Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1891-11-02


manding Bricks without straw.
BROOKLYN. Nov 1.-The Tabernacle
was thronged as usual this morning.
The vast edi.ice 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 were
never so large as now, and although
the largest Protestant church in Amer
ica 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" continue
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 Dccenl-
Der morning in 1882 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 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 for
an official dignitary in chariot or car
rage. They are swift and sometimes
run thirty or forty miles at a stretch in
front Of an equipage. Make way
They are the fieetest footed men on
earth, but soon die. for the human /
frame was not made for such endur
anee.
asked all around me who the man
I'm 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 the
Bible, footInen running before the rul- ,
ers, demanding obeisance, as in Genesis ,
before Joseph's chariot the people were
commanded. Bow the knee, and as
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 run
with the footmen and they have wearied
thee, how canst thou contend with
horsesr
Now, my hearers, in this course Of
sermons l am only serving you as foot
man, and clearing the way for your
coming into the wonders of Egyptology,
subject that would have you study
far beyond anything that can be said
in the brevity of pulpit uttemnce. Two
hundred and eighty-nine times does the
Bible refer to Egypt and the Egyp |
tians. No wonder, for Egypt was the
mother of nations. Egypt, the mother
OF Greece; Greece, the mother of
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 their
glory; the Hypostyle hall of Karnae,
the architectural miracles at Luxor, the
COlonnade Of Horemheb, the GENE
teries Of Memphis, the value of king
dom In one monument, the Sphinx,
which with lips Of stone speaks loud
enough TO be heard across the centu-
ries, Heliopolis and Zoan, the conun-
drum of arehRologists. But all that
extravaganza Of palace and temple and
monument was the cause of an oppres-
sion high as heaven and deep as hell. |
The weight Of those blocks of stone.
heavier than any modern machinery |
could lift, came down upon the He
brew slaves, and their blood mixed the
mortar for the trowels.
THR ROUGH TAsKMAsTRIls.
We saw again and again on and along
the Nile boss workman roughly smite |
a subordinate who did not please him
Ii Is no rare occurrence 90 see long lines
OF men under heavy burdens passing
by taskmasters at short distances. lash
ing them as they go by into greater
speed, and then these workmen, ex'
hausted with the blasting heats of the
day, lying down upon the bare ground,
Suddenly chilled with night air, crying
out In prayer; "Ya, Allahw ''Ya,
Allahr which means o Godl oil
Godl But what must have been the
olden times cruelty shown by the
Egyptians toward their Israelitish slaves
is Indicated by a picture In the Benl
Hassan tornbs. where a man Is held
down on bis face by two men and an
other holds up the victims feet while
the officials beat the bare back of the
victim. every stroke, ! have no doubt,
fetching the hood.
Now you SEQ how the Pharaohs could
afford 90 build such costly works. Ii
cost them nothing for wages, nothing
but the tears aud blood Of the toilers
and tears and blood are cheap drink
Tor devils Bricks without straw"
may not suggest 40 much hardship
until You know that the bricks were
usually made with crushed straw,
straw crushed by the feet Of the oxen
In tha thrishing. and. this crushed
straw denied 10 the workmen. they had
10 pick up hers and there a piece Of
stubble OF gather rashes from the
wnlerside. This story of the Bible Is
confinned By the fact that many of the
brick walls ol Egypt have on the lower