The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-12-08

I
| But l am glad to say that wide, nara,
splendid turnpike road has within a few
wears been constructed from Beyrout, on
the shore Of the Mediterranean 70 this city
of Damascus, and If ever again, that whole
sale assassination is attempted, French
troops and English troops would, with
| jinglIng bits and lightning hOOfs, dash
| I'D the hills aud down on this Damascus
plain and leave the Mohsmmedan muir
derers dead on the floor Of their mosques
and gloiS. It Is too late III the history
OF the world for governments TO allow such
things as the modern massacre at damascus
For such murderOus attacks on christian
disciples, the gospel is not so appropriate as
bullets or sabres sharp and heavy enough to
cut through with one stroke, from crown oil
head to saddle.
But must say that this city Of Damascus
| as | see it now is not as absorbing es the
| Damascus of olden times. l turn my back
| upon the bazars, with rugs fascinating the
merchants from Bagdad, and the Indian
| textile fabric of Incompatible make, and
| the manufa ctured saddles and brides gay
! enough for princes Of the Orient to ride and
! pull, and baths where eblutiOn becomes IL
| spiratlOn, and the homes of those bargain
makers of to-day, marbled aud divaned and
| fountained and upholstered and mosaiced
| and arabesQued and colonnaded until moth
| ing can be added, and the SPLENDID remains
of the great mosque of John, originally
! built with gates so heavy that it
required five men TO turn them, and
columns Of pOrphyry and kneeling-places
framed in diamond and seventY-four
stained-glass windows and six hundred
lamps of pure gold, a single prayer offered
in this mosque said TO be worth thirty thou
sand prayers offered in any other place. l
turn my back on all these and see Damas-
Gus as 1t was when this narrow street, which
the Bible calls Straight, was a great wide
No. l.
Champs Elysees, great thoroughfare cross
ing the city from gate 10 gate, along which
tramped ana rolled the pomp of all nations.
There goes Abraham, the father of all the
faithful. He has In this city been purchas-
ing a celebrated slave. There goes Ben
Hedad of Bible times leading thirty-two
conquered monarchs. There goes David,
King, warrior and sacred poet.
There goes Tamerlane, the con-
querer. There goes Haroun of Raschid,
once the commander of an army of nintv-
five thousand Persians and Arabs. There
comes a warrior on his way to the bar
racks, carrying that kind Of sword which
the world has forgotten how to make. a
Damascus blade with the tnterlacings of
color changing at every new turn of the
light, many colors coming and going and
interjoining, the blade SO keen it could cue
in twain an object without making the
lower part Of the object trembe, with an
electricity that could not be broken, though
you brought the point of the sword clear
back to the hilt, and having watere1 ap-
pearance, which made the blade
seem as though just dipped ia
clear fountain, a triumph of cutlery
which thousand modern foundrYmen and
chemists have attempted in vain TO initiate.
On the side of this street, damasks, named
after this city, figures of animals, and
fruits, and landscapes here being first
wrought in silk-damasks. And specimens
of demaskeeming by which in this city
steel and iron were first graved, and then
the grooves filled with wire OF gold-Da-
maskeeming. But stand back or be run over,
for here are at the gates Of the CITY laden
caravans from Aleppo in one direction, aud
from Jerusalem in another direction, and
caravans of all nations paying toll TO this
SUPREMACY. Great is Damacus
But what most stirs my soul is neither
chariot, nor caravan, nor bazaar, nor pal
ace, but q blind man passing along the
street, small OF stature and insignificant in
personal appearance. Oh, yes; we have
seen him before. He was one of that caval-
cade coming from Jerusalem to Damascus
10 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 no cannot SEQ his hand
| before mis- 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 chris
tiaD, is told by the Lord to 60 to this house
Of Judas on Straight street, and
put his hands on the blind eyes of Saul that
his sight might return. 80. y said AnaniaS,
II dare not go; that Saul is terrible fell
low. He kills christians, and he will kill
me" Go" said the Lord, aud Ananias
went. There sits in blindness that tremend-
| GUS prosecutor. He was a great nature
crushed. He had started for the city of
Damascus for the one purpose Of assassinat--
ing Christs's followers, but since that fall
! from his horse he has entirely changed
Apanias steps up to the sghtless man, puts
his right thumb on one eve and the left
| thumb on the other eye, and in an outburs5
of sympathy and love and faith says:
brother Saul. the Lord, even Jesus that
appeared unto thee in thy way as thou
camest, has sent me that thou mayest
| receive thy sight, and be filled with
! the Holy Ghost instantly something like
scales fell from the blind mans eyes, aud he
arose from that seat the mightiest evangel
of all the ages a Sir William Hamilton for
metaphysical analysis, a John Milton for
sublmity of thought, a Whitfield for popu-
lar eloquence, a John Howard for wide
spread philanthropy, but more than all of
| them put together inspired thunderbolted
multipotent, apostolic. Did Judas, the kind
! host of this blind man, or Auanias, the vsi-
| tor, see scales drop from the sgntless eyes
think not. But Paul knew they had fall
len, and that is all that happens TO any of
us when we are converted. The binding
scales drop from our eyes, and we see things
differently
| A christian woman, missionary among a
most degraded tribe, whose religion was
never to wash or improve personal appear
ance, was trying TO persuade one of those
heather women not only of need of change
of heart, but change of habits, which would
result in change of appearance, but the eff
fort failed until the missionary had placed
in her own hallway looking-giasS, and,
when the barbaric woman. passing through
the hall, saw hereelf in the mirror for the
first time, she exclaimed: ''Cau il be posi-
BILE look like that.' and appalled, at her
own appearance she renowned her old re-
ligion and asked to be instructed in the
Christian religion. And so we feel that we
are all right IN our sinful and unchanged
condition, until the scales fall from our
eyes, and in the looking glass of Gods word
we see ourselves as we really are, until di-
vine grace transforms us.
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 tue scales have already
fallen. You see all subjects and all things
! Authenticated and Christ and eternity