Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1882-05-20
NORTHERN TRIBUNE.
SATURDAY. MAY 20, 1882.
Rev. DR.. swing on the Love of Money.

Rev. Dr. Swing ON the Love of Money
Rev. DR.. Swings latest sermon was
preached from the dull and seemingly
incompatible texts "SOn, go to work to-
day i'm my vineyard" (Matthew xxi. 2S)
and, For the love of money is the root of
all evil" q Timothy vi, 10Y.
The charge made against money by the
apostle, the preacher said, was an acct
dent of the recklessness of the times.
Pursuit of property was even more un-
scrupulous than at the present time.
Wars were carried on for pillage, and the
most conspicuous civil administrators
made fOrcibe levies of money on their
provinces. The expression that love OF
money is a bad passion is full of mean
ing, and whoever will study deeply the
habits of the period must conclude that
the "accursed hungee" was the cause OF
unmeasured wrong as done by nations
and individuals. While bordering on
the intense utterance of st. Paul, along
comes One broader and lOftier, who says,
"SOn, go work in my vineyard;" but as
work INVOLVES pay or property, 1T must be
that there is a love of money that IS not
the root Of evil but is the root of all good.
In the struggle for existence, which Is
the basis of labor, man wins more than
existence, for he gradually ennobles his
being. Money is one of the earliest and
most universal and most powerful mo-
tives. Money is a general name for
wants. 1t is thus the earliest motive of
action, for man coming into this world
wants dinner before he wants ltera-
ture or religion. He longs for clothes
and shelter before he has any aspiration
for music or pictures. The money which
will purchase the food and clothing and
shelter is thus the earliest and most uni
versal of motives, and thus becomes a
pioneer to lead men out of barbarism into
the light of learning and refinement.
Before man was noble enough to be
moved by patriotism, or by thirst for
knowledge, or by piety, or by tastelfOr
the beautiful, he began to be affected by
money, and to be walked out of his sleep
by consideration of the things it would
buy. The rapid occupation and civiliza-
ton of this continent are due as much
to the love of money as to any other sim
gle passion of the heart. The Daniel
BOOnes of American history should be
granted only page of honor, for in some
sense they were pioneers of religion and
culture, but man whose love of proper
ty was quite well satisfied with coat
and cap made of skins and with trusty
rifle cannot make wilderness glad or
bloom. The passion for gold, which
founded a Leadville or Denver, or SAP
Francisco. or Chicago, is ten thousand
times more powerful for good than are
the rifles of the Boones in the depths, of
the forest. Would that we could now
measure this impulse and learn how long
it should influence the individual career!
The trade winds of the sea blow accord
ing to tAed laws, and the mariner in the
Southern oceans knows what months of
s ear will bring him favorable or re-
verse gales; but we know not definitely
how long this breeze of gain should watt
upon the sea that mysterious wanderer,
the hnman heart. All is obscure and in
definite. This is most certain, that the
love of accommodating property follows
many too long, and offers ruin instead
of salvation. As the ambition which is
implanted in the mind to urge it toward
along lawful paths may pass beyond its
bounds and make an invader Of peaceful
States devastating General, so this pas
sion foe material things may take pos
session of the whole soul and life Of a
man, and crush him as the serpents
crushed the LAGOON, the priest of the
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