The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1892-06-24
A SOULS DEPARTURE.
Dr., TALMAes SENDS FROM rHg
I EAN A SERMON 70 HIS READERS,


The Hour OF Death and Other Lesson
! from ~. Paufs Tarewcll--Thsre Is j a
In the Thought OF Death as Well n
Sadness Our Friends Gone Before.
BROOKLYN, June 10 Rev. DR.. Tai
mage is now on the Atlantic, havin,
sailed from New York ON the 10Th inst
tor Liverpool, for a preaching tour il
England, Scotland Ireland and Sweden
Before visiting Sweden DR.. Talmag,
will go to Russia, there to witness tn,
reception and disposition of the cargo o
breadstuffs on board The Christian Her
aid relief steamship Leo, which SAILED
last week for st. Petersburg. Previous t,
his departure he dictated to his stenog
rapher the following farewell sermon
to be read by the vast and widely scat
tered audiences whom 1t is his weekl,
privilege to address through the medium
OF the newspaper press. He took his
text from II Timothy iv, 0, "The time
of my departure Is at hand"
P"i'"iN' iHdt 10 u WOru uSeu only
twice in all the Bible. But It is word
often used in the courtroom and means
lie desei'tion OF one course of Pleading
for another. 1t is used in navigation 10
describe the distance between two me.
ridians passing through the extremities
of course. 1t is word have recent
ly heard applied to my departure from
America to Europe for preaching tour
to last until September. In a smaller
and less significant sense than that i'm
piled 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, and when they read it | will be
mldocean, and unless something new
happens In my marine experiences | will
be in no condition to preach. But how
unlmportant the word departure when
applied to exchange of continents as
when applied to exchange of worlds as
when Paul wrote, 1.-The time of my de-
parture Is at hand"
Now departure implies a starting
place and a place of destination. When
Paul leftthis world, what was the start
ing point? 1t was scene of great phys
lcal distress. 1t was the Tullianum, the
lower dungeon of the Mamertine 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
terrible place, that upper dungeon;
but the Tullianum was the Bower dun
geon, and that was still more wretched.
the only light and the only air coming
through the roof, and that roof the floor
of the upper dungeon. That was Paul's
last earthly residence.
was in that lower dungeon in No.
vember, 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 opening in the roof through
which Paul was let down was three feet
wide. The dungeon has a 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 the fear
full dungeon, shivering, 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, notwith-
he had written for it.
THE DUNGEON OF ST. PAUL,
If some skillful surgeon should 90 into
that dungeon where Paul is incarcerated
we might find out what are the pros
poets of Paul's living through the rough
imprisonment In the first place he is
an old man, only two years short of sew
7nty. 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 scars on his ankles?
Why, those were got when he was fast
mis- 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 thirly-nine strokes-one
hundred and ninety-tve bruises on the
back count thernD made by the Jews
with RODS of elmwood, each one of the
one hundred and ninety-fve strokes
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 amid the shivered timbers of the
'hipwreck. see a cash in Paul's side.
Where did he get that? | think he got
that in the tussle with highwaymen, for
ne had been in peril of robbers and he
1ad money of his own. lie was me-
'hanic as well as an apostle, and l think
The tents he made were as good as his |
sermons.
There is a wanness about Paul's looks.
What makes that? / think part of
hat came from the fact that he was for
wenty-four hours on plank in the
Mediterranean sea, suffering terribly,
before he was rescued, for he says posi-
lively, 81 was a night and day in the
leep. Oh, worn out, emaciated old
nan! surely you must be melancholy;
10 constitution could endure this and be
,heerful. But | press my way through
he prison until | come up close to where
lie is, and by the faint light that streams
through the opening | see on his face a
joy, and bow before him,
md | say, aged man, how can you .
leep cheerful amid all this gloom?' His
,oice startles the darkness of the place
Is he cries out, 81 am now ready to he |
,ffered, and the time of my departure is |,
It hand"
Hank! what is that shuffling of feet in !
he upper dungeon? Why, Paul has an
invitation to a banquet, and he is going
o dine today with the king. Those
feet are the feet of the exccu-
toner's. They come, and they cry down
trough the hole of the dungeon: "Hur-
y up. old man. Come now: get your
elf ready Why, Paul was ready. He
lad nothing to pack up. he had no bag
;age to take. He had been ready good |
While. see him rising up. and straight
ming out his limbs, and pushing back
lis white hair from his creviced fore