Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1892-11-25
REV. DIR. TALNAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvINE'S SUN
DAY SERMON
Subject: The Golden Calf"


| drink of it. Exodus xxi, %.
People will have a God Of some kind, an 1
| they prefer one OF their own making. Hare
| come the Israeiites, breaking of their gold
en- 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,
| coming up as they did from the desert7 On,
! they BORROWED" them from the E ,votiauS
! when they left Egypt. These earrings are
| piled up into pyramid Of gatherings beauty
ANY more earrings to brIng@ says Aaron.
| None. Fire is kindled, the earrings are
| melted and poured into a mold, not 90 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 gyrate and shrek AMI 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 thess
| golden calf fanatics aud he loses his pa
thence, and he takes the two plates of stone
on which were written the Ten Command
ments and filings them SO har4 against a
rock that they split all to pieces. When
man gets mad he is very apt to braak 81 the
len Commandments.
Moses rushcs in, and he takes this calf
god and throws it into a hot fire until it is
melted all out Of shape, and then pulverize5
lt-not by the modern appliance OF nitro.
murlatic acid, but by the ancient appliance
or inter, or by ths old fashioned file. He
makes Tor the people a most nauseating
draft. He takes this pu!v arized golden calf
and throws it into the only brook which is
accessible, and the people are compelled to
drink OF tnat brook or not drink at all. But
they did not drink all the gittering stuff
thrown on the surface. Some of it lows 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 re-
mains OF this golden calf are carried up into
che Hudson and the East River, AMI the
Thames and the Clyde and the Tiber and
men 60 out and they skim the glitterin3 sur
face and they bring it ashore, and they
make another golden calf, and California
and Australia break off their golden ear
rings to augment the pile, and in the fires of
financial excitement and stru ggle all these
theSe things are melted together and while
we stand looking and wondering what will
come or It, 10! Wa find that the golden calf
of Israelltish worship has become the golden
calI or European and Americ an 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 idoiaters.
Put aside this curtain and you see thu
golden calf of mo 1ern idolarry It is not
like other idols, made out of stocks or
stones, but 1t has an ear SO sensitive that it
can hear the whispers on Wall street AMI
third street and State street. and the foot
falls in the Bank of England, and the fut-
Ter OF a Frenchman's heart on the Bourse.
1t has an eye so keen that it can see the rust
on the farm OF Mlchig gan wheat, and the in
sect in the Maryland peach orchard, and the
trampled grain under the hoof Of thu Rus
Sian war charger.
1t is so mighty that it swings any way it
will the worlds shipping. It 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 Septem Der,
1869, In New York, shouted, "One hundred
and sixty for a millionr' and the whole con-
tlnent 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 Or
leans. and when it shakes itself it shakes tue
world. Oh, this is mighty god-the golden
calf Of the worlds worshipl
But every god must have it's temple, and
this golden calf of the text is no exception.
Its temple is vaster than st. Paurs 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 grOOve1 and
huted with gold, and its ribbed riches are
lowering gold, and its chandeliers are de-
gold, and its vaults are crowded heaps OF
gold, and its spires and dones are soaring
gold, and its organ pi pes are reSOunding gold,
and It's pedals are tram ping gold, and its
stops pulled out are flashing gold, while
standing at the head of the temple as the
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 it's
temple, but its altar OF sacrifice, and this
golden calf CT the text is no exception. Its
aiO-a1 10 .i<c. re3c ont of stone. as other al
tars, bu5 out or counting T0oiii SzsszS----= e=2
freproof safes and it is a broad, long, a
high altar The victims sacrificed on it are
innumerable. What does this god care about
the grOans and struggles OF the victims be-
fore 1t! With cold, meUaiiio eye e !ooes a
and yet lets them suffer. On, heaven and
ea--- -N~+ altar, What a sacrifice of
body, mind and soul! TIE physical health
of great multitude is flung on this sacri.
fc I'D altar. They cannot sleep, and they take
Choral and morphine and intoxicants.
Some OF them struggle in a nightmare OF
stocks, and at O'clock 10 the morning sud
denly rise up shouting: "a thousand shares
of railroad stock-one hundred AMI eight
and half, take ii" until thu whole family
is aHriShtsi, aud the spectators fall back
on their pillows AMI sleep until they are
awakened again bya corner" or a sudden
rise in sometime else. Taeir nerves gone,
their digestion gone, their brain gone-thsy
die. The clergyman comes in and reads the
funeral service: BLESSED ara tde deal who
die in the Lord" Mistake They do not
die in the Lord'-the golden calf kicked
them!
The trouble is when man sac-iice than
selves on this altar su ygeste1 in thu taxi
they not only sacrifice thens Gives, but they
sacrifice their families II man by an i'll
course is determined to go to pariitioa, I
suppose you will have to let him go: but ne
puts his wife and Children in an eauipage