The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-03-31
DR.. TALMhGE'S SERMON
INFLUENCE OF SISTERS OVER
BROTHERS.

| ness WnaG WOuld % uone W nlEl -EAouus
| ii. 4.
| Princess Thermutis, the daughter of Pha-
| raoh, looking through the lattice of her bathing
house on the ranks of the Nile, saw curl
Gus boat on the river 1t had neither oar nor
helm, and they would have been useless any
how There was but one passenger in the
boat and that baby boy. The boat was
made out of the broad leaves of papyrus
frightened together by bitumen. Boats were
Pliny and Herodotos and Theoprastos
''Kill all the Hebrew children born" was
the order of Pharaoh. To save her
boy, Jochebad, the mother Of
little Moses, put him into this queer boat aud
| launched him. Miriam, the sister of the babe
stands on the bank far enough off not to
draw attention to the boat, but near enough
the bank of the Nile, Miriam, the poetess,
Miriam the quick-witted, Miriam the faithful
sister, but nevertheless very human, for after
a while she got mad at that very brother,
| because he married a woman she did not
| like, and this Miriam made a great row in the
| family, and for her behavior was struck
with ieprosy. But Miriam was splendid sis
ter, although she had her faults like all the
rest of us. How carefully she watched that
papyrus boat that was caulked with asphal-
tum and carried but one passenger. A gust
of wind might upset that boat. The buffalo
that are found in that region in a plunge OF
thirst might sink it. Ravenous water fowl
might with iron beak pluck out the eyes of
the child Crocodile or hippopotamus crawling
through the rushes might crunch the babe.
So, Miriam, the sister, lovingly and bravely
watches that brother until Princess Their
| NUTS comes down, maiden on either side
of her holding leaves over her head to shelter
her from the sun, and enters her bathing
house. Then, looking through the lattice
of this bathing house, and seeing the queer
boat, she orders that it be Immediately
brought to her. She turns aside the Leaves
/ from the boys face. The child cries aloud
for he is afraid and he is hungry, but he will
not let the princess take him. He would
rather be hungry than acknowledge any one
Of all the court as his mother. Then Miriam,
tie sister, runs down from the bank
incognito-for no one knew that she was the
sister of this babe-and she says she knows
where there is nurse that will pacify the
child. Consent given, she runs up to
Jochebad who comes incognlto-no one
knowing that she is the mother of the babe
and when Jochebad takes Moses in her arms
he ceases crying, his fears are paciied and
his hun ,er is appeased. You may praise
Jochebad, the mother, and the world praises
Moses, but clap my hands to-day in ap-
plause at the behavior of this faithful, self
denying, heroic, strategic sister. go home,"
some one might have said to Miriam. "Why
stand there alone on the bank and risk
yourself, and breathe the miasma of this low
/; land and be subject to attack from wild beast
or ruffiian! Go home" No. Miriam, the
sister, stands Oh the bank, and how
, lovingly she watches, and how brave
ly she protects Moses, her brother. Was he
worth a II that care and courage on her part!
Yes. In the sixty centlries of the worlds
history there has not been so much involved
of cbi of in
the safe landing of that boat, woven from
water plants and made water-tight by being
caulked with asphalton and carrying but one
passenger. Why, that one passenger is to
be as none such in history. He is to be law
yer, politician, statesman, legislator, organ
izer, conqueror, deliverer As babe he
was so beautiful. that Josephus tells
/ us in his history that when he was
carried through the streets, people stopped to
gaze at him, and workmen would actually
leave their work and come to admire him.
So wonderful was he as boy, that one day
Pharaoh in play put his crown upon the boys
head, and the boy dashed down that crown
, and put his foot on it, and Pharaoh, the
king, was alarmed, and thought, perhaps,
this might be sign that after while the
boy would take his crown, AID so, according
to the Jewish legend he applied this test:
!! The king had brought before Moses, the boy,
two bowls; the one containing rubies and
the other containing burning Goals. If the
boy chose from the Goals he should
live, if he took of the rubies
he should be slain By some strange in1u
ence when these two bowls were presented
Moses took one of the Goals and put it to his
mouth, and though itsaved his life his tongue
, was so burned that profane and sacred his
tory says, his utterance was very indistinct
, afterward. Come to be a man, one day he
opens the palms Of his hands and spreads
them abroad in prayer, and as he does so the
Red Sea parts and lets and let's $500, 900 peo-
pie escape. And then putting the palms
Of his hands together the Red Sea
closes on strangulated host. Well,
man Of such unutterable grandeur
must have burial corresponding with his
, life. God would not let any man or saint or
him grave. God one day left His throne
in heaven and came down. and if the question
were asked, "Where is the King of the Uni
verse goingT' the answer would have been:
Il am going down to bury Moses" for God
took this lawgiver to the top Of high hill,
and the day was clear and the eye Of Moses
swept over that magnificent reach Of country.
the final battle Of all nations is to
be fought. There were the mountain
ranges Hebron and Lebanon and the hills
Of Judea. There was Bethlehem; there
was the city of Jericho; and as the eye OF
Moses sweeps over the landscape it almost
takes his breath. Then the Lord put His
hands on the eyes Of the law-giver, and they
closed. He put His hands on bis lungs, and
I they ceased, and on his heart, and it stopped,
and the Lord commanded to the skies tho i'm
mortal spirit, and without a pang on the part
of Moses, so far as I judge from the statement
that he was undimmed, and his natural force
unabated, one divine hand was put against
the back of Moses, and the other divine hand
was put against his pulseless breast, and he
was let softly down on Mount Nebo, and then
the lawgiver lifted in the Almighty's arms
was carried to cave opening in the bills, and
he was gently let down in one of the crypts,
countenance Of Moses, smoothing it into an
everlasting calm, and then rock was rolled
to the door of the sepulchre, and the only OBJ
sequies at which God ever filed all the Offices
mourner, were ended. Oh, was it not good
thing, an important thing, glorious thing
for Miriam, the sister, to watch that lad in
the boat of papyrusl Did she not put all
the ages of time an l all the coming ages Of
back from that boy in the boat all the
perils aquatic, reptilian and ravenous? She
it was that brought that wonderful babe and
the mother together, so that he could be
reared for deliverer Of his nation when
otherwise, though he might have been saved
| from the rushes, he would have been only
one more Of the God-defying Pharaohs, be-
cause this Princess Thermutis of the bathing
house was the heiress of the crown, and as
! she had no children Of her own, this adopted
| child Moses would have come to the corona
: ton. Had there been no Miriam there
would have been no Moses. Oh, what
| garland for faithful sisterhoOd For