Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1891-11-06

| ukAouLA huu Nub jumped INTO tut
water and on their shoulders pushed her out
But what yacht of gayest sportsman, wha
deck OF swifteSt ocean queen could give suct
thrill OF rapture a sail on the Nile? Tn,
pyramids in sight, the remains Of cities that
are now only a name the villa Ees thronge
with population. Both banks crowded with
historical deeds Of forty or sixty centuries
oh, what book the Bible is wnen read on
the Nilel
| As we slowly move up the ma jestic river
| see on each bank the wheels, the pumps. the
buckets for irrigation, AMI sea man with
his foot on tho treadle OF A wheel that fetche
up the water for a garden, and then for the
first time l understand that passage in
deuteronomy which says Of the Israentes
after they had got back from Egypt, "rhe
land whittier thou goest in to possess It is not
as the land OF Egypt from whence We came
out where thou sowedst thy seei and
wateredst it with thy foot" Then under
| stood how the land could bs watered with
the foot How do you suppose felt when
| on the deck OF that steamer on the Nile |
| looked off upon the canals ami bitches and
| suices through which the fields ara irri-
! gated by that river, and then read in Isaiah,
| The burden Of ESypt--the river shall be
| wasted and dried up, and they shall turn the
| rivers far away and the brooks of defense
shall be emptied and dried up: and they
| shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all
! that make s,uices and pom Is for fish,
While sailing on this river or stopping Mt
one OF the villages, We SEE people on the
/ banks who verify the Bible description, for
| they are now as they were in Bible times.
! Shoes are now taken of in reverence 10
| sacred places. Cai!drsn clrriat astriie the
mothers shoulder as in Hagar's time. Wo.
men with profusion Of iewe,ry as when Re
becca was aftiancei. Lentls shelled into the
! pottage, as when Esau sold his birthright to
| get such dish. The same habits of saluta-
| ton as when Joseph and his brethren fell on
| each others necks. Courts of law held un-
! der big trees as in olden times. People max
| ing bricks without straw, compelled by
| circumstances to use stubble instead OF
| straw.
Flying over or standing on the banks as in
Scripture days are famingoes, ospreys
| eagles pelicans, herons, cuckoos and bull
tiuches- On ali sides OF this river sepuchers
| Villages of sepulchers. Cities OF sepulc1ers.
| Nations OF sepulohers. And one Is tempted
10 call II an empire OF tombs. never saw
such place as Egypt is for graves. And
| now we understand tn" con- claiming sarcasm
OF the Israelites when they were on the way
! from Egypt to Canaan, Because there ara
| no graves in Egypt hast thou taken us away
! to die III the wilderness" Down the river
| bank come the buffalo and the cattle of kline
| 10 drink And 1t was the ancestors of these
! cattle that inspired Pharoah's dream of the
lean kine and the tat kline.
Here We disc enbark little while for
! Memphis, Off the Nile to the right Memphis
! founded BY the first king OF Egypt and for a
! long time the capital. A city Of marble and
| gold. Home OF the PhsraohS City of nine
! teen miles IN circumference. Vast colon
! nade' through winch imposing professions
marched. Here stood the Temple OF the
l,,..l I,,
| another sun. TheJes Ill power over a thou
and aud hun1re years OF nearly ten times
! As long as the Unltel States have existed.
here Is a recum0aut s-aiue seventy-hve feet
| long. Bronzsd gateways. A metropolis
| calle1 ''the haven OF the blest." Here
| Joseph was prime minister. Here Pharaoh
received Jacob. All possible spleudors were
built up into this royal city. Hosea, Ezekiel,
jeremiah ami Isaiah speak Of it as some
thin! wonderful.
Never did visit city with such exalted
anticipations, au1 never did my anticipa-
tious drop 50 Hat. Not pillar Stands. Not
II wall is unbroken. Not foundation tosses
| III the sun. Even the ruins have been ruined
aud all that remains are chips of marble.
small pieces os fractured sculpture and splin-
tersi human bones Here an1 there a letter
of some elaborate inscription, a toe or ear
/ OF statue that once stood ln niche OF palace
wall Ezeiel prophesiei its blotting out
aud the prophecy has been fulfilled. "Ride
on said to our party, "and don't wait for
| me- And ns | stood there alone the city of
| Memphis in the glory of past centuries re-
turne e. And heard the rush OF her chari-
OTIS, and the dasn of her fountains and the
conviviality Of her palaces, and saw the
drunken mobiles roll Oh the floors Of mosaic,
while IN startling contrast amid all the re-
galities of the place | saw Pharaoh look up
into the face OF aged rustic Jacob, the shep-
herd, saying "How old art thouF'
But back to the Nile and on and up till you
reach ThebeS in Scripture called the City OF
No. Hundred gated Thebes. A quadran-
guar city four miles from limit 10 limit
Four great temples, two of them karnac
and Luxor, once mountains OF exquisite
sculpture and gorgeous dreams soliditiei in
stone. Statue of Rameses III, eight hundred
and eighty tons in weight and seven
tv-ivc feet high, but now fallen and scat
tered. Walls abloom with the battletieids oil
centuries.
The surrounding hills of rock hollowei
into sepulchers ou the wall of which arr
chiselei in picture and hieroglyphics the
confirmation of Bible story i'll regard to thu
treatment OF the lsraelltes in Egypt so that
as explorations go on with tne work, tn,
walls OF these sepulchers become com
mentarIes OF the Bible the Scripture
originally written upon parchment here cu
into everlasting stone. Thebes mighty an,
dominant five hundred years. Then she wen
down in fulhllment OF Ezakieps prophecy
conc arning the City OF NO, which was auothe
name for Thebes: 'I will execute judgmen
in No | will cut of the multiludes of No
;, Jeremiah also prophesiei, Thus saith thu
l Lord | will punish the multitules OF No"
], This ci. ~ 1hehss and ali the Other Gea
l cities OF Egypt iterate and reiterate tn
: yeracity of the Scriptures, telling the slm
: story which Moses and the prophets told
! Have you noticed how Gol kept back thes
' archaeological Combinations OF the Bible un
. til our time, when the air is full of unbeie
about the truthfulness of the dear old book
de waited until tho printing press mad bee
set up in its perfected shape, an the submH
rne cable was laid, and the world was II
= telligent enough TO appreciate the testimony
I and then He resurrectai the dead cities o
the earth, ami commanded them, saying
"Open your long sealed lips aud speaE
! Memphis and Theoes IS the Bible truei
, "True" responds Memphis and Thebe
!. Babylon, is tho Book of Daniel true
"rruep responds Babylon. ruins of Pa
/ estine and Syria, is the New Testamer
tIuen "Truep respond the ruins all I'll
= way from Joppa to the Dead SEA and frol
/ Jerusalem to Damascus.
, What mercy that this testimony of Il
dead cities should come at a time when Il
{ Bible is especially assailed. And this VOL
q will 20 on until the eracity OF tho Scri
n lures will be as certain to ell sensible me
\ and women as that two and two makes fou
a as that an Isosceles triangle is one which h
: two of its sides equal, as that the diamet
a of circle is a liue drawn through the cent
and terminated by the circumference,
/ certain as any mathematical demonstrate
a Those ancient cities lacked nothing b
= good morals Dissipation and sin slew ther
l. and unless dissipation and sin are halle
a they will some day slay our modern citi
:, and leave our palaces OF merchandise a
- our galleries of art and our CITY hall as 4
. in the dust as we found mphis on the af u
- noon of that Thanksgiving day. And If I
, cities go down, the nation will go dow
!, "Oh,n you say. "that is impossible; we ha
y stood so long-yea, over hundred years