Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1900-11-02


who have just begun to speculate, whiic
the deep bass rolls out from those who Tor
ten years have been stepped in the seeth-
ing cauldron. Chorus of voices rejoicing
over what they have made; chorus OF
voices wailing over what they have lost.
This temple of which l speak stands open
day and night. and there is the glttering
god with his four feet on broken hearts,
and there is the smoking altar OF sacrifice;
new victims every moment OH IT., and
there are the kneeling devotees, and the
doxology of the worship rolls on, while
death stands with moldy and skeleton arm
beating time for the More, more,
morei"
Some people are very much surprised at
the actions of people in the Stock En-
change, New York. Indeed it is scene
sometimes that paralyzes description and
is beyond the imagination of any one who
has never looked in. What swapping or
finger and thumb and wild gesticulation
and raving like hyenas, and stamping like
buffaloes, and swaying to and tro, ana
jostling and running one upon another,
and deafening uproar until the. president
of the exchange strikes with his mailer,
four or five times, crying, "Order, order!
and the astonished spectator goes out into,
the fresh air feeling that he has escaped
from pandemonium. What does 1T all
mean? l will tell YOU what it means. The
devotees of every heather temple cut
themselves to piet s and yell and gyrate.
This yvociferation end gyration OF the
Stock Exchange is all appropriate. Ihls
is the worship of the golden calf.
But my text suggests that this worship
has to be broken up, as the behavior OF
Moses on this occasion Indicated. There
are those who say that this golden cali
spoken of in the text was hollow and
merely plated with gold. Otherwise
Moses could not have carried it, L do
not know = t. But somehow. perhaps by
the assistance of his friends, lie takes up
this golden calf, which is. an internal IN
suit to God and man, and throws IT INTO
the fire, and it is melted. And then 1T
comes out and is cooled off, and by some
chemical appliance or by an oldfashIoned
file it is pulverized, and it is thrown into
the brook. and as punishment the people
are compelled to drink The nauseatlng
stuff. So you may depend upon 1T that
God will burn and He will grind to pieces
the golden calf of modern idolatry, and Hc
will compel the people in their agony to
drink it. If not before, it will be on the
last day. ! know not where the fire VIII
begin, whether at the Battery or 4om-
bard street, whether at Shoreditch or
West End, but it will be very hot blaze.
All the Government securities OF the Unit
ed States and Great Britain will curl up
ia the first blast. All the money safes and
deposit vaults will melt under the first
touch The sea will burn like finder and
the shipping will be abandoned forever.
The melting gold in the broker window
will burst through the melted window
glass into the street. But the flying popn-
lace will not stop to scoop it up. The
cry of "Fire" from the mountain VIII
be answered by the cry of FIRE." in the
plain. The confagration will burn out
from the continent toward the sea- and
then burn in from the sea toward the
land. new York and London, with one
cut Of the red scythe of destruction, will
90 down. Twenty-Five thousand miles OF
confagration! The earth will wrap itself
round and round in shroud of flame and
lie down to perish. What then will become
of your golden calf? Who then so poor
as to worship it? Melted or between the
upper and neither millstones of falling
mountains ground to powder Dagon
down, Moloch down, Juggernaut down,
golden calf down.
The judgments of God, like Moses in
the text, will rush in and break up this
worship. and | say let the work go on
until every man shall learn to speak truth
with his neighbor, and those who make
engagements shall fell themselves bound
to keep them. and when man who VIII
not repent of his business iniqulty, but
goes on wishing to satlate his canmbal APP
petite by devouring widows houses, shall,
L. Al. e Lad ho cotnrollqH tn
exchange the brownstone front for the
penitentiary. Let the golden calf perish
But if we have made this world our god,
when we come to die we shall sell our idol
demolished How much of this world
are YOU going to take with you into the
next? Will you have two pockets-o one
in each side of your shroudy Will you
cushion your casket with bonds and mort.
cages and certificates of stock! Alb, no!
The ferryboat that crosses this Jordan
takes no baggage-nothing heavier than
an immaterial spirit.
Where are the men who tried war
rem Hastings in Westminster hall! Where
are the pilgrim fathers who put oHt for
America? Where are the veterans who on
the Fourth of July, 1904, marched from
New York park to The Battery and fired
a salute and then marched back again
And the Society of the Cincinnati, who
.dned that afternoon at Tontine Coffee
House, on Wall street, and Grant Thor;
burn, who that afternoon waited fifteen
minutes at the foot of Maiden lane for the
Brooklyn ferryboat, then got in and was
rowed across by two men with oars, the
tide SO strong that it was an hour and
ten minutes before they landed? Where
are the veterans that fired the salute,
and the men of the Cincinnati Society who
that afternoon drank to the patriotic
toast, and the oarsmen that rowed the
boat, and the people who were trans
ported? Gonei Oh, this is fleetlng
world. 1t is dying world. A man who
had worshiped it all his days in his dy-
ing moment described himself when he
said, Fool, fool, fool"
When your parents have breaihed their
last and the old, wrinkled and trembling
hands can no more be put upon your head
for blessing, God will be to you father
and mother both, giving you the defense
of the one and the comfort of the other.
For have we not PauPs blessed hope that
as Jesus died and rose again, Even SO
them also which sleep in Jesus shall God
bring with Him." And when yonr chill
dren go away from you, the sweet darl-
ings, you will not kiss them and say good
by forever. He only wants to hold them
for you little while. He will give them
back to you again, and He will have them
all waiting for you at the gates of eternal
welcome Oh, what God He is! He will
allow you to come SO close that YOU can
put your Ems around His neck, while tie
in response will put His arms around your
neck, and all the windows of heaven will
be hoisted to let the redeemed look out
and see the spect ~" OF a rejoicing Father
and a returned prodigal locked in that
glorious embrace. Quit worshiping the
golden calf, and bow this day before Him
in whose presence we must all appear
when the world has turned to ashes.
When shriveling like a parched scroll,
The flaming heavens together roll,
When louder yet and yet more dread
Swells the high trump that wakes the
dead.
NEWSY CLEkNINCS.