The Mississippi Creole. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1841-1851, 1850-05-11
WEALTH,


Now wage no war against wealth. taint
it with no ViIifying breath. Wealth, so far
as it consits in comfortable shelter and food
and raiment for all mankind; in competence
for every bodily want, and in abundance for
every mental and spiritual need, is so valuable,
so precious that It any earthly object could
be worthy of idolatry, this might best be the
idol, Wealth. as the means Of refinement and
establishment; OF education and culture, not
only universal in its comprehension, but
elevated in its character; wealth as the means
of perfectng the arts and advancing the sci
ences, and discovering and diiiusing truth
is blessing we cannot adequately appreciate
and God seems to have pronounced 1t to he
40, when He made the earth and oil the Iul-
ness thereof-the elements, the land and sea,
and all that in them is-convertble into 1t.
But wealth as the means Of an idle or a vo-
luptuous life: wealth, as the fosterer OF
pride and the petrifer of the human hearts
wealth, as the iron rod with which to beat the
poor into su omission to its will, is all the cur
ses of Pandora concentrated into one, 1t is
not more true, that money represents all val"
ues, than that it represents all vices
In this country most young men are poor'-
Time is the rock from which they are to
bew out their fortunes; and health, enterprise
and integrity, the instruments with which to de
it, To the young man without patrlmony, there
are lew higher earthly duties than to obtainGa
competency. For this, diligence in business
al stnence in pleasures, privation even, oI
everything that does not endanger health are
to be oyfulIy welcOm and borne. When
we look around US, and see how much OF the
wick edness of the world springs from poverty,
it seems to sancufy all honest efforts Tor the
ACQUISITION Of an independence. But when
an independence is acquired, then comes the
moral crsis--then comes an lthurlel tesl-whlcr
shows whether man is higher than a com
mon man, or lower than common TePtlIe.-
In the duty Of accumulation, (and call i
r a duty, in the most strict and literal slgnihca'
ton of that word,) all below a Incompetence II
most valuable, and its acquisition most lauda
8 BILE. But,all above fortune is a misfortune
9 to him who amusses it; for it is a vOluntar,
! continuance in the harness Of a beast OF bur
! dan. when the soul should entranchise an
t lih itself up into higher region OF pursuit
3 and measures. Itisa persistence in the wor
y of providing goods for the body, after tn
: body has already been provided for; and it
a denial Of the higher demands Of the sou
after the time has arrived and the means al
possessed Of fulfilling those demands. Sine
u men have bodies and heads and hearts to .
provided for, some provision for the BODY
9 the duty first in order; because the body
the only earthly residence Of, the mind, aa
therefore must first be taken care OF but whe
. this first duty is am ly fulfilled, then the olh'
duties-these which belong to the head and u
m Iheart-become frs, both in OTdeI! and IN IN
portance. Because the lower service was on
secessary. and has, therefore, been perform
ns d. Ills amlghty wrong, when, without be''
q longer necessary, it usurps the sacred rights
the higher.-H, Mann.