The Penn's Grove record., 1899-08-11
DIR. TAIN AGES SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE RYTHE NOTED
DIVINE.
Subject: The Gospels Trlunph-victorIes
of the Christian Religion Depicted
Transformations Wrought by Christ's
Observation-Disclosures Reclaimed.

ltOpyrlBntt LOUIS hlOpScn, los9,J
WASHINGTON, D. C.-The antagonists OF
The Christian religion are in this sermon OF
DR.. Talmage met in a very unusual way,
and the triumphs of the Gospel are depict
I'D. The text Is Ezekiel XXI, 81, HE made
his arrows bright, he consulted with i'm
qges, 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 by the inscription on
1t decided what city no should first u.s.
sault. Then an animal was slain, and by
the lighter or darker color of the liver the
brighter or darker prospect OF success was
Inferred. That is the meaning Of the text,
"He mad his arrows bright, he consulted
with images, he looked in the liver" Stupid
delusionl And yet all the ages have been
filed with delusions. 1t seems as IL the
world loves to be hoodwinked, the delusion
Of the text only aspecimen of a vast number
of deceits practiced upon the human race.
In the latter Fart of the last century 10.
hanna Southcote came forth pretending to
have divine power, made prophecies, had
chapels built in her honor, and 100, 900 dis
ctples came forward to follow her. About
five years before the birth Of Christ Apol-
lonius was born, and he came forth, and
after five years being speeches., according
to the tradition, he healed the sick, and
raised the dead, and preached virtue, and,
according to the myth, having deceased,
was brought to resurrection.
The Delphic oracle deceived vast multi
tudes of people; the Pythoness seated in
tho temple OF Apollo uttering n crazy jar
gon from which the people guessed their
individual or national fortunes or mlsfor-
fortunes. The utterances were of such q
nature that you could read them any way
you wanted to read them.
But there are those who say that all these
laI,,,Eona noItD 49,, ,, -1Nlsn, ao.,
pared with the delusion now abroad In the
world-the delusion Of the Christian relig-
ion. That delusion has to-day 400, 000, 900
dupes. 1t proposes to encircle the earth
with its girdle. That which has been called
n delusion has already overshadowed the
Appalachian range on this sid of the sea,
and 1t has overshadowed the Balkan and
Caucasian ranges on the other side of the
sea. 1t has conquered England and the
United States. This champion delusiop,
this hoax, this swindle OF the ages, as it
has been called, has gone forth to conquer
the islands of the Pacific, and Melanesia
and Micronesia and Malayan Polynesia
have already surrendered to the deiuslon.
Yea, 1t has conquered the Indian arohi-
pelago, and Borneo and Sumatra and Gel
ebes and lava nave fallen under its wiles.
In the Fiji Islands, where there are 100, 900
people, 102, 900 have already become the
dupes of this Christian religion, and If
IL ~ IA NS tlNJ 4 " HolhS oh IL
IL the influence of this great hallucination
of the ages cannot be stopped 1t will swat
low the globe. Surprising, then, that
Christianity is the delusion of the CEN
turtles, as some have pronounced it, I pro-
pose to show you what has been accom-
pllshed by this chlmera, this fallacy, this
hoax, this swindle of the ages.
And, In the first place, l remark that this
delusion Of the Christian religion has made
wonderful transformations of human char
acter. l will go down the aisle of any
church In Chrlstendom, II l will ind IN
either side that aisle those who were once
profiigate, p~rofane, unclean of speech and
u~nclean of action, drunken and lost. But
by the power Of this delusion of the Chris
tain religion they have been conn letely
transformed, and now they ate kind and
amiable and loving and useful. Everybody
sees the change. Under the power OF this
great Authorization they have quit their
former associates, and, whereas they once
found their chief delight among those who
gambled and swore and raced horses, now
they find their chief joy among those who
go to prayer meetings and churches, so
complete Is the delusion. Yea, their "
families have noticed 1.-THE wife has no.
ticed 1t, the children have noticed it. The
money that went for run now goes for
books and for clothes and for edu cation.
He is a new man. All who know him say
there has been n wonderful change.
What is the Gauge of this change? This
great hallucination of the Christian relig-
ION. There is as much difference between
what he Is now aud what he once was as
between n rose and q nettle, as between II
dow and a vulture, as between day and
night. Tremendous delusionl
Admiral Farragut, one of the most ad-
mired men of the American navy, early be-
came u victim Of this Christian delusion,
and, seated not long before his death at
ThpO prunnh ta uu p{vfpo coma frianIc
an account of his early life. He said:
my father went down in behalf of the
United States Government to put al end
to Aaron Burr's rebellion. was u cabin
boy and went along with him. 1 could
swear like an old cult. / could gamble In
every style OF gambling. l knew all the
wickedness there was at that time
aboard. One day my father cleared every
body 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?' We'll, 1 said, father, I am going
a poor, miserable, drunken sailor, kicked
and cuffed about the world. and die OF II
fever In a foreign hospital 'Oh, MOI l
said. Father, l will not be that; l will
tread the quarter deck and command as
you. do No, David my father said;
mo, David, a person that has your prin-
ciples and your bad habits will never
tread the quarter deck or command My
father went out and shut the door after
him, and | said then, Il will change, l will
never swear again, l will never drink
again, l will never gamble again. and,
gentlemen, by the help of God, have
kept those three VOWS to this time. / soon
after that became a Christian, and that
decided my fate for time and for eternity
Another captive of this great Christian
delusion. There goes Saul of Tarsus on
horseback at full gallop. Where Is he go.
ing? 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 tint he is afoot.
Where is he going now2 Going on the road
to Ostia to die for Christ. They tried to
whip 1t out of him, they tried to scare it
out of him. they thought they would give
him enough of it BY. puttinShim on small
diet, and denying him a cloak, and con-
demning him as a criminal, and bowling at
him through the streets; but they could
not freeze 1t out OF him, and they could not
sweat it out Of him, and they could not
pound 1t out Of him, SO they tried the sur
gerry Of the sword, and one summer day In
66 he was deeapitated. !. Perhaps the might
est intellect OF the 6000 years of the worlds
existence hoodwinked, cheated, cajoled,
duped by the Christian religion.
All, that Is the remarkable thing about
this delusion of Christianity 1t overpow-
erS the strongest lnteliects. Gather the
critics, secular aud religious, of this CEN
fury together and put a vote to them as to
which is the greatest book ever written,
and by large majority they will say,
'Paradise Lost" Who wrote paradise
Lost2" One of the fools who believed in
this Bible, John Milton. Benjamin Frank
lin surrendered to this delusion, II you may
Judge from the letter that he wrote to
Thomas Paine begging himto destroy 1.-THE
Age of Reason" in manuscript and never
let it go into type, and writing a%fterward,
In his old days, "0f this Jesus OF Nazareth
l have to say that the system OF morals
He left and the religion He has given us
are the best things the world has ever seen
or Is likely to see." Patrick Henry, the
electric champion of liberty, enslaved by
this delusion, so that he says, "The book
worth all other books put together Is the
Bible" Benjamin Rush, the leading physi-
ologist and anatomist of his day, the great
medical scientist-wha did he say2 "rae
only true and perfect religion is Christian
ity." Isaac Newton. the leading philoso-
pher of his time-what did he say?
That man surrenderinc to this delu-
sion of Christian religion, crying
out "The sublimest philosophy on
earth is the philosophy Of the Gospel"
David Brewster, at the pronunciation OF
whose name every scientist the world over
uncovers his head, David Brewster saving,
"Oh, this religion has been q great light to
me, a very great light all my days." Presi-
dent Thiers, the great French statesman,
acknowledging that he prayed hen he