Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1900-10-03

Copyright Louis Klcpsch. 1900
0N this discourse DR.. Talmage shows
how the spirit of greed destroys when
- 1t takes possession of a man and that
money got in wrong ways is a curse.
Test: Exodus, xxXii. 20. And he took
the calf which they had made and burnt
It in the hre. and ground it to powder.
and strewed ii upon the water, and made
the children of Israel drink of it."
People will have a god of some kind,
and they prefer one of their own max
ing. Here come the IsraelitcS, breaking
of their golden earrings. the men as well
as the women, for in those times there
was masculine as well as feminine deco
ration. Where did they get these bcauti-
ful gold earrings. coming up as they did
from the desert? Oh, they borrowed
them of the Egyptians when they left
Egypt. These earrings are piled up into
a pyramid of glittering beauty. ANY
more earrings to bring?" says Aaron.
None. Fire is kindled, the earrings are
melted and poured into mold, not of an
eagle or a war charger. but OF Il silly calf.
The gold cools down, the mold is taken
away, and the idol is set up on its four
legs. An altar is built in front OF the
shining calf. Then the people throw up
their arms and gyrate ard shrek and
dance vigorously and worship,
Moses has been six weeks on Mount
Sinai, and he comes back and hears the
bowling and sees the dancing of these
golden calf fanatics, and he loses his pa
tience. and he takes the two plates Of
an tt-bfph Nx~pttfan tho Ton
Commandments and filings them SO hard
against a rock that they split all 10
pieces. When a man gets angry, he is
apt to break all the Ten Commandments!
Moses rushes in, and he takes this calf
god and throws it into n hot fire until it
is melted all out OF shape and then pull
yerizcS it, not by the modern appliance
of niTomuriatic acid. but by the ancient
appliance of inter or by the old-fashiOned
file. He stirs for the people a most nau-
seating draft. He takes this pulverzed
golden calf and throws it in the only
brook which is accessible, and the people
are compelled to drink of that brook or
not drink at all.
But they did not drink all the glittcring
stuff thrown on the surface. Some of it
flows on down the surface of the brook to
the river and then flows on down the riv-
or to the sea. and the sea takes il up and
Bears it to the mouth of all the rivers,
ind when the tides set back the remains
Of this golden calf are carried up into the
Potomac and the Hudson and the
Thames and the Clyde and the Tiber, and
men go out, and they skim the glttering
Slrface, and they bring it ashore, and
hey raake another golden calf, and Cali
fornia and Australia break off their gold
on earrings to augment the pile, and in
the fires of financial excitement and
struggle all these things are melted to-
gether, and while we stand looking and
wondering what will come of it, 10, we
find that the golden calf of Israelitish
worship has become the golden calf Of
European and American worship.
Modern Golden Calf.
Pull aside this curtain. and you see the
golden calf of modern idolatry. 1t is not,
like other idols, made out Of stocks or
stone. but it has an ear SO sensitive that
it can hear the whispers on Wall street,
and Third street, and State street, and
the footballs in the Bank of England, and
the flutter Of a Frenchman's heart on the
Bourse. 1t has an eye so keen that it can
see the rust on the farm Of Michigan
wheat and the insect in the Maryland
peach orchard and the tramplcd grain
under the hoof of the Russian war Charg-
er. 1t is so mighty that it swings any
way it will the worlds shipping. 1t has
its foot on all the merchantmen and the
steamers. 1t started the American civil
war and. under God, stopped it, and it
decided the Turko-Russan contest. One
broker in September, 1869, in New York,
shouted. One hundred and sixty for Il
million" and the whole continent SILVER
ed. The golden calf Of the text has, MS
far as America is concerned, its right
front foot in New York, its left front foot
in Chicago, its right back foot in Charles
ton, its left back foot in New Orleans.
and when it shakes itself it shakes the
world. Oh, this is a mighty god
golden calf Of the worlds worship.
But every god must have its temple,
and this golden calf Of the text is no ex-
ception. Its temple is yaster than St.
Paul's Cathedral in England. and St. Pc
ter's in Italy, and the Alhambra of the
Spanards, and the Parthcnon Of the
Greeks, and the TAI Mahal Of the Hin
uoDS anu All llt tdtHtIEHIS put tbEtIutF,
Its pillars are grooyed and huted with
gold, and its ribbed arches are lowering
gold, and its chandeliers are descending
gold, and its floors are tesselatcd gold,
and its vaults are crowded heaps Of gold,
and its spires and domcs are soaring gold,
and its organ pipes are resembling gold,
and its pedals are tFdmping gold. and it's
stops pulled out are flashing gold, while
standing at the head Of the temple as
the presiding deity, are the hoofs and
shoulders and eyes and ears and nosuils
IF the calf Of gold.
Its Altar of Sacrifice.
Further. every god must have not Only
its temple, but its altar Of sacrifice, and
this golden calf of the text Is no cxcep.
ton. Its altar is not made ont Of stone
as other affairs. but o1s of counting room
desks and freproof safes, and il is q
broad a long, high altar. The victims
sacrificed on it are the SwartoHt. aud
the Ketchams and tho Fisks and 10000
other people who are slain before this
golden calf What IDas thIe rod care