The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1891-11-25
SCRIPTURES CONFIRMED.
Egypt and the Nile Abandoned for
Other Chimes.
The Waters Over which st. Paul Sailed
Sermon by Rev. T, Dewitt Talmage, DID.

DR.. Talma,.e took two texts: Acts
xxi, 8, "Wllen we had discovered
Cyprus we left it on the left hand;" and.
Revelation, /, O. II, John, y was
in the isle that is called Patmos."
Good-by Egypt! Although interest
ing and instructive beyond any country
in the world, except the Holy Land,
Egypt was to me somewhat depressing.
1t was post-mortem examination OF
cities that died 1000 years ago. The
mummies, or wrapped-up bodies OF the
dead, were prepared with reference to
the resurrection day, the Egyptians
departing this life wanting their bodies
to be kept in as good condition as posi-
BILE so that they would be presentable
when they were called again to occupy
them. But if when Pharoah comes to
resurrection he finds his body looking
as l saw his mummy in the museum at
Boulac his soul will become an unwill-
ing tenant.
The Sphinx also was to me a stern
monstrosity, a statue carved out OF rock
of red granite, sixty two feet high and
bbout 143 feet long, and having the head
of man and the body of lion. We sat
down in the sand of the African desert
to study it. With cold smile it has
looked down upon thousands OF years
of earthly history-Egyptian civiliza'
ton, Grecian civilization, Roman civili-
cation; upon the rise and fall OF thrones
innumera BILE; the victory and defeat OF
the armies of centuries. 1t took 5000
years to make one wrinkle on it's red
cheek. 1t is dreadful in its stolidity.
Its eyes have never wcpt tear Its
cold ears have not listened tothe groans
of the Egyptian nation, the burden OF
which I tried to weigh last Sabbath.
Its heart is stone. 1t cared not for
Pliny when he measured it in the first
century. 1t will care nothing for the
man who looks into its impertur bable
countenance in the last century.
But Egypt will yet come up to the
glow of life. The Bible promises it.
The missionaries like my friend, good
and great DR.. Lansing, are sounding
a resurrection trumpet above those
slain empires. There will be some
other Joseph at Memphis. There will
be some other Moses on the Nile. There
will be some other Hypatia to teach
good morals to- the degraded. Instead
of destroying angel to- Stay the
frst-born of Egypt, the angel OF the
New Testament will shake everlasting
life from his wings over a nation born
in day. When, soon after my arrival
in Egypt, I took part in the solemn and
tender obsequies of missionary from
our own land, dying there far away
from the sepulchers of her fathers, and
saw around her the duslly and weeping
congregation of those whom she had
come to save. l said to myself: "Here
is self-sacrifce of the noblest type.
Here is heroism immortal. Here is a
queen unto God forever. Here is some
thing grander than the pyramids. Here
is that which thrills the heavens. Here
is specimen of that which will yet
save the world.
Goodbye, Egypt! This sermon finds
us on the steamer Minerva in the
Grecian Archipelago, the islands of the
New Testament, and islands Paulinian
and Johanian in their Renaissance.
What Bradshaw's directory is to travel.
ers 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 it, the Gospel Archipelago. The
Bible geography of that region is acur-
ate without 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 Ephe-
sus Coos, Rhodes, Cyprus. With us il
is reversed and it is: Cyprus, Rhodes,
Coos. Ephesus,
There is no book in the world so ac'
curate as the Divine Book. My text
says that Paul left Cyprus on the left;
we, going in the opposite direction,
have it on the right On our ship Mi.
nerva were only two or three passen.
gers beside our party, so we had plenty
of room to walk the deck, and oh, what
a night was Christmas night Of 1889 in
that Grecian neutrality-suspicious. OF
light above, islands of beauty beneath
1t is a royal family of islands this Gre
clan archipelago; the crown of the
worlds scenery set with sapphire and
emerald and topaz and chrys prasus,
and ablaze with glory that seems lei
down out of celestial landscapes God
evidently made up his mind that just
here he would demonstrate 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 wa.
as quiet as this floor, when we FASTENED
up to the deck and found that we had
anchored off the island Cyprus In {
boat, which the natives rowed standing
up, as is the custom, instead of sitting
down as when we row, we were soor
landed on the street where Paul anC
Barnabas walked and preached Yea
when at Antioch Paul and Barnabas GO
into fight-as ministers sometime:
did, and sometimes do, for they all hav,
imperfections enough to anchor then
to this world till their work is done
when because of that bitter contro
yersv Paul and Barnabas parted. Bar
nabas came back here to Cyprus, which
was his birthplace. Island wonderful
for history. 1t has been the prize some
times won by Persia, by Greece, b,
Egypt, by the Saracens, by the Cru
saders, and lass Of all, not by sword bu
by pen, and that the pen of the keenes
diplo,o a+,St of the canturv Lord Ron