Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1890-12-12

different kinds of food to sell. 1t is not
street cry as in London or New York, but
"a weird, and long-drawn out solo. compared
with which buzz-saw is musical. 1t
makes you inopportunely waken, and will
not let you sleep. again.. Rlh to those who
understand tbs ixqst hutaqing, OF tie Song.
it become Quite tolerable for they sing:
"God is the nourisher, buy my bread"
-"God is the nopEs9eri buy my milk"
"God is the nourisher, buy my, fruit"
Asyou look out of the window, you see the
Mohammedans, who are in large majority
in the city, at prayer And If it were put
to vote who should be king Of all the earth
fifteen thousand in that city would say
Christ, but one hundred and thirty thous-
and would say Mohammed. Looking from
the window, you see on the housetops, and
on the streets Mohammedans at worship.
The muezzin, or the officers of religion who
announce the time of worship, appear high
up on the different minarets or tall towers,
and walk around the minaret, enclosed by
railing. and cry in "a sad and mumbling
way, ''God is great. l bear witness that
there is no God but God. | bear witness
that Mohammcd is the apostle of God.
Come to prayers! Come to salvation! God
is great. There is no other but God
Prayers are better than sleep" Five times
n day must the Mohammcdan engage in
worship AS he begins he turns his face
towards the city Of Mecca, and unrolls up
on the ground rug which he almost al
ways carries. With his thumbs touching
the lobes of his ears, and holding his face
between his hands, he cries: God is
great" Then, folding his hands across
his girdle he looks down and says: ''Holi-
ness to thee, q God and praise be to thee.
Great is thy name. Great is thy greatness.
There is no deity but thee" Then the
worshipper sits upon his heels, then he
touches his nose to the rug, and then his
forehead, these genuflections accompanied
with the cry, "Greati is God" Then, rails
ing the forefnger of his right hand toward
heaven. he says: II testify there is no
deity but Goa, and l testify that Moham-
med is the servant of God, and the messen-
ger of God" The prayers close by the
worshipper holding his hands opened up
ward as if to take the divine blessing, an d
then his hands are rubbed over his face as
if 70 convey the blessing to his entire body.
The spirit Of the horrible religion which
prevades the city of Damascus, along whose
streets we walk and out of whose bazaars
we make purchases and in whose mosques
we study the wood carvings and bedizen.
ments, Was demonstrated as late as 1860
when in this city it put to death six
thousand Christians in forty-eight hours
and put TO the torch three thousand Chris.
tian homes, and those streets we walk to-
day were red with the carnage, and the
shrieks and groans of the dying and dis.
honored men and women made this place q
hell on earth. This went on until Mo-
hammedan, better than his religion, ADD
el-Kader by name, a great soldier who in
one war had with twenty-five thousand
troops beaten sixty thousand of the enemy,
now protested against this massacre and
gathered the Christians of Damascus into
castles and private houses and filed his
own home with the affrighted sufferers.
After a while the mob came to his door
and demanded the Christian dogs" whom
he was sheltering. And Abd-cl-Kader
mounted n horse and drew his sword and
with few of his old soldiers around him,
charged on the mob and CRIED "Wretchesl
Is this the way you honor the prophet?
May his curses be upon you! Shame on
you'll Shame! You will yet live to repent
You think you may do as you please with
the Christians, but the day of retribution
will come. The Franks will yet turn
your mosques into churches. Not Chris
tian will give up. They are my brothers.
Stand back or l will give my men the order
TO fire." Then by the might of one great
soul under God the wave Of assassination
rolled back. Huzzah for Abd-cl-Kader
| Although now we Americans and foreign
| ers pass through the streets of Damascu:
unhindcrcd, there is in many parts of the
| city the subdued Kissing Of hatred for
| Christianity that if it dared would put tc
| death every man, woman and child in
| Damascus who does not declare allegiance
! to Mohammed.
But what most stirs my soul is neither
| chariot, nor bazaar, nor palace, but a blind
man passing along the street, small OF
| stature and insignificant in personal ap
pearance. Oh, yes; we have seen him be
| fore. He was one of that cavalcadc coming
| from Jerusalem to Damascus to kill Chris
| tians aud we saw him and his horse tum'
BILE up there on the road some distance out
of the city, and he got up blind. Yes, il
! is Saul of Tarsus now going along thi:
street called Straight. He is led by hi:
| friends, for he cannot see his hand before
his face, unto the house of Judas; not Juda.
| the bad but Judas the good. In another
1 part of this city one Ananias, not Anania!
| the liar but Ananias the Christian, is tolt
by the Cord to go to this house of Judus OF
! Straight street, and put his hands on tho
blind eyes of Saul that his sight might re-
turn. ooh" said Ananias, "Idare not go
that Saul is a terrible fellow. He kills
Christians, and he will kill me-" go,
said the Lord, and Anan;as went. There
sits in blindness that tremendous prosecutor
He was great nature crushed. He ha(
started for the city of Damascus for tn,
one purpose of assassinating Christ's follow
ers, but since that fall from his horse h,
has entirely changed. Ananias steps up tc
the sightless man, puts his right thumb OF
one eye and the left thumb CT the othel
eye, and in an outburst Of sympathy anC
love and faith, says: Brother Saul
Brother Saul! the Lord, even Jesus tha
appeared unto thee in the way as tho,
earnest, has sent me that thou mayst re
ceivc thy sight and be filed with the Hol,
Ghost" ms Oantly something like scales fel
from the blind mans eyes. and he arose from
that seat the mightiest evangel of all tn,
| ages, a Sir William Hamilton for metaphy
steal analysis, John Milton for submit,
Of thought, Whitefeld for popular clio
| quence, John Howard for wide spreas
philanthropy, but more than all of then
put together inspired, thunderbolted, null