The Forrest City times., 1891-10-23
GOSPEL OF PYRAMIDS.
DR. TALMAcE's DISCOURSE AT
 BROOKLYN TABERNACLE.
The Ffrss of series Of Sermons on Bis Eastern Tour-"ubat | Saw in Egypt and Greece Connrmatory ofthc ScrIpturess'.

&abernacle this morning Dr. Talmage's sermon was the first of a series he in- tended preaching on his eastern tour, entitled What l saw in Egypt and Greece confirmatory of the scriptures. !" His text was Isaiah l9: 10, go; "ln that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt and d pillar at the border thereof to the Lord. And it shall be for sign and for a witness"
 Isaiah no doubt nere refers to the great pyramid at Gizeh, the chief pyramid of Egypt. The text speaks of a pillar in Egypt, and this is the greatest pillar ever lifted; and the text says 1t is to be at the border Of the land, and this pyramid is at the border of the land; and the text says it shall be for witness, and the ob- izct of this sermon is to tell what this pyramid witnesses.
 We had, on a morning of December, 1889. landed in Africa Amid the bowling boatmen at Alexandria we had come ashore and taken the rail- train for Cairo, Egypt, along the banks of the most thoroughly har- messed river of all the world-the river Nile. We had, at even-tide, entered the city of Cairo, the city where Christ dwelt whi staying in Egypt during the Herodic persecution. It was our first night in Egypt
 But how can describe the thrill of expectation, for to-day we are to see what all the world has seen or wants to see-the pyramids. We are mounted for an hour and a halfs ride. Though there are sixty-nine pyramids still standing, the pyramid of Gizeh IS the monarch of pyramids.
 We stand under the shadow of a structure that shuts out all the earth and all the sky and we look up and strain our vision to appreciate the dis tant top, and are overwhelmed while we cry ''The pyramid. The pyramidl' Four thousand years old at least
 had started chat morning with tine determination of ascending the pyra- mid. One of my chief objects in going to Egypt was not only to see the base of that granite wonder, but to stand on the top of it. Yet the nearer came to this eternity in stone the more my determination was sh ken. Its altitude to me was simply appalling. A great height has always been to me a most disagreeable sensation. As we dismounted at the base of the pyra- mid l said, ''0thers may go up it, but not l. l will satisfy myself with view from the base. The ascent of it would be to me a foolhardy undertaking But after had given up all idea of ascend ing, found my daughter was de- termined to go, and could not let her go with strangers, and l changed my mind and we started with guides. It cannot be done without these helpers. Two or three times foolhardy men have attempted it alone, but their bodies came tumbling down unrecog- nizable and lifeless. Each person in our party had two or three guides or helpers. One of them unrolled his tur- ban and tied it around my waist and he held the other end of the tur- ban as a matter of safety. Many of the blocks of stone are four or five feet high and beyond any ordinary human stride unless assisted. But, two Arabs to pull aud two Arabs to push, found myself rapidly ascend ing from height to height, and on, to attitudes terrific, and at last at the tip top we found ourselves on level space of about thirty feet square. Through clearest atmosphere we looked off upon tine desert, and off 1pon the winding Nile, and off upon the Sphinx with its features of ever lasting stone, and wonder upon the minarets of Cairo glittering in the sun, and wonder upon Memphis in ruins, and off upon the wreck of empires and the battle-tields of ages, radius of view enough to fill the mind and shock the nerves and overwheim ones entire being.
 After looking around for awhile, and a kodaclS had pictured the group, we descended. The descent was more trying than the ascent, for climbing you need not see the depths beneath, but coming down it was impossible not to see the abvsms below. But two Arabs ahead to help us down, and two Arabs to hold us back, we were low cred hand below hand, until the ground was invitingly near, and amid the jargon of the Arabs we were safe ly landed. Then came one of the most wonderful feats of daring and agility One of the Arabs solicited dollar, saying he would run up and down the pyramids in seven minutes We would rather have given him a dollar not to go but this ascent and descent in seven minutes he was determined on and so by the watch in seven minutes he went to the top and was back again at the base.
 What an antiquity 1t was at least 2,000 years old when the baby Christ was carried within sight of it by his fugitive parents. Joseph and Mary. The storms of forty centuries have drenched. bombarded it, shadowed it. flashed upon it, but there it stands ready to take another forty centuries Of atmospheric attack if the world should continue to exist. The oldest buildings of the earth are juniors to this great senIor of the centuries Herodotus says that for ten years pre- parations were being made for the building of this pyramid. It has s2, Ill, ,0O0 cubic feet of masonry. One hundred thousand workmen at one time tolled in Its erection. To bring the stone from the quarrIes a cause way 60 feet wide was built. The top stones were lifted by machinery such as the world knows nothing of to-day It is TAG fe t each side of the base. The structure is 450 feet high, higher thdh tiic CdNhSutato VI NoloSHCs otrdS- burg, Rouen, St. Peters, and St. Paups. No surprise to me that it was put at the head of the seven wonders of the world.
 wonder not that thls mountain of limestone and red granite has been the fascination of scholars, of scientists, of intelligent Christians in all ages.
 We'll, of what is this Cyclopean ma sorry 8 sign aud witness? Among other things: of the prolongation of human work compared with the brevity of human life In aIi the i mo vears