The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1899-08-11
CHRIST'S TEACHINGS.
Dr.. Talmage Depicts Triumphs of
the Gospel.
Victories of the Christian Religion
-Drunkards Are Reclaimed
and Thieves Made
Righteous.
Copyright. 1899. by Louis KSopsch)
washington

Copyright. 1899. by Louis K5opsch.)
Washington,
The antagonists of the Christian
religion are in this sermon of DR.. Tai
mage met in very unusual way, and
the triumphs of the Gospel are depict
ed. The text is Ezekiel 21:21: "He
made his arrows bright, he consulted
with images, he looked in the liver"
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 up, then pulled forth one, and by
the inscription on it decided what city
he should first assault. Then an ami
NAL was slain, and by the lighter or
darker color of the liver the brighter
or darker prospect of success was in
ferred. 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 delu-
sions. 1t seems as if the world loves
to be hoodwinked, the delusion of the
text only specimen of a vast number
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 100000 disciples came for
ward TO follow her. About five years
before the birth of Christ Apollonius
was born, and he came forth, and after
five years being speechless, accord
ing to the tradition, he healed the sick,
and raised the dead, and preached vir-
tue, and, according to the myth, having
deceased, was brought to resurrection.
The Delphic oracle deceived vast
multitudes of people; the Pythoness
seated in the temple of Apollo uttering
a crazy jargon from which the people
guessed their individual or national
fortunes or misfOrtunes. The utter
ances were of such nature that you
could read them any way you wanted
to read them.
So the ancient auguries deceived the
people. The priests of those auguries
by the flight of birds or by the intona-
tion of slain animals told the fortunes
or misfortunes of individuals and of ma
tions. The sibyls deceived the people.
The sibyls were supposed to be in
spired women who lived in caves and
who wrote the sibylline books after
ward purchased by Tarquin the Proud.
So late as the year 1929 man arose in
New York, pretending to be Divine
being, and played his part so well that
wealthy merchants became his dis
ciples and threw their fortunes into his
keeping. And so in all ages there
have been necromancies, incantations,
witchcrafts, sorceries, magical arts,
enchantments, divinations and delu-
sions. The one of the text was only a
specimen of that which has been oc-
curing in all ages of the world. None
of these delusions accomplished any
good. They deceived, they pauperized
the people, they were as cruel as they
were absurd. They opened no hospi-
tails, they healed no wounds, they wiped
away no tears, they emancipated no
serfdom.
But there are those who say that all
these delusions combined are as moth
ing compared with the delusion now
abroad in the world-the delusion of
the Christian religion. That delusion
has to-day 40O,OOO,OOO dupes. 1t pro-
poses to encircle the earth with its
girdle. That which has been called a
deluson has already overshadowed the
Appalachian range on this side of the
sea, and it has overshadowed the Bal
kan and Caucasian ranges on the other
side of the sea. 1t has conquered Eng
4 ~, O.
pion delusion, this hoax, this swindle
of the ages, as it has been called, has
gone forth to conquer the islands of
the Pacific, and Melanesia and Micro
nesia and Malayan Polynesia have al
ready surrendered to the delusion. Yea,
it has conquered the Indian archipela-
go, and BOrneo and Sumatra and Gel
ebes and Java have fallen under its
wiles. in the Fiji islands, where there
are 10000 people, 100000 have al
ready become the dupes of this Chris
tian religion, and if things go on as
they are now going on and if the in
fiuence of this great hallucination of
the ages cannot be stopped it will
swallow the globe. Supposing, then,
that Christianity is the delusion of the
centuries, as some have pronounced it,
| propose TO show you what has been
accomplished by this chimera, this
fallacy, this hoax, this swindle of the
ages.
And, in the first place, remark that
this delusion of the Christian religion
has made wonderful transformations
of human character. will go down the
aisle of any church in Christendom,
and | will find on either side that aisle
those who were once profiigate, pro-
fame, unclean of speech and unclean of
action, drunken and lost. But by the
power of this delusion of the Christian
religion they have been completely
transformed, and now they are kind
and amiable and loving and useful.
Everybody sees the change. Under the
power of this great hallucination they
have quit their former associates, and,
whereas they once found their chief
delight among those who gambled and
swcre and raced horses. now they find
their chief JOY among those who go to
prayer meetings and churches, so COM
plete is this delusion. Yea, their own
fa miles have noticed 1.-THE wife has
noticed it, the children have noticed it.
The money that went for rum now
goes for books and for clothes and for
education. He is new man. All who
know him say there has been a won
derful change. What is the cause of
this change? This great hallucination
Of the Christian religion. There Is as