News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1891-11-12

to God, Cyprus will come with them,
and the agricultural and commercial
opulence which adorned it in ages past
will be eclipsed by the agricultural and
commercial and religious 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. Godli-
ness is profitable pot only for individ-
uals but for nations Questions of tariff,
questions of silver bill, questions of re-
public or monarchy have not so much
to do with nations temporal welfare
as questions of religion. Give Cyprus
to Christ, give England to Christ, give
America to Christ, give the world to
Christ, and he will give them all a pros
perity unlimited. Why is Brooklyn
one of the queen cities of the earth?
Because it is the queen city of churches.
Blindfold me and lead me into any
city of the earth SO that 1 cannot see a
street or warehouse or a home, and
| then lead me into the churches, and
and | will tell you from what | see in
side the consecrated walls, having seen
nothing outside, what is that city's mer-
chandise, its literature, its schools, its
printing presses, its government, its
| homes, its arts, its sciences, its pros
perity or its depression and ignorance
and pauperiSm and outlawTy.
The altar of God in the church is the
high water mark of the worlds happi
ness. The Christian religion trium-
plant, all other interests triumphant.
The Christian religion low down, all
other interests low down. So thought
as on the evening of that day we
[ stepped from the filthy streets of Lar
naca, 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
islands of this Gospel archipelago.
THE SEA PoPULoUS WITH THE PAST.
Night came down on land and sea
and the voyage became to me more and
more suggestive and solemn. If you
are pacing it alone, ships deck in the
darkness and at sea is a weird place,
and an active imagination may conjure
up almost any shape he will and it
shall walk the sea or confront him by
the smokestack or meet him under the
| captains bridge. But here | was alone
on ships deck in the Gospel archipel-
ago, and do you wonder that the sea
was populous with the past and that
down the ratlines Bible memories de-
scended2 Our friends had all gone to
their berths.
Captain" l said, when will we
arrive at the island of Rhodesw Look
ing out from under his glazed cap, he
responded in sepulchraI voice, ''About
midnight" Though it would be keep
ing 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 sec. Paul
landed there and that was enough to
make it famous while the world stands
and famous in heaven when the world
has become cnarfeQ wreck.
This island has had a wonderful his
tory. 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 thousand statues, and
statue to Apollo called Colossus, which
has always since been considered one
of the seven wonders of the world. 1t
was twelve years in building and was
seventy cubits high, and had winding
stairs to tue top 1t stood ffty six
years and then was Frustrated by an
earthquake. After lying in ruins for
nine hundred years, it was purchased
to be converted to other purposes, and
the metal, weighing seven hundred and
twenty thousand pounds, was put on
nine hundred camels and carried away.
We were not permitted to go ashore,
but the lights all up and down the
hills show where the city stands, and
nine boats come out to take freight and
10 bring three passengers. Yet all the
thousands of years of its history are
Pclipsed by the few hours or days that
Paul stopped there. As | stood there
on the deck of the Minerva, looking
out upon the place where the Colossus
once stood, l bethought myself of the
fact that the world must have God
of some kind. 1t is to me an infinite
pathos - this Colossus not only of
Rhodes, but the colossi in many parts
of the earth. This is only the worlds
Hind reaching up and feeling after
God Foundered human nature must
have a supernatural arm to help it
ashore. All the statues and images of
heathendom are attempts to bring celes-
tial forces down into human affairs.
Blessed be our ears that we have
heard of an ever present God, and
that through Jesus Christ he comes
| into our hearts and our homes, ana
with more than fatherly and motherly
interest and affection he is with us in
| all our struggles and bereavements and
vicissitudes. Rhodes needs something
higher than the Colossus, and the day
will come when the Christ, whom Paul
was serving when he sailed into this
harbor of Rhodes, shall take possession
of that island
IMPORTANCE OF ISLANDS.
As we move on up through this
archipelago am reminded of what an
important 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 de-
spising the small weights, so the CONT
nents are the pounds and the islands
are the ounces. A continent is only a
larger island, and an island only
smaller continent. Something of what
part the islands have taken in the
worlds history you will see when | re-
mind you that the island of Salamis
produced Scion, and that the island of
Chios produced Homer, and the island
of Samos produced Pythagoras, and
the island of Coos produced Hippoc
rates.
But there is one island that longed
to see more than any other / can af-
ford 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 circumference
as Cyprus or Crete or Paros or Naxos
or Scio or Mitylene, but | had rather
in this sail through the Grecian archi-