Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1891-10-26

and although the author does tell OF
Prometheus who was crucified on the
rocks for sympathy for mankind, a
powerful suggestion of the sacrifice of
Christ in later years. it is Il very poor
book compared with that book which
we hug to our hearts, because it con
tains our only guide in life, our only
comfort in death and our only hope
! for blissful Immortality. If two na-
! tiOns could afford to struggle for one
copy of "A2schylus," how much more
can all nations afford to struggle for
! the possession and triumph of the Holy
/ Scriptures
But the dead cities strung along the
Nile not only demolish infidelity, but
| thunder down the absurdity of the
modern doctrine of evolution which
says the world started with nothing
and then rose, and human nature be
gan with nothing but evolved into
SPLENDID manhood and womanhood of
itself Nay; the sculpture of the world
was more wonderful in the days of
Memphis and 'ihe0es and Carthage
than in the day. of Boston aid New
York
Those blocks of stone, weighing three
hundred tons, high up i'll the wall at
Karnac, imply machinery equal to if
| not surprising the machinery of the
Nineteenth century. How WAS that
statue of RanesCs, weighing eight hun
dred and eighty-seven tons, transport
ed from the quarries, two hundred
miles away, and how was it lifted Tell
us, modern machinists. How were
those galleries of rock, still standing at
Thebes, filled with paintings surpassed
by no artists pencil of the present day?
Tell US, artists of the Nineteenth cen
fury. The dead cities of Egypt, SO far
as they have left enough pillars or
statues or sepulchers or temple ruins to
tell the story Memphis, Migdol, Her
Opolis, Zoan, Thebes, Goshen. Carthage
all of them developing downward in
stead of upward. They have evoIuted
from magniticence into destruction
The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only
elevator of individual and social ma
tiOnal character. Let all the living
and temporal prosperity are no security.
Those ancient cities lacked nothing but
good morals. Dissipation and sin slew
them, and unless dissipation and sin
are halted they will some day Stay our
modern cities. and leave our palaces of |
merchandise, and our galleries of art,
and our city halls as fat in tie d. t as
we found Memphis on the afternoon of |
that Thanksgiving day. And If the |
cities go down the nation VII go d own.
ooh, " you say, that is inpossi5!e; we
have stood SO lOng-yca. over Il hun
dred years as IL nation. Why. what |
of that? Thebes stood five hundred |
years; Memphis stood IA thousan,
years God does not forget One day |
with the Lord is as Il thousand years
and thousand years rs one day.
Rum and debauchciy and bad poll |
ties are more rapidly v,.r..i:l:, the de-
struction OF our AIHcIit:.:s c.Ii,s t.E,u
sin of any kind and all ll:at.s worked |
for the destruction OF the cities Of Afri-
ca, once so mighty and now 50 pros
trate But their gods were idols. and |
could do nothing except for debase-
ment. Our God made the heaV, ms and |
sent his Son to redeem the nations |
And our cities will not go down. and |
our nation will not perish. because the
Gospel is going to triumph Toward |
all schools and college, and churchesl
Forward! all refOrmatory and mission
airy organizations Forward, all the
influences marShaleI - bless the
world. Let our modern European and |
American cities listen to the voice of
those ancient cities resurrected. and
by hammer and chiseI and crowbar
be compelled to speak.
VOICES FROM THE PAST.
l notice the voice OF those ancient
cities is hoarsc from the exposure of
forty centuries, and they accentuate
slowly with lips that were paisied for
ages. but all together those elite, along
the Nile intone these words: Hear as I,
for we are very old, and it is hard for
us to speak We were wise long before
Athens learned her first lesson. We
sailed our ships while yet navigation
was unborn. These obelisllS, these pyr
amids. these fallen pillars. these wrecked
temples, these colossI of black granite.
these wrecked sarcophagi under the
brow of the hills, tell you of what was
in grandeur and of what am coming
down to be. We sinned and we fell. Our
learning could not save us. See those
half obliterated hieroglyphics on you-
der wall. Our architecture could not
save us: See the painted columns of
Phile and the shattered temple OF ES-
neh. Our heroes could not save us:
Witness Menes, Diodorus, RameSes and
Ptolemy. Our gods, Ammou and
Osiris, could not save us. See their
fallen temples all along the four thou
sand miles of Nile Oh, We modern
cities, get some other Coda God who
can help, God who can pardon, II
God who can save Called up as we !