Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-11-14
THE RUSH FOR GOLD.
br. Talmage Denouuces the Worship
of the Idol of Our Times.
W0RSHIPERS In WALL STREET
Make Inhuman Sacrifices on the Gorgeous
Altar of Mammon.
A TINE OF RECKONING COMING SOON.
W0RSHIPERS In WALL STREET
A TINE OF RECKONING COMING SOON.

course chosen by Rev. Dr. Talmage for his
first sermon after the national election, was
one peculiarly appropriate to the money
making spirit of the times. 1t was "The
Golden Calf" the text selected being Exo-
dus 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 a god of some kind, and
they prefer one of their own making. Here
come the 1sraelites, breaking off their gol-
den earrings, the men as well as the women,
for in those times they 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
borrowed them OF the Egyptians when they
left Egypt.
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 1t can
hear the whispers on Wall street and Third
street and State street. and the footballs in
the Bank of England, and the flutter of a
Frenchman's heart on the Bourse. 1t has
an eye so keen that it can see the rust on
the farm of 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. 1t started the American Civil
War; and under God stopped it.
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.
1t Has Its Temple and Its Altar.
But every god must have its temple. and
this golden cali of the text is no exception.
Its temple is vaster than st. Paul;s Stand
ing at the head of the temple, as the presid-
in- deity, are the hoofs and shoulders and
eyes and ears and nostrils of the calf Of
gold.
Fnrther: every god must have not only its
temple, but its altar of sacrifice, and this
golden calf OF the text is no exception. Its
altar is not made out OF stone as other
Hltars, but out OF counting room desks and
1ire-proof safes, and it is broad, a long, =
nigh altar The victims sacrificed on it are
innumerable. What does this god care
about the groans and struggles of the VIC
Tins before il? With cold, metallic eye it
looks on and yet lets them suffer. Oh!
heaven and earth, what an altar! what a
sacrifice of body, mind and soul! The phys
ical health of a great multitude is flung on
this sacrificial altar. They cannot sleep,
and they take chloral and morphine and in
tONicants.
Their nerves gone, their digestion gone,
their brain gone, they die. the clergyman
comes in and reads the funeral service:
blessed are the dead who die in the Lord"
Mistake. They did not Idle in the Lord"
the golden calf kicked them!
The trouble Is when men sacrifice them
selves on this altar suggested in the text,
they not only sacrifice themselves, but they
sacrifice their families. II q man by an i'll
course is determined to go to perdition, L
suppose you will have to let him 20; but he
puts his wife and children in an equipage
that is the amaZement of the avenues, and
and the driver lashes the horses into two
whirlwinds, and the spokes flash in the sun,
and the golden headgear of the harness
Sieams, until Black Calamity takes the bits
OF the horses and stops them.
The Devotees of the Stock Exchange.
Still the degrading worship goes on, and
tie devotees kneel snd kiss the dust and
cross themselves with the blood of their own
sacrifice. The music rolls on under the
arches; it is made of clinking silver and
clinking gold and the rafting specie of the
banks and brokers' shops and the voices of
al the exchanges. The soprano of the wor-
ship is carried 10y the timid voices OF men
who have just begun to speculate; while the
deep bass rolls out from those who for ten
years of inQuity have been doubly damned.
Chorus OF voices rejoicing over what they
have made. Chorus of voices wailinC over
what they have lost. This temple of which
! speak stands open day and night, and
there is the glittering god with his lour ieet
on broken hearts aud there is the smoking
altar of sacrifice, new victims every moment
on ii and there are the kneeling devotees;
and the doXology of the worship rolls on,
while Death stands with mouldy and s1ele-
ton arm beating time for the chorus-More!
more, more!
But my text suggests that this worship
must be broken up as the behavior of Moses
in my text indicated. So, my hearers you
may depend upon it that God will burn and
he will grind to pieces the golden calf OF
modern idolatry, and he will compel the
Senple in their agony to drink it. If not be-
Z it will be so on the last day. know
not whare the fire will begin, but it will be q
very bot blaze. All the Government Sc
curitiss of the United States and Great
Brita7l will curl up in the first blast. VIVA,
then will become of your golden calf? Who
then SO poor as to worship itf Melted, OF
between the upper ana the neither milestone
of falling mountains ground to powder
Dagon down. Moloch down. Juggernaul
down. Golden calf down.
Hard Times Are the Best Times.
But, my friends, every day is day o
Judgment, and God is all the time grinding
to pieces the golden cali. Merchants o
Brooklyn and New York and London, whai
Is the Characteristic of this time in which
we live? "Bad," you say. Professional men
what is the characteristic of the times il
which we live? Lad" you say. Though
should be in a minority of one, venture the
opinion that these are the pest times we
have had, for the reason that God is teach
ing the world, as never before, that old
fashioned honesty is the only thing that will
stand.
we have learned as never before that tor
uelies viii not pay; that the spending o
$50 600 on country seats and palatial city
residence, when there are only $4,000 in
come, will not pay; that bhe appropriation
OF trust funds to our own private specula
tion will not pay. We had a great nationa
tumor, in the shape of fictitious prosperity
We called it national enlargement; instead
of calling il an enlargementwe might better
have called it a swelling. Ii has been 6
tumor and God is cutting it out-has cut i
out, and the nation will get well and viii
come back TO the principles OF our father
and grandiatherS when twice three mad'
six instead OF 60, and when the apples at thu
bottom of the barrel were just as good a
the apples on the top of the barrel, and
silk handkerchief was not half cotton, an'
a man who wore q So coat paid for was NOR
honored than a man who wore $50 coat no
paid for.
the text, is very apt to be made out of Dor
rowed gold. A great many housekeepers
not paying for the articles they get. borrow
of the grocer and the baker and the butche
ana the drygoods seller. Then the retalle
borrows of the wholesale dealer.
A Day of Reckoning Is Coming.
After a while the capitalist wants hi
money and he rushes upon the wholesal
dealer, and the wholesale dealer wants hi
money and he rushes upon the retailer, ant
the retailer wants his money and he 'rushe
T1pon the consumer, and we all 20 down to
gsther. 1t is this temptation TO borrow
and borrow, that Keeps the people everlast
ingly praying to the golden calf for help
and inst ut the minute they expect the he ]
rhe Golden calf treadS on them. The judg
Inpnts OF God, like Moses in the text viii