Sometimes too hard. Russell Conwell was a believer. A Union veteran and an attorney, he became a Baptist preacher building a struggling congregation in Philadelphia into what became Temple University. In 1878, he delivered a sermon, “Acres of Diamonds,” that he would give over six thousand times. Not quite as famous as the “Sermon on the Mount,” to which some followers compared it, the speech went through numerous print editions. The advertising blurb on the back of the 1978 centennial edition claimed, “This is the beloved, all-time bestseller that has helped more Americans find more happiness than any other book besides the Bible!”1 Some sermons do not age well. They are too reflective of their time and place. “Acres of Diamonds” struck a responsive chord in Americans of the 1870s and kept on striking it because it articulated the theme of modern America. God wanted all Americans to be wealthy, the sooner the better. Forget about “Money is the root of all evil.” That is not in the Bible.
