Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1891-11-04
THE RIVER NILE.
a Stream That Was Ever Twistod
In Gods Sunshine.


TAimass. ID. ID
Dr. TAimags last Sunday preached
on Sailing Up the Nile" the second
sermon of the scries, entitled. From
the Pyramids to the Acropolis. or What
Saw in Egypt and Greece Confirma-
tory OF the Scriptures" His text was
Ezekiel. XXX o: THE River Ii Mine
and Have Madc 1t"
Anal This Is the river Nile. A brown.
or yellow. or silver cord on which arc
hung moro jewels OF thrilling interest
than on any river that ever twisted In
the sunshine. II ripples through the
Book of Ezekiel, and flashes In the
Books OF Deuteronomy. and Isaiah.
and Zachariah. and Nahum. and ON it's
banks stood tho mightics OF many
ayes IL was the crystal cradle of
Moses and on its banks Mary. tho ref
ugec. carried the infant Jesus To find
the birthplace of this river was the fas-
cination and defeat of expeditions with.
out number Not many years ago Bay
ard Taylor our great American traveller,
wrote; "Sincc Columbus first looked
upon San Salvador. the earth has but
one emotion of triumph left for her dis.
posal, and that she reserves for him
who shall first drink from the fount-
aims of the White Milo under the snow
fields of Kilimanjaro" But the dis.
covery OF the sources OF the Nile by
most people was considered an impossi.
biiity. The malarias, the wild beasts.
the savages, the unclim bable stccps.
the vast distances stopped all the ex.
petitions for ages An intelligent ma.
tive said to Sir Samuel w. Baker and
wife rs they were on their way 10 accom-
plish that In which others had failed:
"Givc up the mad scheme OF the Nile
source. How would IL be possible for a
lady young and delicate to endure whit
would kill the strongest man. Give Il
M but the work went on until
Spoke and Grant and Baker found the
TWO lakes which are tho source of what
was called the White Nile and ban.
tized these two lakes with the names
OF Victoria and Albert. These two
lakes, filled by great rain fails and by
accumulated SHOWS from the mount.
aims, pour their waters laden with
agricultural wealth such as blcsses no
other river, on down over the cataracts
on between frowning mountains, on
between cities living and cities dead.
on for 4, 900 miles and through cont.
nent
But the White Nile would do little for
Egypt IL this were all IL would keep
Its banks and Egypt would remain a
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 tho mid
die OF June rises To great momentum,
and this Blue Nile, which dashes with
sudden influx into tho White Nile,
which In consequence rises thirty feet
and their combined waters inundate
Egypt with rich soil which drops on
all the fields and gardens ms IL Is con-
Quoted by bitches and sluiccs and canals
every-whithcr. The greatest damage
thatevcr came TO Egypt came by the dry
ing up OF the River Nile. and the greatest
blessing by its hoalthful and abundant
How The famine In Joscph's time
came from the lack of sufficient mum
dation from the Nile. Not enough N'le
Is drought Too much Nile is freshet
and plague.
| The rivers OF the earth are the mothers
OF its prosperity. II by some CONFUSION
OF nature the Mississippi should be taxi
en- from North America, or the Anna
zon from South America, or the Danube
from Europe, or the Yenesei from Asia
what hemisphere calamity still
there are other rivers that could fer.
tilize and save these countries Our
own continent is gulched. is ribboned,
Is glorifed by innumerable water.
courses But Egypt has only one great
i n a
oil the properties of realms and acre.
age semi-infnitc. What happens 10 the
Nile. happens TO Egypt The nilome-
ter was 10 me very suggestive ms we
went up and down its damp stone steps
and saw the pillar marked with notches
telling just how high or low are the
waters OF the Nile.
When the Nile Is rising four cricrs
every morning run through the city an
nouncinR how many feet the river has
risen-ten feet, fifteen feet, twenty feet.
twenty-four feet-and when the right
height OF water Is reached the gates OF
the canals are flung open and the liquid
and refreshing benediction Is pro
bounced on all the land.
AS we start where the Nile ernpties
into the Mediterranean sea we behold
a wonderful fulfllment OF prophecy
The Nile in very ancient times used 10
have seven mouths. As the great river
approached the sea IL entered the sea
Mt seven different places Isaiah proph-
esied: ''The Lord shall utterly destroy
the tongue of the Egyptian sea and
shall smite IL in the seven streams"
The fact Is they are nll destroyed but
two. and Herodotus said these two re-
naming are artificial. Up the Nile we
shall go; part Of the way by Egyptian
rail train. and then by boat and then we
shall understand why the Bible gives
such prominence 10 this river which
Is the largest river Of all the earth with
one exception. But before we board
the train we must take look AZ Alex.
andria. 10 was founded by Alexander
the Great and was once the New York.
the Paris the London OF the world
Temples, palaces, fountains. gardens,
pilliared and efiiorescent with all archi
tectural and Edenic grandeur and
sweetness Apollos. the eloquent,
whom in New Testament times some
people tried TO make rival 20 Paul.
lived here. Here Mark. the author Of
the second book Of the New Testament.
expired under Nrro's apafhoraa- Prom