St. Paul daily globe., 1885-02-02
THE OLD FOLKS VISIT.
The Sermon Preached in the Brooklyn
Tabernacle Yesterday by
DR.. Talmadge.
Touching Filial Respect Shown by
Joseph to His Father in the
Land Of the Pharaohs.
A Warm Tribute Paid by the Great Divine tt
the Much Abused Glass Of
Old Maids.
Let the Ungrateful Sheer at the Maiden Aunt
But God Has Throne Pre-
pared for Her.

BROOKLYN, Feb. Quite revolution
| in the Brooklyn tabernacle has taken place
in consequence of the recent public renta
| of pews and the audience are to-day for the
| first time in their new places, the pew holder:
admitted BY cards. While in other churche:
the finances have been depressed by the hard
| times, the pews in this church have brought
| higher prices than ever before. DR.. Harri
son a. Tucker pays this year eight hundred
and ten dollars for his pew, and others in
proportion. But the free principle is COM
bined with this rental and seats are reserved
| for thousands of people who pay nothing
| DR.. Talmage read another long list of new
mcm bers, making 130 received at recent
I meetings Of session.
! The subject of the sermon was: ''The
! Old Folks Visit" and the text: Genesis xiv,
/ %; 81 Will go and See Him Before Die. -
DR.. Talmage said:
| Among the grandest old men that we have
any record of is Jacob, the patr arch Of the text
| But he had bad lot of boys. The most o
| them were cruel, jealous and unprinciped
His son Joseph was an exception, but he had
not been heard from for long while, am
| the probability was that he was dead. Bu
as it is the custom in some houses now t.
keep
| VACANT PLACE
at the table, with plate and knife aud forE
! and chair for a deceased member of the fam
! lily, so there had always been in old Jacob:
! heart place for his departed son Joseph
/ There sits the old man, the flock of 145 years
/ having in their flight alighted long enough L
leave the mark of their claws upon his fore
head and cheek and temples. The long,
white beard SHOWS down upon bis chest. His
eyes, somewhat dim. can see further when
/ they are shut than when they are open, fol
| be sees clear back to the time when Rachel
| his beautiful wife, was living, and the chill
dren shook the Oriental abode with theil
/ merriment.
While the ceDtenarian sits there broodine
| over the past, there is rumbling OF heavJ
wagons at the door, and the old man gets W
and goes to the door to see who has come
and his sons, returned from Egypt, rush in
and tell him that his son Joseph, instead o
being dead, is living In the Egyptian palace
and is next to the king, having all the in
vestiture of prime minister in the creates
empire in the world. The news was too sud
| den and too glad for the old man and ht
looks dazed and his checks get white and hs
drops his staff and he would have fallen IA
| had no. his boys caught him and helped him
on q lounge aud put some water to his face
aud famed him a little. ''Coming tor b,
begins to humble some words about Joseph
''What did you say about my Josephl Yor
did not mean my dear son Joseph
did you' He has been dead many
years. You did not mean him did your
But fully resuscitated from
THE NERVOUS SHOCK.
aud assured that the good news is true, th'
tears begin their winding way down the crosi
roads of the wrihkled face, and the sunker
lips of the old man quiver, and he claps hi
bent fingers together and SAYS:
Joseph, my son, is yet alive; ] will e
and see him before / die"
1t did not take the old man long to ge
ready, warrant you. He put on the bes
clothes a shepherds wardrobe could affor(
nd got into a wagon, and when that wsgor
and the old man met Joseph's chariot CON
ing down to meet him It WAS an antithesis o
rusticity and royalty, simplicity aud pomp
tlial affection apd paternsl love, leaving ui
so much in doubt about whether we had bet
ter laugh or cry that we do both. So Jacol
carried out the resolution Of the text: a..
v i'll go and see him before / die" What
strong and lasting thing Is parental attach
ment! Was II not most time that jacob for
got Josephi Many years had come and gone
the hot suns ofmany summers had BLASTED
upon the heath, the Nile again ant
again aud again had overnown
harvests had been sown and resped
stars risen and set, years Of plenty. years o
famine. But the intense attachment OF the
patriarch for his long absent son is in IN,
text overwhelmingly dramatic. An, that il
the cord that cannot he snapped though II b,
pulled on BY whole decades of years. Whet
the child disappeared from this life, th'
parents may have been but twenty-five year
OF age.and now they may he seveniy-hve, bu
the vision Of cradle and childish face and th,
first uiteranees Of the young lips are fresl
to-day in spite OF the passsge Of half cen
tury. Joseph Is as fresh In Jacobs heart a
on the dsy when at seventeen years Of az
he disappeared from the homestead. Eindinl
10 our family record the story Of an infaD
who died atty years before, what
THRILLING OCCASION
was the visit Of this old shepherd to his son
the prime minister! As the aged country
man sits In the palace and looks around a
the mirrors aud the fountains aud the carve,
pillars, be wished that Rachel. his wife
could have lived to come with him AM
visited their son IN his great home. "Oh, >
be SAYS, ''ff Rachel could only have seen al
thisi'i Well, that Is a good time when th;
old folks come 10 see you. Your little ehil-
dren stand round With eyes wide open an,
wonder how people can be so very old Per
haps the old people stay only few weeks, 70
sometimes they feel a little restless, especially
when night comes on. for they sleep bette
In their own beds, but whil- they are will
you you feel somehow that there IS a bene
dictiUn IN every room in the house. The.
are quite feeble ana you make It as easy 70
them as you can and realize they will no
visit you very often and perhaps never again
You 20 10 their room after they have retire,
10 see that their lights are properly put out, 70
they understand candle and lamp better thai
they do nIUdern apparatus for illumination
You notice what kindly provision Josep
made for his fathers comfort. he did no
say: II cannot Be bothered With having tb
old man around here. How awkward b
would look climbing
THESE xAEsLE STAIRS
and walking these moszics. He would b
putting his hands on the fresco PeopI
would ask; Where did that greenborn com
fronr His manners al sable would shoe
al the Egyptian court Beside that. be nigh
get sick 90 nv hands and BE might be quer
LulOus aud treat me ss 4 mere bOy, when
an next TO Pharaoh il power OF course b
must not suffer. aud n they have q famine
in his eosutry will send = few provision
down. But don't talk 70 me about fetchiui
/ nan frnm PaSer-Aram iufo the rnlit