Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1890-12-12
RBV. DR.. TALMAGE
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine'S Sun
day Sermon.
subject. "The city Of Damascus"

liant hotel ON any continent seem so attrac-
tive to me as that structure. If we had been
obliged to stay in a tent as we expected TO
do that night. we must have persisted. A
violent storm had opened upon us its
volleys of hal! and snow and rain and
wind as if to let us know what
the Bible means when prophet and evan.
gelist and Christ Himself spoke of the fury
OF the elements. The atmospheric wrath
broke upon us about O'CLOCK in the after
noon snd we were until night exposed 10
it. With hands and feet benumbed, and our
bodies chilled to the bone we made our slow
way. While higa up ON the ROCKS, aud the
gaze blowing the hardest, signal OF distress
halted the party. Tor down in the ravincs one
Of the horses had fallen ami his rider must
not be let aone amid that wilderness OF
scenery and horror OF storm. As the night
approached the tempest thicSened and b ack-
ened and strengthened. Some OF our attend
ants going ahead had gained permission Tor
us to halt iOr the night in the mud howell
spoke of. Our first duty on arrival was
the resuscitatiOn OF the exhausted OF our
party My room was without a window.
ana an iron stove without any top in the
center Of the room, the smoke selecting my
eyes in the absence or a chimney. Through
an opening N the floor Arab faces were sew
eral times thrust up to see how ! was pro
crossing But the tempest ceased during the
night, and before it was fully day we were
feeling Tor the stirrups of our saddled horses,
this being the day whose long march VIII
bring us TO that city whose name cannot be
pronounced in the hearing OF the intelligent
or Christian without making the blood tingie
and the nerves to thrill, and putting the best
emotions Of the soul into agitation-Damas'
Gus
During the day we passed C@Sarea Philip
ri, the northern terminus of ChristS jour
neyings. North of that He never went. We
lunch at noon, seated on the fallen columns
of one Of Herod's palaces.
At o'clock in the afternoon, coming to
hill top. we saw on the broad plain city,
which the most famous camel driver of all
time afterward called MOhammed, the
prophet and the founder Oh the most stu
pendous system OF error that has ever
cursed the earth, refused to enter because
he said God would allow no man to enter
but one paradise. and he would not enter
this earthly paradise lest he should lie de-
MED entrance TO the heavenly. But no
CITY that [ ever saw so plays hide aud seek
with the tr veler The air Is so clear the
distant objects seem close by. You come on
the top OF hill aud Damascus seems only a
little way off But down you 90 into val.
ley and you see nothing for the next halt
hour bur barrenneSs ana rocks regurgltated
by the volcanoes of other ages. Upanother
hill and down again. Up again and down
again. But ate. Your patience is almost
exhausted YOU reacn the last hill top, and
the city OF Damascus the Oldest city under
the whole heavens and built by Noah's
grandson. grows upon your vision. Every
mile Of the journey now becomes more sol
emn and suggestive and tremendous.
This is the very road, for 1t has been the
only road for thousands of years the road
from Jerusalem TO Damascus, along which
cava.cade OF mounted officers went, about
1854 years ago, IN the midst OF them a fierce
little man who made up by magnitude OF
hatred for Christianity for his dlminutive
stature, and was the leading spirit, and,
though suffering from chronic Inflammation
of the ewes, from those eyes flashed more M
dignatiOn against Christ followers than any
one of the horsed procession. This little man,
before his name was changed TO raul, was
called Saul So many of the mightiest
natures Of all ages are CONDENSED
into smallness of stature. The Frenchman
who was sometimes called by his troops 'Old
One Hundred thousand was often, because
Of bis abbreviated personal presence, styled
Little Nap" Lord Nelson, with msignit-
cant stature to start with and one eye put out
at Calvi ana his right arm taken Oft at Tene-
rife proves himself at Trafalgar the might
lest nero of the English navy The greatest
of American the0Ogians 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 a condensation of electricity
VI ell, that gallOpmg group of hOrsemen on
the road to Damascus were halted quicker
than bOmbsheli or cavalry charge ever halt
ed regiment The Syrian MONDAY, be-
cause OF the charity OF the atmosphere, IS
the brightest OF all mondays, and the noon
day sun in Syria is positively terrific for
briliiauce. but suddenly that noon there
fashe, from the heavens light which mace
that Syrian sun seem tame as a star in com
pariscn. IL was the face of the slain and as
cended 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 aust.
And then two claps of thunder fo-
lowed uttering the two words. the
second word like the first: saul
Saum For three Gays that fallen equestrian
was totally blind, for excessive light will
sometimes extinguish the eyesight. And
what cornea and crystalline lens could en-
dure brightness greater than the noonday
Syrian sun. Ihau read it a hundred times,
but it never so 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 III travel, As
he iCmned be came near Damascus, and
suddenly there shined round about him a
light from heaven, and he fell to the earth
ana heard a voice saying unto him Saul
IA l.. fhGn MpN and no
said. Who art Thou, Lordy And the Lord
said. / am Jesus. wnOm thou persecutest.' "
But we cannot stop 10 ger on this road,
for we shall see this endorsed equestrian
later in damascus, toward which his horse 5
head is turned. and at which we must our
selves arrive before night. The evening Is
near at hand. and as we leave snowy Her
mon behind US and approach the shadow
of the cupolas Of two hundred mosques we
cut through a circum ereuce OF many miles
Of garden which enbOwer the city. 50
luxuriant are these gardens, so opuent in
coiors. 50 luscious Of fruits, so ghttering
with fountains. 50 rich with bowers and
kiOsks that the Mohammedans heaven was
fashioned after what are to be seen here oil
bloom and liuita2e. Here in Damascus at
the right season are cherries and muibarries
and apricots and almonds and pistachios
D
and plums and citrOns and all the richness
of the round worlds pOmology. No won
der that Julian called this city 1.-The eye OF
the East, and that the poets of Syria have
STYLED it the luster on the neck Of doves
and historians said, 1T is the golden clasr
which couples the two sides Of the world
! together"
Many travellers express disappointment
with Damascus, but the trouble is they have
carried in their minds from boyhOOd th'
book which dazz es so many young people
''The Arabian Nights and they come int
Damascus looking for Aladdin's lamp anC
I Aladdin's ring and the genii which appeared
/ by robbiDg them. But as / have never reaC
| THE Arabian Nights such stuff not being
| allowed around cur house in my boyhood
and nothing lighter in the way of readin'
| than "Baxter's Saints Everlasting Rest
and DAubigny's History Of the Reforma
| ton" Damascus appeared to me as sacre'
and secular histories have presented IT. AM
] SO the city was not q disappointment, tu
1 with few exceptionsa surprise
Under my window to night in the hotel
Damascus hear the perpetual ripple an'
rush of the river ALBANIA. All, the secret
ont Now ] know why all this fora AM
/ fruit, and why everything is so green, an'
the plain one green emerald. The rive