Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1899-08-09
CHRISI'S TEACHINGS.
Dr.. Talmage Depicts Triumphs of
the Gospel.
Victories OF the Christian Religion
-Drunkurds Are Reclaimed
and Thieves Made
Righteous.
Copyright. 1899. by Louis Klopsch)

The antagonists of the Christian
religion are in this sermon of DIR. Tai
mage met in a very unusual way, and
the triumpbs of the Gospel are depict
ed. The text is Ezekiel 2l: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
out the will of God. He took a bundle
of arrows. put them together. mixed
them up, then pulled forth one and bv
the inscription on il 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 vet
all the ages have been filled with delu-
sions. 1t seems as if the world loves
TO be hoodwinked, the deiusion of the
text only 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 TO have Divine power, made
prophecies, had chapels built i'm her
honor, and 100000 disciples came for
ward 10 follow her. About five wears
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 Delphie oracle deceived vast
multitudes Of people; the Pythoness
seated in the temple of Apollo utterfnp
crazy jargon from which the people
guessed their individual or national
fortunes or mtsfortunes. The utter
anccs were of such n nature that Won
could read them any way you wanted
TO read them.
So the anciclt auguries deceived the
people. The priests of these aucuries
by the fight Of birds or by the intona-
ton of slain animals told the fortunes
or misfortunes of individuals and of ra-
tons. The siHylE deceived the people.
The sibyls were supposed to be in
spiied women who lived in caves and
who wrote the sibylline books after
ward purchased by Tarquin the Proud.
$50 late as the year 1929 q man arose in
New York. pretending TO be a Divine
being, and played his part so we'll that
wealthy merchants became his dis
ci|les and threw their fortunes into his
keeping. And so in all ages there
have been necromancics, incantations.
witchcrafts, sorcerics. magical arts
enchantments, divinations and dclu-
slons. The one of the text was ONLY n
specimen of that which has been oc-
curing in all ages of the world. None
OF these decisions accomplished any
good. They deceived. they paupcrized
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 emancipatcd no
serfdom.
But there are those who say that ali
these delusions combined are as moth
ing compared with the Gelusion now
abroad in the world-thc dclusion of
the Christian religion. That dclusion
has today 4OO,oOO.0OO dupes. 1t pro-
poses TO encircle the earth with its
girdle. That which has been called =
delusiOn has already overshadoyycd the
Appalachian range on this side Of the
sea. and it has overshadowcd the Bal
kan and Caucasian ranges on the other
side of the sea. IT has CONQUERED Drp-
land and the United States. This cham
pion delusion. this hoax. this swindIe
OF the ages, as il 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 10 the delusion. Yea.
1t has conquered the Indian archipela-
go, and BorneO and Sumatra and Gel
ebes and Java have fallen under it's
wiles. I'm the Fiji islands. where there
are 100000 people. 1O2, 900 have al
ready become the dUpes Of this Chris
tan religion. and If things 90 on as
they are now going on and il the in
huence OF this great hallucination of
the ages cannot be stopped il will
swallow the globe. Surprising, then.
that Christianity is the dclusion 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 Christcndom,
and will find on either side that aisle
those who were once prohigatc, pro-
fame. unclean OF speech and unclcan Of
action, drunken and lost. But bv 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 hallucina ion they
have quit their former associates. and.
whereas they once. found ths.S chief