The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-12-26
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINES SUN
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "Our Departed Still Liv-
ing

; TENT: "ind arhen he Saw the ,ragons
tchich Joseph had sant TO carry him, the
spirit of Jacob their father reUired. And
Israel said: 1T is enough: Joseph, ny sou,
is yet aiire. .'"-Genesis XIV, 2i-2S.
The Egyptian capital was the focus Of the
/ worlds wealth. In ships and barges there
had been brought to it from India franklin
cense, cipnamon, and ivory, and diamonds;
from the North, marble and iron; from
Syria, purple and silk; from Greece some of
the finest horses of the world, and some OF
the most rIlliant chariots; and from all the
earth that which could best please the eye,
ard charm the car, and crafty the taste.
There were temples atlame with red sand
stone. entered by gateways that were guarded
by pillars bewildering with h:eroglyrhics,
and wound with brazen SerrentS, and a::orned
with winged creatureS-thrr eyes, and be- IkS,
and pinionS glittcring with precious stones.
There were marble columns blooming into
white 1ower-budS: there were pillars, ut the
top bursting into the shape of the lotus when
in full bloom. Along the avenues, lined with
sphinx, end fame and obelsk, there we're
princes who came in gorGeouSly upholstered
palanuuin, carried by servants in scarlet, or
elsewhere drawn by vehicles, the Snow-whlte
horses. golden bitted, and six abreast dashng
at full run There were fountains from stone
wreathed vases 'nbing the ladders of the
light. You would hear Z bolt shove, and door
o. brass would open like fash of the sun.
The surrounding gardens were saturated
with odors that mounted the terrace, and
dripped from the arnorS, and burned their
incense in the Egyptian noon. On floors OF
mosaic the glolies of Pharaoh were spelled
out in letters of porphyry, and beryl, and
flame There were ornaments twisted from
the wool Of the tamarisk, embossed with
IL L.. ,,,to
stools made out OF sin:le precious stone
There were beds fashioned out of
crouched lion in bronze. There wero chairs
spotted with the sleek hide OF leop-
ards There were sofas footed with the
claws of wild beasts, and armed with the
beaks of birds. As you stand on the level
beach of the sea on summer day, ami look
either way, and there are miles of breakers,
white with the ocean foam, dashinS shore
ward so it seemed as if the sea of the worlds
pomp and wealth in the Egyptian capital for
miles and miles flung itself up into white
breakers of marble temple, mausoieum, and
obelisS.
This was the place where Joseph. the shep-
IN honSr Gas eontrat T this
scene and his humble starting, and the pit
into which his brothers threw him. Yet he
was not forgetful OF his early home; he was
not ashamed of where he came from. The
Bishop of Mentz, descended from
wkccl'~right, covered his house
with sp ;es, and hammers. and
wheels: and the King Of Sicily, In honor of
drink out Of anything but an earthen vessel.
So Joseph was not ashamed of his carly sur
7oundings, or of his oid-time father. or or
his br.'thers. When they came up from the
famine-stricken land to get corn fiom
the Kings corn crib, Joseph, instead
Of chiding them for the way they
had maltreated aud abused him, sent them
back with wagons, which Pharaoh furnished,
laden with corr: and old Jacob, the father,
in the very same wagons, was brought back.
that Joseph, the son, might see him, and
give him q comfortable home all the rest OF
his days
Well. hear the wagons, the Kings wagons,
rumblinG down in front OF the palace. On
the outside Of the palace, to see the wagons
60 of, stands Pharoah in royal robes; and
beside him Prime Minister joseph, with
a chain Of gold around his neck, and on his
hand a ring given by Pharaoh to him, SO
that any time he wanted to stamp the
royal seal upon q document he could DO
So Wagon after wagon rolls on down
from the palace, laden with corn
and meat. and changes of raiment, and
PEOPLE One day see aged Jacob seated in
front of his house. He is possibly thinking
of his absent boys sons, however old they
get, are never to a father any more thon
boys; and while he is seated there. he sees
dust arising, and he hears wagons rumoling,
and he wonders what is coming now, Tor
the whole land had been smitten with the
famine, and IVES in silence. But after a
while the wagons have come near enough,
and he sees his sons on the wagons,
and before they come quite up, they shout:
.'Joseph is yet alivel" The old ruan faints
dead away. do not wonder ut it, The
bows tell the story how that the boy, the
long-absent Joseph. has got to be the first
man in the Egyptian palace. While they
unload the wagons, the wan and waSted
creatures in the neghborhood come up and
ask for handful Of corn, and they are satls'
fed.
One day the wagons are brought up, for
Jacob, the old father is about to go to see
joseph in the Egyptian palace. You know 1t
Is not very easy thing TO transplant an old
tree, and Jacob has hard work to get away
from the pace where he has lived so long.
He bids goodbye to the oi1 place,
neighbors, and then his sons steady
him, while he, determined to help himself,
gets into the wagon, stiff. old and de.
crepit. Yonder they go, Jacob and his sons,
and their wives, and their children, eighty
two in all, followed by herds and foclls.
which the herdsmen drive along. They are
going out from famine to luxuriance: they
are going from plain country home to the
finest palace under the sun. Joseph, the
Prime Minister, gets in his chariot,
and drives down to meet the old
man. Joseph's charioteer holds up
the horses on one side-the dust-covered
wagons of the emisrants stop on vse other.
Joseph, instead OF waiting for his father to
come, leaps out of the chariot and jumps
= al, l., -,
around the Old man. and weeps aloud for
past memories and present 10Y. The father,
Jacob, can hardly think it is his hoy. Why,
the smooth brow Of childhood has
become wrinkled brow, w-nkled
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, 500 the thin lip
quivcr against the toothless gum as he cries
out: 'Now let me die since have seen
thy face: behold Joseph is yet alivem 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
chat the old shepherd he's come. lnth. royal
apartment Pharaoh and Jacob mect-dig-
nifty and rUsticity-.the gracefuiness of the
court and the plain manners of the
field. The King. wanting to make the
old countryman at ease, and seeing how
whito his beard is, and how feeble his step,
looks fanliliariy into his face and says to
the aged man: How old art thou" 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, wip-
ing them on the finest linen of the palace.
From VASES of perfume let the newly-arrived
be sprinkled and refreshed; let minstrels
come in with sandals of crimson, and thrum
the harps, and clap the cymbals. end jingle
the tambourines, while we SIT down. ct this
great distance Of time and space and learn