Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1891-11-05
TABERNACLE PULPIT.
DR.. TAl-MAGE's SECOND SERMON ON
HIS OLD WORLD JOURNEYS.


Cities and Rivers and Places OF Lon,
Ago.
BROOKLYN. Oct 25.-The rendering o
she First Sonata IN d Minor, by Guilmant
on the great origin of the Brooklyn Taber
nacle this morning, by Professor Henry
Eyre Browne, the organist, held the vast
congregation spellbound with profound
1 emotion. DIR. Talmage preached on sail
ing Up the Nile" the second sermon of the
series entitled From the Pyramids to the
Acropolis; or What | Saw in Egypt and
Greece Conhrmatory of the Scriptures. y
His text was Ezekiel xxx, 9, '.The River
Is Mine and Have Made It,"
Anal This is the River Nile A brown
I or yellow or silver cord on which are hung
more jewels of thrilling interest than on
any river that was ever twisted in the sun
shine. 1t ripples through the book of Eze-
KEEL and flashes in the books of Deuteron-
omy and Isaiah and Zecharia and Ma
hum, and on its banks stood the mighties
of many ages 1t was the crystal cradle OF
Moses, and on its banks Mary, the refugee,
carried the infant Jesus. To find the birth
place of this river was the fascination and
defeat of expeditions without number.
Not many years ago Bayard Taylor our
great American traveller, wrote, "Since
Columbus first looked upon San Salvador,
the earth has but one emotion of triumph
left for her bestowa, and that she reserves
for him who shall first drink from the
fountains of the White Nile under the snow
fields Of Kilima-Njaron But the discovery
Of the sources of the Nile by most people
was considered an impossibiity The ma
larias, the wild beasts, the savages, the I'M
cimbable sleeps, the vast distances,
stopped all the expeditions for ages.
An intelligent native said To Sir Samuel
w. Baker and wife as they were on their
way to accomplish that in which Others
had failed. Give up the mad scheme of
the Nile source. How would it be possible
for lady young and delicate to endure
what would kill the strongest many Give
it up" But the work went on until Spoke
and Grant aud Baker found the two lakes
which are the source Of what was called
the White Nile, and baptized these two
lakes with the names of Victoria and Al.
bert. These two lakes, filled by great rain
falls and by accumulated SHOWS from the
mountains, pour their waters, laden with
agricultural wealth such as blesses no other
river, on down over the cataracts, on be-
tween frowning mountains, on between
cities living and cities dead, on for four
Thousand miles and through a continent.
But the White Nile would do little for
Egypt ii this were all. 1t would keep its
banks and Egypt would remain desert.
But from Abyssinia there comes what is
called the Blue Nile, which, though dry or
nearly dry half the year, under tremendous
rains about the middle of June rises to
great momentum, and this Blue Nile
dashes with sudden influx into the White
Nile, which in consequence rises thirty
feet and their combined waters inundate
Egypt with "A rich soil which drops on all
the fields and gardens as il is conducted
by bitches and sluices and canals every
The greatest damage that ever came to
Egypt came by the drying up Of the River
Nile, and the greatest blessing by its
heaithfu and abundant flow The famine
In Joseph's time came from the lack of suf
fcient inundation from the Nile Not
enough Nile is drought; too much Nile is
freshet and plague The rivers OF the earth
are the mothers of its prosperity. If by
some convulsion Of nature the Mississippi |
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 fertilize |
and save these countries.
Our own continent is gulched, is rib
boned, is glorided by innumerable water
courses. But Egypt has only one great /
river, and that is harnessed to draw all |
The properties OF realms in acreage semi !
Infinite What happens TO the Nile, hap |
pens TO Egypt. The Nilometer was to me
very suggestive as we went up aud down |
is damp stone steps and saw the pillar |
marked with notches telling just how /
nigh or low are the waters of the Nile. |
When the Nile is rising four criers every /
morning run through the city announc-
ny how many feet the river has risen |
en feet, fifteen feet, twenty feet, twenty /
our feet-and when the right height of /
water is reached the gates of the canals
ire flung open and the liquid and refresh
ny benediction is pronounced on all the
and.
ITS SEVEN MOUTHS CHANGED.
As we start where the Nile empties into
,he Mediterranean sea, we behold avon
lerful fulfillment of prophecy. The Nile
n very ancient times used to have seven
mouths. As the great river approached
he sea it entered the sea at seven different
places. Isaiah prophesied, 1.-The Lord shall
Utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian
zen and shall smite it in the seven streams"
The fact is they are all destroyed but two,
md Herodotus said these two remaining
ire artificial. Up the Nile we shall 20;
Dart Of the way by Egyptian rail train and
hen by boat, and we shall understand
Why the Bible gives such prominence to
his river, which is the largest river of all
he earth with one exception.
But before we board the train we must
axe look at Alexandria. 1t was founded
~ Alexander the Great, and was once the
New York, the Paris, the London of the
World. Temples, palaces, fountains, gar
lens, pillared aud efflorescent with all
and Edenic grandeur and
weetness. Apollos, the eloquent, whom
n New Testament times some people tried
0 make a rival TO Paul, lived here.
Here Mark, the author of the second book
f the New Testament, expired under
Nero's anathemS. From here the ship
allied that left Paul and the crew strug-
ling in the breakers Of Melita Pompey's
illar is here about one hundred feet bie-b