Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1892-11-24
ON MODERN IDOLATRY:
THE GOLDEN CALF OF UNlvER-
SAL WORSHIP.
The Modem Form Of ldolatry--An
Idol VIII Oh Has " o Mercy on Its
V.ctims--Every Day Day
OF Judgment.


national e.ection was one peculiarly
appropriate to the money making
spirit OF the times. 1t was 1.-The
Golden Calf" the text selected being
Exodus, xxxii., 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 we'll as the women, for in those
times they were masculine as we'll as
femenine decorations. Where did they
get these beautiful gold earrings, com.
ing up HIS they did from the desert?
Oh, they borrowed them from the
Egyptians when they LETT Egypt. These
earrings are piled up into pyramid
of glittering beauty. "Any 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 war charger, but OF a calf.
the god cools off; the mold is taken
away, and he dol 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 fanatics, and heloses
his patience. and he takes the two
plates of stone on which were written
the Ten Commandments and filings
them go hard against a rock that they
split all to pieces. When 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 10
melted all out OF shape, and then pull
verizes it-not by the modern appli-
ances OF nitrO-muriatlc 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 Dulverlzed golden calf
and throws it in the 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 he lvers,
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 Thame ), and the CLYDE,
and the Tiber, and men 60 out and
they skim 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 are melted to-
gether, and while we stand looking
and wondering what will come of it,
10! we find that the golden calf of
Israrlitish worship has become the
golden calf of European and Ameri-
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 futter of g.
Frenchman's heart on the Bourse. It
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 un-
der the hoof of the Russian war
charger. 1t is 80 mighty that it swings
in any way it will the worlds ship.
ping. 1t has its foot on all the mer-
chantmen and the steamers. 1t start
ed the American civil war, and under
Ged stopped it, and it decided the
Turko Russian contest. One broker
in September, 1869, in New York
shouted: Zone hundred and sixty for
a. Julu1OA: 1lu Cu0 "uOl0
shivered. This golden calf OF the text
has its 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
shakes the world. Oh! this is mighty
god-the golden calf OF the worlds
worship.
But every god must have its tenn
pie, andsthis 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
Alhambra of the Spaniards, and the
Parthenon of the Greeks, and the
Tai Mahal of the Hindoos and all the
other cathedrals put together. Its
pillars are grooved and futed with
gold, and it's ribbed arches are hover
ing gold, and its chandeliers are des.
eending gold, and its floors are tas-