Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1907-06-14
CalnaQe
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talnaee, ID. d.

Los Angeles, Cal, June q. - That
worldly fame and repute are eyanes-
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
!, :, Now there arose up a new king
over Egypt which knew not Joseph
IL there is any country which pre-
eminently built it's monuments to en-
dure as long as the world lasts that
land is ancient Egypt. When the
Egyptians planned a monument to COM
memorate victory or the glories 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
1conoclast must rip open the earth and
tear down the foundations of the hills
ana 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 immortalize has per
tshed. Explorers can only guess at the
purpose for which some of those mon
uments We're 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 Englishman 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, IL it could forget where was
the "valley of the west" I'm which the
kings of the eighteenth dynasty were
buried, IL 1t could forget the sites OF
some OF it's greatest and most popu-
ious cities, surely 1t Is not wonderful
TO learn that there arose a king and
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
space in the newspapers, who were
followed by crowds of admirers, on
whose lips great audiences hung en-
raptured, are scarcely mentioned now.
They have passed into history, and the
world goes on without them. The fact
tI,oN
learn. Let as do faithfully the work
God has given MS to do and not waste
our energies in building sand castles
on the beach OF time, which will not
immortalize us, but will he 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 Pharaoh's 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 We're stored had
been emptied and pulled down. The
recollections OF those weary months,
when the great river Nile refused to
overflow its banks, had grown DINNER
and DINNER. The horses and the cattle
and the sheep and the oxen and the
men and the women and the children
were no longer in danger OF starvation.
Thus the conditions which made Jo-
seph's name the most potent in all
Egypt had gone and been forgotten.
and the great prime minister's name
had been forgotten as we'll. When n
Il, t.,
the world is concerned ceases to exist.
The world does not enjoy picnicking
In graveyard nor associatIng with the
dead. 1t has hard enough work to keep
up with Its living issues without un-
wrapping the fold OF its mummied
past.
L come to you today and say: ''Teli
me the history OF the great American
political parties What did the FEEDER
alists stand for? What was the great
bond which held together the Demo
cratic-Republican 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 Union?' "Oh," you an
swer, II do not knowi 1 have never
studied those causes Those causes
are dead issues. l have hardly enough
time to keep up with the platforms
OF our present political parties. 1 say.
as do most men, let the dead bury
their dead"
1 ask you another question, "Who
built the Erie canal?" or course YOU
know that the Erie canal was the most
famous piece OF engineering ever I'M
dertaken in the United States up to
that time. What was the history. OF
the pony express" one of the most
daring mercantile enterprises ever
started and which once connected the
CALIFORNIA; with the eastern metopo-
lis. You answer: 81 do not know.
and since the mighty locomotive, with
Its iron rails, has spanned this CONT
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. When
the stagecoach and the canalboat have
become the relics of n defunct past I
say Let the dead bury their dead'"
What Is true OF the sociological ana
scientific world is also true OF the do
nestle and the ecclesiastical. When
an issue which has made a man ia
nous passes away the mans work is
done and the mans name will surely
be forgotten.
Still Another Reason.
But there is another reason why
n