--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Osmond, Alfred collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 9 number: 10 published: 1906-08 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Alfred Osmond, "The God of Gold," *Improvement Era* 9, no. 10 (August 1906): 757.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0910unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera0910unse start_page: 757 end_page: 757 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1906-08) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0910unse publication_year: 1906 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1906, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # The God of Gold GOD OF GOLD. BY ALFRED OSMOND, PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH, BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY (For the Improvement Era). God of gold, I will not love thee. All the world may sing thy praise; But the King who rules above thee Has condemned thy sordid ways. Bind disease in fatal fetters; Drive these feasting fiends away. Write "relieved" in flaming letters Here where tortured victims lay. How did'st thou become exalted! Cans't thou trace thy royal line Back to where some god revolted 'Gainst thy regal right divine? Death has conquered mighty nations; Hell commands a mighty host. Vanquish these, or God's creations All proclaim thy cause is lost. Bloodless, soulless, lifeless demon, Art thou not a base-born slave? Woulds't thou rule these noble freemen Whom a God has died to save? Ah, I see thee cringe in meekness— Yield to right—give up thy power; Serve the world in faith and meekness, And receive thy heavenly dower. Come with me into this hovel, Gaze in aching eyes of pain. Here where loathsome lepers grovel Test—oh test thy golden chain! As a servant thou hast ever Been a friend of age and youth; As a master thou cans't never Guide man to the source of truth. Provo, Utah.