Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-03-09
FROMDUNGEONTOPALACE
TALMAGE TAKES A TEXT FROM
THE LIFE OF JOSEPH.

BROOKLYN, n. Y, March S.-Dr. Tai
mage's characteristic sermon on the sub
ject "From Dungeon to Palace" had for
its text Genesis xii, Al: "And Pharaoh
said unto Joseph, See, 1 have set thee
over all the land of Egypt" DR.. Tai
mage said:
You cannot keep good man down. God
has decreed for him certain point OF eleva-
tion. He will bring him to that though 1t
cost him thousand worlds. You sometimes
find men fearful they will not be properly
appreciated. Every man comes to be value
at inst what he is worth. You cannot write
him up, and you cannot write him down.
These facts are powerfully illustrated in my
subject. 1t would be an insult to suppose
that you were not all familiar with the life OF
Joseph. How his jealous brother threw HIM
into a pit, but seeing caravan of Arabian
merchants trudging along on their came S.
with spices and gums that loaded the
air with aroma, sold their brother to
these merchants, who carried MIN down
INTO Egypt. Joseph there sold to
PotIphar, a man of influence and Office How
by Joseph's integrity he raised himself to high
position IN the realm until under the false
charge of vile wretch he was hurled into
the penItentiary. How in prison he COM
manded respect and confidence. How by the
Interpretation of Pharaoh's dream he was
freed and became the chief man in the realm
the Bismarck of his century. How in time of
famine Joseph had the control of magnid-
cent stOrehOuSe which he had filled during
seven years of plenty. How when his broth
ers, who had thrown him into the pit and sold
him into captivity, applied for corn he sent
them home with the beasts of burden borne
down under the heft of the corn sacks. How
the sin against their brother which mad so
long been hidden came out at last and was
returned by that brothers forgiveness and
kindness-the only revenge he took.
on see, in the first place, that the world is
compelled to honor Christian character. POt-
phar was only man Of the world, yet Joseph
rose in his estimation until all the affairs of
that great house were committed TO his charge.
From his servant no honor or confidence was
withheld. When Joseph was in prison he
soon won the heart of the keeper, and though
placed there for being seoandrel, he soon
convinced the jailer that he was an innocent
and trustworthy man, and released from close
confinement he became general superlnten-
dent of prison affairs. Wherever Joseph was
placed, whether servant In the house OF
P0tphar, or Il prisoner III tue penltenIlary,
he became the first man everywhere, and is an
illustration of the truth lay down that the
world is compelled to honor Christian char
acIer. There are those who affect to despise
a religious life. They speak of it as a system
of phlebOtOmy by which the man is Dled OF all
his courage and nobility. They say he has
bemeaned himself. They pretend to have no
more confidence in him since his conversion
than before his conversion. But all this Is
hypocrisy. There is a great deal of hypocrisy
in the church and there is a great of hypOc
risy outside the chnrch. 1t is impossible
for any man not to admire and con-
fide in a man who shows that he has really
become child OF God, and is what he pro-
fesses to be. You cannot despise son of the
Lord God Almighty. Of course we nave no
admiration for the sham of religion, we have
adherence. Redwald, the King, after his
baptism, had an altar OF Christian sacrifice
and an altar for sacrifice to devils; and there
are many men now attempting the same
thing-half heart for God anu half q heart
for the WCrld-and it Is a dead failure and 1t
is a Caricature of religion, and the only sue
10, Nfeav.a
the inconsistency Of its professors. You may
have a contempt for pretensiOn to religion.
but when you behold the eXcellency of Jesus
Christ come out in the life of one of His dis
cples, all that there is good and noble in
your soul rises up into admiration, and you
cannot help it. Though that man be as far
beneath you in estate as the Egyptian slave
of whom we are disCOursing was beneath his
rulers, by an irrevOCabe law of your nature,
Potiphar and Pharaoh will always esteem
Joseph. When EudoXia the Empress,
threatened Chrys0stOm with death, he mad5
the reply, ''Tell the Empress L fear nothing
but sim" Such scene as that compels the
admiration of the world. There was some
thing in AgTfppa osanct and FeiE fa TnlGh paGi
the rebel against government. |
doubt not they would willingly have yielded
their Office and dguity for a thOusandih part
of that true herOism which beamed IN the
eve and beat in the heart of that uncOnquera-
BILE apostle. Paul did not cover before Felix;
Felix covered before Paul. The infdcl and
wording are compelled to honor in their
hearts. although they may not eulogiZe with
their lips a Christian firm in persecution,
cheerful in poverty, trustful in losses, trIum-
phlnt in death. l find Christian men
in all professions and occupations, and
| find them respected and honOred
and successful. John Frederick Oberlin al
leviating ignorance and distress; Howard,
passing from dungeon to lazaretto with heal
ing for the body and the soul; Elizabeth Fry
going to the prOhgacy of Newgate prison TO
shake its Obduracy as the angel came to the
prison at Phillippi, driving open the doors and
swapping loose the chain, as well as the lives
of thousands of followers OF Jesus who have
devoted themselves to the temporal and
spiritual welfare Of the race, are monuments
of the Christian religion that shall not erum-
bic while the world lasts. A man said to mo
in the cars: what is religion? Judging from
the character of many professors or religion
do not admire religion" said: 'NOw sup
pose we went to an artist in the city OF Rome
and while in his gallery asked him, What is
the art of painting" would he take us out in
a low alley and show us mere daub OF a pre-
tender at painting? or would he take us down
into the corridors and show us the keuDens
and the Raphaels and the Michael Angeles?
When we asked him, What Is the art of
paintings? he would point to the works OF
these great masters and say, That l5 paint
ing.' Now, you propose to find the mere
caricature of religion, to seek after that
which is the mere pretenson OF holy life,
and you call that religion. point you to the
splendid men and women whom TINS gospel
the masterpiece of divine grace if you want
to know what religion is"
We learn also from this story of Joseph that
the result of persecution IS elevation. Had
it not been for his being sold into Egyptian
bondage by his malicious brothers, and his
false imprisonment, Joseph never would have
become Governor. Everybody accepts the
promise, blessed are they that are perse-
cuted for Righteousness sake. for theirs is the
Kingdom of Heaven" but they do not realize
the fact that this principle applies to worldly
as we'll as spiritual success. 1t Is true In all
departments. Men rise to high official posi-
tions through Misrepresentation. Public abuse
is all that some of our public men have had
to rely upon for their elevation. 1t has
brought to them what talent and executive
force cOulG not have achieved. Many OF those
shO are making great effort for place and
power will never succeed, just because thev
are not of enough Importance to use. 1t is
the nature of men-that is of all generous and
reasonable men-to gather about those who
are prosecuted and defend them, and they are
apt forget the fault of those who are the
subjects of attack while attempting to drive
back the slanderers. Persecution is elevation.
He en- Stirk, the Scotch martyr, standing with
her husband at the place of execution, 9 aid:
Husband, let US rel ice day; we have lived
together a great many happ years; this is
the happiest time of ali our life; you
see we are to be happy together forever, Be
brave now; lie brave. l Will not say Good
night to you, for we shall soon be IN the king
dom of our Father together" Persecution
shows the heroes and the herOines. so into
another department, and | find that those
great denomio ations of Christians which
RAPIDLY. No good man was ever more vIO-
ienty maltreated than John Wesley-belied
and carcatured and slandered until one day
he stood in pulpit in London, and a man
arose in the audience and SAID: You were
drunk last night" and John Wesley said:
''Thank God, the whole catalogue
is now complete. l have been charged wITh
everything but thatn HIS followers were
hooted at and maligned and called by every
detestable name that internal ingenuity could
invent, but the hotter the persecution the
more rapidly they spread, until you know
what great host they have become and what
a tremendous force for God and the truth
they are welding all the world over! do
not wonder they celebrate their centennial
in Baltimore. 1t was persecution that gave
Scotland to PresDyterianism. 1t was perse-
cutlon that gave our land frat to civil liberty
and aIterward to religious freedom.
Yea, L might go further back and
say it was persecution that gave the
world the great salvation of the Gospel. The
rlbald mOckery, the hungering and Ihirsting,
the unjust charge. the ignOminiOus death,
when all the force of hell5 fury was hurled
against The Cross was the introduction of
that religion which is yet to be the earth's
delverance and our eternal salvation. The
state sometimes said to the church: Come,
take my hand and | Will help YOU" What
was the result? The church went back and
it lost its estate of holiness and it became in
effective. At other times the State said to the
been
the result? After the storms have spent their
fury tie church so far from having lost any of
its force, has increased, and Is worth inf
nitely more after the assault than before
Real all history, and you will find that true.
The church is far more indebted to the oppo-
sitiOn of civil government than to its approval
The fires of the stake have only been the
torches which Christ held in His hand by the
light of which the church has marched to her
present glorious position. In the sound OF
racks and implements of torture / hear the
rumblIng Of the Gospel chariot. The scaffolds
of IN artYrdOm haze been the stairs hv v-HUh hich