Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1899-08-17
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
AS A DELU-
SION" THE SUBJECT.
From the Text, Eek, XXI, FL, as Follows:
''He Made His Arrows Bright. He
Consulted with Images, He Looked in
the Liver"
Copyright 1899 by Louis Kropsch.)

t1OpyTlSll 1919 ny NlOpSCH.)
| Two modes Of divination by which
the king of Babylon proposed to find
out the will of God: He took a bundle
| of arrows, put them together, mixed
them together, then pulled forth one,
| and by the inscription on it decided
what city he should first assault. Then
an animal was slain and by the light
er or darker color Of the liver, the
brighter or darker prospect of success
was inferred. That is the meaning of
| the text, 'He made his arrows bright
he consulted with images, he looked in
the liver" Stupid delusion! And yet
all the ages have been filled with de-
lusions. 1t seems as if the world loves
to be hoodwinked, the delusion
of the text only a specimen Of the
vast number of deceits practiced upon
the human race. In the latter part OF
the last century Johanna Southcote
came forth pretending to have divine
power, made prophecies, had chapels
built in her honor, and one hundred
thousand disciples came forward to
follow her. About five years before
the birth of Christ, Apollonius was
born, and he came forth, and after five
years being speechless, according to
tradition, he healed the sick, and raised
| the dead, and preached virtue, and, ac-
cording to the myth, having deceased,
was brought to resurrection. The Del
phic Oracle deceived vast multitudeS of
people; the Pythoness seated in the
temple of Apollo uttering a crazy jar
gon from which the people guessed
their individual or national fortunes
or misfortunes. The utterances were
of such a nature that you could read
them any way you wanted to read
them. A general coming forth to battle
consulted the Delphic Oracle, and he
| wanted to find out whether he was
going to be safe in the battle, or killed
in battle, and the answer came forth
from the Delphic Oracle in such words
that if you put the comma before the
word never" it means one thing, and
if you put the comma after the word
never" it means another thing just
opposite. The message from the Del
phic Oracle to the general was, Go
forth, returned never in battle shalt
thou perish" If he was killed, that
was according to the Delphic Oracle;
if he came home safely, that was ac-
cording to the Delphic Oracle.
So the ancient auguries deceived the
people. The priests of those auguries,
by the flight of birds, or by the in
tonation of thunder, or by the inside
appearance of slain animals, told the
fortunes or misfortunes of individuals
or nations. The sibyls deceived the
people The sibyls were supposed to
be inspired women who lived in caves
and who wrote the sibylline books aft
erWard purchased by TarQuin the
Proud So late as the year 1929, a
man arose in New York, pretending to
be a divine being, and played his part
so we'll that wealthy merchants be-
came his disciples and threw their for
tunes into his keeping. And so in all
| ages there have been necromancies, in
carnations, witchcrafts, sorceries, mag
ical arts, entertainments, divinations
and delusions. The one of the text
was only a specimen of that which
has been occurring in all ages Of the
world. None of these decisions ac-
complished any good. They deceived,
they pauperized the people, they were
as cruel as they were absurd. They
opened no hospitals, they healed no
wounds, they wiped away no tears,
they emancipated no serfdom.
|