The Penn's Grove record., 1891-10-30

In 1850 PROFESSOR Smyth ana MIS- WIG uVeQ
II the , empty sopbs near by the pyramid
sible close to the pyramid which they ware
investigating. The pyramid, built more
than four thousand years ago, being . com
pie geometrical figure, wise men have con
clu1ed it must have been divinely con
structed. Men came through Thousands OF
years to fine architecture, to music, to paint
ing, but this was perfect at the worid'sstart,
and God must have directed IT,
fists say that it was scientifically and mAthe-
m~atically constructed before science and
mathematics were born. From the inscrip-
tions on the pyramid, from its proportions
from the points of the compass recognised
in It's structure, from the direction in which
its tunnels run, from the rel alive position OF
the blocks that compose IL, scientists, Chris.
the being who planned this pyramid must
it's motion was rotary, and how many miles
it was In diameter and ctrcumfereuce, and
how many tons the world weighs, and knew
ut what point in the heavens certain starr
would appear at certain psriods IT time.
Not In the our thousand years since thu
putting up OF that pyramid has.a single fact
In astronomy or mathematics bean found to
NOht ehASb bho WAoASh4 - SA&
Yet they had not at the age when the
pyramid was started an astronmr or an ar
chitect or a mathematician wortd mention
ing. Who then planned the Pyramid Who
superintended its erection? Vino from its first
foundation stons to its capstone erected
everythi1g2 Thrust nave been God. Isaiah
was right when he said in my text, "a pill
lar snail be at the border Of the land OF
Egypt and it shall be. for a sien n q wit
ness" The pyramid is Gods first Bible
Hundreds. ii not thousands, Of years before
the first line Of tho Book Of Genesis waa
written, the lesson Of the pyramid was writ.
Well, of what is this Cyclopean masonry a
sign and a witness, Among other things
OF the p~rolongatton of human work com
pared with the brevity of human life. In
all the four thousand years this pyramid has
only lost eighteen feet In widtt: one side OF
its square at the base changed only from
seven hundred n sixty-four feet to seven
hundred and forty-six feet, and the most Of
that eighteen feet taken of by architects to
furnish stone for building In the city OF
Cairo. The men who constructed the pyra-
mid worked at 1t only q few years, and then
put down the trowel, and the compass and
the square, and lowered the derrick which
had lifted the ponderous weights: but forty
centuries has their work stood, and 1t will be
good Tor forty centuries more.
All Egypt has been shaken by terrible
earthquakes and cities have been FRUSTRATED
or swallowed, but that pyramid has deflsd all
voltanic ~paroxysms. 1t has looked upon
some OF tbs greatest battles ever fought
since the world stood. Where are the men
who constructed itf Their bodies gone to
dust and even the dust scattered. Even the
s~arcophagus in which the kings m
may have slept is empty.
SO men die but their work lives on. We
are all building pyramids not to last four
thousand years. but forty thousand, forty
million, forty t~rillion, forty Quadrillon,
forty quintillion. For q while we WELD the
trowei, or pound with the hammer, or meas
ure with the yard stick, Of write with the
pen, or experiment with the scientific bat
terry, or plan with the brain, and for . while
the foot walks, and the eye sees, and the ear
hears, and the tongue speaks. An the good
words or bad words we speak are spread out
into M layer for q pyramid. All the kind
deeds or malevolent deeds we do are spread
out into another layer. All the Christian or
n -Christian example we set is spread out In
another layer. Ali the indirect influences OF
our lives are spread out in another layer.
Then the time soon comes when we put
down the implement of toll n pass away,
but the pyramid stands.
The pyramid is a sign and q witness that
big tombstones are not the best way OF
keeping ones self a~ffectionatsly remem-
bered. This pyramid and the s~ixty-nine
other pyramids still standing were built for
limestone by which we stand to-day, tocover
the memory Of a dead king. 1t was the great
Westminster abbey of the ancients. Some
say that Gheops was the king who built this
pyramid, but it is uncertain. Who was
Cheops ahyhowS All that the world knows
about him could be told in a few sentences.
the only thing certain Is that he was bad,
- &L~A L oL.A 80 A. k-.-t~. - -v4rab3-
and hat he was hated so that the Egyptians
were glad when he was dead.
This pyramid Of rock seven hundred and
forty feet each side Of the square base and
four hundred and fifty fest higf wins for
him no respect. II q bone Of his arm or foot
had BEEN found in the sarcophagus beneath
the pyramid, it would have excited NO moro
veneration than the skeleton Of . camel
bleaching on the Libyan desertt yea, less
veneration, for when l saw the CARCASS Of
camel by the roadside on the way to Mem
phiA I said to myself, Poor thing, ! wonder
Of what it died.n We say nothing against
the marble or the bronze Of the metropolis.
Let all the sculpture and forescsnce and ar
borescence can do for the places Of the dead
be done IL means will allow it But II after
one is dead there is nothing left to remind
the world Of him but some pieces OF stona
there is but little left.
While there seems to be 10 practical use
for post mortem consideration later than the
time Of ones great-grandchildreu, yet no ons
wants to be forgotten IS soon - the obsequfes
are over. This pyramid, which Isaiah says
10 q sign anda Witness demonstrates thae
neither limestone nor red granite are SOM
bersd; neither can bronze netther can
Parian marble, neither can Aberdeen
granite do the work. But there h somsthing
of which to build an everlasting taon-
ument and that will keep one frsahly re-
wandered four thousand years-yea, for.
ever and ever. It does not stand IN marble
yards. It Is - to be purchased 1t mourn.
Ing stores. Yet it is to be found in every
neighborhood, plenty OF It, inexhsustibfs
quantities of 1t. 1t Is the greatest stuff In
the universe to build monuments out of.
refer to the memories of those to whom we
can do Q kindness, the memories OF those
whose struggles we may alleviate, the menu
cries of those whose souls we may save.
A minister passing along the street every
day looked up and smiled 10 a baby In the
window The father mi mother wondered
who it was that thus pleasantly greeted their
child. They found out that he was the pastor
of a church. They said, we must go and hear
him preach" They went and heard him and
both were converted to God. Will there be
any power in fifty million years to erase
from the souls Of those parents the memory
" ohat hhu VIM W mp Ahth1Ahico7 bAVuSut
them to Gods Matthew Cranswick, an
evangelist, said that he had the names OF two
hundred sonls saved through his singing the
hymn, '.Arise, my soul, ariseF' Will any OF
those two hundred soulsin all ~eternity forget
Matthew Cranswicke viii any OF the four
hundred and seventy mine women and chill
dren imprisoned at Lucknow. India, waiting
for massacre by the Sepoys, forget Havelock
and Outram and Sir David Beard, who broke
In and effected their rescue?
As in Egypt that December afternoon,
1889, exhausted in body, mind and soul, we
to return to Cairo, we took our last
look of the pyramid at Gizeh. And you
know there Is something in the air toward
evening that seems productive OF solemn and
tender emotion, and that great pyramid
heemed to be humanized and with lips OF
1t seemed to speak and cry out:
Hear me, man, mortal and immortaii
Ny voice Is the voice Of Col. He designed
me. Isaiah said i would be q sign anda
I saw Moses when he was a lad.
] witnessed the long procession Of the Is
raelites as they started to cross the Red Sea
and Pharaoh's host In pursuit OF them.
The falcons AMI the eagles OF many CEN
turtles have brushed my brow. l stool
here when Cleopatra's barge landed with her
sorceries and Hypatia for her virtues was
In yondsr streets. Alexan Ter the
Great, Seostrls and Ptoiemy admired my