Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1891-10-29

the ACrODOllS: or, Nnat saw III ESFDJ
and Greece COntirmatOry Of the Scrip
lures" His text was Ezekiel xxx, 9,
1.-The River Is Mine and Have Made
It,"
Anal This is the River Nile. A brown
or yellow or silver cord on which are
hung more Jewels of thrilling interest
shan on any river that was ever twisted
in the sunshine. 1t rippleS through the
book Of Ezekiel, and flashes in the books
of Deuteronomy and Isaiah and Zccharla
and Nahum, and on its banks stood the
mightiGs CT many ages. 1t was the
crystal cradle of Moses, and on its banks
Mary, the refugee, carried the infant
Jesus. To find the birthplace Of this
river was the fascination and defeat OF
expeditions without number.
AS we start where the Nile omptlcS
into the Mediterranean Sea, we behold
wonderful fulillmcnt 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 at
seven different places Isaiah prophesied,
1.-The Lord shall utterly destroy the
tongue of the Egyptian sea and shall
Smite it in the seven streams" The fact
is they are all destroyed but two, and
UorodOtuS SAID these two remaining are
artificial Up the Nile we shall go; part
of the way by Egyptian rail train and
then by boat, and we shall understand
why the Bible gives such prominence to
this river, which is the largest river Of
all the earth with one exception.
But before we board the train we must
take q look at Alexandria. 1t was
founded by Alexander the Great, and
was once the New York, the Paris, the
London Of the world. Temples, pal
,,ilI
einorescent with all the architectural
and Edenic grandeur and sweetness.
ApOIl0S, the eloquent, whom in New
Testament times some people tried to
make a rival to Paul, lived here. Here
Mark, the author of the second book of
the New Testament, expired under NerO'S
anathema. From here the ship sailed
shat left Paul and the crew struggling
in the breakers of Melita. POmpey's pill
lar is here, about one hundred feet high,
ats base surrounded by so much NTH and
SQualOr [ was glad to escape into an air
that was breathable This tower was
built in honor Of Diocletian for sparing
the rebellOus citizens.
After having declared that he would
make the blood run to his horses knees,
and his horse fell with him into the blood
and his knees redeemed, the tyrant took
it for granted that was sign he should
stop the massacre, and hence this COM
mcmOrative pillar to his mercy. This is
the city to which Omar came after build
ing 1,4OO mosques and destroying 1000
temples and $4,000 villages and castles,
yet riding in on a camel, with a sack of
corn, a sack of figs and wooden plate
all that he had kept for himself-and
the diet to which he had limited himself
for most of the time was bread and water.
Was there Yer in any other man a COM
mingling of elements so strange, so
weird, so generous, so cruel, SO mighty,
so weak SO religious, so tanatCal?
In this city was the greatest female
lecturer the world ever saw-Hypatia.
But the lesson Of virtue that she taught
was obnoxious, and so they dragged her
through the streets and Scraped her
flesh from her bones with sharp oyster
shells and then burned the fragments of
the maSSaCred body. And here dWelt
Cleopatra, pronounced to be the beauty
of all timc-althOugh if her pictures are
correct | have seen thousar women
in Brooklyn more attractye-and she
was as bad as she was said to be hand
some. Queen, COnquercSS, and spoke
seven languages, although it would have
been better for the world if she had not
been able to speak any. Ju'ius Caesar
conquered the world, yet she conquered
Julius Caesar,
But Alexander, fascinating for this or
shat thing, according to the taste Of the
visitor, was to me most entertaining be- |
cause it had been the site of the great
est library that the world ever saw, con- !
Sdcring the fact that the art Of printing
had not been invented. Seven hundred |
thousand volumes and all the work of a
slow pen. But down it all went under
the torch of bCSiCgerS. Built again and |
destroyed again. Built again, but the |
Arabs came along for its final demolition
and the 1000 of the city were heated
with those volumes, the fuel lasting six
months, and were ever fires kindcd a
such fearful cost? What holocausts of
tho worlds literature! What martyr |
dom of books. How many of them have |
gone down under the rage of nations.
Only one book has bcen able to with
stand the bombardmenu, and that has
gone through without smell of fire on its
lids. No sword or spear or musket for
jfs defense An unarmcd New Tesla !
ment. An unarmed Old TeStaI emit Yet
invulnerabe and triumphant. There
,vnuSt be something supernatural about
Ill Conoueror of books! Monarch of
books! All the books of all the ages in
all the libraries outShone by this one
book which you and l carry to church in
a pocket. SO methought amid the ashes
of AleXandrian libraries.
But all aboard the Egyptian rail train
going up the banks of the Nile! Look
nut of the window and see those camels
kneeling for the imposition of their load.
And | think we might take from them a
Hesson, and, instead of trying to stand
upright in our strength, become con-
scious of our own weakness and need Of
divine help before we take upon us the
heavy duties OF the year or the week or
the day, and so knee! for the burden.
We meet professions of men and beasts
ON the way from their days week, but