Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1891-01-03
mrsnonarre. ana CHRISTIAN disciples the Cos:

missionaries ana CHRISTIAN disciples the Cos
Del is not 50 appropriate as bullets or sabers
soarp and heavy enough TO cut through with
one stroke from crown Of head TO saddle.
But | must say that this citv OF Damascus
a. | see it now IS not as absorbing as the De-
lnascus Of o!den times. turn my hack upon
the bazars. with rugs ting the Mer-
chants from Bagdad. and the Indian textile
fabric Of paTab.em maze. and tue manIr
factured saddles and brides gay enough fol
princes Of the orient 10 ride ami pun. anu
baths where ablutiol becomes inspiration.
an! the homes Of tuose bar gam makers o.
to-day. lnarbled and disanet and iountall!ci
and upholstered aui mO>aicet and arabe>-
qlei aud coionsdet unt! nothing can bs
added. an the splendid remains o. the great
mosque OF John, originally built With gates
50 heavy that 1t required five men 10 turn
them. anu columns Of porphyry and kn-.l-
ing places framed III diamond ami seventy
four sta nei glass windows aud SIX hundred
lamps x pure gold. Ii single prayer offered
in thu, mosque "a i to he worth thirty thou
sand PRAYERS offered III any other place. |
turn nv hack on all these ami sec Damascus
as Il was wn-n this mario" street, whoa the
Bible call, straight. was a great VIDE street,
a New York Broadway ora Partisan Champs
| Elvsees. a great thoroughfare crossing the
city from gate t. gate, along which trampei
and rolled the ponlp Of all nations.
There goe, Abraham, the father OF ali II;
| IdttAlti, I1E III his tilN ~ IA
| ing a celebrated slave. There goes Ben ha-
dad OF Bible times. leading thirty-two con-
querei monaichs. There goes David, kiu5.
warrior and sacred poet. There goes Tanner
lane. the conquerol. There goes Haroun a
Raschid. once the commander Of an army III
nlnetv-fye thousand Persians and Arabs
There come, a warrior Oh III, wavto the bar
racks. carving that kind OF sword which
the world has forgotten ho" to make, a
Damascus blade. which the lnteriacings of
color changing al every ne" turn vi the
light, many color- coming and going and III
terloinlng, the blade 50 keen It could cut III
twain an object without making tn lower
part of the object treunble, with an elasticity
that could not be broken. though You brought
the point OF the sword clear back to the
hllt, and having q watered appear ance
which mede the blade seem as though just
dipped in u clear fountain. a triumph of cut
lery which, u thousand modern foundrymen
and chemists have attempted in vain to lmi-
tate. On the side Of this street damasks,
named after this city. figures OF animals and
fruits and landscapes here being first wrought
into silk-daulasks. And specimens OF da-
maskeening by which in this city steel and
iron were first graved, and then the groves
filled with WlreOt gold misunderstanding. But
stand back or be run over. for here are at the
gates of the city laden raeansf from Aleppo
in one direction and from Jerusalem III an
! other direction, and caravans of all nations
paying toll to the supremacy. Great IL Da-
Ilascusi
But what most stirs my soul il neither
chariot nor caravan nor bazaar nor palace,
but a blind man passing along the street,
small of stature and insignificant in personal
appearance. oh, yes; We have seen him be-
fore. He was one of that cavalcade coming
from Jerusalem to Damascus 10 kill Chris
tians, and WI 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 he
cannot se4 his hand before his face, unto the
house of Judas; not Judas tue bad, but Judas
the good. Ia another part OF this city one
. Ananias. not Anauias the liar, bnt
the Lord to go to this house
of Judas on Straight street an1 put hishands
ON the blind eyes Of Saul that his sight might
return. "Oh, said Anania>. Il dare not go,
that Saul is a terrible fellow He kills
Christians and he will Kill me. Go, said
the Lord. and Ananlas Went. There sits i'll
blindness that tremendous prosecutor. dt
was a great nature crushed. He had started
for the city of Damascus for the one purpose O
assassinating Christs followers, but sine
that fall from his horse he has entirely
changed. Ananias steps up to the signifies
man, puts his right thumb on one eye and
the left thumb on the other eye, and in al
outburst of sympathy and love and falti
says: Brother Saul. Brother Saul. tn
Lord, even Jesus that appeared unto thee II
the way as thou earnest. has sen
me that thou mayst receive Thy sight ant
be filled with the Holy Ghost" Instant,
something like scales fell FROM the blint
mans eyes, and he arose from that seat tn
mightiest evangel OF al tue age. a Sir Wall
lam Hamilton for metaphysical analy sis
John Milton for sublimity Of thought.
Whitefield for popular ~eloQnence, a job
Howard for widespread philanthropy, bu
more than all OF them put together INSPIRE
thunderboited multlpulent. apostolic. DE-
Judas. the kind host of this bin / nian. q
Ananias. the visitor. see scales drop iron
the sightless eyes. / tulnk moi. But Pau
knew they had fallen, and that is all tina
happens 10 any OF US wh.n We are converted
The binding scales drop from our eyes an
we see things differently.
A Christian woman. missionary among
most degraded tribe. whose religion wa
never TO wash or improve personal appeal
heather women not only of need Of chang
of heart but change OF habits, which woul
result III change OF appearance but the etfor
failed until the missionary had placed in he
own halfway a looking glass and when III
baroarlc woman passing through the ia
saw ;" rseif III the mirror for the first tim,
! She exclaimed. Gan it he possible | looA liz
; that and appalled, at her own app. arant
She renowned her old religion and asked
be instructed IN the Christian religion. An
so We feel that We are all right III our sinf.
and unchanged condition until the scales fa
from our eyes, and in the looking glass
: God word We see ourselves as We really ar
until divine grace TRANSFORMS lis.
{ Thereare many people inthis housa ,o-ia
as blind as Paul was before Ananias touche
:,