The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1891-11-03
TABERNACLE PULPIT.
Or. TALMAeE's SECOND SERMON ON
HIS oLo WORLD JOURNEYS.


------ sd
the Scriptures In the Test tImony of the
CIties aud Rivors ana Place. of Long
Ago.
BROOKLYN, Oct. 25.-The render
ing of the First Sonata in ID Minor, by
Guilmant, on the great organ of the
Brooklyn Tabernacle this morning, by
Professor Henry Eyre Browne, the Or
Ganlst, held tie vast congregation spell
bound with profound emotion. DIR. Tai
mage preached on Sailing Up the Nile, -
the second sermon Of the series entitled
''From the Pyramles 10 the Acropolis;
or, What Saw IN Egypt and Greece
Confrmatory of the Scriptures" His
text was Ezekiel xxx, 0, "The River
Is Mine and l Have Made It,"
Aha! This is the River Nile. A br ,wn
or yellow or silver cord on which are
hung more jewels of thrilling interest
than on any river that was ever twisted
in the sunshine. 1t ri,ples through the
book of Ezekiel, and flashes in the books
Deuteronomy and Isaiah and Zecharia
and Nahum, and on its banks stood the
mighLies ofinary ages. 1t was the
crystal cradle of Moses, and on its banks
Marry the refugee, carried tho infant
Jesus. no end the birthplace OF this
river was tie fas cination and defeat OF
expeditions without number.
Not many years ago BaYard Taylor,
our great American traveller, wrote,
Since COuWbuS first looked upon San
Salvador, tlo earth has but one ONO
ton Of ftrluWl a Lei { for her bestowal, aud
that she reserves for him who shall first
drink from tue fountains of the White
Nile under tic snow fields Of Kilma-
Njaro.' Bu Tic discovery Of tho
sources OF the Nile by most people was
considered an impossibi!ty. The ma
larias, the wild beasts, the savages, the
unclimbable sleeps, the vast distances,
stopped all tie expeditions for ages.
But the White Nile would do little
for Egypt il this were all. 1t would
keep It's banks and Egypt would remain
n desert. But from Abyssinla there
comes what IS called the Blue Nile,
which, though dry or nearly dry half
the year. under tremendous rains about
tho middle of June rises to great mo-
mentum, and this Blue Nile daQhes with
sudden iltluX into the White Nile, which
in consequence rises thirty feet and
their combined waters inundate Egypt
with rich soil which drops on all the
fields and gardens as it is conducted by
bitches and sluices and canals every
whittier.
The grcatcat damage that ever came
10 Egypt came by the drying up of the
River Nile, nnd the greatest blessing by
its hcalthiul and abundant flow. The
famine IN JOSuph's time camc from the
lack of sufficient inurdation from the
Nile. Not enough Me is drought; too
much Nile IS freshct and plague. The
rivers OF the earth are the mothers pitts
prosperity. If by some convulslon of
nature the Mississippi should be taken
from North America, or the Amazon
from South America, or the Danube
from Europe, or the Yenisei from Asia
what hemisphere calamity! Still,
there are other rivers, that could fertil-
ize and save these countries.
What happens to the Nile, happens TO
Egypt. The Nilometcr was to me very
suggestive as VIC went mp and down its
damp stone steps and saw the pillar
marked with notches telling just how
high or low are the waters Of the Nile.
When The Nile is rising four criers every
morning run through the city announc.
ing how many feet the river has risen
ten feet, fifteen feet, twenty feet, twen-
ty-iour icct--and when the right height
or water is reached the gates of the ca
nal, are tlurg open and the liquid and
refreshing bcnediction is pronounced on
all the land.
AS VIC start where the Nile empties
into tic Mediterranean sea, we behold a
wonderful iulillment of prophecy. The
Nile in very ancient times used to have
seven mouths. AS the great river APP
preached the sea it entered the sea MT
seven different places. Isaiah prophcst-
ed, The Lord shall utterly destroy the
tongue OF the Egyptian sea and shall
smite 1t IN the seven streams" The
lac. is they are all destroyed but two,
and HcrodOtus said these two remain
ing are artificial. Up the Nile we shall
60; part OF the way by EGYPTIAN rail
train and thon by boat, and we shall un-
dorstand why the Bible gives such prom
inence to this river, which is the largest
river of all tic earth with one exception.
But before we board the train we must
take a look at Alexandria, L. was
founded by Alexander the Great, and
was once the New York, the Paris, the
London OF tie word. Temples, pala-
ces, tountaiD~, gardens, pillared and et-
ilorcscent with all architectural and
EdcniC granu :ur and sweetness. Apol-
los, the eloquent whom in New Testa-
mcnt times some people tried to make a
llya! TO Paul, lived here. Here Mark,
the author Of tie second book of the
New Testament, expired under Nero's
anathema. From here the ship sailed
That left Paul and the crew struggling in
the breakers of Melita. But Alcxan-
der, fascinating for this or that thing,
according 10 the taste Of the visitor, was
to me most entertaining because it had
been the site Of Inc greatest library that
The world ever saw, considering the TACT
that the art Of printing had not been in-
vented. Seven hundred thousand vol.
umes and al tic work Of slow peu.
But down IL all went under the torch of
bestegcrs. Buill again and destroyed
again. Built again, but the Arabs came
along for It's final demolition aud the
four thousand baths Of the city were
heated with those volumes, the fuel last.
ing six months, and were ever fires kin
died at such fearful cost.
Only one book has been able to with.
stand the bombardment, and that has
gone through without smell OF fire on its
lids. No sword or spear or musket Tor
itA defense An ,parmpl Nav T'pS to.