Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1907-06-15
CalnaQe
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmade, D. D.


Los Angeles, Cal, June o. - That
worldly fame and repute are evanes-
cent and that even the greatest services
one can render to his fellow men are
= apt soon TO be forgotten is the lesson
OF this sermon. The text Is Exodus
I l. 8, Now there arose up new king
over Egypt which knew not Joseph"
, If there is any country which pre-
cmincntly built its monuments to en-
dure as long as the world lasts that
land is ancient Egypt. When the
Egyptians planned Il monument to COM
, memorate n victory or the glorles OF
their kings or national heroes they
seemed to say, I'VE will erect this
monument out Of such massive stones
that the foundations Of the earth shall
have to be moved before they are rock
ed down." These graves, like those OF
the "tombs Of the kings" were exca-
waited from the sides of the mountains
themselves. To break them down the
iconoclast must rip open the earth and
tear down the foundations OF the hills
and destroy the unbroken rocks which
have never been disturbed since the
Divine Mason mOrtared them in at their
laying. Yet there is strange irony In
the fact that, although the monuments
remain, the memory Of the men they
were intended to immOrtalze has per-
4 lei lr otf hf
| purpose for which some of those mon
uments were raised The modern
Egyptian cannot tell you the meaning
/ of the Sphinx; he cannot tell you why
the pyramids were built, and he has
to ask the modern German or French
man or Engllshman what Is the mean
ing of the inscriptions on the walls |
| The great pharaohs OF the distant past |
are completely forgotten by the people |
of the country over which they ruled.
If Egypt-old Egypt-could forget |
| the purpose for which the pyramids |
were built, If it could forget where was
the 'valey Of the west in which the |
kings OF the eighteenth dynasty were |
buried, If it could forget the sites of |
some Of its greatest and most pOpu-
lolls cities, surely 1t Is not wonderful |
Ito learn that there arose king and a
people in old Egypt who could forget |
that great prime minister like Joseph |
ever lived. There had been a time
when his name was in every mouth,
when his power and authority had |
been felt from one end of the country
to the other, but he, like the pharaohs,
was forgotten So 1t is In modern
.times The men who occupied so large
q. space in the newspapers, who were
followed by crowds of admirers, on
whose lips great audiences hung en-
fdptufed, are SCARCELY mentioned now. |
They have passed into history, and the
world goes on without them. The fact
teaches a lesson that all OF us should
learn Let us do faithfully the work
God has given us to do and not waste
our energies in building sand castles
on the beach of time, which will not
immortalize us, but Will be swept away
by the waves Of oblivion.
Joseph Forgotten.
The name Of Joseph was forgotten
by the Egyptians because, in the first
place. the conditions which made him
prime minister of PharaOhs kingdom
had forever passed away. The seven
years Of famine were gone. The huge
granaries in which the product Of the
seven years of plenty were stored had
been emptied and pulled down. The
recollectiOns Of those weary months,
when the great river Nile refused to
overflow It's banks, had grown DINNER
and DINNER. The horses and the cattle
and the sheep and the o11 and the
men and the women and the children |
were no longer in danger Of starvation. |
Thus the conditions which made Jo-
sephs name the most potent In all
Egypt had gone and been forgotten,
and the great prime minister's name
had been forgotten as well. When a
mans work Is done the man as far as
the world is concerned ceases to exist.
The world does not enjoy plcnicking
in a graveyard nor assOciatlng with the
dead 1t has hard enough work to keep |
up with It's living issues without un-
wrapping the fold Of its mummied
past
come to you today and say: "Tell
me the history Of the great American
political parties. What did tho FEEDER
alsts stand for? What was the great
bond which held together the Demo
party, with Thomas
jefferson at its head? What was the
leading issue which made James X.
Polk president of the United States?
Upon what ground was Texas admit
ted into the UnionT "Oh." you an
swer. 81 do not knOwi l have never
studied those causes. Those causes
are dead issues. have hardly enough
time to keep Up with the platforms
of our present political parties. I say.
as do most men, Let the dead bury
their dead"
ask you another question, "Who
built the Erie canal?" OF course you S
know that the Erie canal was tie most Il
famous piece of engineering ever I'M
dertalen in the United States up to e
that time. What was the history Of s
the "pony express" one Of the most
daring mercantile enterprises ever
started and which once connected the
CALIFORNIA; with the eastern metropo-
lis You answer: Il do not know,
and since the mighty locomotive, with
It's iron rails, has spanned this conti-
nent | am more anxious to study the
future Of our modern transportation
systems than to find out the genesis OF
our Erie canal or pony express. Wher
the stagecOach and the canalboat have
become the relics of defunct past
say, Let fine dead bury their dead.''
What is true Of the sociological and
scientific world Is also true Of the do
nestle and the ecclesiastical. When
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