Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1891-11-14
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
The Eminent Brooklyn Diyine's Sun.
day Sermon.
Subject "The Island of Pa,mos..

prus We left Il on The lsf1 handr--Ac xxi,
:, and -, John, Was in the isle that is called
Fut,nos Revelation l.. q
Goodby. Egypt, Although interesting
and instructive beyond any country in all
the world. excepting the Holy Land, Egypt
was to me somewhat depressing. Il was
post norton examination OF cities that died
four thousand years ago. The munlmies, OF
wrapped up bodies of the dead were pre-
pared with reference to the Resurrection
cay the Egyptians departing this life want.
lng their fodies to be kept in as good condi.
tion as possible so that they would be pre-.
sentable when they were called again to oc
cupy them. But II when Pharaoh comes to
resurrection he finds his body looking as
saw his mummy in the museum at Boulac,
bis soul viii become an unwilling tenant
The Sphinx also was to me stern monstros
ity, statue carved cut of rcci of red gran
tie slxty-two feet high and about one hun.
bred and forty-three feet long, and having
the head of a man and the body of lion
We sat down in the sand of the African
desert to study it w tn cold smile it has
looked Gown upon thousands of years of
earthly history, Egyptian civilization.
Grecien civilization, Roman civilization:
upon the rise and fall of thrones in
Vulnerable; the victory and defeat of the
armies of centuries. IL took three THOUSAND
years to make one wrinkle on its raa~cheek.
1t is dreadful in its stolidity. Its eyes have
never wept a tear. its cold ears have not
listened to the eroans of the Egyptian ma
ton, the burden of which tried to weigh
last Sabbath. Its heart is stone 1t cared
not Tor Pliny when he measure it in the
brst century. IL 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 grelt Dir.
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 Destroying angel to slay the firstborn OF
Egypt the angel of the New Testament will
shake everlasting life from his wings over a
nation born in dav. When, soon after my
arrival in Egypt, took part in the solemn
and tender cbsequies 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 congre eaton of
those she had come to save, said TO myself
Here is self sacrifice of the nobls st TYNE.
Here is heroism immortal. Here is queen
unto God forever. Here is something
grander than the pyramids Here is that
which thrills the heavens Here is a speci.
men of that which will yet save the world
Goodby, Egypt This sermon finds us on
the steamer Minerva in the Grecian arcbi.
pelago, the islands of the New Testament.
and islands Paulinian and Johannian in their
"reminiscences. What Bradshaw's directory
s to travellers in Europe and what the rail.
road guide is to travellers it America, the
Book of the Acts in the Bible is TO VOYAGES
i'll the GreciaD. or, as | shall call it. the Cos.
pei archipelago, The Bible geography of
that region is accurate without shadow of
mistake. We are sailing this morning on The
same waters that Paul sailed, but in the
70 dIrn ff,Nrn 70 hat III,
aged. He was sailing southwark and we
northward. With him it was Ephesus, Coos,
Rhodes, Cyprus, With us it is reversed and
It is Cyprus, Rhodes, Coos, Ephesus There
is no book i'll tie world SO accurate as the
Divine Book
My text says that Paul left Cyprus on the
left; we, going in an opposite direction have
1t on the right. On our ship Minerva vera
only two or three passengers besides our
party, SO we had plenty of room to walk the
deck, and on, what night was Christmas
night of lss9in that Grecan Archipelago
Islands of light above, islands of beauty be-
heath 1t is royal family of islands this
Grecian archipeago-ths crown of the
worlds scenery set with sapphire and emerald
and topaz and chrysoprasus, and ahlaze with
glory that seems let down out OF celestial
landscapes. God evidently made uD His
mind that just here He would demonstrate
The utmost that can be done with islands for
The steamer had stopped during the night.
aud in the morning the ship was as quiet as
his floor, when we fastened w to the deck
nnd found that we had anchored off the
ISLAND of Cyprus. In 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 walkel ami preached Yea,
when at Antioch, Paul and Barnabas got
INTO tight--aS ministers sometimes did. aud
sonnet mes do for they all have impsrfec-
tons enough to anchor them to this world
Till their work is done, ] say--when, because
OF that bitter controversy, Paul and Barna-
bas parted, BarDaba5 came back here to
Cyprus, which was his birthplace Island
wonderful for history. 1t has been the prizs
sometimes won by Persia, by Greece, by
Egypt by the Saracens by the Crusaders,
and last of all not by sword but by pen, and
that the pen of the keenest diplom fist of the
century Lord Beaconsield, who, under
lease which was as good as purchase, set
Cyprus among the jewels of Victoria's
crown
We went out into the excavations from
which Di Cesnola has enriched orr American
museums with antiquities. and with no bet.
/ ter weapon than our foot we stirred up the
ground deep enough to get tear bottle in
which some mourner shed his tears thou
sands of years ago, and lamp which before
Christ was born lighted the feet OF some
1 poor pilgrim on his way. That island OF
! Cyprus has enough to set an antiquarian
wild. The most of its glory is the glory OF
the past and the typhoid feyers that swept
its coast, and the clouds of locusts that often
blacken its skies Though two hundred thou
| sand dollars were expended by the British
! empire in one year for the extirpation of
these noxious insects, yet falling to do the
/ work., and the frequent change OF govern
mental masters hinder prosperity.
But when the islands of the sea come to
| Cod, Cyprus will come with them, and the
| agricultural and commerce al opulence which
adorned 1t III ages past will be eelipsed 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 Goihuess 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
do with nations temporal welfare as ques-
tons 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 prosperity unlimited. Why
is Brooklyn one of the queen cities OF the
earth? because it is the queen cities Of
churches.
Bludfold me and lead me into any CITY
of the earth so that cannot see street or
warehouse or home, and then leads me
into the churches and then remove the
ban1age from my eyes, aud I will tell YOU
from what l see inside the consecrated
walls, having seen nothing outside, what
is that city's merchandise, its literature
its schools, its printing presses ifs govern
ment, ITS homes, its arts, its sciences its
prosperity or its depression and igno-
rance and pauperism and outlawry. The
altar of God in the church is the higa
water mark of the worlds happiness The
Christian religion triumphant all other
interests triumphant. The Christian relig-
ion low down, all other interests low down
So i thought on the evening of that day we
stepped from the filthy streets of Larnaca,
Cyprus. onto the boat that took US back to
the steamer Minerva, which had already
begun to paw the waves like courser i'm.
patient to be gone. and then we novel on
and up among the islands of this Gospel
archipelago.
Night came down on land and sea and the
voyage became to me more and more sug-
gestive and solemn. If you are pacing it
alone ships decS 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 cap
tain's bridge. But here I was alone on ships
deck in the Gospel archipelago and do you
wonder that the sea was populous with the
past and that down the ratlines Bible memo
rieS descended. Our friends had all gone to
their berths
Captain, | said, when will we arrive at
the Island of Rhoiesy' Looking out from
under his glazsl cap, he responded in sepu-
chral voice. About midnight Though it
would be keeping unreasonable hours. | con-
f~tar THnA Z