Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1890-12-08
ABOUT DAMASCUS.
THE TRAVEL on THg ROAD TO THAT INTER
ESTING CITY.
Rev. Dr. Talmage Tells Of His lmprsssiOns-Whsrs
Saul Was Prs. Smittcn With COnyiction-Ths
Ancient and the Modern Hablta'i0n-
Story Of the Blind Man.
speeiaI TsIsqrem 70 he Reqistsr


Special TsleQrGm to tie Register.
BROOKLYN, n. V. December :, 1890.
The New York Academy of Music
was filled with an audience Of nearly
six thousand persons at the Christian
Herald service this evening, when DR..
Talmage delivered the eleventh sermon
Of his series on Palestine and the ad
Joining countries. The same sermon.
as ON previous Sundays, had been
preached in the morning To another
large audience in the Brooklyn Acade-
my of Music. The subject was Damas-
Gus, and the text: "AS he jOurneyed he
came near Damascus Acts 9:3. DR..
Talmage said:
In Palestine we spent last night in
mud hOvel of one story, but camelS and
sheep i'm the basement. Yet never did
the most brilliant hotel on any continent
seem so attractive 10 me rs that struc-
ture. If we had been Obliged TO stay in
tent, as we expected TO do that night,
We must have periShed. a violent
storm had opened upon US its volleyS of
hail and snow, and rain and wind, as ii
10 let US know what the Bible means
when prophet, and evangelist and Christ
himself spoke of the fury of the ele-
mentS. The atmospheric wrath broke
upon us about one o'clock in the after
noon, and we were till night exposed to
liz. With hands and feet benumbcd,
and our bodies chilled to the bone, we
made our slow way. While high up on the
rocks. and the gale blowing the hardest,
4 signal Of distress halted the party, for
down in the ravineS one OF the horses
had fallen and his rider must not be left
alone amid that wildneSS of scenery and
horror of storm. As the night ap-
proached. the tempest thickened, and
blackened aud strengthened. Some of
our attendants going ahead had gained
permission for Us TO halt for the night
i'm the mud hOvel | speak of. Our first
duty on arrival. was the reSuScitation OF
the exhausted OF our party. My room
was without 4 window, and an iron
stove without any top, in the centre of
the room, the smoke selecting my eyes
m the absence of a chimney. Through
an opening in the floor, Arab faces
we're several times thrust up 10 see how
was progressing. But the tempest
ceased during 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
10 that city, whose name cannot be
pronounced in the hearing of the in
telligent or the Christian without max
ing the blood TO tingle and the nerves
TO thrill, and putting the best emotions
of the soul into agitatiOn-DamascuS :.
During the day we passed CrSaIea
the northern terminus OF ChriSt'S jour
neyingS. North OF that he never went.
/ We lunch ut noon. seated on the fallen
columns of one Of HerOld'S places.
THE CITY OF DAMASCUS.
At four o'clock in the afternoon, com
ing 70 u hilltop, we saw on the broad
plain city, which the most famous
camel driver of all time, afterward called
Mohammed. the prophet and the found
er Of the most StupendOuS system OF
error. that has ever cursed the earth,
refused 10 enter because he said God
would allow man TO enter but one para
disc and he would not enter this earthly
paradise lest he should be denied en-
trance 10 the heavenly. But no city
that ever 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 hill
and Damascus seems only little way
OF. But down you go into valley
and you see nothing for the next
L H.. In, "a
gurgitated 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 hilltop and the city of
Damascus, the oldest city under the
whole heavens, aud built by Noah'S
grandson, grows upon your vision. Ev-
cry mile of the journey now becomes
more solemn and suggestive and tre-
mendouS.
This is the very road, for it has been
the only road for thousands OF years,
the road from Jerusalem to Damascus.
along which 4 cayalcade Of mounted
officers went, about 1913 years ago, in
the midst of them a fierce little man
who made up by magnitude ..of hatred
for Christianity for his dimnutiyc stat
ure. and was the leading spirit and,
though suffering from chronic inflam-
nation of the eyes, from
those eyes feshed more in
dignation against ChriSt'S followers
than any one Of the horSed procession.
This little man, before his name was
changed TO Paul, was called Saul. 81
many of the mightiest natures of all
ages are condensed into SmallneSS oil
stature. The Frenchman who was
sometimes called by his troops "Old
One Hundred Thousand, was often be-
cause of his abbreviated personal pres
ence STYLED Little Nap" Lord Nell
sen, with insignificant stature 10 start
with, and one eye put out at Calyi and
his right arm taken off at Teneriffe,
proves himself the mightieSt hero of
the English navy. The greatest of
American theOlOgianS Archibald Alex
ander, could stand under the elbow of
many of his contemporaries. Look out
for little men when they start out for
some especial mission of good or evil.
The thunderbolt is only condensation
Of electricity.
WHEN SAUL WAS STRUCK.
/ Well, that galloping group OF horse
men on the road to Damascus were halt
ed quicker than bombShell or cavalry
charge ever halted Il regiment. The
Syrian MONDAY, because of the clarity
OF the atmosphere is the brightest of
all mondays aud the MONDAY sun in
/ Syria is positively terrific for brilliance.
But suddenly that noon there flashed
I from the heavens light which made
that Syrian sun seem tame as star in
comparison. 1t was the face of the
slain and aScendcd Christ, looking from
the heavens, and under the dash
of that OverpOwering light all the
horses dropped with their riders.
Human face and horses name
together in the dust. And then
two claps of thunder followed
uttering the two words. the second word
like the first: saul, Saul" For three
DAYS that fallen equestrian was totally
blind, for excessive light will sometimes
extinguiSh the eyeSight. And what
cornea and crystalline lens could endure
a brightness greater than the MONDAY
Syrian sun? l had read it a hundred
times but il never so impressed me be-
fore and probably Will never SO impress
me agoin, as | took my Bible from the
saddle bags and read aloud 10 our COM
r,6cs In trovel. GAS bn iOurnpvpd he