Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1891-11-14

So thought as on the evening OF
that day we stepped from the pitny
streets OF Larnaca, Cyprus, onto the
boat that took us back to the steamer
Minerva, which had already begun TO
paw the river waves like courser im,
patient TO be gone, and then we moved
on and I'D among the islands OF this
gospel archipelago. Night came down
on land and sea, and the voyage became
10 me more and more suggestive ana
solemn. II you are pacing II alone, o
ships deck In the darkness and at sea
In weird place. and an active imagin-
alton may conjure up almost any shape
he will, and 1t 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 archipelago and do you won
der that the seq was populons Win tne
past and that down the ratllnes bioie
memories descended? Our friends nad
all gone TO their berths. Captain,
said, 'when will we arrive at the
Island OF Rhodes?" Looking out from
his glazed cap. he responded In sepui-
chral voice, about midnight"
We were lot permitted to 90 ashore,
but the lights all up and down the Nils
show where the city stands, and nine
boats come out to take freight and 10
bring three passengers. Yet all tne
thousands OF years OF Its history are
eclipsed by the few hours or days tnat
Paul stopped there. AS stood there
on the deck OF the Minerva, looking
out upon the place where the Colossus
once stood, I bethought myself OF the
fact that the world must have COD OIL
some kind. II Is to me an infinite pa
thos this Colossus not only OF Rhodes,
but colossi in many parts OF the earth.
This is only the worlds blind reaching
I'd and feeling after God. Foundered
human nature must have q supernatur-
al arm to help 1t ashore. All the stat
ues and images OF heathendom ere at
tempts 70 bring celestial 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 ana
our homes, and with more than father
" and motherly interest and affection
he is with us in our struggles and be-
reavements and vicissitudes. Rhodes
needs something higher than the Colos-
sus. and the day will come when the
Christ. whom Paul was serving when
he sailed into this harbor OF Rhodes,
shall take possession o. that island.
As we move OH up through this arch
ipelago l am reminded OF what an I'M
portant part the islands have taken In
the history Of the world. They are nec-
essary to the balancing OF the planet.
The two hemispheres must have them.
AS you put down upon scale the heavy
mound weights, so the continents are
the pounds and the islands are the
ounces. A continent is only larger
island, and an island Is only q smaller
continent. Something OF what part the
islands have taken in the worlds histo-
nv you will see when remind you that
the island OF Salamis produced Scion,
and the island of Chios produced Ho-
mer, and the island OF Samos produced
Pythagoras, and the island OF Coos pro-
duced Hippocrates.
But there is one island that longed
| to see more than any other. l can al
ford to miss the princes among the ISL
ands, 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 l had rather, In
this sail through the Grecian archipel-
ago, see that than all the others; Tor
more OF the glories OF heaven landed
there than on all the islands and conti-
nents since the world stood.
AS we come toward it feel my pulses
quicken. Il, John, was in that island
that is called Patmos." It Is pile OF
rocks twenty-eight miles in circumfer-
ence. A few Expresses and inferior
olives pump living out Of the earth,
and one palm tree spreads its foliage.
But the barrenness and gloom and lone
illness of the island made a prison for
the banished evangelist. Domttian
could not stand his ministry and one
day, under armed guard, that minister
of the gospel stepped from q tossing
boat to these dismal rocks and walked
up to the dismal cavern which was TO
be his home, and the place where
should pass before him all the conflicts
OF the coming eternity. Is it not re-
markable that nearly all the great reve-
lations OF music and poetry and religion
have been:made to men in Punishment
Homer and Milton banished into
blindness; Beethoven banished into
deafness: Dante writing his "Divina
Commedia" during nineteen years OF
Punishment from his native land;Victor
Hugo writing his LES Miserables" ex-
lied from home and country on the Is
land OF Guernsey and the brightest Wis
IONS OF the future nave been given to
those who by sickness or sorrow were
exiled from the outer world into rooms
OF suffering. Only those who have
been imprisoned by very hard surround
ings have had great revelations made
to them. So Patmos, wild, chill and
terrible was the best island in all the
archipelago, the best place in all the