Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1918-12-18
ACHRlSTMAS SERMON
(By a Cornfleld Philosopher.)

i (By C0rnheld Ph1lOsopher.)
During this happy week just before
Christmas, have yielded to the temp
tation to try my hand of preparing a
sermon, intended not only for the
heather, and for laymen, but for min.
listers of the Gospel, and even high
church dignitaries.
AS this is my first venture In this
new and untried field, my shots may
scatter and but few Of them hit the
mark.
With creeds and dogmas and con.
tessions of faith, let alone hair split.
ting theological differences I have
little to do. I am but humble lay.
man anyway and have no business
mixing up with learned Doctors OF
Divinity In such matters. But the
great Central Truths of Christianity,
upon which we all agree, will engage
my attention for moment. The
teaching of what is good and what is
evil and the pointing out, and warn
ing against the sins that so easily be.
| set us, enlist the best efforts of thou
sands Of learned, and I might say,
consecrated human beings, and still
these evils increase and multiply
Human Greed.
In my opinion the greatest of these
sins, and the one touched upon the
l1ghtest and handled the most ginger.
ly, In the pulpit, is human greed or
averice, in short, the worship of the
almighty dollar. To my mind, the
whole life of Jesus Christ on this
earth, as recorded in the Four Cos
pels prove this conclusively. His
parents we're the poorest of the poor,
and He Himself was born in a manger
in a barn or stable. He overthrow
the tables Of thg~m0ney changers in
the temple, which, he charged them
into "den of thieves" When a GER
portant question, what shall do
to be saved" He replied, "Sell all
thou hath and give to the poor, and
take up thy cross and follow me-"
"And the rich man was sorely grieved
for he had great possessions" We
are further .admonished not to lay up
treasures on earth where moth and
rust doth corrupt and where thieves
break through and steal. We are
solemnly assured on the same authori.
ty that 1T is easier for a camel to go
through the eye of a needle than for
rich man to enter the Kingdom of
Heaven" Much more of the same
import might be quoted, but this is
sufficient
Excessive Profits.
A desire for large and excessive
profits lies at the base of much of
the evil in the world, and the tempta-
ton to "get rich quickly or make
big dividends, is the inspiring motive
of most of our Industrial troubles
The Liquor Traffic.
The traffic in intoxicating liquors
which is not only the deadly foe OF
Christianity, but undoubtedly the
prime cause of more sorrow and suf-
fering and human misery than any
other single agency, is but a rank
manifestation Of the unrestrained pur-
suit Of the almighty dollar. Men
manufacture alcoholic beverages, and
use every artifice to induce others to
consume them, not for the pleasure
of running their fellow men, but to
annex the great profit there is in the
business. Cut out the profit or even
reduce it to conform to that in ordin-
airy lines of trade, and liquor selling
would largely disappear.
| Law Breaking.
| The breaking of the laws, especial.
| ly by large business interests, can be
almost always traced to a desire to
increase profits and make a good
showing" Larger Dividends" seem to
justify in the plastic minds of many,
almost any trick or deception that
the Evil One may suggest. Thus we
have monstrous frauds practiced on
the government, and prof1teering even
in war times on gigantic scale some.
times to the tune of 1000 per cent!
Love Of country and its institutions
and reverence for the flag and what
it stands for, are all apparently over
Swallowed and forgotten in the mad
race for gold.
Sunday Labor.
Unnecessary labor on Sunday fright.
fully on the increase in certain quar-
ters, and boding evil to this Republic
unless speedily checked, may be traced
in many cases to a desire to increase
dividends.
The object lessons to the young set
by the railways in running numerous
extra trains on the Lords day is Ger
tainly not conducive to a high degree
of morality.
Aid to the Kaiser.
i If the truth were fully known, II
would be discovered that a longing
to extend their markets to include the
whole world, on the part Of German
manufacturers and merchants was a
chief inspiring motive in the German
conspiracy to conquer the earth. Lust
of power and authority on the part Of
the kaiser and his war lords wou1c
never alone have carried the grea'
Teutonic nation to such lengths, no.
; without the approved and active ait
of its trading classes who expected
. great benefits from expanding com