The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1895-09-18
MOSES AND HIS TIMES.
The Advanced State of Egyptian Culture
in Moses Day.

The Advanced State of Egyptian Culture
in Moses Day.
The following Is a synopsis of the SER
mon preached by the Rev. Liddell Sun
day evening at the Presbyterian church,
Egypt stands out on the page of an
cient history as pre-eminently the first
nation of the world in education ana
culture and military prowess. And as
we carefully mark the successive steps
of her history, so far as that history
is to be known, we may distinctly note
the footprints OF Jehovah. regulating ali
her energies and directing all her forces
up to that prominence and power. We
are tod that Egypt was settled by the
immediate descendants of the antediu-
vians, whose long lives extended, in
most cases over three or four Centuries,
enabling them to plan, and give them am
pie time to execute great works, the
very sight of which is the wonder OF
the world, and which verify discourages
their short lived posterlty Their long
evity also enabled them to Increase and
multiply at a rate far exceeding that OF
modern generations. Yet notwithstand-
ing, there was always an abundance of
food, for all these multitudes, produced
by the fertile soil of the valley of the
by the natural overflow of that great
river every year. Thus, very often, when
all the rest of The world was scorched
with drought and the inhabitants were
suffering from famine, there was always
an abundance of corn in Egypt. When
the starved savages of Europe were
hunting the wild oxen with their flint
hatchets and arrow heads, and were
glad to shelter themselves from win
ter's frosts and SHOWS in the caves OF
the mountains, the Egyptians had their
granaries well filled with wheat and bar
ley and corn, to feed their families and
all the cattle within their borders.
History also records that they had
among them wise men who were able to
instruct the rising generations regular
ly in all the arts and sciences, and that
such instruction was given in the pal
aces and in the various temples ana
public places OF instruction throughout
the country. In the days of Abraham
we find them working in iron, "copper"
and tin as well as in gold and silver.
On their monuments you may look up
on pictures showing the glass-blowers
at their work, and this too, centuries be-
for the alleged accidental discovery OF
glass by the Phoenician sailors who kin
died a fire of dried sea weed on the
sands of the seashore and as 1t died
down found the alkali and sand had
fused together into glass. Then again
we find that the dead kings, princes and
princesses at burial were wrapped in
shrouds of canlbric or fine linen, so
fine that in one specimen to be seen in
the Berlin museum, there are no less
than 270 pairs of threads to the square
inch 10 threads of woof Such produc-
- tln htrrh
perfection of cloth. Then again we are
told that the masons' marks which are
to be seen on the great pyramids, those
wonders of the world, are nothing less
than alphlhetic writing, the first, so
far as 1 can ascertain, to be found
anywhere. And the papyrus reed which
today still grows on the banks of the
river Nile, furnished the word with its
paper and which was used by the Egyp
tians long before the time OF Moses.
Papyri of the age of Joseph and one
as old as Abraham, amply show to the
world that there lived a people, long
before the advent of Moses, who We're
thoroughly cultivated; writers of poetry,
and prose, history and Biography, phil
os1phy, law and theology. But to take
a step further, the records of the an
cent civilization of Egypt are not con-
fined to the perishable papyri, for she
has written her records, besides I'LL
these, on the face Of her imperisnable |
granite with the pen of iron, and these
stand out before the world for scrutiny |
Then If we turn and look at her archi- |
lecture, we see another enduring monu- |
ment of Egyptian civilization. Centuries |
belfors the introduction Of the arch into !
Greece, it was used in Egypt in her |
buildings, the cIumb.ing remains of |
which stiu exist. Huge obelisks carved /
lout of single stones, one of which |
stands one hundred and twenty-seven |
feet in height. proclaim very high skill |
in both working and handling stone. Or. |
take the great pyramid covering twelve |
acres and a half. built of immense blocks |
of stone, many of them Weighing one |
hundred tons each rising to an elevation |
of $50 feet. These exhibit a speciment OF |
architectural skill far beyond all that |
has been attempted by any of either the |
medieval or modern appliances of hy- |
drauiics. We speak of the marvellous |
power of our modern appliances of hy- |
draulics, but in those ancient monuments |
we have an exhibition of scientific and |
mechanical skill, which has so far baf-
fed the world.
Still again we have left to us Won
derfu' legacy of art which indicates a
wel.-defned culture in painting, and also
in sculpture 1t would seem as If this
description of art had become a great
passion among the Egyptians. The walls
of their palaces, their temples their
dwellings, their tombs. were covered
with paintings and sculptures of various
kinds TO such an extent was this the
case that it is scarcely possible TO find
a parallel anywhere In all the world.
A al,., hae tha nj, ]
Of the traveller ana explorer for CEN
turies and supplied the museums and
public squares, parks and public libra
rles of both the old world and the new,
with mummies and ido,s and obelisks
and slabs. Egypt today still possesses
more sculptures than all the rest of the
world put together. The modern trav-
eler tells us, that her very mountains
are honeycombsd with caves and tombs
whose pictured walls proclaim to the
word that the greatest of all tributaries
10 the great stream of civilization. OF
both Europe and Asia took its rise in
Ancient Egypt: BY all her arts ana
sciences, her public as well as private
given to the favored Of her
people, Egypt was, long before the birth
,f Moses, the great University of the
world. Cadmus wentsto Egypt to learn
his A, b. c. Herodotus weat to Egypt
10 learn history. Euclid went 20 Egypt
10 learn geometry. and the twelve books
which he complied in Alexandra remain
bur seOllege text books to the present
iayu
50 history presents ancient Egypt. as
i was In the time Of Moses. Thus when
we read that Noses was learned In ali
The wisdom OF the Egyptians. We cannot
but conclude that he was cultivated and
very proficient IN all branches OF educa-
lion and science; that he was pre-emi-
nentiy man OF wisicm, and by his con-
neetion with the court ot Pharaoh. a ]