Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1891-10-23


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 aga when the
pyramid was started au astronmsr or an ar
chitect or mathematician worth msntion.
ing. Who then planned the Pyramid Who
superintendent its erectioni Who from its first
foundation stone to its capstone erected
everything Unjust have besn God. Isaiah
was right when he 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 Cyclopsan masonry a
sign and witness, Among other thing
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 sxty-four feet to seven
hundred and forty-six feet, and the most of
tn ut eighteen feet taken off By architects 10
furnish stone for building in thu city of
Cairo. The men who constructed the pyra-
mid worked at 1t only few years, AM then
put down the trowel, AMI the compass and
the square, and lowered the derrick which
had lifted the ponderOus weights: but forty
centuries has their WORK stoo T. end it will b.
good for forty centuries more.
All Egypt has been shaken by terrible
earthquakes and cities have been Frustrated
or swallowed, but that pyramid has defei all
volcanic paroxysms. II 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
thousand years, but forty thousand forty
million, forty trillion, forty quadrllon,
forty quintillion. For while we WELD the
trowel, or pound with the hammer, or meas.
ure with the yard stick, or 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, an | the tongue speaks All the good
words or bad words we speak are spread out
into one layer for pyramid. All the kind
deeds or nalevolent 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 ami pass away,
but the pyramid stands
The pyramid is sign AMI witness that
big tombstOnes are not the best way Of
keeping ones self affectonately remem-
bered This pyramid AMI the sixty-nine
other pyramids still standing were built for
sepulchers all this great pile of granite and
limestone by which we stand TO- lay TO cover
fi,arr
Westminster abbey Of the ancients Some
say that Cheop' was the king who built this
pyramid but il is uncertain. Who was
Cheops anyhow: All that the world knows
about him could be told in few sentences.
the only thing certain is that he was bad.
aud that he shut up the temples OF worship.
and that he was hated so that the Egyptians
were glad when he was dead
This pyramid of rock seven aired and
forty feet each side Of the square base aud
four hundred and fifty feet high wins for
him no respect. Ii "A bone OF his arm or foot
had been found in the sarcophagu' beneath
the pyramid. it would have excited no more
veneration than the skeleton Of clmel
bleaching on the Libyan desert yea less
generation, for wnel | saw the carc1ss ol
camel bv tn roadside on the way 10 Mem
phis. said to myself. Poor thing. | wonder
Of what it died. We say nothing against
the marble or the bronze Of the metropolis.
Let all the sculpture aud horescence and ar
borescencs can do for the places Of the deal
he done. il means will allow it, But If after
one is dead there is nothing left to remnt
the world of him but some pieces OF stona,
there is but little left
While there seems {, b. no practical use
for post norton consideration later than ths
time Of ones great-grandcll no ono
wants to BE- forgotten as soon A. tae 0o' 9qile'
are over. This pyramid. wnich lsalln siYs
is a sign auda witness. demonstrate t1a,
Meth II limsstons nor r.l granite are coal
petent to keep one aifectionateiy rems:n-
bere5: neither can bronx; neither can
Paran marble. neither can Abr Ieea
granite do tue WORK But there is 50 netlin;
out OF watch g. bIild an 81 sriastils mon
umeut AMI that will keen on freshly r.
msmoereI rour thou'au years yea, for.
ever and ever II does not stand in marble
yaris 1t is not u b, purchased at mourn
ing stores Yet it is to be found in every
neighborhool. plenty Ok it, inexhsustiDls
quantities. Of it. II is tn greatest stuff in
the universe TO bull molunslt, oIt o..
refer TO ths mem)rie, OF those to whom We
can do kindness. the memories OF thoss
whose strugg es We may alleviate. the IN em
cries o. those wlOse souls We may save.
A minister passing along ths street every
day looked 10 an sm'lal to a baby i'm the
window The father and mother wondere
who it was that thus pleasantly greete their
child. They found out that he was the pastor
OF a caurch. They said. We must 20 aud hear
him preach They went an hearI him AMI
both were converted TO Col VIII there bs
any power in fifty million years to erase
from the souls OF those parents the memory
Of that man who By his friendliness brought
= u 4 it,
evangelist, said that he had the names OF two
hundred souls saved through his singing the
hymn, Arise, my sou, arise" Will any OF
those two hundred souls in all eternity forge
Matthew CranswicS, Will any Of the four
hundred and seventy-nine women and emil
dren imprisoned at Lucknow, India, waiting
for massacre by the Sepoys, forget hayeloc1
and Outram and Sir David Bearl, who broke
in AMI effected their rescue
AS in Egypt that Decembo; afternoon,
1897 exhausted in bo1y. mind and SOUL wa
mounted to return 10 Cairo. We to Ok our last
look OF the pyramid at Gizsh. And You
know there is something in the air toward
evening that seams productive OF solemn au1
tender emotion, and tl1t great pyramid
seemed TO be hu nanizel an1 with lips o.
stone it SCENE 70 speak AMI cry out:
Hear me, man, mortal anl i'm Mortal,
My voice is the voice Of Col He designel
me. Isaiah said | would b, sign and a
witness. | saw Moses when he was a lad.
witnessed the long procession OF the Is
raelites a. they startel to cross the Red Sen
and Pharaoh's host in pursuit Of them
The falcons an tbs eagles OK many cen
turtles have brushed my brow. | stool
here when Cleopatras barge laudel with her
sorceries, and Hypatia for her virtues was
slain in yonder streets. Alexan Ter the
Great, Seostris and Ptoemy admired my
Herodotls au1 Pliny sounded
my praise. am old l am very old. For
thousands Of years have watched the conf
ing and going of generations. They tarry
only little while. but they make everlast-
ing impression. bear on my side the mark
OF the trowel and chisel OF those who moro
than four thousan years ago expired. Be
ware what you do, on, man. for what you
do will last long after yoI are dead.
II you would b. atfectionately re-
membered after you are gone, trust
not to any earthly commemoration.
have not one word 10 say about
any astronomer who stu lied the heavens
from my heights, or any king WHIP was sep
ulchered in my bosom. lam slowly passing
away. ANA dying pyramid. | shall yet
lie down in the dust of the plain, and the
sands of the DIES mt shall cover me, or when
the earth goes | will go. But Won are I'M
mortal. The feet with which you climbed
my sides to-day will turn 10 dust, but you
-