The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-08-07
GLORIOUS DELUsIoN.
OR. TALkAoe sATiaizE6 the AbTA0-
oNlsrs OF CHRISTIANITY.

oNlsrs OF CHRISTIANITY.
The Great Preacher Depicts In .
Very Unusual Way the Triumphs OF
the Gospel "DelusiOn" Which
overpowers Strongest Intellects.
copyright, Louis Klopsch, lsoS.I
WAsHIraroN, Aug. 6.-The autago-
nists OF the Christian religion are In this
sermon of DR.. Talmage met in very
unusual way, and the triumphs OF the
eospel are depicted. The text is Ezekiel
xxi 21, "He made his arrows bright, ne
consulted with images, he looked in Inc
liver"
Two modes of divination by which the
king Of Babylon proposed to find out the
will Of God. He took bundle of ar
rows, nut them together, mixed them up
,hen pulled forth one and by the inscrip-
don on 1t decided what city he should
first assault. Then an animal waluelnin,
and by the lighter or darker color OF the
liver the brighter or darker prospect OF
success was inferred. That Is the mean
inc Of the text, "He made bis arrows
bright. he consulted with hinges, he
locked In the liver" Stupid delusion!
And vet all the ages have been filled
with decisions. 1t seems as II the world
loves to be hoodwinked, the delusion OF
the text only a specimen of vast num-
Der Of deeeits practiced upon the human
race, In the latter part Of the last CEN
turv Johanna Southcote came forth pre-
tending to have divine power, made
prophecies, had chapels built in her hon
or, and 100000 disciples came forward
to follow her. About FIVE years before
the birth of Christ Apollonius was born,
md he came forth, and after five years
being speechless, according to the tradi-
ton, 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 the temple of Apollo, uttering crazy
jargon 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 an
swer came forth from the Delphic oracle
In such words that If you put the comma
before the word never" 1t means one
thing and IL you put the comma after the
word never" 1t means another thing just
opposite. The message from the Dolphic
oracle to the general was, "Go forth, re-
turn never In battle shalt thou perish"
II he was killed, that was according to
the Delphic oracle; il he came home safe
~, that was according to the Delphic ora.
Gle.
Deceits Of Ancient Auguries.
So the ancient auguries deceived the
people. The priests of those auguries, by
the flight of birds or by the information OF
thunder or by the inside appearance of
slain animals, told the fortunes or misfor-
tunes of individuals or nations The
sibyls deceived the people. The sibyls
were supposed to be inspired women who
lived in caves and who wrote the sibylline
books afterward purchased by Tarqun
the Proud. So late as the year 1929 a
man arose In New York, pretending to be
a divine being, and played his part SO
well that wealthy merchants became his
disciples and threw their fortunes into
his keeping And so in all ages there
have been necromancies, incantations,
witchcrafts, sorceries, magical arts, en-
chantments, divinations and decisions.
The one of the text was only specimen
of that which has been occurring in all
ages Of the world. None Of these delu-
sions accomplished any good. They de-
ceived, they pauperized the people, they
were as cruel as they were absurd. They
opened no hospitals, they healed no
wounds, they wiped away no tears, they
emancipated no serfdorn. =,
But there are those who say that all
these decisions combined are as nothing
compared with the delusion now abroad
In the world, the delusion of the Chris
tian religion. That delusion has today
400 100000 dupes. 1t proposes to encircle
the earth with its girdle. That which has
been called delusion has already over
Swallowed the Appalachian range on this
side the sea, and it has overshadowed
the Balkan and Caucasian ranges on the
other side the sea. 1t has conquered Eng
land and the United States. This cham
pion delusion, this hoax, this swindle Of
the ages, as it has been called, has gone
forth to conquer the islands Of the Pa
citic, md Melanesia and Micronesia and
Walayan Polynesia have already sur
rendered to the delusion. Yea, it has con-
uuered the Indian archipelago and Bor-
neo. and Sumatra and Celebes and Java
have fallen under its wies. In the Fiji
islands, where there are 10000 people.
100000 have already become the dupes of
this Christian religion, and if things go
on as they are now going on and If the
influence of this great Authorization of
the ages cannot be stopped, it will swal-
low the globe. Surprising then that
Christianity Is the delusion Of the centu-
rics, as some have pronounced it, pro-
pose to show you what has been accom-
plished by this chimcra, this fallacy, this
hoax, this swinde of the ages.
Wonderful transformations.
And in the first place I remark that
this delusion of the Christian religion has
made wonderful transformations of hui
man character. l will go down the aisle
of any church in Christendom, and will
find on either side that aisle those who
were once profgate, profane, unclean of
speech and unclean Of action, drunken
and lost. But by the power Of this delu-
sion of the Christian religion they have
been completely transformed. and now
they are kind and amiaple and genial and
loving and useful. Everybody sees the
change. Under the power of this great
hallucination they have quit their former
associates, and whereas they once found
their chief delight among those who gam
bled 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 own
families have noticed 1.-THE wife has
noticed it, the children have noticed it.
The money that went for rum now goes
for books md for clothes and for educa-
ton. He is a new man. All who know
him say there has been Il wonderful
change. What is the cause Of this
change? This great hallucination Of the
Christian religion. There is as much DIFF
ference between what he is now and
what he once was as between rose and
a nettlc, as between dove and,a yulture,
as between day and night. Tremendous
delusion!
Admiral Farragut, one Of the most ad-
mired men of the American navy, early
harana within of this Christian delll-