The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1926-06-17

OONOA y ~ Il ~, 1JAO
JUDAH'S' PLEA.-Genesis Hiss
Is. Read Chapters 41-50.
A broken and a contrite heart, o God,
thou wilt not despise.-Psalm 81:
II.
THE DREAM COMES TRUE.
Last week we followed the dreamer
into prison. Step after step, he had
gone down where his dream seemed
more and more unlikely to be other
than a vapor of the night. But each
was one toward its fulfilment. God
was in that old dungeon and where
He is life climbs high heights even if
men declare it is moving downward,
The sudden summons from the palace
brought the careful dressing of one
who had listened with rare discern
ment to the stories of the court and
had learned that clothes count even
with kings. Probably he borrowed a
coat from Potiphar. Self-possessed,
sure of himself even in the unaccus-
toned surroundings-he had not gone
to school under Egypt's officers for
nothing-he stood, a striking figure
before the throne. He listened res
pectfully, spoke confidently, admitted
that he followed God, went farther
than he was expected to go in sug-
gesting a remedy for the troubles
ahead and was suddenly told to go to
work at his plan. "All the world gets
out of the way of the man who knows
where he is going," and Joseph knew
the course Egypt ought to take and
knew how to tell it. The swift trans
formation left him breathless but I'M
changed in his tackling of his job
himself instead of letting some one
else do most of it. "He went out over
all the land" and knew his work so
that soon the stores were past reck-
oning. Then came famine and the
opening of granary doors for the
feeding of a hungry world. Joseph
wasn't at all the store cities but he
happened to be where these sons of
Jacob came for supplies so that he
caught his first sight of them since
that fatal day in Dothan. And here
: were the terms of his dream being
filled to the full as they bowed to the
floor in oriental fashion and sued
humbly for bread. They were still
the simple shepherds they had been
in that other day, still clad in rough
garb, still speaking in the tongue that
stirred all the hunger of Joseph's
heart for home. But he had changed
in every way from the boy of the
tents. He had become cultured, COM
manding and regal, so that he was
completely unknown.
THE ORDERED NIGHTMARE.
What changes had the years
wrought in them? That was the
question Joseph must have answered
before he revealed himself. So he
began to set the machinery in motion
for finding out. He knew his job all
right. The modern "third degree" or
the slow pressure of Sherlock Holmes
has made small advance in all the
centuries over Joseph's shrewdly
ordered nightmare into which he flung
his brothers. Egypt became verita-
BILE place of horrors, or resurrected
conscience as they tasted bit of its
prison fare, as they put off with Sim
con in bonds behind them, as they
faced Jacob and the home queries to
which they had no answer because
they had no wish to uncover that old
lie under which they thought they
had buried Joseph. Now when they
wanted most of all to unburden their
souls they could only continue the lie.
To know that it was the grim grip of
their old sin and yet to be compelled
to keep it hidden was becoming ex-
uuisite torture. Then Egypt again
and banquet, the release of Simeon,
the successful purchase, the explana-
tion of the mysterious money of the
lOIIIltI zip, liiC SeolI hoiiiS "A'i'
BENJAMIN all made them hilarious
with joy at having passed the worst.
at escaping the "Hoodoo" of their
past. 1t was a happy camping party
that was surprised by the stirred dust
out of which came the messenger of
doom. The black hand of fate clutched
them and their laughter changed to a
groan. Conon Doyle has nothing more
thrilling than this. In utter despair
they set out for the city admitting
to themselves that it was useless to
struggle against their yesterday of
unbridled passion. Il, ai.,.;. ~.
THE NEW MAN. - '''' 49, ''''''
Twenty-Five years had passed since
Joseph had been sold at the instance
of Judah. He had come to be grand
father in that time and had developed
a leadership that shows itself in the
later kingdom in which his tribe was
the center. What sort of leadership
it was during these hidden years one
may only guess. That he usurped the
place of the first born and becomes
spokesman in this crisis indicates a
growing man. The thing in which