p. 1 | Its Source

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 23, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 37.

Its Source

"Beware of Covetousness."—In the twelfth chapter of Luke, verse 15, our Lord warns us to "beware of covetousness, for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things he possesseth."

THE word "covetousness" comes from the Greek pleonexia, defined as "some advantage which one possesses over another; an inordinate desire of riches, covetousness, grasping, overreaching, extortion." Its use in the Scriptures may be learned from such texts as Mark 7:22; Rom. 1:29; Eph. 5:3; Col. 3:5. The word rendered "covet" in the tenth commandment of the Decalogue, as translated into the Greek, epithumeō, is more comprehensive, meaning "to fix the mind on, to set the heart upon, long for, to lust after." The word "covetousness," however, is generally used with respect to property, as being synonymous with avarice, or inordinate desire for gain, desiring that which belongs to another.

Its Source.

The root of covetousness is in the natural heart of man. "For from within, out of the heart," says our Saviour, "proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, . . . foolishness;" all these evil things come from within. Mark 7:21, 22. The margin puts covetousness and wickedness in the plural, and thus shows that covetousness and wickedness are manifested in different ways. One man is covetous in one way, another in another way. One lusts after power, another after fame, another after applause, another after the indulgence of the lower, baser passions, another after property or money. But in all cases the root of the wickedness is within the heart.

Opposite of Covetousness.

The only proper and normal mainspring of action in the life of every man is love. God's requirements, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart," and "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," are the only duties resting upon man. These include all other duties. Love to God would lead us to render to him all due homage and obedience. Love to our neighbor would lead us to treat him as we would have him treat us if our cases were reversed. Love in operation is life, and peace, and joy. It brings strength and cheer to the heart of him who possesses it; it proves a blessing to those to whose needs it administers. But love does not exist naturally within the human heart; it is from above. Therefore says an apostle: "Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God; and everyone that loveth is born [begotten] of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love."

COVETOUSNESS is the opposite of all this. Love flows outward for the good of others. Covetousness makes the heart the center and endeavors to draw all things inward for the benefit of self and self alone. It is especially manifest in this age and in this country, in the worship of money and what money will bring. This has doubtless been true in a greater or less degree in all ages; it is emphatically true at the present time. The worship of Plutus, the god of wealth, the mammon of the Scriptures, is the religion of the covetous.

The Power of Wealth.

A plutocracy is a government by the rich. America is largely a plutocracy to-day. In all matters where the interests of wealth are united, wealth is dominant. Gold is an "open sesame" to almost every coveted position in social or political life. Do the ignorant and uncultured, who cannot trace their lineage back through blue-blooded ancestors to some barbarous or savage chieftain, wish to be considered as belonging to the "upper ten"?—Gold will pave the way. Does the mediocre citizen, whose merits would never raise him higher than town clerk, desire to enter the halls of Legislature or Congress with "Hon." before his name?—Gold will open the doors. Does the libertine wish to indulge his bestial propensities?—Gold will enable him to do it even at the expense of the hitherto innocent. Are so-called positions of honor desired anywhere?—Few indeed are the places where gold sufficient is not potent. Are riches desired for the sake of being rich?—Well, gold, gold, gold, sufficient gold, will make one rich. Thus it is that covetousness, or love of money, is the sin which underlies so many other sins. Some men love money for its own sake; others love it for what it will buy, both motives being equally selfish. Truly has the Lord said: "For the love of money is the root of all evil; which while some reaching after, have been led astray from the faith, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows." 1 Tim. 6:10, Revised Version.

A Curse to Others As Well.

How emphatically true are the above words! How men have not only pierced themselves through with many sorrows, but they have pierced others through with many sorrows also! There are millions through the past ages who, could they speak, would testify to its truth to-day, and the history of the ages has told us of the world-wide ruin wrought by the coveting of "saint-seducing gold." We have the testimony in the present, as in the past, that "Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law." The vast fortunes that are piled up by the Goulds, Vanderbilts, Astors, Stewarts, Rockefellers, Huntingtons, and Pullmans, of America, bring their possessors no comfort, and are a menace to stable government. In fact, the law-making powers are, to a greater or less extent, controlled by the wealth of the country, and especially when this wealth is combined in any one line, as it is, for instance, in the great Sugar Trust and Standard Oil Company. Votes are purchased to elect lawmakers, and the lawmakers are purchased after election. Men purchase votes to get more gold; men sell votes for the same purpose. The cry of the millions is:— "Gold! gold! gold! gold! Bright and yellow, hard and cold." The love of money lies at the very foundation of the present troubles through which our country is passing. Wealthy corporations by law and combinations have forced prices up and down at their own sweet will, regardless of the needy, have ground the faces of the poor, have reduced the already meager wage, have used men as so many mere machines to advance themselves and their selfish interests. This they have been able to do by better opportunities, excellent training, and superior talent. Their very success has lifted them in their own imagination above the common mass of men. The rich are forming a sort of aristocracy among themselves with wealth as the badge of nobility. All these things and more have roused the prejudices, resentment, and hatred of millions of the poorer class, and these sentiments have been fed by demagogues and politicians who are feathering their own nests by plucking the few feathers left by the rich.

Not the Rich Alone.

But it is not alone the rich—those possessing large earthly wealth—who fall under the condemnation of the word of God. That man who has set his heart on riches, or on the perishable things of earth which riches will buy, albeit he may not be able to obtain them, is as truly covetous as the man with the same disposition who has obtained what he sought. The reason why one was successful and the other not is not a matter of disposition, but of ability and opportunity. “The love of money” may be as great in the heart of a brakeman, for instance, as in that of a railroad manager, and may lead to worse results; for while, in the manager it may result only in the stealing of a few thousand acres of land or a million or two of dollars from the government, in the brakeman it may result in the wrecking of trains, the loss of millions of dollars through paralysis of commerce, and the loss of precious life. It is the love of money in both instances. “They that will be rich [Revised Version, “They that desire to be rich”] fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.” 1 Tim. 6:9. There are thousands who desire; there are few who obtain. If the wealth of the world were divided among its inhabitants, an equal amount to each, but a little while would serve to destroy the equality, and divide the people between rich and poor. But those who desire, who cherish the desire, fall into the snare in the time of temptation. Both classes have met it in this great railway strike, and both continuing in the desire will meet “destruction and perdition” at last.

There Is a Better Way.

We know that it will not be believed by the mass; but some will believe it and heed it; for it is God’s way. “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment, let us be therewith content.” 1 Tim. 6:6–8. “Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?” James 2:5. Use this world as not abusing it. It is worth nothing to us only as we may use it to glorify God, and so be helped on to that better world which will know no poor. Food and raiment are all that the rich have, and but few have any hope beyond. The poor may be poor in earthly riches, but they may possess the far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, the riches of the glory of God’s grace in Christ Jesus. The rich in worldly goods who counts his riches by actual deed as belonging to God is poor in His sight. The poor whose heart is set on riches is accounted of God as those who are rich; they worship the same god of gold. But those who give all to him, who use all for him, are the poor of this world, rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom. Here is good advice for all, rich and poor:— “The rich and poor meet together; the Lord is the maker of them all.” “Labor not to be rich; cease from thine own wisdom. Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.”

“And again I say unto you, 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.”

“Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie; to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity. Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart upon them.”

“A faithful man shall abound with blessings; but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.”

“Riches profit not in the day of wrath; but righteousness delivereth from death.”

“Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.”

“A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold.”