Asceticism and the Spirit of Capitalism
Wealth is thus bad ethically only in so far as it is a temptation to idleness and sinful enjoyment of life, and its acquisition is bad only when it is with the purpose of later living merrily and without care. But as a performance of duty in a calling it is not only morally permissible, but actually enjoined.[42] The parable of the servant who was rejected because he did not increase the talent which was entrusted to him seemed to say so directly.[43] To wish to be poor was, it was often argued, the same as wishing to be unhealthy[44]; it is objectionable as a glorification of works and derogatory to the glory of God. Especially begging, on the part of one able to work, is not only the sin of slothfulness, but a violation of the duty of brotherly love according to the Apostle's own word.[45]
The emphasis on the ascetic importance of a fixed calling provided an ethical justification of the modern specialized division of labour. In a similar way the providential interpretation of profit-making justified the activities of the business man.[46] The superior indulgence of the seigneur and the parvenu ostentation of the nouveau riche are equally detestable to asceticism. But, on the other hand, it has the highest ethical appreciation of the sober, middle-class, self-made man.[47] "God blesseth His trade" is a stock remark about those good men[48] who had successfully followed the divine hints. The whole power of the God of the Old Testament, who rewards His people for their obedience in this life,[49] necessarily exercised a similar influence on the Puritan who, following Baxter's advice, compared his own state of grace with that of the heroes of the Bible,[50] and in the process interpreted
