The Globe-republican., 1892-12-02

| and Millions arc SunerinS NOW b.
Their Mad Worship Of Gold.
Tho Rage for Gold.
The subject of discourse chosen by
Rev. DR.. Talmage for his frst sermon
after tn" rat'n"al election was on. c"r'
Harry appropriate to the money making
spirit of the times. 1t was 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 it.
People will have q god of some kind,
and they prefer one Of their own making.
Here come the Israelites, breaking of
their golden earrings. the men as well as
the women, for in those times there were
masculine as well as feminine decora-
tons Where did they get these beauti-
full gold earrings, coming 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. ANY
more earrings?" says Aaron. None.
Fire is kindled, the earrings are melted
and poured into mould, not of an eagle
or war charger, but q calf; the gold
cools of, 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 ana 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 writ
ten the Ten Commandments and filings
them so hard against a rock that they
split all to pieces. When q 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 1t
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 fashioned file. He makes
for the people q 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 But they did not drink all
the glittering stuff thrown on the sur
face. Some of it flows on down the sur
face 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 the Thames, and the
Clyde, and the Tiber, and men 60 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 agument the pile. and in the fires of
financial excitement and struggle all
these things are melted together. and |
while we stand looking and wonder |
ing 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.
l 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. It
not like other idols. made out of stocks
Va oeOuCSs OuV ~ u0S Oh C0I SO SOuSltIV0
that it can hear the whispers on Wall
and the footballs In the bank of England,
on the Bourse. 1t has an eye so keen
Michigan wheat. and the insect in the
Maryland 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. It started the American civil
war. and under God stopped it. and it
decided the Turko-Russian contest One
broker in September, 1869. in New York,
shouted. Zone hundred and sixty for q
million!" and the whole continent shiv-
cred 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
Orleans and when it shakes itself it
shakes the world. Oh, this is mighty
golden calf of the worlds wor-
ship!
But every god must have its temple.
and this golden calf of the text is no ex-
oCpsiOu. ASS GCupiC 10 S6StcE Gu6u 81. |
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. .
zoos, and all the other cathedrals put to- .,
Zether. Its pillars are grooved and q,
auted with gold, and its ribbed arches
ire lowering gold, and its chandeliers :
ire descending gold, and its floors are !,
gold, and its vaults are
heaps of gold. and its spires
Ind domes are soaring gold, and its or i,
Fan pipes are resounding gold, and its ,
pedals are tramping gold. and its stops !,
pulled out are flashing gold, while stand ,
ng at the head of the temple. as the pre- ,
iding deity, are the hoofs and shoulders !,
Ind eyes and ears and nostrils Of the
,alf of gold. ;
Further, every god must have not only /
Is temple, but its altar of sacrifice. and :
his golden calf Of the text is no exeeb- y
ion. Its altar Is not made out of stoce. .
. other affairs, but out of countins-room I
leSkS and fireDrOOf safes and IL r. | =