A Solemn Warning to the Religious Materialist

What [James] condemns here is the extreme rapacity of the rich, in retaining everything they could lay hold on, that it might rot uselessly in their chests. For…what God had created for the use of men, they destroyed, as though they were the enemies of mankind…The vices which he mentions here do not belong to all the rich…However, all those are generally condemned who unjustly accumulate riches, or who foolishly abuse them. But what James now says, is not only suitable to the rich of extreme tenacity…but to those also who delight in pomp and luxury, and yet prefer to heap up riches rather than to employ them for necessary purposes. For such is the malignity of some, that they grudge to others the common sun and air. For God has not appointed gold for rust, nor garments for moths; but, on the contrary, he has designed them as aids and helps to human life. Therefore, even spending without benefit is a witness of inhumanity. The rusting of gold and silver will be, as it were, the occasion of inflaming the wrath of God, so that it will, like fire, consume them. – John Calvin