Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1891-10-23

lttb biktl OlA Nv uINllAttlN W lHIHlNl
stone for building i'm the city OF Cairo
The men who con structed the Pyramid
worked at 10 only few wears and ther
put down the trowcl and the compass
and the square and lowered the d rrlcl
which had lifted the ponderous weights
but forty centuries have their worh
stood and IL will be good for forty
centuries more. All Egypt has beer
shaken in tern ole earthquakes and
cities have been Frustrated or swal.
lowed but that Pyramid has deled al
volcanic paroXy ms. 1t has looked
: upon some OF the greatest battles ever
fought since the world stood. Where
are the men who Quilt IL? Their bodies
gone TO dust and even the dust
scattered Even the sarcophagus in
viii n the kings mummy may have
slept is empty.
30 men die but their work lives on.
We are building pyramids not to last
four thousand years, but forty thou
sand. forty million, forty trillion, forty
quadrilion. forty Quintillion For "A
while we WELD the trowel or pound
with the hammer or measure with the
yard-sticl< or write with the pen, or
! ext erimcnt with the scientific battery,
or plan with the brain, and for Il Will @
/ the loot walks and the eve sees, and
/ the ear hears and the tongue speaks.
1 All the good words or bad words we
| speak are spread out into one layer for
| "A pyramid. All the kind deeds or
malevolent deeds we do are spread out
, mo another layer. All the Christian
or unchriStian exam pie we set is spread
ont in another layer. All the indirect
influences of our lives are spread out
/ in los -. ..
comes when we put down the imple-
ment of toll and pass away,
but the pyramid stands.
Your business and mine is not to
build pyramid but 20 be one of the
hundreds Of thousands who shall ring
trowel, or pull rope or turn a crank
OF derrick, or cry ~ heave" while
lifting ano Their block to its elevation.
Though it be seemingly small work
and a brief work, it is a work that
shall last forever In the last day
many ma and woman whose
work has never been recognized on
earth will come TO a special honor.
he Ecumenical council, now n scs-
sion at Washington. ITS delegates the
honored representatives. of fifty mil
lion Method Is in all parts of
the earth, will at every session
do honor TO the memory of John
Wesley, but ! wonder if any Of. them
will think to twist garland for the
memory of hum lie Peter Bohlcr, the
Moravian, who brought John Wesley
into the Kingdom of God / re dice
that all the thousands who have been
TO ling on the pyramid Of righteous
ness will at last be recognized and re-
warded-the mother who brought her
children To Christ the Sabbath school
teacher who brought her class to he
knowledge of the truth, the UMPIRE
tending man who saved soul.
Then the trowel will lie more honored
than tie sceptre.
Further carrying ont the idea of my
text, the Pyramid is "A sign and Il wit
ness that big tombstones are not The
best way of keepings ones self affec-
tionately remembered. This Pyramid
and the siXty nine other pyramids
still standing were built for sepul-
chres, ali thi, great pile of granite and
limestone bv which We stand to day,
TO cover the memory OF a dead king.
1t was the great Westminster Abbey
OF the ancients.
But if, after one is dead, there is moth
ing left to remind the world of him
but some pieces of stone, there Is but
little left. Some of the finest monu-
ments are over people who amounted
u no.hlng while thew lived, while
some OF the worthiest men and W omen
have not had above them a stone big
enough to tell their name. Joshua,
the greatest warrior The world ever
saw, no monument Moses, the greatest
lawyer hat ever lived, no monument;
4 s,,,l 4,
lived, no monument Christ, the Sa-
viour of the world and the rapture of
heaven, no monument. A pyramid
over scoundrel Cheops, but only
single with lead pencil epitaph
over many good mans grave. Some
of the finest obituaries have been
printed about the worst rascals. To-
day at Brussels there is a pyramid of
flowers on the grave of Boulanger, the
notorious libertine. Yet it Is natural
to want TO be remem bered.
While there seems TO be no practical
use for post mortem consideration later
than the time of one great grand
children, yet no one wants to be for
gotten as soon as the obsequies are
over. This pyramid which Isaiah says
IS n sign and witness demonstrates
that neither limestone nor red granite
are competent to keep one affect on
ately remembered; neither can bron e;
neltler can farian marble; neither can
Aberdeen granite do the work. But
there is some hing out of which to
build an everlasting monument and
That will keep one freshly remem bered
four thousand years; yea, for ever and
ever. 1t does not stand in marble
yards Il Is not TO be purchased at
mourning stores. Yet il Is TO be found
in every neigh borhood, plenty of it. in
eXhaustible quantities OF it II is the
greatest stun in the universe TO build
monuments out Of. | refer TO the
mem cries of those to whom we can do
Ia dness, the memories of those
whose struggles we may alleviate, the
memories OF those whose souls we NAV
save. All around Cairo and Memphis
there are the remains of pyramids that
have gone down under the wearing
away of time, and this great Pyramid
of which Isaiah in the text speaks will
vanish if the world lasts long enough;
and if the world does not last, then
with the earth's dissolution the Pyra-
mid will also dissolve But the memo
ries of those with " HON we aSSng,ato