Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1892-06-20
BOUND FOR RUSSIA.
DR.. TALMAGE is ON THE BROAD
ATLANTIC.

He Dictates Sermon on the Text,
"For the Time of My Departure Is at
neutrality-suspicious. of the Word "De-
parture."
BROOKLYN, June l9.-Rev. DR.. Talmage
is now on the Atlantic, having sailed from
New York on the 18th inst. for Liverpool
for preaching tour in England, Scotland,
Ireland and Sweden Before visiting
Sweden DIR. Talmage will go to Russia,
there to witness the reception and DISPOSE
tion of the cargo Of breadstuffs on board
The Christian Herald relief steamship Leo,
which sailed last week for st. Petersburg.
Previous to his departure he dictated to
his stenographer the following farewell
sermon, to be read by the vast and widely
scattered audiences whom it Is his weekly
privilege to address through the medium
Of the newspaper press. He took his text
from ii Timothy iv, @, "The time OF my
departure is at hand"
Departurel That is word used only
twice in all the Bible But il is word
often used in the courtroom, and means
the desertion of one course of pleading for
another. 1t is used in navigation to de
scribe the distance between two meridians
passing through the eXtremities of a
course 1t is word have recently heard
applied to my departure from America to
Europe for a preaching tour to last until
September. In "a smaller and less signifi-
cant sense than that implied in the text,
can say, 1.-THE time OF my departure liz at
hand"
Through the printing press address this
sermon TO my readers all the world over
and when they read it | will be in mid
ocean, and unless something new happens
In my marine experiences | will he in no
condition to preach. But how unimpor
tant the word departure when applied to
exchange of continents as when applied to
exchange of worlds as when Paul wrote,
"rhe time of my departure is at hand"
Now departure implies a starting place
and place Of destination. When Paul
left this world, whnt was the starting
point9 1t was n scene of great physical
distress 1t was the Tullanum, the lower
dungeon of the Mamertinc prison, Rome,
Italy The top dungeon was bad enough,
II having no means Of ingress or egress,
but through IN opening in the top.
Through that the prisoner was lowered,
mir and light received 1t was u terrible
place, that upper dungeon, but the Tul-
lanum was the lower dungeon, and that
was still more wrctched, the only light
and the only air coming through tho roof
and that roof the floor of tho upper dun
gcon. That was Pau's last earthly resi-
dencc
was in that lower dungeon in Novcm-
hnr / 10 Ia AZ nj Cfo l
measured it, and from wall to wall it was
fifteen feet The highest roof 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 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 tho fearful
dungeon, shivering, blue with cold, wait.
ing for that old oyercoat which he had sent
for up to Troas, and which they had not
yet sent down, Notwithstanding he had
written for it.
PAUES IMPRISONMENT.
II some skillful surgeon should 50 into
that dungeon where Paul is incarcerated,
we might find out what are the prospects
onmcnt 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, and the sunlight, and the fresh
air, he is shut out from the sun. What are
those sears ON his anklesP 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 backP You know he was whipped
five times, each time getting thirty-nin
strokes one hundred and ninety five
bruises ON the back Count thcmD 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 bruisesP
think. it was when he was struggling
ashore amid the shvcred timbcrs of the
shipwreCk | zee cash in Paul's side
Where did he get that2 | think he got
that in the tusslo with highwaymen, for
he had been in peril of robbers, and he
had money of his own. He was n me
chanic MS well as an apostle and | think
the tents he made were rs good rs his ser
mons
There is wanncss about Paul's looks.
came from the fact that he was for twenty
four hours ON plank in the Mediterranean
sea, suffering terribly, before no was res
cucd, for he says positively, II was night
and day in the deep" Oh, worn out.
cmaciatcd old mani surely you must be
melancholy; no constitution could endure
this and be cheerful. But press my way
through the prison until | como up close
Ia, Il, AL IA Ina fni int litrb hnt
streams through the opening | see on his
face n supernatural joy and bow before
him, and | shy. "Agcd man, how can you
keep cheerful amid all this gloom"
His voice startles the darkness of the
place as he cries out, Il am now ready to
he offered, and the time of my departure is
Mt hand"
Harkl What ia that shultling of feet in
the upper dungeon2 Why, Paul has an
invitation to banquet, and he il going to
dine today with the king Those shuflling
feet are the feet of the cxecutioncrs. They
come and they cry down through the hole
of tho dungeon; "llurry up, old man
Come, ROW; get yourself ready" Why,
Paul was ready. lie hnd nothing to pack
up lie had no baggage TO take He had
been ready good while. | see him rising
up, and STRENGTHENING out his stitfened
limbs and pushing back his white hair
from his crcviced forehead, and see him
looking up through the hole in the roof of
the dungeon into the face of his execution
crs, and hear him say, II am now ready to
be offered, and the time of my departure is
at hand"
Then they lift him out of the dungeon,
and they start with him to the place of cX-
ccution 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 travelr Three