Christianity and wealth : a sermon in the Church of the Covenant

V--'*'

(^f3RI$TIAniTY 4^

ADD UJeSLTI).

BY

J. H. MCILVAINE, D. D

CHRISTIANITY AND WEALTH:

A S ERjVION

-IN THE —

Cliuvch of the ©oucnaut,

By thk

Rev. J. H. McILVAINE, D, D.

December 13, 1891,

Printed by Order of Session.

'* If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon,
who will commit to your trust the true riches ?

And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's,
who shall give you that which is your own ?" — Luke VI: ii. 12.
: o :

The Lord is here speaking of the nature and uses of
property. He calls it the " mammom of unrighteousness,"
because it has had so much to do with human selfishness
and dishonesty and cruelty ; because it has been so often
wickedly obtained, and wickedly used. He contrasts this
material wealth with wealth of another kind. To be faith-
ful in the use of earthly wealth is to be faithful in that
which is of very little value, but fidelity in the inferior trust
is the test of fidelity in higher matters. He says, if we are
not faithful in the use of this material wealth, we cannot
receive from God the real and enduring riches. And He
declares further, that this material wealth is not really our
own ; we hold it for a time as stewards ; it is committed to
us as a trust ; and if we are not faithful in the use of that
which is not ours but another's, we cannot hope that God
will bestow upon us an inheritance which shall be truly and
forever cur own.

This is in harmony with the whole strain of the New
Testament teaching. Saint Paul describes Christians as
the bond servants of Christ. Not only their property but
themselves belong to Him. They are His without qualifi-
cation or reserve. Their bodies belong to Him. and the

muscles which they use in physical labor ; their minds with
the knowledge, judgment, and tenacity of purpose, with
which they conduct their affairs. Their souls are His, for
He has redeemed them. " Ye are not your own, for ye are
bought with a price : therefore glorify God in your body,
and in your spirit, which are God's."

Or, if we prefer the more honorable title of children, we
have no firmer hold on our wealth. We are children in our
Father's house, but the house is His and all in it. He
feeds and clothes us, but the food and clothing are not
ours but His. It is one of the first requisites in entering
the kingdon of Christ, that we renounce our personal claim
on all the things that we have been used to call ours, money,
time, influence, faculties, and powers. We part with all pro-
perty in ourselves, and that includes the parting with
property in everything else. It is just as imperative now,
as it ever was, to forsake all and follow Him. Do you say
this is a stern and difficult law, that it makes life gloomy
and austere ? Not so, it is a blessed law, and it makes life
free and joyous. It quenches the passions that often con-
sume men's strength and shorten their days. If wealth be
not ours, if when we think of it as ours we are thieves at
heart, unjust stewards, making our own that which belongs
to God, why should we be so hot in pursuit of it ? It is
pleasant to have the use of wealth for a time, just as it is
pleasant to stay in comfor*^able and luxurious quarters
when we are travelling, but we ourselves are none the
richer because, for a day or two, we are guests in a splendid
hotel. It is pleasant to have command of money, but it is

not ours, any more than the rents, which an agent collects
for an estate, are his. You may prefer to have the position
of a steward, who controls and administers a great estate,
to the position of one, who manages a small one. The
higher position brings with it an increase in the sources of
personal comfort, and some things more valuable than those
that contribute to personal comfort. In either position,
the wealth that passes through our hands is not ours.

If we take this view of wealth, the disposition to get it
unfairly, unjustly, too eagerly, will be checked. Other men
are God's stewards, as well as ourselves. When we are
trying to get what is in their hands, we are trying to get
possession of property that is not theirs, that cannot be-
come ours ; that has been entrusted to them, and not to us.
It is the case of one agent trying to collect the rents of an
estate, under the management of another agent of the same
employer. This habit of regarding wealth will relieve us
of anxious care, as well as of the passion for money. We
say we are children in the Father's house, but how few of
us have the spirit of children, the trustfulness, the light-
heartedness, freedom from anxiety and fear of the future.
We are children in our Father's house, but we insist upon
being grown-up children, and we have private speculations
of our own in cotton and corn, in iron and railways and
ships. No wonder we are wearied with anxious care. It is
not until we become children in spirit as well as in name,
in practice as well at in theory, and cease to hold anything
as our own, that the true temper and blessedness of God's
children will become ours.

It is necessary to lay firm hold of this conception of
property, if we would make right use of what the Lord says
about the duty of charity and benevolence. Charitable
gifts are too often spoiled by a spirit of Pharisaism. Men
have come to regard their property as their own. In
appropriating a part of their property for the relief of the
poor, or for educational, or other public ends, they have
plumed themselves on their generosity. And they are
generous, according to the world's conception of property.
But It would be quite as reasonable for the trustees of a
great educational endowment to claim credit for personal
generosity, because they appropriate the revenues of the
trust to educational purposes. The money is not theirs ;
they are bound to appropriate it according to the terms of
their charter. And according to the Lord's conception of
property, the same is true of us. We are not the owners^
but the trustees. The purposes to which the trust is to be
appopriated are not rigidly defined by any instrument,,
but that does not cancel the obligation. The trust cannot
be enforced by any court, but, for the Christian man, the
law of liberty and the law of love are as real as the law of
the land, and defended by more imperative sanctions.

There is a common phrase, the " sacredness of property/'
that is a very noble and suggestive one. It reminds us that
questions effecting property are not to be settled by custom^
or precedent, or the usages of the world about us ; not by
public or private convenience, or formal legislation, but by
the laws of God. Property is sacred because it belongs tcr'
God. He has something to say about its use. The Lord^

7

Jesus came to assert his authority over the whole of human
life. His claims are not met by merely reciting the Christ-
ian creed, or the offering of Christian worship. We must
understand, and accept, and obey his laws for the direction
of conduct. But property has a very large place in human
life, never larger than now. We are earning money, invest-
ing money, spending money, using the things that money
purchases, every day and all day long. If Christ had not
given us directions concerning property, he would have left
a large part of life free from his control.

This conception of property determines what uses of it
are legitimate. God intends us, first of all, to provide for our
own needS) and the needs of our children and dependents.
Saint Paul, in his letter to Timothy, says: "But if any
provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own
house, he hath denied the faith andis worse than an infidel."
These needs vary with the circumstances of men, their
training, occupations, and the social functions they have to
discharge. Every man must form his own judgm.ent, and
exercise his own conscience, as to what expenditure upon
himself and his own house, God will approve. He is God's
servant ; he serves a generous master ; he may use his in-
come freely in whatever expenses are legitimately incurred
in doing God's work, in whatever will enable him to do
God's work to the best advantage. He may move from a
small house into a large one ; he may have his horses and
carriages ; he may surround himself with pictures and
articles of luxury ; if he thinks he can thereby serve God
more effectively. But those who believe in the sacredness

of property, will be slow to incur a large increase of personal
expenditure, without the prospect of securing a correspond-
ing increase of personal efficiency.

Then God intends that every man, whose income covers
more than the necessities of his own life and work, shall use
a part of it (however much he must judge for himself, as
having to give an account to God) in serving others. The
form in which the service is rendered must be determined
by the man's position, circumstances, faculties. One man
is specially called to shelter the homeless ; another, to care
for the orphans ; another, to promote education or scien-
tific discovery ; another, to develope art and literature ;
another to strengthen great movements for the social and
political improvement of mankind. All Christian men will
desire to have some share in relieving the common mis-
fortunes of human life, in increasing the well-being of men,
in making known the gospel of divine righteousness and
love. The general law is clear and definite. Our money
is God's money ; we are to spend nothing as God does not
want it spent.

Perhaps some will say this theory is visionary and un-
practical, the kind of theory likely to commend itself to an
enthusiast unfamiliar with the business and the affairs of
the world, but absolutely useless for the guidance of con-
duct. This is exactly what the Pharisees thought about
the teaching of the Lord, when they heard this theory of
property from his lips. '"The Pharisees also, who were
covetous, heard all these things, and derided him." And
what was his answer to their scoffing? He gave them

another parable, that of the rich man and Lazarus, There
is nothing in the parable to mdicate that the lich man was
a bad man, in the common acceptation of the word. He
was rich, but there was nothing to indicate that he did not
get his wealth honestly, and spend it honorably. He was
clothed in purple and fine linen, but there is no reason to
suppose that he did not pay for them. He fared sumptu-
ously every day, but it dres not follow that he was a
glutton or a drunkard. He was rich, and he regarded his
property as his own, to do with as he pleased, to spend as
he liked, to use wholly upon hin:.self if he chose ; no one
else had any claim upon it. It never occurred to him that
it all belonged to God. He never thought, that since his
property belonged to God, he was guilty of a grave breach
of trust in not using it in God's service for the good of
others. This was his sin, and this brought upon him his
doom.

And still a third time the Lord enforces this lesson.
" And he spake a parable unto them, saying. The ground
of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he
thought within himself, saying : What shall I do, because I
have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said :
This will I do : I will pull down my barns, and build
greater ; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
And I will say to my Soul ' Soul, thou hast much goods
laid up for many years ; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be
merry.' But God said unto him, 'Thou fool, this night thy
soul shall be required of thee ; then whose shall those
things be, which thou hast provided ?' So is he that layeth

10

up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." Here
again we have the same mistake—'';//)^ barns," "wy fruits,"
** my g-oods," — and the same lesson, they were not his barns,
his fruits and his ^oods, but God's. He had only a life
interest in them.

This is just as much a part of Christ's gospel, as His
gentlest words of compassion for human sorrow, or His
largest assurances of forgiveness for human sin. It be-
longs to the very substance of the gospel, for the divinest
element of the gospel is the declaration that Christ came to
make His life our life. If His life does not become ours, his
great purpose has failed ; He has not saved us But in
those who receive the life of Christ, there will be also the
mind of Christ. His estimate of riches, possessions, honors,
will be their estimate They will call nothing their own ;
they will hold everything in trust for God.

Brethren, I know that many of you are trying earnestly
to take Christ's view of life You regard yourselves as
His, in the sweet ownership of love, and all you have as be*
longing to Him from whom comes every good and perfect
gift. Your great desire is to use what He has enstrusted
to you in a manner pleasing to him. Your great d fficulty
is to know when, and where, and how to use it, as He wishes.
The claims upon you are so many and varied, the cry of
human need comes to you from so many quarters, eager
hands are stretched out to you from so many sides, that
you are often in great perplexity and hesitation. I fear I
cannot give you any help. It is hardly for me even to
suggest. It IS between you and God. If the will be there,

II

and the spirit, and the prayer for guidance ; if you truly
put yourselves and your possessions into His hands, ear-
nestly desiring to know and do His will, I believe His will
will be made clear, His guidance will not be wanting.
There is one matter, however, which perhaps you have not
thought about, that I should like, if you will permit me, to
bring to your attention in closing these remarks.

Have you ever thought much of the future of this
Church ? To some of you it is very dear. Vou have been
with it perhaps from the very first ; you have shared its
sacrifices, its sorrows, its privileges, and its joys ; it is con-
nected with some of the most tender and sacred experi-
ences of your life. Here, perhaps, God came to you and
touched your heart and you gave yourself to Him ; here,
perhaps, you came for the first time to His Table, and for
many years have held sacred communion with Him in the
ordinances of His love. Here, perhaps, your children were
baptized and taught, and you have seen them grow up into
good men and women, and take their places in the service
of the Church and the world. Here you have sat, side by
side for years, with the sweet companions of your life ;
and here some of you have come for the last time with all
that remained of your beloved ones, and have listened to
the words of comfort and of hope, have been strengthened
to bear your sorrow, and to look forward to a blessed meet-
ing in the presence of the Lord. You have prayed for its
prosperity ; you have labored in its service ; you have
shared its anxieties ; you have made sacrifices for its sup-

port ; you have believed in its mission ; you have trusted
in its future.

In many respects, this future is a hopeful one. I think
we can see for ourselves that the prospect is brightening.
Looking back over three years, which are all that 1 can
speak intelligently of, I see many reasons for encourage-
ment. The congregations have very perceptibly increased.
The Church membership has grown ; we have gained dur-
ing this time more than twice as many as we have lost
through dismissal and death. The Sunday School has in-
creased threefold, and is steadily gaining in numbers and
efficiency. The work has grown, is reaching out in new
directions, and touching human life in more points than we
are aware While we come far short of what we might and
ought to do, I doubt if there are many churches of its size
in the country doing more or better work than this is doing.
In every direction, save one, it seems to me that we are
gaining. In one direction we are slowly and sadly losing.
Every year some of those, who hav(- been identified with
the Church from the first, who have shared its burdens, who
are able and ready to respond to its needs, and make sacri-
fices for its support, are taken from us to their reward.
Their places are not and cannot be filled. We cannot ex-
pect those who have lately come among us to feel the same
interest, the same devotion, the same obligation, that they
felt.

Only one thing, as it seems to me, can make the future
of this Church secure, and that is, its endowment. All the
churches about us are either moving up town, or are being

13

endowed. The church at the corner of Madison Avenue
and Thirty-eighth Street, of which Dr. Terry is the pastor,
has an endowment of nearly $ioo,cco. The rector of the
church nearest us — the Incarnation — is making every effort
to secure an endowment, as essential to the maintenance of
its position, and with good success. Dr. Alexander, of the
University Place Church, is succeeding in his effort, and
has already secured $50,000.

I know that an endowment used to be considered an evil,
and is still so considered by many. It may indeed be an
evil. An endowment large enough to relieve the members
of this Church of the need of effort and of sacrifice, might
be a curse rather than a blessing ; but an endowment large
enough to relieve them from dangerous pressure, from a
burden heavier than the Church can safely bear, to en-
courage them and assure them as to the future, and to
enable us to reduce our pew rents and open our doors more
widely, would be a very great blessing.

In this last respect the Church has a great difficulty to
encounter, one I have felt more than anything else in my
ministry. I have made careful inquiries, and I find few
churches of our faith whose pew rents are so large as ours.
This evidently puts us at a disadvantage. It influences
more people than we know of in their choice of a church.
How can this difficulty be met ? I can think of but one
way. Of course it can be met temporarily, by some of
those to whom God has given more, taking upon them-
selves a part of the burden of those to whom He has given
less. This relief would be but temporary. The number

14

of those willing to do this would be continually becoming
less, and the burden becoming heavier than those who re-
main can bear. An endowment of $100,000 would meet
the difficulty permanently, enabling us to reduce our pew
rents, and rendering the position of the Church perma-
nently secure. As one after another of the churches about
us move to more favorable localities. — as all the unendowed
churches will eventually do, — this Church will nave a more
imperative work to do, a larger and a more important place
to fill.

I wish this matter had been presented to the Church ten
or fifteen years ago. I believe if their attention had been
called to it, some of those who are no longer with us on
earth, would gladly have left something to secure the future
of the church and increase its usefulness, by means of
which they would still be doing the work which they so
loved to do while yet among us. Is it too late to speak of
it now ? I trust not. I know very little about your benevo-
lence. It is flowing out in a multitude of channels that I
know nothing about. But you will pardon me for saying
that, from the little that has casually come to my knowl-
edge, I know of $350,000, which the members of this
Church, in the past twelve months or a little more, have
given to other institutions. I rejoice in these gifts. They
are an evidence to me of how strongly and closely you
hold this view of the sacredness of property which Jesus
held ; that you regard your possessions as entrusted to you
by God, and are trying to use them according to His will.
I believe you have been guided by His spirit, that your

15

gifts will be greatly to His glory and to the good of men.
I would not, if I had the power, change any portion of
them. Yet I feel for this Church somewhat as I have felt
for poor Esau, when he came to his father with that great
and exceeding bitter cry, " Hast thou but one blessing, my
father ? Bless me, even me also, O my father."

When I see the munificent endowments bestowed upon
colleges, and seminaries, and benevolent mstitutions, — my
own college in the past twenty years having received up-
waids of $5,000,000, almost entirely from the hands of
Presbyterians, — I cannot but wonder if Christians regard
the Church of Jesus Christ as the only institution not
worthy of large gifts, or not to be trusted in the use of
large benefactions. When I see the immense sums given
for opera houses, and music halls, and places of amuse-
ment, largely too by Christians, I cannot but wonder if they
think these things are doing a more important work than
the Church. When I see the superb way in which the
clubs, which are springing up all about us, are managed
(hardly one of them spending less than $50,000 a year, and
some of them two or three times that amount, and if half a
million of dolllars are wanted for the purchase of a new
site, or for the erection of a new building, it is quickly
forthcoming), I cannot but wonder why the hands of the
Church are always tied, and its work hampered for the
want of money ; that it is always in the attitude of a men-
dicant and not of a queen.

Surely, with all its human imperfections and weaknesses,
the Church of Jesus Christ is the best thing in the world

i6

to-day, without which the world would be lost. Out of
her bosom have come all of these educational, philan-
thropic, and benevolent institutions. They had not been
but for her being ; her life has given them life, and sus-
tains their life ; her leaching has taught men to be good
and generous to them ; and as her teaching prevails more
widely, men will become more generous and selfsacrificmg
in every form of noble and helpful work. She is the foun-
tam whence these healing streams do flow. Let us make
the channels of the streams broad and deep, so that they
may carry the healing waters to every home and every
heart, but let us not neglect the fountain.

"Feed," says the apostle Paul, "the Church of God,
which he hath purchased with his own blood." " The
Church of God, the pillar and ground of the truth." Is
it too much to ask that some of you, in considering how
you can best use the possessions that God has entrusted to
your care, in the manner most pleasing to Him, will give
some consideration to this need of His Church, and ask
for His guidance ? Very likely you will not see the matter
as I do, but in presenting it to you, I have tried to do my
duty to Him, and to the Church to which has called me,
and I can safely leave it in His hands.