Democratic messenger., 1892-11-19
AT THE TABERNACLE.
Or. TALMAGE THINKS THE GOLDEN
CALF is STILL WORSHIPEO.

Rage of Moses-As the People Then
Were Punished So Are All Who Worship
the Golden Calf In These Latter DAYS.
BROOKLYN, Nov. 13.-The subject Of
for his first sermon after the national
election was one peculiarly appropriate
to the money making spirit Of the times.
1t was The Golden Calf" the text se-
lected being Exodus xxxii, 90, And he
took the calf which they had made and
burned it 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 a god of some kind,
and they prefer one of their own MAX
ing. Here come the Israelites, breaking
off their golden earrings. the men as
well As the women, for in those times
there were masculine as well rs femi-
nine decorations. Where did they get
these beautiful gold earrings, coming
up as they did from the desert? Oh, they
borrowed" them of the Egyptians when
they left Egypt. These earrings are
piled up into pyramid of glittering
beauty. ANY more earrings to bring:"
says Aaron. None. Fire is kindled
the earrings are melted and poured into
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
upon its four legs.
An altar is built in front of the shining
calf. Then the people throw up their
arms and gyrate and shrek and dance
nightly and worship. Moses has been
six weeks on Mount Sinai. and he comes
back and hears the bowling and sees
the dancing of these golden calf fanat-
les, and he loses his patience, and he
takes the two plates of stone ON which
were written the Ten Commandments
and filings them so hard against rock
that they split all to pieces. When a
man gets mad he is very apt to break all
the Ten Commandments!
Moses rushes, i'll and he takes this calf
god and throws ii into hot fire until il
is melted all out of shape, and then pull
verizes it-not by the modern appliance
of nitro-muriatic acid, but by the ancient
appliance of inter. or by the old fash
ioned file. He makes for the people a
most nauseating draft. He takes this
pulveriZed golden 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.
FLOWED AROUND THE WORLD.
P,,s fbax- iiI pnf Ir;pl- all tba ,,li4tar
ing stuff thrown on the surface. Some
of it flows on down the surface of the
brook to the river, and then flows on
down to the river to the sea, and the sea
takes it up and bears it TO the mouth of
all the rivers. and when the tides set
back the remains of this golden 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 surface. and
they bring it ashore, and they make an
other golden calf. and California and
Australia break off their golden earrings
TO augment the pile. and in the fires of
financial excitement and struggle all
these things are melted together. and
while we stand looking and wondering
what will come of it, 10! we find that
the golden calf of Israelitish worship
has become the golden calf of European
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 idolaters.
Put aside this curtain, and you see the
golden calf of modern idolatry. II 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 Eng
land. and the fiutter of Frenchman's
heart on the Bourse. 1t has an eye so
keen that it can see the rust on the farm
of Michigan wheat, and the insect in the
Maryland peach orchard. and the tram
pied grain under the hoof of the Russian
war charger.
ITS GORGEOUS TEMPLE.
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, 1863, in New York.
shouted, lone hundred and sixty for u
million" and the whole continent shiv-
cred. This golden calf of the text has
its right foot in New York. its left front
foot in Chicago, its right back foot in
Charleston, its left back foot in New
Orleans, and when it shakes itself it
shakes the world. Oh, this is "A mighty
god-the golden calf of the world 5
worship!
But every god must have its temple,
and this golden calf of the text is no
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 Hin
docs. and all the other cathedrals put
together. Its pillars are grooved and
fiuted with gold, and its ribbed arches
are lowering gold, and its chandeliers
are descending gold, and its floors are
ltSSelldttu Solu, anu IT'S NdullS are
crowded heaps of gold, and its spires
and domes are soaring gold, and its or
gan pipes are resounding gold. and its
pedals are tramping gold, and its stops
pulled out are flashing gold. while
standing at the head of the temple, as
she presiding deity, are the hoofs and
shoulders and eyes and ears and nostrils
of the calf of gold.
Further, every god must have not
only its temple, but its altar of sacrifice.
and this golden calf of the text is no ex-
ception. Its altar is not made out of
stone as other altars. but out of count
ing room desks and fireproof safes, and
it Is broad. long. high altar. The
victims sacrificed on it are innumerable.
What does this god care about the groans
and struggles of the victims before il:
With cold. metallic eye it looks on and
yet lets them suffer. Oh. heaven and
earth, what an altar, what sacrifice Of