Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1888-12-21
OUR DEAD STILL LIVE.
ELoouENr DISCOURSE BY REV. DIR.
7. DE WITT TALMAGE.

The Lesson Of tho Kings wason-Joseph
tho Shepherd Boy. Not Ashamed OF His
Early susroundings-A Sermon Delivered
in tho Brooklyn Tabernacle.
Tert|"And when he saw tho wagons which
Joseph mad sent to carry him, the spirit Of Ja-
cob their father revived. And Israel said, It
sis XIV, 27,2s -''
The Egyptian capital was the focus Of
the worlds wealth. In ships and barges,
there had been brought to it from India
frankincense, and cinnamon, 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 brill
liant chariots; and from all the earth
that which could best please the eye,
and charm the ear, and crafty the taste
There were temples afame with red
sandstone, entered by gateways that
we're guarded by pillars bewildering
with hieroglyphics, and wound with
brazen serpents, and adorned with
winged creatures-their eyes, and beaks,
and pinions glittering with precious
stones. There were marble columns
blooming into white flower buds; there
WIRE stone pillars. at the top bursting
into the shape of the lotus when in full
bloom Along the avenues, lined with
sphinx, and fame, and obelisk, there
We're princes who came in gorgeously
upholstered palanquin, carried by serv-
ants in scarlet, or elsewhere drawn by
vehicles, The snow white horses, golden
bitted, and six abreast, dashing ut full
run. Therewere fountains from stone
L..
the light. You would hear a bolt shove,
and door Of brass would open like a
flash of the sun. The surrounding gar
dens were saturated with oders that
mounted the terrace, and dropped from
the arbors, and burned their incense in
the Egyptian noon. On floors of mosaic
the glories of Pharoah were spelled out
in letters of porphyry, and beryl, and
flame. There were ornaments twisted
from the wood Of the tamarisk, en-
bossed with silver breaking into foam.
There were footstools made out of sim
gle precious stone. There were beds
fashioned out Of crouched lion in
bronze. There were chariots spotted
with the sleek hide of leopards. There
were sofns footed with the claws of wild
beasts, and armed with the beaks of
birds. AZ you stand on the level beach
of the SEQ on summer day, and look
either way, and there are miles of
breakers white with the ocean foam,
dashing shoreward; 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 break
ers of marble temple, mausoleum, and
obelisk.
WHAT CONTRAST!
This was the place where Joseph, the
shepherd boy, was called to stand next
to Pharaoh in honor. What contrast
between this scene and his humble start
threw him! Yet he was not forgetful of
his early home; he was not ashamed of
where be came from. The Bishop of
Mentz, descended from wheelwright,
covered his house with spokes, and
hammers, and wheels; and the King of
Sicily, in honor of his father, who was
potter, refused to drink out of any,
thing but an earthen vessel. So Joseph
was not ashamed of his early surround
ings, or of his old time father, or of his
brothers. When they came up from the
famine stricken land to get corn from
the Kings corn crib, Joseph, instead of
Gliding them for the way they had mall
treated and abused him, sent them back
with wagons, which Pharaoh furnished,
laden with corn; and old Jacob, the
father, in the very same wagons, was
brought back, that Joseph, the son,
might see him, and give him a comfort
able 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 go off, stands
Pharaoh in royal robes; and beside him
Prime Minister Joseph, with chain of
gold around his neck, and on his hand
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 everything
that could helpsa famine struck 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
than boys); and while he is seated there,
he sees dust arising, and he hears
wagons rumbling, and he wonders what
is coming now, for the whole land had
been smitten with the famine, and was
in silence. But after while the wagons
have come near enough, and he sees his
BULB Ou GAe wagons, ssAo CoAOAo my
come quite up, they shout: Joseph is
vet alive!" The old man faints dead
away. do not wonder at it. The boys
tell the story how that the boy, tie 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 neighborhood
come up and ask for handful of csrn,
and they are satisfied.
JACOB GOING ON HIS JOURNEY.
Ono day the wagons are brought up,
for Jacob the old father, is about to go
to see Joseph in the Egyptian palace.
You know it is not very easy thing to
transplant an old tree, and Jacob has
hard work to get away from the old
place where he has lived SO long. He
bids good bye to the old place, and leaves
his blessing with the neighbors, and
then his sons steady him, while he, de-
termined to help himself, gets into the
wagon, stiff, old, and decrepit. londer
they go, Jacob and his sons, and their
wives, and their children, eighty two in
all, followed by herds and aocks, 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