The Globe-republican. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1889-1910, 1894-07-13
JACOB AND JOSEPH.
DR.. Talmage on Paternal Love and
F'ilial Affection.
The Story of Jacobs Visit to Joseph and Its
Lessons HOnOring the Old Folks
The Family Reunion Across
the Bar.

ne SuDJcCt CuOoCu ny hC'' - ~
Witt Talmage for his latest sermon
through the press was: 1.-The Rustic
in the Palace the text being taken
from Genesis xiv. 49,. Il will go and
see him before die" Following is the
sermon:
Jacob had long since passed the 100
year mile stone. In those times people
were distinguished for longevity. In
the centuries afterward persons lived
TO great age. Galen, the most cele-
brated physician of his time, took so
little of his own medicine that he lived
to l4O years. A man of undoubted
veracity on the witness-stand in En-
gland swore that he remembered an
event $50 years before. Lord Bacon
speaks of a countess who had cut three
sets of teeth and died at 14O years.
Joseph Crele. of Pennsylvania, lived
40 years. In 1857 book was printed
containing the names of thirty-seven
persons who lived 14O years and the
names of eleven persons who lived $50
years.
Among the grand old people of whom
we have record was Jacob, the shep-
herd of the text. But he had bad lot
of boys. They were jealous and ambi-
ticus and every way unprincipled. Jo-
seph. however, seemed to be an eXcep-
ton: but he had been gone many
years, and the probability was that he
was dead. As sometimes now in a
house you will find kept at the table a
vacant chair, plate. knife, fork.
for some deceased member of the fam
lily. so Jacob kept in his heart place
for his beloved Joseph. There sits the
old man, the flock of 40 years in their
fight having alighted long enough to
leave the marks of their claw on fore
head and cheek and temple. His long
beard SHOWS down over his chest. His
eyes are somewhat dim, and he can see
further when they are closed than
when they are open, for he can see
clear back into the time when beauti-
full Rachel, his wife, was living, and
his children shook the oriental abode
with their merriment.
The centenarian is sitting dreaming
over the past when he hears a wagon
rumbling to the front door. He gets up
and goes to the door to see who has ar
rived. and his long-absent sons from
Egypt come in and announce to MIN
that Joseph, instead of being dead, is
living in an Egyptian palace. with all
the investiture of prime minister. next
to the king in the mighticst empire of
all the world! The news was too sud-
den and too glad for the old man, and
his cheeks whiten. and he has daZed
dock, and his staff falls ont of his hand,
and he would have dropped had not the
!; sons caught him and led him to a
i lounge, and put cold water on his face,
land famed him little.
In that half delirium the old man
mumbles something about his son 10
seph. He says: "YOu don't mean Jo-
seph, do yon? My dear son. who has
been dead so long. You don't mean
Joseph, do you?" But after they had
fully resuscitated him. and the news
was confirmed, the tears begin their
winding way down the crossroads OF
the wrinkles, and the sunken lips of the
old man culver, and he brings his bent
fingers together as he says: Joseph
is vet alive. will go and see him be-
fore die"
What strong and unfailing thing is
parental attachment! Was it not al
most time for Jacob to forget Joseph?
The hot suns of many summers had
blazed on the heath; the river Nile had
overfowed and receded, overlooked
and receded again and again: the seed
had 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
overwhelmingly dramatic. Oh, that
is q cord that is not snapped, though
pulled on by many decades! Though
when the little child expired the par
ents may not have been more than 2!
years of age, and now they are IS. ye'
the vision of the cradle, and the child
ish face, and the first utterances of thu
childish lips are fresh to-day, in spit'
Of the passage of a half century.
L am often asked as pastor-and ev
cry pastor is asked the question-'Wil
nv children be children in Heaven ant
forever children?" Well. there was NJ
doubt great change in Joseph from
the time Jacob lost him and the tim
when Jacob found him-between tn
boy II years of age and the man il
mid-life, his forehead developed wit
the great business of state; but Jaco
was glad to get back Joseph anyhow
end it did not make much difference t
The old man whether the boy locke
older or looked younger. And it vii
be enough Joy for that parent if he ca
rot back that son, that daughter, q
the gate of Heaven. whether the d.
parted loved one shall come a cheru
or in full grown angelhood. Their
must be change wrought by that CT
lcstial climate and by those superns
years. but it will only be from love
illness to more loneliness. and frOI
health to more radiant health
O parent, as you think {
the darling, painting and white in men
braneous Group. want you to know
ill he ploriOuSiv bettered in that Ian