bottom of most easy incomes,
the more good sense will we see in this kind of evangelism.
Have we ever been a victim of extortion? How did it feel? Did it sour the
milk of human kindness in us?
Fourth Day: God versus Mammon
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and
rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay
up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust
doth consume, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
for where thy treasure is there will thy heart be also. The lamp
of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy
whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy
whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that
is in thee be darkness, how great is the darkness! No man can
serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the
other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. Ye
cannot serve God and mammon.--Matt. 6:19-24.
Acquisition may operate on different planes. A man may accumulate material
stuff, or he may acquire spiritual faculties, memories, and relations. In
a balanced life the two work side by side in peace, and each may aid the
other. But the experience of all spiritual teachers shows that practically
the acquisition of property often becomes a passion which absorbs the man
and leaves little energy for the higher pursuits. Most men who have used
up their life to acquire wealth look back with homesickness to some
idealistic aspiration of their youth as to a lost Edenland. Jesus felt the
antagonism of private wealth and the Kingdom of God so keenly that he set
God and Mammon over against each other, and warned us that we must choose
between them. Placed in this connection, the saying about the darkening of
the inner light seems to refer to the influence of money-getting on the
higher vision of the soul. This entire passage is fundamental and will
explain other sayings which follow.
Do God and money come into flat collision in college life?
Fifth Day: The Divisive Influence of Riches
Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and
fine linen, faring sumptuously every day: and a certain beggar
named Lazarus was laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to
be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table; yea,
even the dogs came and licked his
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