The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1891-11-05
Tabernacle Pulpit
DIR. TALMAGE breaches
On BRICKS WITHOUT
STRAWS.
Though the pharoahs of Old
Egypt Have Been Dead for
Many Centuries, there are
Still Many Pharoahs
Who are Demand.
ing Bricks With
out Straw.

BROOKLYN, Nov. 1.-The Tabernacle
was thronged as usual this morning.
The vast edifice filed TO Its utmost
capacity with eager listeners shows how
the popular preacher retains his power
over the people Although he has been
preaching In Brooklyn for more than
twenty four years, his audiences We're
never SO large as now, and although
the largest Protestant church In Amer
lea has been built for him, there never
was a time when so many persons were
turned away for lack of room. The
subject of this mornings sermon was
Bricks Without Straw" continua.
ton of the series on the confirmation OF
Holy Scripture which Dr. Talmage
found in his journey from the Pyramids
to the Acropolis. His text was Isaiah
xix, 1, THE burden of Egypt"
What is all this excitement about in
the streets Of Cairo, Egypt, this Decem-
Der morning in 1892 Stand back. We
hear loud voices and see the crowds OF
people retreating to the sides of the
street. The excitement of others be
comes our own excitement. Footmen
come In sight. They have a rod in the
hand and tasseled cap on head, and
their arms and feet are bare Their
garb Is black to the waist, except as
threaded with gold, and the rest Is
white. They are clearing the way foi
an official dignitary in a chariot or car
rage. They are swift and sometimes
run thirty or forty miles at stretch in
front of an equipage. Make way
They are the feetest footed men on
earth, but soon die, for the human
frame was not made for such endur
ance.
/ asked all around me who the man
In the carriage was, but no one seemed
to know. Yet as fell back with The
rest to the wall / said, This is the old
custom found all up and down tn,
Bible, footmen running before the rul
ers, demanding obeisance, as In Genesis
before Joseph's chariot the people wer,
commanded, Bow the knee" and a!
see the swift feet OF the men, fol
lowed by the swift feet of the horses
how those old words of jeremiah rushed
through my mind, ''If thou hast rur
with the footmen and they have wearied
thee, how canst thou contend will
| horsesf'
Now, my hearers, in this course o
sermons l am only serving you as foot
man, and clearing the way for you
coming into the wonders of Egyptology
subject that I would have you stud.
far beyond anything that can be sai'
in the brevity of pulpit utterance. Tw'
hundred and eighty nine times does th
Bible refer to Egypt and the Egyp
tians. No wonder, for Egypt was tn
mother of nations. Egypt, the mothe
Of Greece; Greece, the mother O
Rome; Rome, the mother of England
England, the mother of our own land
According to that, Egypt is our great
great-grandmother.
On other Sabbaths left you study
ing what they must have been In thei
glory; the Hypostyle hall of Karnac
the architectural miracles at Luxor, th
Colonnade of Horemheb, the GENE
teries of Memphis, the value of a kine
dom In one monument, the Sphinl
which with lips of stone speaks lou
enough to be heard across the cent?
ries, Heliopolis and Zoan, the conur
drum of archeologists. But all tha
extravaganza of palace and temple an
monument was the cause of an oppre:
sion high as heaven and deep as he'll
The weight of those blocks OF stone
heavier than any modern machiner
could lift, came down upon the Tx
brew slaves, and their blood mixed tn
mortar for the trowels.
THE ROUGH TAsKMAsTERs.
We saw again and again on and aloD
the Nile boss workman roughly smit
q subordinate who did not please hin
It is no rare occurrence to see long line
of men under heavy burdens passin
by taskmasters at short distances, lasl
Ing them as they so by into create
speed, and then these workInen. e.
hausted with the blasting heats of tn
day, lying down upon the bare ground
suddenly chilled with night air, cryin
out in prayer: "Ya, Allahl' "Ya
Allahl" which means 0 God!
God! But what must have been th
olden times cruelty shown by th
Egyptians toward their Israelitish slave
Is indicated by picture In the Ben
Hasaan tombs, where a man Is bel
down on his face by two men and Al
other holds up the victims feet Will
the officials beat the bare back of tf
victim, every stroke, I have no doub
fetching the hood.
Now you see how the Pharaohs coul
afford to build such costly works.
cost them nothing for wages, nothin
bat the tears and blood of the toiler
and tears and blood are cheap drin
for devils Bricks without straw
may not suggest 80 much hardsh
until you know that the bricks we
usually made with crushed straw
straw crushed by the feet of the oze
n. the thrashing, and, this crushe
straw denied to the workmen, they be
to pick UP here and there a piece
stubble or gather rushes from Il
waterside This story of the Bible
, confirmed by the fact that many of Il
: brick walls of Egypt have on the low
. layers brick made with straw, but Il
7 higher layers of brick made out
. rough straw or rushes from the riy
bank, the tEpth Of the book OF Exod]