The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1907-05-18

--shakespeare: CAS- You Like It."
A noble Roman stood wrapped in his
toga. gazing at his lovely marble villa
a. It disappeared in devouring flames.
A friend ventured to approach and
proffer sympathy. The sententious re-
ply was. IF 1t had not persisted.
would have persisted" 80 we may say,
but for the misfortune of the Egyptian
bondage. Israel would have persisted.
The ugly and venomous" experience
Of the brickyard held q Jewel, after
all.
It was an extreme humiliation Just
TO be Unknown" that the now king
was utterly ob1ivious to- their relations
ship to the grandest vizer Egypt ever
saw; inded. that he cared not fig
Tor the exalted character and distin-
guished services of Joseph himself. To
find themselves suddenly degraded from
their position as guests OF the nation,
to have the light of the royal counte-
nance eclipsed, was an extremely Bit
ter modification. Humility was the
FIRST lesson Israel learned In the school
of adversely. He was not to think of
himself more highly than he ought to
think but soberly.
Again. the stream OF their national
life was forced into a new and uneon-
genial channel. By choice and hersdi-
tary instinct they were used o the
free and tranquil manner of the nomad.
1t was bitter transition from the
'1and of verdure" to the brickyard;
from driving their cattle to being driv-
en- like cattle; from the easiest OF all
vocations to the most laborious of all !.
No paraphrase can possibly intensity
the forceful phraseology of the crigi-
nal narrative. Pharaoh's object was
defamation. Bailifs with hard hearts
and bludgeons were at q premium.
They afflicted with their burdens.
There was aSferocity in their exactions.
They intended nothing else than to
break In pieces and crush the captive
race. They embittered their lives.
The tally of bricks required was al
ways waxing. though the material to
make them steadily, waned. Addiction,
sorrow, oppression, signing. Sroauing
are oft recurring words In this dismal
chronicle of slavery.
This most prolonged and irritating
bondage was. however like the axe. the
very blow of which sets free the pent-
up fragrance of the sandalwood. 1t
was like the rude trampling after
which the eamomile emits its ichest
odor The first sweet use OF Israel's
adversely in Egypt was to loosen the
hold which that country had obtained
upon the emigrant nation, and 10 make
them homesick for Canaan. 1t Is prob
able that nothing Mort of this terri
BILE ordeal would have been sufficient
to uproot them from a land Providence
never intended they should abide in
permanently. The weird country ex-
ercised its mystic spell even after they
had left II far behind them. aud they
sighed for the onions and flesh pots of
the Nile-land.
Egypt, too. was the fiery furnace
where loose population was fused m
to a compact nationality. Nothing sur.
passes common suffering in accom-
p1ishing this end. Their like pains and
fndignities made them feel alike--hope
and aspire alike.
And as SHARP frosts nourish corn
SO did the sharp affiictions of Israel in
Egypt nourish their graces. They
were shut UP to faith in God. No
eye pitied them, no. arm could deliver
them but HIS. They were led to ad-
nit the justice of Gods anger at their
manifold sins, and to repent of them.