The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1879-06-06
@nathita Te1egraph.
MONROE. La. JNUE 8. 1879.
ANTIOCH.

The ancient metropolis Of Syria has
aecnred for itself manifold celebrity
ON the pages OF history. 1t has been
celebrated a. the splendid residence OF
the Syrian kings, and Afterwards as the
Luxurious capital of the Asiatic Provin-
ces OF the Roman Empire. 1t has been
celebrated for its men of letters and its
cultivation of learning. 1t has been
celebrated for the magnifcence of the
edifices within Its walls, and for the
romantic beauty of its suburban groves
and fountains. The circling sun shone
nowhere upon more majestic produc-
tions Of human art than where 1t gild-
ed, with Its rising or its setting beams,
the sumptuous symbols Of its own de-
luded worshipers In the gorgeous tenn
pie Of Diana and the gigantic statue
of Apollo, which were the pride and
the boast Of that far-famed capital.
While 1t was from one of the humble
hermitages which were embosomed
In Its exquisite environs, that the saint
ed Chrys0stom poured forth some Of
those poetical and passionate raptures
ON the beauties and sublimities Of
nature, which alone have won for him
the title of the stgolden-mouthed."
third on the list of the great cities of
the world, next only after Rome and
Alexandria, and hardly inferior to the
latter of the two-at least in size and
splendor. It acquired a severer and
sadder renown, in more recent, though
still remote history, as having been
doomed to undergo vicissitudes and
catastrophes of the most disastrous and
deplorable character-now sacked and
pillaged by the Persians, now captur-
ed by the Saracens, and now besieged
by the Crusaders; q prey at one mo-
ment to the ravages of fire, at another
to the devastations of an earthquake
which Is said to have destroyed no less
than 100000 human lives In single
hour. Its name has thus become as
and shadows, with SO much of alter
nate grandeur and gloom, that there
Is, perhaps but little likelihood of its
ever being wholly lost sight of by any
student of antiquity. Yet it is not
too much to say, that one little fact, for
which the Bible is the sole and all
sufficient authority, will fix that name
In the memory and rivet in the affec.
tionate regard of mankind, when all
else associated with it is forgotten.
Yes, when its palaces and its temples,
its fountains and its groves, its works
of art and its men Of learning, when
Persians and Saracens, and Crusaders,
who successfully spoiled 1t, and the
flames and the earthquake which de-
voured and desolated 1t, shall have
entirely faded from hnman recoIIec-
ton or record, the lite fact-the great
fact, let me rather say-will still be re-
membered, and remembered with an
interest and a vividness which no time
can ever eface or diminish-that "the
Disciples We're called Christians first in
Antioch;" that there the name of
Christ, given at the outset, perpaps, as
a nickname and by-word, but gladly
and fearlessly accepted and adopted in
the face of mockery, in tho face of
martyrdom, by delicate youth and
maiden tenderness, as we'll as by ma
ture or veteran manhood, first became
the distinctive designation of the faith
ful followers of the Messiah.