Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1891-11-13
REV. Or. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S sun
DAY SERMON.
suBJEOr: "BRIcKs WITHOUT STRAW.

TEXT: THE Burden Of Egypt" Isaiah
xix, l.
What is all this excitement about in tn,
streets OF Cairo, Egypt this December
morning in 1882 Stand back We hear
loud voices AMI ses the crowds Of people re,
treating TO the sides OF the street 'rha ex
ctement OF Others becomes our own exciUe.
ment. Footmen come in sight. They have
rod in the hand aud tasseled cap ON head
and their arms and feet are bare. Their
garb is black 10 the waist except as threaded
with gold. and the rest is white They are
clearing the way for an official dignitary in
a chariot or carriage. They are swift, and
sometimes lup thirty or forty miles a;
a stretch in front OF All equipage. Make
wayl They are the 1eetest footed men on
earth. but soon die, for the human frame
was - made for such endurance.
asked ali around me who the man in the
catriage was, but no one seemed TO know.
Yet as fell back with the rest to the wall
sald, This is the old custom found all up and
down the Bible. footmen running before the
rulers demanding obelsance, as in Genesis
before Joseph's chariot the people were COM
manded, Bow the knee and as | SCI, the
swift feet of the men followed by the swift
feet OF the horses, how those old words OF
Jeremiah rushed through my mind, III thou
hast run with the footmen and they have
wearIed thee, how Canst thou contend with
horsesf'
Now, my hearers, in this course Of sermons
] am only serving you as fCotman and clear
ing the way fer your coming into the
wonders OF Egyptology, a subject that |
would have you study far beyond anything
that can be said in the brevity OF pu.
pit utteranCe. Two hundred and eighty.
nine times does the Bible refer to Eyypt AMI
the Egyptians. No wonder, for Egypt was
the mother of nations. Egypt, the mother
OF Greece; Greece, the mother OF Rome;
Rome, the mother Of England, the mother
OF our land. According to that, Egypt is
our groat-groat- grandmother.
On other Sabbaths | left YOU Stulying
what they must have been In their glory:
the Hypostyle hall of Karnac, tha urch-
tectural miracles of Luxor the Cu'onnade
Of Horemheb, the cemeteries Of Memphis
the Sphinx, which with lips Of stone speaks
loud enough TO be heard across tuc Cyntu-
ries. He!opolis and Zoan, the conunirum Of
archTulogists. But all that extravaganza
of palace and temple aud monument was
the cause OF an oppression high Us heaven
and deep ns hell. The wrl.ht of those
blocks OF stone heavier than any modern
machinery could lift, came down upon the
Hebrew saves, ani their blood mixed the
mortar for the trOwels.
We saw again and again on and along the
Nlea boss workman roughly stnite sub
. ordinate who did not pleas HIM. II !S no
rare occurrence TO see long lines OF men
under heavy burdens passing by taskmas-
terS at short distances, lR>hlng them as they
20 by into greater speed, and then these
workmen. exhausted with the blasting heats
OF tho day. lying down upon the bare
ground, suddenly chilled with the night air,
,,,,, Ilul,
Aiahm whicn means o God! o God! Bu.
what must have been the olden times
cruelty shown by the Egyptians towards
their lsraelitiSh slaves Is indicated by PIC
ture in the Beni-liu-San tombs, where man
is held down on his face by two men and
another holds up the victims feet while the
officials heat the bare back OF the victim,
every stroke have no doubt fetching the
blood.
Now you see how the Pharaohs could af-
ford to Lulld suCn costly works. IL cost them
nothing tor wugts-nothng hut the tears
and b ooi of the toilers, and tears and blood
are cheap drink for devils. Bricks without
straw may not suggest 50 much hardship
until YOU know that the bricks were usually
made with crushed straw" straw crushed
by the feet OF the oxen in the tbrashing, and,
this crushed straw denied to the workmen,
they had TO pick up here and there n piece
Of stubble or gather rusheS from the water.
Uie This story of the Bible is confirmed
by the fact that many of the brick walls Of
Egypt have on the lower layers brick made
with straw, but the higher layers OF brick
made out of rouSh straw or rushaS from the
river bank. the truth OF the Book of Exodus
thus written in the brick wlllc discovered by
the modern explorer.
That governmental outrage has always
been n characteristic OF Egyptian rulers.
Taxation TO the point Of starvation was the
Egyptian rule in the Bible times as we'll as
it is in our own time. A modern traveller
gives the figures concerning the cultivation
OF seventeen acres, the value Of the yield Of
the field stated in p'aSterS:
Produce. ............... ouS
Expenses. NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. gJ3'S
Clear produce. NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. eJS'5
Amount cleared by the farmer r,.... Sl511
Or, as my authority declares, seventy per
cent. of what the Egyptian farmer makes is
paid for taxes 10 the government. Now,
that is not SO much taxation as assassination.
You say, "Why did they stand itr' Be-
cause they had TO stand it. You see along
back in the worlds twilight there was a
famine in Canaan, and old Jacob and his
sons came to Egypt for bread. The old mans
boy, Joseph, was prime minister, and Joseph
i suppose the father and the brothers called
him Joe for il does not make any difference
how much boy is advanced in worldly sue
cess, his father and brothers and sisters al
ways call him by the same name that he was
called by when two years old oseph, by
Pharaohs permission gave TO ms fanny,
who had Just arrived, the richest part OF
Egypt the Westchester farms or the Lancas-
ter farms of the ancients Jacobs descend
ants rapidly multiplied
After awhile Egypt took turn at famine,
and those descendants of Jacob, the Israel
ties came to a great storehouse which Joseph
had provided, and paid in money for corn.
But after awhile the money gave out and
then they paid in cattle. After awhile the
cattle were all in possession or the govern
ment, and then the Hebrews bought corn
from the governmentby surrenderin8 them
selves as slaves.
Where was help to come froma Not the
throne, Pharaoh sat upon that. Not the
army, Pharaohs officers commanded that.
Not surrounding nations, Pharaoh's threat
ma4e them all tremble. Not the gods Am
mon and Osiris or the goddess Isis, Tor
Pharaoh built their temples out OF the groal
I of this diabolical servitude. But one hot
| day the Princess Thonoris, the daughter OF
Pharaoh, while In her Dathlng mouse On Che
banks of the Nile has word brought her that
there is a baby afioat on the river in era
die made out of big leaves.
or course there is excitement all up and
down the banks, for an ordinary baby In an
ordinary cradle attracts smiling attention,
but an infant in cradle Of papyrus rocking
on river arouses not only admiration, but
curiosity. Who made that boats % M%hc
made 1t water tight with bitumenf VINO
launched itS Reckless of the crocodiles, whc
lay basking themselves in the sun, the maiu'
ems wade in and snatch up the child, anc
first one carries him and then another car
ries him, and all the way up the bank he run
a eantlet of caresses, till Thonoris rushes ou
of the bathing house and says: "Beaut,l u
founding, l will adopt you as my own. o. t
shall yet wear the Egyptian crown ana 81
on the Egyptian throne''
| MOI mol Mol He is to be the emancipato
of the Hebrews Tell it in all the bricI
kilns. Tell it among all those who ar