Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-11-05
Bricks Without Straw, or the
Burden of Egypt, the Text.
BEFORE HIM A SEA WILL PART.
0den- Time Cruelty Shown by the Egyptians
to their lsraeitish Slaves.
Egypt the Mother of Greece, Greece tho
Mother of Rome, Rome the Mother
of England, England the Mother
ofOur Own Land.
Special to the Gazette.

BRooKLYN, n. Y, Nov. 1.-The Taber-
nacle was throngcd as usual this morning.
The vast edifice filledto its utmost capacity
with eager listeners shows how the popular
preacher retains his power over the people
Although he has been preaching in Brook
Ign for more than twenty-four years, his
audiences were never so large as now, and
although the largest Protestant church in
America has been built for him there never
was time when so many persons were
turned away for lack of room. The subject
of this mornings sermon was Bricks
Without Straw" a continuation 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, l, THE burden of
Egypt
What is all this excitement about in the
streets of Cairo, Egypt, this December
morning in 1882 Stand back! We hear
loud voices and see the crowds of people
rereating to the sides of the street. The
excitement of others becomes our own ex-
element Footmen come in sight. They
have rod in the hand and taSSeled cap on
mead, and their arms and feet are bare.
Their garb is black to the waist, except as
threaded with god, and the rest is white.
They are clearing the way for an official
dignitary in chariot or carriage. They
are swift and sometimes run thirty or forty
miles at 4 stretch in front of an equipage.
Make wayi They are the fieetestrfooted
men on earth, but soon die, for the human
frame was not made for such endurance. |
asked all around me who the man III 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, fCOtmcn running be-
fore the rulers, demanding oDelsance, rs IN
Genesis before Joseph's chariot the people
were commanded, Bow the knee, " and as
/ see the swift feet of the men, followed by
the swift feet of the horses, how those old
words of Jeremiah rushed through my
mind: ''lf thou hast run with the footmen
and they have wearied thee, how canSt thou
contend with horses"
Now, ny hearers, in this course of SER
mons | am only serving you as a footman,
and clearing the way for your coming into
the wonders of Egyptology, subject
that / would have you study far beyond any
thing that can be said in the brevity of the
pulpit utterance. Two hundred and eighty
nine times does the Bible refer to Egypt
and 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; Eng
land, The mother of our own land, Accord
ing to that Egypt is
OUR GREAT-GREAT GRANDMOTHER
On other Sabbaths l left you studying
the Hypostyle hall of karn &c, the architec-
tural miracles of Luxor, the ColOnnade of
Horemheb, the cemeteries of Memphis, the
value of Kingdom in one monument, the
Sphinx. which with lips of stone sr,-lks
loud enough to be heard across the centu-
rieS, HciiopOls and Zoau, the conundrum of
arch2ologists. But all that extravaganza
ef palace and temple and monument was
the cause of an oppression 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
Hebrew slaves, and their blood mixed the
mortar for the trowels.
We saw again and again on and along the
Nile boss workman roughly Smite Z sub
ordinate who did not please him 1t is no
rare occurrence to see long lines of men un-
der heavy burdens passing by task-naSterS
at short distances. lashing them as they 90
by into greater speed and then these work
men, exhausted with the blasting heats of
the day, lying down upon the bare ground,
suddenly chilled with the night air, crying
out in prayer: va! Allah!" VA. Allah!'
which means Oh! God! Oh! God, But what
must have been the olden times cruelty
shown by the Egyptians toward their
lsraelitish slaves is indicated by picture
in the Ben;-HasSan tOmbs, where man is
held down on his face by two men and
another holds up the victims feet while
the officials beat the bare back of the
victim. every stroke, L have no doubt, fetch
ing the blood.
Now you see how the Pharaohs could
afford TO build such costly works. II cost
them nothing for wages, nothing but the
tears and blood OF the toilers, and tears and
blood are cheap drink for devils. Bricks
without straw may not suggest SO much
hardship until you know that the bricks
were usually made with crushed straw
straw crushed by the feet OF the oxen in
the threshing, and, this crushed straw de-
MED TO the workmen, they had TO pick up
here and there piece of stubble OF gather
PUSHES from the waterSidc. 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
rough straw, or PUSHES from the river bank,
the truth of the book Of Exodus thus
written in the brick walls discovered by the
modern explorers.
That governmental outrage has always
been characteristic of Egyptian rulers
Taxation TO the point of starvation was the
Egyptian rule III the Bible times, as well as
il is i'll 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 piastreS.
Produce. ...-....--- --.-.......-.......lS2
Il = "
Clear produce. ................-........... SO3I:
IaNes-...-... 1873
Amount cleared by the farmer. .....-...... 3l5ii
Or as my authority, declares. 20 per cent of
what the Egyptian farmer makes, is paid
for taxes to the government. Now, that is
not so much taxation as assassination.
What think you of that2 You who groan
under heavy taxes in America? I have
heard that in Egypt the working people
have i song like this: They starve us,
they sjarye us. they beat us, they beat US,
but there's some one above. there's some
one aoeve, who will punish them we'll who
will punish them WE'LL But 20 per cent of
government tax in Egypt is u mercy as
compared TO what the Hebrew slaves suf- !
fered there in Bible times. They got moth |
ing but food that was hardly fit for dog, |
and their clothing was of one rag. and their |
roof Il burning sky by day and the stars of |
heaven by night. You say. why did they |
stand it2' Because they had to stand it. |
You see along back in the worlds twilight |
there was famine in Canaan, and old |
Jacob and his sons came to Egypt for bread. |
The old mans boy Joseph was prime minis
ter, and Joseph suppose the father and |
brothers called him Joe, for it does not |
make any difference how much boy is ad- |
vanced IN worldly success, his father and |
brothers and sisters always call him by the |
same name that he was called by when two
years old-Joseph, by Pharaoh's permits
sion, gave to his family, who had Just ar
rived, the richest part of Egypt, the West