The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1890-12-12

ing the city from gate TO gate. along
/ which tramped and rolled the pomp of
all nations There goes Abraham. the
| father of all the IA tbfuL He has in
4 this city been purchasing . celebrated
slave There goes Ben Hadsd of Bible
/ times leading thirty-tgo conquered
/ monsrchs- There goes David King
| warrior and sacred poet There goes
| Tamerlane. the conqusror. There goes
Horoun al Raschid. once the commander
| Of an army of ninety-hV9 thousand
| Persians and Arabs
| There comes warrior on his way to
| the barracks, carrying that kind OF
sword which the world has forgotten
| how to make, = Damascus blade with
| the interlacings of color changing at
every new turn of the light. many colors
| coming and going and interjoining, the
blade SO keen it could cut in twain an
object without making the lower partof
the object tremble, with sn elasticity
that could not be broken though you
| brought the point of the blade clear
back to the hiIt and having a waJered
| appearance which made the blade seem
as though just dipped in a clear fount-
ain, triumph of cutlery which e thou
| sand modern foundFymen and chemists
| have attempted in vain TO initiate On
| the side of this street damaskA, named
after this city, figures of animals. and
fruits and landscapes here being
| first wrought into silk-damasks.
And specimens of damaskesming by
| which in this city steel and iron were
| first grsved, and then the grooves
| filled with wire of gold-damaskeem-
ing. But stand back or be run over, for
here are at the gates of the city laden
caravans from Aleppo in one direction
and from Jerusalem in another direc-
ton. and caravans of all nations paying
toll to this supremacy. Great is Dam
ascusI
But what most stirs my soul is blind
man passing along the street, small OF
stature and insignificant in personal
appearance He was one OF that caval-
cade coming from Jerusalem to Damas-
Gus to kill Christians; and we saw him
and his horse tumble up there on the
road some distance out of the city, and
he got up blind Yes, it is Saul of
Tarsus now going along this street
called Straight He is led by his
friends. for he can not see his hand be-
fore his face. unto the house OF Judas.
not Judas the bad, but Judas the good.
In another part of this city one
Ananias not Ananias the liar,
but Ananias the Christian, is
told by the Lord to go to this house of
Judas In Straight street and put his
hands on the blind eyes OF Saul, that
his sight might return 'Oh," said
Ananies, II dare not go. That Saul is
n terrible fellow. He kills Christians
! I
Lord, and Ananias went There sits in
blindness that tremendous prosecutor.
He was great nature crushed
; He had started for the city of
Damascus for the one purpose of
; disseminating Christ's followers, but
since that fall from his horse he had en-
tirely changed Ananias steps up to
the sightless man. puts his right thumb
on one eye and the left thumb on the
, other eye, and in an outburst of SYM
pathy. and love, and faith says;
Brother SAUL Brother SAUL the Lord,
even Jesus that appeared unto thee in
the way as thou earnest has sent me
that thou mayst receive thy sight and
| be filled with the Holy Ghost"
Instantly some thing like scales fell
from the blind mans eyes, and he arose
from that seat the mightiest evangel OF
all ages
There are many people in this house
to-day as blind as Paul was before
Ananias touched his eyes. And there
are many here from whose eyes the
scales have already fallen. You see all
subjects and all things differently-God,
and Christ. and eternity, and your own
immortal spirit
Sometimes the scales do not all fall
at once. When I was a boy, at Mount
Pleasant. one Sunday afternoon read
ing DOddridge's Rise and Progress oil
Religion in the Soul, that afternoon
some OF the ScdtS5 IelA from my eyes
! and saw lit O. After I had been in
! the ministry about year, one Sunday
afternoon in the village parsonage read
! ing the Bible story OF the SYro-Pheni-
clans faith other scales fell from my
/ eyes and I saw better. Two Sunday
evenings ago. while preparing for the
evening service in New York, picked
have seen before, and after had read a
page about Recommendation to God
think the remaining scales fell from my
eyes. Shall not our visit to Damascus
to-day result like PauFs visit. in vision
to the blind and increased vision FOL
those who saw somewhat before.
was reading of painters child who
became blind in infancy But aftel
! the child was nearly grown a surgeon
removed the blindness. When told tina
this could be done, the child's chic
: thought her mother being dead, wa.
she would be able to see her father
who had watched over her with grea
tenderness When sight came she wal
in raptures, and ran her hands over hel
fathers face, and shut her eyes as If K
assure herself that this was really thS
7 father whom she had only known BY
1 touch, and now looking upon him, no
: Bile man as he was, in appearance a.
: we'll as in reality, she cried out: Jus
E to think that I had this father SO many
. | years and never knew himr' AS grea
and greater is the souls joyful surpris'
} when the scales fall from the eyes snG
= the long spiritual darkness is ended
and We look up into our Fathers face
always radiant and loving, but now 70
l the first revealed and our blindness for
ever gone, we cry, ABBA, Father"
To each one of this vast N altitude o
u auditors say. as AnaEias did to Ssu
of Tarsus when sympathic finger
touched the closed eyelids: ''Brothe
: SAUL Brother SAUL the Lord, eVel
Jesus, that appeared unto thee in tn
, way that thou earnest hath sent M
2 that thou mightest receive thy sigh
I and be filled with the Holy Ghost"
The Book He Saved.