Milford chronicle., 1891-11-13

/ a warehouse or a home, and then lead me
into the chuTches and then remove the
/ bandage from my eyes, and / will tell you
! from what ] see inside the consecrated
walls, having seen nothing outside, what
is that city's merchandise, its literature,
4 its schools, its printing presses, its govern
ment, its homes its arts, its sciences, its
prosperity or its depression, and ignO-
rance and pauperism ami outlawry. The
altar of God in the CHI rch is the high
water mark Of the worlds happiness. The
Christian religion triumphant, all other
i interests triumphant. The Christian reli-
gion low down, all other interests low
down. So / thought on the evening Of
I that day we stepped from the filthy streets
of Lsrnaca, Cyprus, onto the boat that
took us back to the steamer Minerva,
which had already begun to paw the waves
! like a courser impatient to be gone, and
! then we moved on and up among the is
/ lands of this Gospel archipelago.
Night came down on land and sea and
the voyage became to me more and more
suggestive aud solemn. If You are pacing
it alone ships deck in the darkness and
at sea is weird place, and an active imagi-
nation may conjure up almost any shape
be WILL and it shall walkthe sea or con-
front him by the snOkestack or meet him
under the captains bridge. But here
was alone on ships deck in the Gospel ar
chipelagO, ard do you wonder that the sea
was pOpulOus with the past and that down
the ratlines Bible memories descendedf
I Our friends had all gone to their berths,
Captain" >" said, "when will we arrive at
the Island of Rhodess" Looking out from
under his glazed cap, he responded in sepul
chral voice, About midnight" Though
it would be keeping unreasonable hours,
] concluded to stay on deck, for ! must see
Rhodes, one Of the islands associated with
the name Of the greatest missionary the
world ever saw or ever will see. Paul
landed there, and that was enough to make
it famous while the world stands, and IA
nous in heaven when the world has be-
come charred wreck
A WONDERFUL HISTORY.
This island has had wonderful history.
With six thousand knights Of st. John, it
at one time stood out against two hundred
thousand warriors under "Solyman the
Magnificent The city had three thou
sand statues, and a statue to Apollo called
Colossus which has always since been con-
sidered one of the seven wonders Of the
world 1t was twelve years in building
ana was seventy cubits high, and had
winding stairs to the top. 1t stood fifty
six ars nd then was prostrited by an
earthquake After lying in ruins for nine
hundred years, it was purchased to be con
verted to other purposes, and the metal,
weighing seven hundred and twenty thou
sand pounds. was put on nine hundred
camels and carried away We were not
permitted to 20 ashore, but the lights all
up and down the hills show where the city
stands, and nine boats come out to take
freight and to bring three passengers. Yet
all the thousands of years Of its history arc
: t6Arqqsed by the few hours GSaRys that Paul
Ilr1E AS I stood A= Nsek Of the
Minerva, Io9EsT or THE a ti,avRslsa!ee IN, vRlaee
where the CTal Wee0d, bethougS.
myself OF tll,.-.,7,. ,iidG the world must
have IA eiod of some kind IL is to me an
infinite patbos-this Colossus not only of
Rhodes, but the eolossi in many parts of
the earth. This is only the worlds blih,-
reaching up and feeling afF God. Foun-
dered human nature must have supernat-
ural arm to help it ashore, All the statues
and images Of heathendom are attempts
to bring celestial forces down into human
affairs. Blessed be our ears that we have
heard of an ever present God. and that
I through Jesus Christ he comes into our
hearts and our homes, and with more than
fatherly aud motherly interest and aifec-
tiOn he is with us in all our struggles and
bereavements and vicissitudes. Rhodes
needs something higher than the Colus-
sus, and the day will come when the
Christ, whom Paul was serving when ne
sailed into the habor Of Rhodes, shall
take possession of that island.
AS we move on up through this archi-
pelago, am reminded of what an impor-
tant part the islands have taken in the
history of the world. They are necessary
to the balancing Of the planet The two
hemispheres must have them. As you put
down upon a scale the heavy pound
weights, and then the small Ounces-and
no one thinks Of despising the small
weights-sO the continents are the pounds
and the islands are the ounces. A conti-
nent is only a larger island, and an island
only smaller continent. Something OF
what part the islands have taken in tho
worlds history you will see when | remind
you that the Island Of Salamis produced
Solon, and that the Island Of Chios pro
duced Homer, and the Island Of Samos
produced PythagOras, AMI ths Island OF
Coos produced Hippocates.
lie L0NGED TO SEE PATssls.
But there is one island that longed to
see more than any other. can afford to
miss the princes among the islands, but /
must see the King of the archipelago The
one longed to see is not so many miles in
as Cyprus or Crete or paroi (
or Ntxos or Scio or Mitylene, but 1 had /
rather, in this sail through the Greciau /
archipelago, see that than all the others; 1
for more Of the glories Of heaven landed |
there than 0n all the islands and continents |
since the world stood. As we coi,e toward 4
il feel my pulses quicken. Il, John, was
in the island that is called Patmos" Il is /
a pile of rocks twenty eight miles in cir
A few Expresses and inferior
olives pump Il living out Of the earth, nd
Dne palm tree spreads its foliage. But the
barrenness and gloom and loneliness of the
Island made it prison for the banished
Domitian could not stand his ministry.
and one day, under armed guard, that
minister Of the Gospel stepped from toss
ng boat to these dismal rocks and walked
up to the dismal cavern which was TO be
lis home and the place where shond pass
iefore him all the conflicts Of coming time
md all the captures Of q coming eternity
IS it not remarkable that nearly all the
-rlisdon have been made TO men ia banish-
nent-Homer and Milton banished into
blindness; beethoven binishel into deaf.
lessi Dante writing his ''Divina Com
Redia" during the nineteen years Of ban
shment from his nativeland; Victor Hugo
writing his les Miserables" exilel from
l0ne and country Oh the island Of Gqern-
ey, and the brightest visions Of the future
ave been given to thqsa who 10y sickness
" slFrow were eyiled from the outer warla
nto rooms ef suffering. Oply those who
ave heen imprisoned by very hard sur
oundinss hare had great revelations made
0 them
"a lAatmns, Wild chill and bleak aud tor.
lille was the best island lA AL the arohi
elago, the hsst place IN all the earth for
iviue revtsA5lans Before panorama
an be successfully seen, the room in which
on sit must be dErkened, and in the pres
nee Of John was to pass such panorama
s no man ever before saw OF ever will sec,
q this world, and hence the glgeu, Of hts
was a baln latheF than a
iufrsura ~ Cha at5urr.ft h a infas et.t !