The Colorado statesman., 1910-12-03

Jacob died there, aged 147 years, but
looking backward he said: Few and
evil have all the days of the years OF
my life been" He was rich and sue
cessful, but inwardly a failure.
HE KNEW NOT JOSEPH.
But | am interested in the outcome
of this family. l find them living
along in Egypt and doing well. They
had possessions and multiplied exceed
ingly By and by Joseph died, and all
that generation, and there arose ne@
king in Egypt who knew not Joseph.
And he saw this strange people rich
and powerful He said: "They are
mightier than we are Come, let us be
wise" So they made slaves of them,
made them build brick cities, made
them work with vigor in hard bondage
in mortar and clay.
Swindling and lying do not pay.
y Neither does oppression. The Eyp-
tians overdid it. One can make that
kind of brick, then in use, provided he
is furnished the straw. But to make
the same number and quality of brick
and furnish your own straw, for which
you must CLEAN the field, that is too
much.
Into the midst of this misery Moses
was born-a God-sent man to lead out
a people who had suffered enough for
the sins of their fathers. We read that
God hardened Pharoah's heart, that he
would not let the people go. He al
lowed him to harden his own heart.
Any man who is cruel, eXtortionate,
oppressive, will soon get hard heart.
You remember the plaques that fell on
that nation. The song of the locusts
cut the air like saw. Finally, when
there was a dead child in every house,
Pharaoh let the people go, urged them
to go, and when they went, repented
and followed after, and when we last
see him the old king is falling from his
chariot head foremost into the Red
sea, and Marian strikes her timbrel
for Israel saved.
FOR ALL OPPRESSED PEOPLE.
1t is no wonder to me that our own
slaves were fond of the story of Cen
esis and Exodus. 1t is written for all
oppressed people. Oppression ends in
song of the oppressed.
We see the fact that the oppressed
are inclined to be oppressors as soon as
they have a chance. The cruelest over
seer in our slave days was often
negro. The history of the world is in
q picture of a man standing with his
That is the world that has been.
foot on the neck of another man.
That is the world that is going out.
The coming world is seen in picture
of men hand in hand looking level into
one another's eyes. Not up to one an
other, nor down on one another, but
level. Both of them saying: Il will
not have anything that you may not
have on the same terms"
Some time in an odd hour take up
the book of Genesis and read it. 1t is
interesting. There is no other life, no
beyond-the-grave for nations. This
life may not be long enough for
right settlement with the individual,
but it is long enough for settlement
with nations. They are settled with
here. jefferson looked at slavery and
said: 81 tremble for my country when
| remem Der that God is just" Well
might he We held on to slavery like
Egypt and suffered like Egypt Not
until there was dead child from near
ly every Northern and Southern home
did we let the curse go. One reads the
history of men and nations. AS it has
been. it will be. Sharp practice, ex-
tortion, oppression. do not pay
Rocky Mountain News.