Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1892-06-23
ON THE OCEAN BLUE.
TALMAGE SAILING TOWARD THE
MOTHERLAND.
lie Dictates a Sermon for Use in tho
Press-"The Hour of My Departure
Has Come"-Echoes from the Life of
st. Paul

ness the reception and disposition of the cargo
Of breadstuffs on board the Christian Herald
relief steamship Leo, which sailed last week
Tor ST. Petersburg Previous TO his departure,
be dictated TO his stenograpber the following
farewell sermon, TO be read by the vast and
widely scattered audiences whom 1t is his
weekly privilege TO address through the medi-
um Of the newspaper press. He took his text
from II Timothy i:6: THE time of my depart
are is at hand"
Departure! That is word used
only twice in all the bible. But it is a
word often used in the courtroom and
means the desertion of one course of
pleading for another. 1t is used in
navigation to describe the distance be-
tween two meridans passing through
the cXuremitieS of a course. 1t is
word have recently heard applied to
my departure from America to Europe
for preaching tour to last until Sep
TENDER. In Ia smaller and less significant
sense than that implied in the text
can say: 1.-THE time of my departure is
at hand Through the printing press
| address this sermon to my readers all
the world over, ana when they read it
| will be mid-ocean, and unless some
thing new happens in my marine ex-
preach But how unimportant the
word departure, when applied to ex-
change of continents as when applied
to exchange of worlds as when Paul
wrote, The time of my departure is
at hand"
Now, departure implies a starting
place and place of destination. When
Paul left this world, what was the
starting point? 1t was a scene of great
physical distress. 1t was the Tulli-
anum, the lower dungeon of the Mann
crtine prison, Rome, Italy. The top
dungeon was bad enough, it having
no means of ingress or egress but
through an opening in the top.
Through that the prisoner was lowered,
and through that came all the food and
air and light received. 1t was n terri
bic place, that upper dungeon; but the
Tullianum was the lower dungeon, and
that was still more wretched, the only
li~ht and the only air coming through
the roof, and that roof the floor of the
upper dungeon. That was Paurs last
earthly residence. | was in that lower
dungeon in November, 1889. 1t is made
of volcanic stone. | measured it, and
from wall to wall it was fifteen feet.
The highest of the roof was seven feet
from the floor, and the lowest of the
roof five feet seven inches. The open
ing in the roof through which Paul was
let down was three feet wide. The
dungeon has a seat of rock two and a
half feet high, and shelf of rock four
feet high. 1t was there that Paul spent
his last days on earth, and it is there
that see him now, in the fearful dun.
geon, shivcrng, blue with the cold,
waiting for that old overcoat which he
had sent for up to Troas, and which
they had not yet sent down, not
withstanding he had written for it.
If some sl;illful surgeon should &c
into that dungeon where Paul is in
generated, we might find out what are
the prospects of Paurs living through
the rough Imprisonment. In the first
place he is an old man, only two years
short of seventy. At that very time
when he most needs the warmth anG
the sunlight and the fresh air, he is
/ shut out from the sun. What are those
sears on his ankles? Why, those were
gotten when he was fast, his feet in
the stocks. Every time he turned, the
/ flesh on his ankles started. What are
/ those scars on his back? You know he
was whipped five times, each time
getting thirty-nine strokes-one
hundred and ninety-ive bruises on the
back Count themD made by the Jews
with rods of elm wood, each one of the
one hundred and ninety-five strokes
bringing the blood. Look at Paul's
face and look at his arms Where did
he get. those bruises? | think it was
when he was struggling ashore amidst
the shivered tmbers of the shipwreck.
see cash in Pau's side. Where did
he get that? l think he got that in
the tussle with highwaymen, for he
had been in peril of robbers, and he
had money of his own. He was me,
chanic as well as an apostle, and
think the tents he made were as good
as his sermons.
There is wanness about Paul's
looks. What makes that? | think a
part of that came from the fact that he
was for twenty-four hours on plank in
the Mediterranean Sea, suffering terri
bly,, before he was rescued; for he says
positively, 81 was night and day in
the deep" Oh, worn-out, emaciated
old mani surely you must be melan-
choly: no constitution could endure
this and be cheerful. But press my
way through the prison until come
up close to where he is, and by the
faint light that streams through the
opening | see on his face a super.
natural joy, and l bow before him,
and | say, Aged man, how can you
keep cheerful amidst all this gloom?'
His voice startles the darkness of the
place as he cries out, 81 am now ready
to be offered, and the time of my de-
parture is at hand" Hank! what is
that shutting of feet in the upper dun
geon? Why, Paul has an invitation to
a banquet, and he is going to dine to-
day with the King. Those shutting
feet are the feet of the executioners.
They come, and they cry down through
the hole of the dungeon, Hurry up
old man. Come now; get yourself
ready" Why, Paul was ready. He
had nothing to pack up. He had nc
baggage to take. He had been ready
good while. l see him rising
up, and Strengthening out his
stiffened limbs, and pushing back his
white hair from his creviced forehead,
and see him looking up through the
hole in the roof of the dungeon into
the face of his executioners, and hear
him say, II am now ready to be of
fered, and the time of my departure i;
at hand" Then they lift him out Of
I the dungeon, and they start with him
I to the place of execution. They say
Hurry along, old man, or you will feel
the weight of our spear. Hurry
/ along" How far is it." says Paul
1--WE have to travel?" Three miles ;
! Three miles is good way for an ole
man to travel after he has beer
whipped and crippled with maltreat
b ment But thew soon pet To tn,