Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-08-12
GOSPELS TRIUMPHS.
DR.. TALMAGE DEPICTS VICTORIES OF
CHRISTIAN RELIGION.

Power of Christs Teachings.
Drunknrds Reclaimed and Thieves
Made Righteous.
copyright, Louis Klopsch. ls99.l
WASHINGTON, Aug. 6-The antago-
nists Of the Christian religion are in
this sermon of DIR. Talmage met in a
very unusual way, and the triumphs
of the gospel are depicted. The text is
Ezekiel xxi, 81, "He 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. He took bundle
of arrows, put them together, mixed
them up, then pulled forth one, and by
the inscription on iadecided what city
lie 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
oon+rrr Jobappo Soutboota % mo 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
before the birth of Christ Apollonius
was born, and he came forth, and aft
er five years being speechless, accord
ing to the tradition. he healed the sick,
and raised the dead, and preached vir-
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
a 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.
Myri1ds of .fDGpcs."
So the ancient auguries deceived the
people. The priests of those auguries
by the fight of birds or by the intona-
ton of slain animals told the fortunes
or misforta2es OF individuals of ma
tons. The SibylS deceived the people
The sibyls were supposed to be inspir-
ed women who lived in caves and who
wrote the sibylline books afterward
purchased by Tarquin 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 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 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 pauperized |
the people, they were as cruel as they
were absurd. They opened no hospi-
tails, they healed no wounds, they wip-
ed away no tears, they emancipated no
serfdom.
But there are those who say that all
these delusions combined are as moth
ing compared with the delusion now
abroad in the world-the delusion of
the Christian religion. That delusion
has today 400,000,000 dupes. 1t pro-
poses to encircle the earth with its
girdle. That which has been called n
delusion has already oyershadowed the
range on this side of the
sea, and 1t 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
plon delusion, this hoax, this swindIe
OF the ages, as it 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 delusfon. Yea.
It has conquered the Indian archipela-
90, and Borneo and Sumatra and Gel
ebes and Java have fallen under its
Wlles. In the Fiji islands, where there
Ire 10000 people, 100000 have al
ready become the dupes of this Chris
ian religion. and if things go on as
they are now going on and If the in
1uence of this great hallucination of
he ages cannot be stopped it will