The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1892-07-07
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DlVINES SUN
DAY SERMON.
Subiect-.GThe Time of Departure.

hdnd"-II Timothy iv., d.
| Departure! That is word used onl
twice in all the Bible But it is word ofte
used in the courtroom and means .th
desertion of one course of pleading for al
other. It is used in navigation to descrit
the distance between two meridians passln
through the extremities of course. 1t is
word | have recently heard applied to m
departure from America to Europe for
preaching tour to last until September. Il
a smaller and less significant sense than tina
implied in the text | can say, THE time o
my departure is as hand,
Through the printing press | address thi
sermon to my readers all the world over anC
when they read it / will be in midocean, anC
unless something new happens in my ma
rine experiences | will be in no condition t
preach But how unimportant the word de
parture when applied TO exchange of cont
nents as when applied to exchange of worlds
| as when Paul wrote, The time of my de
parture is at hand
Now departure implies a starting place
and a place of destination. When Paul left
this world what was the starting pointP i
was a scene of great physical distress. L,
was the Tulianum, the lower dungeon oil
the Mamertine prison, Rome Italy. The TOP
dungeon was bad enough, it having nc
means of ingress or egresS but through an
opening in the top, Through that the pris-
| oner was lowered, and through that came
all the food and air and light received. 1t
was terrible place, that upper dungeon,
| but the Tulllanum 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
dungeon. That was Paul's last earthly res
| i3ence
! was in that over dungeon in November,
| 1889 1t is made of volcanic stone. | meas
ured 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 a shelf of rock
four feet high. 1t was there that Paul spent
his last days on earth, and it is there that l
see him now in the fearful dungeon, SILVER
| ing blue with the cold waiting for that old
overcOat which he had sent up for to TroaS
and which they had not yet sent down. not
withstanding that he had written for it.
If some skillful surgeon should go into that
dungeon where Paul is incarcerated we
might find out what are the prospects of
PauPs living through the rough imprison-
ment. 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
ont from the sun. What are those scars on
his ankles? Why, those were got 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 nine strokes-one hundred and
ninety-fve bruises on the back Count them D
made with rods of elmwood, each one of the
one hundred and nnety-iive strokes bringing
the blood
Look at Pauls face and look at his arms.
Where did lie get those bruises? | think it
was when he was struggling ashore amid
the shIvered timbers of the shipwreck |
see a cash in Pauls side Where did he get
that | think he got that in the tussel with
highwaymen, for he had been in peril of
robbers and he had money of his own He
was a mechanic as well as an apostle, and |
think the tents he made were as good as his
sermon.
Harkl what is that shutting of feet in the
upper dungeon? Why, Paul has an invita-
ton to "a banquet, and he is going to dine
to-day with the King. Those shutting 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. lie had nothing to pack up. He had
no baggage to take. He had been ready
good while. see him rising up, and straight
ening out his 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 ex-
ecuLloners, and hear him say, ~ 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
they start with him to the place of execution.
They say Hurry along. old man, or you
Will feel the weight of our spear. Hurry
along" "How far is it." says Paul, I'VE
have to travel? Three miles" Three
miles is good way for an old man to travel
after he has been whipped and crippled with
maltreatlnent But 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.
lie makes no resistance
raul! why not now strike for your
me- You have great many friends here.
with that wlthered hand just launch the
thunderbolt of the people upon those in
famous soldiers. mol Paul was not going
to interfere with his own coronation. He
was too glad to go. see him looking up
III the face of his executioner, and, as the
grim official draws the sword, Paul calmly
says I'll am now ready to be offered, and
the time OF my departure is at hand" But
put my hand over my eyes, lwant not to
see that last struggle. One sharp keen
stroke. and Paul does go to the BANQUET
and Paul does dine with the King
What transition it wasl FROM the ma,
larla of Rome to the finest climate in all the
unlverse-the zone of eternal beauty ant
health. Hisashes were put in tine catacomb
| OF Rome, but in one moment the air OF
heaven bathed from his soul the last ache
From shipwreck from dungeon, from thu
| Dltlng pam of the elmwood rods from tn,
sharp sword OF the headsmau, he goes into
the most brilliant assemblage of heaven, q
KING among kings, multitu1es of the saint.
hood rushing out aud stretching forth hands
OF welcome, for do really think that as OF
the right hand of God is Christ, so on the
right hand OF Christ is Paul, tho secont
great in heaven.
He changed kings likewise. Before tht
hour of death and up to the last moment he
was under Nero, the thick the cruel
eyed, the iilthy-lippei and sculptured fea
lures OF that man bringing down to us this
very day the horrible possibilities of hi.
nature-seated as he was among pictured
marbles of E sypt, under a roof adorned
with mother of-pearl, in a dining-roou
whlch by machinery was kept whirling da,
and night with most bewitching magnifi
cence; his horses standing in stalls of sole
gold, and the grounds around his palac
lighted at night by its victims, who haC
been bedaubed with tar and pitch and ther
set on fire to illumine the darkness. Tha
was Pauls king.
but the next moment he goes into tn
realm of Him whose reign is love. an,
whose courts are paved with love. and who's