The Monitor-register., 1896-04-17
NEXT TO THE THRONE
PRACTICAL LESSONS IN THE LIFE OF
JOSEPH.


Of Rev DIR. Talmage today is full {
stirring and practical lessons for al
Washington has many men who, llk
the hero of the texts, started from al
most nothing and rose to high place
The texts chosen were: Genesis xxxyli
81. "They drew and lifted up Josepl
ont of the pit and sold Joseph TO tn'
Ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver.
Genesis xiv, 26, "He is governor owe
all the land of Egypt"
You cannot keep a good man down
God has decreed for him a certain poln1
of elevation. He will bring him to thai
though 1t cost him a thousand worlds.
You sometimes find men fearful they
will not be properly appreciated. Every
man comes to be valued at just what ne
ia worth. You cannot write him up, ana
Won cannot write him down. These facts
are powerfully illustrated in my supJeot,
Tt would be an insult to suppose tnat
Won were not all familiar with the life
Of Jossph-how his jealous brothers
threw him into a pit, but seeing a cara
van Of Arabian merchants trudg1ng
along on their camels, with spices n
eumst that loaded the air with aroma,
sold their brother to these merchants,
who carried him down into Egypt;
Joseph there sold to Potiphar, a man of
influence and office; how by Joseph's
integrity he raised himself to high posi-
ton in the realm until, under the false
charge of a vile wretch, he was hurled
into the penitentiary; how in prison he
commanded respect and confidence;
how by the Interpretation of Pharaoh's
dream 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 filled during
seven years of plenty; how when his
brothers, who had thrown him into the
pit and sold him into captivity, applied
for corn he sent them home with the
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. forgiveness
and kindness, the only revenge he took.
Christian Character.
You see, in the first place, that the
world is compelled to honor Christian
character. Potiphar was only a man of
the world, yet Joseph rose in his esti-
nation until all the affairs of that
great house were committed to his
charge. From his servant no honor or
confidence was withheld. When Joseph
was in prison, he 500 won the heart of
the keeper, and though placed there for
being a s%coundrel, he soon convinced
the jailer that he was an innocent and
trustworthy man, and released from
close confinement he became general SUI
perintendent of prison affairs. Wherever
Joseph was placed, whether a servant
in the house of Potiphar, or a prisoner
in the p~enitentiary, he became the first
man everywhere, and is an illustration
OF the truth l lay down, that the world
is compelled to honor Christian charac-
ter. There are those who affect to de-
spise a religious life. They speak of it
as a system of phlebotomy by which the
man is bled of all his courage and no.
bility. They say he has bemeaned him
self. They pretend to have no more
confidence in him since his conversion
than before his conversion. But all this
is hypocrisy. There is a great deal of
hypocrisy in the church, and there is a
great deal Of hypocrisy outside the
church. 1t is impossible for any man
not to admire and confide in a man
who shows that he has really become a
child of God and is what he processes
to be. You cannot despise a son of the
Lord God Almighty. Of course we have
no admiration for the sham of religion.
I was at a place a few hours after the
rufians had gone into the rail train and
demanded that the passengers throw ur
their arms, and then these ruffians took
the pocketbooks, and satan comes an6
suggest to a man that he throw up his
arms in hypocritical prayer and preten.
sion, and then steals his soul. For the
mere p%retension of religion we have alb
horrence. Redwald, the king, after bap-
tism, had an altar of Christian sacrifice
and an altar for sacrifice to devils, and
there are many men now attempting
the same thing-half a heart for God
and half a heart for the woodland it
is q dead failure, and it is a ~caricature
Of religion, and the only successful as
sault ever made on Christianity is the in
consistency of its professors. You may
have a contempt for %pretension to re-
ligion, but when you behold the excel
lency of Jesus Christ come out in the
life Of one of his disciples, all that there
is good and noble in your soul rises up
into admiration, and you cannot help
it. Though that man be as far beneath
you in estate as the Egyptian slave of
whom we are discoursing was beneath
his rulers, by an i%rrevocable law of
your nature, Potiphar and Pharaoh will
always esteem Joseph.
When Eudoxia, the empress, threaten
ed Chrysostom with death, he made the
reply, "Tell the empress I fear nothing
but sin. Such a scene as that compels
the admiration of the world. There was
something in Agrippa and Felix which
demanded their respect for Paul, the
rebel against government. I doubt not
they would willingly have yielded their
office and dignity for a thousandth part
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