The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1900-11-02
EFFECT ON MANKIND.
DR.. Talmage Shows How the Spirit
of Greed Destroys.
Strong DenunciRtIOn of Those Whe
Worship the Golden Calf of
Modern IdOlatry-Day of
Judgment Coming.
copyright, 1900 by Louis Klopsch.l

IL taxes possession Oh d man anu INA
money got in wrong ways is curse
Text: Exodus, xxi, 20, And he took
the calf which they had made and burnt
it in the fire, and ground it to powder
and strewed it upon the water, anc
made the children of Israel drink o.
It,"
People will have god of some kind
and they prefer one of their own max
ing. Here come the Israelites, breaking
off their golden earrings, the men as
well as the women, for in those times
there was masculine as well as femi-
nine decoration. Where did they get
these beautiful gold earrings, coming UP
as they did from the desert? Oh, they
borrowed them of the Egyptians when
piled up into pyramid of glittering
beauty. ANY more earrings to bring?"
says Aaron. None. Fire is kindled,
the earrings are melted and poured
into a mold, not of an eagle or war
charger, but of silly calf. The gold
cools down, the mold is taken away,
and the idol is set up on it's four legs.
An altar is built in front of the shin
ing calf. Then the people throw up
their arms and gyrate and 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 patience, and he takes the two
plates of stone on which were written
the Ten Commandments and filings
them so hard against rock that they
split all to 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 1t
into hot fire until 1t is melted all out
Of shape and then pulverizes it, not
by the modern appliance of nitromuri-
attic acid, but by the ancient appliance
of inter or by the old-fashioned file.
He stirs for the people most nauSeat-
ing draft. He takes this pulverized
golden calf and throws 1t in the only
brook which is accessible, and the peo-
pie are compelled to drink of that
brook or not drink at all.
But they did not drink all the gilt
tering stuff thrown on the surface.
Some of it flows on down the sur
face of the brook to the river and then
flows on down the river to the sea, and
the sea takes it up and bears it to the
mouth of all the rivers, and when the
tides set back the remains of this gold
en- 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 glittering sur
face, and they bring. it ashore, and
they make another golden calf, and
California and Australia break off their
golden earrings to augment the pile.
and in the fires of financial excitement
and struggle all these things are melt
ed together, and while we stand looking
and wondering what will come of it,
10 we find that the golden calf of Is
raelitish worship has become the gold
en- calf of European and American wor-
ship.
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
~ thuO IL Cdn near lH6 Wills
Pers on Wall street, and Third street,
and State street, and the footballs in
the Bank of England, and. the fiutter
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 trampled grain under
the hoof of the Russian war charger.
1t is so mighty that it swings any way
It will the worlds shipping. 1t has it's
foot on all the merchantmen and the
steamers. 1t started the American civil
war and, under God, stopped it, and
It decided the Turko-Russian contest.
One broker in September, 1869, in New
York, shouted: Zone hundred and six
ty for a million!" and the whole con-
tinent shivered. The golden calf of the
text has, as far as America is con-
cerned, it's right foot in New York its
left foot in Chicago, its right back foot
in Charleston, its left back foot in New
Orleans, and when it shakes itself it
shakes the world. Oh, this is mighty
god-the golden calf of the worlds
worship.
But every god must have it's temple,
and this golden calf of the text is no
exception. It's temple is vaster than
st. Pauls cathedral in England, and
St. Peters in Italy, and the Alhambra
of the SPaniards, and the Parthenon
of the Greeks, and the Tai Mahal of
the Hindoos and all the cathedrals put |
together. Its pillars are grooved and |
huted with gold, and it's ribbed arches |
lowering gold, and its chandeliers
descending gold, and its floors are
sellated gold, and its vaults are
wded heaps of gold, and its spires
domes are soaring gold, and its
ran pipes are resounding gold, and |
pedals are tramping gold, and it's
'ps pulled out are flashing gold, |
lie standing at the head of the tenn
p, as the presiding deity, are the
ofs and shoulders and eyes and ears |
nostrils of the calf of gold
'urther, every god must have not
y its temple, but it's altar of sacri-
:, and this golden calf of the text |
no exception. Its altar is not made |
Of stone, as other affairs, but out |
oountIng-room desks and ireproof
Is, and it is broad, long, high |