Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1891-11-13

the interest the religious public is taxi
ing in the series of sermons DIR. Tai
mage is preaching on what he saw,
contirmatory of the Scriptures, during
his tour from the Pyramids 10 the
Acropolis. This mornings sermon,
the fourth of the series, was on the
islands of the Greek archipelago The
Doctor took two texts: Acts 2l:3,
"When we had discovered Cyprus we
left it on the left hand, " and Revela-
tion 10, Il, John, was IN the isle
that is called Patmos."
Good by Egypt! Although interest
ing and instructive beyond any country
in the world, excepting the Holy Land,
Egypt was to me somewhat depressing.
It was post-mortem examination OF
great cities that died 1900 years ago.
The mummies or wrapped up bodies
of the dead, were prepared with refer
ence to the Resurrection day, the
Egyptians departing this life wanting
their bodies TO be kept in as good con-
dition as possible so that they would
be presenta BILE when they were called
again to occupy them.
This sermon finds us on the steamer
Minerva in the Grecian archipelago,
the islands of the new testament, and
islands Paulinian and Johannian in
their Renaissance. What Bradshaw's
directory is to travellers in Europe,
and what the railroad guide is to
travellers in America, the book OF the
Acts in the bible is to voyagers in the
Grecian. or as / shall call il, the Cos
pei archipelago. The bible geography
of that region is accurate with
out a shadow of mistake. We are
sailing this morning on the same
waters that Paul sailed but in the OPP
posite direction to that which Paul voy-
aged. He was sailing southwark and
we northward. With HIM it was
Ephesus, Coos, Rhodes, Cyprus With
us it is reversed and it is: Cyprus,
Rhodes, Coos, Epnesus. There is no
book in the world so accurate as the
divine book Ny text says that Paul
left Cyprus on the left; we, going in
the opposite direction, have it on the
right. On our ship Minerva were only
two or three passengers beside our
party, so we had plenty Of room to
walk the deck and oh, what n
night was Christmas night of lss9 in
that Grec!an hipelago-islands of
light above, islands of beauty be-
meath! 1t is royal family of islands,
this Grecian archipelago: the crown of
the worlds scenery set with sapphire
and emerald and topaz and chryso-
prasus and ablaze with a glory that
seems let down out OF celestial land
scapes God evidently made no his
mind that just here he would demon
strate the utmost that can be done
with islands for the Identification of
earthly scenery.
The steamer had stopped during the
night and in the morning the ship was
as quiet as this floor, when we FASTENED
up to the deck and found that we had
anchored off the Island of Cyprus In
a boat, which the natives rowed stand
ing up as is the custom, instead of Sit
ting down as when we row, we were
soon landed on the streets where Paul
and Barnabas walked and preached.
Yea, when at Antioch Paul and Barna-
bus got into tight-as ministers some
times did. and some times do, for they
all have imperfections enough to
anchor them to this world till their
work is done, | say-when because of
that bitter controversy Paul and Bar
nabas parted Barnabas came back
here to Cyprus, which was his brit h
place. Island wonderful for history
1t has been the prize sometimes won
by Persia, by Greece, by Egypt, by the
Saracens, by the Crusaders. and last of
all, not by sword but by pen. and that
the pen of the keenest diplomatist of
the century, Lord Beaconsfeld, who.
under lease which was as good as
purchase, set Cyprus among the
jewels of Victoria crown. We went
out into the excavations from which
Di Cesnola has enriched our American
museums with antiquities and with no
better weapon than our foot we stirred
up the ground deep enough TO get a
tear bottle in which some mourner
shed his tears thousands of years ago
and lamp viii h before Christ was
born lighted the feet of some poor pill
grim on his way. That island of
Cyprus has enough TO set an antigua
rian wild. The most OF its glory is
the glory OF the past, and the typhoid
fevers that sweep its coast and
the clouds of locusts that often blacken
its skies, though 500, 900 were ex.
pended by the British empire in one
year for the extirpation of these nox-
ious insects, yet failing to do the
work. and the frequent change Of
governmental masters, binders pros
perity. But when the islands of the
sea come to God, Cyprus will come
with them, and the agricultural and
commercial opulence which adorned
it in ages last will be eclipsed by the
agricultural and commercial and re-
ligious triumphs of the ages TO come.
Why is the world so stupid that it
cannot see that nations are prospered
In temporal things in proportion as
they are prospered in religious things?
The Christian religion triumphant, all
other interests triumphant The Chris
tian religion tow down, all other inter-
ests low down. So / thought as on
the evening of that day we stepped
from tho filthy streets of Larnaca,
Cyprus, on TO the boat that took us
back to the steamer Minerva which
had already begun TO paw the waves
like courser impatient 10 be gone,
| and then we moved on and up among
the islands of this Gospel Archipelago.
Night came down on land and sea
and the voyage became TO me more and
more suggestive and solemn. If you
are pacing IL alone, a ships deck in
the darkness and at sea is weird
place, and an active imagination may
80 ni 4.