The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-08-02

these people to come ont from their corrupt Chris
tianity. as in many Egyptian communities the
Mohammedan cadls, or justices, are greatly
influenced by the old church Copts, for these
men are their clerks, secretaries, and money
lenders, and hence on more than one occasion
there has been bastinadoingt beatIng a man on
the soles OF his naked feeti, and other persecu-
tions because he has become a Bible Christian.
But no one can see the f1ourishing schools and
churches of these converts in Cairo. and IN Up
per Egypt, without seeing what mastery work 10
being done for the Lord. | attended several
times worship in their churches, and L declare
that after / had iutt visited the grand monu-
ments of ancient Egypt at Thebes, karnak,
Dendera and elsewhere, where thousands of por-
traits as large as life, and IN many cases colossal.
of ancient Egyptians, look down upon you from
the walls, it seemed to me, when looking upon
tho assemblages of modern Copts engaged in
Christian worship. that | was gazing upon men
contemporary with the Pharoabs of Abraham's
and Joseph's day. 1t was sweet to hear
our own beautiful American tunes sng to the
psalms in Arabic-for remember that Arabic Is
the living language Of Egypt. and that Cairo is
the Athens OF the Arabian tongue. l felt after
such services, and after seeing the work of our
UP. American missionaries IN the valley of the
Nile. that the time had come when there was be-
ing fulfilled the words of the prophet Isaiah con
corning this most ancient civilized country in
the world, viz: sin that day shall there be an
altar to the Lord in the midst Of the land of
Egypt" and, again, whom the Lord of hosts
SudII DIeSS, saying, blessed u Egypt. my PEG
pie" Isaiah XIX. 10 aud % l know that
many of the Journal readers are members of
that branch OF Zion which had the honor OF in
augurating these missions, and which helps sus-
tain them, for many of them are Western men.
and many of them | found TO be from the vicln-
ity of Xenia, o.
But our train is under way. We fly past sugar
plantations amt waving fields of grain. The
first week in February beholds the wheat knee
high. There are great groves of date palms, and
nYnJn ahnya In r HI nv a. am n 4 I
which We are beginning to leave behind. Other
pyramids are, however. coming in sight, and we
shall see the remains Of many more. No less
than seventy four pyramids have been discOv-
cred in Egypt. and contrary to the theory of
Piazzi Smith Ia man who first formed a theory
and then tried to make facts conform to i,,
that all, even the Great Pyramid, are proved by
the most recent Investigations to be tombs, and
ali of them, as we'll as the Great Pyramid (PiaZZi
Smiths pet). have a perfect orientation-a due
north and south-save one at Sakarah, which
Is probably the result of a mistake OF
the architect. 1t is a curious fact that
there are certain Christians who are willing to
swallow the most preposterous propositions set
forth, If ii is with a certain degree of fervor and
knock down" argument, and hence the popular
iy with some people of theories that make our
Indians, or, more recently, the Anglo Saxon
race, regularly and pedigree cly descendants of
the ws-the remnants of the lost
tribes. That same class of people went
crazy over Piazza Smith theories (which | must
confess formed taking ~reaGingl about the Great
Pyramid, as if it were an inspiration from God
IN regard to weights. measures, astronomy.
etc. Some people took the thing. e., the inter
probation of Piazza Smith on the pyramid-so
much to heart that they appeared to be in as
much earnest as If a souls salvation depended
upon that vast pile of stones. which was
nothing else than the tomb of a heather king
Centuries before Abraham went to Egypt.
Such peo pie would fight over such non essen
tials. and neglect the weightier matters of the
law. j. C.. FLETCHER.