The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1891-10-21
THE PYRAMID OF GIzEH.
First Of a Series Of Sermons by
Rev. 7. Dewitt Talmage,
On "what I Saw in Egypt and Greece
Confrmatory OF the scriptures"-He
Discusses the Religious signiH-
cameo Of the Chief Pyramid
of Egypt.

DR.. Talmage's sermon last Sunday
was the first of series he intends
preaching on his Eastern tour, entitled,
''From the Pyramids to the Acropolis,
on What ] Saw in Egypt and Greece
Confrmatory Of the Scriptures" His
text was Isaiah x. 1920: I'm that day
ahan there be an altar to the Lord In
the midst of the land Of Egypt and
pillar at the border thereof to the Lord.
And IL shall be for sign and for
Witness"
Isaiah no doubt here refers to the
great pyramid of Gizeh, the chief pyra
mid Of Egypt The text speaks OF
pillar in Egypt, and this is the great
est pillar ever lifted; and the text says
tits 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 q
witness, and the object Of this sermon
is to tell what this pyramid witnesses
The sermon is the first of course oi
sermons entitled: From the Pyramids
to the Acropolis, or what / saw in Egypt
and Greece coufrmatory Of the Scrip
lures"
We had on morning of December,
1889, landed in Africa. Amid the howl.
ing boatmen at Alexandria we had
come ashore and taken the rail train for
Cairo, Egypt, along the banks Of the
most thoroughly harnessed river Of all
the world-the river Nile. We had, AT
eventide, entered the city of Cairo, The
city where Christ dwelt while staying in
Egypt during the Herodic persecution.
II was our first night in Egypt No de.
stroying angel sweeping through as
once, but all the stars were out and the
skies were filed with angels Of beauty
and angels of light. and the air was
balmy as an American June. The next
morning we were early awake and al
the window, looking upon palm trees in
full glory Of LEAKAGE, and upon gardens
Of fruits and flowers at the very season
when our homes far away are canopied
by black skies and the last leaf OF the
forest has gone down in the equinoc-
tials.
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 n halfs ride. We pass
on amid bazars stuffed with rugs and
carpets, and curious fabrics of all sorts
from Smyrna, from Algiers, from Per-
sia, from Turkey, and through streets
where we meet people OF all colors and
all garbs, carts loaded with garden
productions, priests in gowns, women in
black veils, Bedouins in long and SEEM
ingly superhuous apparel, Jannissaries
in jacket of embroidered gold-out and
on toward the great Pyramid;for though
there are sixty-nine pyramids still stand
. ing, the pyramid at Gizeh is the monarch
Of pyramids We meet camels grunt-
ing under their load, and see buffaloes
on either side, browsing in pasture
fields The road we travel is for part
of the way under clumps Of acacia, and
by long rows Of sycamore and tamarisk,
but after awhile II is path of rock and
sand, and we find we have reached the
margin Of the desert, the great Sahara
Desert, and we cry out to the dragoman
as we see huge pile Of rock looming in
sight: "Dragoman, what Is that2" his
answer is "The Pyramid" and then Il
seemed as II we were living in CEN
tury every minute. Our thoughts and
emotions were too rapid and intense for
utterance, and we ride on in silence
until we come TO the foot of the pyra-
mid spoken OF in the text, the Oldest
structure in all the earth, four thousand
years old at least Here 1t is. We stand
under the shadow of structure that
shuts out all the earth and all the sky
and we look up and strain our vision "a
appreciate the distant top, and are over
whelmed while we cry, "The Pyramid
The PyramidP
had started tAst morning with the
determination of ascending the Pyra
mid. One OF nv chief objects in going
10 Epypt was not only TO see the base
OF that granite wonder. but 10 stand or
the top Of Il. Yet the nearer came e
this eternity In stone the more NV dc
termination was shaken. It's altitude
TO me was simply appalling. A Rreat
height has always been TO me a mos,
disagreeable sensation. Az we dis
mounted Mt the base of the Pyrafnid
said: aothers nav 20 up Il but not /
I will satisfy myself with a view from
the base. The ascent of Il would be e
me a foolhardy undertaking. Bu-
after I had piyen up all idea Of ascend