The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1899-08-16
Dr.. Talmage Satirizes the Antag
onists of Christianity.
THE GEEAT PREACHER
Depicts in a Very Unusual Way
the Triumphs Of the Gospel.
A Delusion Which Over
powers the Strong
esf LnfellaciS.
est Intellects.

HS duldSVuISSS Va WV
lision are IN this sermon OF DR.. Tai
maze met in very urus3al way, and
the triumphs of the gospel are depicted
The text is Ezekiel XXI, y, He made
his arrows bright, he consulted with
images, he looked in the liver.
Two modes of :,.iviniation by Which
the king of Babylon proposed to hno
out the will Of God. hc took bundle
of arrows, put them together, mixed
them up, then pulled forth one and oy
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 ln1erFG4. ca
That is the meaning Of the text, ne
made his arrows bright; ne consulle0:: .:
with images, he locked IN the AVER
Stnnid delusions And yet all The ages
have been filed with delusions. It
seers as if the world loves to be hood
Vinkcd. the 6elusion Of the text only a
specimen of vast number OF GeceltS
practiced upon the human race; Ia 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 !O0,
600 diciples came forward to fellow her;
About FIVE years before the birth OF
Christ Apollonius was born, and he
came forth, and after FIVE years being
sneecbless. according to the tradition,
he healed the sick and raised the dead
and preached viltue and, according to
the myth, having deceased, was brought
to resurrection.
The Delphic oracle deceived vast
multitudes Of people; the Pylhoness,
seated II the temple of Apollo, utter
ing crazy jargon from which the peo;;
pie 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. \ general coming forth
to battle consulted the Nelphic oracle,
and he wanted to find o.. whether ne
was going to be safe in the battle or
killed in battle, and the answer came
forth from the Delphic oracle II such
words that if you put the comma before
the word "never" it means enc thing
and if you put the comma after the
word ''never" it means another thing
lust opposite. The messages from the
Delphic oracle to the general was, 60
forth, return never in battle shalt thou
perish" If he was killed, that was ac-
cording to the Delphic oracle; II he
came home safely, that was according
to the Delphic oracle.
So the ancient auguries deceived the
people. The priests Of those augurles,
by the fight Of birds or by the intona-
tion of thunder or by the inside appear
ance of slain animals, told the fortunes
or misfortunes of individuals or nations.
The sibyls deceived the people. The
sibyls were supposed to be inspired Wo-
men who lived in caves and who wrote
the sibylline books afterwards purchas-
ed 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 diciples and threw
their fortunes into his keeping. And
so in all ages there have beer NEGRO
mancies, incantations, wltchcrafts, sor-
ceries, magical arts, enchantments, d.
yinations and delusions. The one OF
the text was only specimen OF that
which has been occurring in all ages OF
the world. None of these delusions
accomplished any good. They deceiv-
ed, 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. .
But there are those who say that all
these deluslons combined are as moth
ing compared with the celusion now
abroad in the world, the delusion Of the
Christian religion. That delusion has
today 100000, 600 dupes. 1t proposes
to encircle the earth with its g.rd'e.
That which has been called a delusi9n
has already overshadowed the Appala-
chain range on this side the sea, and It
has overshadowed the Balkan and CaU-
casion ranges. on the other side the sea.
It has conquered England and the Un-
tied States. This champion deluslon,
this hoax, this swindle Of the ages, as 1t
has been called, has gone forth to con
quer the islands Of the Pacific, and
Melanesia and Micronesia and Walayan
Polynesia have already surrendered to
the delusion. Yea, it has conquered
the Indian archipelago and Borneo, and
Sumatra and Celehes aud Java have
fallen under its wiles. In the Fiji IS
lands, where there are l20, geo PEOPLE,
10000 have already become the dupes
of this Christian religion. and if things
90 on as they are now going on and II
the influence 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 1t,
| propose to show you what has been
accomplished by this chimera, this fall
acy, this hoax, this swindle Of ages.
Admiral Farragut, one Of the most
admired men Of the American navy,
early became victim Of this Christian
delusion, and, seated not long before
his death at Long Branch, he was Civ
ing some friends an account of his early
life. He said: ''My father went down
in behalf of the United States govern
ment to put an end to Aaron Burr re-
bellion. l was cabin boy and went
along with him. l could swear like an
old salt. I could gamble in every style
of gambling. l knew all the wicked
ness there was at that time abroad.
One day my father cleared everybody
out of the cabin except myself and
locked the door. He said: David,
what are you going to do? What are