The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1899-11-03
CuRISTS TEACHINGS.
Dr.. Talmage Depicts Triumphs of
the Gospel.
Victories OF the Christian Religion
-Drnn,rrds Are Reclaimed
and Thieves Made
Righteous.

mage snct IN very unusual way, and
the triumphs OF the Gospel are depict
ed. The text is Ezekiel 21:2l: 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
ont the viii of God. lie took bundle
If 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; Gle made his arrows bright. he
consulted with images, ne looked in
the liver" Stupid delusionl And vet
all the ages have been filled with delu-
sions. 1t seems as If the world loves
10 be hoodwinked. the deiusion - the
text only a specimen of a vast number
of deceits practiced upon the human
race. In. the latter part Of the last
century johanna Southcote came forth
pretending 10 have Divine power, made
prophecies, had chapels built in her
honor. and 100000 disciples came for
ward 10 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 20 the tradition he healed the sick,
and raised the dead. and preached vir-
tue, and. according to the myth. having
deceased. was brought 10 resurrection.
The Delphic oracle deceived vast
multitudcs of people; the Pythoness
seated i'm the temple of Apollo uttering
crazy iareon from which the people
guessed their individual or national
fortunes or misfortunes. The utter
anccs were of such a 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
hv the fight of birds or by the intona-
ton 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 a man arose in
New York, pretending TO be a Divine
being. and played his part so well that
wealthy merchants became his dis
ciples and threw their fortunes into his
keeping. And so i'm all ages there
have been necromancies, incantations,
witchcrafts, sorceries. magical arts,
entertainments, divinations and delu-
sions. The one of the text was only
specimen of that which has been oc-
curing in an 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 I'm the world-the delusion Of
the Christian religion. That delusion
has to-day 400.O00.0OO dupes. 1t pro-
poses to ncircle the earth with its
girdle. Tat which has been called a
delusion has already overshadowed the
Appalachian range on this side Of the
sea. ard it hes overshadowed the Bal
kan and Caucasian ranges on the other
side Of the sea. 1t has conquered Eng
land and the United States. This cham
pion delusion. this hoax. this swindle
of the ages as il has been called, has
gone forth to conquer the islands of
the Pacific. and Melanesia and Micro
nesa and Malayan Polynesia have al
ready surrendered 10 the delusion. Yea,
It has conquered the Indian archipela-
90. 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 90 on as
they are now going on and if the in
fuence of this great hallucination Of
the ages cannot be stopped il will
swallow the globe. Supposing. then,
that Christianity is the delusion OF the
centul rs. as some have pronounced it,
! propo r. 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. I will go down the
aisle of any church in Christendom,
and / will find on either side that aisle
those who were once proiligate, pro-
fame. unclcan of speech and unclean Of
action. drunken and lost. But by the
power of this dclusion Of the Christian
religion they have been completely
transformed, and now they are kind
and amiable and loving and useful.
Everybody sees the ,iange. Under the
power of t'is greet hallucination they
lave quit Their former associates, and,
whereas they once found their chiet
delight among those who gambled and
swore and raced horses, now they ma
their chief Joy among those who go to
PRAYER meetings and churches, so COM
plete is this delusion. Yea, their own
families have noticed 1.-THE wife has
noticed it. the children have noticed II.
The money that went for rum now
goes for books and for clothes and for
education. He is a new man. All who
know him say there has been a won
derfnl change. What is the cause OF