The Indianapolis sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1880-1904, 1885-02-08
TALMAGE.
As . Subject for Ills Sunday Sermon
DIR. Tslmage Chooses the
Old Folk Visit.
The Sermon Founded on the Beautiful
story OF Joseph's Devotion to
Jocob-A Lesson for
Rich sons

Rich
BRooKLTs. Feb 1.-Qaite q revolution n
the Brooklyn Tabernacle has taken place in
consequence Of the recent public rental Of
pews. and the audience are today for the
first time in their new places. the pewhold
era admitted by cards. While IN other
churches the finances have been depressed
by hard times. the pews in this church have
brought higher prices than ever before. DR..
Harrison A. Tucker pays this year $50 for
his pew. and others in proportion. But the
free principal is combined with this rental,
aud seats are reserved for thousands of peo-
pie who pay nothing. Dr.. Talmage read an.
other long list OF new members, making 1870
received at recent meetings of session.
The subject OF the sermon was: The old
folks visit" and the teyt Genesis xiv. 2si
IT will go and see him before die" DIR
Tai mage said
Jacob had long since passed the hundred
year milestone. People bad In those days
wonderful longevity, but we have had in
later centuries very aged persons. Gslen,
the most celebrated Of ancient physicians,
took 80 little of his own medicine that he
lived to be lao years old. Trustworthy
man on . witness stand in Enpland on oath
declared he remembered $50 years. Lord
Bacon speaks OF Q Countess who had cut
three ses Of teeth and was lao years old.
Jossph Crele, of Psnnsylvsnia. died az lao.
In . book published in 1857 are tue names OF
thirty-seven people Who lived 70 be l4v years
old and of eleven who reached $50.
AMONG raE eRANoEsr OLD MEN
that We have any record Of is Jacob. the pa
trisrch OF the text. Bat he had q bad lot OF
boys The moet the N were cruel. Jealous
and unpriuciplsd. His son Joseph was an
exception. but he had not been heard from
for . 10 g while, and the probability was
that he was dead. But, as il Is the custom
in some houses now to keep a vacant place
Ut the table. with plate and knife and fork
and chair, for dc ceased member of the fam .
lily, % h sd there always been in old Jacobs
heart . place for his deperted son Joseph
There sits the old man. the flock of las years
having ahghted long enough to leave the
marks of their claws on his forehead and
cheek and temples The long white bearo
SHOWS down upon his chest. His eS es, some
what dim, can see further when they are
shut than when they are opeD, for he sees
clear back to tie time when Rachel, his
beautiful wife, was living, and the children
meut
While the centensrian sits there brooding
over the past there il q IumbliDg OF heavy
wagons ut the door. and the old man gets M
and z oes to the door TO see who has come
and mis- sons, returned from Egypt rush in
and tell him that his son Joseph. instead of
being dead, is living in the Egyptian palace,
and il next to the King having all the in
vestiture OF Prime Minister In the greatest
empire of the world, and his cheeks get
white and he drops his staff. and he would
have fal'en fat had not his yscaught him
water to his face and famed him little.
Coming to-" he begins to humble some
words aoout joseph: what did you say
about my Joseph You did not mt an my
dear son Joseph did you? He has been dead
maDv years. You did not mean him, did
your" Bot, fully resuscitated from tbs Ber-
vous shock. and assured that the good news
10 true. the tears begin their winding way
down the cross roads of the wnnkied
face, and the sunken lips Of the old
man culver aud he clasps his
bent fingers together and says: 10
seph, my son is yet alive; viii go and see
him before die" Is did not take the old
man long to get ready, warrant you. He
put on the best robes q shepherds wardrobe
could afford and got into Q wagon, and when
that wagon and the old man met J0seph's
chariot coming down to meet him, It was an
sntithesis OF lsticity and royalty, simplicity
and pomp, filisl affection and parental love,
leaving much in doubt about whether
We had better laugh or cry, that We do both.
30 Jacob carried out the resolution OF the
text: ST will 60 and see him before / die !"
Hour friends. the reporters want az appro.
pirate title for this sermon. / suggest that
that they call IL The Old Folks VISIT"
What strong and lasting thing is parental
attachment Was Ii not most time thst
had
and gone. The hot suns of many summers
had blasted upon the heath. The Nile ain
and again had overfiown. Harvests had
been sown and reaped. Stars risen and set.
Years of plenty.
YEARS OF FAMINE.
But the intense attachment OF the patriarch
for his long absent son is in the text over
whel mingly dramatic. Oh, that Is the cord
that can not be snapped though 1t be pulled
on py the whole decades of years When
the child disappeared from this life the par
snts may have been but twenty five years OF
age and nov they may be seventy five, but
the vision of cradle and childish face and the
first utterances of the young lips are frest o
day In spite of the passage OF half . century.
Jossph is - frest in Jacobs heart IS on the
day when at seventeen years of age he dis
appeared from the homestead. Finding In
our family record the story of an in tsnt who
dieo ifty years before, / asked my parents
something about it but thsy CHIEFLY ans
wered by long, deep sigh; IL Was subject
vet III unb cara BILE tenderness
Ali this means that however long our
children are gone away they are part OF rs,
and the cord of e-dsarrnent that reached
across the years will continue to no d rs un-
I'll IL brings rs together IN the palace, IS II
did Jscob aud Joseph. That Is one thing
that helps old people to die happy. They
% realize it IL reunion With those from
whom they have long been separated. The
question 10 often ssted: "Wili my children
Ia Heaven always BE- Children You want
TO get them back rs they were when they
left you. Well. Joseph must have been
very much changed between the time that
jacob lost him aud the time he found him
. rudy lad ct seventeed. nov Q middie-sged
man, mis- forehead developed with the great
business of state. But IL vas enough for the
father that he had got his con back again.
and Of but little importance whether he
looked younger or older. And parents will
- satisfied II their son greet them at the
door of the Kings palace ~hether their ma
turs b. chsruo or full grown anselhood-
think that celestial CLINE and the roll OF
thoss supernsl years must make change,
bat only from LONELINESS to more loveliness
and from health to more radiant health
Yea nssd not expect that the darling that
lay white and psuting with membrsnous