Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-01-12
III t@ The &alm 3(9hsrQ hin9yt It

and each throve: a splendid tribute to the
climate, fertility and beauty of the place.
For strange as 1t may seem, man will
not permanently reside upon the hills or
shores of any land whose climate or nat
ural beauty does not appeal to the esthe-
tic side of his nature.
And Cyprus does this-does it with a
beauty and variety; range Of lofty hills.
and sweep of coast that makes it the
crown jewel of that WondrouS summer
sea. And in ancient times, and meas
urab bly, now. it's forests were the source OF
those rare woods, still preserved to us In
Egyptian coffin and the moldering beams
of rotting ruin. From these forests the
resin and gums used by the ne.ghborins
nation were obtained, while grape and
olive gave them wine and oil. Hence the
migratory and impossible sons of Shem
and Javan found in this bountiful isle
that which ministered to every need of
body and soul; and they remained to
mine its ores and gather it's olives: to
press it's grapes and shape its tmbers to
build the ships for nations without such
trees, and furnish the armor for what
ever conqueror held for the passing mo-
ment the martial supremacy.
The religious history of Cyprus is as
continuous and varied as these other
phases of the nations life. When first
we see her altar fires alight the incense
rises at the shrine of Astarte, 1.-THE abom-
ination of the Zidonians,' and in the
off the coast of Cyprus that Aphrod!te
rises from the sea. But other cults fol-
low in swift succession, so that the sa-
cred cow is followed by the sunworshiper,
and then the Persians bring their vague
monotheism, while of all these pagan
as to defy man. Roman egotism finds
it's high tide i'm the imperial demand for
worship of the emperor, and all the while
Judaism has held it's place upon the soil,
until in III AID. the Jews rose up and
slew of their pagan enemies 100000.
The Mohammedan has never firmly link
ed the fortunes of this place with the
cult of the Arabian prophet, and now
after all these years and changes the flag
of Christian England floats above the fort
ress at Paphos: never We believe to again
give place to the star and crescent
Before we leave Smyrna upon the
steamer that is to take us by way of
Rhodes and after a glorious sail OF two
nights and a day to Baffa. the modern
name Of Paphos. we must stop for few
moments to review the Christian history
of this place.
Surely, a land of many gods and
goddesses would not miss the true God and
the glorious gospel Of His Son. Surely
not indeed. and If we do but take up
the book and see the many prophecies
concerning Kittim and then bring to mind
the fact that Cyprus was klttim and
stood for all the pagan isles" with the
Hebrew prophets. and further note that
no matter what the national overload
might worship the Jew was worshiping
Jehovah upon this island for a thousand
years before the Christian era. and was
only expelled for brief period under
the Emperor Hadrian. following the great
massacre Of which we have spoken. we
shall see that the true God has ever had
His children In this place.
But the Christian history is even more
thrilling and continuous than the Jew
ish. for it was from this favored spot
that the silver-tongued Cypriote. Bar
nabas came. He whose gentle and per-
suasive words lured the apostle Paul from
his Tarsian home, and sent him upon
the greatest merely human missionary
Journeys of all time. The author OF the
second gospel, John. whose surname was
Mark" was a cousin of Barnabas. and
In all probab ility born here. And In con-
sequence of the supposed discovery. OF
st. Matthews gospel here the patriarch
Of the island has ever since been per
mitted to sign his name. in red ink. The
Christian church of Cyprus was as early
as the fourth century divided In thirteen
bishoprics and i'm 401 A. D. We read of
the council Of Cyprus!'
One further incident in Its early Chris