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The Sermons of Henry Ward Beecher: In Plymouth Church, Brooklyn
The Sermons of Henry Ward Beecher In Plymouth Church Brooklyn Author:Henry Ward Beecher Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Moth-eaten Garments. " Your garments are moth-eaten."—James, v., 2. In earlier ages of the world riches assumed but few forms. Houses and land could scarce... more »ly be much to a Bedouin Arab who pastured his flocks wherever he could find sustenance, and carried his house and all his property with him. Bonds, notes, mortgages, bills, are the wealth-signs of a highly commercial people. In early days, besides silver and gold, which always and every where have been considered wealth, garments were stored up, and were regarded as an evidence of riches. It is so in a narrow sphere even yet. Many a thrifty housekeeper deems herself rich in the fullness of her wardrobe ; in stores of linen; in materials laid up for household uses; in beds and bedding; in napkins and toweling; in silk, and cotton, and linen, and wool, and feathers. These are household wealth. Against all these things time has a grudge. They wear out if you use them, and waste more if you do not. If you store them away, mildew and damp searches for them to rot them. If you too incautiously expose them to the cleansing air, you give knowledge of your treasure, excite cupidity, and draw the thief to your dwelling. And while men covet, and the elements enviously consume your garments and your fabrics, there are insects created, it would seem, expressly to feed upon them. Why not ? It is the order of nature. To eat and be eaten are the two terms of life. To destroy and to be destroyed is the history of animated creation. The moth would appear to be peculiarly adapted to take proper- ty in that condition in which a vigilance against all other enemies leaves it. We mark aggressors; we take account of violence, and of the various inroads of the elements; and, having put our property out of all danger of them, there is yet app...« less