The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1892-11-25

And He took the calf which Their had made
and burnt it in the fire. and ground it to pow
der. and strewed II upon the water and made
the children sof Israel drink Of It-Exodus,
xxxii. 20.
People viii have god Of some kind,
and they prefer one of their own MAX
ing. Here come the Israelites, break
ing of 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 mp as they did from the desert?
oh, they Borrowed" them of the
Egyptians when they left Egypt These
earrings are piled up into pyramid of
glittering beauty. ANY more ear
rings to bring?" says Aaron. None
E'ire is lxindled; the earrings are melt
ed and poured into a mold. not of an
eagle or war charger, but of a 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, aud 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 fanat-
les, and he loses his patience, and he
takes the two plates of stone on which
were written the Ten Commandments
and filings them so 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 il into hot fire, until it is
melted all out of shape, and then pull
verizes it-not by the modern appli-
ances of nitro muriatic acid, but by the
ancientappliance of nitre, or by the
fashioned file. lie makes for the
people most nauseating draught. He
takes this pulverized golden calf and
throws it in the only brook which is ac-
cessible, 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
surface of the brook to tho 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
the Hudson, and the East river, and the
Thames, and the Clyde, and the Tiber,
and men go out and they skim the gilt
tering 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 ex-
element 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 Israelitishs worship has become
the golden calf of European and Amer
lean worship.
I 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 ont of stocks
or stone, but it has an ear so sensitive
that it can hear the whispers ON Wall
and the footballs in the Bank of En-
gland and the flutter of 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 anyway 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 il decided the Turko-RuSsian con-
test. One broker in September, 1869,
in New York, shouted: zone hundred
and sixty for millionr' and the whole
continent shivered. This golden calf
of the text has its right front foot in
New York, its left front foot in Chi
cago, 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 a mighty god-the
golden@ealf of the worlds worship.
But everysgod must have its temple,
and. this golden calf of the text is no
exception It's temple is vaster than
st. Paul's of the English, and st.
Peter 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 cathe-
drals put together. Its pillars are
grooved and fluted with gold, and its
ribbed arches are lowering gold. and
its chandeliers are descending gold, and
its floors are tasselated 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 presiding diety, are the
hoofs and shoulders and eyes and cars
and nostrils of the calf of gold.
Further: Every god must have, not
only its temple, but its altar of sacri-
fee, and this golden calf of the text is
no exception. It's altar is not made out
of stone as other affairs, but out of
counting-room desks and fire-proof
safes, and it is broad, long, high
altar. The victims sacrificed on it arc
innumerable. What does this god care
about the groans and struggles of the
victims before IL? With cold, metallic
eve it looks on, ana yet lets them suf-
fer. Oh, Heaven and earth, what an
altar! What sacrifice OF body, mind
ard SOUL The physical health of a
great. multitude is flung on this sacri-
ficai altar. They can not sleep, and
thav talsa eh1oral and -rno,-nhine and in