ROMANS XIII. 8 345
^ Dr. Kidd had a great horror of debt. When parting with a friend whom he did not expect to see for some time, he would exhort him to " Fear God, and keep out of debt." ^
^ In addition to the heavy losses Lord Shaftesbury had sustained from his steward, he had incurred enormous expenses — amounting to some thousands of pounds — in inevitable lawsuits, civil and criminal, and the combination of circumstances against him produced so much anxiety that he felt incapable of any prolonged energy. The dread of debt was a " horror of great darkness" before him, "If I appear to fail in life and vigour, it is not for the want of zeal," he wrote to a friend, " but from that kind of Promethean eagle that is ever gnawing my vitals. May God be with you, and keep you out of debt." And in his Diary, among many expressions of sadness and almost despair, he writes : " Our Blessed Lord endured all the sorrows of humanity but that of debt." Perhaps it was to exemplify the truth, uttered afterwards by St. Paul, " Owe no man anything, but to serve him in the Lord." The subject was ever in his thoughts ; it was " a dead weight on his back which made him totter in every effort to go forward " ; it haunted him night and day, and often, in his Diary, he breaks out into a wail of lamentation : " My mind returns at every instant to the modus operandi. How meet the demands that must speedily be made ? How satisfy the fair and righteous claims of those who only ask for their dues ? How can I pursue the many objects I have in view, with this anxiety at my heart ? God alone can deliver me." ^
1. What are the common causes of " running into debt," as we commonly understand the phrase ?
(1) Carelessness. — We all of us too easily slide into careless- ness about money matters. In the enjoyment of the present, the hour of reckoning is comparatively distant; almost uncon- sciously to ourselves a certain amount of debt accumulates. While we are young we are especially open to influence of this kind. And therefore early in life we should acquire the habit of owing no man anything, and we should deal only with those who are willing that we should owe them nothing. It is good to feel somewhat uneasy while a bill remains unpaid. Every one can with a little trouble to himself see how he stands at the end of each month or of each term. He has only to cast up a few
1 J. stark, Dr. Kidd of Aberdeen, 267.
» F. Hodder, Life of the Earl of Shaftesbury, 634,
346 DEBT
figures, to compai'e what he has received with what he has paid, and to sp.tisfy himself that nothing has been omitted. Unless he wishes to be deceived, as is the case with some persons who refuse to look into their accounts, he can easily know the truth. And he is inexcusable who is careless in a matter of such importance.
^ There is a power which may be easily acquired, but which some never acquire, and others only by dear experience — the power of understauding and doing business. It is hardly thought of by young men in comparison with intellectual gifts, and yet there is no power which conduces more to happiness and success in life. It is like a steward keeping the house in order. It is the power of managing and administering, whether in public or in private life. To be called a thorough man of business is really very high praise. It implies a clear head and mastery of details ; it requires accuracy and constant attention and sound judgment. Though it begins with figures of arithmetic, it ends with a know- ledge of the characters of men. It is that uncommon quality " common sense " applied to daily life. And it runs up into higher qualities, uprightness, self-denial, self-control ; the honourable man of business is one of the noblest forms of English character.^
^ Let me tell you a story of one of the greatest heroes of last century. Never did any man fight through a greater fight in the interest of his country and the world than Abraham Lincoln. From his early years great imaginations were in his mind, but he did not neglect plain duties. He was a postmaster in a very out-of-the-way district in Illinois. After a time the central authority found that so little business was done there that the Post Office was closed, and when it was closed, there was owing to the postal authority a sum of seventeen dollars and some odd cents, and they forgot to claim it. The years passed by, one year, two years, three years, and the money was still unclaimed. Meanwhile Abraham Lincoln had been fighting a hard fight against poverty. He had found it very hard to keep his head financially above water. It so happened that the omission was discovered after this period, and the officers of the Post Office arrived and asked Abraham Lincoln for the money which was still owing. A friend was in the room. He knew Abraham's hard circumstances. He supposed, as a matter of course, that the money would have been appropriated. He called him out of the room, and offered to lend it to him ; but Abraham Lincoln smiled a little, then went up to his room and came down and