the pursuit of worldly objects, 
 whether these be riches themselves, or that honour and 
 reputation which attend success in the prosecution 
 of them, appears in the sight of God, from that in 
 which it is seen by men. The world in general looks 
 upon the possession of temporal wealth as a. great and 
 positive good ; and approves and admires the skill and 
 industry, and various resources of those who are so busily 
 engaged in the pursuit. Their assiduity is commended, 
 and held up as an example for imitation ; and their 
 success, though it may be an occasion of envy, is 
 secretly applauded from an inward sympathy, and the 
 immediate or more distant prospect of advantage to 
 accrue, or as an omen of like success to follow similar 
 exertion. Again, the rich man is held in honour for 
 his riches, independent of other qualifications ; his so 
 ciety is sought, and acquaintance courted, and a 
 multitude of willing retainers minister to his wishes. 
 Neither do worldly persons in general stop to inquire 
 by what means wealth has been obtained by its owner. 
 The actual possession of it, and the influence which it 
 gives, are usually the only objects of consideration, and 
 seldom the lawfulness or unlawfulness of the acquisi 
 tion. 
 
 " The rich hath many friends." — Prov. xiv. 20. 
 " Wealth maketh many friends, but the poor is sepa- 
 rated from his neighbour , . , Many will entreat the favour 
 
60 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 of the prince ; and every man is a friend to him that 
 giveth gifts. All the brethren of the poor do hate him ; 
 how much more do his friends go far from him ? he 
 pursueth them with words, yet they are wanting to him." 
 — Prov. xix. 4-6-7. 
 
 It is one of the most unpleasant features, and one of 
 the worst symptoms of society in our own country, 
 Britain, so highly favoured by providence, that money 
 is accounted the measure of all things, not in commer- 
 cial exchange merely, but in the intercourse of man 
 with man ; that wealth is the most certain avenue to 
 public deference, as well as the great object of individual 
 pursuit. Hence the separation so strongly marked be- 
 tween those comparatively few who are the possessors 
 of great riches, and all other classes of the community, 
 and that opposition of interests and alienation of feeling 
 which are thus generated. Nor is this false estimate of 
 reputation confined to mere men of the world, Does 
 it not prevail to a great extent among all classes of the 
 community, and even with many of those who make the 
 most open profession of the Christian faith ? 
 
 But what, on the other hand, is God's estimate of 
 this wisdom of man ? "He accepteth not the persons 
 of princes, nor regardeth the rich more than the 
 poor." — Job. xxxiv. 19, " Be not thou afraid when 
 one is made rich, when the glory of his house is in- 
 creased ; for when he dieth he shall carry nothing 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. bi 
 
 away ; his glory shall not descend after him ; though 
 while he lived he blessed his soul : and men will praise 
 thee when thou doest well to thyself. He shall go to 
 the generation of his fathers : they shall never see 
 light." — Ps. xlix. 16-19. Here is the opposition and 
 contrast distinctly and forcibly brought forward between 
 the divine judgment and the false estimate of man* 
 And it is marked in still stronger language by the same 
 inspired pen, where it is said, " The wicked boasteth 
 of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom 
 the Lord abhorreth." — Ps. x. 3. And what were the 
 first words with which Jesus opened his mouth and ad- 
 dressed his disciples? " Blessed are ye poor," blessed 
 in being saved from the snares of w r ealth and deceitful- 
 ness of riches ; blessed in not having their affections set 
 upon earthly things, not seeking the honour that is from 
 men. When " the Pharisees, who were covetous ...de- 
 rided him... Jesus said unto them, ye are they which 
 justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth your 
 hearts ; for that which is highly esteemed among men is 
 abomination in the sight of God." — Luke xvi. 14-15. 
 There are, indeed, some features of this passion, 
 which, independent of religious considerations, have 
 always rendered it contemptible, if not hateful, to gener- 
 ous minds. Much has been said and written of the 
 disquietude and disappointment attending great earthly 
 possessions ; the slight tenure by which they are held 
 
62 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 even during the enjoyment ; and their total unfitness 
 to be the chief portion of a reasonable being. The 
 vanity of riches has been a fertile theme for the moralist 
 in every age ; and the inordinate pursuit of them has 
 been condemned by the wise and good among men of 
 all times, as a base and unworthy occupation. 
 
 How many have there been of the great and honoured 
 men among the heathen of ancient times, who might be 
 our teachers in this moral lesson : of those 
 Who could contemn 
 Riches though offered from the hand of kings. 
 
 And, among those who have not been actuated by- 
 higher motives than regard to the opinion of their fel- 
 low-men, we see cases in every age where wealth and 
 high estate, with all their advantages, have been freely 
 abandoned ; and 
 
 To give a kingdom has been thought 
 Greater, and nobler done, and to lay down 
 Far more magnanimous than to assume. 
 
 How well has the vanity of earthly riches and grandeur 
 been proved by those frequent and memorable reverses 
 in the history of nations and individuals, where they, 
 who were the pride and excellency of all the earth, who 
 had set their nest on high, and sat, as it were, alone in 
 the midst of their treasures, have been in a moment 
 cast down from their summit, stripped of their great 
 possessions, emptied of their pride, and buried, it may 
 be, with the burial of an ass. Nor is it necessary to 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 63 
 
 dwell on the character and history of those more private 
 and obscure individuals, who have wasted their existence 
 in penury and want, to amass a useless store, the slaves 
 of mammon, who have toiled and dug into the bowels 
 of the earth to collect the glittering dust, in whom the 
 very lineaments of human nature appear to have been 
 obliterated, whose lives were wretched, and whose me- 
 mories rot. Such men have been ridiculed by the 
 painter, and lashed by the satirist, in every age. 
 
 But let us turn rather to the weighty and authorita- 
 tive language of holy writ, and hear the voice of inspir- 
 ation, where it proclaims the end of the worldly and 
 avaricious man, and the emptiness of his hope. First, 
 It is a life full of disquietude: " Surely every man 
 walketh in a vain show ; surely they are disquieted in 
 vain : he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall 
 gather them." — Ps. xxxix. 6. " In the revenues of the 
 wicked is trouble." — Prov. xv. 6. "It is vain for you to 
 rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows ;" 
 — that is, of carefulness and trouble.— Psalm cxxvii. 2. 
 We see thus how opposite are the state and feeling 
 of the covetous man from those of the believer in 
 Jesus. For the fruits of the spirit are love, joy, and 
 peace ; but the fruits of covetousness are care and 
 trouble, anxiety and distrust. Secondly, The acqui- 
 sition does not bring even present satisfaction, for the 
 
 appetite still increases bv what it feeds upon, and this 
 
 'c 2 
 
64 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 craving of the mind is never sated or allayed.— 
 " Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of 
 man" — that is, of the avaricious man — "are never satis- 
 fied/'— Prov. xxvii. 20. " He that loveth silver shall 
 not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth abundance 
 with increase : this also is vanity. When goods in- 
 crease, they are increased that eat them ; and what 
 good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding 
 of them with their eyes.*. The abundance of the rich will 
 not suffer him to sleep." — Eccles. v. 10—12. Thirdly, 
 They are not a foundation on which to build any hope 
 of happiness. They are, at best, transient in their 
 nature ; and they often bring ruin and destruction upon 
 their possessor. " Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that 
 which is not? for riches certainly make themselves 
 wings ; they fly away, as an eagle toward heaven."— 
 Prov. xxiii. v. " As the flower of the grass he" — the rich 
 man — " shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen 
 with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the 
 flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of 
 it perisheth ; so also shall the rich man fade away in 
 his ways." — James i. 10, 11. Lo, this is the man 
 that made not God his strength, but trusted in the 
 abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his 
 wickedness."— Ps. lii. 7. " Riches profit not in the day 
 of wrath." — Prov. xi. 4. " He that trusteth in his 
 riches shall fall." — Ver. 28. " The Lord casteth away 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 65 
 
 the substance of the wicked." — Prov. x. 3. " Behold 
 these are the ungodly who prosper in the world ; they 
 increase in riches.... Surely thou didst set them in slip- 
 pery places; thou castedst them down into destruction. . . . 
 As a dream when one awaketh, so, O Lord, when thou 
 awakest, thou shalt despise their image." — Ps. lxxiii. 
 12-18-20. " As the partridge sitteth upon eggs, and 
 hatcheth them not, so he that getteth riches, and not 
 by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and 
 at his end shall be a fool." — Jerem. xvii. 11. Of 
 Moab, it is said, " because thou hast trusted in thy 
 works, and in thy treasures, thou shalt also be taken." 
 — Jerem. xlviii. 7. And of Babylon, " O thou that 
 dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine 
 end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness." — 
 Jerem. li. 13. " In one hour so great riches is come 
 to nought." — Rev. xviii. 17. And in the final over- 
 throw of the Israelites, it is said, that " they shall cast 
 their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be re- 
 moved ; their silver and their gold shall not be able to 
 deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord : they 
 shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels." — 
 Ezek. vii. 19. The ground of the rich man, in the 
 parable, brought forth plentifully > but when he thought 
 within himself, " thou hast much goods laid up for many 
 years. . . . God said unto him, thou fool, this night thy soul 
 shall be required of thee ; then whose shall those things 
 
66 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 be which thou hast provided?" — Luke xii. 19. And 
 the awful sentence of retribution for riches misapplied, 
 is, " Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst 
 thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things ; 
 but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented." — 
 Luke xvi. 25. " Go to now, ye rich men, howl and 
 weep for your miseries that shall come upon you." — 
 James v. 1, 
 
 Such, then, are the vanity and the danger of riches, 
 considered as an ultimate object of pursuit ; and such 
 the disappointment and miserable end of those who 
 make gold their hope, and the fine gold their confi- 
 dence. 
 
 But it may be shown still more particularly, wherein 
 the evil and sin of this disposition consist, and what are 
 the grounds of the many awful denunciations against it 
 which are contained in the word of God, not only as re- 
 gards this life, but also that which is to come. In one 
 view, it might be sufficient merely to say, that as it is ex- 
 pressly forbidden by God, and contrary to his will, the 
 Christian requires no other motive or reason to influ- 
 ence him in flying from that as from every other sin. 
 " Beware of covetousness." " Love not the world, 
 neither the things of the world." This is the command 
 of God. But the force of the prohibition will be more 
 fully understood and felt, when we consider the effect 
 of covetousness upon the heart and mind ; from a view 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 6*7 
 
 of which, the Christian may be awakened to a greater 
 jealousy over himself, and be made more earnest to 
 shun the very appearance and first rising of this pas- 
 sion in his breast. The sin of covetousness may be 
 considered in its effect upon the character, under these 
 three heads, of spiritual, intellectual, and moral degra- 
 dation. 
 
 1. Of its effect on the spiritual character and 
 condition. 
 
 This effect and influence may be considered under 
 four several aspects. 1. In so far as the love of earthly 
 possessions is strong, and the attainment of them an 
 object of anxious and inordinate pursuit, in the same 
 proportion are the thoughts and desires necessarily with- 
 drawn from things heavenly and spiritual. Riches have 
 been elegantly, as well as justly, said to be the 
 hindrances, or baggage, of virtue, impedimenta virtutis, 
 a word for which our language does not afford a single, 
 or full, equivalent. As the train and magazine of an 
 army are an impediment to the easy and rapid move- 
 ments of the soldier, so is great wealth a hindrance to 
 the advance of virtue. Much more is this true of the 
 Christian's warfare and spiritual progress. The rich 
 man is so hampered with his possessions, so encumbered 
 by his habiliments and stores, that he has not alacrity* 
 and does not find space to go forward in the narrow 
 
68 COVETOTJSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 way. " No man that warreth entangleth himself with 
 the affairs of this life ; that he may please him who hath 
 chosen him to be a soldier." — 2 Tim. ii. 4. 
 
 Farther, not only is the attention occupied by the 
 cares of life, but the heart also is engaged. He whose 
 desire is much bent on the acquisition of temporal 
 wealth, will not have his affection supremely placed 
 upon the inheritance which is eternal. " Where your 
 treasure is, there will your heart be also." The effect 
 may be greater or less, according to the intenseness of 
 the desire and the ardour of the pursuit ; but the ten- 
 dency of covetousness, in every case, and in all its 
 forms, is to lessen the apparent value of spiritual things, 
 and unduly to magnify the importance of things earthly 
 and sensual. " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
 with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with 
 all thy mind, and with all thy strength, is the first 
 commandment." But the avaricious man cannot 
 give obedience to it, for he has another object and 
 another desire which comes in competition with it. 
 His mind and heart are transferred from God the 
 Creator, and placed upon the creature. And so it 
 has ever proved, that as the abundance of this world's 
 goods has increased with any, so has the temptation to 
 forget God likewise increased and become stronger. 
 Of the effect of worldly prosperity in thus impairing the 
 health of the soul, in producing an indisposition to 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 69 
 
 God's ways and commandments, and preventing that 
 surrender of the heart which he requires, we have abund- 
 ant proofs in Scripture history ; and we need be at no 
 loss to find abundant proofs in daily life, of the same 
 influence and results which are so strongly marked in 
 the description of the Israelites. " They have not 
 served thee. . .in the large and fat land which thou 
 gavest before them ;" and therefore in that land were 
 they made servants. — Nehem. ix. 35. " Jeshurun 
 waxed fat, and kicked ; . . .then he forsook God, which 
 made him, and lightly esteemed the rock of his salva- 
 tion." — Deut. xxxii. 15, " Beware," says Moses, "that 
 thou forget not the Lord thy God... lest when thou 
 hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, 
 and dwelt therein, and when thy herds and thy flocks 
 multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and 
 all that thou hast is multiplied, then thine heart be 
 lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God." — Deut. 
 viii. 11-14. And how fully was the prediction verified, 
 notwithstanding these warnings. For " they soon forgat 
 his works; they waited not for his counsel; but lusted 
 exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the 
 desert. And he gave them their request ; but sent 
 leanness into their soul." — Ps. cvi. Of worldly men 
 it is said, " they spend their days in wealth, and in a 
 moment go down to the grave. Therefore they say unto 
 God, depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge 
 
70 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 of thy ways : what is the Almighty, that we should serve 
 him? and what profit should we have if we pray unto 
 him?" — Job xxi. 13-15. From a dread of such effects 
 of prosperity, we find Agur deprecating riches ; " lest I 
 be full and deny thee, and say, who is the Lord ? " 
 
 The worldly man, who is steeped in the cares of this 
 life, soon wearies of the service of God, as an impedi- 
 ment to his pursuits, saying, " when will the new moon 
 be gone, that we may sell corn, and the Sabbath, that 
 we may set forth wheat?" — Amos viii. 5. And his 
 prayers are hindered, or do not receive an answer, or 
 bring down a blessing ; for they are carnal. " Ye ask, 
 and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may con- 
 sume it upon your lusts." — James iv. 3. 
 
 As a covetous disposition thus impairs the spiritual 
 health, and indisposes for the service of God, it is ne- 
 cessarily, and for the same reason, a great obstacle to 
 the reception of divine truth, and has always proved one 
 of the great hindrances to the Gospel in the minds 
 and hearts of men. When our Saviour and his apos- 
 tles preached the kingdom of God, with how little effect 
 did they commonly address the men of the world ! The 
 young man whom Jesus desired to sell that which he 
 had, and give to the poor, " when he heard that saying, 
 went away sorrowful : for he had great possessions." — 
 Matt. xix. 22. Though assured that so he should have 
 treasure in heaven, he was unwilling to part with his 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 71 
 
 treasure on earth ; he would gladly have possessed 
 both, but was unable to sacrifice the latter, and was 
 overcome by the temptation. Of those who were 
 invited to the marriage feast, it is said that " they 
 made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, 
 another to his merchandise." — Matt. xxii. 5 ; or, as 
 narrated by another evangelist, " they all with one 
 consent began to make excuse. The first said unto 
 him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must 
 needs go and see it : I pray thee have me excused. 
 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, 
 and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused." 
 — Luke xiv„ 18, 19. " And the Pharisees also, who 
 were covetous, heard all these things, and they derided 
 him." — Luke xvi. 14. Thus is the Gospel message 
 still neglected by worldly and avaricious men. " If our 
 Gospel be hid," says the apostle, " it is hid to them 
 that are lost; in whom the God of this world hath 
 blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the 
 light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image 
 of God, should shine unto them." — 2 Cor. iv. 3, 4 a 
 They are engrossed with things of the earth, and will 
 not give time or heed to the things which belong to 
 their everlasting peace. Hence it is, that " not many 
 rich, not many noble," (in the estimation of man,) are 
 among the number of those who are called. Or, if 
 thev do for a season listen to the outward call, the good 
 
72 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 word is as seed sown among thorns; for " the cares of 
 this world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the 
 word, and he becometh unfruitful." — Mat. xiii. 22. If 
 they put their hand to the plough for a time, how often 
 are they found looking back to the world, and walking 
 no more with Christ ! " And Jesus looked round 
 about, and, (finding the young man gone,) saith to his 
 disciples, how hardly shall they that have riches enter 
 into the kingdom of God ! And the disciples were 
 astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and 
 saith unto them, children, how hard is it for them that 
 trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God." — Mark 
 x. 23, 24, And to testify how strong is the temptation, 
 and how difficult to resist the influence of wealth, it is 
 added in these words of allegory, " It is easier for a 
 camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich 
 man to enter into the kingdom of God." — Ver. 25. 
 
 2. As a covetous disposition indisposes the mind to 
 the contemplation and love of spiritual things, so it also 
 engenders or betrays a want of confidence in God, and 
 of trust in his providence ; of that firm and habitual de- 
 pendence upon him for life, as w T ell as godliness, which 
 he requires from his creatures, and which is character- 
 istic of his people. In the exercise of this trust, the 
 manna was to be gathered daily by the Israelites, and 
 if greater provision was made, the residue corrupted and 
 became unprofitable. The Christian is authorised to 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 73 
 
 pray for his daily bread in like manner ; and, if actuated 
 by this principle of faith and submission, the supply will 
 be suited to his necessities ; he that gathers much will 
 have " nothing over," and he that gathers little will 
 have no "lack." — -Exodus xvi. 18. The covetous man 
 is an unbeliever in the word and promises of God. 
 " Trust in the Lord, and do good... and verily thou 
 shalt be fed... I have been young, and now am old ; yet 
 have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed 
 begging bread." — Ps. xxxvii. 3, 25. " If God so 
 clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and 
 to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more 
 clothe you, O ye of little faith ? "—Mat. vi. 30. " Let 
 your conversation" — your life and walk in the world — 
 " be without covetousness, and be content with such 
 things as ye have ; for he hath said I will never leave 
 thee nor forsake thee." — Heb. xiii. 5. " Casting all 
 your care upon him, for he careth for you." — 1 Peter 
 v. 7. " Go to now, ye that say, to-day or to-morrow, 
 we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, 
 and buy and sell and get gain ; whereas ye know not 
 what shall be on the morrow ... For that ye ought to 
 say, if the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or 
 that." — James iv. 13, 15. The believer rests upon the 
 promises of God for all things, both those pertaining to 
 this life and to that which is to come. But the man of 
 the world, above all the greedy and avaricious man. 
 
74 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 virtually denies them ; he will provide for himself, trust- 
 ing to his own wisdom, and his own foresight ; he 
 would make himself independent of God, and lay up 
 a store of goods for many years, vainly and impiously 
 hoping that he will be thus placed above the accidents 
 of time and change. 
 
 3. Connected with this feature of his character, 
 which resolves into unbelief, is that pride and elevation 
 of heart which is the usual concomitant and effect of 
 great temporal prosperity. How naturally and how 
 often does the man, whose whole mind and exertions 
 have been employed in amassing riches, make them not 
 only his boast, but his confidence. Instead of submit- 
 ting the disposal of his lot to God, he resolves to be the 
 artificer of his own fortune. But what says the Lord 
 to this spirit of independence ? It follows after the 
 words last quoted from the apostle : " But now ye re- 
 joice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil." — James 
 iv. 16. Instead of resting upon the Lord, he trusts in his 
 own arm, and leans upon his own understanding, and 
 makes his great possessions the rock of his strength and 
 his fortress. But, " woe to them," saith the Almighty, 
 ..." that stay on horses and trust in chariots because they 
 are many... but they look not unto the Holy One of 
 Israel, neither seek the Lord." — Isaiah xxxi. 1. " They 
 ...trust in their wealth/ and boast themselves in the 
 multitude of their riches." — Ps. xlix. 6. "Is not this 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 75 
 
 great Babylon that I have built," said Nebuchadnezzar^ 
 in that day of his glory, and that hour which ushered his 
 fall, " for the house of the kingdom* by the might of my 
 power, and for the honour of my majesty ?"— Dan. iv. 30* 
 " Thine heart," says the prophet to Tyrus, "is lifted 
 up because of thy riches : therefore thus saith the Lord 
 God, because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of 
 God, behold therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, 
 the terrible of the nations." — Ezek. xxviii. 5-7. " Be- 
 ware," said Moses to Israel, " lest. ..when all that thou 
 hast is multiplied, &c, thou say in thine heart, my 
 power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this 
 wealth." — Deut. viii. 17. Pride, arising from the "ful- 
 ness of bread," was among the sins which called 'down 
 the judgment of God upon Sodom.—- Ezek. xvi. 49. 
 w The rich man's wealth," says Solomon, " is his strong 
 city, and as an high wall in his own conceit."— -Prov. 
 xviii. 11. M According to their pasture, so were they fill- 
 ed: they were filled, and their heart was exalted ; there- 
 fore have they forgotten me." — Hos. xiii. 6. " They 
 say, have we not taken to us horns by our own strength." 
 — Amos vi. 13. Such is the fruit of unsanctified riches 5 
 whereas it is the " name of the Lord" which is w the 
 strong tower" of the righteous, where he runneth and is 
 safe. — Prov. xviii. 10. " Lo," says the Psalmist of 
 the proud and wicked man, " this is the man that made 
 
76 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 not God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of 
 his riches." — Ps. lii. 7. 
 
 4. But not only does this sin of covetousness impair 
 the spiritual health and strength by drawing the mind 
 unduly towards the earth, by lessening trust and reliance 
 upon God's providence, and by generating pride of 
 heart and presumption ; being connected thus with 
 spiritual decay, unbelief, and hardness of heart; but the 
 covetous man is farther represented in Scripture as an 
 offender and rebel against the honour and majesty of 
 God. He not only refuses to obey the injunction, " My 
 son, give me thy heart," but sins against the positive 
 commandment, " Thou shalt have no other gods before 
 me." We know that idolatry consists not merely in 
 the worship of graven images, and the outward ser- 
 vice paid to the work of man's hands, but " in setting 
 up any idol in the heart," through which we are 
 " estranged from the service of God," and giving 
 it the homage which is due to him alone. — Ezek. xiv. 
 3-5. As the covetous man gives his affections to the 
 world, so he pays his homage to its authority, and says 
 of its possessions, in reality, if not in words, " these be 
 my gods ;" he worships them as his chief good, and 
 sacrifices to the acquisition of them his talents and his 
 time. Hence is he characterized in the word of God 
 as an idolater* 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 77 
 
 It is remarkable that the heathen nations, even in 
 their most corrupted times, and when altogether given 
 to open idolatry and image worship, did not personify 
 or consecrate a shrine to this passion, among the multi- 
 tude of their false deities. 
 
 Quandoquidem inter nos sanctissima divitiarum . 
 Majestas ; etsi, funesta Pecunia, templo 
 Nondum habitas; nullas nummorum ereximus aras, 
 Ut colitur Pax, atque Fides, Victoria, Virtus, &c* 
 Gold is the greatest god ; though yet we see 
 No temples raised to money's majesty, 
 No altars fuming to her power divine, 
 Such as to valour, peace, and virtue shine, 
 And faith and concord. 
 
 But, in the pure morality of the gospel, idolatry con- 
 sists not merely in outward form and worship, but in the 
 homage of the mind ; in setting up any creature of our 
 own affections and device in opposition to his authority, 
 and thus dethroning him in our hearts. " For this ye 
 know," says the apostle, " that no covetous man, who 
 is an idolator, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of 
 Christ and of God." — Ephes. v. 5. " Mortify, there- 
 fore, your members which are upon the earth... inordi- 
 nate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, 
 which is idolatry." — Col. iii. 5. 
 
 We see, in the history of the Israelites, how close 
 the connexion was between their inordinate desire of 
 earthly things, and the sin of idolatry, even in its out- 
 
 * Juvenal, 
 
78 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 ward and grossest form. " They lusted exceedingly in 
 the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert ; and he 
 gave them their request, but sent leanness into their 
 soul ;" and it is added almost immediately, " they made 
 a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image. . * 
 they forgat God their Saviour."-— Ps. cvi. 14-2U The 
 Psalmist refers to the account given by Moses of what 
 passed among the people while he was absent on the 
 Mount: " They turned aside quickly," out of the way 
 which God commanded them ; for they "made them a 
 molten calf, and worshipped it, and sacrificed thereunto, 
 and said, these be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee 
 up out of the land of Egypt."— Exod. xxxii. 8. Balaam, 
 whose besetting sin was covetousness, appears also to have 
 fallen into this transgression of actual idolatry. For it is 
 said of him that he " taught Balac to cast a stumbling- 
 block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacri- 
 ficed unto idols." — Revel, ii. 14. Of Judah, it is said, 
 " She did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, 
 and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold ; which thev 
 prepared for Baal." — Hos. ii. 8. She did not receive 
 her wealth and abundance as the gift of God, acknow- 
 ledging his hand in her prosperity ; and she abused and 
 perverted the gift to the service of the heathen idol, 
 " According to the multitude of his fruit," says the same 
 prophet of Israel, " he hath increased the altars ; ac- 
 cording to the goodness of his land they have made 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. (9 
 
 goodly images." — Hos. x. 1. " They sacrifice unto 
 their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because 
 by them their portion is fat 5 and their meat plenteous.'' 
 — Habb. i. 16. 
 
 2. Of its effect on the intellectual character and 
 condition. 
 
 Covetousness subjects the reasonable and intelligent 
 part of man's nature to the sensual and earthly ; thus 
 marring God's work, and effacing his image from the 
 mind as well as from the heart. No vice more degrades 
 and embases humanity. The avaricious man not only 
 lives upon the earth, but for the earth : he looks no 
 farther, seeks no other end, and has no higher enjoy- 
 ment. He is elegantly personified by the poet : 
 
 Mammon, the least erected spirit that fell 
 
 From heaven : for even in heaven his looks and thoughts 
 
 Were always downward bent, admiring more 
 
 The riches of heaven's pavement, trodden gold, 
 
 Than ought divine or holy else enjoyed 
 
 In vision beatific.* 
 
 The avaricious man has no elevated thoughts or pur- 
 suits ; and, even while surveying the earth on which he 
 is intent, the wonders of creating power and preserving 
 goodness attract not his attention. " He regards not 
 the work of the Lord, neither considers the operation 
 of his hands." — Is. v. 12. And as to his fellow-men, 
 
 * Par. Lost. 
 D 
 
80 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 he considers them chiefly as agents and instruments of 
 his gain. His intellect, and that discourse of reason 
 which are bestowed for high attainments and noble ends, 
 are employed on the same unworthy objects, and en- 
 grossed by them. In short, he loads himself with thick 
 clay, and sinks into the mire : " his soul is bowed down 
 to the dust ; his belly cleaveth unto the earth." — Ps. 
 xliv. 25. 
 
 3. Of its effect on the moral character and 
 condition. 
 
 Lastly, The passion of avarice weakens, and by con- 
 tinued habit ultimately destroys the moral principle and 
 feeling. It is rooted in self-love, and is the most pre- 
 vailing and the most variegated form of that passion. 
 The scriptural allowance of loving himself as his neigh- 
 bour is so far from being the rule of an avaricious man, 
 that he loves himself, to the exclusion of his neighbour, 
 in everything where pecuniary and worldly interest are 
 concerned. And if, occasionally, he performs certain 
 acts which have the outward appearance of liberality and 
 love to others, and which may be so regarded by man, 
 it is in appearance only ; being either such as cost him 
 nothing of his w 7 orldly goods, or such as are performed 
 with a view to gain some greater advantage, indirectly 
 and ultimately, of the same kind. The covetous man 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 81 
 
 is necessarily selfish. His object is his direct and per- 
 sonal advantage ; he " looks" upon " his own things," 
 and not " upon the things of others." On the contrary, 
 as the temporal prosperity of his neighbour will often 
 come in opposition to, or competition with his, he either 
 regards it not, or his " heart lusteth to envy." The 
 love of money has thus an immediate influence in con- 
 tracting the heart and deadening the benevolent sympa- 
 thies of our nature. The miser has no friend. 
 
 Non uxor salvum te vult, non films : omnes 
 Vicini oderunt, noti, pueri, atque puellse.* 
 
 Nor wife, nor son, thy hated, life would save, 
 While all who know thee wish thee in the grave. 
 
 His passion takes away those motives to moral virtue, 
 which consist in the exercise of social affections. He 
 has not the love of family, or of kindred, but comes into 
 collision with them through their natural claims upon his 
 bounty. " He that is greedy of gain troubleth his 
 own house." — Prov. xv. 27. He " hateth the poor," 
 for similar reasons. " He oppresseth the poor to in- 
 crease his riches." — Prov. xxii. 16. " Do not rich men 
 oppress you, and draw you before the judgment-seats ?" 
 — James ii. 6. 
 
 Neither has the avaricious man any regard to the 
 good opinion of his fellow-men, even of the virtuous 
 and godly ; but shows a deference to those only who 
 
 * Hor. 
 
S3 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 can promote his worldly advantage, and serve him in 
 his traffic and his merchandize. Cupidity, when long 
 indulged, destroys, along with other moral feeling, even 
 the sense of shame ; nor does the miser regard the re- 
 proach of man more than his praise. In short, this 
 state of mind is diametrically opposed to every generous 
 feeling, which is approved by his fellow-men, as well as 
 to the principles and precepts of the Gospel, and, above 
 all, to some of the great forms of that charity which is 
 " the bond of perfectness," and the chief characteristic 
 of Christian temper and disposition. 
 
 But, besides the general habit of mind thus produced 
 by the inordinate love of money, there are certain specific 
 sins, and violations of the second, as well asof the first table 
 of the law, to which this passion, when carried to excess, 
 too often leads; namely, extortion and fraud, and the sin 
 of injustice, in all its forms. How many persons, who 
 would be shocked at the imputation of dishonesty, yet 
 allow themselves, from the desire of illegal gain, to vio- 
 late the laws of their country in matters of impost and 
 taxation, practising thus a direct fraud upon its public re- 
 venue ! How many, both individuals, and even whole 
 people and nations, and under the sanction, too, of their 
 governments and legislatures, have, for the same base 
 ends, violated the strongest laws of humanity, and made 
 a traffic of their fellow-men, bartering their bodies and 
 liberties, and lives, for gold ! Other instances might 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 83 
 
 easily be adduced, where similar wrong and injustice have 
 been practised upon a large scale. But the same spirit 
 pervades the conduct of the avaricious man even in the 
 daily and allowed commerce of society. He who is covet- 
 ous in heart may not have recourse to open methods of 
 injustice, or the direct infraction of the laws of his 
 country, for the accomplishment of his object ; but ex- 
 perience shows, that the spirit of covetousness, when 
 long prevalent, and become powerful, does naturally 
 lead to these violations of the moral law and command- 
 ment. And, although the avaricious man may not be 
 drawn on to commit the crimes of robbery or theft, 
 there are methods nearly allied to these by which he not 
 unfrequently pursues the same object, and to which he 
 may have been conducted by steps almost unperceived to 
 himself. Such unlawful methods are, like the crimes just 
 mentioned, either open or covert, and will be resorted to 
 by different persons, according to theirdifferentcharacters 
 or opportunities. One is an oppressor, and attempts to 
 appropriate the goods of others, if not by direct violence, 
 yet by means equally unjust, and perhaps equally 
 effectual ; by taking advantage of the necessities of an- 
 other to extort that which is unjust, or, under the covert 
 of law, using even his wealth itself as an instrument of 
 avarice. Another attempts the same object by artifice 
 and fraud ; secretly exacting upon his neighbour in 
 their common dealings, and over-reaching those who 
 
84 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 are less shrewd or less suspicious. If he be a seller, he 
 asks more than the worth of his commodity, and more 
 than the price which he is ready to accept. If a pur- 
 chaser, he offers less than the worth, and less than he is 
 prepared to pay. " It is naught, it is naught, saith the 
 buyer; but when he is gone his way he boasteth." — 
 Prov. xx. 14. 
 
 Observe, in some of the declarations of God's word, the 
 connection there traced between the sin of covetousness 
 and those great transgressions against the moral law, 
 which have been adverted to. " The instruments of 
 the churl are evil : he deviseth wicked devices to destroy 
 the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh 
 right." — Is. xxxii. 7. " Thine eyes and thine heart are 
 not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent 
 blood, and for oppression and for violence, to do it." — 
 Jerem, xxii. 17. " In thee have they taken gifts to shed 
 blood : thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast 
 greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion, and hast 
 forgotten me, saith the Lord." — Ezek. xxii. 1 2. " Thou 
 hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought ; and 
 stripped the naked of their clothing." — Job xxii. 6. 
 " The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again." — 
 Psal. xxxvii. 21. " He is a merchant; the balances 
 of deceit are in his hand." — Hos. xii. 7. " They take 
 a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate."— 
 Amos v. 12. 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 85 
 
 For those who are, from their station, more peculiarly 
 exposed to the danger of this sin by their opportunities of 
 oppression, or of influence, we find particular warnings 
 given. In Jethro's counsel to Moses, he charges him to 
 " provide out of all the people able men, such as fear 
 God, men of truth, hating covetousness, and, to place 
 such over them." — Ex. xviii. 21. In the apostle's 
 charge to Timothy, he makes it, in like manner, a special 
 condition in the choice of bishops and deacons, that they 
 shall be persons " not greedy of filthy lucre — not covet- 
 ous. 5 ' — 1 Tim. iii. 3-8. It is enjoined upon judges that 
 they shall not be respecters of persons, either of the 
 rich, or of the poor ; a picture and emblem of perfect 
 justice. But how is it with the covetous man ? When 
 he is placed in the situation of a magistrate or judge, 
 he has a respect of persons, and is inclined to weigh 
 and value the advantage to himself ; nay, he will per- 
 vert judgment, and take a reward even against his 
 neighbour ; against him, that is, who is right in his 
 cause ; yea, " for a piece of bread that man will trans- 
 gress." — Prov. xxviii. 21. See the history of Ahab, 
 king of Israel, who, in the midst of his greatness and 
 royal wealth, yet coveted the small possession of Na- 
 both, and obtained it by the most unjustifiable means ; 
 and see the curse which, on account of that, among his 
 other iniquities, fell upon him and his house. And in 
 the example of Naboth himself, the victim of that 
 
86 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 oppression, we see also the consequence of too great 
 attachment to worldly possessions, and too great tenacity 
 of them even when lawfully held, and which in his case 
 brought upon him so great evil, and subjected him to 
 the wrath of his powerful and unprincipled neighbour. 
 The covetous man, who is in a situation of trust and 
 power, will calculate even the smallest advantage which 
 may accrue to himself from the administration of his 
 office. If he is placed as an overseer of the flock of 
 Christ, he feeds himself, eating the fat, and clothing 
 himself with the wool, but he feeds not the flock, but 
 with force and with cruelty he rules them. — Ezek. 
 xxxiv. 1-4. In the time of their want and danger he leaves 
 them, and " fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth 
 not for the sheep."— John x. 12-13. 
 
 When such a picture may be drawn of this passion, 
 which eats thus as a canker into the heart of man, well 
 may we say with the Psalmist, " Deliver my soul — from 
 men of the world, which have their portion in this life, 
 and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure. 5 ' — 
 Ps. xvii. 13, 14. " Whose god is their belly," says th e 
 apostle, " whose glory is in their shame, who mind 
 earthly things." — Phil. iii. 19. In short, as far as earth 
 is distant from heaven, so far are the thoughts and ways 
 of the avaricious man distant from God, and grace, and 
 glory. 
 
 The declarations of Scripture as to the dangerous na- 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 87 
 
 ture and heinous evil of covetousness, which have been 
 amply quoted in the foregoing passages, are no less 
 amply verified in the history of individuals and nations 
 at all times. 
 
 Quid non mortalia pectora cogis, 
 Auri sacra fames ? 
 
 To what will not the cursed lust of gold 
 Impel the human breast ? 
 
 — Sed quae reverentia legum, 
 
 Quis metus, aut pudor, est unquam, properantis ayari? 
 What reverence for the law, what fear, what shame 
 Was ever his who hasted to be rich ? 
 
 Vendidit hie auro patriam, dominumque potentem 
 Imposuit ; fixit leges pretio, atque refixit.* 
 This wretch his country to a tyrant sold, 
 Bartering a nation's liberty for gold : 
 Laws for a bribe he passed, but passed in vain, 
 For the same laws a bribe repealed again. 
 
 The same poet, in his imagined place of punishment 
 and woe, assigns to the - avaricious man and miser the 
 lowest region of Tartarus, along with the traitor and 
 the parricide, and the fraudulent man, and the adul- 
 terer: and the first are described as constituting the 
 greater portion of the unhappy number. 
 
 Hicquibusinvisifratres dum vita manebat, 
 Pulsatusve parens, et fraus immixta clienti ; 
 Aut qui divitiis soli incubuere repertis, 
 
 * Virg, 
 d 2 
 
88 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 Nec partem posuere suis, quae maxima turba est ; 
 Quique ob adulterium coesi, quique arma secuti 
 Impia, &c. 
 
 They who on earth had base pursuits in view, 
 
 Their brethren hated, or their parents slew ; 
 
 And still more numerous they who swelled their store, 
 
 But ne'er relieved their kindred or the poor, 
 
 Or in a cause unrighteous fought and bled, 
 
 Or perished in the full adulterous bed, &c. 
 
 When we see the deadly nature of this sin, and the 
 many other offences and crimes with which it is closely 
 allied, or to which it so often leads, even as attested by 
 the natural consciences of men, and viewed by the mind 
 of the uninspired moralist, we need not wonder that in 
 the sight of God, and as revealed in his word, it should 
 be classed among the greatest transgressions which can 
 be committed against his holy law ; and calling down, 
 if unrepented and unforsaken, the indignation and ven- 
 geance of the Most High. It remains then, very briefly, 
 to show what is the sentence of God against this sin, as 
 revealed in Scripture. 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 89 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 THE JUDGMENT OF CxOD AGAINST COVETOUSNESS. 
 
 This part of the subject, also, has of necessity been anti- 
 cipated to a great extent in the preceding remarks, and 
 in those passages of Scripture which are descriptive 
 of the sin itself. But reference may properly be made 
 to some more special and marked declarations which 
 pronounce the judgment of God upon those who are 
 chargeable with the guilt of it. 
 
 1. The riches of the covetous man are unaccom- 
 panied with God's blessing during his possession of 
 them ; and are most frequently followed by a blight. 
 His mind is troubled and depressed with anxious cares ; 
 for he undertakes to bear altogether for himself, that 
 burthen which the Lord has offerd to sustain for him, 
 and he is therefore disquieted in vain. " Their silver 
 and their gold shall not satisfy their souls — neither fill 
 their bowels ; because it is the stumbling-block of their 
 iniquity." — Ezek. vii. 19. Of him who "keeps his 
 riches to his hurt," it is said, " All his days also he 
 
90 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 eateth in darkness, and he hath much sorrow and wrath 
 with his sickness." — -Eccles. v. 17. " His heart taketh 
 not rest in the night." — -Eccles. ii. 23. " To the sinner 
 God giveth travail, to gather, and to heap up, that he 
 may give to him that is good before God."- — Ver. 26. 
 " The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be 
 gathered : he, (the just,) openeth his eyes, and he is 
 not." — Job xxvii. 19. 
 
 2. Not only is the covetous man thus disappointed of 
 that happiness, and those enjoyments of which he is in 
 pursuit, so that he is not blessed in his wealth, but he 
 brings down upon him the wrath and curse of God ; 
 and this, whether his riches have been the fruit of in- 
 justice and wrong, or procured without such injurious 
 means, if they are possessed without the fear of God, 
 have engrossed the affections of the heart, or been per- 
 verted and misapplied. u He hath swallowed down 
 riches, and he shall vomit them up again : God shall 
 cast them out of his belly. . . That which he laboured for 
 shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down : accord- 
 ing to his substance shall the restitution be, and he shall 
 not rejoice therein. Because he hath oppressed and 
 forsaken the poor, &c. ; surely he shall not feel quiet- 
 ness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he de- 
 sired... In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in 
 straits ; every hand of the wicked shall come upon him. 
 • ..The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 91 
 
 shall flow away in the day of his wrath." — Job xx. 15-28. 
 He that hath gotten riches, and not by right, shall be 
 visited in retribution upon himself or his posterity, with 
 the reward of his iniquity, and receive in judgment what 
 he prepared for others. " This is... the heritage of 
 oppressors, which they shall receive of the Almighty. 
 If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword ; and 
 his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread... Though 
 he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as 
 the clay, he may prepare it, but the just shall put it on, 
 and the innocent shall divide the silver . . . Terrors take 
 hold on him as waters, a tempest stealeth him away in 
 the night."— Job xxvii. 13-20. 
 
 3. Lastly, when the Holy Spirit enumerates and gives 
 as it were a catalogue of those habitual and heinous sins, 
 w r hich are strictly opposed to the will and law of 
 God, we find covetousness placed in the number, and 
 ranked among those which are most aggravated, and 
 most displeasing to x the Almighty. " Being filled," 
 says the apostle Paul, in describing the gross wicked- 
 ness of the heathen world, "with all unrighteousness, 
 fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full 
 of envy, murder, debate, deceit," &c. — Rom. i. 29. And 
 in the passage formerly quoted, he desires the Colossian 
 converts, among other great sins, to mortify " inordi- 
 nate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, 
 which is idolatry : for which things' sake the wrath of 
 
92 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 God cometh upon the children of disobedience." — 
 Col. iii. 5, 6. The covetous man is expressly excluded 
 from the kingdom of Christ and of God. — Ephes. v. 5. 
 Christians are commanded to have no intercourse what- 
 soever with any professing disciple who is chargeable 
 with this sin ; any more than with such as are guilty of 
 open and notorious wickedness. " But now I have 
 written unto you not to keep company, if any man that 
 is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an 
 idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner ; 
 with such an one no not to eat." — 1 Cor. v. 11. And 
 it isir among those dangerous and ensnaring indulgences 
 to which there shall not be allowed even the least ap- 
 proach or suspicion of them among the followers of 
 Christ. " But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covet- 
 ousness, let it not be once named among you, as be- 
 cometh saints." — Ephes. v. 3. 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 93 
 
 APPLICATION OF THE PRECEDING 
 INQUIRY. 
 
 REMARKS ON THE USE AND ABUSE OF RICHES. 
 
 Such is a short view of the nature of covetousness ; 
 its sinful character; and the sentence which is pro- 
 nounced against it by the divine law ; where it is found 
 to be among the number of those transgressions which 
 are most displeasing to God, and most opposed to that 
 disposition of heart and mind which ought to prevail in 
 his children. The inquiry may not improperly be fol- 
 lowed by some arguments and suggestions addressed to 
 those individual Christians, who, from natural temper 
 and inclination, or from station and employment, are in 
 danger of incurring the guilt of this sin. And it is the 
 more necessary to exercise caution, and to stir up jeal- 
 ousy, in regard to this particular sin, for two reasons : — 
 First, Because it is of a deceitful and ensnaring nature, 
 not easily perceived in its rise and first approaches: and, 
 secondly > Because it is one of those which, lying deep in 
 the heart, are often concealed from the notice and cen- 
 
94 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 sure of our fellow-men, till, by long indulgence, they 
 have acquired such strength as to break forth in criminal 
 acts, or have so tainted and corrupted the character of 
 an individual as to point him out to the scorn and hatred 
 of society. " Some men's sins are open before-hand, 
 going before to judgment," are notorious, that is to say, 
 and manifest in the sight of others, " and some they 
 follow after,'' — 1 Tim. v. 24 ; remaining secret to the 
 day of account, or seen only in the punishment. Hence 
 their frequent union with a religious profession before 
 men ; which resolves into the guilt of hypocrisy ; 
 
 For neither man nor angel can discern 
 Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks 
 Invisible, except to God alone.* 
 
 Covetousness may continue long bound up intheheartof 
 a man, while it makes little appearance to the eye of his 
 fellow-creatures, and may even be overlooked in its first 
 inroads by the individual himself. And this is more 
 likely to happen, on account of the specious guise 
 which the vice assumes; wearing, as it often does, the air 
 of prudence, and a careful and reasonable forethought 
 in the management of affairs ; or taking the higher and 
 more imposing aspect of those duties and virtues, or even 
 Christian graces, on which it most nearly borders ; such 
 as industry in business, care of children and family, 
 moderation, temperance, self-denial. 
 * Par. Lost. 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 95 
 
 Fallit enim vitium specie virtutis et umbra, 
 
 Quum sit triste habitu, vultuque et veste severum. 
 
 Nee dubie, tanquam frugi laudatur avarus, 
 
 Tanquam parcus homo, et rerum tutela suarum 
 
 Certa.* 
 
 For then in virtue's shape they follow vice, 
 
 Since here a true division is so nice 
 
 That the base wretch who hoards up all he can 
 
 Is praised, and called a careful thrifty man. 
 
 From this secret nature of its operation , and from the 
 difficulty of drawing a visible line of demarkation be- 
 tween that which is lawful or a commanded duty, and 
 that which is sinful and forbidden, an avaricious disposi- 
 tion is so frequently found in conjunction with a religious 
 name. Of this union some remarkable instances are 
 found in holy writ. Balaam, the son of Bosor, was a 
 prophet, and employed to bear the message of the Most 
 High ; yet did he repeatedly desire to evade the com- 
 mission which he received, from the base and unworthy 
 motive of expected gain ; for " he loved the wages of 
 unrighteousness" — and desired " a reward," that is, a 
 
 bribe 2 Pet. ii. 15, Jude 11. He was "hired," 
 
 says the sacred historian, " to curse Israel." — Deut. 
 xxiii. 4. And his heart went with the King of Moab so 
 to do, although his intention was overruled by the Spirit 
 of God, and he was compelled to bless them altogether. 
 Hezekiah, king of Judah, " trusted in the Lord God 
 of Israel... and did that which was right in the sight 
 * Juv. s. 14. 
 
96 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 of the Lord." — 2 Kings xviii. Yet have we reason, 
 from the sacred record, to believe that he was not free 
 from this ensnaring sin ; for we find afterwards that 
 his heart was lifted up on account of his wealth and 
 worldly prosperity, and that he boasted of the multitude 
 of his riches. He made an ostentatious display of his 
 treasure before the ambassadors of the king of Babylon, 
 a worldly and idolatrous potentate. For " Hezekiah 
 was glad of them, and showed them the house of his 
 precious things, the silver and the gold... and all that 
 was found in his treasures." But what was the re- 
 sult ? " Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king 
 Hezekiah ;" and after inquiring what had passed, and 
 being informed by the king, " Then said Isaiah to 
 Hezekiah, hear the word of the Lord of Hosts, behold 
 the days come that all that is in thine house, and that 
 which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, 
 shall be carried to Babylon ; nothing shall be left, saith 
 the Lord." — Isa. xxxix. 2, 6. He was punished in his 
 posterity and succession, like some other servants of 
 the Lord, whose hearts were right with God, but whose 
 particular sins were thus visited upon their descendants. 
 " Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, good is the word of 
 the Lord which thou hast spoken : he said, moreover, 
 For there shall be peace and truth in my days." — Ver. 8. 
 There is no religious profession more avowed and 
 solemn than that which is made by its appointed priests 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE, 97 
 
 and ministers, the stewards of the mysteries of God, 
 Yet we find in the Scripture history how the sin of 
 covetousness was found often to prevail, and to prevail 
 in the most notorious and flagrant form, among those 
 w 7 ho devoted themselves to the sacred office, and in 
 whom it has a peculiar and aggravated guilt. How 
 frequent are the warnings in the word of God to beware 
 of such pollution ! how awful the denunciations by the 
 prophets of Israel upon those who w 7 ere contaminated 
 by it ! " Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that 
 do feed themselves ; ye eat the fat and ye clothe you 
 with the wool ; ye kill them that are fed ; but ye feed 
 not the flock." — Ezek. xxxiv. 2-3. " Hear this, I pray 
 you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the 
 house of Israel ; that abhor judgment, and pervert all 
 equity... the heads thereof judge for reward, and the 
 priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof 
 divine for money. Yet will they lean upon the Lord 
 and say, Is not the Lord among us ; none evil can come 
 upon us. Therefore shall Zion for your sake be 
 ploughed as a field." — Mic. hi. 9-12. For these things 
 the Lord's " anger was kindled against the shepherds," 
 (Zech.,) and he even " cursed their blessings." 
 (Malachi.) The sons of Eli were cut off, and he him- 
 self and his house chastised for their iniquity and covet- 
 ousness, which he restrained not,— 1 Sam. hi. 13, 
 &c. 
 
98 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 The Pharisees, in the time of our Saviour, not only 
 made great profession of religion, but in practice ob- 
 served the whole letter of the law with the strictest 
 punctilio : yet they joined with their profession, and cher- 
 ished under the covering of it, an unsanctified state of 
 heart ; and among their sins none was more indulged by 
 them, and none more severely reprimanded by Christ, 
 than the sin of covetousness. " Ye are they which 
 justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth your 
 hearts." — Luke xvi. 15. 
 
 And what is the state of our own nation and its in- 
 habitants, as respects this passion of covetousness and 
 the love of money ? Perhaps there is no country of the 
 world where it prevails to a greater extent, and is more 
 widely diffused among all classes, and mixed up with 
 their transactions, both public and private, than the 
 professedly Christian and reformed country of Great 
 Britain. To trace its influence through all the veins in 
 which it circulates would be a fruitless attempt ; but the 
 greedy pursuit of gain, and the paramount importance 
 attached to its acquisition, are seen on the slightest sur- 
 vey, and operating alike in the mass of individuals, in 
 public and corporate bodies, and in the legislature itself. 
 
 With regard to the latter, how large a portion of the 
 time and care of Parliament is devoted to the subject of 
 finance, and revenue, and commerce, and trade, and 
 taxation, compared with that which is bestowed on mea- 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 99 
 
 sures connected with moral legislation, and the well- 
 being of the people at large ; except when, from agri- 
 cultural or manufacturing depression and disturbance, 
 the latter break forth in acts of outrage or insubordina- 
 tion, requiring some temporary expedient for tightening 
 the reins of government and strengthening the authority 
 of the magistrate. How many large grants are voted 
 for public works of every description, including those 
 which are merely ornamental, and for the advance- 
 ment and facilities of merchandise, or the resources of 
 war ; while, at the same time, those which are requisite 
 for the general and effective education of the people, 
 and other purposes connected with their social relations, 
 are dealt out with a reluctant and penurious caution. 
 How lately is it that the British legislature has con- 
 sented to abandon measures of finance which gave direct 
 encouragement to the indulgence of this vice of covet- 
 ousness among the subjects, for the purpose of filling 
 the public treasury at the expense of private industry, 
 as well as morals ; establishing large gambling offices in 
 the metropolis, with their subordinate branches spread- 
 ing over the whole land. The lottery, with its allure- 
 ments, was resorted to, though founded on the same 
 principle of fraud which supports the tables of the com- 
 mon gaming-house ; and it was, like them too, produc- 
 tive of all the evils attendant upon idleness and improvi- 
 dence. And the same destroying compromise, which 
 
100 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 would thus purchase money for the public at the cost of 
 public morality, is still seen operating in that more than 
 passive encouragement which is given by our revenue 
 laws to the profuse manufacture of ardent spirits, with 
 all its fatal effects, more wide-spreading than a pesti- 
 lence, and more deadly than the instruments of war. 
 
 Of the same nature, but, if possible, still more hateful 
 and demoralizing, was the countenance so long given to 
 the traffic in humanity carried on by cur colonies. The 
 abolition of slavery has, indeed, afforded a pleasing 
 example of liberality in the legislature, by a munificent 
 grant of compensation to the West Indian slaveholders ; 
 an act both of beneficence on the one hand, and of justice 
 on the other ; while it marks, in stronger contrast, the 
 unchristian policy which preceded. Yet how much of 
 the evil still remains which it is out of the reach of 
 our legislature to avert ; for the crime continues to be 
 not only tolerated, but openly protected and fostered 
 by the transatlantic descendants of those who colonized 
 from this country ; a legacy bequeathed by Britain to 
 her children, over whom, by her own cupidity in another 
 form, she forfeited her legislative control. 
 
 Other instances of liberality in our legislature are 
 certainly to be met with, besides the compensation grant 
 referred to ; and in which large sums have been voted 
 from the public treasury in times of dearth, or of com- 
 mercial or manufacturing embarrassment, or other sea- 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE, 101 
 
 sons of distress. And these, too, are often just and 
 beneficent acts. Yet still they are associated with wants 
 and interests of a strictly temporal and physical descrip- 
 tion, and bear most commonly on the commercial pros- 
 perity of the nation. But, for purposes not immediately 
 connected with these interests, it is not the practice of 
 our legislature to bestow any liberal or permanent aid, 
 having a direct view to the moral improvement of the 
 community. 
 
 Again, with the object in view of borrowing more 
 easily for their own purposes, we see the legislature 
 prohibiting the possessors of this very property, money, 
 from using it with that freedom which is allowed in the 
 case of all other commodities ; and to such purposes of 
 advantage as could be fairly and openly obtained in its 
 proper market. This restriction is imposed, indeed, 
 under the colour of protecting improvident borrowers 
 from those lenders, who would make their necessity the 
 occasion of taking undue profit. But, as well known, it 
 fails even of attaining this its professed end, and operates 
 much more frequently in the other way, compelling the 
 improvident person to incur a still greater loss, by insur- 
 ing the usurious money dealer against the penalties of 
 the law. For, while the prohibition of that law may 
 be observed in its letter, it is daily violated in its spirit, 
 and is the occasion of much fraudulent and illicit mer- 
 chandise. And with respect to that numerous class, 
 
102 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 who would deal fairly in the commodity, .the law is in- 
 jurious and unjust, by tying up their hands from a trans- 
 action which, being for the interest equally of the bor- 
 rower and the lender, ought, like every other commer- 
 cial traffic, to be protected and allowed. But it is im- 
 possible to doubt, that, whatever motive may be held 
 forth as a pretext, the true reason of this restriction is 
 to be found in the fact, that the Government and the 
 majority of the legislature are themselves borrowers, 
 and have a pecuniary interest in continuing a law which 
 gives them a facility for that purpose. And it affords 
 an example of the insidious forms, which this monopo- 
 lizing propensity can assume. 
 
 Again, in the management of public affairs, for how 
 many offices of trust is the mere possession of money, 
 to a certain prescribed amount, the sole or chief legal 
 qualification ; not excepting the office of the legislator 
 himself. We see, too, how even seats in the Legis- 
 lative Assembly have themselves been made the sub- 
 ject of buying and selling ; and that with scarcely an 
 attempt at concealment or disguise. And we see still 
 how many enactments are passed, from year to year, 
 to restrain the representatives of the people in Parlia- 
 ment from corrupting their constituents by gross acts 
 of bribery; and passed without effect. Do we not 
 often find, in some departments of the public service, 
 that while an inferior officer is openly dismissed, and 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 103 
 
 with infamy, for peculation and fraud, the superior, who 
 was cognisant of the fact, if not allowed to retain his situa- 
 tion, is permitted as if voluntarily to resign it, or, after 
 some not severe rebuke, suspended or removed ; thus 
 proving that, even in questions of moral conduct, an in- 
 fluence is possessed by men of greater opulence or of 
 higher station, which is not permitted to those of poorer 
 and humbler rank ; whereas the course of justice ought 
 to run in the opposite direction, and begin with the more 
 powerful offender ; so that he who ought to have been the 
 example of honesty in such cases of trust, may be the 
 example also of punishment. But legal justice, though 
 one of the idols of Britain, is still of limited and un- 
 equal authority ; a god of the valleys, but not a god of 
 the hills. How many appointments, too, are sold by 
 members of some of the national boards, at a fixed price 
 in money, as a direct perquisite of office ; and sold with 
 the knowledge of these boards, and without censure or 
 loss of repute. How many false oaths or declarations 
 are taken by individuals receiving or exchanging com- 
 missions in the military service, as to the amount of 
 money actually paid for such commissions ; and which 
 declarations are w 7 ell known to be untrue, but allowed 
 to pass in silence, for the pecuniary advantage of those 
 who traffic in them. 
 
 Again, in the judicial department, as organized by 
 law, we see the parsimony of the legislature, by which 
 the expense of supporting the courts of justice is, in 
 
104 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 a great measure, devolved upon the individuals who are 
 obliged to resort to these tribunals for the protection of 
 their rights ; in place of being sustained by the nation, 
 as a public burthen, for the advantage of the community 
 at large. According -to this unjust policy, the suitors 
 were formerly compelled even to remunerate the judges 
 who administered the law ; a system which, in some 
 parts of the empire, partially continued down to the 
 present century. And, although not applicable now to 
 the case of the judges, the same system is still in force 
 as to the subordinate officers of the courts of law 7 ; for 
 whose maintenance the private parties are taxed in 
 fees upon the various steps of procedure ; and not 
 only so, but, in addition to all other and necessary 
 charges, are even obliged to contribute, in the form of 
 judicial stamp duties, to the public revenue, and the 
 purposes of the State. Thus does the covetousness of 
 the government and legislature operate as an engine 
 of direct oppression and injustice towards individuals. 
 
 To take another instance; in that great judicial depart- 
 ment, the prosecution of criminals, we see, in one part of 
 the empire, how the penurious principle of saving operates 
 on the legislature ; which, instead of providing at the public 
 cost for what is by its nature a public office and charge, 
 still permits that remnant of barbarous policy to con- 
 tinue, which threw upon the private and injured individ- 
 ual, suffering in his person or property, the expense and 
 grievous inconvenience of vindicating the public law by 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 105 
 
 prosecution of the robber, or housebreaker, or other 
 felon ; a system by which not greater injustice is done 
 to the individual, than injury and loss sustained by the 
 community at large, through the frequent compromise 
 of crime, and the ends of justice defeated. 
 
 Farther, in the laws themselves, we see what value is 
 attached to money ; and how it is made, or is allowed 
 to become, as it were, the measure and standard, even 
 where moral principles are in question. Thus, some of 
 the most criminal and injurious acts which can affect 
 the happiness of families, and disturb the peace of 
 society, are, according to British law, not accounted 
 crimes against public order and the national morals, but 
 only the ground of a civil action for damages, at the 
 suit of the private party ; being thus allowed to be 
 compensated by the payment of money, without other 
 punishment of the wrong-doer ; while many of the sever- 
 est penalties of that law are reserved for encroachments 
 on the right of property. In some cases, too, even 
 that imperfect remedy is, by the nature of the circum- 
 stances, debarred. For, among other examples of this 
 false but favourite estimate, we see, according to the 
 law still existing, and enforced in the largest and 
 wealthiest part of the empire, that, in one case of the 
 greatest moral injury which can be inflicted on the 
 female character, the parent whose child has been 
 the victim of artful and deliberate seduction has no 
 legal redress against the offender, unless he can prove 
 
106 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 pecuniary loss and damage sustained by him, through 
 the want of that child's personal services in his em- 
 ployment ; a redress insufficient in all cases, and in many 
 quite excluded and inapplicable ; which, in its purpose 
 and intent also, as regards the offender, is a mockery of 
 justice, and a punishment altogether inadequate to his 
 offence. According to the law of that country, too, 
 till altered within these few years by a special statute, 
 the offence of stealing the person of an infant child 
 could be punished only as theft of the clothes in which 
 it was drest ; and if these were not appropriated, the 
 wrong was committed with impunity. Farther, under 
 the provisions of British law, carried every day into 
 effect, we see in how many cases u offence's gilded 
 hand can shove by justice ; M not through the " cor- 
 rupted currents" of a bribe to the magistrate or judge, 
 but through the error and false estimate of the law 
 itself, awarding mere pecuniary mulcts for crime ; 
 an example of that unequal measure which consists 
 in fixing an equal amount for every offender, with- 
 out distinction of opulence or rank; thus granting, 
 indirectly but necessarily, an immunity to the rich 
 man for outrages which will subject the poor man 
 to imprisonment, or his family to want. The fine may, 
 in some cases, not be too large, as a penalty, even on 
 the offender of low degree ; but if so, it must of neces- 
 sity be too small as a penalty on the superior. 
 
 In all these and other instances of the same kind, 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 107 
 
 the evil arises plainly from that habitual disposition to 
 take money as the general standard of all things; 
 whether reward or punishment, whether character or 
 qualification, whether private good or public advantage : 
 and we thus find covetousness exemplified in what may 
 be called the Mammon of the Senate. 
 
 But if this tendency is discovered even in the national 
 councils and government, the influence of avarice under 
 various forms is still more distinctly marked in public 
 bodies of a subordinate character ; in the transactions 
 and management of various communities and societies of 
 men in the state. We see the cupidity which prevails 
 among the great mercantile and banking companies, and 
 how eagerly they embark in extended and uncertain 
 speculations, the success of which hangs upon a combi- 
 nation of unknown and future contingencies; and which 
 are commenced, not upon the resources of those who 
 conduct them only, but equally, or more so, with the 
 funds of thousand others who take no part in that 
 management, but who, if the game proves adverse, are 
 involved in difficulties, perhaps in ruin. We see the 
 schemes formed for the purpose of establishing a mono- 
 poly and exclusive trade in particular commodities, and 
 the advantage taken of these powerful means to enhance 
 prices at the expense of the rest of the community ; 
 often, too, in the seasons of calamity and distress. And, 
 in various other ways, the covetous man lies in wait to 
 
108 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 profit by the necessities of his neighbour. This is the 
 Mammon of the Counting-house. 
 
 But if such improvident and unsparing haste to be 
 rich deserves condemnation in the ordinary transactions 
 of civil life, what shall be said of cupidity and avarice 
 when reigning in the community of the Christian Church 
 itself, and among its office-bearers ? Of all places in 
 which covetousness can shew itself, it is most revolting 
 and most to be reprobated when appearing in the house 
 of God; or the Mammon of the Temple. That the right 
 of appointing to offices, of a spiritual nature, in the 
 Christian ministry, should be recognised and constituted 
 by law as a civil patrimony in any individual who can 
 purchase that right with money, and should be exercised 
 as a franchise without being subject to any efficient con- 
 trol for the benefit and welfare of the Christian flock : 
 that it should be a subject of commerce and traffic like 
 other merchandize, and even be included among the 
 assets of a bankrupt debtor, which may be attached by 
 his creditors, would, in a naked statement of the case, 
 be considered a monstrous proposition, and inadmissible 
 in a land of religious rights and privileges, if the facts 
 were not familiar to the mind, and witnessed daily in all 
 parts of the empire. Of the same, if not even a worse 
 character, is that traffic carried on among those invested 
 with the sacred office thus conferred, and which is like- 
 wise daily seen in one of the reformed churches estab- 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 109 
 
 lished in this United Kingdom. How frequently does 
 it happen there, not only that such commerce is per- 
 mitted to take place by private agreement, but that 
 offers are made, and proposals entertained, through the 
 public journals, for the purchase and sale of presenta- 
 tions, or the exchange of spiritual offices ; and not infre- 
 quently, on the avowed consideration of some temporal 
 advantage or convenience merely to the parties ; arrange- 
 ments to which the flock is no party, and respecting 
 which it is not consulted, but handed over from one 
 pastor to another, at the stipulated price. In the same 
 manner it is, that those many individuals who occupy 
 what are called subordinate situations in the Christian 
 ministry of that church, are placed in circumstances so 
 embarrassing, and in a state often of needy dependence 
 upon the superiors having the power of selection and 
 nomination. How 7 much of duty and service is in most 
 cases required, and how often even the lowest amount 
 of remuneration grudgingly bestowed ; and how much 
 tloes the system favour extortion and avarice on the part 
 of those in whose service these ministers of Christ are 
 employed.* 
 
 * In illustration of these practices, and of the remarks made in 
 the text, the following notices, of a recent date, may be referred 
 to. They are copied from a religious newspaper of extensive cir- 
 culation, and advocating strictly evangelical doctrines : — 
 
 " Curate wanted, where a title for orders can be given. There 
 is a small house partly furnished, suitable for a bachelor. The 
 population attached to the cure is about 2000, situated in the 
 
110 ^OVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 Farther, to what other motive but the same unhal- 
 lowed love of money, and the purpose of increasing 
 their own temporal gain, and filling their children with 
 good things, can it possibly be ascribed that so many 
 
 mining district of Shropshire. No one need apply to whom salary 
 is an object. Application," &c. 
 
 " Curate wanted early in May to assist a resident invalid, in a 
 pleasant healthy village about fifty miles from town, a single man, 
 under thirty years of age, in good health, a graduate of Oxford, 
 agreeing in doctrine with the author of Apostolical Preaching. A 
 priest would be preferred, but to a candidate for orders, really com- 
 bining with the required essentials, the qualifications of a scholar 
 and a gentleman, a title would not be refused. Address," &c. 
 
 " A clergyman in full orders, accustomed to, and in actual dis- 
 charge of an important cure, wishes to hear of an appointment in a 
 southern county, or near London. A liberal salary will be re- 
 quired." 
 
 " Exchange of livings. Wanted to exchange a living pleasantly 
 and most healthily situated in the suburbs of a good town, com- 
 bining many advantages, especially to any one having children to 
 educate, and of the annual value of rather more than £400, but 
 without any habitable parsonage-house ; for one more completely in 
 the country, to which there is a good residence attached, or where 
 such might be permanently rented, at a convenient distance from 
 the church. A sacrifice, in the amount of income, would be made 
 by the advertiser for a living agreeably situated, possessing the 
 above advantages, and with a population not exceeding 500 or 600, 
 Any county south of Warwickshire would be preferred." 
 
 " Wanted to exchange, the immediate presentation of advowson 
 of a rectory, situate within four miles of the Severn, between 
 Cheltenham and Bristol ; value £600 per annum ; population 1800. 
 The rectory-house, on an elevated site, is of a very superior order, 
 and suitable for a family of the first respectability ; it comprises 
 four sitting-rooms, eight bed-rooms, servants' apartments, suitable 
 offices, double coach-house, stabling for four horses, conservatory, 
 bath-room, and is surrounded with lawn, pleasure-grounds, and 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. Ill 
 
 pastors in that Church, having the cure of souls, accept. 
 and seek the charge of several flocks, two or even more, 
 scattered it may be and separated beyond their reach, 
 in divers places; leaving one or more, or all of these 
 folds in the hands of other men, over whom they them- 
 
 many acres of glebe pasture land. The roads are good, and the 
 situation bracing. The patron and. incumbent aged thirty-five, 
 desire to exchange the above for a living on or near the sea-coast, 
 of similar value, with substantial glebe-house, in thorough repair/' 
 
 " To be sold, an advowson, in the county of Hants, situated 
 midway between Andover and Newbury. The rectory is a sub- 
 stantial and spacious dwelling. The glebe land consists of about 
 sixty acres. The tithes produce a yearly income of £700. The 
 present incumbent is in his seventy-sixth year." 
 
 These advertisements are taken, without selection, from one 
 number of the London Record, that of 3d April 1837, also taken 
 up without selection ; and where they appear in the order above 
 given. They afford a painful subject for consideration ; but the 
 cases require little comment. We see that where the incumbency 
 is in question, the inducements held out or required are a small 
 population, a liberal income, peculiar advantages of situation and. 
 climate, commodious or elegant dwelling, and other circumstances 
 of a temporal nature. Where the laborious assistant is in question, 
 the conditions are, numerous requisites for the discharge of the 
 clerical duties, with moderate or even with no salary, and with sti- 
 pulations in some cases adjected, which are either independent of, 
 or contrary to, the Scriptural test. Thus, in the first of the above 
 advertisements, a curate is wanted to take charge of 2000 souls, 
 but for which none need apply to whom salary is an object. 
 And in the second, among the qualifications specified, it is required 
 that the applicant should be unmarried, a graduate of one particular 
 University, a scholar, and a gentleman ; and it is farther required 
 that he shall agree in doctrine, it is not said, with Paul and the 
 other apostles and evangelists, but with the writer of a particular 
 book, which is prescribed as the standard of his opinions and 
 teaching. 
 
 E 2 
 
1 12 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 selves often exercise no superintendence, or none, it may 
 be, but what is injurious. Nor is this evil confined to 
 cases where the emolument of one cure might be too 
 limited, and prove insufficient for a suitable mainten- 
 ance ; though even this circumstance affords no excuse 
 for the scheme which produces such anomalies ; but 
 takes place, too, in cases where no such reason ope- 
 rates. Is not this, in the strictest sense of the term, to 
 feed themselves, and not the heritage of which they are 
 made the nominal overseers ? And are those who so 
 act placing themselves under less than the condemnation 
 denounced in the word of God against the unfaithful 
 and covetous shepherds of Israel ? Still more, it may 
 be asked, are not those who having the power, like Eli, 
 by their superior office in the Church to rule their clerical 
 household, like him restrain them not, or worse than him, 
 do not even reprove, but rather tolerate and abet, 
 and themselves pursue the same course, are such not 
 subjecting themselves, in the sight of God, to the 
 same judgment as that priest, or to a worse than his ? 
 And most of all, because with them lies the ultimate 
 responsibility, as possessing the ultimate control, shall 
 the nation and the legislature, who permit and give their 
 continued sanction to such abuse of spiritual offices and 
 authority, in any part of the empire, forget the righteous 
 judgment of God, declared against rulers, and magis- 
 trates, and people, as well as against individuals, for 
 such open transgressions of his holy commandment? 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 113 
 
 But the root of all these acknowledged evils is the 
 worldly spirit of covetousness, and that prevailing defer- 
 ence paid to the rich and the powerful among men. 
 This is the great idol of Britain :— 
 
 God of the world and worldlings, 
 
 Great Mammon, greatest god beneath the sky. 
 
 If such are the power and influence of this idol, in 
 the community, the legislative councils, and even in a 
 great body of the outward church, it is not to be won- 
 dered that the same spirit should prevail so extensively 
 as it does in the subordinate ranks of society, and among 
 individuals. The condition of Britain, as a great com- 
 mercial and manufacturing country, holds out peculiar 
 temptations to the eager pursuit of wealth and unlimited 
 accumulation of property. Nor is this passion for gain 
 entirely confined to those who are indifferent to religion, 
 and nominal Christians merely, or guided altogether by 
 worldly maxims* These maxims are too frequently 
 adopted, in so far as cohcerns the acquisition of wealth, 
 even by those who belong to, and form part of what is 
 called the religious world. This name is inauspicious, 
 and the use of it in current speech productive of much 
 evil consequence. For it mixes two things which the 
 word of God has separated, and declares to be irrecon- 
 cileable. Independent of that general sense of the term 
 according to which the world comprehends all created 
 beings, or the universal frame of God's works, the 
 Scriptures acknowledge two worlds in which man has a 
 
114 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 place and share ; the world of nature, that now is, but 
 shall pass away ; and the world of spirit, that shall con- 
 tinue and be eternal. And, as regards the race of men 
 dwelling upon the earth, though it sometimes includes 
 the whole human family, yet when not thus applied, it 
 acknowledges the two great distinctions corresponding 
 to the former ; namely, of those who mind and seek the 
 things of this present world, and of those who mind and 
 seek the things of the spiritual and eternal world. But 
 man subdivides these differently, and forms out of them 
 many more, to suit his own views and feelings. He 
 constructs a mercantile, a literary, a scientific, a fashion- 
 able, and various other worlds. The ".religious world" 
 is one of those human inventions. Nor is the meaning 
 of this term well defined, or clearly understood, like 
 those last mentioned; but, on the contrary, is ambi- 
 guous and vague. For it neither corresponds to that 
 part of the community who make a profession of Chris- 
 tian faith ; since, with exception of the very few who 
 avow, or rather who aver themselves to be infidels, all 
 are willing to make an outward profession of that name : 
 nor does it embrace all who, there may be good rea- 
 son to believe, are inwardly in heart and life among the 
 number of sincere Christians ; for it is not applied to 
 those, however sincere, who make no public appearance 
 or large profession before men, but whose deeds are 
 done in secret and unobserved. And, as commonly 
 received, it excludes that great class of Christians, the 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 115 
 
 poor of this earth, though rich in faith and heirs of a 
 kingdom. To form part of the religious world, as the 
 words are commonly understood, it is necessary and 
 expected that the individuals of it should belong to a 
 particular class and rank of society, and should be 
 known by certain outward marks as engaged under the 
 eyes of their fellow-men, in the promotion of certain 
 definite objects and works which considerable numbers 
 of professing Christians are for the time occupied in 
 promoting. The term is objectionable, therefore, both 
 as being unscriptural, and as it is founded upon dis- 
 tinctions drawn from external marks alone. 
 
 The outward and ostensible line thus traced, and 
 which comprehends in its circle a large portion chiefly 
 of the upper and wealthier ranks, as distinguished from 
 the rest of the community, is even productive of some 
 practical evils not to be overlooked. For, besides 
 marking the separation too strongly between the higher 
 and the lower ranks in the scale of society, in matters of 
 religious concern, an inducement is afforded to the lat- 
 ter of making the Christian profession itself a matter of 
 traffic, and the assumption of the character and name a 
 means of deriving some mere temporal advantage. 
 Those advertisements now so frequent in the case of 
 domestic servants, as wanted for the household of a re- 
 ligious family belonging to some particular community 
 or body in the Christian Church, have too strong a 
 
116 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 tendency to produce this evil. It is not meant, of 
 course, that preference should not decidedly be given 
 to those possessing the religious character so described ; 
 but rather that this inquiry should be conducted by 
 other means, instead of that publicity of notice which 
 opens the way to deceitful practices, and leads, not 
 unfrequently, to disappointment either on one side or 
 the other. There is something of display and ostenta- 
 tion in this and similar cases, which it is to be feared do 
 not tend to the promotion of genuine religion. 
 
 In short, let the individual Christian rather be 
 jealous of receiving honour from men, and beware 
 of looking to names and distinctions given by man, 
 but look rather to his own heart and motives. And 
 with respect to the particular sin of covetousness, as 
 well as every other, the more openly that he has 
 proclaimed himself, or is accounted by others, to be 
 of the number of Christ's followers, the more jeal- 
 ous ought that inspection to be, and the greater his 
 anxiety that, in his ordinary pursuits, and the inter- 
 course of life, he acts consistently with his profession. 
 For they who attempt to reconcile with their religious 
 belief an anxious and eager pursuit either of worldly gain, 
 or worldly applause, are in danger of adding to the sin 
 of covetousness the hateful and deadly sin of syste- 
 matic hypocrisy. The attempt to join the service of 
 God with that of mammon, the love of Christ with the 
 
THE EAR OF SCRIPTURE. 117 
 
 love of the world, necessarily leads to this soul-destroy* 
 ing state. It is an attempt to combine things which are 
 incompatible and abhorrent; and he who follows the 
 one must of necessity forsake the other. Of the Israel- 
 ites, it was said by the mouth of the prophet, that under 
 the pretext of a desire to hear " what is the word that 
 cometh forth from the Lord," — " they come unto thee 
 as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my peo- 
 ple, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them : 
 for with their mouth they show much love, but their 
 heart goeth after their covetousness." — Ezek. xxxiii. 
 30, 31. When the Son of man appeared upon earth, 
 he found the professing worshippers of Jehovah so wholly 
 given to the sin of covetousness, that on pretence of serv- 
 ing the altar, they carried on their worldly traffic even in 
 the holy place; making the house of God " a house of 
 merchandize;" and converting it, by their fraudulent 
 and usurious dealings, even " into a den of thieves." 
 
 Of their teachers who permitted such things, and who 
 themselves practised the same or greater deception, 
 Christ says, " Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, 
 hypocrites ! for ye devour widow's houses, and for a 
 pretence make long prayers : therefore ye shall receive 
 greater damnation." — Matt, xxiii. 14. To the apostasy 
 and treachery of Judas was added this sin of hypocrisy. 
 For, even before the perfidy of that mock salutation 
 with which he delivered up his Master, he is found 
 
118 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 objecting to the waste of the ointment with which the 
 penitent Mary anointed Jesus ; on the false pretence 
 that it might have been sold, and the price given to the 
 poor ; " not that he cared for the poor ; but because he 
 was a thief, and had the bag ; and bare what was put 
 therein." His motive was avarice, and his concern for 
 the poor was a cloak of covetousness. — John xii. 4, 
 &c. The apostle, foretelling the heresies that should be 
 brought into the Christian Church by false and seducing 
 teachers, adds, " and through covetousness shall they 
 with feigned words make merchandize of you," con- 
 verting even the souls of men into a subject of traffic and 
 worldly gain, "beguiling unstable souls : an heart they 
 have exercised with covetous practices ; cursed children, 
 which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, 
 following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who 
 loved the wages of unrighteousness." — 2 Pet. ii. 3-14. 
 If such be the fearful consequences of attempting this 
 unhallowed union, how important is it for the professing 
 Christian to examine himself, whether he stands in this 
 dangerous position. It is by no means necessary to 
 suppose that his profession is false or hypocritical. He 
 may be a sincere believer in the truths of the gospel, 
 and his heart may be right before God, and without 
 intentional deceit or guile. For what Christian, in 
 common with other men, has not a besetting sin, by 
 which he is more easily overcome than by other temp- 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 1 19 
 
 tations ? Or, even supposing that covetousness is not 
 the disposition to which the individual is naturally prone, 
 he may be placed in circumstances which have a pecu- 
 liar tendency either to generate that passion, or to with- 
 draw the mind from spiritual objects. Worldly pros- 
 perity produces this effect at times, even in those who 
 are most sincere. Something of apathy and indifference 
 to religious duties is apt to grow with growing wealth. 
 Such was the case for a time with the patriarch Jacob, 
 who, though a decided servant of God, forgot in the day 
 of his wealth and temporal ease, to perform his vow 
 made at Bethel in the hour of his adversity and fear ; 
 and when brought back to Canaan, and reconciled to 
 his brother Esau, instead of going at once to erect at 
 that place the promised altar, pitched his tent in a city 
 of Shechem, and continued with all his family among an 
 idolatrous people, till warned by a special message from 
 God. He even connived at the possession of images by 
 those of his household, and their worship of the strange 
 gods of the heathen. — Gen. chaps, xxxii., xxxiii., xxxv. 
 Those who are engaged in the active pursuits and 
 business of life, above all in a great commercial country, 
 where all around them are eagerly bent upon amassing 
 wealth, must of course be exposed in a peculiar manner 
 to these temptations. Merchandize, like every other 
 allowed work and labour of man, is honourable as w r ell 
 as necessary, But its attainment must be the fruit of 
 
120 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 industry and skill; and it must be conducted on the 
 principles of justice, and regard to the interest of others, 
 in order to be blessed in the results. Yet how often 
 and how extensively are these conditions forgot in the 
 great trading adventures undertaken in Britain, which 
 have already been alluded to, and which are so multi- 
 plied in the present day ; of some of which the most 
 remarkable features are fictitious capital, unlimited en- 
 terprise, and the promise of exuberant gain. Of such 
 speculations one of the most frequent issues has been dis- 
 appointment, with wide-spread and desolating distress to 
 individuals, and families, and large classes of the com- 
 munity. It may be said, that these are rather the evils 
 of a system, and the consequences of a particular state 
 of society ; that they are unavoidable and must occasion- 
 ally follow from the condition of trade in a great commer- 
 cial country. But this forms no excuse to the conscience 
 of individuals, who, while professing higher principles, 
 partake in a system producing such effects. False rules 
 take shelter in public names and general example ; but 
 every individual must be tried by his own act and motive. 
 Does he join in schemes which are devised on false and 
 unchristian principles; and if so, what inducement prevails 
 with him to do so but covetousness, which is not satisfied 
 with moderate and lawful profits, the fruit of industry, 
 but grasps at those which are sudden and exorbitant ? 
 He would not, indeed, justify or defend the passion 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 121 
 
 itself; he would be shocked if any one should speak of 
 a covetous Christian, no less than if he should speak 
 of a revengeful or malevolent Christian, for it is a con- 
 tradiction in terms. But the question is not with respect 
 to words and names, but to spirit and principle ; not as 
 to the form of godliness, but the power of it. Let him 
 try his state therefore by this test; and the rule for 
 doing so is to be found, not in human authority and ex- 
 ample, but in God's word alone. 
 
 Has he the spirit of Christ, or the spirit of the world ? 
 and does he consider the love of money as one of those 
 things which mark and distinguish the worldly man ? 
 " Love not the world, neither the things of the world ; w 
 not merely worldly men, and worldly pleasure ; but 
 worldly maxims, and worldly objects of pursuit. " If 
 any man love the world, the love of the Father is not 
 in him." They that are truly Christ's have denied the 
 world and its ways ; notone only, or some, but all its 
 ways. There is no truth of Scripture more prominent 
 than this, no contrast and opposition more strongly 
 drawn than that between a man of the world and a 
 disciple of Christ. It is true that the Christian must 
 mingle in the intercourse and transactions of life with 
 worldly men, otherwise he must needs go out of the 
 world. But he is not to mix with them upon their 
 principles and views of conduct. And here his diffi- 
 culty lies; for that very intercourse subjects him to 
 
122 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 strong and ever recurring temptation. Men of the 
 world, with whom he must associate, more or less, in 
 the business and walks of life, though they look with 
 dislike upon his religious profession, will approve of 
 him while engaged in the same pursuit with themselves, 
 and encourage his aims : they will speak no evil of him 
 while he follows after gain : on the contrary, the more 
 eager his pursuit, the more will he command their sym- 
 pathy. Exposed to the contagion of such example, and 
 urged at the same time by the motive and the acknow- 
 ledged duty of providing for himself and those of his 
 own house, he is often led aside, and entangled with 
 those cares and burthens which he is encouraged and 
 commanded to cast upon the Lord, who careth for him. 
 There is one great department of human life and 
 duty, and one numerous class of cases, in which 
 Christian parents are frequently misled by the maxims 
 of men of this world, and which spring from the root 
 of covetousness ; namely, in desiring and countenanc- 
 ing those alliances for their children, whether by mar- 
 riage or other connexion, which are formed not on 
 Christian principle, but on the prospect of wealth and 
 temporal advantage. How often does the greater 
 amount of fortune which can be secured, become, if 
 not the sole inducement, at least the chief considera- 
 tion, and preponderate in the scale, without sufficient 
 knowledge and inquiry as to the religious character of 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 123 
 
 the contracting party. It is a temptation and snare, 
 operating in every relation of life, and among all ranks 
 of society ; in the case of the apprentice and the ser- 
 vant, equally with the noble and powerful of the land. 
 
 It is of the utmost importance, therefore, that the 
 Christian should in every thing take that standard as the 
 rule of his practice, which he has embraced as the rule 
 of his faith. In examining the sacred records, he will 
 find ample encouragement by example, as well as by pre- 
 cept and promise, for the course which he is to follow. 
 He will there see how wealth and riches and worldly 
 goods have been estimated by the people of God, when 
 compared with his service and favour ; and he will see, 
 in dismal contrast, the character and fate of those who 
 have chosen the things of this life for their portion. 
 Let him look to the history of the Old Testament, and 
 he will find, in the words of the apostle to the Hebrews, 
 Moses the servant of God, " refusing to be called the 
 son of Pharaoh's daughter ; choosing rather to suffer 
 affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the 
 pleasures of sin for a season ; esteeming the reproach of 
 Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt." — 
 Heb. xi. 24-26. Job, another servant of God, could, 
 as we have seen* appeal to Him as the searcher of 
 hearts, that he was free from the guilt of this selfish and 
 ungodly passion. — Job xxxi. 24. And he could appeal 
 to his life and actions, in proof to others of the fact. He 
 
124 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 was " eyes to the blind," and "feet to the lame," 
 " the blessing of him that was ready to perish," " came 
 upon him,''' &c. — Job xxix. 13, &c. When David was 
 compelled by the persecution of Saul to fly from his 
 city and country, we do not find him lamenting the de- 
 privation which he suffered of his kingdom and posses- 
 sions, but lamenting bitterly his banishment, by this 
 constraint, from the house of God and the assembly of 
 worshippers. We see also how he prepared, even in 
 the time of his distress and comparative poverty, for that 
 temple which his son was to build ; making provision of 
 materials and treasure, not for himself, but for the house 
 of the Lord. " Now, behold," says he to Solomon, 
 " in my trouble I have prepared for the house of the 
 Lord an hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thou- 
 sand thousand talents of silver, &c. . . . Arise, therefore, 
 and be doing, and the Lord be with thee." — 1 Chron. 
 xxii. 14 — 16. He could <say, from the full sincerity of 
 his heart, " The law of thy mouth is better unto me than 
 thousands of gold and silver." — Ps. cxix. 72. Paul, in 
 taking leave of the elders of the church at Ephesus, 
 could make this appeal to all of that church : " I have 
 coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel. Yea, 
 ye yourselves know, that these hands have minis- 
 tered unto my necessities, and to them that were with 
 me." — Acts xx, 33, 34. See also his letter to Phile- 
 mon, and his generous surety for Onesimus. . Many 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 125 
 
 similar instances might be referred to, if it were ne- 
 cessary. 
 
 It has been seen how different were the ways of the 
 heathen, and how much God's people were corrupted 
 when they mixed with them, and " forgot God their 
 Saviour." Before our Lord's appearance upon earth, 
 the whole heathen world was sunk in wickedness, " filled 
 with all unrighteousness ... and covetousness." — Rom. i. 
 29 . And even the Jewish people, though to them w T ere 
 committed the oracles of God, wherein w r as contained 
 a holy and perfect system of moral law, w 7 ere altogether 
 corrupted, and " from the greatest to the least of them," 
 given to the same sin. John the Baptist was the fore- 
 runner of Him who was suddenly to come to his temple, 
 and to sit as a refiner, to purify the sons of Levi, and 
 to be a swift witness against the oppressors and those 
 who turned away the stranger from his right. John 
 came to preach repentance, and the first great lessons 
 which he gave, both by the example of his life, and by 
 his discourses, were lessons against covetousness, and 
 its attendant sins. " The people asked him, saying, what 
 shall we do then ? He answereth and saith unto them, 
 he that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath 
 none ; and he that hath meat, let him do Fikewise. 
 Then came also publicans to be baptised, and said unto 
 him, Master, what shall we do ? And he said unto 
 them, exact no more than that which is appointed you. 
 
126 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, and 
 what shall we do ? And he said unto them, do violence 
 to no man ; neither accuse any falsely ; and be content 
 with your wages." — Luke iii. 10-14. 
 
 Our blessed Lord, when he began that ministry, of 
 which his servant John was the herald, pronounced his 
 benediction not upon the rich of this world, or the great 
 and powerful, but upon the meek and lowly ; not upon 
 those that were full, but upon those that hungered and 
 thirsted after righteousness. Knowing the strong bent 
 and tendency of the natural mind to this love of the 
 present world, of which avarice forms so large a part, 
 he uses, in addressing his disciples, the strongest possi- 
 ble language of condemnation and warning against it: 
 " Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or 
 what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body, what ye 
 shall put on ; ... for after all these things do the Gen- 
 tiles seek ; . . . take therefore no thought for the mor- 
 row ; for the morrow shall take thought for the things 
 of itself." — Matt. vi. 25, &c. And the promises are 
 equal to the command: " Sell whatsoever thou hast 
 and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in 
 heaven ; and come, take up the cross, and follow me." 
 —Mark x. 2 1 . " Verily I say unto you, there is no man 
 that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, 
 or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake 
 and the gospel's, but he shall receive an hundred-fold, 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 127 
 
 now in this time, houses and brethren, . . . with per- 
 secutions, and in the world to come eternal life."— 
 Ver. 29, 30. 
 
 A worldly and irreligious man may, without incon- 
 sistency, pursue the riches and honours of this life as 
 the chief object of his desire, and place his happiness 
 on the abundance of such treasure. There is at least 
 no incongruity between his profession and his practice. 
 But it is far otherwise with the professed disciple of 
 Christ w r ho pursues such a course. He is attempting to 
 unite a worldly mind with the principles of that religion 
 which calls upon him to renounce the world ; to receive 
 the faith of the Gospel, and yet claim exemption from 
 one of its plainest precepts. We have seen the danger of 
 such an attempt, as leading to the still more fatal sin of 
 hypocrisy, and the fearful condemnation which follows ; 
 for to him must that word apply which was spoken by 
 the prophet Ezekiel to those elders of Israel, who had 
 set up their idols in their heart, and yet came to the 
 prophet, and sat before him. " Son of Man, these 
 men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the 
 stumbling-block of their iniquity before their face : should 
 I be inquired of at all by them ? . . . I, the Lord, will an- 
 swer him that cometh according to the multitude of his 
 idols. ... I will set my face against that man, and will make 
 him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the 
 midst of my people," &c, — Ezek. xiv. 3-8. We know 
 
128 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 that thus " the hope of the hypocrite," even his reli- 
 gious hope and expectation, " shall perish." " Let 
 not that man think that he shall receive any thing of 
 the Lord." " If I regard iniquity in my heart," says . 
 David, if I cherish any known sin, " the Lord will not 
 hear me." Yet does the experience of daily life show 
 that there are persons who stand in this perilous state ; 
 men who will be very zealous for the truth, who will 
 boldly defend and plead for the doctrine of justification 
 by faith in Christ, and with equal boldness condemn 
 the superstition of the mass, and the mortifications, and 
 will-worship of the Popish Church, and yet are them- 
 selves apostates in their heart, and idolatrous worship- 
 pers of gold. Well may we pray then with the Psalmist, 
 " O Lord, incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and 
 not unto covetousness." " If any man have not the 
 spirit of Christ, he is none of his." — Rom. viii. 9. The 
 disciple of Christ looks to temporal things with a refer- 
 ence only to things spiritual ; whether he eats or drinks, 
 or whatever he does, doing all to God's glory. But 
 the spirit of the world is altogether opposed to this 
 spirit of the Gospel. The worldly man estimates all 
 value by the standard of money, and would make godli- 
 ness itself a source of earthly gain. He who thought 
 to purchase with gold the gift of the Holy Spirit, and 
 its dispensation, acted upon this principle. But what 
 was the answer made to him by the apostle; "thy 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 129 
 
 money perish with thee, because thou hast thought 
 that the gift of God may be purchased with money. 
 Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter." — Acts 
 viii. 20, 21. 
 
 There are two considerations which will chiefly in- 
 fluence the Christian, and two objects which he will 
 keep in view, with reference to earthly possessions. In 
 the first place, he will estimate them at their true value, 
 as altogether subordinate to spiritual things ; and, there- 
 fore, the acquisition of them will not be his leading and 
 principal concern, far less the exclusive subject of his 
 thought and care. And, in the second place, he will 
 consider them as a trust, to be used for those ends and 
 purposes on account of which they are bestowed. Mo- 
 deration in the pursuit, and fidelity in the employment, 
 of riches, are the duties, therefore, which he will feel 
 to be incumbent upon him. 
 
 1 . On the first of these points, little need be added 
 to what has already been adduced. The Christian's 
 life depends not upon the abundance of earthly things 
 which he possesses. Having used proper diligence for 
 the attainment, he can leave the result and issue to the 
 providence of God, knowing that, in temporal as well 
 as spiritual things, it is he who giveth the increase. 
 Dependence upon man is often an evil ; but the spirit 
 of constant dependence upon God is always a blessing. 
 This close and habitual reference to him, as it is the 
 
130 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 great privilege, so it is the great safeguard of the 
 Christian, and his best security in the time and danger 
 of temptation. " The joy of the Lord is his strength." 
 It secures him from over anxiety. " Be content with such 
 things as ye have : for he hath said, I will never leave 
 thee, nor forsake thee." — Heb. xiii. 5. M Trust in the 
 Lord and do good, and verily thou shalt be fed." — Ps. 
 xxxvii. 3. " He hath given meat unto them that fear 
 him." — Ps. cxi. 5. Not only is he told, that " to be 
 carnally minded is death," — Rom. viii. 6, and exhort- 
 ed, " not to be conformed to this world," — Rom. xii. 2 ; 
 but the same apostle has said elsewhere, " I would 
 have you without carefulness,"— 1 Cor. vii. 32 ; and 
 u be careful for nothing ; but in every thing, by prayer 
 and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests 
 be made known unto God." — Phil. iv. 6. To be 
 swallowed up either with the toils or pleasures of earth, 
 is alike adverse to godliness ; and he that is thus " over- 
 charged with the cares of this life," is represented as 
 not less unprepared for the second coming of the Lord, 
 than he who is overcharged " with surfeiting and 
 drunkenness," — Luke xxi. 34, unprepared for that day, 
 when ic the kings of the earth, and the great men, and 
 the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty 
 men," equally with every " bondman, and every free- 
 man, shall hide themselves in the dens and in the rocks 
 of the mountains," &c. — Rev. vi. 15. 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. l31 
 
 But, farther, the Christian knows that God often 
 withholds from his people the abundance of worldly 
 riches in love to their souls. " Better is little with the 
 fear of the Lord, than great treasure, and trouble 
 therewith." — Prov. xv. 16. " The blessing of the 
 Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it." — ■ 
 Prov. x. 22. We are to have regard to that fear 
 and to that blessing, then, in our pursuit of temporal 
 wealth. Although " in all labour there is profit," and 
 although " he that is slothful in his w 7 ork is brother to 
 him that is a great waster." — Prov. xviii. 9 ; yet is 
 there no promise in the Gospel of a blessing on the in- 
 crease and accumulation of riches ; but on the contrary, 
 many warnings, as w T e have seen, of the danger to which 
 it exposes. Wilt thou then, O Christian, who profess- 
 est to follow hard after God, still c; pant also after the 
 dust of the earth ? " — Amos ii. 7. Wilt thou who art 
 ready to leave father and mother, and brothers and sis- 
 ters for the sake of Christ and the Gospel, yet refuse 
 to leave thy lands, and thy houses, and thy merchandise, 
 that thou mayest follow him more entirely ? Be sure 
 that they who are much in the w r orld, and engaged in 
 its pursuits, will love the world, for the treasure and the 
 heart will ever be found together, and, " if any man love 
 the world, the love of the Father is not in him." 
 
 And this suggests an important criterion and test for 
 ascertaining whether the Christian is pursuing his 
 
132 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 worldly objects, and among others, the attainment of 
 worldly wealth, in allowed measure, and subordinate to 
 the will of Christ, or, on the contrary, above measure, 
 and in opposition to that will. Is his love to the Savi- 
 our waxing cold ? and, while his treasure is increasing, 
 and his silver and gold is multiplied, and all that he hath 
 is multiplied, does he feel that he is not so rich as he 
 formerly was towards God, that he does not delight 
 himself as he once did in the Almighty ? If so, he 
 may be certain that he has verily transgressed in this 
 matter ; and that, even if he shall have his desire, and 
 prosper in the world, God will, in just retribution, send 
 yet greater leanness into his soul. 
 
 A divided heart and mind will not be accepted by the 
 Almighty. There are many who boast, perhaps, of 
 having ten parts in the king, but will not be entirely 
 his ; who like Agrippa, are almost, but not alto- 
 gether, persuaded to be Christians; who would "die 
 the death of the righteous," but not at the expense of 
 a righteous life , who like the wealthy kinsman of Ruth 
 will not redeem the inheritance of the people of God, 
 lest the purchase " mar their own" present " inherit- 
 ance," — Ruth iv. 6, and thus forfeit their place and 
 hope in the line of the holy seed. 
 
 2. The other important consideration which the 
 Christian is required to keep in view, is the use to be 
 made of his worldly possessions, and particularly of 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE, 133 
 
 that abundance of them which the providence of God 
 may have bestowed upon him. And, as already ob- 
 served, the great and evident principle is that they are 
 a trust committed to him, which he is to employ in the 
 service, and according to the will of his Master, with a 
 view to that account which he must render of his 
 stewardship. 
 
 And here it is necessary to observe, that, independent 
 altogether of the sin of wilful and known hypocrisy, and 
 without reference to such aggravation, a state of selfish 
 indifference to the welfare of others is in itself sinful, 
 and a bar to acceptance with God. This is evident 
 from the many passages of Scripture which have been 
 quoted, and from many more which might be adduced 
 to the same effect, for " no man liveth to himself;" 
 and, " let no man seek his own, but every man 
 another's wealth," that is, his good and interest.; — 1 
 Cor. x» 24. They, above all, who are deaf to the 
 prayer and cry of their fellow-creatures, will, them- 
 selves, not be heard in their prayer when they cry to 
 God in the time of their calamity. As there are many 
 who will claim a part in Christ on the score of their 
 zealous profession, and their spiritual gifts, having call- 
 ed him Lord, Lord, and even done " many wonderful 
 w r orks" in his name, but to whom he will answer, " I 
 never knew you, depart from me ye that work iniquity." 
 — Mat. vii. 21-23 : so are there many on whom. 
 
134 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 though not within that class of workers of iniquity, it is 
 declared that he will still pronounce the same awful 
 sentence, on account of their unfruitfulness and unfaith- 
 ful stewardship ; " depart from me ye cursed into ever- 
 lasting fire," &c. . . . Mat. xxv. 4 1 , inasmuch as they were 
 wanting in their duties of mercy and compassion to man, 
 they were wanting in their duty to Christ, 
 
 The will of God, and consequent rule of duty, on 
 this as on other subjects, is to be found in his word. 
 The sum of the law, as it is delivered by our Saviour, 
 is, " Hear, O Israel ; the Lord our God is one Lord : 
 and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy 
 heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and 
 with all thy strength. This is the first commandment. 
 And the second is like, namely this, thou shalt love thy 
 neighbour as thyself." — Mark xii. 29, 31. And the 
 moral law, as given by Christ, is the same; for he 
 came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it. The love 
 of God is the root and foundation of all holy obedience ; 
 and especially when that love is contemplated in its new 
 and greatest manifestation, the gift of his Son for the 
 redemption of sinners. 
 
 The Christian acknowledges all which he possesses 
 as the immediate gift of God ; not only his life and 
 breath, the powers of his body, and the faculties of his 
 mind, but his earthly goods, and every thing which he 
 enjoys. Holding them by this tenure, his attention, in 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 135 
 
 respect to the latter as well as the former gifts, will be 
 steadily directed to the condition on which they are re- 
 ceived, which is to glorify God. And as he is placed 
 in the world, and furnished with these endowments for 
 that purpose, so he is assured and knows that his whole 
 life upon earth is a state of probation for the life that is 
 to follow, and for the account which he is to give. His 
 worldly possessions may form a considerable portion ol 
 the talents committed to him for this purpose. Now, 
 though the Christian cannot profit God, as a man is pro- 
 fitable to his brother, there are two wavs chiefly by 
 which he can shew his love to God in the use of his 
 earthly goods ; namely, by employing them as an in- 
 strument to advance his cause in the world, and as a 
 means of promoting the welfare and happiness of his 
 fellow-creatures. We have seen with what mind and 
 spirit the first Christian converts were animated in the 
 use of their temporal possessions, how they united their 
 service of God with love to the brethren. And while 
 actuated by this sentiment, and fulfilling these duties, 
 they both advanced the kingdom of Christ upon 
 the earth, and had the greatest enjoyment of their 
 goods, " eating their meat with gladness and singleness 
 of heart ; praising God, and having favour with all the 
 people. And the Lord added to the Church daily 
 such as should be saved. 5 '— Acts. ii. 46, 47. " And 
 
 great grace was upon them all."— Acts. iv. 33, It is 
 
 f2 
 
136 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 now, as much as then, the obligation, and will be the 
 ready service of every Christian who is " rich in this 
 world," to be " rich in good works, ready to distribute, 
 willing to communicate, laying up in store for them- 
 selves a good foundation against the time to come." — 
 1 Tim. vi. 18, 19. 
 
 There are, as we have seen, two ways also in which 
 worldly wealth may be abused or perverted ; namely, 
 by employing it on improper and hurtful objects, or al- 
 lowing it to lie waste and be unprofitable. With re- 
 spect to the former, it is seldom that a professed 
 follower of Christ will be found wasting his substance 
 in riotous living. The sensualist and voluptuary are 
 commonly professed enemies of the cross of Christ. 
 And there are few, if any, who will carry their hypo- 
 crisy so far, or act a part so inconsistent, as even with 
 their lips to name His name, while, at the sametime, 
 they are living openly a life of worldly pleasure and in- 
 temperance. It has at times, indeed, beerr argued in 
 extenuation, if not as a direct defence of a certain in- 
 dulgence in the luxuries and pleasures of a worldly life, 
 that such expenditure turns to the profit and advantage 
 of others, by affording employment to the various classes 
 in a community which minister by their skill and labour 
 to the luxurious indulgences of the rich. But it is a 
 vain excuse, and is the plea of the worldly man. For 
 that which ministers to the gratification of those inordi- 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 137 
 
 nate desires, described in Scripture as " the lust of the 
 flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life," 
 is, in that word, plainly condemned and forbidden. 
 — 1 John ii. 16. These are " not of the Father, 5 ' 
 but " of the world." The invention and increase ol 
 such refined productions are not necessarily connected 
 with the exercise of useful industry ; and the promo- 
 tion of th£m is not the motive which actuates those 
 who give employment of this nature to the mechanic 
 and the artisan. For, in the estimate of character and 
 disposition, it is the motive which, in every case, forms 
 the true criterion of conduct. 
 
 But though the Christian will abhor such inordinate 
 gratification of sense, and fly from the haunts of luxury 
 and ostentation, there are other and more ensnaring ties 
 by which the world can attract and fix him. While 
 flying from its sinful pleasures, and hating its intemper- 
 ate waste, he is in danger of a different extreme, and 
 giving the name of virtue to that which is only the 
 opposite of another vice. The process is easy, and per- 
 haps unperceived; the duty of sparing is converted 
 gradually into the desire of hoarding ; and the hater of 
 extravagance becomes insensibly a lover of money. This 
 is not an imaginary danger, but unhappily is too often 
 verified in human life : and to guard against it, let the 
 following motives and considerations be present to the 
 mind of every follower of Christ who is in danger of 
 
138 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 contracting the guilt of this sin, or feels the first rising 
 of it in his breast. 
 
 Let him look into the law of God, which he knows 
 and believes to be in all things just and right, as well as 
 holy. There it is written, " Cast thy bread upon the 
 waters : for thou shalt find it after many days. Give a 
 portion to seven, and also to eight ; for thou knowest 
 not what evil shall be upon the earth." — Eccles. xi. 1, 2, 
 — that is, give liberally, and also now, in due season, 
 ere it be too late. " Blessed is he that considereth the 
 poor." — Ps. xli. 1. Among the causes of God's anger, 
 how often do we find that sin stated, of riches kept by 
 the owners to their hurt, who shall eat in darkness, and 
 have much sorrow and wrath in their sickness ; whereas 
 of the liberal it is said, in striking and appropriate con- 
 trast, " The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of 
 languishing; thou wilt make," or literally turn, " all his 
 bed in his sickness." — Ps. xli. 3. " Thou hast not 
 given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast with- 
 holden bread from the hungry, . . . thou hast sent widows 
 away empty." — Job. xxii. 6-9. " Neither," it is said 
 of Sodom, " did she strengthen the hand of the poor 
 and needy." — Ezek. xvi. 49. And among the promises 
 of God, how many are to the liberal and open-handed ! 
 " If he hath given his bread to the hungry, and covered 
 the naked with a garment, ... he shall surely live." — 
 Ezek. xviiu 16. " The righteous giveth and spareth 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. L39 
 
 not." — Prov. xxi. 26. " He hath dispersed, he hath 
 given to the poor ; his horn shall be exalted with 
 honour." — Ps. exii. 9. " He that hath pity upon the 
 poor, lendeth unto the Lord, and that which he hath 
 given, will he pay him again." — Prov. xix. 17. With 
 many others to the same effect. 
 
 Let him look into the mirror of the Gospel, that 
 perfect law of liberty ; of liberty from sin and the yoke 
 of bondage ; and especially, to that new commandment 
 bequeathed in the testament of his Redeemer, that uni- 
 versal love and charity, which is the fruit and evidence 
 of faith, and the bond of perfectness ; that greatest and 
 abiding grace, begun on earth and consummated in 
 heaven. What is the call of the Saviour to all his fol- 
 lowers? what are his precepts, his warnings, and his 
 promises? " Give to him that asketh thee, and from 
 him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away." — 
 Matt. v. 42. " If ye do good to them which do good 
 to you, what thank have ye ? for sinners also do even 
 the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to 
 receive^ what thank have ye ? for sinners also lend to 
 sinners, to receive as much again. But love ye your 
 enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing 
 again ; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be 
 the children of the Highest : for he is kind unto the 
 unthankful and to the evil."— Luke vi. 33-35. " Give, 
 and it shall be given unto you . . . for with the same 
 
140 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 measure that ye mete withal, it shall be measured to 
 you again." — Ver. 38. " Unto whomsoever much is 
 given, of him shall be much required," — Luke xii. 48. 
 " 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 na- 
 tions ; 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, &c... Verily, I say unto you, inasmuch as ye 
 have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, 
 ye have done it unto me." And to those upon the left 
 shall he in like manner answer and say, " Inasmuch as 
 ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not 
 to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punish- 
 ment : but the righteous into life eternal." — Matt. xxv. 
 31, &c. " Whoso," says John, " hath this world's good 
 and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his 
 bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love 
 of God in him?" — 1 John iii. 17. " He that loveth 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 141 
 
 not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love 
 God whom he hath not seen ?" — 1 John iv. 20. " As 
 we have therefore opportunity," says another apostle, 
 " let us do good unto all men, especially unto them 
 who are of the household of faith." — Gal. vi. 10. " To 
 do good and to communicate forget not : for with such 
 sacrifices God is w T ell pleased." — Heb. xiii. 16. " Dis- 
 tributing to the necessity of saints ; given to hospitality." 
 ..." If thine enemy hunger, feed him ; if he thirst, give 
 him drink." — Rom. xii. 13-20. 
 
 Let him look to Jesus, the perfect pattern of life to 
 his people, as well as the author of their faith ; who, 
 " though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became 
 poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich ; " 
 —2 Cor. viii. 9 ; who, when he was to be born into 
 this world, chose not the rich and the great in it, 
 but the family of a humble mechanic, and shared in 
 their daily toil. Although he " made his grave with 
 the rich," he dwelt with the poor ; both fulfilling all 
 prophecy thereby, and shewing that he could use the 
 wealth of this world, as well as its poverty, at his own 
 time, and in his own way, for his honour and glory. 
 The earth was his, and the fulness thereof; but he ap- 
 propriated not its possessions, neither used his power 
 over it except for the dispensation of benefit to others ; 
 that he might be an example to all them that believe in 
 his^ name 6 Look to his chosen disciples, who forsook 
 
142 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 their worldly goods, and left all to follow him. Look 
 to his apostles and servants, who worked with their own 
 hands, when they might have been chargeable to those 
 among whom they spiritually laboured ; who " both 
 hungered and thirsted, and were naked, and had no 
 certain dwelling-place ; " — 1 Cor. iv. 11,..." were in 
 labours, in watchings, in fastings; "...who were "as poor, 
 yet making many rich ; as having nothing, yet possess- 
 ing all things ;" — 2 Cor. vi. 5-10; that they might min- 
 ister to their brethren in Christ ; for they " sought not 
 theirs, but them." And look to their followers among 
 the early Christians, who " took joyfully the spoiling of 
 their goods, knowing that they had in heaven a better 
 and an enduring substance." — Heb. x. 34. The Chris- 
 tians of the churches in Macedonia were liberal and 
 willing " to their power," says Paul, "yea, and beyond 
 their power, praying us with much entreaty that we 
 would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship 
 of the ministering to the saints." 
 
 Such are the precepts, encouragements, and warn- 
 ings which the w T ord of God furnishes, and such the 
 examples which through its power are set before us, 
 with respect not only to the proper estimate, but also to 
 the proper use of worldly possessions. How, then, 
 shall the believer in that word, to whom have been 
 freely given " the unsearchable riches of Christ," allow 
 himself to be a penurious and niggardly dispenser of 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 143 
 
 that temporal wealth which has been added unto him ? 
 It is the Christian's privilege, and part of his high call- 
 ing to be a " worker together with God." And the 
 faith which he professes is not a dead but a living faith ; 
 a faith " which worketh by love," and " overcometh the 
 world." Prayer and praise, and giving of thanks are a 
 large part, but not the only part of his duty and delight. 
 Outward ordinances are the channels of grace ; but 
 these channels may be dry : and as it is from " the 
 fulness of the heart" that " the mouth must speak," 
 when it " makes confession unto salvation ; " so it 
 is in working the works of God that the heart will 
 be enriched with more grace, and the believer will be 
 " blessed in his deed." Christ delighted to do as well 
 as to suffer the will of God, and so his followers must. 
 The Gospel message, as announced by its heralds, was 
 " Glory to God in the highest, and good will to men." 
 They who fasted often, and made many prayers, in 
 token of repentance, but without active benevolence, 
 were not thus blessed. Hear what the Lord says of 
 " the transgression of his people, and the sin of Jacob." 
 — " They seek me daily, and delight to know T my ways, 
 as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the 
 ordinances of their God. .,. They take delight in ap- 
 proaching to God. Wherefore have we fasted, say 
 they, and thou seest not?... have we afflicted our soul, 
 and thou takest no knowledge ? Behold, in the day of 
 
144 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 your fast, ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. 
 Behold, ye fast for strife, and debate, and to smite with 
 the fist of wickedness. ...Is it such a fast that I have 
 chosen ?..* Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and 
 to spread sackcloth and ashes under him ? Wilt thou 
 call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord ? Is 
 not this the fast that I have chosen... to deal thy bread 
 to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are 
 cast out to thy house ? when thou seest the naked, that 
 thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself from 
 thine own flesh ?" — Is. lviii. 2-7. " If a brother or 
 sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of 
 you say unto them, depart in peace, be ye warmed and 
 filled ; notwithstanding ye give them not those things 
 which are needful to the body, what doth it profit ?" — 
 James ii. 15, 16. " Grudge not one against another, 
 brethren, lest ye be condemned."— James v. 9. In 
 short, the want of active and liberal benevolence, or the 
 fruits of Christian love, is condemned by the law of 
 God, not less than positive wrong and injustice ; and 
 this is constantly enjoined, that they who believe " be 
 careful to maintain good works;" to perform those 
 active services which are " good and profitable unto 
 men." 
 
 It is to be remembered, too, that such deeds and gifts 
 of Christian charity redound in many ways to the praise 
 and glory of God. If " by the sorrow of the counte- 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 145 
 
 nance the heart is made better, 5 ' so by the rejoicing ot 
 the heart, upon deliverance and relief, is it naturally 
 opened to the influence of divine grace, to prayer, and 
 praise, and thanksgiving. Hence the apostle, while 
 acknowledging a supply from the Christians at Corinth, 
 thus writes :— " And God is able to make ail grace 
 abound toward you ; that ve always- having all suffi- 
 ciency in all things, may abound to every good work... 
 
 being enriched in everv thing to all bountifulness, which 
 
 © j © ■* 
 
 causeth through us thanksgiving to God. For the ad- 
 ministration of this service not only supplieth the want 
 of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings 
 unto God... and by their prayer for you, which long 
 after you for the exceeding grace of God in you." — 2 
 Cor. ix. 8, 14. Thus is Christian liberality twice 
 blessed; it is blessed to the giver by increase of his 
 spiritual grace and joy ; and it is blessed to the receiver 
 as a channel for the communication of the like grace ; 
 while, seeing the good works of the children of God, he 
 is led to glorify their father who is in heaven. 
 
 It is not unfit to remark farther, that services and 
 gifts bestowed from this principle of love to Christ, and 
 obedience to his command, may frequently return, and 
 in the providence of God often do return, even in tem- 
 poral blessings to his servants. " I will repay, 5 ' saith 
 the Lord. When Jesus blessed the provision for the 
 multitude who followed him, and made distribution ot 
 
146 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 it with thanksgiving, the fragments which were gathered 
 up exceeded the original store. This was, indeed, the 
 result of a miracle wrought by his divine power ; but to 
 those who observe God's ways the operations of provi- 
 dence will be seen still as a perpetual miracle. 
 
 Such are some of the views which the Gospel holds 
 forth of the duties and the blessings of that spirit which 
 is opposed to the spirit of avarice. And now, if any 
 follower of Christ shall recognise, in the passages of 
 Scripture which have been quoted, a resemblance to 
 himself, shall detect any trait of his own character in the 
 picture which they draw, shall discover in his own heart 
 that secret love of money which is manifested either by 
 much warmth and eagerness in the pursuit of it, or much 
 unwillingness and hesitation in parting with it ; let him be 
 earnestly besought to acknowledge his danger, and seek 
 to be delivered from this bondage. His treasure is in 
 heaven, where he hopes to have " an inheritance among 
 them that are sanctified : " let him seek to have his heart 
 there now. He would secure to himself " the true 
 riches ;" let him seek to be first " faithful in the un- 
 righteous mammon." He may not be found in the 
 assemblies of wicked or of worldly men. He may not 
 have defrauded the hireling of his wages, or made the 
 oppressed to cry. But we have seen, that the neglect 
 of duty is not less displeasing to God than the positive 
 violation of it. For " whoso stoppeth his ears at the 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 147 
 
 cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be 
 heard." — Prov. xxi. 13. " Thou hast not given water 
 to the weary," &c. — Job. xxii. 7. M In as much as ye 
 did it not to these, ye did it not to me," &c. — Matt. xxv. 
 40. " For he shall have judgment without mercy, that 
 hath showed no mercy." — James ii. 13. Is he, then, 
 giving himself to works of love ? or is he at ease in his 
 possessions, an indifferent spectator of what is passing in 
 the world around him ? Is he " grieved for the afflic- 
 tion of Joseph ? " — Amos vi. 6 ; and if so, is he excited 
 not only to sympathy and commiseration, but to deeds 
 of active assistance ? 
 
 To enumerate either the modes or the measure of 
 Christian beneficence, is plainly impossible. They are 
 as varied as the necessities and the interests of man. 
 In temporal as well as in spiritual gifts, it is a " mani- 
 fold grace," of which the Christian is a steward. Sin 
 has introduced much disturbance and misery into hu- 
 man society, as well as much guilt and crime. Inequa- 
 lity of rank and of wealth, indeed, is not an arbitrary, 
 or a fruitless distinction, but a wise and benevolent 
 appointment in the providence of God, and one which 
 gives scope for the exercise of many virtuous and kind 
 affections. It is no part of Christian duty, or aim, to 
 confound, or to disturb those outward distinctions and 
 relations of life ; but, on the contrary, to maintain them 
 as the ordinance and will of God. But it is his duty, 
 
148 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 and will be his delight, by the exercise of those very 
 virtues to which they give occasion, to lessen and alle- 
 viate the inconveniences which accompany them, and 
 which the evil passions of men have aggravated and 
 enhanced. For the worldly man would convert these 
 distinctions into an instrument of his own gratification 
 and selfish indulgence, and to the oppression of his 
 brother man. The Christian, on the other hand, desires 
 to correct the inequality, by communicating of his 
 abundance, and otherwise to heal and relieve the moral 
 diseases which that inequality so often generates. He 
 would thus endeavour to prepare the way of the Lord 
 in this moral desert ; to make crooked things straight, 
 and the rough places plain. It is one of the evils con- 
 sequent upon a great advance of civilization and refine- 
 ment in society, that the separation between different 
 classes and portions of the community becomes more 
 and more strongly marked, till it is in danger of widen- 
 ing into a breach. The influence acquired from the 
 mere possession of worldly wealth, and of that money 
 which " answereth to all things," is overrated. The 
 rich man claims all the honour, as he has acquired all 
 the power ; and the poorer man is condemned or dis- 
 regarded. Hence a tendency to disunion of the social 
 bonds ; and hence the ties of humanity, even in kindred 
 and neighbourhood, are loosened or broken. 
 
 The approach to this state, as regards the different 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 149 
 
 ranks of society, is too manifest in these British king- 
 doms. For, though distinction of ranks is necessary 
 and appointed, it ought to have no place where moral 
 principle and religious privilege are concerned. Yet 
 do we see the rich men of this Christian country seek- 
 ing to be separated and distinct from their less opulent 
 brethren, even in the house of God ; and this, too, 
 under the appearance sometimes of consulting the ad- 
 vantage of the latter. A church for the poor, as con- 
 trasted with the rest of the community, though it has, 
 in part, been rendered necessary, or is excused in con- 
 sequence of the house of God being made a source of 
 temporal revenue to individuals or communities, is in 
 itself an evil. The rich and the poor ought there to 
 meet together, and worship God in common, without 
 bringing into prominent view the distinctions of their 
 worldly condition. Let the Legislature, or let the 
 wealthy out of their ampler means, provide the building 
 and endowment of churches, though not refusing the 
 poor man's equal mite ; but the service and ministration 
 of these churches ought to be common and accessible 
 to all. This is another instance of the many forms 
 under which a deference is paid to wealth, in cases 
 where such consideration ought to have no place. It 
 is adverse to the apostolic precept in this particular 
 case, as plainly delivered, James ii. ; and it is adverse 
 to the whole spirit and tenor of the Gospel, which, 
 
150 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 agreeable to that precept, forbids " having the faith of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ" along with " respect of persons," 
 as before God. The disciple of Christ, therefore, will 
 not act upon such principles, or encourage such views. 
 He is especially called upon to give the tone, so far as 
 depends upon him, and take the lead in every part of 
 this moral cause, and to afford an example to others. 
 He is set upon a hill, and his conduct for good or bad 
 cannot be concealed. He is the salt of the earth, and if 
 the salt has lost its savour, wherewith shall the earth be 
 salted ? 
 
 With respect to the use of riches, he who studies 
 the word of God, and adopts its principle and spirit, 
 will be at no loss to discover the methods and occa- 
 sions for exercising his liberality; and every indivi- 
 dual must judge for himself, as before God, and 
 having a good conscience, how he shall bestow of his 
 abundance ; to what extent, and under what limita- 
 tions. Christianity is not circumscribed but enlarged 
 in its views, and adapts itself to all circumstances and 
 situations. Let the Scripture be every man's standard 
 and guide. Whatever contributes to better the moral, 
 the intellectual, and the physical condition of the human 
 race, lies within the range of his choice; including 
 under the first of these, that which is of all the most 
 prominent and the most important, namely, provision 
 for the souls of men, through the instrumentality of the 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 151 
 
 teachers of religion and the instructors of youth. The 
 souls of men were the great objects of the Saviour's care, 
 yet he did not forget their temporal necessities ; he had 
 compassion on the multitudes, and would not send them 
 empty away ; and the most frequent miracles which he 
 wrought were for the direct relief of their corporeal 
 wants or distresses. The field of the Christian, in like 
 manner, though not in the samfe way, embraces both, 
 and is extensive and diversified as the gifts and dispen- 
 sations of God, whom he desires to serve. It compre- 
 hends all things which pertain to life as w 7 ell as godliness 
 —the health and comfort of the bodv, the culture of 
 the earth, the advancement of useful arts and know- 
 ledge, in their due order and subordination ; and extends 
 from self to the eircles of family, of community, of 
 nations, and of mankind. We are not " straitened in 
 God," if we are not " straitened in our own bowels." 
 Some withhold their hand, lest in ignorance they should 
 bestow improperly. But the remedy is pointed out by the 
 patriarch; " the cause w 7 hich I knew not I searched out/' 
 It is not ignorance of fit objects for his beneficence, but 
 unwillingness to discover them, which makes the covet- 
 ous man thus jealous and fearful of giving amiss. 
 
 Again, in one large department of cases, to which, 
 by an erroneous and ignorant interpretation, the grace 
 of charity has, in common speech, been often restricted, 
 namely, ministering to the necessities of the poor and 
 
152 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 indigent, there are some persons who make it an excuse 
 to others, and it may be to themselves, for their unwil- 
 lingness to contribute, that such assistance too frequently 
 acts as a discouragement to industry, and even as an 
 inducement to those vices of which idleness is the na- 
 tural parent. And, although this is not the proper place 
 for discussing such a question, it is undeniable that too 
 much is done by many Christians in this way, under a 
 mistaken apprehension of the Gospel precept. For, 
 where there is not an exercise of prudence in the ad- 
 ministration, both as to the object and the amount of 
 such gifts, there can be no doubt that much evil is often 
 the result. But the true distinction to be made lies in 
 the mode of the relief, not in the obligation to relieve ; 
 in selecting the proper objects of the bounty, not in 
 refusing it to all. Indiscriminate alms-giving is not 
 charity. Much gold and silver may be given, both by 
 individuals and communities, and many great and ex- 
 pensive establishments may be founded, without a cor- 
 responding benefit, and even with positive injury both 
 to society at large, and to the very objects of such 
 bounty. Witness the incalculable extent of evil, both 
 physical and moral, occasioned by the maladministration 
 of a poor law in this nation, and the lavish distribution 
 of public funds thereby diverted into improper channels. 
 And with respect to the donors themselves, such acts 
 may be performed from motives ill according with the 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 153 
 
 principles of Christian beneficence. But who will, for 
 this reason, call in question, that gifts and institutions 
 for the relief of those afflicted with helpless poverty and 
 sickness, and the many natural ills which flesh is now 
 heir to, are, when rightly ordered, a fulfilment of the 
 law of charity ; and that fit objects will never be want- 
 ing, or cease out of the land, both for private and more 
 public bounty, to claim the help of the real philanthrop- 
 ist. It has been said, both of poverty and of fraud, 
 that they are ingenious things. But it is equally true 
 of every affection and desire. All are skilful, as well 
 as diligent, in the pursuit of that which engages the 
 heart ; and he with whom benevolence should be a pre- 
 vailing passion would be ingenious also, if exertion was 
 necessary, in discovering objects by which it may be 
 gratified. 
 
 Without presuming to enter into any enumeration of 
 these, where can the Christian look round without find- 
 ing numberless claims upon that active charity, without 
 which faith and every other gift and grace are u no- 
 thing ; " without which, though you could speak with 
 the tongue of " angels " as w T ell as of men, you will be 
 as " sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. 5 ' Is there no 
 relative, or friend, or dependent, whom, on account of 
 his scanty means, you will remember with some bequest 
 on your death-bed, but to w T hom the present aid would 
 be of equal or of much greater importance ? Is there 
 
154 COVETOtfSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 no acquaintance overtaken by sudden disaster and cast 
 down, whom you could help to restore ? No industrious 
 artisan or mechanic at your door, who may be unable 
 to provide the material or the implements of his labour ? 
 No youth of mental promise, who cannot furnish for 
 himself the means of a liberal or professional education ? 
 No imprisoned debtor suffering through unforeseen 
 adversity, whom you could without difficulty enlarge ? 
 If your natural bent and early habits lead you to the 
 culture of useful learning, and the exposition of the 
 wonderful works of God in the creation, are there not 
 schools of art and science, the objects of which you can 
 promote, and plans of discovery which you can assist in 
 advancing? Above all, are there not thousands, and 
 hundreds of thousands, of your fellow-creatures living 
 in spiritual darkness, to whose shores and mansions the 
 word of God and his message of grace might, with 
 your assistance, be sent, so that every man might hear, 
 " in his own tongue, the wonderful works of God?" 
 Are there none of our countrymen, in distant colonies, 
 who find themselves in a state of spiritual destitution, as 
 sheep without a shepherd 5 whom you might be a help 
 in gathering ? No faithful ministers of Christ engaged 
 in solitary labour at home, or voluntary and more de- 
 serted exile abroad, in the cause of the Gospel, whose 
 hearts and hands might be encouraged and strengthened 
 by your means in their great work ? 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE, 155 
 
 New fields are constantly opening to view, and en- 
 larging'. And here it mav be observed, that the school 
 of infants is an era in moral history, and seems to dis- 
 cover a better prospect and awaken a better hope? 
 giving promise of that new age and revolution of the 
 orb of time, the nova progenies, the ordo sceclorum ah 
 integro* which the Roman poet could fancy, and sighed 
 for. The vouthful mind, in its tenderest vears, is a 
 
 Xl ' xl ' 
 
 favourable soil in which to plant the germ of religion, 
 and especially that law of love which is delivered in the 
 Gospel of the grace of God. And how early may not 
 that message be made known and its spirit be inculcat- 
 ed ! Here, too, is a propitious time for teaching the 
 lesson of brotherly love and disinterestedness. It has 
 frequently been remarked, that avarice is not the natu- 
 ral sin of youth — a remark which seems to be true to 
 this extent at least, that it is one of those passions which, 
 not being yet developed or cherished, may be more 
 easily chastened and counteracted in them than in others. 
 The opportunity afforded by these institutions, of train- 
 ing the hearts as well as the understandings of a rising 
 generation, is an object well deserving the attentive 
 consideration of the Christian philanthropist. It is a 
 happy juncture, if seized and improved by right manage- 
 ment, for sowing the seeds of grace as well as the seeds 
 of knowledge, in multitudes of the human race, who 
 have hitherto, through a fatal and preposterous error, 
 
156 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 been considered, at the very season when it is most 
 needed and most effectual, as being out of the pale of 
 Christian education. Already has there been much 
 pleasing experience in this case. And may it not be 
 reasonably hoped, that many more and happier and 
 increasing results are still preparing ; that, in number- 
 less cases, the good seed which is thus made to root 
 downward in the softer and newly broken mould, shall 
 be watered by the heavenly dew, and spring, and bear 
 much fruit upward in a future day ? To the case of such 
 labours of love, and those who are engaged in them, 
 the words of the Redeemer seem to have a peculiar 
 and striking application ; " inasmuch as ye have done it 
 to the least of these, ye have done it unto me." The 
 Christian precept on this whole subject is not only 
 large, but unreserved : " Do good unto all men, but 
 especially to such as are of the household of faith." 
 Nor does this addition form any limitation of the com- 
 mand. It is a new motive and inducement, not a re- 
 striction. For, as the family of Jesus are the nearest 
 and dearest to him, though without exclusion of the 
 others, so will they naturally be to his followers, their 
 fellow-servants. 
 
 Let the Christian, then, whatever be his outward 
 state and condition, whether subject or ruler, whether 
 churchman or layman, not only desire to be thoroughly 
 furnished unto all good works, but also remember, that 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 157 
 
 " now is the accepted time " for the works of love, as 
 well as for the work of faith. Reference has been 
 made to that frequent error into which men, even the 
 most sincere, are so apt to fall, of delaying their liber- 
 ality to the hour of death, exercising thus a kind of 
 forced generosity. This is a remnant of covetousness, 
 the dregs and lees of worldly-mindedness, found even 
 in the renewed heart, and manifested in a reluctance to 
 part prematurely and altogether with the possessions of 
 earth. It is a deception practised on the soul, to sug- 
 gest that the precept and will of the Saviour are satis- 
 fied by leaving a portion, perhaps a large one, of our 
 worldly goods, to be employed, after our death, in the 
 advancement of his cause, and in works of mercy to be 
 done in his name. But the test by which the work of 
 compromise may be tried is, that they are not incon- 
 sistent with the disposition of the covetous man, or^ven 
 of the miser. It is to & serve God for nought," with 
 that which costs the giver scarcely any thing of his 
 avaricious and selfish passion. When he can no longer 
 retain his possessions, he bequeaths them to God. " As 
 he came forth of his mother's womb, naked shall he 
 return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his 
 labour which he may carry away in his hand." — Eccles. 
 v. 15. This is not the sacrifice which God requires of 
 him. There may, indeed, and commonly will, be a 
 surplus in the hands even of the most liberal man, at 
 
158 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 his death, which it is his duty to dispose of, as he would 
 have disposed of his other wealth during his life. But 
 he who reserves all his deeds of charity, or most of 
 them, to the day of his departure, acts an inconsistent 
 part, His is not a cheerful, but rather a grudging gift. 
 How many useful objects may have been disappointed, 
 how many afflicted and desolate gone down to the grave 
 in sorrow, before the hour of his beneficence has arrived, 
 which he was thus throwing on the die of future and 
 contingent events, which neither his prescience could 
 anticipate, nor his power control ! Such bequests may 
 be directed by the providence of God for good. But 
 to the donor, it may be feared, they were unprofitable. 
 With him it was scarcely a labour of love ; his affec- 
 tions were not exercised, his heart was not bettered. 
 Against this error, with all its kindred forms of procras- 
 tination and delay, too often the refuge of a covetous 
 spirit, it is not superfluous to admonish the Christian 
 believer with earnestness. Let him not suppose that 
 his soul is delivered thus, if now, at the present time, 
 he cherishes a selfish and niggardly disposition. " If 
 thou sayest, behold we knew it not, doth not he that 
 pondereth the heart consider it?" — Prov. xxiv. 12* 
 " I know that there is no good in them" — that is worldly 
 riches — " but for a man to rejoice and to do good in his 
 life." — Eccles. hi. 12. " There is no work, nor device, 
 &c. in the grave, whither thou goest." — Eccles. ix. 10. 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 159 
 
 " God now accepteth thy works." — Eccles. ix. 7, — 
 that is, thy deeds ; and at the present time, not thy 
 intentions for the future. For " who shall bring him 
 to see what shall be after him." — Eccles. iii. 22. 
 
 You may not have it in your power, from peculiar 
 circumstances, such as infirmity of age, sickness, or 
 other incapacity, or even from the immediate calls of 
 peculiar station and duty, to prosecute those objects of 
 active beneficence w 7 hich others can do with effect. 
 There are diversities of gifts : and everv-man will be 
 tried by that which he hath, not by that which he hath 
 not. If you cannot " go about " to do good, you can 
 do good by " communicating." Health, and strength, 
 and activity, are the talents of one ; the talent of an- 
 other is to furnish the means, or part of the means, by 
 which that personal exertion may be rendered effectual. 
 The willing mind is common and indispensable to both : 
 and if that be first found, neither the objects nor the 
 instruments of usefulness will be wanting. 
 
 But here it is necessary to interpose two remarks in 
 the way of caution, and to prevent misapprehension, 
 For there are two principles to be always observed, and 
 two mistakes to be avoided by the Christian in his 
 works of charity and love ; one regarding the primary 
 motive, and the other regarding the ultimate end or 
 purpose. 
 
 1. Acts of beneficence toward man, as well as the 
 g 2 
 
160 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 more immediate acts of homage and service toward 
 God, must originate from the right principle, and be 
 performed with the right disposition* namely, that of 
 love and good will. The grace of charity must be 
 present as well as the outward expression. It is not 
 the doctrine of the Bible to lav the believer under con- 
 
 ml 
 
 straint, and subject him to formal acts of charity, more 
 than of devotion. The spirit of Christianity is not a 
 spirit of bondage and fear, but of liberty and love y and 
 the disciple, in his ministrations of kindness, does not 
 act " of constraint, but willingly." God loves a cheer- 
 ful giver ; and what is done to him, as every work of 
 the believer is done* must be from the heart, not as a 
 condition of his acceptance and favour, but as the fruit 
 of it to his praise and honour. The homage rendered 
 by a Christian, then, in this form and way, must be not 
 a servitude, but a free offering. " The letter killeth, 
 but the spirit giveth life."— 2 Cor. iii. 6. And so 
 it is in the whole of religious duty and practice ; and 
 there is, perhaps^ no dictate in the word of God of 
 more general or more important application. It is a 
 two edged sword of the spirit, directed equally against 
 the enemies of Christ, who resort to the letter of the 
 law in order to " justify themselves," and against his 
 friends who would " condemn themselves," but, " with- 
 out cause." For the same reason, such works are not 
 \o be done at the dictation of man, or to proceed from 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 1 6 1 
 
 a regard to the opinion of man ; neither is the extent of 
 the Christian's beneficence to be prescribed by his fellow- 
 creatures, or measured by them : to his own master he 
 stands or falls. But let every one be " fully persuaded 
 in his own mind." — Rom. xiv. 5, " Let every man 
 prove his own work ; and then shall he have rejoicing* 
 in himself alone, and not in another." — Gal. vi. 4. 
 
 2. In his deeds of charity, the Christian is not only 
 to begin with this right motive and principle, but to end 
 with it also. He is not to mix it with a self-righteous 
 disposition, and pollute it with that pride from which 
 such a disposition springs. It is scarcely necessary to 
 remind the believer, that none of his works can be done 
 aright, if performed or intended as a price for the pur- 
 chase of God's favour and acceptance. As " a man 
 can receive nothing except it be given him of God," so 
 neither can he give any thing in a manner acceptable 
 to him, unless he acknowledges the hand of God in 
 his gift. When, after the example of David and the 
 princes, the Israelites presented their gifts for the 
 building of the temple, it is said " the people rejoiced, 
 for that they offered willingly ; because with perfect 
 heart they offered willingly to the Lord ; " and it is 
 added by the king, " but who am I, and what is my 
 people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after 
 this sort ? for all things come of thee ; and of thine 
 own have we given thee." — 1 Chron. xxix. 9-14. A? 
 
162 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 the goodness of the saints extendeth not to God, in 
 adding any thing unto Him, so neither does their right- 
 eousness, for they have none but what he himself 
 mveth. " Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." — Rom. 
 xiv. 23. 
 
 Perhaps no passage of Scripture has been more wrest- 
 ed by worldly men, or misunderstood even by disciples of 
 Christ, who profess to believe in him as " their righteous- 
 ness," than the words of the apostle, " For charity shall 
 cover the multitude of sins." — 1 Pet. iv. 8 ; supposing, 
 that to feed the poor and clothe the naked, and endow 
 hospitals for the sick, may atone for transgression, and 
 purchase the forgiveness of God. How many errors and 
 false .interpretations are here combined into one false 
 conclusion : as if the charity here mentioned consisted 
 in alms-deeds, and other outward acts, not in the grace 
 of Christian love, as evidently meant, and even declared 
 in the very expression which precedes, " have fervent 
 charity among yourselves ; " as if by covering sins it 
 was meant that they could thus be compensated, and 
 the sinner redeemed by the price paid, and the sacrifice so 
 offered by himself ; instead of meaning, that many sins 
 of evil report, and strife, and variance, and enmity, and 
 all uncharitableness, would thus be stopped, or lessened, 
 or averted, and the occasions of sin be prevented, and 
 divisions healed; like that which is said by Solomon, 
 " he that covereth a transgression seeketh love." — 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 163 
 
 Prov. xvii. 9 ; or that of David, " for yet my prayer 
 also shall be in their calamities ; when their judges are 
 overthrown in stony places they shall hear my words, 
 for they are sweet." — Ps. cxli. 5, 6 ; and as if the mul- 
 titude of sins to be covered were the sins of him who is 
 thus trafficking with his Maker and his Judge ; instead 
 of being the sins of those whom that charity and for- 
 bearance, which hopeth all things, endureth all things, 
 which suffereth long, and is kind, shall be the means of 
 winning to Christ, when thus manifested in his dis- 
 ciples, and prove as coals of fire to melt their hearts, and 
 bring them to lay down the weapons of their rebellion ; 
 thus multiplying graces among themselves, and recom- 
 mending them to others ; putting away " all bitterness, 
 and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking — ■ 
 with all malice;" and being " kind one to another, 
 tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for 
 Christ's sake hath forgiven you." — Ephes. iv. 31, 32. 
 
 It has been the practice, indeed, and doctrine of some 
 corrupt churches to preach another Gospel, and to 
 inculcate the merit of man's works of obedience as, in 
 part at least, a ground of his justification with God ; a 
 doctrine coinciding with the natural pride of unregene- 
 rate man, and therefore acceptable to him ; but which 
 is not only full of error in itself, dishonouring the 
 Saviour, and blaspheming God, by lowering the stand- 
 ard of his pure and holy law, but also fertile of every 
 
164 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 evil fruit to those by whom it is received. For it lulls 
 men in a fatal security, under the vain belief that they 
 can renew themselves unto repentance, and purchase 
 the favour of God, when they can no longer enjoy the 
 pleasures and the pomps of the world. Hence the 
 penances and mortifications of the deluded Papist ; and 
 hence his death-bed offerings and alms-deeds. And 
 here the words of warning and expostulation may be 
 again addressed to the reader, who has " not so learned 
 Christ," but has " more perfect knowledge of that 
 way " of salvation by him ; and let him be entreated 
 to beware lest he too be led into the like infatuation ; 
 and lest, while he utterly disclaims the doctrine of the 
 Romish Church, he should, in his practice, justify it 
 by deferring his work and labour of love. The foolish 
 virgins in the parable, made a profession of religion as 
 well as the wise ; for they, too, carried their lamps ; 
 and when the cry was heard, they, too, arose and went 
 forth to meet the bridegroom. But their lamps were 
 not burning ; their oil had failed, and it was too late to 
 renew it. — Matt. xxv. * 
 
 * See from this parable, as from the whole tenor of Scripture, 
 how devoid of all warrant is the doctrine of human merit, as a 
 ground of justification in the sight of God. Their former works 
 were of no avail to those whose lamps had gone out. And to those 
 whose lamps were burning, it was Christ alone who opened the 
 door. Above all, is that monstrous doctrine condemned here, of 
 the superfluous merits of the saints, or any work of supererogation. 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE, 165 
 
 But let not the servant of God, from the anxious 
 dread of cherishing a self-righteous spirit, fall into the 
 opposite mistake of refusing to receive the benefit even 
 now of those rewards promised in his w r ord, as a recom- 
 pense and fruit of obedience. He does not, indeed, 
 consider them as of debt, but of grace ; and as such, is 
 warranted to look to them as a motive and encourage- 
 ment. Moses, who was faithful in his house, had a 
 respect thus to the recompense of reward. Job, David, 
 and the holy patriarchs of old, thus " accepted the pro- 
 mises." Christ himself, " though he was a son," and 
 had right to all things, did not, while fulfilling his 
 course on earth, refuse the like motive of encourage- 
 ment ; but " for the joy set before him," endured the 
 cross, despising the shame, and is now set down at the 
 right hand of God. In this, as well as in other cases, 
 then, what God hath joined let not man put asunder. 
 See Matt. v. 12, and vi. 6, — Luke xiv. 14, and vi. 35, 
 —1 Tim. v. 18,— Heb. xi. 6,-2 John viii. 
 
 It would be difficult, and is not necessary, to point 
 out all the mistakes which may be committed in the 
 estimate of duty, as it regards temporal possessions and 
 the use of them. Men are prone to extremes. Many, 
 as we know, in the times of superstition, and the abuse 
 of Christian doctrine, have, in renouncing the world 
 
 When the wise virgins were asked to give of their oil, of which 
 they had a stock, " Not so," they reply, " lest there be not enough 
 for us and you," &c. 
 
166 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 and its ways, thought it necessary to renounce not only 
 the love, but the enjoyment of all earthly goods ; thus 
 refusing the gifts of God, and attempting, as it were, 
 to " go out of the world." And, still, some are found 
 who, mistaking that word of our Saviour which was 
 meant as a test of character and disposition, and acting 
 upon it literally, have sold all their possessions, with 
 the purpose of devoting the price more directly and ex- 
 clusively to his cause ; thus " casting upon the Lord," 
 not only their " care," and anxiety, and solicitude, but 
 also, in great measure, if not entirely, their diligence 
 and exertion in providing for themselves and their fami- 
 lies things lawful and honest as pertaining to this life. 
 But this course does not appear to be warranted by the 
 word of God, or at least not to be a commanded duty, 
 however sincere the faith, and single-eyed the purpose 
 may be, of the individuals who pursue it. For, besides 
 that such things are the gifts of God, to be enjoyed 
 with thankfulness as such, it is to be feared, that those 
 who adopt this plan may expose themselves to a temp- 
 tation and a snare ; that the evil spirit of covetousness 
 having for a time gone out, and in vain seeking rest, 
 when he finds the house empty and swept, may return 
 with greater force, and enter in again, and finally dwell 
 there ; so that the last state of such men may be worse 
 than the first. 
 
 Others are to be found, who, taking advantage of 
 certain passages in Scripture, where Christians are ex- 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 167 
 
 horted to practise hospitality, fortify themselves in a 
 belief that the people of God may, without inconsistency, 
 associate freely with the people of this world in the en- 
 joyment of all its pleasures and luxuries ; escaping thus 
 from the spirit and true force of the precept. Hospi- 
 tality, indeed, is not forbidden by the Gospel, but re- 
 commended and enjoined by the apostles upon all, espe- 
 cially upon the overseers of the Christian Churches ; and 
 was practised by the early disciples to a large extent, and 
 with much care. The example of servants of the Lord 
 in early times, of Abraham and Sarah, of Lot and 
 Manoah, is referred to by the Apostle Paul, as an en- 
 couragement to the faithful in this duty. But the grace 
 thus commended, it is almost superfluous to observe, is 
 not that courtesy of the world which receives the name, 
 but a branch of charity, proceeding from brotherly kind- 
 ness and love to man. The hospitality of the world 
 springs more frequently s from self-love, and terminates 
 not seldom in sensual or refined self-indulgence, or 
 ostentatious pride. # Christian hospitality is displayed 
 
 ' It is remarkable, in the comparison of rude with civilized 
 countries, that the virtue or native disposition of hospitality has 
 commonly been found to prevail most among the former, and even 
 among those tribes who have by the polite nations of the earth 
 been characterized as barbarian. So that " these barbarous people,' 1 
 in showing "no little kindness," often approach nearer to the 
 grace in question, than those whose greater refinement has seldom 
 failed to terminate in greater selfishness. 
 
168 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 chiefly in feeding the hungry, refreshing the weary, 
 and harbouring the friendless stranger, and the outcast. 
 Its spirit is thus characterized in the Gospel : " When 
 thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor 
 thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neigh- 
 bours, lest they also bid thee again, and a recompense 
 be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the 
 poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind : and thou shalt 
 be blessed ; for they cannot recompense thee; for thou 
 shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just." — 
 Luke xiv. 12-14. The reason is here given along 
 with the injunction; namely, that hospitality is not to 
 be exercised from worldly inducements, or with the 
 prospect of worldly recompense and return. And it is 
 an ingredient in all acts of Christian beneficence. " If 
 ye do good to them which do good to you," being en- 
 forced to the duty by that consideration and value, 
 " what thank have ye ? for sinners also," that is un- 
 regenerate and worldly men, " do even the same." — 
 Luke vi. 33. An interested motive, that is to say, vitiates 
 what is done in the guise of liberality, and even though 
 it be offered as a gift. 
 
 And here it is not irrelevant to observe, that this 
 principle forms a marked distinction between the man 
 of the world and the Christian, in the general tenor of 
 their acts of benevolence. The latter gives to those who 
 have need ; the worldly man commonly gives to those 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 169 
 
 from whom he expects, if not immediately, yet indirectly 
 and ultimately, some equivalent; and if not in money, 
 perhaps in influence, or it may be simply in reputation. 
 And this applies to testamentary, as well as present 
 gifts. One bequeaths what may remain at his death to 
 those for whom it will be a useful aid ; the other as 
 frequently bequeaths to the rich and honourable among 
 men, giving his sum of more to him that has too 
 much ; and still attempting, even where he may have 
 no descendant of his own, to associate his name with a 
 kind of posthumous repute of worldly greatness in the 
 house of another. 
 
 The precept now under consideration is delivered in 
 the style and manner which is peculiar to the teaching 
 of Christ, and that divine authority which speaks not 
 to the outward ear, but to the heart and thought ; is not 
 confined to the letter, or squared to the immediate ap- 
 prehension of the hearer, x or qualified in terms by what 
 are nevertheless its inherent limitations, but is ex- 
 pressed in language of a power and weight commensurate 
 to the force of the opposite bias in the natural disposi- 
 tions of man. It is similar to other declarations from 
 the same lips, as they are made in opposition to the 
 doctrines of men, and to the contradiction of the unre- 
 newed mind. " I say unto you, that ye resist not 
 evil ; but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, 
 turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue 
 
170 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have 
 thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to 
 go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh 
 thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not 
 thou away." — Matt. v. 39-42. " It is easier for a camel 
 to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man 
 to enter into the kingdom of God." — Matt. xix. 24. 
 " Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou re- 
 moved, and be thou cast into the sea, and shall not 
 doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things 
 which he saith shall come to pass ; he shall have what- 
 soever he saith." — Mark xi. 23. " Take, therefore, no 
 thought for the morrow." — Matt. vi. 34. " If any man 
 come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and 
 wife, and children, and brethren and sisters, yea and his 
 own life also, he cannot be my disciple." — Luke xiv. 
 26. The just interpretation of these, and similar pas- 
 sages of Scripture, is to be found in Scripture itself; 
 which, if taken in pieces and disjointed, may appear dis- 
 cordant, as every system would; but, received together 
 as it stands^ is in all its proportions symmetrical and 
 whole. As to the precept in question, which has led to 
 these transient remarks, if any one should infer that 
 social intercourse with his brethren and kindred, or per- 
 sons of whatever outward condition, and that expression 
 of kind affection which, in common speech, we call 
 hospitality, is forbidden or discouraged, he would evi- 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 17 i 
 
 dently pervert the word of God, and offend against the 
 generation of his children. The example of Christ 
 himself would contradict him ; and his inspired apostle 
 would contradict him, who has put a very different con- 
 struction upon the rule; " Use hospitality one to another, 
 without grudging." — 1 Pet. 4-9. 
 
 Other mistakes might be adverted to in connection 
 with this subject, and many questions may, and have 
 been stirred as to the line of Christian duty in regard to 
 temporal goods ; among others, as to the lawfulness of 
 particular callings, and the mode of exercising them. 
 But, in general, such questions rather lead to casuistical 
 distinctions and debates than to clear views of duty, or 
 to godly edifying. The precepts of the Gospel, read 
 and studied with prayer, will seldom fail to resolve all 
 such doubts. Or if scruples yet remain in the mind of 
 any believer, a conscience void of reproach as to the in- 
 tentions of the heart, and.the motives of conduct, may 
 rest in peaceful assurance on the character and promises 
 of God. As he who is not for Christ, in purpose of full 
 obedience, is against him, so he who is not against him, 
 in the like purpose and intention, is for him, and upon 
 his side. But enough, and perhaps more than enough 
 has already been said upon these topics. Let it only 
 be remarked farther, that neither the sin of covetous- 
 ness, nor the grace of Christian liberality is confined to 
 any particular rank or station in human life. They are 
 
i/2 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 affections of the heart, and neither wealth nor poverty 
 are exempt from the one, or excluded from the other. 
 It is sometimes supposed, indeed, that the passion of 
 covetousness is one of those from which the man of 
 low degree is somehow exempt. But there cannot be 
 a greater mistake. The rich man has some peculiar 
 means and opportunities of exhibiting the vice in acts 
 of oppression, for the increase of his wealth, which are 
 not open to his poorer brethren. But in the latter, the 
 passion may be equally strong, and may appear in acts 
 of equal injustice. For it is undoubted that the per- 
 son of inferior station, whose mercenary disposition leads 
 him to withhold from his superior what is his right and 
 due, whether by evading performance of the personal 
 service, or payment of the value of his possession, which 
 have been stipulated, is equally unjust, and equally the 
 slave of an avaricious spirit. It is the perfection of the 
 divine law and precept, as distinguished from many of 
 man's judgments, that it applies equally to every rank 
 as well as to every case. Hence, among others, the 
 command, " neither shalt thou countenance a poor 
 man in his cause." — Exod. xxiii. 3 ; that is to say, in 
 matter of right and justice thou shalt not respect per- 
 sons ; not even the poor ; though in matters of grace 
 and liberality it is far otherwise. 
 
 The forms in which this passion of covetousness may 
 appear are too numerous and diversified to admit even 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE, 173 
 
 of being classed, and can only be indicated by desultory 
 examples. Some of these have been adduced in the 
 foregoing pages ; by which it is seen to what extent the 
 vice prevails in this country, both in the public and 
 political body, and among individuals and particular 
 classes of the community, and in all ranks and condi- 
 tions of society. The forms are varied by circumstances 
 and occasion, but the animating spirit is uniform and 
 permanent. Thus, in acts of a public nature, and with- 
 out dwelling on those greater examples of national rapa- 
 city which have been exhibited in the violent partition 
 of whole countries, and unoffending people, the system 
 of what is called privateering, which has, with the sanc- 
 tion of their governments, been practised to such an 
 extent by the inhabitants of Great Britain, as well as 
 some other maritime powers of Europe, and free States 
 of America, affords another instance of mercantile and 
 national cupidity, directly N abetted by Christian monarchs 
 and their counsellors, where the most common principles 
 of justice, and common feelings of humanity, have been 
 openly violated and set at nought. It is certain that 
 many hundreds of these predatory vessels were commis- 
 sioned against the Dutch and American traders, during 
 the wars with those countries, in the latter part of last 
 century ; merchants being thus armed against merchants 
 for mutual destruction, without a ground of quarrel ; pro- 
 fessing too the same religious faith, and engaged in the 
 same pursuits of peace. 
 
174 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 The pretext for such national and wholesale piracy 
 is, of course, the annoyance of a national enemy, and in- 
 demnification for the charges of war; and, under this 
 cloak, and without consideration of the justice or in- 
 justice of the war itself, were thousands of individuals, 
 engaged in useful occupations, assailed, it might be, 
 unawares, and with violence robbed and stripped of 
 their property, on the open seas, and -themselves, if 
 they attempted to defend it, overcome by an armed 
 force, and murdered with impunity. That war should 
 be carried on without a great measure of private wrong 
 and suffering would be a vain expectation ; but that 
 robbery and confiscation, avowedly directed against in- 
 dividuals engaged in the arts of peace and the inter- 
 change of commodities, should be organized under the 
 deliberate authority of the rulers of a Christian land, 
 admits of no palliation, or of any excuse to screen it 
 from just indignation.* 
 
 * That well-known provision, which was introduced, chiefly 
 through the exertions of Franklin the American plenipotentiary, 
 into the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United 
 States and the King of Prussia, affords a model of equitable legis- 
 lation among nations, in this great department of public morals ; 
 and which, if it could be carried into full effect, would deprive 
 war of much of its most revolting, because wanton and gratuitous, 
 ferocity. The article is in these words: — " Article 23. If war 
 should arise between the two contracting parties, the merchants of 
 either country, then residing in the other, shall be allowed to re- 
 main nine months, to collect their debts and settle their affairs, and 
 may depart freely, carrying off all their effects without molestation 
 or hindrance ; and all women and children, scholars of every 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 175 
 
 Again, in the prosecution of commercial interests, 
 through the medium of new settlements, how many 
 tribes and nations of men have suffered the greatest 
 wrong and oppression through our cupidity ! how many 
 districts have been unpeopled, and the natives and deni- 
 zens of extensive countries wholly, or almost wholly, 
 exterminated, to make way for British encroachment, 
 and give security to British possession ! Such has been 
 the work of our national covetousness in portions ot 
 North America and Australia, — and such is the work 
 now going on in other parts of the latter region, and in 
 the cape settlements of Africa ; following too closely, 
 in the latter instance, the policy of the preceding occu- 
 pants. In these, and many other ways, we seem to have 
 
 faculty, cultivators of the earth, artisans, manufacturers, and 
 fishermen, unarmed, and inhabiting unfortified towns, villages, and 
 places ; and in general all others whose occupations are for the 
 common subsistence and benefit of mankind, shall be allowed to 
 continue their respective employments, and shall not be molested 
 in their persons, nor shall their houses or goods be burned, or 
 otherwise destroyed, nor their fields wasted by the armed force 
 of the enemy into whose power, by the events of war, they may 
 happen to fall : but if any thing is necessary to be taken from 
 them for the use of such armed force, the same shall be paid for at 
 a reasonable price. And all merchant and trading vessels employ- 
 ed in exchanging the v products of different places, and thereby ren- 
 dering the necessaries, conveniences, and comforts of human life, 
 more easy to be obtained, and more general, shall be allowed to 
 pass free and unmolested ; and neither of the contracting powers 
 shall grant or issue any commission to any private armed vessels, 
 empowering them to take or destroy such trading vessels, or inter- 
 rupt such commerce." 
 
 H 
 
176 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 adopted the fatal principle, that national prosperity, 
 whatever may be the case with that of individuals, is 
 unconnected with moral rectitude ; and that to insure 
 the greatness of an empire, it becomes necessary to 
 make a sacrifice of national good faith and uprightness. 
 For Britain, instead of acting upon the latter principles, 
 instead of employing her resources and superior attain- 
 ments in diffusing the truths of religion, a love of justice, 
 and knowledge of humane arts among those whose terri- 
 tory she invaded or acquired, instead of extending over 
 their people the shield of her protection, and winning 
 them by kindness, was intent only upon gain, and the 
 increase of her revenue ; and in the pursuit of these ob- 
 jects committed acts of rapacity which have not been 
 exceeded by the most barbarous among heathen na- 
 tions. She did not, by her connexion with those coun- 
 tries, as an empire, and independent of the solitary 
 and unsupported efforts of individual Christians and 
 philanthropists, confer one moral boon upon their in- 
 habitants ; she imprinted and left behind her numberless 
 traces of her greed, but of sympathy and benevolence, 
 none. Nay, more, from this lust of gain, she even 
 joined in their peculiar and hateful vices, and this 
 Christian people became a partaker with idolaters ; 
 making, in some of those countries, the rites of a hea- 
 thenish and cruel superstition, with its gross pollutions 
 and its human sacrifices, a source of her territorial 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 177 
 
 revenue; while, at the same time, boasting her own 
 religious privileges, and her purer code of morality. 
 Such has been her conduct down to a very recent 
 period. And although, under the blessing of God, 
 a better system has commenced, and a better light 
 dawned upon some of our national possessions in re- 
 mote regions, it is well known that not with our legis- 
 lature or executive councils, but with Christian churches 
 and individuals, the efforts commenced, and by them 
 the work, amidst great discouragement, was undertaken, 
 In former times, the East and West India colonies 
 were the great theatre of our national and mercantile 
 selfishness and avarice, in all its forms of monopoly and 
 plunder. As these channels have in a great measure 
 been dried up, the same spirit is seeking out others, 
 and in various directions ; appearing, perhaps, in equal 
 activity, and to an equal extent, at home. It is not, 
 indeed, there seen under the same forms of unjust ag- 
 gression, or accompanied with usurpation and violence ; 
 for, happily, our code of domestic law, imperfect as it is in 
 some respects as to its moral tendency, permits no such 
 indulgence; but still its ends are prosecuted with the 
 same earnestness and versatility of resource. Hence, as 
 already observed, the numerous adventures in commerce 
 and manufacture, by private and chartered corporations, 
 and the eager attempt of their supporters to blazon their 
 several schemes, and enlarge the sphere of their oper- 
 
178 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 ations. Hence, to take another set of cases now of 
 frequent occurrence, namely, the many Life Assurance 
 Societies which have sprung up, and are yearly increas- 
 ing ; we see how, in some of them, not confined to their 
 original object, but devised for mercantile profit, the 
 spirit of covetousness is to be traced, not only in the 
 minute and anxious care employed upon their organiza- 
 tion, where all the helps and resources of science are 
 borrowed, and the aids of experience solicited and col- 
 lected from every quarter, and brought to bear upon the 
 object of securing the utmost possible amount of gain 
 from the contingencies of human existence ; but is 
 apparent also in the competition and rivalry among 
 these different associations, and the skill, and often 
 artifice, employed for attracting the public notice and 
 favour,* Hence, again, the sensitive regard to pecu- 
 niary interests which appears in the Legislature; where 
 many important and salutary objects of a public nature, 
 however clearly supported by moral principle, are so 
 often defeated by the more wakeful, and persevering, 
 and united efforts of those corporations, whose imme- 
 diate and personal interests might be affected by them ; 
 whether such corporations happen to be lay or eccle- 
 
 * As those Assurance Societies are constituted, it may also be 
 observed, that it is the rich chiefly who share in their advan- 
 tages ; for to such persons as have a moderate and precarious in- 
 come, the scheme has no practical application. 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 179 
 
 siastical, whether a society of jurists, or merchants, or 
 agriculturists. 
 
 We see, again, how other Christian countries and their 
 governments have, whether their particular plans mav be 
 well devised for the end or otherwise, patronized and en- 
 couraged the education, religious, moral, and' intellectual, 
 of their people, as a public and national object ; and al- 
 lotted funds from their treasuries for this important pur- 
 pose, under the direction of a Minister of State or other 
 public functionary. But the British Legislature, for in 
 the spirit of this policy the Parliaments of Scotland did 
 not participate, has till of late taken little interest, and the 
 Protestant English Legislature took none, in this great 
 question. We see, in like manner, how the public coun- 
 cils of this kingdom, while adhering to, and defending 
 in theory, the principle of national establishments of re- 
 ligion, have not in their acts followed out that principle 
 with consistency, but have long withheld, except in 
 occasional and special cases, pressed upon their atten- 
 tion, the funds which were necessary for the full ac- 
 complishment of its objects. Hence, large portions of 
 the population, in different parts of the empire, and of 
 these chiefly the most devout and the most orderly, 
 were gradually detached from the communion of the 
 national churches, if not given up to the priests of a 
 false religion, or to become the victims of infidelity : 
 and hence, even the principle itself of a public estab- 
 
180 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 lishment of religion, and its adaptation to the spiritual 
 wants of the community, has come to be called in ques- 
 tion, and a serious obstacle been thrown in the way of 
 its effective support. 
 
 Is it not evident from these, and many other instances 
 of a similar kind which might be adduced, for it is 
 not easy to follow any strict method in treating such 
 a subject, that the idolatry of wealth is the besetting 
 sin of Britain, actuating every class, and operating in 
 every department ? That from the least to the 
 greatest all are given to covetousness ? Here, more 
 than elsewhere, it is seen that honour and distinction 
 follow the preponderance of wealth ; and that, in the 
 councils of the State, the collection and distribution of 
 money, and of that by far the largest portion expended 
 on the purposes of war, has been the great and para- 
 mount object of consideration. 
 
 The English aristocracy, both clerical and lay, have, 
 in their selfish idolatry of wealth, and the indulgence of 
 their personal and covetous views, too much separated 
 themselves from the other classes of the community; and, 
 whether as members of the Legislature, or otherwise in 
 their collective capacity, while diligent in whatever re- 
 gards trade and finance, and the principles of taxation, 
 and the improvement of the revenue, have shown a fatal 
 remissness, or a fatal parsimony, in what is connected 
 with the religious and moral welfare of the people at 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 181 
 
 large. Through this supineness and neglect on the 
 part of their superiors and rulers, and notwithstanding 
 our peculiar advantages as a Protestant nation, we see 
 that w^hole masses of the growing population have been 
 left in a state of moral destitution, as well as intellec- 
 tual debasement. And the results are too apparent, as 
 now acknowledged by all, in the disorder and threatened 
 disorganization of the social body. 
 
 It would be easy, if it were necessary, to enlarge on 
 these view 7 s, and to add many more illustrations of this 
 worldly and selfish policy, as exemplified both in public 
 bodies and individuals. The sum of all is, that no 
 sinful passion is more opposed to the whole tenor of 
 Gospel doctrine, and more inconsistent with Christian 
 duty, than the sin of covetousness. The avaricious 
 man, not less than the sensualist, " minds earthly 
 things," and affords one of the great examples of that 
 selfish spirit, and that lQve of the present world, which 
 is opposed to the love of God and the love of man. 
 It is remarkable that the Scriptures give no instance of 
 a covetous person who is classed among the people and 
 children of God ; unless the case of Zaccheus be con- 
 sidered an exception ; in which respect this sin is distin- 
 guished even from others, however heinous, into some acts 
 of which His servants have been at times surprised or be- 
 trayed through powerful temptation ; and from the do- 
 minion of which thev have been recovered and restored, 
 
182 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 For this evil passion is not, like others, manifested in some 
 open act, single, it may be, and transient, but is a state 
 and disposition of the heart, by which all its affections 
 become hardened ; so that, when grown habitual and 
 indulged, it may even be unperceived and almost un- 
 suspected by him whom it has subdued. It well be- 
 comes the Christian, then, to be on his guard against 
 those toils from which, if entangled by them, escape is 
 nearly impossible. 
 
 But there are still some views and considerations of a 
 general nature, and applicable to the whole of the pre- 
 sent subject, in so far as respects individual character 
 and conduct, which it is important to notice before 
 closing this Inquiry. These have reference to every 
 case where benevolence and good will are called into 
 exercise ; but more particularly to works of Christian 
 liberality; to which, therefore, the observations that fol- 
 low are more immediately directed. 
 
 1. Beware that temporal motives and aims do not 
 intrude in matters of Christian beneficence, and mix 
 themselves with acts of a strictly religious character. 
 
 This unhallowed union takes place in different ways ; 
 but these may, in the greatest number of cases, be 
 resolved into ostentation, or a selfish desire after the 
 good opinion of our fellow-men. This is the principle 
 and motive of the pharisee, who performs his alms- 
 deeds, as he does his religious worship and services, to 
 
THE BAK OF SCRIPTURE. 183 
 
 be seen of men ; but is directly opposed to the Gos- 
 pel principle and precept, requiring that these deeds 
 should be done in secret ; that is to say, from the 
 inward principle of duty, and motion of the affections, 
 as distinguished not only from the mere outward act, 
 but from all desire of human applause. Although there 
 is no age and time of the world where these unworthy 
 motives do not operate, yet there are certain seasons and 
 states of society where they are apt to prevail to a 
 greater extent, and with a more numerous class of per- 
 sons than at others. And it will be allowed that one of 
 those periods is the present day, when extensive and 
 powerful associations have been formed for religious 
 purposes, which embrace a large portion of the com- 
 munity, and of which the proceedings are carried on 
 with great publicity, and proclaimed, as it were, on the 
 house-tops. Men of worldly, or at least doubtful minds, 
 may in such circumstances not seldom be induced to 
 take a part in these operations, with the hope of shar- 
 ing in the honour of the work; or, at all events, of 
 rising in the estimation of their fellow-creatures, and 
 obtaining, at the expense of some pecuniary sacrifice, 
 perhaps of no great amount, the rank and character of 
 Christian philanthropists. 
 
 It is to be feared that if the operations of those great 
 religious societies could be conducted so as not to meet 
 
 the public eye, if they too, could, like individuals, not 
 
 h 2 
 
184 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 let their left hand know what their right hand doeth, 
 the amount of their revenues might suffer no trifling 
 diminution. Whether, and how far, the treasure swell- 
 ed by such contributions may, notwithstanding the un- 
 worthy motives of those who so contribute, be over- 
 ruled for the promotion of pure and truly Christian 
 ends, is not a question to be decided by man. But, 
 w r ith respect to the individual acting on such worldly 
 inducements, who shall say that he is authorized to 
 expect any profit from the deed to his own soul? 
 " Verily," says the Saviour himself, "he has his reward;" 
 inasmuch as that applause on which he secretly set bis 
 heart will be certainly bestowed ; but, in so far as the 
 false principle operated* there too must his reward not 
 only begin but end. 
 
 In this way there is reason to fear that not a few 
 persons may be ensnared to their own hurt. For, 
 as there is a simony in the church, so there is a 
 certain lay simony in the world also ; an attempt to 
 purchase with money the name of a Christian grace, in 
 which as to its real spirit and essence the bidder has 
 neither lot nor part. May it not even be said of him 
 who thus acts, and in so far as these are the thoughts 
 of his heart, that his money shall perish with him ? 
 
 But farther, the publicity and bustle of great monied 
 institutions for religious purposes have a tendency, in 
 various other ways, to deform the excellent grace of 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE, 185 
 
 charity. Christian beneficence shrinks from display and 
 tumult. But in those great theatres of public benevo- 
 lence, as they are most frequently conducted, though 
 the feeling: may be strongly excited for the time by 
 the contagion of a popular assemblage, it is one rather 
 of disturbance than of solid and lasting impression ; 
 alloyed, too, as it often is, by the exhibition of heated 
 oratory, and the undue pre-eminence of mere human 
 agency, such as we see manifested in other numerous 
 meetings, for objects of a character entirely secular. In 
 all large and mixed assemblies, the style of the speakers 
 is, by a kind of necessity, rather adapted to move the 
 passions of those whom they address, than calculated to 
 reach the deeper and calm recesses of the mind and 
 heart. The feelings thus awakened by some powerful 
 address, of high sound and great promise, will too often 
 be observed to pass away with its echoes. Further, 
 the very extent itself of the operations, and of the 
 machinery provided, is apt to generate a measure of 
 pride and assumption in the patrons^ and conductors, 
 and great contributors to their funds. " Is not this 
 great Zion, that I have built for the house of the 
 kingdom, by my might, and for the honour of my 
 majesty?" 
 
 We see, too, how in some other ways the human 
 passions come to be fostered and indulged, where 
 Christian charity is much directed into these channels, 
 
186 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 and exhibited to the public view ; leading to an er- 
 roneous estimate of religious principle ; as if it were 
 to be rated only or chiefly by outward acts, without a 
 knowledge of inward character and consistency ; lead- 
 ing, also, to a scrutiny of individual conduct in the dis- 
 tribution of money or other goods, according to the 
 calculation and judgment of self-constituted arbiters ; 
 and inclining them, under a specious cover of zeal, to 
 busy themselves here as elsewhere in other men's mat- 
 ters. Hence comes the natural desire of dictating, in 
 a manner, how, and to what amount, and to what parti- 
 cular society in preference, individual contributions 
 ought to be given ; thus abridging or spying out 
 Christian liberty, and prescribing to the consciences 
 of men. This is a spirit not unfrequently generated 
 by associations of such imposing form, and the publi- 
 city of all their acts ; but it is widely different from 
 that spirit which covers the multitude of sins. 
 
 It may be repeated here, but without pursuing the 
 subject further, that, in the operations referred to, the 
 rich are brought too prominently into view, and those 
 who have little or comparatively nothing to bestow out 
 of their temporal possessions are too much separated, if 
 not excluded from the work ; a consequence which 
 must necessarily follow where the ostensible and im- 
 mediate object is the acquisition of ample resources in 
 money. 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 187 
 
 Connected with this part of the subject, it may be 
 remarked that the notoriety which is now given to all 
 transactions and occurrences, not only of a public, but 
 also of a more private character, through the medium 
 of the press, tends not a little to foster the natural feel- 
 ings of pride and selT-complacency even in works of 
 charity. That desire of publicity w 7 hich is so prevalent 
 finds an easy means of gratification through those 
 channels now widely opened. But when the particular 
 alms-deeds and charitable gifts of individuals are thus 
 proclaimed, as we often see them, in the common jour- 
 nals, introduced, too, with some flattering encomium, or 
 inscribed with some title of " generosity" or " muni- 
 ficence," it is to be feared that the practice, although it 
 may sometimes excite others to outward acts of liber- 
 ality, is little favourable to the true spirit of Christian 
 benevolence, if not even calculated to cherish a spirit 
 more resembling that of the Pharisee. 
 
 2. Beware of expecting, through the employment, 
 and by the operation of money, effects which the Word 
 of God does not promise. 
 
 It is remarkable that so great results should now be 
 looked for, in the promulgation of the Gospel, by the 
 use of an instrument which was unacknowledged by 
 Christ himself, and by his apostles after him, as a 
 mean for the promotion of that great end. The com- 
 mand, indeed, was given to those whom He sent forth, 
 
188 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 that they should preach the Gospel to every creature ; 
 and how can they preach except they be sent ? But 
 the means enjoined were spiritual means. That the 
 messengers of the Gospel should be furnished with what 
 is essential for their temporal necessities, whether of 
 their own providing, or supplied l)y the aid of others, is 
 undoubtedly not lawful only but necessary ; for there is 
 no warrant to expect a continuance of miraculous inter- 
 positions where ordinary means are within reach. And, 
 in like manner, it is not only lawful, but most right and 
 expedient, that copies of the written word should be 
 multiplied by those methods which have been dis- 
 covered and provided in the providence of God. But 
 still these are in all respects subordinate instruments, 
 which ought not to be advanced to undue import- 
 ance ; although it is the natural tendency of man 
 to view them otherwise, because they lie within his 
 own power, independent of those other means which 
 are beyond his control. And here again the great 
 monied societies formed for the distribution of the 
 Scriptures, and the supply of missionary tekchers, and 
 other religious objects, and works of Christian love, aid- 
 ed as they are willing to be from the coffers of worldly 
 men, are, insensibly perhaps, but powerfully, led to count 
 upon their own exertions, if not solely, at least chiefly 
 and directly, for the attainment of ends which are alto- 
 gether spiritual. This is the Mammon of the Platform. 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 189 
 
 Money, or that which money represents, is too much 
 regarded in the present day, even where the motive 
 and the object are religious ; and the question is not 
 seldomer asked, what is the expenditure of a religious 
 society, than what has it been the instrument of ac- 
 complishing ? As if by the unlimited extent of funds, 
 and number of teachers and of books, the great ends in 
 view would almost by necessary consequence follow. In- 
 stead of subordinate instruments, these come to be con- 
 sidered and spoken of as direct agents ; and, instead of 
 being supplied and increased as a way is opened for 
 them in the providence of God, it seems to be too fre- 
 quently supposed that they need only to be sent forth 
 in due and sufficient multitude, in order to secure the 
 wished result. In short, the important difference is 
 apt to be forgot, between that which is spiritual and 
 that which is external in religion. The earthly wea- 
 pons and agencies copie, if not to displace in the 
 imaginations of the actors, at least to overshadow in 
 the view of the spectators, that only agency which 
 can render them effectual, and which so often works 
 with few and weak instruments more powerfully than 
 with the many and the strong. The effects produced 
 in the diffusion of Gospel truth have never corres- 
 ponded to the number of the agents, or the wealth 
 expended, according to the vain judgment and anticipa- 
 tion of man. On the contrary, it is not too much to 
 
190 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 say that the spiritual blessing has been more abundant 
 where the temporal resources have been the most incon- 
 siderable. 
 
 Is there not even a danger that the very wealth of 
 great religious associations should prove directly injuri- 
 ous to their cause ? Suppose that their wish should be 
 fulfilled to the utmost, and that they should be enabled^ 
 by the liberality of the rich, and the countenance of the 
 great, to send forth numerous bodies of missionaries, 
 and provided with the most ample outward means, 
 would there not be imminent hazard that the whole 
 mass should become leavened with secular and worldly 
 principles and feelings ? With respect to the agents 
 and dispensers of this treasure, the temptation is obvi- 
 ous, of leading many into the field from corrupt motives 
 and for unworthy ends. And with respect to the ob- 
 jects of these great exertions of beneficence, is there not 
 an equal danger, that seeing the abundant worldly pos- 
 sessions, and the secular influence of such bodies, they 
 may be attracted to join their ranks, not from a desire 
 of spiritual knowledge, or the love of truth, but from 
 the hope of other gain, and an expectation of some un- 
 defined temporal advantage ? 
 
 In short, wherever money assumes a prominent place, 
 and becomes an important aim, it leads, in all intellec- 
 tual, and still more in all spiritual pursuits, to danger and 
 disturbance ; preserving, in every department, its true 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 191 
 
 character to the last, as the root of evil. The danger 
 ought not, therefore, to be overlooked in the manage- 
 ment even of the most sacred cause. 
 
 No reader of these pages will, for a moment, suppose 
 that the remarks now made are directed, in the way of 
 exception, against the ultimate aim of any' association 
 for objects having a truly Christian character and design. 
 The observations apply not in any degree to the pur- 
 poses, but solely and exclusively to some of the means 
 which are now so usually employed for carrying these 
 purposes into effect ; and to such means, in so far only 
 as they are open to the objections which have been 
 stated, and consequently exposed to the danger. It is 
 impossible to doubt that a very large amount of good 
 has been effected through these bodies, and much of 
 which might not have been effected otherwise, or at all 
 events in so short a time. The observations now 
 made are more especially suggested in the way of 
 warning to the individual members and promoters of 
 these associations ; that thev should examine their own 
 principles and motives, and see whether the apostolic 
 method and order is pursued by them ; namely, of hav- 
 ing first given themselves to the Lord, and then unto 
 the Christian society for his sake ; whether they are 
 sincerely and in truth actuated by that zeal for the ex- 
 tension of the Gospel, and that love for the souls of 
 men, which their profession thus loudly testifies : or in 
 
192 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 what degree they are influenced by self-esteem and 
 gratulation, when their contributions of money are an- 
 nounced in the hearing of their fellow-men. And as 
 to the conductors and managers of such bodies, a 
 twofold caution is not less necessary and important: 
 first, that they too should examine their motives and 
 inducements, personally and individually, for engaging 
 in the work; and, secondly, that in carrying it on, 
 they should employ those agents only as their instru- 
 ments, in whose views and characters they have a well- 
 grounded confidence. The Apostles did not " desire a 
 gift" as for themselves, in the contributions of the Chris- 
 tian churches ; but they desired collections from the 
 converts as evidence of their faith, and for the promo- 
 tion of Christian and brotherly love. In the same 
 spirit it befits both the friends of the institutions in 
 question, to see that their contributions are given, and 
 the managers, to see that they are received, not as gifts 
 to the particular society, but as helps to the cause in 
 which it is engaged. 
 
 3. Money, and it is the same with all which it 
 represents, is under no circumstances, and in no 
 degree, the standard of Christian liberality and bene- 
 volence. 
 
 Charity, indeed, must be seen in its fruits ; but, of 
 those fruits, the gift of money is not a necessary, far 
 less the only or essential part or sign. We know that 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 193 
 
 the fruit of charity may appear in a cup of water as well 
 as in a purse of gold ; and there are possible situa- 
 tions where the former would be a greater boon to re- 
 ceive, and a greater sacrifice to bestow. We know, 
 likewise, that one may give his whole goods to feed the 
 poor, and yet the grace of charity be wanting. It de- 
 pends not on the circumstances or the power of the 
 individual, but on his principle and the state of his 
 heart. The rich man who gives something out of his 
 abundance, and the poorer man who gives nothing out 
 of his penury, may be in the like condemnation. And 
 the rich man who gives largely, and the poorest man 
 who gives a little, may both be partakers of the grace 
 in equal measure. But these, though evident truths, 
 are apt to be overlooked or confounded, and the distinc- 
 tion lost or thrown into the shade, amidst the sunshine 
 of great establishments, which, by their public meetings, 
 and widely diffused reports, and the extent of their 
 pecuniary transactions, are so much exposed to view. 
 
 4. But, though these cautions and qualifications are 
 not uncalled for by the present situation and proceed- 
 ings of what is called the religious world, it is equally 
 necessary, and equally important, to remember that they 
 form no excuse, and afford no plea whatever, to the il- 
 liberal and penurious. The dangers in question are a 
 ground to the Christian, not for withholding his money 
 or his possessions, either privately given, or contributed 
 
194 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 through the means of associations, in aid of religious 
 objects which are in themselves good and approved ; 
 but only a reason for examining his own motives, and 
 exercising a Christian prudence in selecting the ob- 
 jects and the channels of his benevolence. He that 
 would make the particular circumstances referred to 
 a reason for refusing his help altogether, or not giving 
 largely, is plainly using them for a pretext, and as a 
 cloak to his covetousness. In the man of a worldly 
 mind, it would be more honest and consistent to say 
 that he disapproves of the object, or is indifferent to it, 
 and denies his aid on that account. But in the pro- 
 fessing Christian the inconsistency is still greater ; for 
 he would thus take refuge in the mistake or sin of 
 others, to indulge his own avarice and selfishness. 
 By refusing, under a false pretence, to contribute ac- 
 cording to his ability, and as God has prospered him, 
 for objects which he professes to approve, he con- 
 victs himself as in heart either a hypocrite or a miser. 
 Thus it is equally evident, that while the fact of 
 giving, however largely, even to useful Christian pur- 
 poses, is not alone an evidence of Christian liberality, 
 the fact of withholding from such objects, or giving 
 aid by a meagre and a scanty supply, is, on the 
 part of him who approves of them, a certain evidence 
 of covetousness ; although the measure and form of 
 his gift must, with the aid and under the teaching of 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 195 
 
 divine precept, be referred to the bar of his own con- 
 science. 
 
 To correct the evils and avert the dangers which 
 have been referred to, it is necessary that those who are 
 thus classed among the friends and supporters of the 
 Christian cause should examine whether they hold the 
 foundation on which alone that character can perma- 
 nently and securely rest. The direction for this exami- 
 nation, as already observed, is given by the apostle ; 
 and it can scarcely be too often repeated : " Moreover, 
 brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed 
 on the churches of Macedonia ; how that in a great 
 trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their 
 deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. 
 For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their 
 power, they were willing of themselves, . . . And this thev 
 did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves 
 to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God." — 2 Cor. 
 viii. 1-5. 
 
 Let every Christian, then, whatever his share of 
 temporal goods, or his station and employment may be, 
 but more especially let him who is rich and abounds 
 in this world's goods, and who is, therefore, more 
 especially, a steward of this particular talent, examine 
 himself, whether he is now occupying it in his Master's 
 service, or allowing it to remain unoccupied, i( What 
 do ye more than others ?" is an inquiry which every one 
 
196 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 ought personally to apply and answer to himself, as a 
 test of the state of his heart. He knows the grace of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ ; but does it constrain him, not 
 only to deny ungodliness, but to keep all ihe command- 
 ments ? He acknowledges the authority and binding 
 obligation of the law of God ; but does he make an 
 exception, in his own case, of any one sinful indulgence, 
 with a hope or wish to exempt it from that law ? Is 
 he accumulating wealth for uses that are merely selfish, 
 and does his pursuit of it interfere with any commanded 
 duty towards God or man ? Is he following any business 
 or occupation, which is inconsistent with the spirit of the 
 religion which he professes ; or following it in ways 
 which that religion forbids ? In transacting with others, 
 does he adopt the narrow and selfish policy of men of 
 the world, whose contest in their mutual dealings is 
 chiefly how they shall make the most advantageous 
 bargain in buying, and selling, and exchange? or 
 does he rather imitate the pious and liberal strife be- 
 tween Abraham and Ephron, the son of Zohar, and the 
 people of Heth. — Gen. xxiii; or that between David 
 and Oman the Jebusite ? — J Chron. xxL In his gifts 
 and works of charity, does he calculate what will be 
 held sufficient in the esteem of his fellow-men ? or does 
 he rather look to the necessity of the case, and the 
 ability which he has, and the estimate which God will 
 make, from whom he has received his stewardship ? 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 197 
 
 Does he, in short, make the Word of God the test by 
 which to try his own state in respect to things temporal, 
 as well as things spiritual ? Is he, in the language 
 of Scripture, crucified to the world? or does the 
 love of money still tie him down to earth, or hold too 
 large a place in his affections, so that his prayers are 
 hindered ? If it does not choke the good seed of the 
 word, and turn him aside with them who through such 
 earthly attachments at last make shipwTeck of their 
 faith, and " having loved this present world," walk no 
 more with Christ, and desert the company of his fol- 
 lowers ; still if that root of bitterness is alive, it will 
 assuredly grow up and trouble him. 
 
 And here it may be observed, that in moral questions 
 it is not the extreme case which is the most dangerous, 
 or productive of greatest evil by the example of vice. 
 The character and condition of the miser, for example, 
 is not such as to invite imitation, but on the contrary to 
 excite a feeling of disgusi and even abhorrence. It is in 
 stages far short of his unhappy state that the contagion 
 of an avaricious spirit exerts its influence with the great- 
 est power. And it is, therefore, in the beginning of the 
 disease, while the disposition may be secretly indulged, 
 and little observed by others, that the caution is most 
 required. And this watchfulness is necessary through- 
 out the whole period of the Christian's life. As a covet- 
 ous disposition grows more insensibly than some others, 
 
198 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO 
 
 which break forth in open sin, so it is one of those which 
 more especially increase with age. For there is a sea- 
 son of youthful and buoyant passion , which delights in 
 the pleasures of the world ; and there is a season 
 of thought and anxiety, when its cares are more apt 
 to take possession of the mind. And sad, indeed, 
 is the condition of that man who, at the very period 
 when he ought to have his light shining more and 
 more as the perfect day, and to feel most disengag- 
 ed from earth and all its attractions, is sitting in dark- 
 ness and disquietude, clinging even yet to the things 
 of time, and looking back upon the pursuits of this life 
 from the portals of the tomb. But there is no fit 
 season for avarice, more than for any other sin. The 
 return of the Son of Man is as the coming of a thief 
 in the night. Behold, the judge is already at the door, 
 and his voice even now sounding in the ear of his 
 servants ; " give an account of thy stewardship." 
 
 Considering the value of this talent, the call to use 
 it aright, and the condemnation of those who abuse it ; 
 considering for how many profitable, or how many 
 " idle" purposes it may be employed, have we not a 
 sufficient warrant for applying also to the occupation of 
 this gift, the words of the Saviour spoken in another 
 case ? Matt. xii. 37. " By thy " money " thou shalt be 
 justified, and by thy" money " thou shalt be con- 
 demned." 
 
THE BAR OF SCRIPTURE. 199 
 
 Let such* then, as have embraced the faith of the 
 Gospel remember, that there is no trial of that faith 
 which it requires greater watchfulness and prayer, and 
 more use of all the spiritual armour, successfully to 
 withstand, than their daily intercourse with the world, 
 and the society of worldly men, — on account both of the 
 enticing nature and the continual recurrence of the 
 temptation. Even those who are sincere in heart, and 
 upright in purpose, and who may be altogether free 
 from hypocrisy in their religious profession, are often 
 swayed insensibly by prevailing fashions and opinions ; 
 and when acting in union with others, will engage in 
 schemes, and conform to principles and practices, which, 
 as individuals, they would not approve or justify. It 
 is peculiarly important, therefore, that in forming their 
 estimate of what constitutes that love of money which 
 is covetousness, as opposed to the grace of Christian 
 charity, which is love to God and love to man, they 
 should beware of taking their direction from the rule 
 and example of others around them, "measuring them- 
 selves by themselves," — that is, by their fellow-men ; 
 " and comparing themselves among themselves/' — 
 which is the wisdom of the world ; but should look to 
 the Word of God as their standard of duty, and to the 
 pattern set before them in the Gospel, as their model 
 and their guide. 
 
 To conclude, let those followers of Christ who are 
 
200 COVETOUSNESS BROUGHT TO, &c. 
 
 employing this particular talent of money and temporal 
 possessions in his service, and according to his com- 
 mandment, " continue in his love ;" let them ask still 
 greater measures of the grace of Christian charity, and 
 seek, by its fruits brought to maturity in themselves, 
 to recommend it more and more to others. Thus shall 
 they give in their account " with joy and not with grief;" 
 and shall hear the gracious words, " well done thou 
 good and faithful servant ; thou hast been faithful over 
 a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things : 
 enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." 
 
 THE END.