Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1892-11-17
THE GOLDEN CALF.
DR.. TALMACE breaches ON
THE MONEY POWER.
The Vengeance of Heaven lie Thinks
VIII Smite the Grinding Heel OF the
Money Bags from the Face of the
Earth.


Earth
BROOKLYN, Nov. 10, 1892 The sub
iect of discourse chosen by the Rev.
DIR. Talmage for his first sermon after
the national election was one pecu-
liarly appropriate to the money-malling
spirit of the times. 1t was 1.-The Golden
Calf" the text selected being Exodus
32:20, 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 chill
dren 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, break
ing off their golden earrings, the men
as well as the women, for in those
times there were masculine as well as
feminine decorations. Where did they
get these beautiful gold earrings, COM
ing up as they did from the desert?
Oh, they "borrowcd' them of the
Egyptians when they left Egypt.
These earrings are piled up into
a pyramid of glittering beauty. ANY
more earrings to bring?' says
Aaron. None Fire is kindled; the
earrings are melted and poured into Il
mold, not of an eagle or a 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 gy-
rate, 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 fanatics, and he loses his patience,
and he takes the two plates of stone
on which were written the Ten Com
mandments and filings them so hard
against rock that they split all to
pieces. When man gets mad he is
very apt to break all the Ten Com
mandmentS! Moses rushcs in and he
takes this calfgod and throws it into Il
hot fire, until it is melted all out of
shape, and then pulverizes it-not by
the modern applia nee of nitro-muriatic
acid, but by the ancient appliance of
nitre, or by the old-fashioned file. He
makes for the people Il most nauseat-
ing draught. lie takes this pulverized
golden calf and throws it in the only
brook which is accessible, and the peo-
pie are compelled to drink of that
brook or not drink at alt. 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
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 .he Thames, and
the Clyde, and the Iiber, 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 gold
EN- 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
lsraelitish 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. 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 tie footballs in the Bank
of England, and the hutter of Il
Frenchman's heart on the Bourse.
1t has an eye so keen that it
can see the rust on the farm of Michi-
gan wheat and the insect in the Mary
land 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 Turlio- Russian contest One broker
in September, 1850, in New York,
shouted: One 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 back
foot in New 0rlens, and when it
shakes itself it shakes the world. Oh.
this is mighty god-the golden calf
of the worlds worship.
But every god must have its temple
and this golden calf of the text is no
exception. It's temple is vaster than
st. Paurs of the English, and st.
Peters of the Italians, and the Alham-
| bra of the Spaniards, and the Parthe-
non of the Greeks, and the Tai Mahal
of the Hindoos, and all the other
| cathedrals put together. Its pillars
are grooved and tluted with gold, and
its ribbed arches are lowering gold,
/ anu us CHduucIlefS are ueScenulng
gold, and its floors are tesselated gold,
and its vaults are crowded heaps of
gold, and its spires and domes are
soaring gold, and its organ 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 the pre-
siding deity, are the hoofs and shout
ders and eyes and ears and nostrils OF
the calf of gold.
Further: every god must have not
only its temple, but its altar of sacri.
flee, and this golden calf of the text is
no exception. Its altar is not made
ont of stone as other affairs, but gu,
of counting room desks and fire proof
safes, and il is a broad, a long, a high
altar. The victims sacrificed on il
are innumerable. What does this god
care about the groans and struggles of
the victims before it? With cold.