The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1892-11-30
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvINE'S SUN.
DAY SERMON.
Subject. The Golden Calf"

TEXT. "And he took the ca'f .uh;c1t they
had mfde and burnt 1t in the fire, and
ground it to po,Uder and streWed it upon
toe uater and made the children of Israel
drink of it Exodus xxxii, 20.
People will have God of, some kind, and
they prefer one Of their own making. Here
come the Israelites, breaking off their gold
en- earrings, the men as we'll 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 deserte Oh,
they Borrowed" them from the Egyptians
when they left Egypt. These earrings are
piled up into apyramid Of gatherings beauty.
"Any more earrings to bring" says Aaron.
None. Fire is kindled, the earrings ara
melted and poured into mold, not of an
eagle or war charger; but Of a 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 and shriak 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 pa.
thence, and ne takes the two plates of stone
on which were written the Ten Command
ments and filings them so hard against
rock that they split all to pieces. When a
man gets mad he is very apt to break all the
Ten Commandments.
Moses rushes in, and he takes this calf
god and throws 1t into hot fire until it is
melted all out Of shape, and then pulverizes
it-not by the modern appliance Of nitro.
muriatic acid, but by tho ancient appliance
Of inter. or by the old fashioned file. he
a in
draft. He takes this pulvsrized golden calf
and throws it into 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 giittering stuff
thrown on the surface. Some OF it flows on
down the surface OF the brook to tho
river. and then flows on down the river
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
tho Hudson and the East River, and the
Thames and the Clyde and the Tber, and
men 60 out and they skim tho glittering sur
face, and they bring 1t ashore, and they
make another golden calf, and California
and Australia break of their golden ear
rings to augment the pile, and in the fires Of
financial excitement and struggle all these
these things are melted together, and while
come Of II, 10 we find that the golden calf
of Israslitish worship has become the golden
calf Of European and American worship.
shall describe to you the god spoken OF
In the text, his temple, his altar Of sacrifice,
tho music that is made in his temple, and
then the final breaking up Of the whole
congregation of idoaters.
Put aside this curtain and you see the
golden calf Of modern idolarry. It Is not
ike other idols, made out Of stocks or
stones, but it has an ear so sensitive that it
can hear the whispers on Wall street and
Third street and State street, and the foot
falls in the Bank of England, and the fut.
ter Of q Frenchman's heart on the Bourse.
It has an eye so keen that It can see the rust
on the farm Of Michigan wheat and the in
sect in the Maryland peach orchard, and the
trampled grain under the hoof OF the Rus.
sian war charger.
It is 50 mighty that it swings any way it
will the world shipping. It has its foot on
ell the merchantmen and the stsamsrs. IL
started the American civil war, and under
God stopped II, and it decided the Turkc-
Russian contest. One broker In Septsm boz,
1859, In New York, shouted, .'One hundred
and sixty for q millionr p and the whole con-
tinent shivered. This golden calf OF the text
has its right front foot in Nav York, It's
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 the
world. Oh, this is mighty god-the golden
calf Of the worlds worshipl
But every god must have its temple, and
this golden calf of the text is no exception.
Its temple is vsster than st. Pauls OF the
English, and St. Peters Of the Italians and
the Alhambra of the Spantards and the
Parthenon of the Greeks and the Tai Mahal
Of the Hindoos, and all the other cathedrals
put together Its pillars are groovei and
futed with gold, and its ribbed riches are
hovering gold, and its chandeliers are de.
scending gold, and its floors are tessellated
gold, and its vaults are crowded heaps OF
gold, and its spires and domss 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 deity, are the hoofs and shoulders
and ewes and ears and nostrils OF the CALI OF
gold.
Further, every god must have not only its
temple, but it's altar OF sacrifice, AMI thus
gcldsn calf OF the text is no exception. Its
altar is not made out OF stone, as otner al,
tars, but out Of counting room desks ana
freproof safes, and it Is q broad, long,
high altar. The victims sacrificed on it are
innumerabls. What does this god care about
the groans and struggles Of the victims be-
fore It'll With cold, metallic eye it looks on
and yet lets them suffer. Oh, heaven ana
earth, what an altar! What a sacrifice OF
body, mini and soull The phys'cll health
of great multitude is flung on this sacri.
feed altar. They cannot sleep, and they take
csIoral and morphine and intoxicants.
Some OF them struggle in nightmare OF
stocks and at 1 o'clock in the morning sud.
denly rise up shouting: "a thousand shares
Of railroad stock-one hundred and eight
and half, take itr until the whole family
is affrightsd, and the SPECTATORS fall back
on their pillows and sleep until they are
awakened again bya CORNER" or sudden
'.rise" in something else. Their nerves gone,
their digestion gone, their brain gone.thsy
die. The clergyman comes IN and READS tne
funeral service: BLESSED arc the dead who
die in the Lord" Mistake. They DO not
''iie in the Lord"-the golden calf kicked
them!
The trouble ia 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 LII
course is determined to 60 to pardltlon,
suppose you will have to lot him go; but ne
puts his wife and children IN an equIpage
that is the amazsment of the avenues, and
the driver lashes the horses into two whirl,
winds, and the spokes fash In the sun, and
the golden hsadgear Of the harness CLEANS,
until Black Calamity takes the bits Of the
horses and stops them, and shouts to the
luxurious occupants Of the equipage, Get
outp They get out They get down. That
husband andfathe flung his family so hard
they never got up again. There was the
mark on them for life-tne mark OF a split
hoof-ths death dealing hoot OF egolden
calf. .....
Solomon offered in one sacrifice, on one
occasion, twenty-five thousanto1sn ana one
hundred aud twenty THOUSAND sheep; but