what a man is, will decide his bliss or woe in this life and the next” (MTP 31:563).
5. “Moths will eat any of our garments, but they seem to fly first to the costly furs.”
“Observation shows us that there is a fascination in wealth which renders it extremely difficult for the possessors of it to maintain their equilibrium; and this is more especially the case where money is suddenly acquired; then, unless grace prevent, pride fumes, and he who is respectable in poverty, becomes despicable in prosperity. Pride may lurk under a threadbare cloak, but it prefers the comely broadcloth of the merchant’s cloak: moths will eat any of our garments, but they seem to fly first to the costly furs” (ST April 1867, 157).
6. “There is no grace in waste.”
“If we do not save while we have it we certainly shall not save after it is gone. There is no grace in waste. Economy is a duty; extravagance is a sin” (John Ploughman’s Pictures, 150).
7. “Money circulated is a medium of public benefit, while money hoarded it a means of private discomfort.”
“But are you in the quest of happiness? It lies not in investments, whether in Consols or mortgages, stocks or debentures, gold or silver. These properties are profitable. They can be used to promote happiness. As accessories to our welfare, they may often prove to be blessings, but is accredited with intrinsic worth they will eat as doth a canker. Money circulated is a medium of public benefit, while money hoarded is a means of private discomfort. . . . A miser is bound to be miserable” (MTP 62:520).
8. “Feel for others – in your pocket.”
“Feel for others – in your pocket. Practical, pecuniary sympathy is more useful than mere talk” (The Salt-Cellars 2:197).
9. “It is bad to see our money become a runaway servant and leave us, but it would be worse to have it stop with us and become our master.”
“It is bad to see our money become a runaway servant and leave us, but it would be worse to have it stop with us and become our master. We should try, as our minister says, ‘to find the golden mean,’ and never be lavish nor stingy” (John Ploughman’s Talk, 152).
10. “How many are they who have made a god of their wealth.”
“How many are they who have made a god of their wealth, and in hasting after riches have been drowned by the weight of their worldly substance” (MTP 15:318).
11. “That which costs us most we value most.”
“Recollect, the more trouble it costs you to bring a soul to Christ the greater will be your reward. In your own conscience you will feel a sweet recompense when you will in after days be able to say, ‘I travailed in birth for that soul.’ You will love it all the more because of the anguish of your spirit during its birth. I am sure it is so: that which costs us most we value most” (MTP 24:199).
12. “Whatever else we barter, let us never try to turn a penny by religion.”
“Better die than sell your soul to the highest bidder. Better be shut up in the workhouse than fatten upon hypocrisy. Whatever else we barter, let us never try to turn a penny by religion” (John Ploughman’s Pictures, 147).
13. “All that we possess here below is God’s property.”
“Moreover, our earthly comforts were never given to us to be held for ever by a covenant of salt. They are always loans, and never gifts. All that we possess here below is God’s property; he has only loaned it out to us, and what he lends he has a right to take back again” (MTP 23:391).
14. “A golden coffin will be a poor compensation for a damned soul.”
“Wealth, yes, if you must have it, though you shall find it an empty thing if you set your heart upon it. Prosperity in this world, earn it if you can do so fairly, but ‘what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?’ A golden coffin will be a poor compensation for a damned soul. To be cast away from God’s presence, can that misery be assuaged by mountains of treasure?” (MTP 17:425)
15. “Many people will always be poor because they never give to the cause of God.”
“Many people will always be poor because they never give to the cause of God. . . . The Lord will 