Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-06-20
Of the Human Soul From This Hard
Life to the Sweet Hereafter.
HOW PAUL ACCOMPLISHED IT.
More Friends Await Us in Heaven Than
Mourn For Is on Earth.
TALMAGE'S REGULAR SUNDAY SERMON

following farewell sermon to be read by the
vast and widely scattered audiences whom i
is his weekly privilege to address through
the medium of the newspaper press. HI
took his text from IL Timothy 4:6: eth,
time of my departure is at hand.
Departure! That is a word used only
twice in all the Bible. But it is word Otter
used in the court room and means the de-
sertion of one course of pleading for an
other. 1t is used in navigation to describe
the distance between two meridians passing
Through the e1tremities of course. 1t is q
word have recently heard applied to my
departure from America to Europe for q
preaching tour to last until September. In
smaller and less significant sense than that
implied in the text can say, THE time OF
my departure is at hand"
Now. departure implies starting place
and place of destination. When Paul left
this world what was the starting point? 1t
was scene of great physical distress. 1t
was the Tullianum, the lower dungeon of
the Mamertime prison. Rome, Italy. The
top dungeon was bad enough, it having no
means of ingress and egress put through an
opening in the top. Through that the prfs-
oner WAS lowered and through that came
all the food and air and light received.
The Lower Dungeon Still Worse.
1t was a terrible place, that upper dun
geon; but the Tullianum was the lower 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. oh, worn-out emaciated
old man! surely you must be melancholy:
no constitution could endure this and he
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 lace a supernatural
joy, and bow before him, and say, aged
man how can You keep cheerful amidst all
this gloom?" His voice startles the dark
ness of the place as he cries oui: 81 am now
ready to be offered, and the time of my de-
parture is at hand"
Hark! what is that shuffiing of feet in the
upper dungeon? Why, Paul has an invita-
tion to a banquet and he is going to dine to-
day with the King. Those shuffiing feet are
the feet of the executioners. They come
and they cry down throush III 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 no bag
gage to take. He had been ready a good
while. l see him rising up. and straighten-
ing ont 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, Il am now
ready TO be offered, and the time of my de-
parture is at hand"
Then they lift him out of the dungeon. and
tion. They say, Hurry along, old man, or
you will feel the weight OF our spear"
Paurs Tragic Departure From the Wor d.
They soon get to the place of execution
Acqua Salvia-and he is fastened to the
pillar of martyrdom. 1t does not take any
strength to tie him fast. He makes no re-
sistance. @ Paul! why not now strike for
your life? You have a great many friends
here. With that withered hand Just launch
q nr-hn nj
infamous soldiers No, Paul was not going
to interfere with his own coronation. He
was too glad to go. see him looking up in
the face of his eXecutioner. and, as the grim
official draws the sword. Paul camly says
al am now ready to be offered. and the time
of my departure is at hand"
What transition it waSi From the
malaria OF Rome to the finest climate in all
the universe-the zone of eternal beauty |
and health. His ashes were put in the |
catacombs of Rome, but in one moment the
air of heaven bathed from his soul the last |
ache.
Now, why cannot all the old people have
the same holy glee as that aged man had? |
For the last 40 years you have been dreading
that which ought to have been an exhilara-
tfon. You say you most fear the struggle at
the moment the soul and body part. But |
millions have endured that moment, and |
may not as well? They got through with |
it and so can we. Besides this, all medical
men agree in saying that there is probably
no struggle at the last moment-not 80 much |
pain as the prick of a pin, the seeming |
signs of distress being altogether invoun-
tary. But you say, "It is the uncertainty of
the future.'' Now, child of God, do not |
play tire inf1del. After God has filled the |
Bible till it can hold no more with stories of
the good things ahead, better not talk about |
uncertainties.
More Friends Above Than Below.
But you say. 81 cannot bear to think of
parting from friends here" If you are old, |
you have more friends in heaven than here. |
Ii IN l-a 10 To ka lar hoo
of paper and begin TO record the names of |
those who have emigrated to the other |
shore: the companions of your school days, |
your early business associates. the friends |
of midlife, and those who more recently |
went away. Can it be that they have been
them, and you do not want their society? |
Oh. no. There have been days when you /
have felt that you could not endure another |
moment away from their blessed compan-
lonship. They have gone.
You say You would not like to bring them |
back to this world of trouble, even If you
had the power. 1t would not do to trust
you. God would not give you resurrection
power. Before to morrow morning You
would be rafting at the gates of the GENE
terry, crying. to the departed, Come back to
the cradle where you slept! Come back to
the hall where you used to play! Come back
to the table where you used to sit!" and
there would be great burglary in heaven.
No, no. Good will not trust you with resur-
rection power: but he compromises the mat
ter and SAYS You cannot bring them where
you are, but you can go where they are"
They are more lovely now than ever. Were
they beautiful here, they are more beautiful
there.
Besides that, it is more healthy there for
you than here, aged man; better climate
there than these hot summers and cold
winters and late springs; better hearing;
better eye-sight; more tonic in the air; more
perfume in the bloom: more sweetness in |
the song.
hat II i.ri in fIa
/ remark, again, all those ought to feel this
joy of the text who have holy curiosity to
know what is beyond this earthly terminus
And who has not any curiosity about itf
Paul, suppose, had the most satisfactory
view of heaven, and he says: at doth not
vet appear what we shall be-"
/ hope some day, by the grace of God, to
go over and see for myself; but not now. No
well man, no prospered man, think, wants
to go now. But the time will come, think, |
when shall go over. L want to see what |
they do there, and want to see how they |
do it. do not want to be looking through |
the gates ajar forever. / want them to |
swing wide open. There are 10000 things I
want explained-abour you, about myself, |
about the government of this world, about
God, about everything We start in a plain |
path OF what we know, and in a minute come |
up against high wall of what we Go not
know.
/ wonder how it looks over there Some
body tells me it is like paved city-paved
with gold: and another man tells me it is
like fountain, and 1t is like tree, and 1T is
like a triumphal procession; and the next
man meet tells me it is all fgurative. l
really want to know, after the body is resur-
rected, what they wear and what they eat;
and have an immeasureable curiosity to
know what it is, and how it is, and where 1t
is. Columbus risked his life to find this
continent, and shall we shudder to go out on
a voyage OF discovery which shall reveal a