News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1886-04-08
THE SUNDAY PULPIT.
THE STORY RETOLD OF MOSES IN
THE BULRUSHES,
And the Lessons In Life Drawn from IL by
the Rev. DIR. Talmage.

And the Lessons In Life Drawn from Ii by
the Rev. DIR. Talmnge.
"And his sister stood afar off. to wit,
ness what would be done to him. y
Exodus IL, 4. This was the text of the
Rev. T. De Witt Talmage's sermon in
the morning.
""The daughter of Pharaoh looking
through the lattice Of her bathing house
on the banks of the Nile," said DIR.
Talmage, ''saw curious boat on the
river. 1t had neither oar nor helm.
There was but one passenger in it, and
that baby boy. The boat was made
out of broad leaves of papyrus, fastened
together with bitumen. Boats were
made out of these materials, as we learn
from Pliny and Herodotus and Theo-
phrastus. Kill ali the Hebrew chill
dren born,' was the order of Pharaoh
To save her boy the mother of Moses
put him into the queer boat and
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 to offer protection.
There she stands on the bank of the
Nile, Miriam the poetess, Miriam the
quick witted, Miriam, the faithful Sis
ter, but nevertheless very humane, for
after while she got mad with that
little brother because he married wo-
man she did not like, and she made a
great row in the family, and for her be-
havior was stricken with leprosy. But
Miriam was splendid sister, although
she had her faults like all the rest of
US. How carefully she watched that
papyrus boati A gust of wind might
upset it. The buffaloes found in that
region, in plunge of thirst, might sink
it. Ravenous water fowl, with iron
beaks, might pluck out the eyes of the
child. Crocodile or hippopotamus, crawl
ing through the rushes, might crush
the babe So Miriam, the sister, loving
ly and bravely watched that brother I'M
til the Princess comes down, a 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
the bathing house and seeing the queer
boat, the Princess orders that it be
brought to her. She turns aside the
leaves from the boys face The child
cries aloud, for he is afraid and hungry,
but he will not let the Princess take
him. He would rather be hungry than
acknowledge any one of the court as
his mother. Then Miriam, the sister,
runs down from the bank incognita-
for no one knew that she was the sister
of this babe-and she says she knows
where there IS a nurse that will pacify
the child. Consent given, she runs up
to Jochebed who comes incognita-no
one knows that she is the mother of the
babe-and then Jochebed takes Moses
in her arms. He ceases crying, his fears
are pacifed, his hunger is appeased.
You may praise Jochebed, the mother,
and the world praises Moses, but clap
my hands to-day in applause at the be
havior of that 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 the lowland, and
be subject to attack from wild beasts or
ruffians? Go homer No. Miriam, the
sister, stands on the bank, and how low
ingly she watches and how bravely she
protects Moses, her brother. Was he
worth all that care and courage on her
part2 Yes. In the sixty centuries of
the worlds history there has not been
so much involved in the arrival of any
ship at any port as in the safe landing
of that boat woven with water plants
and made water-tight with asphaltum
and carrying but one passenger. Why
that one passenger is to be none such
in history! He is to be lawyer, politi-
clan statesman, legislator, organizer,
conquerer, deliverer. AS baby he was
so beautiful, that Josephus tells us IN
his history, that when he was carried
I6ES3S6 11ils5i HsIsp1s st ;2.l4s4l
their worn and come and 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 the crown and put his foot upon
it, and Pharaoh, the King, was alarmed,
and thought, perhaps, this might be a
sign that after while the boy would
take his crown, and 50, according to
the Hebrew legend, he applied the test.
The King had brought before Moses.
the boy, two bowls-the one containing
rubies and the other burning Goals. If
the boy chose from the Goals he should
live; If no took of the rubies he should
be slain. By some strange influence,
when these two bowls were presented
Moses took one of the Goals and put it
in his mouth, and though it saved his
life his tongue was so burned that pro-
fame and sacred history say his utter
ance was very indistinct afterward.
Come to be 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 twenty five hun
dred thousand people escape. And
then, putting the palms of his hands to-
gether, the Red Sea closes on strangu-
lated host.
'Well, a man of such unalterable
grandeur must have q burial CO re-
spending with his life. God would not
let any man or saint or archangel weave
for him shroud or dig for him grave.
God one day left his throne in heaven
md came down, and if the question was
asked Where is the King of the Uni
verse going? the answer would have
been, 4 am going down to bury Moses
And God took this lawgiver to the top
If high hill, and the day was clear,
md the eye of Moses swept over that
reach of country. There
vas the Valley of Esdralon, where the
lnal battle of all nations is to be
ought, There were the mountain
anges of Hebron and Lebanon and the
Hills of Judea. There was Bethlehem,
here was the city of Jericho, and as the
yes of Moses sweep over the landscape
t almost takes his breath. Then the
ord put His hands on the eyes of the
awgiver and they closed. He put His
iand on Moses lungs and they ceased,
nd on his heart and it stopped. The
Almighty then carried Moses to cave
pening in the hills, and he was gently |
ct down in one of the crypts, and then
he Lord passed His hand over the |
ountenance of Moses, smoothing it into
n everlasting calm, and then rock
vas rolled to the door of the sepulchre, |
nd the only obsequies at which God |
yer filled all the Offices of priest, under
aker, gravedigger and mourner were
nded. Oh, was it not good thing, |
he important thing, aglorious thing for
Iiriam, the sister, to watch that lad in |
he boat of papyrus2 Did she not pull