The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1886-04-01

Tabernacle. the subject being The Sisters
Influence Upon the Brothers" The text
was:
And the sister stood afar on, TO Wit " hat
would be lone 70 him E1oius H.,
DIR. Talmage said:
Princess Thermutis. daughter OF Phar-
aoh looking oat through the lattice Of her
bathing house. on the banks Of the Nile,
saw a curious boat on the river. II had
neither oar nor helm. and they would have
been useles. anyhow. There was only one
passenger and that baby boy. But the
MayhOwer that brought the Pilgrim IA
theirs 70 America carried not so precious a
load. The boat was made OF the broad
leaves Of papyrus frightened together by
bitumen. Boats were sometime, made Of
that material. as we learn from P.lnv and
Herodotus and Theoph rastus. XII all
the Hebrew children born" had been
Pharaoh order To save her bov. Joche-
bed, the mother Of little Moses, had put
bin in that queer boat and launched him.
Hi. sister Miriam stood on the bank watch
ing that precious craft. She was far
enough off not to draw attention to the
boat, Tut near enough to Offer pro-
lection. There she stands on the
bank. Miriam the poatess. Miriam, the
quick witted, Miriam the faithful, thou n
very human. for in after time she.beaame
50 mad with that very brother for marry
ing a woman she did not like, that she
made a great family row and was struck
with leprosy.
Miriam was a splendid sister, but had
her faults. like al the rest # Us. How
carefully she watched the boat containing
Der brother. A strong wind might upset
H. The bufaloes found there mi Int in a
sudden plunge OF thirst sink it. Some
rayenous water fowl might swoop and
pick his eyes out with ron teak. Some
crocodile OF hippop5tamus crawling
through the rushes mi ht crunch The abe.
Miriam watched ard watched until
Princess Therm utis, a maiden on each
side Of her holding palm leaves over her
head to shelter her from the sun, came
down and entered her bathing house.
When from the lattice she sawthat boat
she ordered it brought, and when the
leaves were pulled back from The face of
she child and the boy looked up he cried
aloud. for he was hun cry and frightened,
and would not. even let the Princess
take him. The infant would rather
stay hungry than acknowledge any
sne of the court a. mother. Now Miriam,
she sister, incognito, no one suspectjng her
relation to the child, leaps from the bank
and rushes down and offers 20 get nurse
- pacify the child. Consent is given.
She brings Jochehed, the bahv's mother,
incognito not sure OF the court knowing
hat she was the mother. and when Joche-
ned arrived the child stopped crying. for
its fright was Gained aud its hunger
appeased. You may admire Jochebed,
the mother. and all the ages may admire
Moses, but clap my hands in applause at
the behavior Of Miriam, the faithful
brilliant and strategic sister.
go home" some one might have said to
Miriam. why risk yourself out there
alone on the banks Of the Nile, breathing
the nliasms and in danger Of being
attacked of wild beast or ruIIian: 90
home" No; Miriam. the sister, most
lovingly watched and hravely defended
Moses, the brother. Is he worthy of her
care and courage? Oh, yes; the sixty
centuries of the worlds history have never
had 50 much involved in the arrival Of any
papyrus boat caulkel with bitumen. Is
one passenger was to be d none such in
history. Lawyer, statesman, politician,
legislator, organizer, cgnqueror, deliverer,
He had such remarkable beauty in child
hood that Josepnus says, when he was
carried along the road people stopped to
gaze AT him, and workmen would leave
their work to admire him. When the
King piavfully put his crown upon this
boy he threw it off Indignantly and put
his foot on it. The King, fearing that this
ght be sign that the child might yet
take down his crown, applied another test.
According to the Jewish legend the King
"a led two bowls 10 be put before the
chiid, one containing rubiss and the other
burning Goals. And if he tool; the Goals he
was to live, and if he took the rubies he
was TO die. For some reason the child
took enc of the Goals and put it in his
moutl, so that his life was spared,
althO, IN il burned his tongue till be was
indistsnCt Of utterance ever after. Having
come 0 manhood, he spread open the
palms q his hands in prayer, and the Red
Sea pan .ed to let 900 10 people escape.
And he put the palms Of his hands togeth-
er in prayer, and the Red Sea closed on
stranguIated host.
His life was unutterably grand, his
burial must lie on the same scale. God
.would let neither man nor saint, nor arch
angel, have anything to do with weaving
for him shroud or digging for him a
grave. The omnipotent God left his throne
In heaven one day, and if the question was
il L inn oft n
going?" the answer was, ~ am
going down to bury Moses" And the
Lord took this mghtiest of men to the top
of hill. and the day was clear and Moses
ran his eye over the magnificent range of
country. Here, the Valley Of EsdraelOn,
where the final battle of all nations is to
be fought; and yonder the mountains Her
mon and Lebanon and Gerizim, and hills
of Judea; and the village of Bethlehem
there, and the city of Jerusalem yonder,
and the vast stretch of landscape that
almost took the old lawgiver's breath away
as he looked at it, And then, without d
pang, as | learn from the statement that
the eye Of Moses was undimmed and his
natural force undated, God touched the
great lawgiger's eyes, and they closed :;
and his lungs, and they ceased; and his
heart, and it stopped; and commanded,
saying: $50 the skies, thou immortal
spirit" And then one divine hand was
put against the back of Moses, and the
other hand against the pulseless breast,
and God laid him softly down on Mount
Nebo, and then the lawgiver, lifted in the
Almighty's arms, was carried to the open
ing of a cave and placed in a crypt, and
one stroke Of the Divine hand smoothed
the features into an everlasting calm, and
a rock was rolled to the door, and the only
ohsenuies at which God did all the Offices