| The Glory of the Common Life |
Chapter 15 |
Page 4 |
It seems strange, therefore, to read of the meek that they shall inherit the earth. But note the word that is used – inherit. They do not possess the earth. They do not have its millions in their own name. A writer, speaking of the Beatitudes, says, “The men who leave behind them much hoarded wealth, rarely leave anything else. Their names are not known in religion, in education, in social reform. The scholars, the thinkers, the poets, and saints, the men who raise the moral stature of mankind, usually die poor.” Yet the Master says of just such as these, that they shall inherit the earth. What does he mean? There is a world wide difference between getting and gaining, between possessing and inheriting. A man may acquire power and may amass millions of money. That is, he may put his name on the millions. He may own railroads, banks, mines, houses, but his vast wealth really means nothing to him. At the heart of it all, there is only a poor, miserable, dwarfed soul. Then when he dies he is a beggar, like the rich man in our Lord’s parable – owning nothing. He takes none of his money with him. He possessed millions – he inherited nothing. He made nothing really his own. No part of his wealth was laid up in heaven. No part of it was ever wrought into his own life. No part of it was put into the lives of others.
There is no true enlarging of the heart and life in such acquisition as this. A man may increase in money possession until the boy of poverty has become a millionaire, and yet be no wiser, no greater in himself, no more a man, with not one more worthy quality of character. He may live in a great deal finer house, with richer furniture and rarer pictures and costlier carpets, but the man in the midst of all the splendour is no better, no greater. He may have a large library in the part of his house where the library ought to be, but the books have done nothing for him, have been nothing to him; the pages are uncut; he has into taken any of them into his life. He was told that a rich man ought to have a fine library and he bought one, but never read a book.
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