Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1907-06-14

not tnat L know OF. i DO not even
know him, but il irritates me to hear
him everywhere called the Just" And
SO the carrion birds would, II they
could, always drive the clean winged
birds from the heavens. The dishonest
Egyptians would obliterate the name
or Joseph. the prime minister, from the
list or their national heroes. And, my
brother, II the diSsolute do not deSpise
you and the unjust hate you, and the
evil minded want 10 forget you, then
you should examine your heart and
life, fearing lest You are growing like
them. The sureSt sign on earth that
you are living good, pure life is that
bad people want you out of their sight.
Now there arose up new king over
Egypt which knew not Joseph
But, lastly. l remark that the Egyp-
tians ceased to revere Joseph's men,
DRY because they did not believe that
the God who sent Joseph to save them
was the same God who sent Moses to
punish them. And yet IS not the Egyp-
tians' error our error? After God for
years has been sending to us our Jo-
sephs, after he has showered innumer-
able blessings upon us, are we not apt
to say: God is good" God Is Kind
and forgiving," GOD is loving, and he
will never send the rolling surges Of
his Red sea of judgment tumbling down
upon us" Oh, the long suffering mer-
ey OF God! How long. o God, how
long wilt thou stay thine avenging
hand from us? How long shall we
cease to forget that love and trample
upon thy patience? Some time ago
there came into my possession n Won
derful picture. 1t was one of Dore's
masterpieces.
Scene In the Coliseum.
The scene was the Roman coliseum.
1t was night. All those immense tiers
OF seats, capable of holding 100000
spectators, were deserted. There you
could see them i'm dim outline. As you
looked at them you could see In imag-
nation those seats again filled with
the yelling, vociferant multitudes who
during the long, hot day just passed
had watched the gladiatorial contests
and the numbering of the Christians.
But, though those tiers of seats were
empty, the arena was not. That
arena was filled with great piles
or human corpSeS. There were moth
ers there, even in death hugging their
dead babies TO their breasts There
were strong limbed men there and old
men and old women. But they were
dead-all dead. And among the silent
corpses you could see the hungry lions
creeping or crouching. But over all
this scene OF death Dore has let a
light hover, and through this light can
be seen Gods angels. With their out
stretched wings and outstretched hands
the celestial messengers seem TO be
blessing the dead-aye. blessing the
bodies OF the dead. whose spirits were
then with God. But as sat watching
that powerful. wOndrous picture / kept
saying TO myself: God may bless his
dead. God may redeem his dead. But
Gods avenging hand will surely strike
those who will persist I'm striking him.
Bloody Nero. didst thou not think God
would strike thee when thou didst
strike him? Pharaoh. who knew not
Joseph, didst thou dream that Moses
would yet come TO dcSolate thy king
dom?'-
But, though the Egyptians may have
Iorgotten Joseph. thank God the chill
dren OF Israel did not forget him. I
see that great army OF 10000 start
away from Egypt on that passover
night. They are in haste. but they
wait at burial place. They are bur
dened. but they take mp coffin and
carry 1t away With them. Whose body
is II they take2 1t is the body OF Jc-
seph, who was not known to Pharaoh
They carried those bones through the
Rea sea; they carried them through
the wilderness; they carried them over
the Jordan; then they carried them
near to Jacobs we'll. where they were
buried. So is 1t with every faithful
servant OF God. Though the world
forgets his services. though his very
name sinks into oblivion, his record is
written in the book OF Gods remem-
brance. and ut the resurrection he will
stand among the people OF God.