Iuka reporter. (Iuka, Miss.) 1888-1894, 1891-10-29
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIv1NEs SIN.
DAY SERMON.
subject; sThe Lesson OF the pvr,.
mids."

TEXT: I'm that day shall there Be an
altar to the Lord IN the midst Of the lond
or Egypt, aud a pillar at the border there.
o. 70 ue LORD And tt shall be for n stga
on"Jof wttness. isaiah XIX, 10, 30.
Isaiah no doubt here refers to the great
pyramid ~, at Glzeh, the chief pyramid of
Egypt. The text speaks Of pillar in Egypt,
and this is the greatest pillar ever lifted:
and the text says IL is to be at the border OF
the land, and this pyramid is at the border
OF the land; and the text says it shall be for
witness, and the object of this sermon Is ia
tell what this pyramid witnesses. Thi, ser.
mon is the first OF a course of sermons en-
TITLED, From the Pyramids to the Acropolis,
or What | saw in Egypt and Greece Con.
frmatory of the Scriptures
we had, on a morning of December, 1889.
landed in Africa. Amid the bowling boat
men at Alexandria we had come ashore and
taken he rail train at Cairo, Egypt, along
tne banks OF the most thoroughly harnessed
river of all the world the river Nile. We
had at eventlde entered the city of Cairo, the
city where Christ dwelt while STAYING in
Egypt during the Herodic persecution. II
was our first night in Egypt. No destroying
angel sweeping through a once, but all the
stars We're out and the sky was filed with
angels OF beauty and angels of light, and the
air was balmy as an American June. The
next morning we were early awake and at
the window, looking upon the palm trees in
Iull glory OF LEAKAGE, and upon gardens Of
fruits and flowers at the very season when
our homes far away are canopied by bleak
skies and the last leaf Of the forest has gone
down in the equinoctials
But how can | describe the thrill of ex.
pectation, for to-day we are to see what all
the world has seen or wants to see--the
pyramids. We are mounted for an hour
and halfs ride. We ISIS on amid bazaars
stuffed with rugs and carpets, and curious
fabrics of all sorts from Smyrna, from AL
giers, from Persia, from Turkey, and through
streets where we meet people Of all colors
and all CARDS, carts loaded with garden pro.
auctions priests in gowns, women in black
wells, Bedouins in long and seemingly SUPER
1uous apparel, Janissaries in jacket of EN-.
broidered gold--out and on toward the great
pyramid, for though there are sixty mine
pyramids still standing, the pyramid at Gizeh
is the monarch of pyramids. We meet
camels granting under their loads, and see
buffaloes on either side browsing in pasture
fields.
The road we travel is for part Of the way
under clumps of acacia and by long rows Of
sycamore and tamerisk, but after awhile it
is path of rock and sand, and we find we
have reached the margin of the desert, the
great dragoman as we see huge pile OF rock
looming in sight, "Dragoman, what is that"
His answer is, THE pyramid" and then it
seemed as if we were living century every
minute. Our thoughts and emotions were
too rapid and intense for utterance, and we
ride on in silence until we come to the foot
of the pyramid spoken of in the text the
oldest structure in all the earth--four thou
sand years old at least. Here it is. We stand
under the shadow of structure that shuts
out all the earth and all the sky, and we look
up and strain our vision to appreciate the
distant top, AMI are overwhelmed while we
cry, 1.-THE pyramid! The pyramidr'
| Each person in our party had two or three
guides or helpers. One of them unrolled his
turoan and tied it around my waist and he
held the other end Of the turban as matter
| of safety. Many of the blocks of stone are
four or five feet high and beyond any ordir,
airy human stride unless assisted. But, two
Arabs to pull and Two Arabs to push, found
myself rapidly ascending from heignth to
heighth, and on to attitudes terrific, and at
last at the tiptop we found ourselves on level
| space of about thirty feet square. Through
clearest atmosphere we looked off upon the
desert, and off upon the winding Nile, and
off upon the Sphinx, with its features OF
everlasting stone, and yonder upon the min
arets OF Cairo glittering in the sun, and yon
der upon Memphis in ruins, and off upon the
wreck of empires and the battlefelds of ages
radius OF view enough to fill the mind anC
shock the nerves and overwhelm ones entire
being.
After looking around for awhile, and q
kodak had pictured the group, we descended.
The descent was more trying than the
ascent, for climbing you need not see the
depths beneath, but coming down it was I'M
possible not to see the abysms below. But
two Arabs ahead to help us down, and two
| he RI hold ne oa l vva I0vvarad
hand below hand until the ground was in
willingly near, and amid the iargon OF the
Arabs we were safely landod Then CAM
one Of the most wonderful feats of daring
and agility. One of the Arabs solicited {
dollar, saying he would run up and dow
the pyramid in seven minutes We woult
rather have given him q dollar not to go
but this ascent and descent in seven minute
he was determined on, and SO by the watcl
in seven minutes he wcnt'to the top and wa
back again at the base. 1t was bloodcur
| ding spectacle
said the dominant color of the pyramis
was gray, but in certain lights it seams Y
| shake off the gray of centuries ind becon1l
| blond, and the silver turns to the golden
| 1t covers thirteen acres OF ground. VIVA
an antiquityl 1t was at least two thousant
| years old when the baby Christ was carrie,
within sight Of it by His fugitive parents
Joseph ana Mary. The storms Of forty can
turies have drenched it, bombarded Il
Swallowed 1t, flashed upon it, but there
stands, ready to take another forty cen
turtles OF atmospheric attack if che WORT,
should continue to exist. The Oldest build
lngs OF the earth are juniors to this grea
senior of the centuries.
herodotus says that for ten wears prena
rations were beng made for the BUILDING o
This pyramid. 1t has eighty-two millio,
one hundred and eleven thousand cubic fee
or masonry. One hundred thousand workme,
atone time toiled in its erection To bring rh
| stone from the quarries a causeway sixt,
teet wide was built The top stones wer
lifted by machinery such as the worlt
Knows nothing OF to-day. 1t is seven hun
dred and forty-six feet each side of the
square base. The structure is four hundred
and fifty feet high; higher than the cathe
drals OF Cologne, Strasburg, Rouen. st
Peters and st. Pauls. No surprise to m,
| that It was put at the head OF the seven won
dcrs OF the world. It has q subterraneou.
room OF red granite called the "kings cham
Der, and ANOTHER room called the "queen's
chamber, and the probability is that there
are other rooms yet UNEMPLOYED.
The evident design of the architect was tx
make these rooms as inaccessible as possible
After all the work of exploration and all th'
digging and blasting, If you would ente
these subterraneous rooms, you must e
through passage only three feet eleven
4 inches high and less than four feet wide. A
sarcophagus OF red granite stands down un
der this mountain OF MASONRY. Til
sarcophagus could not have been carried il