Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1891-11-12
Goodbye to Egypt.

3. ''When we had discovered Cyprus
we left it on the left hand;' and Reyela-
tion j. 8, ~, John, was in the isle that is
called PatmOs."
Goodbye, Egypt! This sermon finds US
on the steamer Minerva in the Greclan
archipelago, the islands of the New
Testament, and islands Paulinian and
Johannian in their Renaissance. What
BradshaWs directory is to travellers in
Europe, and what the railroad guide is
TO travellers in America, the Book of
the Acts in the Bible is to VOyagers in
the Grecian, or as / shall call it, the
Gospel archipelago The Bible geog-
raphy of that region is accurate with
out a shadow of mistake. We are sail
ing this morning on the same waters
that Paul, but in the opposite direction
TO that which Paul YOyaged 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 in the world SO accurate as
the Divine Book.
My text says that Paul left Cyprus on
the left; we, going in an opposite d.
rection, leave it on the right On our
ship Minerva were only two or three
passengers besides our party, so we had
plenty of room to walk on deck. and oh,
what night was Christmas night of
1889 in that Grecian hipelago-iSlands
of light above, islands of beauty beneath!
1t is royal family of islands, this Gre
clan arChipelago-the crown of the
worlds scenery set with sapphire and
emerald topaz and chrysoprasus,
and ablaze with a glory that pseems
let down cut Of celestial landscapes.
God evidently made up His mind
that just here He would demon
Strate 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 off the island of Cyprus. In Il
boat which the natives 1OWed 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 a fght-aS ministers sometimes dld,
and sometimes do, for they all have i'm
PROJECTIONS enough to anchor them to
this world till their work is done, l say
when, because of that bitter controversy,
oeOS
came back here to Cyprus, which was
his birthplace Island, wonderful for
history! 1t 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 by pen, and that
the pen of the keeneSt diDlOmatist Of the
century, Lord Beaconsfeld, who, under
a lease which was as good as pur-
chase, set Cyprus among the jewels OF
NiCtOria'S crown.
We went out into the excavations from
which D CeSnOla has enriched our
American museums with antiquities, and
with no better weapon than our foot we
stirred up the ground deep enough to get
a tear bottle in which some mOurner
shed his tears thousands 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 antiq darian wild. The most OF
its glory is the glory Of the past, and the
typhoid fevcrs that sweep It's coast, and
the clouds of lOcusts that often blacken
its skies Though 5000, 600 were eXpend-
ed by the British Empire in one year
for the eXtirpation of these noxious in
sects, yet failing to do their work., and
the frequent change of governmental
masters hinder prosperity.
But when the islands Of the sea come
to God, Cyprus will come with them, and
the agricultural and commercial opu-
NeNcc which adorned it in ages past will
Ebe eclipSed by the agricultural and COM
mercial and religious triumphs of the
ages to come. Why is the world so stu
pld that it cannot see that nations are
prospercd in temporal things in pro-
portion as they are prospered in religious
Shings? Goodness is profitable not only
for individuals, but for nations. Cues
tions Of tariff questions OF silver bill,
questions of republic or monarchy have
not so much to do with a nations tenn
Tp0raI 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
al 4 prosperity unlimited. Why is
RroollIvn one of the queen cities of the
earth? Because it is the queen city OF
churches.
Bindfold me and lead me into any city
of the earth so that | cannot see a street
ra warehouse or home, and then lead
me into the churches and then remove
the bandaGe from my eyes, and l will
tell Won from what | see inside the con
:secrated walls having seen nothing out
side. what is that city's merchandise, its
literature, its schools. its printing
presses its government its homes, its
arts, its sciences, its prosperity or its
depression, and ignorance and pauperism
and outlawry. The altar of God in the
church is the high water mark of the
worlds happiness. The Christian relig-
ion triumphant, all other interests tri-
umphant The Christian religion low
down. all other interests low down. Sc
/ though on the evening of that day we
stepped from the filthy streets of Larna-
ga, 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