The broad ax. [volume], September 14, 1895, Page 4, Image 4

About The broad ax. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1895-19??

Image provided by: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL

                
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THE BROAD AX.
THE OLDEST B66k IN THE
WORLD.
IT IS NOT THE BIBLE, AS MANY MAT
THINK, ACCORDING TO A WRITER.
Baltimore American'. J. H. Mitch-
nier, in Knowledge for June, gives
an interesting account of the old
est book in the world. Many will
suppose that' the" Bible is meant,
bat the most orthodox hare never
claitaed" that the earlier books of
th'elBible were written prior to the
exodus from Egypt, while the
"Papyrus Prisse" was written at
least 1,500 years before Moses was
born, and many years before the
occurrence of the Noachian deluge.
The book was discovered by a
Frenchman named Prisse at Thebes,
and presented at the Bibliotheque
Nationale in Paris. It was taken
from a tomb in which was found
the mummy of one of the Entews
of the eleventh, or first Theban,
dynasty, which would prove that
the manuscript was written at least
prior to 2,500 B. C; but the book
itself furnishes internal evidence of
of the date of its composition, and
contains extracts from a work that
was much older. It was compiled
by the Prefect Ptah-hotep during
the reign of King Assa. This po
tentate was the last but one of the
fifth dynasty, so that the book
must have been written about 3,350
images which were intended by
the religion as types of certain of
Uods attributes worshiped as
gods. Moses, who was really a
Prince in Egypt so far as his social
standing went, was educated by the
priests, and, of course, well under
stood the monotheistic character of
the Egyptian religion; but he saw
that the masses of the people had
so prostituted their religion that he
was anxious to get the Hebrews as
far away from .their pernicious
example as possible. But it is rea
sonable to suppose' that in the age
of Ptah-hotep, the writer of this
book, nearly 2,000 years before
Moses was born, there had been no
such perversion of their religion by
the Egyptians as disgusted the
great lawgiver of the Israelites.
This book, it must be borne in
mind, was not an isolated example
of culture and scholarship. It was
the perfectly natural outcome of a
civilization which was scarcely in
ferior to that of a century ago, and
which could boast of magnificent
libraries, "a people highly instruct
ed in all the arts of Deace. a state
carefully organized, a hierarchy
firmly founded, minutely divid
ed and organized, even to the
smallest external matters, a univer
sally diffused system of writing and
the common use of papyrus in
short, a civilization which in all es
sential points has already attained
B. C, or considerably more than j its full maturity, and only by close
Politicians!
Of all kinds can find at
Z. C. M. I.
The best Assortment of
General Merchandise
And at Prices to suit the Times.
GENTS CLOTHING and GENERAL FURNISHING,
LADIES' DRESS GOODS, NOTIONS,
WRAPS, HATS, and FOOTWEAR,
GROCERIES, First-Class, in Immense Variety,
Staple or Fancy.
You cannot go wrong, and a little
money goes a long way now.
J. G WEBBER, Sapt.
5,000 years ago.
The precepts of Ptah-hotep,
which give the title to the book,
are preceded by passages from an
earlier work written by Kakimna,
Prefect to King Seneferu, of the
the third dynasty, which ruled be
fore the Pyramids were built, about
3760 B. C, which would make it if
in existence now 5,650 years old,
antedating, according to the old
chronologists, and as some still be
lieve, the creation of Adam in the
Garden of Eden, or at least his fall,
from grace. The book is written
in Hieratic and has been translated
into French by M. Virey and into
English by Prof. Osgood. Its main
value is not as a literary curiosity,
but for the insight it gives into the
education and culture which had
been reached by man at that early
period in the history of the human
' race. Its writer, Ptah-hotep, was
a Prefect a place of great dignity
and responsibility under the an
cient Egyptian Kings. It was
second only to that of the king
the same office which was held by
Joseph, the son of Jacob, during
the latter portion of his career, as
told in the Bible. The Prefect was
a sort of Pooh-Bah, or Treasurer,
Secretary of State, and Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court roll
ed into one, so that what is said in
the book must be accepted as au
thoratatrre, so far as it goes.
The book upsets some theories
concerning the origin of a number
of philosophic reflections for they
are found here, divested of all rub
bish, several thousands of years be
fore the advent of the Greeks, who
were thought to have originated
them. Its whole tone is lofty, not
relatively but actually, and would
be creditable to a moral writer in
the nineteenth century. It deals
with individual conduct and the
government of the State. Persons
hbldfng public positions are urged
"to labor at all times to be true
gentlemen, lest from their own de
fects of character they suffer the
authority given them by favor of
the Supreme Being to be weaken
ed." Numerous allusions are made
to the Supreme Being, and they are
always in the singular number,
proving, what ha3 been claimed by
archaeologists, that the religion of
the Egyptians was moaotheistic,and
that only among the ignorant
classes were birds and beasts and
investigation is further development
in some directions discovered.
And all this was many hundreds of
years before Abram, under the
guidance of the Lord, became an
exile from his country and settled
in the plain of Mamre.
The editor of the Broad Ax and
family were attendants at the Uni
tarian Church on last Sunday a
m. There was a very large con
gregation present, the music and
singing were excellent. The Rev.
A. L. Hudson, the new Pastor, is
an eloquent speaker and a very
affable gentleman to meet, and we
take great pleasure in commending
him to our many readers. Services
Sunday a. m. at 11 o'clock, 44
Mam Street. Subject: "The Soul's
Judgment against itself."
SOME STORES.
DON'T WANT CLOSE
THE VERY CLOSEST.
BUYERS. WE ONLY WANT
WE HAVE BUT ONE PRICE
AND THAT THE LOWEST.
Owing to courtesy extended by
the Salt Lake Herald, we are en
abled to present our man) readers
with a portrait of the Hon. Thomas
Maloney, candidate for Justice of
the Supreme Court.
The ensuing city election will be
one of unusual interest and import
ance. Tne metropolis or the new
state must keep pace with the times,
and we need an honest, progressive
and judicious man at the head of
municipal affairs. The Democrats
have plenty of first class material
from which to select a mayor.
First the true and well tried R. N".
Baskin; then we have such noble
men as Heber J. Grant, Frank
Armstrong, F. "W. Jennings, "W. B.
Preston and others, all of whom
would reflect credit to our city to
place at the head of our city government.
Men's Suits.
Good Working Suits in light and dark colors, $3.00, 84.50,
$5.00, $6.00.
Business Suits, round and square cuts, $7.00, $7.50, $8.00,
$10.0(1
Nobby Suits in all colors, shades and cuts, $11.00,812.00,
$14 00, $16.00.
Fine Dress Suits in sacks and frocks, $15.00, $17.00, $18.00,
$20.00.
Boys' Suits.
Good Boys' Ss . nts, $3.00, $3.50, $4.00, $4.E0.
Boys' School Suits, Ion? pants, $5.00, $&0O, $6.50.
Boys' All Wool Suits, long pants, $7.50, $9.U0, $lo 00.
Salt Lake Cleaning Company,
PAUL SMITH Proprietor.
Clothes Cleaned and Pressed at
85 cents per month. "Pants Pressed
25 cents. Pants Dyed $1. Ladies'
clothes Cleaned and Dyed in all
its branches. Repairing neatly
done. New clothes made for old
ones. 279 South Main Street,
under St. Elmo.
Children's Suits.
Good Every-Dav Suits, $1.00, $1.50, $2.00.
Good School Suits, all shades, $i.50, $3.00, $3.50, $4.00.
Fine Sunday Suits, any color, $4.50, $5.00, $6.00, $6.50.
We have a lirge line of the Stanley Suits, with extra pants
and capfor $3.50, $4.50, $5.00, $6.00, $6.50.
Our line of Novelty Suits are without exception the finest
ever shown in Salt Lake City. They run from 3 to 7 years, and
in price from $2.25 to $6.00. ,
J. P. GARDNER;
I
i
136-13S 7VIHIN STREET.
WJ