The Altar Of Gold

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I N this year of Two Thousand, with its pomp and its
     pride,
      Its creeds and its churches behold;
And those so devout, who come in and go out,
      Still they bow at the altar of gold.

Early temples of Christ were not structures immense,
      With a spire-finger trained on the sky,
Which would vanity hold, " just an altar of gold,"
      For worship, in wet and in dry;

The religion that men of to-day single out,
      In heat most intense and in cold,
Is the wealth from the mint, though the neighbor would stint
      If it yields but a handful of gold.

If Christ should to-day, 'mid this gold-chasing crowd,
      Call time on the lovers of lust,
There are many accounts, of excessive amounts,
      As the soul, which is hidden in dust!