Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-10-29

But down it all went under the torch of be-
siegers Built again and destroyed again.
Built again, but the Arabs came along for
its final demolition ard the 1000 baths of
the city were heated with those volumes,
the fuel lasting six months, and were ever
fires kindled at such fearful costa What
holocausts of the worlds literature! What
martyrdom of books! How many of them
have gone down under the rage of nations?
Only one book has been able to withstand
the bombardment, and that has gone
through without the smell of fire on its
lids No sword or spear or musket for its
defense. An unarmed New Testament. An
unarmed Old Testament Yet invulnerable
and triumphant. There must be something
supernatural about it. Conqueror 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 can 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 Nilei Look out
of the window and see those camels kneel-
ing for the imposition of their load. And l
think we might take from them a lesson,
and instead of trying to stand upright in
our own strength. become conscious of our
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 kneel for
the burden. We meet professions of men
and beasts on the way from their days
work. but. alas, for the homes to which
the poor inhabitants are going. For the
most part
HOvELS OF MUD.
But there is something in the scene that
thoroughly enlists US, 1t is the novelty of
wretchedness, and a scene of picturesque
rags. For thousands of years this land has
been under very damnation of taxes.
Nothing but Christian civilization will roll
back the influences which are ''spoiling the
Egyptians" There are gardens and pal
aces, but they belong to the rulers.
About here, under the valiant Murad Bey
the Mamelukes, who are the finest horsemen
in all the world, came like hurricane upon
Napoleon's army, but they were beaten
back by the French in one of the fiercest
battles of all time. Then the Mamelukes
turned their horses heads the other way.
and in desperation backed them against
the French troops, hoping the horses would
kick the life out of the French regiments.
The Mameiukes, failing again. plunged into
this Nile and were drowned, the French for
days fishing out the dead bodies of the
Mamelukes to get the valuableS upon their
bodies. Napoleon, at the daring of these
Mamelukes, exclaimed: Gould ! have
united the Mameluke horse to the French
infantry, / would have reckoned myself
master of the world
This ride along the Nile is one of the
most solemn and impressive rides of all my
life time, and our emotions deepen as the
curtains OF night fall upon all surroundings.
But we shall not be satisfied until We can
take ship and pass right out upon these
wondrous waters and between the banks
crowded with the story of empires.
According to the lead pencil mark in my
Bible. it was Thanksgiving Day morning,
November Is, 1889, that with my family
and friends we stepped aboard the steamer
I'll, /
prayers had been sounded by the priests of
that region, the muezzins from the four
hundred mosques of Cairo as the cry went
out: God is great. | bear witness that
there is no God but God. | bear witness
that Alohammed is the apostle of God
Come to prayers. Come to salvation. God
is great There is no other but God.
Prayers are better than sleep" The sky
and city and palm groves and river shipping
were bathed in the light. 1t was not much
of a craft that we boarded. 1t would not
be hailed on any of our rivers with any
rapture of admiration. 1t fortunately had
but little speed. for twice we ran aground,
and the sailors jumped into the water and
on their shoulders pushed her out. But
what yacht of gayest sportsman, what deck
of swiftest ocean queen, could give such
thrill of rapture as a sail on the Nile! The
pyramids in sight, the remains of cities that
are now only a name. the villages thronged
with population. Both banks crowded with
historical deeds of forty or sixty centuries
oh, what book the Bible is when read on
the Nile,
As we slowly move up the majestic river
/ see on each bank the wheels, the pumps,
the buckets for irrigation, and see a man
with his foot on the treadle of wheel that
fetches up the water for garden. and then
for the first time / understand that passage
in Deuteronomy which says OF the Israel
= b,I fN1..l
The land whittier thou goest in to possess
it is not as the land of Egypt, from whence
We came out, where thou SowedSt thy seed
and wateredst it with thy foot" Then l IN
derstood how the land could be watered
with the foot. How do you suppose felt
when on the deck of that steamer on the
Nile looked of upon the canals and bitches
and sluices through which the fields are
irrigated by that river and then read in
Isaiah. The burden of Egypt; the river
shall be wasted and dried up and they
SHALL TURN THE RIVERS
far away and the brooks of defense shall be
emptied and dried up: and they shall be
broken in the purposes thereof, all that
make sluices and ponds for fish, That
Thanksgiving morning on the Nile found
my text of to-day. Pharaoh in this chapter
is compared to the dragon or hippopota-
mus, suggested by the crocodiles that used
&c line the banks of this river: Thus
saith the Lord God: Behold am against
thee. Pharaoh. king of Egypt, the great
dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers,
which hath said my river is mine own, and
/ have made il for myself But l will put
hooks in thy jaws and l will cause the fish
of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and l
will bring thee up out of the midst of thy
rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall
stick unto thy scales, and the land of Egypt
shall be desolate and waste; and they shall
know that | am the Lord; bechuse he hath
said the river is mine, and l have made
it,
While sailing on this river. or stopping at
one of the villages. we see people on the
banks who verify the Bible description, for
they are now as they were in Bible times.
Shoes are now taken off in reverence to
sacred places. Children carried astriue the
mothers shoulder, as in Hagars time.
Women with profusion of iewelry, as when
Rebecca was affianced. Lentils shelled
into the pOttage, as when Esau sold his
birthright to get such dish. The same
habits of salutation as when Joseph and
his brethren fell on each others necks.
Courts of law held under BIZ trees as in
olden times. People making bricks without
straw. compelled by circumstances to use
stubble instead of straw. Flying over or
standing ON the banks as in Scripture days
are fiamingoes. oSpreyS, eagles, pelicans,
herons, cuckoos and bullfinches On all
sides of this river sepulchers. 4, Villages OF
sepulchers. Cities of sepulchers. Nations of
SepulcherS. And one is tempted to call it
an empire of tombs. l never saw such a
place as Egypt is for graves And now we