The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1892-11-30
THE GOLDEN GALE"
The Subject of Sermon by Rev.
T. Dewitt Talmage, D. D.
How Men Sacrifice Themselves and ThelI
Families in Their Greed for Wealth
The Great Temple and Altar OF
the Golden Calf of Mod
ern Idolatry.

was The Golden Calf, tne leNJ St.
lected being Exodus xxi, %:
And he took the calf which they had made
and burnt il in the fire, and ground it to powder
and strewed it upon the water and made the
children of Israel drink of it.
People will have god of some kind,
and they prefer one of their own MAX
ing. Here come the Israelites, break
ing off their golden ings, the men
as well as the womer in those times
there were masculine IS well as femi-
nine decorations. Where did they get
get these beautiful gold earrings, COM
ing up as they did from the desert? o,
they borrowed them of the Egyptians
when they left Egypt These earrings
are piled up into pyramid of glitter
ing beauty amy more earrings to
bring?" says Aaron. None. Fire is
kiudled: the earrings are melted and
pured into a mold, not of an eagle or
war charger, but of calf; the gold
cools off; the mold is taken away, and
the idol is set up on its four legs. An
altar is built in front of the shining
calf. Then the people tn row up their
arms, and gyrate and shrek and dance
nightly and worship Moses has been
six weeks on Mount Sinai, and he comes
back ard hears the bowling and sees the
dancing of these goleden-calf fanatics,
and he loses his patience and he takes
the two plates of stone on which We're
written the Ten Commandments and
filings them so hard against rock that
they split all to pieces. When man
gets mad he is very apt to break ali the
Ten Commandments! Moses rushes in
and he takes this calf-god and throws it
into hot fire, until it is melted all ont
of shape, and then pulverizes it-not by
the modern appliances of nitro-muriatic
acid, but by ancient appliance Of
nitre, or by the old-fasional file. He
makes for the people a most nauseating
draught He takes this pulverized gold
en- calf and throws it in the only brook
which is accessible, and the people are
compelled to drink of that brook or not
drink at all But they did not drink all
the glittering stuff thrown on the sur
face. Some of it flows on down the sur
face of the brook to the river. and then
flows on down the river to the sea, and
the sea takes it up and bears it to the
mouth of all the rivers, and when the
tide sets back, the remains of this gold
en- calf are carried up into the Hudson,
and the East River, and the Thames,
and the Clyde, and the Tiber, and men
go out and they skim the glittering sur
face, and they bring it ashore and they
make another golden calf, and Califor-
MIA and Australia break off their golden
earrings to augment the pile, and in the
fires of financial excitement and strug-
gle all these things are melted together,
and while we stand looking and Won
dering what will come of it, 10! we find
that the golden calf of Israelitish wor-
ship has become the golden calf of Eu-
ropean and American worship.
shall describe to you the god spoken
of in the text, his temple, his altar of
sacrifice, the music that is made in his
temple, and then the final breaking up
of the whole congregation of idoaters.
Put aside this curtain and you see the
golden calf of modern idolatry. 1t is
not like other idols, made out of stocks
or stone, but it has an ear so sensitive
that it can hear the whispers on Wall
street and Third street. and State
street, and the footballs in the Bank of
England, and the tlutter of French
mans heart on the bourse. 1t has an
eye so keen that it can see the rust on
the farm of Michigan wheat and the in
sect in the Maryland peach orchard,
and the trampled grain under the hoof
of the Russian war charger. 1t is so
mighty that it swings any way it will
the worlds shipping. 1t has its foot on
all the merchantmen and the steamers.
1t started the American civil war, and
under God stopped it, and it decided
the Turko-Russian contest. One broker
in September, 1869, in New York,
shouted: zone hundred and sixty for
million" and the whole continent
shivered. This golden calf of the text
has its right front foot in New York, its
left front foot in Chicago, its right
back foot in Charleston, its left bacl;
foot in New Orleans. and when il
shakes itself it shakes the W orld. Oh
this is a mighty god-the golden calf OF
the worlds worship.
But every god must have its temple
and this golden calf of the text is NJ
exception. Its temple is vaster than
st. Paul's of the English, and St Peters
of the Italians and the Alhambra Of
the Spaniards, and the Parthenon Of
the Greeks, and the Tai Mahal of the
Hindoos, and all other cathedrals put
together Its pillars are grooved ano
futed with gold. and its ri bbed arches
are lowering gold, and its chandelier:
are descending gold, and its floors ar,
tesselated gold, and its vaults ar,
crowded heaps of gold, and its spire:
and domes are soaring gold, and its or
gan pipes are resounding go Id, and it
pedals are tramping gold, and its stop:
pulled out are flashing gold, Will,
standing at the head of the temple, a:
the presiding deity, are the hoofs anC
shoulders and eyes and ears and nostril'
of the calf of gold.
Further; Every god must have no
only its temple, but its altar of sacrifice
and this golden calf of the text is mock
ception. Its altar is not made out o
stone as other affairs, but out of count
ipr-room desk, and fire proof safes. ant
it is broad, long, high altar. TIL,
victims sacrificed on it are innumera BILE
What does this god care about the groan
and struggles of the victims before it
With cold, metallic eye it looks on ant
vet lets them suffer. o, heaven anC