The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1899-08-12
CHRIST'S TEACHINGS.
Dr.. Talmage Depicts Triumpbs of
the Gospel
victories of the Christian Religion
-Drunknrds Are Reclaimed
aud Thieves Made
Righteous.
Copyright. 1899. by Louis Klopsch)

mage met III IL very NHuSuul way, anu
the triumphs of the Gospel are depict
ed. The text is Ezekiel 21:2l "lle
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. lie took a bundle
of arrows, put them together, mixed
them up, then pulled forth one, and by
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
fcrred. That is the meaning Of the
text: Gle made his arrows bright, he
consulted with images, he looked in
the liver" Stupid dcluSion. And yet
all the ages have been filled with dclu-
sions. II seems as il the world loves
10 be hoodwinked, the dciusion of the
text only specimen of u vast number
of deccits practiccd upon the human
race. In the latter part of the last
century Johanna Southcotc caIhc4orth
pretending to have Divine power made
prophecies, had chapcls built in her
honor, and 100000 disciples came for
ward to follow her. About five years
before the birth of Christ Apollonius
was born, and he came forth. and after
five years being spccchlcss. 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.
i'hc Dclphic oracle deceived vast
muttu,ics of people; the PythOnoss
seated in the temple of Apollo uttering
crazy jargon from which the people
guessed their individual or national
fortunes or misforturcs. The utter
nnccs were of such nature that you
could read them any way you wanted
to read them.
So the ancient augurics deceived the
people. The priests Of those augurics
by the flight Of birds or by the intona-
ton of slain animals told the fortunes
or misfortuncs of individuals and of ma
tons. The sibyls deceived the people.
The sibyls were supposed to be in
spircd women who lived in caves and
who wrote the skyline books after
ward purchased by Tarquin the Proud.
So late as the year 1929 man arose in
New York, pretending to be Il 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 nccromancics. lamentations,
witchcrafts, sorcerics, magical arts,
entertainments, divinatiOns and dcu-
sions. The one of the text was only a
specimen of that which has been oc-
curing in all ages of the world. None
of these delusions 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 cmancipatcd no
scrfdom. ..E
But there are those who say that all
these decisions combined are as moth
ing compared with the dclusion now
abroad in the world-thc dclusion of
the Christian religion. That dclusion
has to-day 40O,OO0,00O dupcs. 1t pro-
poses to cncircle the earth with its
II
dclusion has already ovcrshadowcd the
Appalachian range on this side of the
sea, and il has 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 dclusion, 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
nesia and Malayan Polynesia have al
ready surrendered to the delusion. Yea,
ii has conquered the Indian archipela-
go, and Borneo and Sumatra and Gel
ebcs and Java have fallen under its
wilcs. in the Fiji islands, where there
are 10000 people, 10000 have al
ready become the dupcs Of this Chris
tian religion, and if things go on as
they are now going on and if the in
fluence of this great hallucination of
the ages cannot he stopped it will
swallow the globe. Surprising, then,
that Christianity is the delusion 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
nges.
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 Christendom
and | will find on either side that aisle
those who were once profligate, pro.
fame, unclean of speech and unclean OF
action, drunken and lost. But by 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 tn,
power of this great hallucination they
have quit their former associates, and
whereas they once found their chiet
delight among those who gambled and
swore and raced horses, now they FIND
their chief Joy among those who go &c
prayer meetings and churches, so com
r plete Is this delusion. Yea, their owl
s. families have noticed 1.-THE wife has
noticed IL, the children have noticed II
The money that went for rum now
goes for books and for clothes and foi