Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1907-06-20
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"a SERMON, X2NsS&
DY THE REV. JN6A
IAMAENDEHSpN,N aeE'
Subject: Covetousness.

!
! Timothy tells us that the love of
money Is a root of all kinds of evils.
Covetousness is part of the soil in
which the tree of evil is nourished
and out of which it grows. The child
! of darkness and of the brood of
greed, covetousness is a canker to
the soul. Born of blackness, it
makes dark the life that is under
Its control. Where greed is and
! rovetousness abides are no more
found peace, purity, contentment.
quietude of life. Before it's evil
! presence happiness is destroyed. I'm
der it's goddess influence JOY and
! peace are impossible. 1t will fill a
luiet life with turmoil and discon-
tent will rule.
Covetousness Is greed let loose. 1t
Is selfishness compounded and tho
handspring of energy in the grab
ber's life. Its fruit is sin and its
consequences are appalling. !.
Covetousness must not be con-
founded with honest desire to emu
late good example. Covetousness
and righteous discomfort are not one.
Covetousness and manly ambition are
Lot similar The man who looks
with greenish glinting eyes at his
neighbours we'll deserved reward is
no brother to the soul who longs to
follow in the path of those who have
achieved success. However wrong
envy may be adjudged to be, the man
'yho wants to do and to become and
70 earn a higher place in life, is wor-
thy of all praise. TO look upon the
wealth and power and eminence of
! others with the evil eye is wrong, but
1t is no less reprehensible than is
that unmanly, self-stultifying lack of
pure ambition and of noble aim
which Is characteristic of so many.
Discomfort with our lot in life may
be a blessing or a bane. Dissatisfac-
! ton with self and with success at
tanned is a motive to larger and con-
tinued effort. Satisfaction and stag.
nation are not far removed. Righte-
Gus discomfort incites to progress.
Unrighteous discomfort makes the
soul sick. The history of the world
is the record of the discontent-good
! or godless-of individuals and ma
! tons. The unrighteousness discOn-
| tent of Bismarck---that is to say,
| the COvetousness-gav to the world
| the scourge of the Franco-Prussian
! war as the price of Prussian predom-
| nance and of united Germany. Rus
| STA wishes Asia for a province all
! her own and our news is full of war.
| Napoleon is covetous of empire and
| Europe is bloody as shambles. The
| wretched thief is envious of money
and your gold is gone. The well
| dressed Spectator on the street mad
dened with the lust for wealth plum
ders host as hungry for shekels as
himself. But opposite Napoleon
stands disconnected Washington
fighting for his country's veal. Kos
ciusko, Garibaldi, Wycklif, Huss and
Luther, all rise up as discontented
men. The exalted dissatisfaction of
our forefathers finds expression in
| the country that we love so well.
Covetousness is contrary to the law
of God and the commands of Christ.
Righteous discomfort is a boon to
humanity for without it men would
never move ahead. But let us not
digress too much. Covetousness is
the subject of the tenth command for
good and sufficient reasons. 1t Is
senseloss; it brings distress; 1t is
, curse.
| Covetousness is senseless, it is un-
wise. No man by taking thought
can annex his neighbor'S property to
himself. The highroad TIC unhappi-
ness is founded, as much as 1t is
built upon anything, upon envy OF
the other fellows fortune. Envy is
silly for it makes us sick with jeal-
ousy and disappointment, the while 1t
offers no relief. The fact that your
neighbor is undeserving of his for
tune or has no real appreciation or
| his benefits neither alters your posi-
| ton nor remoulds his state OF mind.
That other toiler's place will not be
| yours whether you are coyetouS or
no. The other womans clothes
| might not become your style at all,
although they do look well on her.
But grit and go may put you in a
| higher place and make you peer with
| him whom now you wish you were;
| and taste with sense and little cash
| may keep you in becoming clothes.
| Covetousness of the other PERSONS
clothes or place or wealth is sense
less and it certainly is sin.
Then, too, to covet is to undergo
| distress. Think of the heart aches
and the head aches of those who for
| get their present blessings in jeal-
| Gus contemplation of the other peo-
| pies joys. The pleasure of the hour
lies unused. The opportunities for
! Immediate happiness lie unnoticed.
| The Joys of the fields and the skies
| and the hills and the wales all are
| forgotten. Life with its many I'M
priced happinesses is thing uncared
| for and unknown. The soul, the
heart, the mind, the every faculty
| of being, all are distressed and dis
cased with inordinate desire for the
| other mans possessions. Woe be-
! tide the man or the woman into
whose heart the devil of envy enters.
For to covet is to be atlame with sin.
Covetousness Is a curse. The
courts are calendared with cases of
unholy lust for land. Love lies slain
in many home because of mar
riage ties undone. The jails are full
of men who coveted the property of
the other man little bit too much.
! The business world well knows the
necessity of thou shalt not covet
thy neighbours man servant" Too
often the surest way to down a rival
has been to lure away some trusted
employe who could draw away his
old employers trade. But in the
ethics of many business house this
is sagacity and not sin. The shop
girl is greedy for the ribbons and the
trinkets of the moneyed maid above
her and she sells her body, while
she damns her soul to crafty her
wbim. Coyetolsncss IL q curse.
But while there is admonition and
a lesson for those who are guilty Of
this stated sin there is also another
lesson for our day which springs out
of this command. The careless, os-
tentatious, Unbalanced display of
wealth by those who possess it is a
sin. The ownership of property be-
yond the average enjoins wise adj