The Yale expositor., 1899-08-18

the last century Johanna Southcote
came forth pretending to have divine
power, made prophecies, had chapels
built in her honor, and one hundred
thousand disciples came forward to
follow her. About five years before
the birth of Christ, Apollonius was
born, and he came forth, and after five
years being speecnless, according to
tradition, he healed the sick, and raised
the dead, and preached virtue, and, ac-
cording to the myth. having deceased.
was brought to resurrection. The Del
phic Oracle deceived vast multitudes OF
people; the Pythoness seated n the
temple of Apollo uttering a crazy jar
gon from which the people guessed
their individual or national fortunes
or misfortunes. The utterances were
Of such a nature that you could read
them any way you wanted to read
them. A general coming forth to battle
consulted the Delphic Oracle. and he
wanted to find out whether he was
going to be safe in the battle, or killed
in battle, and the answer came forth
from the Delphic Oracle in such words
that If you put the comma before the
word never" II means one thing, and
If you put the comma after the word
never" it means another thing jus,
opposite. The message from the Del
phic Oracle to the general was, GO
forth, returned never in battle shalt
thou perish" II he was killed, that
was according to the Delphic Oracle;
If he came home safely, that was &C
cordng TO the Delphic Oracle.
So the ancient auguries deceived the
people. The priests of those auguries,
by the flight of birds. or by the in
tonation OF thunder, or by the inside
appearance OF slain animals, told the
fortunes or misfortunes Of individuals
or nations. The sibyls deceived the
people. The sibyls were supposed to
he inspired women who lived in caves
and who wrote the siby,line books aft
erward purchased by Tarquin the
Proud. So late as the year 1929,
man arose in New York, pretending to
be a divine being. and played his part
so we'll that wealthy merchants be-
came his disciples and threw their for
tunes into MS keeping. And so in all
ages there have been necromancies, in
carnations, witchcrafts, sorceries, mag
ical arts. entertainments, diyinations
and decisions. The one Of the text
was only a specimen OF that which
has been occurring in all ages of the
world. None OF these decisions &C
complished any good. They deceived
they pauperized the people. they were
as cruel as they were absurd. They
opened 20 hospitals. they healed no
WOUNDS, they wiped away no tears.
they emancipated no serfdom.
Admiral Farragut. one OF the most
admired men of the American nay,
early became a 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
government to put an end to Aaron
Burr's rebellion. / was cabin boy
and went along with him. | could
gamble in every style of gambling. !
knew all the wickedness 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 you going to be?' Well
! said, father, am going to follow the
sea- Follow the sea! and be a poor.
miserable, drunken sailor, kicked and
cuffed about the world, and die of
fever in foreign hospital oh, MOI !
said. father, will not be that. l will
tread the quarterback and command
as you do No, David my father said,
mo, David, a person that has your
principles and your bad habits will
never tread the quarterback or COM
mand' My father went out and shut
the door after him, and l said then
4 will change; 1 will never swear
again; will never drink again; l will
never gamble again And gentlemen, by
the help of God, have kept those three
vows to this time. l soon after that
became a Christian, and that decided
my fate for time and for eternity"
Another captive of this great Chris
tian delusion. There goes Saul OF Tar
sus on horseback at full gallop. Where
is he going? To destroy Christians.
He wants no better play spell than to
stand and watch the hats and coats of
the murderers who are massacring
Gods children. There goes the same
man. This time he is afoot. Where is
he going now? Going on the road to
Ostia to die for Christ. They tried to
whip it out Of him; they tried to scare
It out of him; they thought they would
give aim enough Of it by putting him
into a windowless dungeon and keeping
him on small diet, and denying him a
cloak, and condemning him as a Grim
inal, and bowling at him through the
street; but they could not freeze it
out Of him, and they could not sweat