The weekly Anglo-African. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1859-1861, 1859-11-05

1t was barbarous nation or people that
built these massive superstructures Who.
ever SO considers does an injustice to a
highly cultivated people. A writer thus
records OF them: Egypt, in every point
of view, is one of the most interesting re.
gions in the world. Its remains of art are
of the most curious and impressive charac-
ter. For the most part they are unique
carrying us back for their origin to the ear
Hest annals of history. Its geography is
connected with both sacred and classic
writings 1t may be said that Egypt was
the parent Of Grecian wisdom, the invent
ress of science, the oracle of nations, the
fountain-head of philosophy, in whose
schools we may be allowed to suppose No
ses, Pythagoras, and Plato exhausted the
treasures of human learning. This is the
land OF Mizraim, as denominated in Scrip
ture, and therefore descendants of the
much abused Ham of the Bible"
Leaving Egypt, and Greece, and Rome,
as furnishing us with facts conclusive of
monuments being erected in honor of the
dead, we may point you to sacred writ,
and say that there, in the oracles of God.
we find abundant proof to Justify and war
rant the friends of our departed friend in
erecting this day this obelisk, to perpetu-
ate his memory to coming generations.
AS early as the day of Abraham, good
man, one worthy to be called the Father of
the Faithful, Abraham, in the land of Mo-
riah, on a mount of that name-and sup
posed by many, with no small probability,
to have been the mount afterwards called
Mount Calvary, where our Lord was cru
cifed-built an altar, aud in commemora-
ton of what then transpired called the
place Jehovah Jireh; in the Mount of the
Lord it shall be SEEN"
Jacob, also man highly favored of God,
when travelling from Beersheba to Haran,
came to certain place, and the sun having
set he laid down to sleep, and dreamed
that remarkable dream recorded in the
29th chapter of Genesis, which so impress
ed him that he awOke out of his sleep, and
said, Surely the Lord is in this place, and
l knew it not. How dreadful is this place;
this is none other but the house of God,
and this is the gate of Heaven" And ia
cob took the stone that he had put for his
pillow, and set it up for pillar, in remem-
brance that it was here he saw the Lord and
here he communicated with Him.
The two tables of stone and the Ark of
the Covenant, Aaron's rod and the pot of
mamma, may be justly regarded as monu-
ments, though movable. After the death
Of Moses, Joshua became the leader of the
children of Israel Coming to Jordan's
stream, Joshua, by the command of God,
ordered the priests to "take up the Ark of
the Covenant, and pass over before the
people," and as they came to Jordan and
their feet were dipped in the brim of the
water, Jordan's rushing stream rolled back
and formed a heap, as wall that stood
and checked the furious stream, until all
the Israelites passed safely over, clean over
on the other side of Jordan. Then it was
that Joshua spake and said, "Take you
twelve men out of the people, out of every
tribe man, and command you them to
take out of the midst of Jordan, out of the
place where the priests feet stood firm,
and carry them over with you, and leave
them in the lodging place where ye shall
lodge this night" And they did so, and
Joshua set up twelve stones in Gilgal, and
then said to the people "When your child
rem shall ask their fathers in time to come,
what mean these stones |? then We shall let
your children know that the waters of j Or
dan were cut off before the Ark of the
Covenant of the Lord when it passed over
Jordan, and these stones shall be for a
memorial with the children of Israel for
ever"
Of the evident design of these monu-
ments as memorials, none can doubt. They
recall to memory deeds of the past; they
are the silent historians of by-gone days,
when the men that lived and the deeds
then done have receded far back into the
dim vista of ages past, when the musty
pages of history, written on parchment,
can scarce be discerned, and in many in
stances only present mass of confused and
disconnected characters, not recognizable.
These enduring evidences of friendships
offering, these time enduring memorials
erected in memory of the pious dead shall
stand until the last sand from the glass of
time shall run out and time be no more,
and then, and only until then, shall they
find their end among the wreck of matter
and the crash of worlds.
Not only have monuments bsen erected
by nations of antiquity, civilized and bar
barous, as we can easily show from classic
and sacred writings, but every nation now
existing, Pagan and Christian, erect monu-
ments in honor of their great and good
men. The same care taken to preserve
the memory of the dead, the same DISPOSE
ton to their perpetuity, the like care to
adorn and beautify them, mark the pres
ent age as they did the people and nations
of ancient days. There is not city on all
this earth but contains them, not ceme-
terry but where you behold them; and next
to the temples of our own Christian cOun-
try, these monuments erected in memory of
our friends retain place in our estimation,
hold on our hearts, which time cannot eff
face, life wear out, nor death destroy; and
when our bodies die the memory of dear