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Christ / 0 that our eyes may see more of the dawn of that glorious and happy day . JOSEPH JEVANS ,
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think you ought the conduct of this * man to be ? Should he build himself a splendid house , purchase gay equipages , gather around him a retinue of useless servants , and , after ordering them to dispense to the neighbouring
poor , such victuals as were to spare from his luxurious table , give himself up to vanity or pleasure or slothful indolence ? Or should the steward , after providing for his own household the comforts and conveniences of life , allot a small annual sum to be
distributed among those who looked up to him for that kind instruction and liberal relief , which they knew it had been the direction of their common Lord that they should receive at his
hands ; and then carefully hoard up the remainder of his income , pound after pound , till , at the return of his master , he might lay it before him , saying , " Lo there thou hast that is thine ! " Would the steward in either
case have fulfilled the commands of his . Lord ? How then ought he to have acted ? The answer is so obviously written on the pages of the New Testament * that 46 he who runs may read . " Our kind and gracious Master allows to the dispenser of his bounty , all the reasonable comforts and accommodations
which his station and circumstances require > but more cannot be permitted without encroaching upon the rights of others , for whose presentf as for his own future benefit , he holds the property in trust : therefore , the manner of living adopted by a good and faithful servant , " will be simple
and unostentatious , and his ambition , his delight , will be neither to dissipate nor to hoard up the treasure committed to his care , but , during the time that he administers it , strictly to adhere to the spirit of his orders * I hardly know a greater reflection upon the character of a man at the end of
his earthly career , than to say that he died very rich ; for does it not imply that he was selfish aad narrowhearted } If a man inherits large possessions , his duty , as a Christian , will seldom
call upon him to lessen them ; , but if he add to them in the least , it is the spirit of avarice which has incited him so to do ; and such a spirit can neither contribute to our happiness i » this world , nor fead ' to 6 lessedt * ess in
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On the Cliristian Use of Wealth * No . IT . Sir , Juhj % 1813 * PE RMIT me to resume the important subject on which I have already once addressed your readers , [ p . 427 J the use and abuse of this World's goods . Should I be the means
of opening one heart to the wants and sufferings of its fellow-creatures , of gaining over one proselyte , to the truly sound and scriptural doctrine of John Wesley , " Give all yon can" I shall , indeed , think my time and la * bour greatly overpaid .
Worldly possessions , of every description , are capital lent us to trade with , and a large increase is expected and required from our diligent use of it . Tell me , then , ye who , without
any worthy cause so to do , lay up every year an overplus of income , are ye not , according to the most obvious interpretation of the parable , burying your talent in the earth ? 44
Occupy till I come , " says our heavenly Teacher : but how does he direct us to do this ? How are we to employ our Lord ' s money ? Not in luxury and vanity , not in the
indulgence of a selfish , proud or covetous spirit ; not in laying out large sums in those things which administer to the " pride of life , ' and which the children of this world seek after , in
" -dressing out our inns as if they were our homes , and being as careful about a night ' s lodging here , as if we designed an everlasting abode . " Can any one who does this , or what approaches towards it , because he
bestows a few pounds annually in public subscriptions , and a few more in private charities , believe himself justified to his great Employer ? Do we , by thus distributing our wealth , enter into the true spirit of his orders to us > And is this the manner in which
he designed that we should occupy his treasures ? Suppose a rich and benevolent man should put into the hands of his steward a large eatate , from the income of which he was to take a proper provision for himself , and to lay out the remainder for the benefit of the , numerous , poor who dw ^ lt upon it : what
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1 v . On tJ * e Christian Use of Wealth . 50 &
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1818, page 503, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2479/page/31/
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