MR DENTON'S LECTURES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4341, 23 March 1882, Page 4

MR DENTON'S LECTURES.

Ancient Egypt. Mr W. Denton lectured last night at 'the Oddfellows' Hall, which was; fairly filled, on " Ancient Egypt ; its History, its Monuments, and its Religion." Before commencing his lecture' he said that ho had been asked if Adam waa a pre-historio man. If by Adam wbb meant the, first man, he would say then of necessity Adam must have been a pre-historic man. Coming to the subject of bis lecture — Egypt-woB a country where it almost never rained, but portions of which were moßt fertile, through the mud carried down by its single river, the Nile. Egypt, as the crow flies, is about 450 miles long, but along the devious -course of the Nile it measured about 600 miles. The delta of the Kile equalled one-third of the whole country. At one time the inhabitants of Egypt numbered 7,000,000. Here'the arts and ; sciences first flourished, and here now rose ; the grandest monuments in existence. Geologists told us that in the cretaceous era Egypt was covered with water, but during the latter part of that era there appeared to 'have been a gradual rise of the .and. The lecturer described the geological features of the. country, and the wild animals that inhabited it before it became the residence of men. Probably it was first occupied by men immigrating from the West, in the stone age. j The lecturer, in eloquent terms, described the gradual steps by which the people arrived at the resolution to transmit to future ages their history by means of the solid pyramids. The first King of Egypt was believed to have o-eigned about 6000 years ago. The lecturer gavo a rapid sketch of the history of the numerous dynasties. The three great pjramida belonged to the fourth. dynasty. Tho largest of these covered 13 aores, and was 480 feet high. It waß built of immense blocks of granite brought from a distanco of at least .500 miles. It wbb supposed that 100,000 men had been employed for sixtysix years in building thia structure. The capital of the country was called Memphie. Papyrus books of tho Fifth Dynasty, by far the oldest books with which the world was acquainted, could still be road in the museums of Paris and other cities. The lecturer read extracts from theie books, pointing out thoir similarity to passages in the Bible. Reverting to the Great Pyramid, it had often been asked what had caused its erection. It would take the whole night merely to .enumerate the variouß theories raised in answer to this question. It had been supposed that the pyramids had been raised as barriers against the sand, that they had been intended to save people from another general delugo, that they had been built by Joseph as granaries, that they had been halls for Freemasons to meet in ! Piazzi Smith's notions were moro ridiculous still. He had supposed tho measures in the various portions of the pyramids to have been Divine revelations. The people who believed this were those who believed that the English were the descendants of the Lost Tribes, and who were more lost than the tribes themselves. (Laughter.) There were more than a hundred pyramids of various sizes (one 400 feet high) in each of which were found either mummies or coffins, showing that tbe structuree were intended for tombs. The Egyptians boUeved that in 3000 years tleir bodies would be xe- animated, and thoy therefore

enbalmod their wealthy dead, and filled tho i bodies of their poor with asphalt. The I lecturer described the means taken to secure j the bodies of the kings from being disturbed in the interior of the pyramids. The Persians,. however, had broken in to some of the pyramids, and had rifled the coffins of their contents. Tho desire for immortality was as strong within the breast of the 'Egyptian as in that of tho modern Christian. They were a truly religious nation. It was folly to suppose that they worshipped beetles, crocodiles, kc— tbey wero not so stupid — but they possessed a religious sentiment, the offspring of humanity at a certain stage of its development. (Applause.) Their morality was by no means to be despised. The lecturer quoted from Egyptian records to show the nature of their moral code. Their ideas of the Deity indicated a groat advance in religion. They believed in oneall-poworful God, and they prepared during their whole life for the great " after death " they were to meet. What was known of tho history of Egypt showed the gro_t antiquity of man.; it showed that religion was not the production of any men or of any body of men; it showed the necessity for ÜBing •judgment in matters of religion ; and it showed how strong was the desire for immortality.in tho human heart. Tho lecturer, in an eloquent peroration, spoke of the desirability of an intimate alliance between religion and science, aud was loudly applauded as ho •retired.

Tho illustrations of tho lecture wore of the uoual excellence.

To-night Mr Denton lectures on "The Races of Mankind."