| Show ATHEISM AND IDOLATRY january obb dr talmage ral mage lectured iu in the fourteenth ward assembly room boom he had an audience which filled the hall to overflowing rhe fhe subject of the lecture was atheism and idolatry Y the lecture was highly interesting instructive tive and entertaining in ila one hours hour Is discourse without notes or manuscript there was not one redundant word not one misplaced word no tautology no repe repetition tiresome and hackneyed logic in listening to the doctor one cannot help being carried back in ih imagination to antioch when some fifteen centuries ago john chrysostom who was called the golden mouthed inveighed inveigh ed agal against net the atheism and idolatry of his time even in those days christianity had fallen the priests were corrupt the golden calf was still worshipped wor shipped and john of the golden mouth told the people so eo his action excited the enmity of the patriarch and of the and the result wim was that he of the golden mouth was banished from the civilization of the time and had to fly by into the mountains of taurus in the opening periods of his lecture he defined atheism polytheism theism deism and par pantheism theism further on he explained what infidelity and idolatry consisted of the professor demonstrated that there could not be nor was waa there any such person as an absolute atheist according to the etymological m meaning ning of the word he said that even the writings of pronounced and professed atheists invariably referred to some great unknown cause some supreme something some mighty mystery which lay behind all this proves that atheism does not exist in the absolute meaning of the word he referred to that great meteorological event of joshua Jos buas Is time that is the standing still of the sun infidels aud and sc scoff offers era dwelt on this as an example of biblical myths they said no mention was made of such a supernatural circumstance byhro by profane writers of that age cherro the professor proved this was not so he cited from chinese history a supernatural event in the days of emperor yell when the sun remained above the earth the length of two whole days in ia succession the people were terrified and consternation prevailed among the wise and great of the time he said mid that yell and joshua wert wen contemporaries temporaries oo co and that this was one instance where profane records mentioned the standing still of the sun he also referred to the mythology of rome and recited the case of Phae phaethon Ph ceton toon the son of helios hellos helios was the sun god of the greek myth he was supposed tu to drive the chariot of the sun around the heavens in every twenty four hours he had a son named who was a presumptuous youth he begged his father to let him drive for one dry day the father like many other fathers who are often too in fulgent to presumptuous youths gave the reins to the youth the result was that the horses ran away became unmanageable and the inhabitants habitants of the earth were terror strick stricken ein they implored the mighty jupiter jupiter to stop atop it jupiter hurled a thunderbolt and killed phaeton and stopped the steeds this is mythology but it is evidence that some great event of a tural character occurred in those times the lecturer referred to the changes and reforms in our day he asked if it could be possible to convince our grandmothers that a flock of sheep could be dand the wool turned into a bolt of cloth in six hours aye and even made into wearing apparel in that time he said mid they would not hot believe it simply because it ife took them six months to make a suit of clothes from the raw wool and they could not conceive of any process by which raw wool could be turned into clothing in six alx hours it was so 80 with bible sceptics skeptics they were 1 ignorant borant no rant stu stupid id and bi hia seed assed they tid did not want to believe nor try the means by which belief could be brought about idolatry he be said existed everywhere idolatry exists besides bowing in id to images and storing up household ho gods the man iman who risked his bis all life honor reputation for gold was an idolater and gold was his bis god the man who ruined his bis health broke up his home bome destroyed his children by strong drink was an idolater and whisky was his god the lecturer bloke for one hour and a more interested or delighted audience could not be conceived of one could bear the rustle of a leaf of paper being turned over while the doctor was speaking |
