Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1860-08-15

quite recent times, in making sword
which seemed to equal the best Damas-
Gus, with blade of reticulated lines
such as always appeared on the finest Da-
mascus blades-in broad stripes and show
ing a bright gildcd reflection. He cut
through gauze handkerchief in the air,
and cleft bones and nails, feats which can.
not be performed with the hest English
stee.." Anderson in his recent travels in
Siberia, states, however, that the secret
died with Anossoff, as these swords are
not now made at Damascus.
Another point of interest is the amous
Damask stuffs. They are properly silk,
though sometimes made of other fabrics
Large quantities of silk are still manufac-
tured. and the Damask roses have lost
nothing of their immemorial beauty.
There is at Damascus a considerable
trade both with India and Europe
From India are brought by the Persian
Gulf, Bassora, Bagdad and Aleppo. spices,
cotton goods, coarse and fine musins, and
gold stuffs. English goods come through
Beyrout and Tripoli. The people are
Mahommedans, Druses, Oriental Chris.
tians, Jews, &c. The population is about
one hundred thousand.
With so many features in their own mp.
proximating to the Christian religion, it
appears some wha: strange the Dru,
ses should manifest such fiendish barbara
ty as they have recently done. But to
them, strong monotheists as they are, doc
trines Of polytheism are peculiarly repul-
sive. In the ceremonies of the Greek and
Roman Churches they perceive what they
think to be worship of more than one
God, They do not comprehend the rela-
tions of the three persons in the Trinity,
and especially fail to understand the in
depreciation ofthe material symbols held
in such veneration in those churches
The protestant Of Syria, whose religion
does not present these features, would
probably share better if the Druses
underS TODD more about them: but the
Protestants rs well as the Greeks and
Catholics, all come under the general head
of Christians, and as such fall beneath the
discriminating fury of these fanatics.
1t does not appear, however, that the
Druses are the only tribes engaged in the
massacres. Arab Mussulmans are equally
guilty The principal cause of the pres
ent troubles most probably arises from
the old feuds which for centuries have
been waged between the Druses and the
Maronites. The latter people are native
Christians, followers of monk called Ma
ron, who lived in the sixth century
''wHo ARE THE DRusEs."
The question "Wbo are the Druses %
the New Y ork Post answers by saying:-
They are principally sect of the Mo-
hammedans, existing only in SYRIA
Their name is derived from Darazi or
Dnrsi, who as early as 1919 came as a
missionary to them from an cffshoot of
the Moslem stock. Singularly enough
the Druses disavow any beliefin the pecu :
liar doctrines of the man whose name they
bear, and do not hesitate to call him a
heretc,, and to look upon the title of
"Druse" as a stigma. The characteristic
dogma of the sect is the unity of Gods be-
ing. Indeed, the Druses call themselves
Unitarians. They maintain that God is
incomprehensihle, inexorable, pure, the
essence of pure life, and can be known to
his accepted children through human
manifestations only. They declare the
first born of the Deity was the spirit of
Intelligence, which first incarnated Ham-
sa, who is the Christ of the Arian theory
TO Hamsa was confided the creation of
the world, and from him comes all wis
dom and truth, while through him only
does the Lord communicate with the hu-
man family. This is simply the corrected
version of the great Christian doctrines
of incarnation and mediation. There is
a complicated system Of priesthood main>
tained by the Druses, who like the fol.
lowers Of Mohammed, embody in their
religion many of the traditions and per.
sonages OF the Old Testament. There is
Satan, or Ismail, as ne is called who
first Introduced sin into the world.
In regard to free will, the Druse theol-
ogy maintains that the length of every
mans life is foreordained, but not his
individual acts. They believe in the
transmigration of souls, and say that the
soul of lsmail was once in John the
Baptist, and still earlier in Elijah, while
that of Hamso once dwelt in the body Of
Jesus. Yet while acknowledging that
Jesus once existed, they do not think
that he was in any way divine, as the
individual soul which lived in him and
in many others did not receive divine
power till it reached the body of Hamso.
The Druses do not extend their trans
migration doctrines so far as to allow that
human souls ever exist in the forms of
animals. They think that the souls of
men go on, inhabiting different bodies =
VITA the exception of very iew, whose
excellence permits them to exert pure
spirit--until the resurrection day, when
the faithful will be resolved for eternity
into spiritual beings, but by far the
greater portion of mankind will not be
annlhiiated.
If the Druses lived up to the seven
commandments in which they express
their moral laws, they would not be so
dreaded and so cruel people, for mur-
der, theft, covetousness and cruelty are
prohibited as special crimes, and chast-
ty honesty, meekness and mercy are re.
garded as high virtues---so high unfortu.
nately, that the present Druse generation
cannot reach them. The men have but
one wife each the form Of Government
is patriarcbai, different tribes having a
Shiek, and agriculture is carefully atten.