The Penn's Grove record., 1892-06-24
REVnDR: TALMAGE.
THE BRoos YIN DIvINE's sun.
DAY SERMON.
suhect yEtIhe Time of Departure"

S1AVcSf .Ettne lime or departure"
TEXT; The time of my departure is at
hand"-H Timothy w., s.
Departure That is a word used only
twice In all the Bible, But it is a word often
used In the courtroom and means the
oesertiono OF one course of pleading for an
other. 1t Is used in navigation to describe
tne distance between two meridians passing
through the extremities of a course. 1t is a
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 significant sense than that
implied IN the text | can say, 1.-THE time of
my departure is as hand.n
through the printing press l address this
sermon TO my readerSall the world over, and
When they read it will be in midocean, and
unless something new happens in my ma
rlne experiences | will be in no condition to
preach. But how unimportant the word de.
Edrture when applied to exchange of conti-
hents as when applied to exchange of worlds
as wnen Paul wrote, The time of my de-
parturel Is at hand
NOW departure implies a starting place
and a place OF destination. When PAU left
THIS world, what was the starting pointf 1t
was a scene OF great physical distress. 1t
was tine Iullianum, the lower dungeon OF
the Mamertlne prison, Rome, Italy. The top
dungeon was bad enough, it having nj
means OF ihgress or egress but through an
opening in the top. Through that the prs
oner was lowered, and through that came
all the food and air and light received. 1t
was a terrible place, that upper dungeon,
but the Iullanum was the lower dungeon.
ana that was still more w~retched, the only
hght and the only air coming through the
ROOF, and that roof the hoor of the upper
dungeon. That was Paul's last earthly res
idence,
was in that lower dungeon in November,
1889. 1t is made of volcanic stone. Imeas-
ured il. 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 root 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 a 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 Tor to Troas
n which they had not yet sent down, not
withstanding that he had written for it.
II some skillful surgeon should go into that
d1lgeon where Paul is incarcerated We
night find out what are the prospects of
fauPs living through the rough imprison-
ment. In the first place he is an old man,
only two ytars short Of seventy. At that
very time when he most needs the warmth,
n the sunlight, and the fresh air he is shut
out from the sun. What are those scars on
his anklesi 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 backY You
know he was whipped five times. each time
getting thirty nine strokes-one hundred and
nlnety-hye bruises on the back count thamD
made with rods of elmwood, 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 bruisesS | think it
was when he was struggling ashore amid
the shivered timbers of the shipwreck. l
see a cash in Pauls side. Where did he get
thatf 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 l
think the tents he made were as good as his
sermon.
1 Harkl what is that shufHing 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. Como
now get yourself ready" Why, Paul was
! ready. He had nothing to pack up. He had
III pdAE " AthN ~ hdA bSOh ANdtN q
good while. see him rising up, and straight
ening out his limbs, and pushing back his
white hair from his creviced forehead, and
see hun looking up through the hole in the
roof of the dungeon into the face of his ex-
ecutioners, and hear him say, 81 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 travelY' Three miles" Three
miles is a good way for an old man to travel
after be has been whipped and crippled with
maltreatment. But they soon get to the
place of execution-Acque Salvia-and he
Is fastened to the pillar of martyrdom. 1t
does not take any strength to tie him fast.
He makes no resistance.
o PAUL. why not now strike for your
/ life? You have a great many friends here.
With that withered band just launch tine
| thunderbolt of the people upon those IN
famous soldiers. MOL Paul was not going
/ to interfere with his own coronation. Id
was too glad to 60. l see MIN looking up
in the face of his ~executioner, and, as the
grim official draws the sword, Paul calmly
: saws. 81 am now ready to be offered, and
! the time Of my departure is at hand" Bal
lput my hand over my eyes. Iwant not |,
see that last struggle. One sharp. keer
stroke. and Paul does &c to the banquet
and Paul does dine with the King.
What a transition it wasI From tha mo.
laria of Rome to the finest climate in All thu
universe-the zone of eternal beauty an
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
From shipwreck. from dungeon, from tba
biting pain of the eImwood rods from tn
charm eVUnri Of fha baai Snon H.
the most brilliant assemblage of heaven n
king among kings, multitudes of the saint
hood rushing out and stretching forth hanls
of welcome, for | do reallySthink that ne on
the right hand of God is Christ, so on the
right hand OF Christ is Paul, the second
great in heaven.
He changed kings likewise. Before tba
hour of death and up to the last moment he
was under Nero, the thick-neckei, the crnal-
eyed, the tilthy-hppet and sculptured fea-
lures of that man bringing down to as this
very day the horrible possibilities of his
nature-sested as ne was among pictured
marbles Of Egypt, under a roof adorned
with mother. of-pearl, in a dininp-room
which by machinery was kept whirlinp dav
and night with most bewitching magnif-
cence, his horses standing in stalls of solid
gold, and the grounds around his pelaca
lighted at night by its victims, who had
been bedaubed with tar and pitch and then
act on fire to illumine the darkness. That
was Paul's king.
But the next moment he goes into the
realm OF Him whose reign is love. and
whose courts are paved with love, and whose
throne is set on pillars OF love. and whose
scepter Is adorned with Jewels Of love. and
whose palace is lighted with lsve, and whose
lifetime is an eternity of love. When Paul
was leaving so much on this side the pillar
Of martyrdom to gain so much on the other
side, do you wonder at the cheerful valedic.
tory Of the text, The time of my departure
is at hand?'
! Now, why cannot all the old people have
the same holy glee as that aged man hsd,
Charles l., when he was combing his hair.
found a gray hair, and he sent it to the
queen as a great joke; but old age is really
no Joke at all. For the last forty years you
have been dreading that which ought to
have been an exhilaration. You say YOU
most fear the struggle at the moment the
soul and body part. But millions have en-
dured that moment, and may not we as
welli They got through with it and so can
we.
Besides this, all medical men agree in saw
ing that there is probably no struggle at tho
last moment-not so much pain as the prick
of a pin, the seeming signs OF distress being
altogether involuntary. But you saw. 1T