There is not
such a great difference, if you will think of it carefully,--one a pile
of old iron, the other a pile of gold or silver, but all belonging to
the same general class.
It is a great law of our being that we become like those things we
contemplate. If we contemplate those that are true and noble and
elevating, we grow in the likeness of these. If we contemplate merely
material things, as gold or silver or copper or iron, our souls, our
natures, and even our faces become like them, hard and flinty, robbed of
their finer and better and grander qualities. Call to mind the person or
picture of the miser, and you will quickly see that this is true. Merely
nature's great law. He thought he was going to be a master: he finds
himself the slave. Instead of possessing his wealth, his wealth
possesses him. How often have I seen persons of nearly or quite this
kind! Some can be found almost anywhere. You can call to mind a few,
perhaps many.
During the past two or three years two well-known millionaires in the
United States, millionaires many times over, have died. The one started
into life with the idea of acquiring a great name by accumulating great
wealth. These two things he had in mind,--self and great wealth. And, as
he went on, he gradually became so that he could see nothing but these.
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