and soul by over-eating. Cowardly dread of appearing singular, false notions of politeness, the ridicule of fools, pampered appetite, make us eat and drink not to the glory of God, but to His dishonour. Let us not be like the clown in "All's Well that Ends Well," who said, "I will show myself highly fed and lowly taught." Rather, we should remember, that what we leave at table often does us more good than what we eat; and, that if we eat little, we shall probably eat much: that is to say, we shall live longer than great eaters, and so eat more. It is a very natural sequence that a man should take to his bier after having been ale-ing for months, but it is quite as natural that he should do so who eats more than is "convenient " for him.

"Seek not proud riches but such as thou mayest get justly, use soberly, distribute cheerfully, and leave contentedly."-Bacon.

66

"Be

ye good money changers."-Old Maxim.

EVER treat money affairs with levity-money is character." It is to be feared that many neglect this wise caution, and do not put conscience into the making and the spending of money. One reason for this, perhaps, is that in their preaching, if not in their practice, moralists have ignored money and failed to teach its right use. But is it not the root of all evil? Certainly not, and St. Paul never said so. What he did say was that a love of money is not the root, but a root (Revised Version), from which evil comes, as it comes from everything else when wrongly used.

Such being the case, how absurd does it seem to disparage money, as if it were something sinful and dangerous. As well disparage man-power, horse-power, steam-power, or any other power. As a force, money is neither hurtful nor beneficial, neither bad nor good in itself. All depends on the way in which it is used or directed. Gunpowder can blast a quarry and bring forth stones with which an hospital may be built; but the same gunpowder can blow thousands of men into eternity in a single day. A rich man, if he be unselfish, has in his wealth the power of making his fellowcreatures less coarse, less depraved, and, as a consequence, less miserable. From the vantage-ground of high position he can fight a chivalrous battle for the afflicted and him that hath no helper. His good example will have far more effect than that of a poorer man. His influence, if directed

to good and merciful objects, is as powerful for good as that of the selfish rich man is for the reverse. "Nobody should be rich," said Goethe, "but those who understand it." But when a man owns gracefully and usefully, what good may he not do in the way of opening a path for others, and giving them access to whatever civilizing agencies he may himself possess! Therefore we can understand how both religion and philanthropy may treat with respect and even with reverence the motto, "Put money in thy purse." May we not even say that it is the desire to "get on" and to become rich that prevents our sinking into barbarism?

"There is always a reason in the man," says Emerson, "for his good or bad fortune, and so in making money." This rule is not without exceptions, for now and then people

you

do become rich by lucky or even by dishonest "hits ;" nevertheless money is in the main representative. Show me a man who has made fifty thousand pounds, and I will show in that man an equivalent of energy, attention to detail, trustworthiness, punctuality, professional knowledge, good address, common sense, and other marketable qualities. The farmer respects his yellow sovereigns not unnaturally, for they declare with all the solemnity of a sealed and stamped document that for a certain length of time he rose at six o'clock each morning to oversee his labourers, that he patiently waited upon seasonable weather, that he understood buying and selling. To the medical man, his fee serves as a medal to indicate that he was brave enough to face smallpox and other infectious diseases, and his self-respect is fostered thereby. The barrister's brief is marked with the price of his legal knowledge, of his eloquence, or of his brave endurance during a period of hope-deferred briefless

ness.

But besides its usefulness and its being the representative of sterling qualities, the golden smile of Dame Fortune is to be sought for the invaluable privilege of being independent, or at least being out of the horrid incumbrance of indebtedness. A man in debt is so far a slave; while it is comparatively easy for one possessed of ten thousand per annum to be true to his word, to be a man of honour, to have the courage of his opinions. When a man or woman is driven to the wall, the chances of goodness surviving self-respect and the loss of public esteem are frightfully diminished.

But while striving to escape from the physical suffering and the mental and moral disadvantages that attend the lot of poverty, we should admit to ourselves the fact, that there are hardly less disadvantages and temptations ready to make us miserable, if we are not on our guard after attaining to a reasonable amount of wealth. In a meeting assembled to make arrangements for Mr. Moody's last preaching campaign in London, one of the speakers expressed his hope that Mr. Moody would "do something for the miserable poor of London." "I shall try and do so," was the preacher's reply; "and I hope also to be able to do something for the miserable rich." "The miserable rich!" Some would think the expression almost a contradiction in terms, but it is not; for the rich, while possessing the means, as we have already said, of doing vast good, have nevertheless many things to render them unhappy.

Great wealth is a heavy burden; the life of a rich peer being described as "made like the life of an attorney by the extent of his affairs." Even their most cherished means of enjoyment may become the possibilities of vexation to the rich. Some may think it is a fine thing to be a landlord, but there is hardly any position more irksome. There is no end of trouble with tenants. The same thing with servants. People who have many servants are sometimes worse served than those who have only one; for what is every one's business is nobody's, and each individual servant is ready with the answer: "Oh, that is not in my department,” when asked to do anything. The more valuable is your horse, the greater is your anxiety about his knees. It is proverbially