Men without the virtue
of self-denial are not only subject to their own selfish desires,
but they are usually in bondage to others who are likeminded with
themselves. What others do, they do. They must live according to
the artificial standard of their class, spending like their
neighbours, regardless of the consequences, at the same time that
all are, perhaps, aspiring after a style of living higher than
their means. Each carries the others along with him, and they
have not the moral courage to stop. They cannot resist the
temptation of living high, though it may be at the expense of
others; and they gradually become reckless of debt, until it
enthrals them. In all this there is great moral cowardice,
pusillanimity, and want of manly independence of character.
A rightminded man will shrink from seeming to be what he is not,
or pretending to be richer than he really is, or assuming a style
of living that his circumstances will not justify. He will have
the courage to live honestly within his own means, rather than
dishonestly upon the means of other people; for he who incurs
debts in striving to maintain a style of living beyond his income,
is in spirit as dishonest as the man who openly picks your pocket.
To many, this may seem an extreme view, but it will bear the
strictest test. Living at the cost of others is not only
dishonesty, but it is untruthfulness in deed, as lying is in word.
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