St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1891-12-12
7 Deuteronomy which SAYS of the Israelites


watere,lst it with thy foot" Then | under.
stood how tho land could be waterei with
the loot. How do yOIl suppose l telt when
on the deck OF that steamer on the Nile
looked off upon the canals AMI bitches and
s1uices through which the fields are irri-
gated by that river, and then read IN isaiah,
''The burden of E.ypt-the river shall be
wasted and dried up and they shall turn tie
rivers far away and the brooks OF defense
shall be elnptiel and dried uD; and they
shall be lroten i'll the purposes thereof, all
that maze sauces AMI ponts Tor 1iSh.'
While sailing on this river or stopping at
one OF the villages, we se1 people on the
banss who verify the Bible description, TOR
they are now as they were in Bible times.
Shoes are nOw taken OF in reverence t.
sacred places. Children cartel astri lie the
mothers shoulder as in Hagar's time. Wo-
| men with prOfuslOn OF JeW2iry as when isa
bpcca was t}tiianced. Lents shelei into the
pottage as when Esau sold his blrthright to
get sucn q dish. The same habits Of sa!ut1-
lion as when Joseph AMI his brethren fell on
| each others necks. Courts OF law held I'M
| 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 staining on the banks AS in
Scripture days are tiamingoes, ospreys,
| eagles, pelicans, herons, cu'GOos and bull
| finches. On all Sides OF this river sepuicnerS.
| Villages OF sepucherS. Cities Of Sepulc1er5.
Nations Of se2u,cher5. And one is tempted
to call it an empire Of tombs. l never saw
such place as Egypt is for graves. And
now we understand the complaining sarcasm
Of the IsraeliteS when they were on tIe way
from Egypt to Canaan, "Becausa there are
no graves in Egypt hast thou taken us away
to die in the wilderness" Down the river
! bank come the buffalo and the cattle Of kline
to drink. And it was.the ancestors OF these
cattle that inspired Pharoah's dream Of tue
lean kline and the fat kline.
| Here we disembariz little while for
Memphis, off the Nile to therignt Memphis
founded by the first king OF Egypt AMI foc Il
long time the capital. 4 city Of marble AMI
gold. Home of the Pharaohs City OF MAE
teen miles in circumference. Vast colon
| nadeS through which imposing professions
marchel Here stood the Temple Of TIE
| Sun. itself in brilliancy sun shone on by
another sun. Thebes in power over Il tlou-
sand and hundred years, or nearly ten times
as long as the United States have existed.
Here is g recu1,bent statue seventy-ive feet
long. Bronzed gateways. A metropolis
caliel ''the haven of the best" Hero
Joseph was prime minister. Here Pharaoh
received jacob. All possible splen lor5 vera
built up into this royal city. Hosea, Eza!siei,
Jeremiah and Isaiah speak OF it as some-
thing wonderful.
Never did visit a city with such exatel
antlclpatlons, and never did my auticipa-
tons drop SO fat. Not pillar stands. Not
wall is unbrOken Not foundation losses
in the sun. Even the ruins have been ruined
and all that remains are chips OF MARBLE
small pieces Of fractured sculpture and sDIin-
tered human bones. Here and there letter
OF some elaborate inscription, a t0e or ear
of a statue that once stood in niche of palace
wall. Ezekiel prophesie its blottng out,
and the prophecy has been fulfilled. ''Riie
n TO n1r,.T
me-" And as l stood there alone the city Of
Memphis in the glory Of past centuries re-
turnei. And heard the rush OF her cnarI-
OTIS, aud the dash of her fountains and tho
couvlvialty Of her palaces, and saw the
drunken MOBILES roll on the floors Of mosaic
while in startlin, contrast amid all the ra-
gatlties of the place [ saw Pharaoh look up
into the face OF aged rustic JacoI, the s!lep-
herd, saying, How old art thou?'
But back to the Nile and on and up till you
reach ThebeS, in Scri pture called the City of
No. Hundred gated ThebeS A quadrau-
gular city four miles from limit to limit
-Four great temples, two Of them Karnac
and Luxor, once mountains OF exquisite
sculpture and gorgeous dreams solidifie1 in
stone. Statue Of Rameses II, eight hundred
and eghty-seven tons in weight and seyen-
ty-hve Ieet high, but now fallen and scat
tered. Walls abloom with the battiefells Of
centuries.
The surrounding hills of rock followed
into sepulchers on the wall Of which are
chiseled in picture and hieroglyphics the
confirmation Of Bible story in rerari to the
treatment OF the Israelites in Egypt so that,
as explorations go on with tle worS, the
walls OF these sapulchars become conn
mentarles of the Bible, the Scriptures
originally written upon parchment here cut
into everlasting stone. Thebes mighty and
dominant five hundred years. Then she went
down in tulfillment of Ezakiels prophecy
concerning the City Of No which was another
name for Thebes: II will execute Judgment
in No. will cut off the multilules Of No"
Jeremiah also propheSie1, Thus saith the
Lord, will punish the multitules Of No"
This city OF Thebes and ali the other dead
cities Of Egypt iterate and reiterate the
veraclty of the Scriptures. telling the same
story which Moses and the prophets told.
Have you noticed how God kept back these
archaeological confirmations OF the Bible I'M
til our time, when the air is full of unbelief
about the truthfulness Of the dear Old booze
He waited until the printing press had been
set up In its perfected shape, and the subma-
rine cable was laid, and the world was in
telllgent enough to appreciate The testimony.
and then He resurrected the dead cities of
the earth, and commanded them. saying:
open your long sealed lips and speak!
Memphis and Thebes is the Bioe trua:'
"Truen responds Memphis and ThebeS.
Babylon, is the Book of Daniel true? |
"Irue" responds Babylon. "Ruins of Pal
estine and Syria, is the New Testament |
tIue:' "Truem respond the ruins all the |
way from Joppa to the Dead Sea and from |
Jerusalem to Damascus.
What meroe that this testimony of the |
dead cities should come at a time when the |
Bible is especially aSsailed. And this work |
will go on until the veracitv OF the Scrip |
lures will be as certain to all sensible men |
and women as that two and two makes four,
as that an lsosceles triangle is one which has
two of its sides equal, as that the diameter
Of circle is a line drawn through the centre
and Terminated by the circumference as
certain as any mathematical demonstration
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 hall as fiat
in the dust as we found Memphis on the after
noon of that Thanksgiving day. And if the
cities go down, the nation will go down.
Oh" you say, ''that is impossible; we have
stood SO long-yea, over hundred Years as
a nation" Why, what OF that? Thebas
stood five hundred years. Memphis stood
thousand years. God does not forget. One
cay with the Lord is as thousand years and
a Thousand years as one day.
Rum and debauchery and bad politics are
more rapidly working the destruction OF our
American cities that sin of any kind and all
kinds worked for the destruction of the cities
OF Africa, once SO mighty and now SO pros
trate. But their gods were idols, and could
DO nothing except for debasement. Our
God made the heavens AMI sent His Son to
redeem the nations. And our cities will not
90 down, and our nations will not perish be-
cause the gospel is going to trium ph. For
ward! all schools and cDiieraS and churcresI |
Forward! all reforn1atory and missionary
Forward! all the influences
narshalel to bless the world. Let our mod
ern European and American cities listen to
the voice OF those ancient cities resurrected,
and by hammer and chisel and crowbar be