Sharp County record., 1891-11-26
- :. Dewitt Talmage Covers
Historic Ground
The Holy Islands Of the Grecian Arrhi-
PeiaSo where Paul and Barnabas
Preaehed-The Vision Of -.
John on Patm0s.

The following discourse in continue
ton Of his series From the Pyramids
70 the AcropoIis" was delivered By Rev.
T. Dewitt TaImage in the Brooklyn
tabernacle The texts were
When We had discovered Cyprus Ee Ie.i lt
on the leis hand.-Acts IIL,A
J. John. vas the isIe that s
called P1tmOs s--RevelatioH f.,
Good-by Egypt! Although interest
ing and instructive beyond any country
in all the world, excepting the Holy
Land. Egypt was to me somewhat de-
pressing. It was a post-mOrtem ex-
animation Of cities that died four thou
sand years ago. The mummies, or
wrapped-up bodies Of the dead, were
prepared with reference to the resur-
rection day, the Egyptians departing
this life wanting their bodies to be kept
in as good condition as possible, so that
they would be presentable when they
were called again to occupy them. But
if when Pharaoh comes to resurrec-
ton he finds his body looking as
saw his mummy in the museum
at BOulac, his soul will become an
unwilling tenant. The Sphinx also
was to me a stern monstrOsity, a statue
carved out Of a rock Of red granite
sixty-two feet high and about one hun
dred and forty-three feet long and hav-
ing the head Of a man and the body Of
lion. We sat down in the sand Of the
African desert to study it. With a cold
smile it has looked down upon thou
sands Of years of earthly history;
Egyptian civilization; upon the rise
and fall of thrones innumerable; the
victory and defeat of the armies of
centuries. 1t took three thousand years
to m 'ie one wrinkle on it's red cheek.
II is dreadful in its stolidity. It's eyes
have never wept tear. It's cold ears
have not listened to the grUans of the
Egyptian nation, the burden Of which
l tried to weigh last Sabbath. It's
heart is stone. 1t cared not for Pliny
when he measured it in the first CEN
tury. 1t will care nothing for the man
who looks into its imperturbable
countenance in the last century.
GoOd-by, Egypt. This sermon finds
us on the steamer Minerva, in the Gre
clan archipelago, the islands of the New
Testament, and islands Paulinian and
JOhannian in their "reminiscences. What
Bradshaw's directory is to the 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 it, the Cos
pei archipelago The Bible geography
Of that region is accurate without a
shadow Of mistake. We are sailing
this morning on the same waters that
Paul sailed, but in the opposite direc,
tion TO that which Paul vOyaged. He
was sailing southwark and we north.
ward. With him it was: Ephesus,
Coos, Rhodes, Cyprus. With us it is
reversed, and it is: Cyprus, Rhodes,
Coos, Ephesus. There is no book in the
world so accurate as the Divine Book.
My text says that Paul left Cyprus on
the left; we, going in the opposite direc
ton, have it on the right. On our shiE
Minerva were only two or three pas
sengers beside our own party, so we
had plenty Of room to walk the decl
and oh, what night was Christmas
night Of 1889 in that Grecian archi
pelago-islands Of light above, island.
of beauty beneath! 1t is royal family
Of islands, this Grecian archipelago
the crown of the worlds scenery Sc
with sapphire and emerald and topa;
and chrysoprasus and ablaze with {
glory that seems let down out OF celes
tial landscapes. God evidently made
up His mind that just here lie would
demonstrate the utmost that can bC
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 hastened
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.
bas got into 6ght-as ministers some.
times did and sometimes do, for they
all have imperfections enough TO an.
chor them tAths world till their work
is done, sft'-when because OF this
bitter cont versy Paul and Barnabas
parted, Barnabas came back here 10
Cyprus, which was his birthplace j..
land wonderful for history, II has been
the prize sometimes won by Persia, by
Greece, by Egypt, by the SaraceBs, by
the Crusaders, and last Of all, not by
sword but by pen, and that the pen Of
the keenest diplomaist Of the century,
Lord Beaconsheld, who under lease
which was as good as a purchase, set
Cyprus among the jewels Of Victorias
crown. We went out into the excava-
tions from which Di Cesnola has en-
riched our American museums with
antiquities and with no better weapon
than our foot we stirred up the ground
deep enough TO get tcar.bottlc In
which some mourner shed his tears
thousands OF years ago, and u lamp
which before Christ was born lighted
the feet OF some poor pilgrim on