The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-12-02
REV.. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE.S SUN.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: 1.-THE Island Of Patmos."


8, and II, John, toas in the isle that is called
Patnnos. "-Revelation j., 9.
Goodby, Egypt! Although interesting
and instructive beyond any country in all
the world, excepting the Holy Land, Egypt
was to me somewhat depressing. It was a
post mortem examination Of cities that died
four thousand years ago. The mummies, or
wrapped up bodies Of the dead, were pre-
pared with reference to the Resurrection
day. the Egyptians departing this life want.
ing their bodies to be kept in as good condi-
ton as possible 50 that they would be pre-
sentable when they were called again to oc-
cupy them. But If when Pharaoh comes to
resurrection he finds his body looking as I
saw his mummy in the museum at Boulac,
his soul will become an unwilling tenant.
Th Sphinx also was to me a stern monstros-
ity, a statue carved out Of rock Of red gran
fte ~sixty-two feet high and about one hum
dred and forty-three feet long, and having
the head Of a mar and the body of a lion.
We sat down in the sand Of the African
desert to study it. With a cold smile it has
looked down upon thousands Of years Of
earthly history. Egyptian civilization,
Grecian civilization, Roman civilization;
upon the rise and fall Of thrones in
Vulnerable; the victory and defeat of the
armies Of centuries. It took three thousand
years to make one wrinkle on its red cheek.
It is dreadful in its ssolidity. Its eyes have
never wept a tear. Its cold ears have not
listened to the groans Of the Egyptian ma
ton, the burden Of which I tried to weigh
last Sabbath. It's heart is stone. It cared
not for Pliny when he measured it in the
first century. It will care nothing for the
man who looks into its impertubable coun-
tenance in the last century.
But Egypt will yet come up to the glow Of
life. The Bible promises it. The mission
aries, 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 banks Of the
Nile. There will be some other Hypatia to
teach good morals to the degraded. Instead
Of q destroying angel to slay the f1rstborn of
Egypt the angel Of the New Testament will
nation born in a day. When, soon after my
arrival in Egypt, I took part in the solemn
and tender ~obsequies Of a missionary from
our own land, dying there far away from the
sepulchers Of her fathers, and saw around
her the dusky and weeping congregation Of
those she had come to save, / said to myself:
"Here is self sacrifice of the noblest type.
Here Is heroism immortal. Here Is q queen
unto God forever. Here is something
grander than the pyramids. Here is that
which thrills the heavens. Here is a speci-
GlCh VI Onob hlS "1l1 yOG ave Uu0 WOIIQ.
Goodby, Egypt! This sarmon finds us on
the steamer Minerva in the Grecian archi-
pelago, the islands of the Nov Testament,
and islands Paulinian and Iohannian In their
Renaissance. What Bradshaw's directory
is to travellers in Europe, aud what the rail-
road guide is to travellers it America, the
Book Of the Acts in the Bible is to voyagers
in the Grecian, or, as I shall call it. the Cos
pei archipelago, The Bible geography of
AI-Asux-so. - $500 r,skL~-L - -
mistake We are sailing this morning on the
same waters that Paul sailed, but In the
opposite direction to that which Paul voy-
aged. He was sailing southwark and we
northward. With him 1t 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 an opposite direction, have
It on the right. On our ship Minerva were
only " or three passengers besides 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 archipelago
islands Of light above, islands of beauty be-
neathl It Is o royal family Of islands, this
Grecian archipe1ago-the crown Of the
worlds scenery set with sapphire and emerald
and topaz and chrysoprasus, and ablaze with
q glory that seems let 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 was as quiet as
this floor, when we fastened up to the deck
and found that we had anchored of the
island of Cyprus. In a boat, which the ma
tives rowed standing up, as Is the CUSTOM,
instead Of sitting 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 Barnabas got
into q fight-as ministers sometimes did, and
sometimes do, for they all have imperfec-
tions enough to anchor Thorn to this world
till their work is done, I say--when, because
of that bitter controversy, Paul and Barna-
has parted, Barnabas came back here to
Cyprus, which was his birthplace. Island,
wonderful for history! It 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 hy per. and
that the pen of the keenest diplonatist Of the
century, Lord B~eaconsfeld, wiz, under a
lease which was as good as O purchase. set
Cyprus among the jewels Of Victoria's
crown.
We went out into the excavations from
which Di Cesnola has enriched our American
museums with antiquities, and with no bet.
ter weapon than our foot we stirred up the
ground deep enough to get q tear bottle in
which some mourner shed his tears thou
sands of years ago, and a lamp which before
Christ was born lighted the feet OF some
poor pilgrim on his way. That island OF
Cyprus has enough to set an antiquarian
wild. The most Of its glory ia the glory Of
the past, and the typhoid fevsgs that swept
its coast, and the clouds of locusts that often
blacken its skies Though two hundred thou
SAN dollars were expended by the British
empire in one year for the e~xtirpation OF
these noxious insects, yet failing to do the
work., and the frequent change Of govern
mental masters hinder prosperity.
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 past will be eclipsed by
the agricultural and commercial and relig.
ious 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? Goodness is profitable not only for
individuals, but for nations. Questions of
tariff, questions of silver bill, questions Of
republic or monarchy have not so much to
lions 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 prosperity unlimited. Why
Is Brooklyn ono of the queen cities OF the
earth? because it is the queen cities OF
churches.
Bllndfoid the and lead me into any CITY
Of the earth 30 that I cannot see a street or
a warehouse or q home, and then leads me
into the churches and then remove the
bandage from my eyes, and I will tell you
from what I see inside the consecrated
uollu HAVING COON nothing or,tside what