The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1890-12-13
AT DAMASCUS.
DR.. Talmage Describes Scenes in
and About the Renowned City.
First View of D~amascus-The Scene of saul's
Conversion-The M-ohammsdAn Relig-
ions Few Redeemlng Features
Hope For the Blind.

ions Few Redeeming Features
Hope For the Blind.
In his eleventh sermon on the Holy
Land, preached lately at Brooklyn,
Rev. T. De Witt Talmage took for his
subject damascus" His text was:
"As He journeyed He came near Da-
maseus." Acts, tx. 8 DIR. Talmage
said:
In Palestine we spent last night in a
mud howell of one story, but camels and
sheep in the basement Yet never did
the most brilliant hotel on any contl-
mont seem so attractive to me as that
structure. II we had been obliged to
stay in tent, as we expected to 10 that
night we must have persisted. A vio-
lent storm had opened upon us its vol
legs Of hail, and snow, and rain, and
wind, as If to let us know what the
Bible means when prophet, and evangel-
ist and Christ himself spoke OF the fury
of the elements. The atmospheric
wrath broke upon US about one o'clock
inethe afternoon and we were until
night exposed to II. With hands and
feet bennmbed, and our bodies chilled
to the bone, we made our slow way. As
the night approached, the tempest
thickened and blackened and strength
ened. Some of our attendants going
ahead had gained permission for US to
halt for the night in the mud howell l
speak Of But the tempest ceased dur
ing the night, and before it was fully
day we were feeling for the stirrups OF
our saddled horses. this being the day
whose long march will bring US to that
city whose name can not be pronounced
In the hearing OF the intelligent or the
Christian without making the blood to
tingle and the nerves to thrill and put
ting the best emotions OF the soul into
agitation-Damascusl
During the day we passed CRsarea
Philippi, the northern terminus Of
Christ's ~journeyines. North of that he
never went We lunch at noon. seated
on the fallen columns of one Of Herod's
palaces.
At four o'clock In the afternoon, COM
ing to q hilltop. we saw on the broad
plain Q city, which the most famous
camel driver of all time, afterward
called Mohammed, the prophet and the
founder of the most ~stupendous system
of error that has ever cursed the earth,
refused to enter because he said God
would not allow man to enter but one
paradise and he wcald not enter this
earthly paradise lest he should be de-
MED entrance to the heavenly. But nc
city that I YER saw so plays hide and
seek with the traveller. The air Is so
clear the distant objects seem close by.
You come on the top of a hill and Da-
mascus seems only o little way of. But
down you go into a valley and you see
nothing for the next half hour but bar
and rocks regurg ,tated by the
volcanoes OF other ages. Up another
hill and down again. Up again and
down again. But after your patience is
almost exhausted you reach the last hill
top and the city OF Damascus. the old
est city under the whole heavens, and
built by Noah's grandson, grows upon
your vision.
This IL the very road, for 1t has been
the only road for thousands OF years,
the road from Jerusalem to Damascus,
along which o caValcade of mounted Of
hoers went, and lS46 years ago. in the
midst of them a fierce little man who
made up by magnitude OF hatred for
his diminutive stature, and was the
leading spirit and, though suffering
from chronic Inflammation of the eyes,,
from those eyes flashed more indigna-
ton against Christ's followers than any
one of the horsed procession. This lit
tie man, before his name was changed
to Paul, was called Saul. So many Of
the mightiest natures Of all ages are
condensed into smallness of stature.
Well. that %galloping group of horse
men on the road to Damascus were
halted quicker than bombshell or cav
airy charge ever halted q regiment.
The Syrian MONDAY, because Of the
clarity Of the atmosphere, is the bright
of I'll mondays and the MONDAY sun
in Syria is positively terrific for bril-
lance. But suddenly that noon there
flashed from the heavens q light which
made the Syrian sun seem tame as a
star in comparison. It was the face OF
the slain and assembled Christ, looking
from the heavens. and under the dash
of that overpowering light all the horses
uEODDou WlGu buClE ELuOE6 lhOC
and horses name together in the dust.
And then two clsps Of thunder followed
altering two words. che second word
like the hrst: SAUL SAUL" For three
days that fallen equestrian was totally
blind, for excessive light will some
times extinguish the eyesight had
read 1t q hundred times, but 1t never SC
impressed me before and probably will
never SO impress me again, as | took my
Bible from the saddle bags and read
aloud to our comrades In travel: '.As he
iourneyed, he came nesr Damascus and
suddenly there shined round about him
q light from Heaven and he fell to the
earth and heard q voice saying unto
him, SAUL SAUL Why p~ersecutest thou
me?' and he said: Who art Thou, Lord?
And the Lord said: i am Jesus whom
thou persecutest."
But we can not stop longer on this
road for we shall see this endorsed
equestrian later in Damascus, toward
which his horses head is turned and al
which we must ourselves arrive before
night The evening is near at hand,
and as we leave snowy Hermon behind
US and approach the 200 minarets and
domes, we suit through a circumference
Of many miles of garden which en-
bower the city. So luxuriant are these
gardens, SO opulent in colors, SO luscious
Of fruits, SO glittering with fountains,
30 rich with bowers and kiosks that the
Mohammedan's heaven was fashioned
after what are to be seen here of bloom
and fruitage.
Under my window tonight in the
hotel At Damascus l hear the perpetual
ripple and rush of the river ALBANIA. All,
the secret Is out! Now l know why all
this fora, and fruit and why every
thing is so green. and the plain one
great emerald. The river ALBANIA! Ant
not far OF the river Pharpar, which GU
horses waded through to-day! Thanh
the rivers, or rather the God who mad,
the riversl Deserts to the north, deserts
to the south, deserts to the east, desert
to the west, but here q paradise. And
as the rivers Gihon, and Pison, and Hid
dekel and Euphrates, made the othe
paradise, ALBANIA and Pharpsr made thi
Damascus a paradise. That is wha
made General Naaman Of this city o
Damascus so mad when he was told To-
the cure of his leprosy to go and wasl
In the river Jordan. The river Jordan
ie9nuph of the year q muddy stream, anC
ikis never 80 clear as this river ALBANIA
thai hear rumbling under my window
~ AIaok nor as the river Pharpar tina
We CROSSED to-day. They are al
clear as though they had been sieved
through some special sieve of the
mountains.
We were awakened in the morning In