Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1891-10-30

men WIN PERCUSSION OF leWelry as Wnen ne
becca was afflauced Lentils sheled into the
pottage, as when Esau sold his birthright 10
get such dish. The same habits of saluta-
ton as when Joseph and his brethren fell on
each others necks. Courts of law held un
der big trees as in olden times People max
ing bricks without straw compelled BY
circumstances TO use stubble instead OF
straw.
Flying over or standing on the banks as in
Scripture days are famingoes, ospreys,
eagles pelicans, herons, cuckoos and bull
finches. On all sides Of this river sepuchers.
Villages Of sepulchera Cities Of sepulchers.
Nations of sepulchers. And one is tempteC
70 call 1t an empire OF tombs. I never saw
such place as Egypt is for graves. AnC
now we understand the complaining sarcasm
of the Israelites when they were on the way
from Egypt TO Canaan, Because there are
no graves in Egypt hast thou taken us away
to die in the wilderness Down the river
bank come the buffalo and the cattle Of kins
to drink And it was the ancestors Of these
cattle that inspired Pharoah's dream of the
lean kline and the fat kline.
Here we disenbark a little while for
Memphis, Off the Nile to the right MsnDhis
founded by the first king OF yypt AMI for a
long time the capital; Acity OF marble and
gold. Home Of the Pharaohs City OF nine
nades through which Imposing PROFESSIONS
marched. Here stood the Temple of the
Sun, itself in briiancy a sun shone ON by
another sun. Thebes in power over a thou
sand and hundre years, or nearly ten times
as long as the United States have existed
Here is a recumbent statue seventy-ive fee.
long Bronzed gateways A metropolis
calle1 the haven Of the blest.' Here
Joseph was prime minister. Here Pharaoh
received Jacob. All possible spIendor' were
built up into this royal city. Hosea, Ezekiel,
jeremiah and Isaiah speak of it as some
thing wonderful.
Never did visit city with such exaltel
anticipations, and never did my anticpa-
tions drop so fat Not pillar stanis. Not
wall is unbroken Not foundation losses
in the sun. Even the ruins have been ruined
and all that remains ara chips of marble
small pieces Of fractured sculpture ard splin-
tered human bones. Here and there letter
Of some elaborate inscription, toe or ear
Of a statue that once stood in niche of palace
wall. Ezekiel prophesie1 its blotting out,
aud the prophecy has been fulfilled. ride
on" said to our party, and don't wait for
me-" And as | stood there alone the city Of
Memphis in the glory Of past centuries re-
turned And heard the rush of her chart
DTS and the dash of her fountains and the
drunken mobiles roll on the floors Of mosaic,
while in startling contrast amid all the re-
galities Of the place | saw Pharaoh look up
into the face of aged rustic Jacob, the shep-
herd. saying, How old art thou"
But back to the Nile and on and up till you
reach Thebes, in Scripture called the City OF
No Hundred gated Thebes. A quadran-
gular city four miles from limit to limit.
Four great temples, two of them Karnac
and Luxor, once mountains Of exquisite
sculpture and gorgeous dreams solidiied in
stone. Statue of Rameses ii, eight hundred
and eighty-seven tons in weight and seven
ty-five feet high. but now fallen and scat
tered. Walls abloom with the battleields of
centuries.
The surrounding hills of rock followed
into sepulchers on the wall Of which are
chiseled in picture and hieroglyphcs the
confirmation of Bible story in regard to the
treatment of the lsraelites in Egypt 80 that,
as explorations 60 on with the work. the
walls Of these sspulchers become com
nentaries of the Bible, the Scriptures
originally written upon parchment here cut
into everlasting stone. rhebeS mighty and
dominant FIVE hundred year,. Then she went
down in fulfllment Of Ezssieis prophecy
concerning the City Of No, which was another
1ame for Thebes: II will execute judgment
Jeremiah also prophesied, Thus saith the
Lord, 7 will punish the multituies of No
This city OF Thebes and all the other dead
cities o. Egypt iterate and reiterate tho
,eracity of the Scriptures. telling the same
,tory which Moses and the prophets told.
Have you noticed how Go kept back these
archaeological )nfirmations OF the Bible un
til our time. when the air is full of unbeef
about the truthfulness Of the dear old book
He waited until the printing press had been
set up in its perfected shape and the Subma-
-ne cable was laid, and the world was in
telligent enough TO appreciate the testimony.
and then He reSurrecte1 the dead cities of
the earth. and commanded them saying
open your long sealed lips aud speak
Memphis and Thebes is the Bible truey
True responds Memphis and Thebes.
Babylon, is the Book Of Daniel true"
"Truew responds Babylon. "Ruins Of Pal
estine and syria, is the New Testament
true| True respond the ruins all the
way from Joppa 10 the Dead Sea and from
Jerusalem to Damascus.
What mercy that this testimony Of the
dead cities should come at time when the
Bible is especially assaled And this work
will go on until the veracity OF the Scrip
lures will be as certain TO all sensible men
and women as that two and two makes four.
as LndI an lcO-cfltS - Out ntlJu udS
two Of its sides equal. as that the diameter
of a circle is line drawn through the centre
and terminated by the circumference, as
certain as any mathematical demonstration.
Those ancient cities lacked nothing but
good morals. Dissipation and sin slew them,
and unless dissipation and sin are halted,
they will some day slay our modern cities
and leave our palaces OF merchandise and
our galleries of art and our city hall as fiat
in the dust as we found Memphis on the after
noon of that Thanksgiving day. And if the
cities go down, the nation will 90 down.
"Oh. " you say, that is impossible: we have
stood so long-yea, over a hundred years as
a nation Why, what Of that ThebeS
stood five hundred years. Memphis stood
thousand years. God does not forget One
day with the Lord is as thousand years and
a thousand years as one day
Rum and debauchery and bad politics are
more rapidly working the destruction Of our
American cities that sin Of any kind and all
kinds worked for the destruction of the cities
of Africa, once so mighty and now so pros
trate. But their gods were idols and could
do nothing except for debasement. Our
God made the heavens and sent His Son to
redeem the nations And our cities will not
90 down. and our nations will not perish be-
cause the gospel is going to triumph. For
ward all schools aud colleges AMI churc Ies!
Forward! all reformatory and missionary
organizations Forward all the influences
marshale1 TO bless the world. Let our mod
ern European and American cities listen to
the voice of those ancient cities resurrected,
and by hammer aud chiSsl and crowbar be
compelled to speak.
| notice the voice Of those ancient cities is
hoarse from the exposure of forty centuries
and they accsntuate slowly with lips that
were psSiel for ages. but all together those
cities along the Nile intons these words;
Hear us, for we are very old, AMI it is hard
for us to speak We were wise long before
Athens learned her first lesson. We sailet
our ships while vet navigation was unborn.
These obelisks, these pyramids, these fallen
pillars thess wrecked temples these coloss
of black granite, these wrecked Sarcophagi
under the brow of the hills tell you Of what
| was in grandeur and Of what am coming
down to be. We sinned aud we fell Our
learning could not save Us. See those
half oblitersted hieroglyphics on yolder
wall. Our architecture could not save
US See the painted columns OF
PniR. and the shattered temple Of Esneh.
Our heroes could not save us. Witness
Mepss. Dodorus, Rameses aud Ptolemy.
Our Gods Ammon aud Osiris could not save
ne Saa THAR failen temnles all along the