“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)
Growing Dominion, Part 108
“Many will entreat the favour of the prince: and every man is a friend to him that giveth gifts” (Prov. 19:6).
Like the previous passage we treated (v. 4), this one can be taken in two senses as well. The first is the more obvious of the two. When someone (the state, a prince, or a merchant running a promotion) is giving away free stuff, everyone clusters around. Everyone wants to be that guy’s friend. Of course this is an accurate view of human nature (“what’s in it for me?” is a common question). But this works because someone has decided to give away stuff as a substitute for giving away himself. For many, this is more than good enough.
But there is another sense in which this is true. When men give, not as a substitute for themselves, but rather as an expression of themselves, the results are similar—but much deeper. When men give themselves away in a lifetime of service, the people to whom they give notice what is happening. And every community has both kinds of givers; every community has both kinds of businessmen. One attracts crowds through gaudy promotions and the other establishes a network of lifetime friends through a lifetime of service.