For instance, a very immoral man may be a very healthy, long-lived man; for, notwithstanding he violates the moral department, he may live in conformity to the physical laws of his animal nature, which secure to him his physical health. And, on the other hand, a very moral man may suffer greatly from a diseased body, and be cut off in the very midst of his usefulness by an early death, in consequence of having violated the physical laws of his animal constitution. But on the moral plane he is the gainer, and the immoral man is the loser.
So our success in business depends upon our conformity to those laws on which success depends—not upon the motives which act only on the moral plane.
On this ground, the Christian farmer has no more reason to expect success in his farming operations, than the impenitent sinner. In either case, the foundation for success must depend upon the degree of fidelity with which the natural laws are applied, which cause the natural result—not upon the motives of the operator; since these moral acts receive their penalty and reward on an entirely different plane of his being.
Now comes in the question, how then is it true, that “godliness is profitable unto all things,” if godliness is no guarantee to success in business pursuits?
I reply, that the profits of godliness cannot mean, simply, pecuniary profits, because this would limit the gain of godliness to this world, alone; whereas, it is profitable not only for this life, but also for the life to come. Gain and loss, dollars and cents, are not the coins current in the spiritual world.
But happiness and misery are coins which are current in both worlds. Therefore, it appears to me, that happiness is the profit attendant upon godliness, and for this reason, a practically godly person, who lives in conformity to all the various laws of his entire being, may expect to secure to himself, as a natural result, a greater amount of happiness than the ungodly person.
So that, in this sense, “Godliness is profitable unto all things,” to every department of our being.
E. P. W. PACKARD.
Manteno, March 22, 1860.
Mrs. Packard then stated that the above was presented to the class, the 15th day of the following April, and was rejected by the teacher Deacon Smith, on the ground of its being irrelevant to the subject, since she had not confined herself to the Bible alone for proof of her position.