Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1894-07-14
OLD FOLKS AT HOME.
TOUCHING AND FERvlD SERMON BY
REV. DR.. TALMAeE.

TOUCHING AND FERvlD SERMON BY
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
Preaching TO a Nation Through tho Press
While He Is Mt the AntIpodos-"TheR Rus
ito In the Palace"-Duty of Children and
Love OF Parents.
BROOKLYN, July 8-Rev, DR.. Tai
image, who is now nearing the antipo-
dies on his round tho world journey,
has selected as the subject for his SER
mon through the press today 1.-The Rus
tic In the Palace" the text being taken
from Genesis xiv, IS, Twill go and see
hin before die -
Jacob had long since passed the hun
@ed year milestone rn those times peo-
pie were distinguished for longevity.
M the centuries afterward persons lived
to great age Galen, the most celebrat-
sd physician Of his time, took so little
II his own medicine that he lived to
ii40 seara- man OF undoubted 9eraci-
.4y.s-On the %It1IuS5- sCalu IL s7.oa---'>-
sEore that he remembered an event 100
years before. Lord Bacon speaks of
countess who had cut three sets of teeth
ard died at 140 yeara Joseph Circle OF
Pennsylvania lived 140years. In 1857 @
hook was printed containing the names
IL az persons who lived 40 years and
the names Of IL persons who lived 100
seafs
Among the grand old people Of whom
we have record was Jacob, the shop
herd OF the text But he had bad lot
Of heya They We're Jealous and ambi-
t.oussand every way unprincipled 10
seph, however, seemed to be an excep-
tiols but he had been gone many years,
and the probability YVES that he was
deed AS sometimes now in house you
wiz find kept at the table vacant
chair, plate, knife, fork for some
deceased member of the family, 80 Ja-
cob Kept In his heart place for his be-
loved Joseph. There sits the old man,
the Aock of 140 years in their flight
having alighted long enough to leave
the marks of their claw on forehead and
cheah and temple. His long beard SHOWS
down over his chest His eyes are some
what dim, and be can SEQ farther when
they are closed than when they are open,
for he can see clear back into tho time
when beautiful Rachel, his wife, was
living and his children shook the orr
entail abode with their merriment
A Glorious Visit.
The centenarian Is sitting dreaming
over the past when he hears wagon
rumbling to the front door. He gets up
and goes to the door to sec who has ar
rived, and his long absent sons from
Egypt como In and announce to him
that Joseph instead Of being dead is ltv-
ing Ia an Egyptian palace, with all the
inFestiture of prime minister, next to
the king In the mightiest empire of all
the world The news was too sudden
and TOO glad for the old man, and his
cheeks whiten, and he has dazed look,
and his staff falls out Of his hand, and
he would have dropped had not tho sons
caught him and led him to lounge and
put cold water on his face and famed
hin d litoso- 2. ..-.---- = -'-a.-s
In that half delirium the old man
mumbles something about his son Jo-
seph. He says; "You don't mean Jo-
seph, do you-my dear son who has
been dead so long? You don't mean Jo-
seph, do your But after they had fully
resuscitated him and the news was con-
flrmed the tears begin their winding
way down the crossroads of the wrin-
kles, and the sunken lips Of the old man
ouiver, and he brings his bent fingers
together as he says: Joseph Is yet alive
! will 90 and see him before die.
1t did not take the old mon great
while to get ready. I warrant you. He
put on the best clothes that the shep-
herds wardrobe could afford He got
into the wagon, and though the aged
are cautious and like to ride slow the
wagon did not get along fast enough for
this old man, and when the wagon with
the old man. met Joseph's chariot COM
ing down to meet him. and Joseph got
out of the chariot and got into the wag-
on and threw his arms around his fa-
theirs neck, it was an antithesis OF
royalty and rusticity, of simplicity and
pomp, of flial affection and paternal
love, which leaves us 50 much in doubt
about whether we had better laugh OF
cry that we do both. So Jacob kept
the resolution of the text Twill go and
see him before die "
Tho Love of Parents.
What strong and unfailing thing is
parental attachment! Was 1t not almost
time for jacob to forget Joseph? The
hot suns of many summers had blazed
on the heath; the river Nile had over
flowed and receded, overhowed and re.
ceded again and again; the seed hao
been sown and the harvest reaped; stars
rose and set; years Of plenty and years
Of famine had passed on, but the love Of
Jacob for Joseph in my text Is over
whelmingly dramatic. Oh, that Is q
cord that Is not snapped, though pulled
on BY many decadesl Though when the
little child expired the parents may not
have been more than % years Of age,
and now they are rs, yet the vision Of
the cradle, and tho childish face, and
the first utterances of the infantile lips
are fresh today, In spite of the passage
Of half century. Joseph was as fresh
In Jacobs memory as ever, though a
II years of age the boy had disappeared
from the old homestead. I found in oul
family record the story of an infant thai
had died 80 years before, and | said tt
my parents, 'eWhat Is this record, and
what does it meanf" Their chief an
swer was long, deep sigh It was ye
to them very tender sorrow. What
does that all mean? Why, 1t means oul
children departed are ours yet and thai
cord of attachment reaching across the
years will hold us until it brings US to
gether In the palace. as Jacob ane
Joseph were brought together. That Il
1 L. ia