[Book] "Covetousness" by William Gouge

Note: 

I came across this article by William Gouge reprinted in RPM (Reformed Perspectives Magazine) by Third Millennium Ministries:

http://thirdmill.org/search.asp/au/wil_gouge

I enjoyed it very much and decided to re-blog it here.



William Gouge (1575-1653) was an English clergyman and author. He was a minister and preacher at St Ann Blackfriars for 45 years, from 1608, and a member of the Westminster Assembly from 1643.


Contents

1. Of the Nature of Covetousness
2. Of the Practice of Covetousness in Getting Wealth
3. Of the Practice of Covetousness in Keeping Wealth
4. Of the Practice of Covetousness in Spending
5. Of the Heinousness of Covetousness
6. Of Remedies Against Covetousness
7. Of Well-Using Abundance
8. Of Examination of a Man's Self About Covetousness
9. Of Rules to Find Out Covetousness
10. Of Over-Rash Censuring Others of Covetousness
11. Of Contentedness. What It Is.
12. Of the Grounds of Contentedness.


 
1. Of the Nature of Covetousness

Covetousness is an immoderate desire of riches. The apostle implieth as much, under this phrase, boulomenoi ploutein they that will be rich, 1 Tim. vi. 9; under that word, will, a desire, and that unsatiable desire, is comprised. The notation of both the words before mentioned, namely, love of silver and desire of having more, do demonstrate that covetousness consisteth in a desire.

Desire of riches is not simply covetousness, for a man may lawfully pray for them. So much is intended in the fourth petition. Now what a man may pray for, he may desire, with the same limitations as he may pray for it. Therefore it is an immoderate desire: that is, when a man is not content with that portion which God by his providence in a lawful and warrantable course doth afford unto him, but (according to the apostle's phrase) he will be rich; he will have more than God alloweth him in a fair way; and if he cannot otherwise get more, he will be discontent.

The general object of covetousness is riches. Under this word all the commodities of this world are comprised, and withal abundance of them, yea, more than is necessary. Things necessary may be desired, but not superfluity, Prov. xxx. 8.

This sin is especially in the heart. One may have little, and yet be covetous; and one may be rich, and yet free from covetousness.


2. Of the Practice of Covetousness in Getting Wealth

Covetousness is practiced three ways:

1. In getting.
2. In keeping.
3. In spending what a man hath.

When wealth is gotten unconscionably or immoderately, it is a sign of a covetous heart.

That is said to be unconscionably gotten which is gotten against any duty whereunto conscience is bound, as-

(1) Against any particular precept. Therein Achan covetously transgressed, Josh. vii. 21.
(2) Against piety; as they which buy and sell on the Sabbath-day for gain, Neh. xiii. 16.
(3) Against justice; as Ahab, who by Naboth's unjust death got his vineyard, 1 Kings xxi. 19.
(4) Against charity; as the rich man that took the poor man's sheep to entertain his friend, 2 Sam. xii. 6.
(5) Against equity; as Gehazi, who got that which his master refused, 2 Kings v. 20.
(6) Against truth; as Ananias and Sapphira with a lie kept back part of that which was devoted to the church, Acts v. 2.
(7) Against all these; which was Judas his sin in betraying his Master for thirty pieces of silver, Mat. xxvi. 15.

Whatsoever is by force or fraud, by stealing, lying, or any other indirect course gotten, is an effect of covetousness. It argueth an over-greedy desire. If it were not so, no means would be used but that which is lawful; and in the use of them men would depend on God, and be content with that portion which he by his providence affords them.

An immoderate getting is, when men spend their wit, pains, and time in getting the goods of this world, and rather than fail, lose their meal's meat, and sleep, and other refreshments, yea, and neglect the means of getting heavenly treasure: they are only and wholly for the things of this world. If spiritual and temporal blessings cannot stand together, temporals shall be preferred and spiritual neglected: as the Gadarenes, for fear of losing more swine, prayed Christ to depart from their coast, Mark v. 17; and they who, for their farm and oxen's sake, refused to come to the Lord's supper, Luke xiv. 18, &c.


3. Of the Practice of Covetousness in Keeping Wealth

Covetousness in keeping wealth is practiced two ways:

(1) When men hoard up all that they can, though they have enough for the present, yet fearing want for the future, treasure up whatsoever they can get. So did the rich fool in the Gospel. His ground bearing fruit plentifully, his mind was presently set upon enlarging his barns to lay up for many years to come, Luke xii. etc. &c. The wise man doth set out this covetous practice, 'There is one alone, and there is not a second; yea, he hath neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labour; neither is his eye satisfied with riches,' Eccles. iv. 8. These are they that take thought for the morrow; that is, cark and care for the future time, which Christ expressly forbiddeth, Mat. vi. 34. They think that whosoever want, they will not.

(2) When men hoard up only for themselves, they care not what treasure for the future the commonwealth or the church hath against times of need and trial, nor do they care for the flock of the poor.


4. Of the Practice of Covetousness in Spending

A covetous practice in spending is manifested two ways:

(1) By spending too sparingly and too niggardly in all things, as when men live under their degree and place, when they regard not decency in apparel or other like things, when they afford not necessaries to themselves or to those that are under their charge- these are pinch-pennies. Thus doth the wise man set out such a one, 'A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth: yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof,' Eccles. vi. 2.

(2) By being too prodigal in some things, as in housekeeping, in apparel, in their pleasures on themselves, wives, and children, but are too strait-handed in all works of charity, and in contributions to church and state. Nabal was such a one. He made a feast in his house 'like the feast of a king,' but yet refused to refresh David's soldiers in their necessity with any part of his provision, 1 Sam. xxv. 11, 36. And such a one was Dives; he was 'clothed himself in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day,' yet refused to feed Lazarus with the crumbs that fell from his table, Luke xvi. 19, etc. These may be counted pound-prodigal, and penny-covetous.


5. Of the Heinousness of Covetousness

There are many circumstances concerning covetousness which do much aggravate the heinousness thereof; for,

(1) It is a deceiving sin; it blinds the understanding and corrupts the judgment in a main point of happiness: for the covetous man 'maketh gold his hope, and fine gold his confidence,' Job xxxi. 24. This is further manifest by the titles that are usually given to it, as 'substance,' and 'goods.' They who get much wealth, are said to be made for ever; and they who lose much, to be undone for ever. The rich man, when his corn exceedingly increased, thus saith to his soul, 'Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry,' Luke xii. 19. Upon this conceit of happiness, wealth so stealeth away a man's heart, and so inflames his affections, as he maketh it his god. Justly there fore is a covetous person called an idolater, Eph. v. 5; and covetousness idolatry, Col. iii. 5.

(2) It is an unsatiable sin. 'He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase,' Eccles. v. 10. In this respect covetousness is like a dropsy, which increaseth thirst by much drinking; and like a fire, which by addition of fuel is the more fierce. The desire of a covetous man ariseth from abundance, and in that respect is unnatural; for nature is satisfied with sufficiency. Hunger and thirst cease when a man hath eaten and drunk that which is sufficient.

(3) It is a galling sin; it works a continual vexation, and takes away all the comforts of this life. The apostle saith, that 'they which covet after money, pierce themselves through with many sorrows,' 1 Tim. vi. 10. There is a threefold woe that accompanieth covetousness-1. A woe of labour and toil in getting wealth; 2. A woe of care and trouble in keeping it; 3. A-woe of grief and anguish in parting with it. Nothing makes death more unwelcome than a covetous desire of the things of this world.

(4) It is an ensnaring sin. 'They that will be rich, fall into temptation and a snare,' 1 Tim. vi. 9. Wealth, as it is a bait to allure men to snap thereat, so it is a snare fast to hold them, and a hook to pull them down to perdition. 'How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God !' Mark x. 23. This snare kept the farmers from the wedding feast, Luke xiv. 18, 19. It keeps many from the word; yea, it steals away the heart of those that come to the word; for 'their heart goeth after their covetousness,' Ezek. xxxiii. 31.

(5) It is a mother sin. 'The love of money is the root of all evil,' 1 Tim. vi. 10. Fitly therefore doth the prophet thus style it 'evil covetousness,' Hab. ii. 9. There is no evil which a covetous man will forbear. His covetousness puts him on to all evil. It is a root of impiety. It draws the heart from God, so as there can be no true love nor fear of God in a covetous heart. It makes a man be of that religion which is professed in the place where he liveth, though it be palpable idolatry. A covetous man can swallow all manner of oaths, yea, and perjury itself. For gain he will profane the Sabbath. It makes inferiors purloin from their superiors, and superiors to neglect their inferiors. It is a cause of much rebellion, of many treasons, murders, thefts, robberies, deceit, lying, false witness, breach of promise, and what not.

(6) It is a growing sin. The longer men live in the world, the more covetous they use to be after the world. Old men are commonly the most covetous. Herein it differeth from other violent sins, which by age abate in their violence.

(7) It is a devouring sin. 'The deceitfulness of riches choke the word,' Mat. xiii. 22. Covetousness is like Pharaoh's lean cows, 'which did eat up the fat cows; and when they had eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten them; but they were still as ill-favoured as at the beginning,' Gen. xii. 20, 21.

(8) It is a crying sin. 'The cries of them which are oppressed' by covetous persons 'enter into the ears of the Lord.' Hereupon an apostle bids them 'weep and howl,' James v. 1, &c. Covetousness causeth a curse from man and God. 'He that withholdeth corn' (as the covetous man will when he can), 'the people shall curse him.' As for God's curse, 'the wrath of God cometh upon men because of these things,' Eph. v. 5, 6. The apostle reckoneth 'covetous persons' among those that 'shall not inherit the kingdom of God,' 1 Cor. vi. 10.


6. Of Remedies Against Covetousness

For preventing or redressing covetousness, these rules following are to be observed:

(1) The judgment must rightly be informed in these two points-

(a) In the nature of true happiness.

(b) In the vanity and deceitfulness of riches.

Many learned men lack this point of understanding.

It is the blindness of a man's mind that maketh him place a kind of happiness in the things of this world, whereby he is brought even to coat upon them. If therefore we shall be rightly instructed that happiness consisteth in matters of another kind than this world affords, and that the things of this world are so vain as they can afford no solid comfort to a man, especially in spiritual distress, and so uncertain as they may suddenly be taken away from men, or men from them, surely their immoderate desire of riches could not be but much allayed. He that said, 'There be many that say, Who will shew us any good O Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us,' Ps. iv. 6, well discerned the difference betwixt earthly and heavenly blessings. So did he who said, 'Riches profit not in the day of wrath; but righteousness delivereth from death,' Prov. xi. 4.

(2) The will and heart of man must follow the judgment well informed, and raise themselves up to that sphere where true happiness resteth. 'Set 'our affection on things above, not on things on the earth,' Col. iii. 2. This will keep the heart from coating on things below; for 'where your treasure is, there will your heart be also,' Mat. vi. 21. A beast which is feeding in fair and fresh pasture will not stray into a bare and barren heath; much less will an understanding man, that finds the sweetness of spiritual and heavenly blessings, feed upon earthly trash. This made Paul account all outward things but dung, because his heart had tasted of the sweetness of Christ, Phil. iii. 8, &c.

(3) A man's confidence must be placed on God and his providence. God's providence is an overflowing and ever-flowing fountain. The richest treasures of men may be exhausted; God's cannot be. Be therefore fully resolved of this, that 'God will provide,' Gen. xxii. 8. This casting of our care on God's providence is much pressed in Scripture, as Ps. lv. 22, 1 Pet. v. 7, Mat. vi. 25, 26, &c. By experience we see how children depend on their parents' providence. Should not we much more on our heavenly Father? This resting upon God's providence is the more to be pressed in this case, because nothing makes men more to misplace their confidence than riches. 'The rich man's wealth is his strong city,' Prov. x. 15.

(4) Our appetite or desire of riches must be moderate. Herein be of his mind who thus prayed, 'Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me,' Prov. xxx. 8. This is the main scope of the fourth petition, Matt. vi. 11. Be content, therefore, with that portion which God gives thee, and be persuaded it is best for thee. This lesson had Paul well learned, Phil. iv. 11. Contentedness and covetousness are directly opposite, as light and darkness. The apostle here in this text opposeth them.

(5) We must pray against covetousness, as he who said, 'Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness,' Ps. cxix. 36. We ought the rather to pray to God against it, because it is a hereditary disease, and in that respect the more hardly cured. It was one of Christ's greatest miracles to cure one that was born blind, John ix. 32.


7. Of Well-Using Abundance

In case God by his providence give abundance, as he gave to many of the patriarchs-to Job, David, Solomon, and others-great care must be taken about well-using the same. For that end let these rules following be observed. Some of them are negative, and some affirmative.

(1) Negative rules are such as these:

(a) 'Abuse not the world,' 1 Cor. vii. 31. By the world is meant the things of the world-all manner of earthly commodities. These are abused when they are esteemed above that for which they were given-when they are preferred before spiritual and heavenly things.
(b) 'Set not your heart on riches if they increase,' Ps. lxii. 10. Delight not too much in them.
(c) 'Trust not in uncertain riches,' 1 Tim. vi. 17. Do not so place thy confidence on them, as if happiness were to be found in them.
(d) 'Let not the rich man glory in his riches,' Jer. ix. 23, nor be puffed up by them. There is nothing in them to make a man proud of them.
(e) Let not thy wealth move thee to scorn the poor. This is it which an apostle taxeth in rich men; saying, 'Ye have despised the poor,' James ii. 6.
(f) Let them not occasion thee to oppress others. The foresaid apostle implieth that rich men are prone hereunto, where he saith, 'Do not the rich oppress you?' James ii. 6. The rich man that took his poor neighbour's lamb to entertain a traveller, oppressed him, 2 Sam. xiii. 4.

(2) Affirmative rules are such as these:

(a) 'Honour the Lord with thy substance,' Prov. iii. 9. So order the goods of this world which God giveth thee, as with them thou mayest maintain the service of God, and promote piety
(b) 'Be 'rich in good works,' i Tim. vi. 18. According to the abundance which God hath given thee, abound in works of charity. He that had five talents gained thereby five other talents, Mat. xxv. 20.
(c) 'Make friends of thy riches,' Luke xvi. 9. They are made friends when they are so used as they may be evidences, and thereby give testimony of our piety, charity, justice, and other like graces.
(d) Seriously and frequently meditate on the account that men are to give of using their wealth. We are not lords of our riches, but stewards; and a steward must give an account of his stewardship, Luke xvi. 2. That which the wise man saith to the young man, may be applied to a rich man, 'For all these things God will bring thee into judgment,' Eccles. xi. 9.
(e) Be ready to let go whatsoever God shall be pleased to take away. Of this mind was he who, when he had lost all that he had, thus said, 'The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord,' Job i. 21.
(f) Trust in the Lord. This advice doth the apostle give to rich men, 1 Tim. vi. 17; for this very end, to draw them from trusting in riches. He doth therefore thus infer the one upon the other, 'Trust not in uncertain riches, but in the living Lord.'


8. Of Examination of a Man's Self About Covetousness

Covetousness being such a sin, as hath been declared, in the nature, practice, and heinousness of it, it nearly concerns every Christian to consider how far it hath seized on him, and how guilty he stands thereof. This duty lieth on every one in these especial respects:

(1) Covetousness doth especially consist in the inward desire of a man, which is best known to himself. A man's desire is one of the things of a man which no man knoweth, 'save the spirit of man which is in him,' 1 Cor. ii. 11.

(2) It is so hereditary a disease, as no man is altogether free from it. It will in some degree or other be found in the best, if they thoroughly sift themselves. Certainly he found himself addicted thereto who thus prayed to God, 'Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness,' Ps. cxix. 36; yet he was 'a man after God's own heart,' Acts xiii. 22.

(3) It is so deceiving a sin, covering itself under the veil of prudence, providence, good husbandry, thriftiness, harmlessness, and sundry other presences, as if it be not thoroughly examined, it will hardly be discerned.

(4) It is so eating, fretting, and consuming a sin, as if it be not searched out, but suffered to lurk and grow, it may prove like the thorns which soak out the heart of the earth, and make the seed fruitless, Mat. xiii. 22. The heart of many that frequent the word 'goeth after their covetousness,' Ezek. xxxiii. 31. This covetousness in the heart of a professor may prove like the wild gourds that were put into the pot of pottage, 2 Kings iv. 39, 40; and like that accursed thing that was by Achan brought into the camp of the Israelites, Josh. vii. 11.

(5) Many, for want of thorough trying of themselves in this case, think better of themselves than there is cause. The Pharisees were covetous, yet they thought too highly of themselves, Luke xvi. 14,15, and xviii.


9. Of Rules to Find Out Covetousness

It is in vain for any to search after that which he knows not how to find out. God himself having exhorted Joshua and the elders of Israel to search out the accursed thing that was hid in the camp, gave him advice and direction how to do it, Josh. vii. 13, 14. I hold it meet, therefore, here to add a direction.

(1) Observe the inward wishes of thine heart. If they be especially for the things of this world, they argue a covetous disposition. Covetousness is styled 'the lust of the eye,' 1 John ii. 16; that is, an inward inordinate desire arising from the sight of such and such a thing, Josh. vii. 21. Many things may be seen which are not desired, but if desired, and that inordinately, there is covetousness.

(2) In things which differ, mark what is preferred. If earthly things be preferred before heavenly, temporal before spiritual, that disposition is covetous. Such was the disposition of those who are invited to the king's supper, and refused to go, Luke xiv. 18, &c.; and the disposition of the Gadarenes, Mark v. 17.

(3) In the means of getting, consider whether they be just and right, or no; for all unjust and undue ways of getting, arise from covetousness. A mind free from it will rest content with that portion which by the divine providence shall be allotted, Jer. xxii. 17, Micah ii. 12.

(4) Compare with the stint which thou first settest to thyself, the issue that followeth. If. upon the obtaining of the first desire, a man remain unsatisfied, and his desire be more and more enlarged, he hath a covetous heart. For example, a poor man thinks if he could get ten shillings a week, it would serve his turn; he hath it, but then he desireth ten shillings a day; he hath that also, yet is not satisfied; from shillings his desire ariseth to pounds, and yet is not satisfied. These are such of whom the prophet thus speaketh, 'Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth,' Isa. v. 8. Such a one is said to 'enlarge his desire as hell,' Hab. ii. 5.

(5) Well weigh the effects of thy desire of riches. If thoughts thereupon break thy sleep, and care thereabouts consume thy flesh, and labour and toil therein take up all thy time, and impair health and strength, that desire is immoderate-it is plain covetousness, Eccles. ii. 23, and v. 12. This argueth a greediness after 'filthy lucre,' as the apostle terms it, 1 Tim. iii. 3.

(6) Take notice of thy disposition in hoarding up and keeping wealth, and sparing to spend it; for covetousness consisteth as much (if not more) in keeping as in getting. The rich man in the parable herein especially manifested his covetousness, Luke xii. 19. The Lord, therefore, for avoiding covetousness, forbids from laying up treasures on earth, Mat. vi. 19. See Sec. 51

(7) Observe thy manner of spending. If it be too sparingly, niggardly, and basely, if under thy degree and means, if against health and strength in general, not affording what is needful thereunto; or against special occasions, not affording physic or other requisites in sickness, or help of surgery in case of wounds, sores, or other maladies; or against the charge that belongs unto thee, as wife, children, servants, kindred, and neighbours; or against the duty and due which thou owest to the poor, state, and church; or in what thou doest in any of the foresaid kinds, thou doest perforce so as otherwise thou wouldst not of it, surely this kind of spending savoureth rank of covetousness, Eccles. 4:18.


10. Of Over-Rash Censuring Others of Covetousness

Covetousness being a heinous sin, and exceedingly disgraceful to the profession of the true faith, we ought to be very tender about laying it to the charge of professors. It cannot be denied but that many professors are too guilty thereof: yet withal it cannot be denied but that many others are too rash in censuring professors. It may be that to lay covetousness to one's charge will not bear an action in our courts of justice, but in God's court of justice it may prove a matter of condemnation.

Men may more safely judge themselves hereabouts than others. For covetousness is an inward inordinate desire; and a man may better know the kind and qualification of his own desire than of others' 1 Cor. ii. 11.

The grounds which, ordinarily, men have of judging professors is suspicion or surmise, to which the apostle giveth this attribute, 'evil,' 1 Tim. vi. 4; for surmises are evil in their quality, and in their effects.

Ordinary surmises are such as these:

(1) Such a man is very industrious and painful in his calling; he riseth early; he sitteth up late.
Ans. It may be that a good conscience about employing and improving his talent to the best advantage he can, putteth him on to that diligence, and not covetousness.

(2) He lives not according to his estate, but much under it.
Ans. Thou mayest surmise his estate to be greater than it is. Dost thou know all his losses, all his debts, his manifold charges, and several ways of laying out

(3) He is not liberal to the poor.
Ans. He may be prudent in well ordering his charity; and conscionable in observing this rule of Christ, 'When thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth,' Mat. vi. 3.

(4) He layeth up much.
Ans. Thou canst not tell what part of his estate he layeth up, nor to what ends. The apostle prescribeth it as a duty belonging to parents to lay up for their children, 2 Cor. xii. 14.


11. Of Contentedness. What It Is.

Contentedness is a satisfaction of the mind concerning the sufficiency and fitness of one's present condition.

This general matter of contentedness, a satisfaction of mind, doth not only put a distinguishing difference betwixt contentedness and covetousness, but also sheweth that they are diametrically contrary one to another: for a covetous mind is never satisfied with any estate: and a contented mind is never unsatisfied with any.

This satisfaction useth to accompany such things as God bestoweth on such as he taketh an especial care of. Such persons having long life are satisfied therewith. God with the blessing giveth satisfaction, Ps. xci. 16. 'The meek shall eat and be satisfied,' Ps. xxii. 26. God 'will satisfy the poor with bread,' Ps. cxxxii. 15. When God promiseth to send corn, wine, and oil as a blessing, it is added, 'ye shall be satisfied therewith,' Joel ii. 19, 26.

This satisfaction is said to be of the mind, to shew that it extends itself as far as covetousness doth; which is an inward inordinate desire of the mind. A contented person doth not only forbear outward indirect courses of getting more and more; but doth also restrain the motions of his mind or soul, from desiring more than God is willing to allot unto him.

The sufficiency mentioned in the description, hath not reference to any set quantity or measure which the contented person propounds to himself; but only to the wise providence of God, who doth give to every one of his what is sufficient for him: answerably a contented person so accounts his own estate, and is satisfied. She that made this answer, to him that would have spoken to the captain of the host for some reward to her, 'I dwell among mine own people,' was such a contented one, 2 Kings iv. 13.

This word fitness is added, to shew that contentedness extends itself not only to the things which are needful for man's livelihood, as food and rainment, 1 Tim. vi. 8, but also to the several estates s hereunto man is subject: as of peace and trouble, ease and pain, honour and dishonour, prosperity and adversity. Contentedness makes a man account that estate, be it joyous or grievous, whereunto God brings him, to be the fittest and seasonablest for him.

The present condition wherewith a contented mind is limited in this text, admits a double reference. One to the time past; wherein though his condition hath been better, yet he repineth not at the alteration thereof.

The other reference is to the time to come; wherein though he have never so great hope of bettering himself, yet for the present he remaineth content with his present condition.


12. Of the Grounds of Contentedness

The grounds of contentedness are such as follow:

(1) Knowledge of God's disposing providence; that he ordereth all things in heaven and earth, according to his own will, Ps. cxv. 3, and cxxxv. 6. Hence we may safely infer that our estate, whatsoever it be, great or mean, plentiful or scanty, quiet or troublesome, is ordered by God. 'The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away,' Job i. 21. 'I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things,' Isa. xiv. 7. Who would not, who should not, be content with that estate which God provideth for him? [This section continues from here.]


End.

[Music] A Sad Love Song -- Eric Moo

Eric Moo

1. Chinese Poem of the Day:


李白 (701 - 762)


清平調詞


其一:

雲想衣裳花想容，春風拂檻路華濃‧

若非羣玉山頭見，會向瑤臺月下逢‧


其二:

一枝紅艷露凝香，雲雨巫山枉斷腸‧

借問漢宮誰相似，可憐飛燕倚新妝‧


其三:

名花傾國兩相歡，常得君王帶笑看‧

解識春風無限恨，沈香亭北倚闌干‧


2. Whom should A Sad Love Song ("心酸的情歌") be labelled under?

Eric Moo composed the music and Andy Lau the lyrics.

Both Moo and Lau are singers.

Although Andy Lau is credited as the original singer, but Eric Moo's versions are so much better.

In the end, I label this song under Eric Moo.


3. ("Eric Moo", Wikipedia):

Eric Moo Chii Yuan (born 9 February 1963), better known as Eric Moo or Wu Qixian, is a Malaysian Chinese award-winning singer-songwriter and record producer.

Moo studied in Shu Qun Primary School, The Chinese High School and Jurong Junior College in Singapore. He started his first band, "Subway Band" (地下铁), in high school and began performing on stage in 1983. A year later, he released his first album, which topped Singapore's record charts for Mandopop. Subsequently, he launched his singing career in the Taiwan. Since then, Moo has released more than 40 albums in Mandarin and Cantonese, and performed in over 40 concerts.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Moo was part of the xinyao movement and his peers included Lee Wei Song, Lee Shih Shiong, Billy Koh and Liang Wern Fook. One of his more memorable songs is "Kopi O" (咖啡乌), which he performed himself for the popular SBC 1985 drama series The Coffee Shop. At the Star Awards 2007 anniversary special, he revealed that he had insisted on using the term "kopi o" in its original Hokkien rather than transliterating it into Mandarin according to the Speak Mandarin Campaign regulations.

In early 2006, Moo shifted his focus to the mainland Chinese market. He held his most recent and controversial concert on the 27th of May 2012 at Suntec City [in Singapore]. He sang only two of his own songs and decided to spread Christianity for the rest of his concert, sparking fury in many fans young and old.


4. Karaoke versions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whYBKI-ISv8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vasxn8PwnkU

The male models in the videos are not Eric Moo.


5. A music video recorded off TV:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnT5YQy2Xd8


6. Eric Moo singing live in a TV performance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OADC8V8RTAI


7. Eric Moo singing in 1994:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zavgP3LQ8D8


8. Eric Moo in concert in Hong Kong in 2011:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiP8HB6k3Lk


9. Eric Moo in an award ceremony in 2013:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQYBVb02lx4


10. Eric Moo and Sally Yeh singing in 2013:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oonw0410qSg


11. Eric Moo in concert in Hong Kong in 2014:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxZZacde-Lc

Good recovery after the fall during performance.

Eric Moo's voice has not changed in 20 years.

Amazing.


12. These are just the song by Eric Moo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uObYW5HRgdk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8IwC9BIIA8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Pfce8wvlwI

First of many songs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiEyW4Y5pDc


13. The original singer of this song is Andy Lau:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpCipjWDg2s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXgUBs3pYNU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMKFUZ9hmoM


14. The Lyrics in Traditional Chinese:

 
心酸的情歌 -- 巫啟賢

* 此刻深深的傷透了   我唱著心酸的情歌
歌聲不再有那美麗結局   與你重燃愛火
風中淒清的一個   卻有誰人可知心事麼
誰想到為你付上熱愛在那夜　竟是錯


# 留戀情   是我   曾經愛你是那麼多
無心人   是你   令我熱熾熱愛一切沒冀望

@ 我甘心將空虛中的一切都交託在這首歌
祇想一生在寂寞內剩餘絕情來伴我
我傷心將消失中的深愛都寄語在這首歌
如今再沒有力氣共你在這夜   玩火

Repeat *, #, @, @

如今再沒有力氣共你在這夜   玩火


15. The Lyrics in Simplified Chinese:


心酸的情歌 -- 巫启贤

* 此刻深深的伤透了   我唱着心酸的情歌
歌声不再有那美丽结局   与你重燃爱火
风中凄清的一个   却有谁人可知心事么
谁想到为你付上热爱在那夜   竟是错

# 留恋情   是我   曾经爱你是那么多
无心人   是你   令我热炽热爱一切没冀望

@ 我甘心将空虚中的一切都交托在这首歌
祇想一生在寂寞内剩余绝情来伴我
我伤心将消失中的深爱都寄语在这首歌
如今再没有力气共你在这夜 玩火

Repeat *, #, @, @

如今再没有力气共你在这夜   玩火


16. Names, Words and Phrases:

Andy Lau (Traditional Chinese: 劉德華; Simplified Chinese: 刘德华).

Eric Moo (Traditional: 巫啟賢; Simplified: 巫启贤).

Sally Yeh (Traditional: 葉蒨文; Simplified: 叶倩文).


References:

"Eric Moo", Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Moo
(accessed 2014-05-27).

"Li Bai", Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Bai
(accessed 2014-05-27).

"巫啟賢", Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia,
http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/%E5%B7%AB%E5%95%9F%E8%B3%A2
(accessed 2014-05-27).

"李白", Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia,
http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/%E6%9D%8E%E7%99%BD
(accessed 2014-05-27).

End.

[Book] Berlinski on Belief and Evidence

The Devil's Delusion (2009) 

David Berlinski

1. I have recently read David Berlinski's The Devil's Delusion: Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions (2009).

Berlinski is very erudite and his prose style is exquisite and a joy to read.

In this book, the Four Horsemen of New Atheism comes in for some biting criticisms.

(The Four Horsemen of New Atheism refers to Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris and Daniel Dennett.)

One reason why Berlinski's criticisms are so biting is because he is not some fundamentalist Christian or Moslem bent on refuting the new atheists.

Berlinski is a self-proclaimed secular Jew (Berlinski 2009, xiii):

"At the beginning of his Letter to a Christian Nation, Sam Harris writes that his fiercest and most 'disturbed' critics are Christians who are 'deeply, even murderously, intolerant of criticism.' It would seem that a good many of those intolerant critics have been sending Harris biblical verses supporting their intolerance. Now, I count myself among Harris's warmest detractors. When he remarks that he has been dumbstruck by Christian and Moslem intellectual commitments, I believe the word has met the man. But here it is, an inconvenient fact: I am a secular Jew. My religious education did not take. I can barely remember a word of Hebrew. I cannot pray. I have spent more years than I care to remember in studying mathematics and writing about the sciences. Yet the book that follows is in some sense a defense of religious thought and sentiment. Biblical verses are the least of it."

Berlinski's book makes many thought provoking points.

This blog post will consider only two of them:

(a) Clifford's Injunction is false.

(b) Theory determines evidence.

This post will end by quoting a section of Berlinski's book.


2. What is labelled as Clifford's Injunction is the claim that "it is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone to believe anything upon insufficient evidence."

The quotation is from W.K. Clifford's 1877 essay "The Ethics of Belief".

On the surface, the Injunction seems reasonable and true; but it turns out that in many cases, it is unreasonable and false.

To head off a possible misunderstanding, please remember that the denial of "all are" is "some are not", not "none are".

The denial of Clifford's Injunction is the claim: It is right sometimes, somewhere, and for someone to believe something upon insufficient evidence.

The denial of Clifford's Injunction is not the claim: It is right always, everywhere, and for anyone to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.

The denial of Clifford's Injunction does not legitimatize belief anarchy.

As to when it is right for someone somewhere to believe something upon insufficient evidence or even no evidence?

This must be considered on a case by case basis.

For a very readable argument on how the denial of Clifford's Injunction applies to belief in God, please see Alvin Plantinga's 1983 essay "Reason and Belief in God".


3. A standard format for writing a scientific report consists of four sections (The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill):

(a) Introduction: states the hypothesis.

(b) Methods: details how the hypothesis is tested.

(c) Results: provides the raw data collected.

(d) Discussion: considers whether the data obtained support or refute the hypothesis.

The format of a scientific report suggests that data or evidence will determine whether a theory is true or false: Evidence determines theory.

But the converse of the slogan is also true: Theory determines evidence.

This converse slogan is true in the sense that what we will see, notice or consider as evidence also depends on our theory about the world.

Theory also determines evidence has been emphasized by contemporary philosophy of science at least since the Second World War.

The following quotation of Berlinski has a very nice explanation of it.


4. The following quotation is a section called "Evidence" of Chapter 3: Horses Do Not Fly of Berlinski's book (Berlinski 2009, 47-50):

Evidence

It is wrong, the nineteenth-century British mathematician W. K. Clifford affirmed, “always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.” I am guessing that Clifford believed what he wrote, but what evidence he had for his belief, he did not say.

Something like Clifford’s injunction functions as the premise in a popular argument for the inexistence of God. If God exists, then his existence is a scientific claim, no different in kind from the claim that there is tungsten to be found in Bermuda. We cannot have one set of standards for tungsten and another for the Deity. If after scouring Bermuda for tungsten, we cannot find any of the stuff, then we give up on the claim. By parity of reasoning, if it is wrong to believe anything upon insufficient evidence, and if there is insufficient evidence for the existence of God, then it must be wrong to believe in his existence.

There remains the obvious question: By what standards might we determine that faith in science is reasonable, but that faith in God is not? It may well be that “religious faith,” as the philosopher Robert Todd Carroll has written, “is contrary to the sum of evidence,” but if religious faith is found wanting, it is reasonable to ask for a restatement of the rules by which “the sum of evidence” is computed. Like the Ten Commandments, they are difficult to obey but easy to forget. I have forgotten them already.

Perhaps this is because there are no such rules. The concept of sufficient evidence is infinitely elastic. It depends on context. Taste plays a role, and so does intuition, intellectual sensibility, a kind of feel for the shape of the subject, a desire to be provocative, a sense of responsibility, caution, experience, and much besides. Evidence in the court of public opinion is not evidence in a court of law. A community of Cistercian monks padding peacefully from their garden plots to their chapel would count as evidence matters that no physicist should care to judge. What a physicist counts as evidence is not what a mathematician generally accepts. Evidence in engineering has little to do with evidence in art, and while everyone can agree that it is wrong to go off half-baked, half-cocked, or half-right, what counts as being baked, cocked, or right is simply too variable to suggest a plausible general principle.

When a general principle is advanced, it collapses quickly into absurdity. Thus Sam Harris argues that “to believe that God exists is to believe that I stand in some relation to his existence such that his existence is itself the reason for my belief” (italics added). This sounds very much as if belief in God could only be justified if God were to call attention conspicuously to Himself, say by a dramatic waggling of the divine fingers.

If this is so, then by parity of reasoning again, one might argue that to believe that neutrinos have mass is to believe that I stand in some relationship to their mass such that their mass is itself the reason for my belief.

Just how are those neutrinos waggling their fingers?

A neutrino by itself cannot function as a reason for my belief. It is a subatomic particle, for heaven’s sake. What I believe is a proposition, and so an abstract entity—that neutrinos have mass. How could a subatomic particle enter into a relationship with the object of my belief? But neither can a neutrino be the cause of my belief. I have, after all, never seen a neutrino: not one of them has ever gotten me to believe in it. The neutrino, together with almost everything else, lies at the end of an immense inferential trail, a complicated set of judgments.

Believing as I do that neutrinos have mass—it is one of my oldest and most deeply held convictions—I believe what I do on the basis of the fundamental laws of physics and a congeries of computational schemes, algorithms, specialized programming languages, techniques for numerical integration, huge canned programs, computer graphics, interpolation methods, nifty shortcuts, and the best efforts by mathematicians and physicists to convert the data of various experiments into coherent patterns, artfully revealing symmetries and continuous narratives. The neutrino has nothing to do with it.

Within mathematical physics, the theory determines the evidence, and not the other way around. What sense could one make of the claim that top quarks exist in the absence of the Standard Model of particle physics? A thirteenth-century cleric unaccountably persuaded of their existence and babbling rapturously of quark confinement would have faced then the question that all religious believers now face: Show me the evidence. Lacking access to the very considerable apparatus needed to test theories in particle physics, it is a demand he could not have met.

In the face of experience, W. K. Clifford’s asseveration must be seen for what it is: a moral principle covering only the most artificial of cases.

The existence of God is not one of them.


References:

Berlinski, David. 2009. The Devil's Delusion: Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions. New York: Basic Books.

Chignell, Andrew. 2010. The Ethics of Belief. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. Edward N. Zalta.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-belief/
(Spring 2013 Edition).

Plantinga, Alvin. 1983. Reason and Belief in God. In Faith and Rationality: Reason and Belief in God, ed. Alvin Plantinga and Nicholas Wolterstorff, 16-93. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press.

The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. [n.d.]. Scientific Reports.
http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/scientific-reports/
(accessed 2014-05-10).

"New Atheism", Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Atheism
(accessed 2014-05-10).

End.