Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1900-11-02
DEGRADING WORSHIP
DR.. TALMAGE ON The GOLDEN CALF
OF MODERN looIATRY.

The Spirit OF Greed Destroys Tho.e
Who Are rn Its GrnsP-wOnsX Cot
wrongfutIy n Curse--worshipcrs OF
Cold Die Moral BankruPts.
WASHINGTON. Oct. 2S.-In this dis
course DIR. Talmage shows how the
spirit of greed destroys when Ii takes
possession of man and that money
got in wrong ways is a curse; text EN-
odus xxxii, 20, And he took the calf
which they bad made and burnt il in
the fire and ground 1t 70 powder and
strawed it upon the water and made
the children Of Israel drink of it,
People will have god Of some kind.
and they prefer cue OF their own max
ing. Here come the. Israelites, break
ing of their golden earrings. the men
as well as the women for in those
times there was masculine as well as
feminine decoration. Where did they
get these beautiful gold earrings. COM
ing up, as they did, from the desert?
Oh. they borrowed them of the Egyp-
tians when they left Egypt. These
earrings are piled up into pyramid of
glittering beauty. ANY more earrings
to bring?" says Aaron. None. Fire is
poured into a mold not of an eagle or n
war charger. but of a silly calf; the
q 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 and shrek
and dance vigorously and worship.
Moses has been six weeks on Mouns
Sinai, and he comes back and hears
the bowling and sees the dancing of
these golden calf fanatics. and he loses
his patience, and he takes the two
plates of stone on which were written
the Ten Commandments aud hings
them so hard against rock that they
split all to pieces. When n man gets
angry, he is apt to break all the Ten
commandments. Moses rushes in and
he takes this calf god and throws il
into hot fire until 1t is melted all out
of shape and then pulverizes it-not by
the modern appliance of nitro muriatic
acid, but by the ancient appliance Of
inter or by the old fashioned file. He
stirs for the people n most nauseating
draft. He takes this pulverized golden
calf and throws IL I'm the only brook
compelled to drink of that brook or not
drink at all.
But they did not drink oil the glitter
ing stuff thrown on the surface. Some
of 1t flows on down the surface of The
brook to the river and then flows on
down the river TO the sea, and the sea
takes IL up and bears il to the mouth Of
all the rivers, and when the tides set
back the remains of this golden calf
are carried up into the Potomac aud
the Hudson and the Thames and the
Clyde and the Tiber. And men go out
and they skim the glittering surface.
and they bring II ashore and they make
another golden calf. and California and
Australia break off their golden Cur
rings TO augment the pile, and I'm the
Tires OF financial excitement and s,rrU-
gle all these things are melted together
ana while we stand looking and won
derlng what will come of IT, To- We
ma that the golden calf of Israclitish
worship has become the golden calf OF
European ana American worship.
Calf OF Modern Idoiatry.
Pull aside this curtain. ana you see
the golden calf Of modern idolatry. 1t
stocks or stone, but IL has an Cur so
sensitive that 1t can hear the whispers
on Wall street and Third street and
State street and the footballs in the
Bank OF England and the huttcr OF q
frenchman's heart on the boursc. 1t
mas an eye so keen that IL can see the
rust on the farm OF Michigan wheat
and the insect In the Maryland peach
orchard and the trampled grain under
the hoof of the Russian war charger
1T is so mighty that II swings any way
it VIII the worlds shipping. II has its
loot on all the merchantmen and the
steamers. II started the American civ
II war and under God stopped Il. and IL
decided the Turko- Russian contest.
one broker In September, 1850, i'm New
York, shouted, "Onc hundred and sixty
Tor million" and the whole continent
shivered. The golden calf of the text
has. as far as America IL concerned. its
right front foot i'm New York. its LEFT
front foot I'm Chicago. its right back foot
in Charleston, it's left back foot i'm New
Orleans, and when IL shakes itself II
shakes tho world. oh, this is q mighty
god-the golden calf of the worlds
worship
But every god must have its temple.
and this golden calf OF the text is no
exception. Its temple is vaster than
II. Paui's cathedral i'm England, and
~. Peters in Italy. and the Aihnmbra
or the Spaniards, and the Pnrthenon
OF the Greeks, and the Tai Mahal of
the HindoOs, and all the cathediaIs
put together. Its pillars are grooved
and fiuted with gold. and it's ribbed
arches are lowering gold, and its chan.
ceiiers are descending gold, and it's
noors are tcSScllated gold. and IFS
vaults are crowded heaps of gold, and
its spires and domes are soaring gold
ana Its orran pipes are resounding
gold, and ITS pedals are tramping gold,
and Its 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 enrs
and nostrilS of the calf of gold.
Altar Of Sacrifice.
Further. every god must have not |
only its temple. but its altar of sacri- |
flee, and this golden calf of the text Is |
no exception. It's altar is not made |
out OF stone as other affairs, but out of |
counting room desks and fireproof |
safes. and IL Is broad, long. a high |
altar The victims sacrificed on il are |
the Swartouts and the Ketchams aud |
the Fisks and ten thousand other peo- |
pie who are slain before this golden |
car. What does this god care about |
the groans and struggles OF the vic
tiins Defore II? With cold, metallic eve
IL looks on and yet let's then1 suffar /
"hat an altar! What a sacrifice of |
mind, body and soul! The physical
health or great multitude is flung on /
10 this sacrificial altar They cannot
sleep, and they take choral aud NOR
prime and intoXicants. Some OF them
struggle in nightmare of stocks. and
NJ O'Clock in the morning suddenly
rise up shouting, "a thousand shares