The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1896-04-24
THE sTOBY OF JOSEPH.
Rev. DIR. Talmage Deduces Some
Practical Lessons
From the story of Joseph's Bondage and
Rise to Power in Egypt-Men Are
often Placed ON the Road to
Power by Persecution.

a
Dewitt Talmage is based on incidents
of the career of Joseph. 1t is based or
the texts:
They drew and lifted up Joseph out OF tn,
pit and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites To-
twenty pieces of silver.-Genesis xxxvi %
He is governor over all the land of Egypt
Genesis xiv, %.
You can not keep good man down
God has decreed for him certain
point of elevation. He will bring him
TO that though it cost Him thousand
worlds. You sometimes find men fear
full they will not be properly appre-
ciated Every man comes to be valued
mt just what he is worth. You can not
write him up, and you can not write
him down. These facts are powerfully
illustrated by my subject. 1t would
be an insult to suppose that you were
not all familiar with the life of Joseph.
How his Jealous brothers threw him
into pit, but, seeing a caravan of
Arabian merchants trudging along on
their camels, with spices and gums
y that loaded the air with aroma, sold
their brother to these merchants, who
carried him down into Egypt;
Joseph was there sold to Poti-
phar, man of influence and Office.
How by Joseph's integrity he raised
himself to high position in the realm,
until under the false charge of vile
wretch he was hurled into the peni-
Tertiary. How in prison he command
ed respect and confidence. How by
the Interpretation of Pharaoh's drea m
he was freed and became the chief
man in the realm, the Bismarck of his
century. How in the time of famine
Joseph had the control of a magnificent
storehouse which he had filed during |
seven years of plenty. How when his |
brothers, who had thrown him into |
the pit and sold him into captivity, APP
piled for corn, he sent them home with |
che beasts of burden borne down under
the heft of the corn sacks. How the
sin against their brother which had so
long been hidden came out at last and
was returned by that brothers for
Eiveness and kindness-the only re-
venge he took
You see, in the first place, that the
world is compelled to honor Christian
character. Potiphar was only man
of the world, yet Joseph rose in his es-
timatlon until all the affairs of that
great house were committed to his
charge. From his servant no honor
or confidence was withheld. When Jo-
seph was in prison he soon won the
heart of the keeper, and though placed
there for being a scoundrel, he soon
convinced the ,jailer that he was an in
nocent and trustworthy man, and re-
leased from close confinement he be-
came general superintendent of prison ;
affairs. Wherever Joseph was placed, (
whether a servant in the house of Poti-
phar, or prisoner in the penitentiary,
he became the first man everywhere, 1
and is an illustration of the truth +;
lay down, that the world is +;
compelled to honor Caristian char {
acter. There are those who {
affect to despise a religious life. They I
speak of it as system of phlebotomy
by which man is bled of all his courage I
and nobility. They say he has be-
meaned himself. They pretend to S
have no more confidence in him since ,
his conversion than before his CONVEX
sion. But all this is hypocrisy. There {
is great deal of hypocrisy in the t
church, and there is great deal of
hypocrisy outside the church. 1t is y
impossible for any man not to admire {
and confide in a man who shows that c
he has really become a child of God,
and is what he processes to be. You ,
OF course we have no adj o
for the sham of religion. II
was at place few hours after I
the rufians had gone into the rail Z
train and demanded that the passen- &
gers throw up their arms, and then a
these rufiians took the pocket-books;
and Satan comes and suggests to
man that he throw up his arms in hyp-
ocritical prayer and pretension, and I
then steals his soul. For the mere pre- =,
tension of religion we have abhor-
renee. Redwald, the king, after bap- a
tism, had an altar of Christian sacri- I
fee and an altar for sacrifice to devils;
and there are many men now attempt Il
ing the same tbing-half heart for
God and half heart for the world c
and it is a dead failure, and IT, Is a car g
cature of religion, and the only sue a
,essful assault ever made ON Chris
tianity is the inconsistency of its /
professors. You may have a con- {
Tempt for pretension to religion, e
but when You behold the exceIlency of d
Jesus Christ come cut in the life of a
,ne Of His disciples, al that there Is u
rood and noble in yonr soul rises up @
into admiration, and you can not help h
T. Though that man be as far be- G
heath you in estate as the Egyptian a
'lave of whom we are discOursing was a
his rulers, by an irrevocable Il