Milford chronicle., 1891-10-30

Here we disembark little while fol
Memphis, of from the Nile to the right
Memphis foEnded by the first king Of
Egypt aud for a long while the capital. A
Lefty Of marble and gold. Home OF the
Pharaohs City nineteen miles in circum
ference. Vast colonnndes through which
imposing professions marched. Here stood
the Temple Of the Snn, itself IN brilliancy
a sun shOne ON by another sun. Thebes in
power over Thousand one hundred years
or nearly ten times as long as the United
I States have existed Here is recumbent
statue seveuty-Gve feet long. Brouzed
gateways. A metropolis called "the haven
OF the blest" Here Joseph was prime
minister. Here Pharaoh received Jacob.
| Ali possible splendors were built up into
this royal city. Hosea, Ezekiel, jeremiah
aud Isaiah speak OF it as something Won
| derful
Never did visit city with such exalted
anticipatious, and never did my anticpa-
I tions drop 30 fat. Not "A pillar stands.
| Not wall is unbroken Not a fountain
tOSses in the sun. Even the ruins have
been ruined and all that remains are chips
Of marble, small pieces Of fracta'ed sculp-
/ ture and splintered human bones. Here
/ and there Il letter OF some elaborate in.
scription, a toe or esW OF a statue that Oncs
/ stood in niche Of palace wall Ezekiel
! prophesied its blOttiug out, and the proph-
/ ecy has been fulfilled. "Ride on" | said
/ to our party, "and don't wait for me. {"
1 And as l stood there alone the city Of Mem
/ phis in the glory Of past centuries returned.
] And heard the rush OF her chariots, and
7 the dash of her fountains, and the conviv-
/ iality of her palaces and saw the drunken
/ mobiles roll on the floors Of mosaic, while
/ in startling contrast amid all the regalities
! of the place ! saw Pharaoh look up into
the face of aged rustic Jacob, the shepherd,
! saying, "How old art thou"
THEBEs
But back to the Nile and on and up till
you reach Thebes, in Scripture called the
/ City of No. Hundred gated Thebes. A
I 0uadrangular city four miles from limit to
! limit Four great temples, two of them
karnaca and Luxor, once mountains OF eX
| quisite sculpture and gorgeous dreams
solidihed in stone. Statue Of Rameses II,
eight hundred and eightyse tons in
weight and seventy-fve feet high, but now
fallen and scattered. Walls abloom with
the battlefelds 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 regard TO
the treatment Of the Israelites ia Egypt so
that, as explorations 60 on with the work,
the walls of these sepulchers become com
mentaries 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 fulfillment of Ezekiel's
prophecy concerning the City OF No, which
was another name for Thehes; Il will eX
ecute Judgment in No. ! will cut off the
multitudes of No jeremiah also prOph-
esied, "Thus saith the Lord, viii punish
the multitudes Of No"
This city of Thebes and all the other
dead cities of Egypt iterate and reiterate
the veracity Of the Scriptures, telling
the same story which Moses and the
prophets told. Have you noticed how God
kept back these archaeological confrma-
tions of the Bible until our time, when the
air is full of unbelief about the truthful
ness of the dear old boOkg He waited un-
til the printing press had been set up in its
perfected shape, and the submarine cable
WIS laid and the world was intelligent
enough to appreciate the testimony, and
then he resurrected the dead cities Of the
earth, and commands them, saying: open
your long sealed lips and speak, Memphis
and Thebes, is the Bible true?" ''Fruer
respond Memphis and Ihehes, Babylon,
is the Book Of Daniel truey" "True" re-
sponds Babylon. "Ruins of Palestine and
Syria, is the New Testament trues"
"Irue" respond the ruins all the way from
Joppa to the Dead sea and from Jerusalem
to Damascus.
What Il mercy that this testimony Of the
dead cities should come at time when the
Bible is especially assailed And this work
will 60 on until the veracity of the Scrip
lures will be as certain to all sensible men
and women as that two and two make
four. As that an isosceles triangle is one
which has two of its sides equal, rs that
the diameter of a circle is n line drawn
through the center and terminated by the
circumference, as certain as any mathe-
matical demonstration.
Never did feel more encouraged than
when, after preaching a sermon on evil
dences Of the truth of the Bible drawn
from oriental lands, distinguished sena-
tor of the United States, known and hon
ored everywhere, but now deceased, came
up to the platform and said, 81 was
brought up in the faith Of Christianity,
but got specializing on all these subjects,
and had given up my faith in the Bible,
but those facts and arguments arch9oiog-
ical take me back to my old faith in the
Bible which my father and mother taught
me-" The tears rolling down his cheeks
evinee the depth of his emotion. When
read of the senator's death l WIS eomforted
to think that perhaps ] may have helped
him little in the struggle Of bis life, and
perhaps given him an easier pillow on
which to die.
THE BIBLE IS THE GREATEST BOOK.
Etr~taf aud fanpftfsfa
diplomatized and almost came to battle
for one book, copy of AEschylus." Ptol-
emy, the Egyptian king, discovered that
in the great library at Alexandria there
was no copy Of "Atschylus." The Egyptian
king sent up to Athens, Greece, to borrow
the book aud make a copy Of it. Athens
demanded deposit of seventeen thousand
seven hundred dollars us security. The
Egyptian king received the book, but re-
fused to return that which be had Dor
rowed, and so forfeited the seventeen thou
sand seven hundred dollars.
The two nations rose in contention con
corning that one book Beautiful and
mighty book, indeed But it is book Of !
hnrroru, the dominant idea that we are the
victims of hereditary Influences from which
llere is no escape, and that fate rules the
world, aud although the author does tell
of Prometheus, who was crucihed on the
rocks for sympathy for mankind, power
full suggestion Of the sacrifice Of Christ IN
later years, it is very poor book com
tared with that book which we hug 10 our
hearts, because it contains our only guide
IN life, our only comfort in death, md our
only hope for a blissful immortality. If
two nations could afford to struggle for
one COPY OF " ".1schylus," how much more
cnn all nations afford 10 struggle for the
possession and triumph of the Holy Scrip
Mresf
But the dead cities strung along the Nile
not only demolish inhdelity, but thunder
down tile absnrdity of the modern doctrine
Of evolution which says the world started
with nothing and then rose, aud human
nature began with nothing but evolved
into splendid manhood and womanhood Of
itself. Nay, the sculpture Of the world I,
was more wonderful in the days Of Mem !
phis and Thebes and Carthage than in the
days Of Boston and New York. Those
t.f-..4-- ..t,ra. r..ni.rffrtfr three hnuf1ep0