St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1892-01-09
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
EHE BRooRLN DIVINE's SUNDAY
SERMON.
Subject: 1.-THE Island of Patmos."


was to me somewhat depressing. 1t was a
post mortem examination of cities that died
four thousand years ago. The mummies. or
wrapped up bodies of the dead, were pre-
pared with reference to the Resurrection
day, the Egyptians departing this life want
ing their bodies to ho kept in as good condi-
ton as possible so that they would be pre-
sentable when they were called again to &C.
cupy them. But if when Pharaoh comes to
resurrection he finds his body looking as I
saw his mummy in the museum at Bouia.,
his soul will become an unwilling tenant,
The Sphinx also was to me a stern mopstros-
lty, a statue carved out of rock of red gran
lite sixty-two feet high and about one hun
dred and forty-three feet long, and having
the head of man and the body of lion
We sat down in the sand of the African
desert to study it, With cold smile it has
looked down upon thousands of years of
earthly history, Egyptian civilization,
Grecian civilization, Roman civilization:
upon the rise and fall of thrones in
Vulnerable; the victory and defeat of the
armies of centuries. 1t took three thousand
years to make one wrinkle on it's red cheek.
1t is dreadful in its stolidity. Its eyes have
never wept tear Its cold ears have not
listened to the 2roans of the Egyptian ma
ton, the burden OF which [ tried to weigh
last Sabbath. Its heart is stone. 1t cared
not for f.-ny when he measured it in the
first century. It will cere nothing for the
man who looks into it: impertubable coun.
tenanc6 in the 'cJi cent ry
But Egypt will yet cone up TO the glow of
life. The Bible promises it. The mission.
aries, like my friend, good and great DR..
Lansing, are sounding a resurrection
trumpet above those slain empires. There
will be some other Joseph at Memphis. There
will be some other Moses on the banks of the
Nile: There will be some other Hypatia to
teach good morals to the degraded. Instead
OF destroying angel to slay the firstborn of
Egypt the angel of the New Testament will
shake everlasting life from his wings over a
nation born in day. When, soon after nv
arrival in Egypt, took part in the solemn
and tender obsequ!es of a missionary from
our own land, dying there far away from the
sepuchers OF her fathers, and saw around
her the dusky and weeping congregation Of
those she had come to save, l said to myself:
Here is self sacrifice of the poblest type.
Here is herois;n immortal. H re is a queen
unto God forever. Her, is something
grandeS than the pyramids. Here is that
which thrills the heavens. Here is speci-
men ffthat which will yet save the world
Go?dby, Egypt! This s9stgrnaiIT. aus on
the steamer MinervJbd aud mucous sur-sti-
pelago, the islands !Atimonials sent free. +
and islands Paulinzold by all druggists.
is to travellers Fare ever and Wb2ravest.-
5 Sook s of the b Bb it A tn the
id the Grecianpne Eveshall call it. the Cos
pei archipelag1FIND 3 Bible geography of
that region is al disate without shadow of
mistake. We aats sailing this morning on the
same waters that Paul sailed, but in the
opposite direction to that which Paul voy-
aged. He was sailing southwark and we
northward. With him it was Ephesus, Coos,
Rhodes, Cyprus. With us it is reversed, and
it is Cyprus, Rhodes, Coos, Ephesus. There
s no book i'll the world so accurate as the
Divine Book.
NY text says that Paul left Cyprus on the
eft; -, going in an opposite direction have
t onS usness ht On our ship Minerva were
'nlEfi, aids Dfhree passengers besides our
33art1fppetite. q plenty OF room to walk the
ieckS weak Wonsat a night was Christmas
iigE nat Grecian archipelago
slahgle gratefulsove islands of beauty be-
le$s6 ehective prsal family of islands, this
1N ,;-3ago-the crown OF the
" ct with sapphire and EN- erald
ssalsa asa str5Snrysoprasus, and ablazs with
- Seems let down out Of celestial
comforts. God evidently made up His
chat just here He would demonstrate
e utmost that can be done with islands for
Inc Identification of earthly scenery.
The steamer had stopped during the night,
md in the morning the ship was as quiet as
his floor, when we fastened up to the deck
md found that we had anchored off the
sland of Cyprus In boat, which the ma
Ives rowed standing up, as is the custom,
instead Of sitting down, as when we row, we
we're soon landed on the streets where Paul
md Barnabas walked and preached. Yea,
when at Antioch, Paul and Barnabas got
INTO fight--as ministers sometimes did, AMI
ometimes do, for they all have imperfec-
ions enough to anchor them to this world
I'LL their work is done, l say--when, because
VI that bitter controversy, Paul aud Barna-
,as parted, Barnabas came back here to
cyprus, which was his birthplace Island,
for history! 1t has been the prize
ometimes won by Persia, by Greece, by
Egypt, by the Saracens by the Crusaders,
md last of all, not by sword but by pen, and
hat the pen of the keenest diplomatist of the
century, Lord Beaconsfield, who, under
ease which was as good as a purchase. set
Cyprus among the jewels of Victoria's
wn
EHse went out into the excavations from
which Di Cesnola has enriched our American
auseums with antiquities, and with no bet |
er weapon than our foot we stirred up the
round deep enough to get tear bottle in |
'hlch some mourner shed his tears thou i
ands OF years ago, and lamp which before |
'hrist was born lighted the feet of some |
COR pilgrim on. his way. That island OF !
ypruS has enough to set an antiquarian
lid. The most of its glory is the glory of |
ne past, and the typhoid fevers that swept |
IS coast, and the clouds of locusts that often |
lacken its skies Though two hundred thou |
Y .sn,Allars were expended by the British |
i een4A in one year for the extirpation of |
hesS hoxous insects, yet failing to do the |
rork), and the frequent change OF govern. |
rental masters hinder prosperity.
d. Il L. S. &N
Tod, Cyprus will come with them, and the |
gricuitural and commercial opulence which |
dorned it in ages past will be eclipsed by |
he agricultural and commercial and relig- |
BUS triumphs of the ages to come. Why is |
he world SO stupid that it cannot see that |
ations are prospered in temporal things in |
roportion as they are prospered in religious |
hings7 Goodness is profitable not only for |
Individuals, but for nations. Questions of |
ariff, questions OF silver bill, questions OF !
epublic or monarchy have not SO much to /
o with nations temporal welfare as ques |
ions Of religion. Give Cyprus to Christ |
i've England to Christ, give America to |
thirst, give the world1to Christ and He will /
i've them all prosperity unlimited. Why |
J Brooklyn one of the queen cities of the |
arth? Because it is the queen eities Of
nurches. sA
Blindfold me and lead me intos ay city |
II the earth SO that cannot see 8 Ereet or
warehouse or home, and theI Heads me /
INTO. the churches and then move the
,andage from my eyes, and VIVID tell you
rom what I see inside the consecrated |
walls. having seen nothing outside, what
Is tbeft. city's merchandise, its literature,
It's schoois,,ssts printing presses. its govern
nent, its homes. its arts, its sciences, its
prosperity or its depression. and igno
ance and pauperism and outlawry. The
ltar of God in the church is the high
vater mark of the worlds happiness. The
christian religion triumphant. all othar
interests triumphant. The Christian f dg
On low down, all other interests low down.
% thought on the evening of that day we
gepped from the filthy streets of Larnaca,
,yprus, onto the boat that took us back to
he steamer Minerva, which had already |
egun to paw the waves like courser i'm.
atient to be gone and then we moved on |
nd up among the islands of this Gospel |
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