What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh
under the sun, for all is vanity and vexation of spirit?"
To self-willed children, who have tried their own way ever since they
were born, they and their fathers before them, and found it go round
in a ring and leave them just where they started in heart and soul,
and, on their death-beds, in purse and power also--
To such struggling, dissatisfied beings--such as nine-tenths of the
men and women on this earth, alas! are still--comes the word of this
loving Father:
"Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters! and he that
hath no money, come, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine and milk
without money, and without price." Why do you fancy that money can
give you all you want? Why this labouring and straining after money,
as if it was God, as if it made heaven and earth, and all therein?
Is money a God? or money's worth? "I am God," saith the Lord, "and
beside me there is none else. It is I who give, and not money. It
is I who save men, and not money. And I do save, and I do give
freely to all. Come, and try my mercy, and see if my word be not
true."
This struggling and snarling, like dogs over a bone--what profit
comes of it? are you happier? are you wiser? are you better? are you
more at peace with your neighbours; more at peace with your own
hearts and consciences? If you are, money has not made you so, nor
plotting, and scraping, and struggling, and pushing your neighbour
down, that you may rise a few inches on his shoulders.
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