Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1891-10-30

after the pyramid was built. 1t must have
been put there before the structure was
reared. Probably in that sarcophagus once
lay wooden coffin containing dead king.
but time has destroyed the cofnn ana de-
stroyed the last vestige of human remains.
For three thousand years this sepuichral
room was unopened and would have been
until to-day probably unopened had not
superstitious impression got abroad that the
heart of the pyramid was flied with silver
and gold and diamonds, and under Al
Mamoun an excavating party went 70 WORK,
and having bored and blasted through hun
dred feet of rock, they found no opening
ahead, and were about to give up the at
tempt when the workmen heard a stone roll
down into seemingly hollow place, and en-
couraged by that they resumed their work
and came into the undergrou nd rooms.
The disappointment of the workmea in
finding the sarcophagus empty Of all silver
and gold and precious stones was so great
that they would have asSassinated AL Ma
noun, who employed them, had he not hid
In another partof the pyramid much sill
yer and gold as would pay them for their
work at ordinary rates OF wages AMI in
duced them Ghere TO dig till they to their
surprise came upon adequate compensation.
wonder not that this mountain of lime
stone and red granite has been the fascina-
ton Of scholars, of scientists, OF intelligent
Christians in all ages Sir John Herschel,
the astronomer, said he thought it had as
Economical significance. The wise men who
accompanied Napoleon's army into Egypt
went into profound study of the pyramid.
In 1855 Professor Smyth and his wife lived
in the empty tombs near by the pyramid
that they might be as continuously as pos
sible close to the pyramid which they were
investigating. The pyramid, built more
than four thousand years ago, being a COM
pie geometrical figure, wise men have con-
cluded 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 worlds start,
and God must have directed it.
All astronomers, geometricians and scien-
fists say that it was scientifically and mathe-
matically constructed before science and
mathematics were born. From the inscrip-
lions on the pyramid, from it's proportions,
from the points of the compass recognized
in its structure from the direction in which
its tunnels run, from the rel ative position OF
the blocks that compose it, scientists, CHRIS
tians and infidels have demonstrated that
the being who planned this pyramid must
have known the worlds sph ericitY, and that
its motion was rotary, and how many miles
it was in diameter and circumference, and
how many tons the world weighs, and knew
at what point in the heavens certain stars
would appear at certain periods OF time.
Not in the four thousand years since the
putting up of that pyramid has single fact
in astronomy or mathematics been found 70
contradict the wisdom OF that structure,
Yet they had not at the age when the
pyramid was started an astronmer or an ar
chitect or mathematician worth mention
ing. Who then planned the pyramid? Who
superintended its erection? Who from its first
foundation stone to its capstone erected
everything? Unjust have been God. Isaiah
was right when ne said In my text, "A Pill
lar shall be at the border of the land OF
Egypt and it shall be for sign and wit
ness" The pyramid is Gods first Bible.
Hundreds. If not thousands, of years before
the first line of the Book of Genesis was
written, the lesson of the pyramid was writ
ten.
Well, of what is this Cyclopean masonry a
sign and witness? Among other things
of the prolOngatiOn 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 width; one side of
its square at the base changed only from
seven hundred and SiXty-four feet to seven
hundred and fOrty-six feet and the most of
that eighteen feet taken off by architects to
furnish stone for building in the city of
Cairo. The men who constructed the pyra-
mid worked at it only few years, and then
put down the trowe and the compass, and
the square, and lowered the derrick which
had lifted the ponderous weights; but forty
centuries has their work stool, end it will be
good for forty centuries more
All Egypt has been shaken by terrible
earthquakes and cities have been Frustrated
or swallowed, but that pyramid has defied all
volcanic paroxysmS. 1t has looked upon
some of the greatest battles ever fought
since the world stood. Where are the men
who constructed it? Their bodies gone to
dust and even the dust scattered. Even the
sarcophagus in which the kings mummy
may have slept is empty.
So men die but their work lives on. We
are all building pyramids not to last four
he, h,1f
million, forty trillion forty quadrillon,
forty auintillion. For while we WELD the
trowel or pound with the hammer, or meas
ure with the yard stick, 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. All the good
words or bad words we speak are spread out
into one layer for a pyramid. All the kind
deeds or malevolent deeds we do are spread
out into another layer. All the Christian or
un-Christian example we set is spread out in
another layer. All 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 and pass away,
but the pyramid stands.
The pyramid is sign and a witness that
big tombstones are not the best way of
keeping ones self affectionately remem-
bered. This pyramid and the si1ty-nine
other pyramids still standing were built for
sepulchers, all this great pile of granite and
limestone by which we stand to-day, to cover
the memory of dead king. 1t was the great
Westminster abbey of the ancients. Some
say that Cheops was the king who built this
pyramid, but it is uncertain Who was
Cheops anyhow? All that the world knows
about him could be told in a few sentences
the only thing certain is that he was bad,
and that he shut up the temples OF worship,
and that he was hated so that the Egyptians
rloS who ho dead