The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1888-12-14

and their children, eighty-two in all
followed by herds and flocks, which
the herdsmen drive along. They are
going out from famine to luxuriance
they are going from a plain country
homo to the finest palace under the
sun: Joseph, the prime minister gets
in his chariot, and drives down tc
meet the old man. Joseph's chariot
eer holds up the horses on the one
side-the dust covered wagons of the
emigrants stop on the other. Joseph,
instead of waiting for his father to
come, leaps out of the chariot and
Jumps into the emigrants wagon,
throws his arms around the old man,
and weeps aloud for past memories
and present joy. The father, Jacob,
can hardly think it is his boy. Why.
the smooth brow Of childhood has be
come wrinlsled brow, wrinkled with
the cares OF state, and the garb Of the
shepherd boy has become robe royalty
bedizened! But as the old man finds
out it is actually Joseph, see the thin
lip culver against the toothless gum
as he cries out: ''Now let me die, since
have seen thy face; behold Joseph
is yet aliver The wagons roll up in
front Of the palace. Help out the
grandchildren, and take them in out
of the hot Egyptian sun. Help old
Jacob out of the wagon. Send word
to Pharaoh that the old shepherd has
come. In the royal apartment Pha-
raoh and Jacob meet-dignity and
rusticity, the gracefulness of the court
and the plain manners of the field.
The king, wanting to make the old
countryman at ease, and seeing how
white his beard is, and how feeble his
step, looks Familiarity into his face,
and says to the aged man: "How old
art thou2" Give the old man a seat.
Unload the wagons; drive out the
cattle toward the pastures of Goshen.
Let the slaves in scarlet kneel and
wash the feet Of the newly arrived,
wiping them on the finest linen of the
palace. From vases of perfume let the
newly arrived be sprinlSled and re-
freshed; let MINISTRIES come in with
sandals of crimson, and thrum the
harps, and clap the cymbals, and jingle
the tambourines, while we sit down,
at this great distance of time and
space, and learn the lesson of the
kings wagons.
My friends, we are in world by sin
famine struck; but the King is in con-
slant communication with us, his
wagons coming and going perpetu-
ally; and in the rest of my discourse I
will show you what the wagons bring
and what they take back.
In the first place, like those that
came from the Egyptian palace, the
Kings wagons now bring us corn and
meat and many changes of raiment.
We are apt to think of the fields and
the orchards as feeding us; but who
makes the flax grow for the linen, and
the wheat for the bread, and the wool
on the sleeps back9 Oh, I wish we
could see through every grain field,
by every sheep fold, under the trees
of every orchard, the Kings wagons.
They drive up three times daxrnl
morQiRG 11Qon and night. Thee
furss Ptne arctic, they bring 4f,lsJl
from the tropic, they bring bread from
the temperate zone. The King looks
out, and he says: There are twelve
hundred millions of people to be fed
and clothed So many pounds of |
meat, so many barrels of -four, SO
many yards of cloth and linen and
flannel, so many hats, so many socks,
SO many Shoes" enough for all, save
that we who are greedy get more shoes |
than belong to us, and others go bare
footed. None but God could feed and
clothe the world. None but kings
corn crib could appease the worlds
famine. None but a king could tell
how many wagons to send, and how
heavily to load them, and when they
are to start. They are coming over the
frozen ground today. Do you not
hear their rumbling9 They will stop
at noon at your table. Oh, if for a
little while they should cease, hunger
would come into the nations, as to
Utica when Hamilcar besieged it, and
as in Jerusalem when Vespasian sur
rounded it; and the nations would be
hollow eyed and fall upon each other
in universal cannibalism; and skeleton
would drop upon skeleton; and there
would be no one to bury the dead and
the earth would be field of bleached
skeletons; and the birds of prey would
fall dead, flock after flock, without
any carcasses to devour; and the earth
in silence would wheel around, one
great black hearse! All life stopped
because the Kings wagons are stopped.
Oh, thank God for bread-for bread!
JACOB HEARS GOOD NEWS.
! remark again, that like those that
came from the Egyptian palace, the
Kings wagons bring us good news.
Jacob had not heard from his boy for
! great many years. He never thought
If him but with heart ache. There
vas in Jacobs heart room where Law
he corpse Of his unburied Joseph; and
when the wagons came, the kings
wagons, and told him that Joseph was
yet alive, he faints dead away. Good
news for Jacob! Good news for us
The Kings wagons come down and
ell us that our Joseph Jesus is vet
live; that he has forgiven us because
We threw him into the pit of suffering
ind the dungeon of shame. He has risen
rom thence to stand in palace. The
shepherds were awakened
It midnight by the rafting of the
wagons that brought the tidings. Our
|oseph-Jesus sends us message of
,ardon, of life, of heaven; corn for
,ur hunger, raiment for our naked
,oco Toao,,l, Joc,,c -, It'll Ill,