He saw a human face and a mighty figure
towering before him in gigantic proportions. Yes, it was a human
countenance! From out those eyes, which seemed to compass a whole
world within their deep hollows, the grandeur and sublimity of the
human mind appeared to speak to him. What majestic thought was
reflected in that massive forehead? The eloquent mouth seemed to
announce the grand mystery of the universe. The whole mighty
countenance seemed to contain a heaven of sublime peace, and to be
radiant with a happiness unknown to the human breast on earth, for
man has suffered and suffers. Doubt, anxiety, care, and misery, have
sojourned in every mortal breast; but this countenance, that towers
like a mountain in its divine majesty, knows nothing of human doubt
and suffering. Its face is radiant with divine, eternal
tranquillity--with the peace of the universe.
"How grand, how sublime!" murmured Mohammed, gazing fixedly at the
colossal image that has for thousands of years looked on man, and
smiled on him from out the depths of its unfathomable eyes. The
sphinx has looked calmly down upon generation after generation, upon
men of every faith and religion, and has seen them pass away.
Heathens have become Christians, Jews, Mohammedans, and the latter
in their turn have become converted to other faiths, and change upon
change has taken place. The sphinx has looked down upon all this!
itself divine, unchangeable in the midst of all that has passed and
passes away.
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