The Forrest City times., 1891-10-30
SAILING UP THE NILE,
pR. TALMAoE BREACHES 4 GREAT DESCRIPTIVE SERMON
How the History of the World "e peats ItseIf--A Chapter Taken From the DIvine's Travels Thanksgiving Day. 1889.

i ist, held the vast cOnHregatioh SpSN
 bound with profound emotion. Dr. Talmage preached on Sailing op vhe Nile," the second sermon of the series entitled "From the Pyramids of the Acropolis, or What Saw in Egypt ana Greece Confrmatory of the Scriptures
 His text was Ezekiel 29:9; "Ihe rNer is mine and have made it.
 Aha! This is the river Me. A brown, or yellow, or silver cora ,l on which are hung more jewels oi thrill- ing interest than on any river that was ever twisted in the sunshine. It TIP pies through the Book of Ezekiei' ana flashes in the Books of Deuteronomy, and Isaiah, and Iechariah, ana Va hum. and on its banks stood the mighties of many ages. 1t was the crystal cradle of Moses, and on US banks Mary, the refugee, carried the infant Jesus. To find the oirth- place of this river was the fascination and defeat of expeditions without num- { Der. Not many years ago, bayaro Taylor, our great American traVeier; wrote: "Since Colum bus first looked upon San Salvador, the earth has put one emotion of triumph left for ner bestowal, and that she reserves Tor him who shall first drink from the fountain of the White Nile under the snow fields of Kilimanjaro. But the discovery of the sources of the Nlle py most people was considered an mn possibility. The maiarias, the Wild beasts, the savages, the uncllmaoie steeps the vast distances, stopped all the expeditions for ages. An inteill- rent native said to Sir Samuel ". Baker and wife as they were on thelr way to accomplish that in which others had failed: "Give up the mad scheme of the Nile source. How would it be possible for lady young and delicate to endure what would kill the strongest man? Give 1t up.
 But the work went on until Spoke, and Grant, and Baker found the two lakes which are the source of what was called the White Nile. and bap- tised these two lakes with the names of Victoria and Albert. These two lakes, filled by great rainfalls and by accumulated snows from the noun tains, pour their waters, laden with agricultural wealth such as blesses no o .her river. on down over the cataracts, on between frowning mountains, on between cities living and cities dead, on for four thousand miles and through a continent. But the White Nile would do little for Egypt if this were all. 1t would keep its banks ana Egypt would remain 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 the middle Of June rises to great momentum, and this Blue Nile dashes with sudden influx into the White Nile, which in consequence rises thirty feet. and their com bined waters inundate Egypt with rich soil that drops on all the fields and gardens as it is con ducted by ditches, and sluices, and can als every whither, The greatest damage that ever came to Egypt came by the drying up of the river Nile, ard the greatest blessing by its healthful and abundant flow. The famine in Joseph's time came from the lack of sufficient inundation from the Nile. Not enough Nile is drouth, too much Nile is freshet and plague. The rivers of the earth are the mothers of its prosperity If by some convulsion of nature the Mississippi should be taken from North America, or the Amazon from South America, or the Danube from Europe, or the Yenesei from Asia-what hemis- pheric calamity! Still There are other rivers that could fertilize and save these countries Our own continent is gulched, is ribboned, is glorified by innumerable water courses. But Egypt has only one great river, and that is harnessed to draw all the prosperities of realms in acreage semi-infnite. What happens tO the Nile, happens to Egypt. The nilo- meter was to me very suggestive as we went up and down it's 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 criers every morning run through the city announcing how many feet the river has risen-ten feet, fifteen feet, twenty feet, twenty-four feet-aud when the right height of water is reached the gates of the canals are flung open and the liquid and refresh ing benediction is pronounced on all the land.
 As we start where the Nile empties into the Mediterranean sea we be- hold a wonderful fulfllment of the prophecy. The Nile in very ancient times used to have even mouths. As the great river approached the sea it entered the sea at the seven different places. Isaian prophesied: "The Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea and shall smite it in the seven streams" The fact is they are all destroyed but two and Ilerodotus said these two remaining are artificial.
 This ride along the Nile is one of the most solemn and impressive rides of all my lifetime, and our emotions deepen as the curtains of the night Il upon all surroundings. But we shall not be satisfied until we can take d ship and pass right out upon these wondrous waters and between the banks crowded with the story of empires.
 According 10 the lead pencil mark in my bible it was Thanksgiving day morning, November ss, lss9 that with my family and friends we stepped aboard the steamer on the Nile The Mohammedan call to prayers had been sounded by the priests of that religion, the MuezZins, from the four hundred mosques of Cairo as the cry went out: God Is great. l bear wit ness that there is no God but tod. I bear witness that Mohammed is the apostle of God. Come to prayers. ( ome to salvation. God is great There is no other but God Prayers are better than sleep The sky and city and palm groves and river shipping were bathed in the light It was not much of a craft that we boarded. It would not be hailed on any of our rivers with any rapture of admiration. It fortunately had but little speed, for