The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-07-14
A WORD TO THE YOUNG ON RICHES.
BY REV. c. S. NICKERSON.
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Paul, writing to his young compan-
ion, Timothy, said, The love of money
is the root of all evil" This is differ
ent from the current quotation, "Money
is the root of all evil" We readily see
that the meaning of Paul was quite
different from that usually attached to
the statement.
Money in itself is not evil. The thing
has no particularly sinful qualities. All
depends upon the manner in which the
heart of man is related to the thing,
and upon the use which man makes of
the thing. Paul did not object to
money. 1t was the ''love of money!
with emphasis on the "love''-which
he disapproved. For in that sort of a
''love" he saw "the root of all evil"
This was not only an essential truth
in the life of two thousand years ago,
but it has been and will be an essential
of all times. Wealth is under discus
sion on all sides. 1t is something which
has been sought in every age of mans
existence. All sacred and secular his
tory shows how nations and individuals
have been moved by the desire for
riches. London, New York, Boston,
Chicago and San Francisco all tell the
same story of this strife after property.
Money everywhere-property, in all
places, is what people labor early and
late to secure.
Certainly it is not out of place for the
Christian minister to speak upon this
subject. Business men complain that
the church does not deal with their
problems and touch their life. We enter,
therefore, the arena, to briefly discuss
the matter which is uppermost in their
minds, namely, the getting of money.
Is it legitimate for Christian to get
wealth? Is there any inconsistency
between the great principles of the
Christian religion and the accumulation
of property? Can man be Christian
and yet be trying to get rich?
We answer such questions affirma-
lively. The getting of wealth is legiti-
mate. 1t is in accord with mans nature.
The racing of the world for dollars
shows what we say of human nature to
be true.
We think of sociability as natural to
man. He likes company, likes to asso-
ciate with companions, desires enjoy
ment. Man is a social being. 1t is
natural for him to find other beings like
himself. Brutes dwell together by an
instructive attachment. Man associates
not only from the instructive nature
which he may have in common with the
lower animals, but also from the intel
ligent and moral nature with which he
is endowed and which makes him supe-
rior to the brute. Man seeks other
intelligent beings. He likes their com
pany.
Now, sociability is part of the Chris
tian religion. The law of love could
not be fulfilled if we were isolated one
from another. And it is thus that
Christianity circumscribes human life.
1t meets every want of the soul. 1t
does not neglect to provide for the
social element in man. We believe
sociability to be an element of our con-
stitution because the civilized man
turns naturally to those accomplish
ments which make a good, a complete
social being.
Likewise we are bound to believe in
wealth-getting as an element in our
nature. To know that it is a universal
striving, we have but to cast our eye
over any busy city, or standing upon
some mental height view our country
and the world. We seek as naturally
for riches as for sociability; for wealth
as for intellectual development for
property as for religious culture. Shall
we not then, in view of experience,
declare wealth-getting an element in
mans nature? If so, certainly all will
agree that whatever leads man out into
sinless activity is legitimate.