The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1892-06-30
BOUND FOR RUSSIA.
OR. TALMAGE is ON THE BROAD
ATLANTIC.

Significance OF the Word 'Departure."
BROOKLYN, June 19-Rev. DR.. Tai"
mage is now on the Atlantic, having
sailed from New York on the 18th inst.
for Liverpool tor a preaching toLr in
England, Scotland, Ireland and Sweden.
Before visiting Sweden DR.. Talmage |
will 60 to Russia, there to witness the |
reception and disposition of the cargo Of |
breadstuffs On board The Christian
Hearldrelief steamship Leo, which sailed
last week for st. Petersburg. Previous
to his departure he dictated TO his
stenographcr the following farewell SER
mon, to be read by the vast and widely
scattered audiences whom it is his week
ly privilege to address through the me-
dunn OF the newspaper pless. lie took
his text from III Timothy iv, 6, 1.-The
Tune OF my departure is at hand"
Departure! That is word used only
twice in all the Bible. But it is word
often used in the courtroom, and means
the descrtlon OF one course Of pleading
Tor another. 1t is used in navigation
to describe the distance between two
meridians passing through the extreml-
ties OF course. 1t is word | have re-
Gently heard applied to my departure
from America to Europe for n preaching
tour to last until September. In Il
smaller and less significant sense than
that implied in the text, | can say.
1.-The time Of my departure ls at hand" :"
Through the printing press l address
this sermon to my readers all the world
over, and when they read it l will be in
midocean, and unless something new
happens in my marine experiences l will
be IN no condition TO preach. But how
unimportant the word departure when
applied to exchange of continents as
when applied to exchange Of worlds as
when Paul wrote, 1.-The time of nv
departure is ut hand"
Now departure implies starting
place and place OF destination. When
Paul LETT this world, what was the start
ing point? TWAS a scene of great
physical distress. Itwas the Tullianum,
the lower dungeon Of the Mamerti lc
prison, Rome, Italy. The top dungeon
was bad enough, it having no means of
lngress or egress, but through an open.
ing in the top. Through that the pri-
soner was lowered, and through that
came all the food and air and light re-
ceived. 1t was terrible place, that
upper dungeon, but the Tullianum was
the lower dungeon, and that was still
more wretched, the only light and the
only air coming through the roof, aud
that roof the floor Of the upper dungeon.
That was PauPs last earthly residence.
l. was i'll that lower dungeon in No
yember, 1889. 1t is made of volcanic
stone. / measured it, and from wall to
wall 1t was fifteen feet. The highest roo!
was seven feet from the floor, and the
lowest roof five feet seven inches. The
opening in the roof through which Paul
was let down was three feet wide. The
dungeon has n seat of rock two and a
half feet high and shelf Of rock four
feet high. 1t was there that Paul spent
his last day on earth, and it is there that
l see HIM now, in the fearful dungeon,
shlvcring, blue with cold, waiting for
that old overcoat which he had sent for
up TO IroaI, and which the had not vet
sentdown, Notwithstanding he had writ
ten for it..
II some skilliul surgeon should 90 into
that dungeon were Paul is incarcerated,
we might find out what arc the pros.
poets Of Paul's liviug through the rough
imprisonment. In the first place he is
an Old man, only two years short OF
mostneeds the warmth, and the sunlight,
and the fresh air, he is shut out from the
sun. What are those scars on his
ankles? Why, those were gotten when
ne was fast, his feet in the stocks.
Every time he turned, the flesh on his
ankles started. What are those scars
on his back? YCu know he was whip.
ped five times, getting thirty strokes
-one hundred andnincty-live bruises on
the back Count thcm) made by the Jews
with rods of elm wood, each one Of the
one hundred and nincty.ivc strokes
bringing the blood.
Look at paul's face and look at his
arms. Where did he get those bruises?
L think 1t was when he was struggling
ashore amid the shivcrcd timbers OF the
shlpWrcck. l see cash in Paul's side.
Where did he get that? | think he got
that in the tussle with highwaymen. for
he had been in peril of robbers, and he
mad money of his own. He was a me-
chanic as well as an apostle, and l think
lhe tents he made were as gOOdas his
sermons.
There Is wanness about paul's |
looks. What makes thai? | think part
OF That came from the tact than he was |
Tor twentytour hours on a plank in the
Mcdterranean sea, suffering terribly,
before he was esCucd, for he says posi-
lively. II was night and II day in the |
deep.' Oh, worn out, emac,ated old |
man! surely you must be melancholy;
no constitution could endure this and be |
cheerful. But l press my way through |
The prison until come up close to where |
ne is, and by the faint light that streams
through the opening sec on his face
supernatural joy, and bow before him,
and L say, Aged man, how can YOU
keep cheerful amid all this gloom?n HIS
voice startles the darkness OF the place
as he cries out, ~ am now ready TO be
offered, and the time of my departure Is
at hand"
Hark! What is that shutting of feet in
the upper dungeon? Why, Paul has an
invitation TO u banquet, and he is going
10 dine today with the king. Those
bhui1lng feet are the feet of the exccu-
tioners. They come and they cry down
through the hole of the dungeon: "uur-
nv I'D. OH man Como ,,n,u, ,.oI ..x....