Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1899-09-15
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 Klopsch)


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 2l:21: "He
made his arrows bright, he consulted
with images, he looked in the liver"
Two modes of divipation by which
the king of Babylon proposed to find
out the will of God, Ne took 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 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 100000 disciples came for
ward TO follow her. About five years
kafn,n l.;,,tl, 80 Chrict nc
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 yir-
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
crazy jargon from which the people
guessed their individual or national
fortunes or misfortunes. The utter
ances 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
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 6
specimen of that which has been oc
curing in all ages of the world. None
of these delusions accomplished any
good. They deceived, they pauperizet
the people, they were as cruel as they
were absurd. They opened no hosp
tails, they healed no wounds, they wipet
away no tears, they emancipated nC
serfdom.
But there are those who say that al
these delusions combined are as moth
ing compared with the delusion nov
abroad in the world-the delusion o
the Christian religion. That delusior
has to-day 4OO,OO0,OOO dupes. 1t pro
poses to encircle the earth with 1T
girdle. That which has been called ;
delusion has already overshadowed tn,
Appalachian range on this side of tn,
sea, and it has overshadowed the Bal
kan and Caucasian ranges on the othe
side of the sea. 1t has conquered Eng
land and the United States. This cham
pion delusion, this hoax, this swindl
of the ages, as 1t has been called, ha
gone forth TO conquer the islands o
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 it
wiles. in the Fiji islands, where ther
are 10000 people, 100000 have al
ready become the dupes of this Chris
tian religion, and if things go on a
they are now going on and if the in
fluence of this great hallucination O
the ages cannot be stopped 1t wi
swallow the globe. Supposing, ther
that Christianity is the delusion of tn
centuries, as some have pronounced il
| propose to show you what has bee
accomplished by this chimera, thi
fallacy, this hoax, this swindle of tn
ages.
And, in the first place, remark tha
this delusion of the Christian religio
has made wonderful transformation
of human character. Twill go down th
aisle of any church in' Christendon
and | will find on either side that aisl
those who were once prohigate, pre-
fame, uncleap of speech and unclean {
action, drunken and lost. But by tn
power of this delusion of the Christia
religion they have been completed
transformed, and now they are kin
and amiable and loving and usefu
Everybody sees the change. Under II
power Of this great hallucination the
} have quit their former associates, an
+ whereas they once found their chit
} delight among those who gambed ar
! swore and raced horses, now they fir
} their chief JOY among those who go
: prayer meetings and churches, so cor
plete is this delusion. Yea, their ow
families have noticed 1.-THE wife hi
, noticed it, the children have noticed
| The money that went for rum no
= goes for books and for clothes and fl
education. He is new man. All wi
know him say there has been wo
derful change. What is the cause
this change? This great hallucinatic