Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1892-06-30
BOUND FOR RUSSIA.
DR. TALMAeE IS ON THE BROAD
ATLANTIC.

''For the Time OF MY Departure l. at
Hand"-sIgnIneanee Of the Word ''De-
parture."
BROOKLYN, June 19.-Rev. Dr. Talmags
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 DR.. Talmage will go to Russia,
there to witness the reception and disposi-
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, 9, "The time of my
departure is at hand"
Departurel That Is a 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 de-
scribe the distance between two meridians
passing through the extremities of
course. 1t is word have recently heard
applied to my departure from America to
Europe for q preaching tour to last until
September. In smaller and less signif-
cant sense than that implied in the text,
can say, "The time of my departure is at
hand"
Through the printing press I address this
ffa, oil tho
and when they read it I 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,
''The time of my departure is at hand"
Now departure implies starting place
and q place of destination. When Paul
left this world, what was the starting
point? 1t was a scene of great physical
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 Tul-
ianum was the lower dungeon, 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 dun
geon. That was Pauls last earthly resi-
dence.
was in that lower dungeon in Novem-
ber, 1885. It is made of volcanic stone I
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 seat
of rock two and ahalf 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 I see him now, in the fearful
dungeon, shivering blue with cold, wait
ing for that old overcoat which he had sent
for up to Troas, and which they had not
yet sent down, Notwithstanding he had
written for it.
PAUL's IMPRISONMENT.
If some skillful surgeon should go into
that dungeon where Paul is incarcerated,
we might find out what are the prospects
of Paul's living through the rough impris-
onment 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 scars 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 mine
strokes one hundred and ninety-fve
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?
I think it was when he was struggling
ashore amid the shivered timbers of the
shipwreck. / see cash in Paul's side.
Where did he get that? I 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 SER
mons.
There is wanness about Paul's looks.
What makes that? think part of that
came from the fact that he was for twenty
four hours on plank in the Mediterranean
sea, suffering terribly, before he was res
cued, for he says positively, II was a night
and a day in the deep" Oh, worn out,
einaciated old mani surely you must be
melancholy; no constitution could endure
this and be cheerful. But press my way
through the prison until l come up close
to where he is, and by the faint light that
streams through the opening see on his
face a supernatural joy, and bow before
him, and say. aged man, how can you
keep cheerful amid all this gloom?"
His voice startles the darkness of the
place as he cries out, II am now ready to
be offered, and the time of my departure is
at hand"
Harki What is that shutting of feet in
the upper dungeon? Why, Paul has an
invitation to banquet, and he is going to
dine today with the king. Those shuffling
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 no baggage to take. He had
been ready good while. 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 execution
ers, 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 ex-
ecution. 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 travel9" "Three
miles" Three miles is good way for an
old man to travel after he has been whip
ned and crippled with maltreatment. But