Expositions of Holy Scripture : St. Matthew Chaps. IX to XXVIIIMaclaren, Alexander
Religion
Expositions of Holy Scripture : St. Matthew Chaps. IX to XXVIII
Maclaren, Alexander
Bible -- Commentaries; Bible. Matthew IX-XXVIII -- Commentaries
The lowest instance is in regard to material possessions. It is a
complaint that is made against the present social arrangements and
distribution of wealth, that money makes money; that wealth has a
tendency to clot; the rich man to get richer, and the poor man to
get poorer. Just as in a basin of water when the plug is out, and
circular motion is set up, the little bits of foreign matter that
may be there all tend to get together, so it is in regard to these
external possessions. 'To him that hath shall be given'; and people
grumble about that and say, 'It never rains but it pours, and the
man that needs more money least gets it most easily.' Of course.
Treasure used grows; treasure hoarded rusts and dwindles. The
millionaire will double his fortune by a successful speculation. The
man with half a dozen large shops drives the poor little tradesman
out of the field. So it is all round: 'To him that hath shall be
given; but from him that hath not shall be taken even that he hath.'
Next, go a step higher. Look at how this law works in regard to
powers of body. That is a threadbare old illustration. The
blacksmith's arm we have all heard about; the sailor's eye, the
pianist's wrist, the juggler's fingers, the surgeon's deft hand--all
these come by use. 'To him that hath shall be given.' And the same
man who has cultivated one set of organs to an almost miraculous
fineness or delicacy or strength will, by the operation of the other
half of the same principle, have all but atrophied another set. So
with the blacksmith's arm, which has grown muscular at the expense
of his legs. Part of the physical frame has monopolised what might
have been distributed throughout the whole. Use is strength; use
makes growth. We have what we employ. And even in regard to our
bodily frame the organs that we do not use we carry about with us
rather as a weight attached to us than as a possession.
Again, come a little higher. This great principle largely goes to
determine our position in the world and our work. The man that can do
a thing gets it to do. In the long run the tools come to the hand that
can use them. So here is one medical man's consulting-room crammed
full of patients, and his neighbour next door has scarcely one. The
whole world runs to read A's, B's, or C's books. The briefless
barrister complains that there is no middle course between having
nothing to do and being overwhelmed with briefs. 'To him that hath
shall be given'--the man can do a thing, and he gets it to do--'and
from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath,'
That law largely settles every man's place in the world.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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