Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1904-09-05
CalmaQe
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmage. D. D.

~ AAAN sohAAAfAN bt4Dlt AsdbtI Ndt. lllc
preacher expresses his sympathy with
the hard lot Of the workingman and
points out some Of the conditions which
increase his difficulties. The text is
Exodus j. u. The more they afflicted
them the more they multiplied and
grew"
Some virtues wrote Joseph Add
son, ARE seen only in afliction." But
from the Egyptian standpoint it would
take a very long and a very uzeless
investigation to find any virtue in the
national catastrophe which, as the text
would indicate. was about to over
whelm the Egyptian kingdom. The
mightiest foreign foe ever assembled
upon the bOrderland drained by the
arteries of the gigantic Nile was not
TO be feared as much as was the host
of enslaved Hebrews who were living
among them. 1t was only a few hun
dred years before nat a little handful
of Hebrews, with their focks and
herds, had migrated to and settled in
the land Of Goshen during the pre-
miership of Joseph, the famous states
man. But since that time the de-
scendants Of old Jacob had multiplied
so greatly that now they could be
counted literally by the hundreds of
thousands. Not only in numbers were
they to be feared, but in mental power
also. With the proverbial acquisitive-
ness of the Hebrew, these people were
absorbing much of the wealth of the
l. = A.,
times" declared they would soon be-
come rulers of the nation. By a silent
revolution they threatened to take
possession of the Egyptian govern
ment, as long afterward the descend
ants of the old AZtecs, whose fathers
had been conquered by CorteS, bided
their time and finally worked out their
own governmental salvation by elect
ing practically a full blooded Indian to
the throne of the MOntezumas-POr
firio Diaz, president of the Mexican
republic.
What shall we do? What shall we
do?' was the one question that was
upon almost every Egyptian lip.
"Shall we allow the Hebrew people to
become the dominant factors upon the
banks of the Nile and to sit upon the
throne of the pharaohs" This ques-
ton was not only asked in the street,
but it was anxiously discussed in the
kings palace. Tonight we see the
lights blazing in the privy council
room. AS we enter the council cham
Der we see the king sitting at the end
of the long room, surrounded by his
best and strongest ministers. After
the question has been talked over long
and earnestly / see the king rise. He
looks straight at his councillors of state
as he says: "Gentlemen, we are facing
a condition, not a theory. We dare
not and cannot deport the Hebrews
from our realm. They are now essen
tial to our national welfare and pros
perity as labOrers, clerks and servants.
Bot we can debar them from holding
property. We can forbid them study
ing In our schools. We can enslave
sthem and make them the chattels of
aour people. We can degrade them by
Ignorance and overwork. Thus saith
the king. ! here and now decree the
hebrew men and women and children
from hencefOrth to be in perpetual
sbondagv.1 They shall be compelled to
make bricks without straw. My min
listers will see that my decree is car
ried out When the king speaks the
Kings wilE~becomes the law Gentle
men of the privy chamber, the council
is dismissed.
Disfranchisement of Hebrews.
tod Z,
the letter. The Hebrew people living
in Egypt were DISTINGUISHED. Not onl.
were they deprived of the rights o
citizenship, but they were degraded t
the most abject and humiliating servi
tude Their property was taken ava.
from them, and they could not evel
claim their wives and children as thei
own. Yet, strange to say, and We
not strange after all, the more tn
Hebrews were cursed and struck ant
i'll used and murdered by the Egyp
tians the more their numbers grew
and the more of a menace they becam
to the Egyptian government. The Ia
Dor question, on account of the bru
talities practiced under the shadow O
Pharaoh's throne in 1913 B. c., be
came as imminent and dangerous as /:
the labor question in the United State:
of America in 1904, A. D., under the
shadow of the statue of the Goodies:
of Liberty which stands in New Yorl
harbor, and with uplifted arm declares
that all men in this land are free ant
equal.
This is the first Sunday in Septen
Der. Tomorrow is Labor day. Man,
preachers this Sabbath morning will b
talking to the mechanics, the clerk
and the farm hands, to the masons, tn
carpenters and plumbers, and to a
those who work with their hands.
is not inappropriate that this mornin
should present some of the condition
that are affecting American labor.
in this talk 1 should speak frankly col
eerning capital, 1 shall speak wit
equal candor concerning labor, for
firmly believe as a dear friend Of min