The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1892-11-24
MODERN ] ] R IDOLATRY.
TIE GOLDEN CALF q II UNivER-
SAL WORSHIP.
The Modern Form of ldolatry--Asl
y Idol Which Has NO Mercy on It's
vIctins--E Every Day a Day
OF Judgment.

BROOKLYN, N. X, Special The sub
ject of discourse chosen by Rev. DR..
Talmage for his first sermon after the
national election was one peculiarly
appropriate to the money IN aking
spirit Of the times. II was ...The
Golden Calf" the text selected being
Exodus, xxi, 20: And he took the
calf which they had made and burnt
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 q god OF some kind,
and they prefer one Of their own MAX
ing. Here come the Israelites, break
ing off their golden earrings, the men
as well as the women, for in those
times they were masculine as well as
femenine decorations. Where did they
get these beautiful gold earrings, com
ing up as they did from the desert?
Oh, they borrowed them from the
Egyptians when they left Egypt These
earrings are piled up into pyramid
of glittering beauty. .sAny moro ear
rings to bring?" says Aaron. None.
Fire is kindled; the earrings are melt
ed and poured into mold, not OF an
eagle or a war charger, but OF a calf.
the gold cools off; the mold is taken
away, and the idol is set upon it's 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-ca fanatics, and closes
his patience, and he takes the two
plates>of stone on which were written
the Ten Commandments and filings
them so hard against q rock that they
split all to pieces. When a man gets
mad he is very apt to break all the
Ten Commandments! Moses rushes
in and he takes this calf-god and
throws it into hot fire, until it is
melted all out OF shape, and then pull
verizes it-not by the modern appli-
ances Of nitro-muriatic s.acid, but by
the ancient appliance of nitre, or by
the old-fashioned file. He makes for
the people most nauseating draught.
He takes this pulyerized golden calf
and throws it in tie only brook which
is accessible, and the people are com
PEELED to drink OF that brook or not
drink at all. But they did not drink
all the glittering stuff thrown on the
surface. Some of it flows on down
the surface 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 therivers.
and when the tides set back the re-
mains 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 ssklm the glittering surface, and
they bring it ashore and they make
another 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 nre melted to-
gether, and while we stand looking
and wondering what will come Of it,
lo we find that the golden calf OF
Israelitish worship has become the
golden calf of European and Amerl-
can worship.
THE MODERN CALF.
shall describe to you the god
spoken of in text, his temple, his
altar OF sacrifice the music that is
made in his temple, andthen the final
breaking up Of the whole congregation
of idolaters.
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 hutter of q
Frenchman's heart on the Bourse. tt
has an eye so keen that it can see rust
On the farm Of Michigan wheat and
! the Insect in the Maryland peach
| orchard, and the trampled grain I'M
| der the hoof of the Russian war
charger. It is so mighty that it swings
in any way it will the worlds ship.
ping. tt has its foot on all the mer-
chantmen and the steamers. 1t start
| ed the American civil war, and under
God stopped It, and it decided the
Turko. Russian contest. One broker
in September, 1860, in New York
shouted One hundred and sixty for
a milHonE and the whole continent
shivered. This golden calf OF the text
has it's right front foot in New York,
it's left front foot in Chicago, it's right
back foot in Charleston, it's left back
foot in New Orleans, and when it
SMOKES the world. Oh! this is a mighty
! god-the golden calf OF the world s
worship.
But every god must have its tenn
pie, and this golden calf OF the text is
no exception. It's temple is vaster
than st. Paul's OF the English, and
st. Peters of the Italians, and the
I Alhambra OF the Spnniards, and the
Parthenon Of the Greeks, and the
Tai Mahal Of the Hindo COS and all the
other cathedrals put together. It's
t pillars are grooved and Auted With
! gold, and it's ribbed arches are hover
ing gold, and it's chandeliers are des-
il oa,, d;no r,o1d o,,d aifc4 Hn0ra n va s ~ 81