Perhaps Mammon is Relieving Himself.

"And having food and raiment let us be therewith content." ―1 Timothy 6:8

The Worship of Mammon, Evelyn De Morgan, 1909.

You witness the absurdities of the culture of our age when you live in a society that has ninnies exalting high consumption and fashionable habits. They never gather from what is written that, “He that had gathered much had nothing over, and he that had gathered little had no lack; and they gathered every man according to his eating.” It seems as though these days it is a most virtuous thing to be a consumer rather than a producer; to own sumptuous things of little value than to own fewer things of much value.

Virtue, in these evil times, no longer make a man, but his money. They do not understand the language of ‘giving all diligence; add to your faith, virtue;’ rather they understand “giving all your youth; add to your bank account, more money.” They imply that affluent life is the chief end of man, and a man can only be respected because he happens to be a rich man. Ah, respectability! And what is that? In the manner we have oriented the world, it's not enough for man to be a good worker, he must be credentialed. Men today appreciate the work of man for the material reward of it, and not for its excellence. They honour a man when Fortune favours him, and Fame considers him his own; and yet none are familiar of his single work. We like to measure man by his pre-eminence. If you will be known for your work in this age, you must have a trophy to show for it.

When a man cannot do anything with his own hands, all he need is something that can compute money for him. Young men who can’t dig nor mend seek fast money to hire someone else to do it for them. So is with young women that can’t cook nor sew. These folks are strangers where doing mundane things yourself is as natural as combing out your own hair. Sports betting and usury is today a young man’s trade as well as harlotry is to a woman, and he thinks he can make a fortune by them. There is nothing as sacrilegious to man’s strength than this vice called gambling. Money was meant to be used to serve meaningful things, not to be heralded as an end to the means so to procure men’s indulgences.

‘The real sphere of the usefulness of money is the object and use of it—when we hold it as stewards—when the two great ends are combined in one—the glory of God, and the good of our fellow creatures.’

—Charles Bridges, Ecclesiastes.

Strangely enough, if man wants to see about a maiden, he will be referred to money* to make courtship and marriage possible. Their meaning is that he cannot court a woman to marry if he has no “money”, and, by money, they mean a lot of it. They demand that a woman ought not accept him either, even though that woman is neither meek nor chaste, neither is she industrious nor frugal. “Broke man” is a nebulous phrase strange women use to judge what kind of man is unfavorable in their eyes. It goes with the meme, “Young men today have to work 20 times harder than their grandfathers for young women who are 20 times worse than their grandmothers.” Now that’s very distressing. These folks are proudly-minded in their trust of uncertain riches.

Today, a man’s life consists in how his wallet is filled, and a woman’s love to a man depends on how her belly is filled. Thanks God for good women that are out there, what would honest men do without them? The cankerworms are these hoity-toity women that pour scorn on a man who lives on his honest income, and they expect young men’s estate always lifted up so their hearts may always be puffed up. They cannot see what counts the man, and funny it is that they would rather count him by his pocket. Their love of a person is contingent upon his portion. The problem is they love the portion not the person, only that they are under pretense of loving the person until the person loses his portion.

On the other hand, carnal men don’t know how to love a woman. They make it the role of their eye to pursue a woman with a fine figure and the role of their wallet to woo her. They measure her body by a faux, sultry figure they covet on the internet, and will demand more and more hopeless figure of a woman to such an extent that they demand a donkey’s ass on a woman. Now I must give these old boys same counsel against the sin of coveting a voluptuous skirt, for a woman’s life consists not in the abundance of fat in her arse. Figures are making the man-woman relationship fraught these days. Well, one can only figure why these ninnies never extend the same standard with which they measure others to themselves.

It is well understood by common sense that it is no duty of man to marry without lawful means to provide nor is it a duty of woman to get married without frugal hands to conserve. A man must provide for his immediate household, and a woman must keep her home. It is a blessed house that has a breadwinner and a breadmaker in it. Husbandry and housewifery are complimentary for building a fruitful household. Tusser said it well,

“Of husband, doth husbandry challenge that name,

of husbandry, husband doth likewise the same

Where housewife and housewifery, joins with these,

there wealth in abundance is gotten with ease.”

“Times are hard,” they say; yes, but such is our times. Hard times make hard men with tender hearts. To work hard and to live hard is a hard man’s lot. Work is hard, and it needs a hard man to make work for it. Hard work and thrifty habits can make man get on with his mean income in this country, and if a woman suitable for him be found, it is a blessing that in all probability he will make twice as much he made as a bach, and save twice as much by the hands of his frugal wife. Faith, wisdom, and competence in that order promises fair for a man who is diligent in his work. To seek great wealth is charming indeed, yet to lean upon them a grievous error. No man wishes for an impecunious living, but come what may, ready he must to bear; come trial, free he must from repining. Here are the lines from Tusser again,

“A competent living, and honestly had,

makes such as are godly both thankful and glad:

Life never contented with honest estate

lamented is oft, and repented too late.”

We should not blind ourselves to see that these are hard times indeed; but they are the most suitable times to build. We cannot wait for the condition to be favorable so that we can build or else we will never build at all. We tend the fields and trust in God’s providence to give increase of what we have sown. Though a man might excel in good husbandry, yet he needs a suitable wife who will excel in good housewifery or else he will be tempted to spend all his strength and his labor on strange women. Having a good wife makes a man’s life manageable, but a mistress will burn a great hole in his pocket and sear his conscience in sexual sin. Marriage is a risk worth its reward, but fornication the thief of fruitful marriage. Adultery robs man’s progeny’s inheritance, for his wealth fills the house of strangers, instead of his own.

To end the matter, To be good is far better than to be rich, and it is good to be rich in goodness. A good name is better than riches, and a good wife is better than a sonsy mistress. Let man’s good work be his spokesman, not his good money. Let a woman’s noble character be ‘loud’, not her mouth. It is better to make an honest woman a good housewife than to join with a brothel mistress. Let man shun the flattering tongue of leeches and harlots, lest he bring his household to ruin, and his substance to the grave. Let no man seek bad counsel from puffed-up strangers with swelling words on the internet, but delight in God’s precepts. Above all, let man give glory to his God by his substance and service.

elm.