Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1896-01-17
REV. DR. TALMAGE.
The Eminent Washington pivine'S
Sunday Sermon.
Subject: "Armenian Horrors"

In BLDG geography tIlS is tne uEsI ttul0
that Armenia appears, called then by the
same name as now. Armenia is chiefly
tableland, 1000 feet above the level Of the
sea. and on one of its peaks Noah's ark
landed, with its human family and fauna
that were to All the earth. That region was
the birthplace of the rivers which fertilized
the garden of Eden when Adam aud Eve
lived there their only roof the crystal skies
and their carpet the emerald of rich grass.
Its inhabitants, the ethnOlOgists tell us, are
a superior type of the Caucasian race, Tn cir
religion is founded on the Bible. Their
Saviour is our Chrst. Their crime is that
they will not become followers of Mohammed,
that Jupiter of sensualily. To drive them
from the face of the earth is the ambition OF
all Mohammelans. TO accomplish this,
murder is no crime, and wholesale mas
sacre is a matter of enthusiastic appr0-
baton and Governmental reward.
The prayer sanctioned by highest Moham-
medan authority and recited every day
throughout Turkey and Egypt, while styling
all those not Mohammedans as inhdels. is as
follows: 80 Lord Of all creatures! o Allah!
Destroy the indde's and pOlytheists, thina
enemies, the enemies OF the religion. y
Allah. make their children orphans and detile
their bodies, cause their feet to slip, give
them and their families. their households
and their women, their children and their
relatives by marriage, their brothers AMI
their friends, their possessions and the race,
their wealth and their lands as booty to the
Mosems, 0 Lord Of all creatures!' The ltfc
Of an Armenian in the presence OF thoss who
make that prayer is OF no mora value than
the life of summer inSec'.
The Sultan of Turkey sits on throne i'm
personating that brigandage and assassina-
ton. At this time all civilized Nations are
in horror at the attempts Of that Mohomme-
dan Government to destroy all the Christians
OF Armenia. | hear somebody liking as
though some new thing were happening, and
that the Turkish Government had taken a
new role OF tragedy on The stage OF Nations.
No, no! She is at the same old business
Overlooking her diabolsm Of other centur-
les, we come down to our century TO find
that in 1922 the Turkish Government slew
5 1000 auti- Mos,ems, and in 1850 she slew
1000 and in 1860 she slew 1lOC0 and in
1876 she slew 1000. Anything short OF the
slaughter Of thousands of human beings does
not put enough red wine into her cup Of
abomination to make 1t worth quaff1ng. Nor
is this the only time she has promised re-
FORM In the presence of the warships at
the mouth of the Dlrdaueles she has prom
is2d the civilized Nations OF the earth that
she would sop her butcheries and the inter-
ternatiOnal and hemisphere farce has been
enacted of believing what she says, when all
the past ought to persuade us that she is
only paus;ng in her atrocities to put Ma
lions off the track and then resume the work
Of death
In 1920 Turkey in treaty with Russia prom
isel to alleviate the condition OF Christians,
but the promise was broken. In 1889 the
then Sultan promised protection OF life and
property without reference to religion, and
the promise was broken. In 1874, at the de-
mand Of an English minister plenipotentiary,
the Sultan declared after the public execu-
ton of an Armenian at Constantinople
that no such death penalty should again be
inflicted and the promise was broken. In
1850, at the demand of foreign Nations, the
Turkish Government promised protection 10
Protestants, but to this day the Professionals
at Stamboul are not allowed to build church,
although they have the funds ready, and
the Greek Protestants, who have a church,
are not permitted to worship in it. In
1885, after the Crimean War, Turkey prom
sed tina. no one should be hindered in the
exercise OF the religion he protested, and
that promise has been broken. III 1878, at
the memorable treaty of Berlin. Turkey
promised religious liberty to all her subjects
in every part OF the Ottoman Empire, and
| the promise was broken. Not once in ali the
centuries has the Turkish Government kept
her promise OF mercy. So far from any I'M
provement, the condition OF the Armen1ans
has become worse and worse year by year,
and all the promises the Turkish Govern
ment now makes are only gaining OF time
by which she is making preparation for the
| complete determination OF Christianity from
| her borders.
Why, after all the National and continent
tai and hemisphere lying on the part OF the
Turkish Government, do not the warships OF
Europe ride up as close as is possible to the
palaces of Constantinople and blow that
accursed Government 10 atoms? In the
name of the eterna God, let the nuisance OF
the ages be wiped off the face Of the earth
! Down to the perdition from which 1t smoked
up sink MohammedanisMi Between these
outbreaks of massacre the Armenians suffer
In silence wrongs that are seldom, If ever,
repeated. They are taxed heavily for the
mere privilege of living, aud the tax is called
"the humiliation tax" They are compelled
to give three days entertainment to any
Mohammedan tramp who may be pass
ing that way. They must pay blackmai
to the assessor, lest he report the value oil
their property too highly Their evidence
in court is of no worth, and if fifty Armeni-
|
hammeian was present the testimony OF thu
one Mohammedan woull be taken and the
testimony OF the fifty Arnenians rejected
in other words, the solemn oath OF thou
sand Armenians would not be strong enough
TO overthrow the perjury of one Mohamme
can. A professor was condemde1 to deatf
for transla.ing the English Book of Com
mon Prayer into Turkish. Seventeen Arme
mans were sentenced to fifteen years i'm
priscnment Tor rescung Christian bride
from the bandits.
This is the way the Turkish Government
amuses itself in time of peace. These ar
the delights OF Turkish civilization. Blu
when tie days of massacre come. then deeds
are done which may not be unveiled in an.
refined assemb!age, and if one speaks OF tn
horrors, he must do 50 in well poised ant
cautious vocabulary. Hundreds Of village
destroyed Young men put in piles OF brush
wood, which are then saturated with Kero
sene and set on fire! Mothers, in the mos
solemn hour that ever comes in woman
life, hure ont and bayoneted! Eye
gouged out and dead and dying hurled int
The same pit! The slaughter of Lucknow
and Cawnpur, India, in 1857, eclipsed II
ghastlinessi The worst scenes OF the Frencf
revolution in Paris made more toleraole II
contrast! In many regions of Armenia INT
only undertakes to-day are the lac1als an'
/ hyenas. Many of the chiefs OF the massacre
were sent straight from Constantinople to d.
their work, and having returned were deco
rated by the Sultan. To four of the wors
murderers the Sultan sent silk banners, il
delicate appreciation of their services. Fiv
hundred thousand Armenians put to dealt
or dying of starvation This moment, Will
speak, all up and down Armenia sit man.
people, freezing in the ashes OF their dc
stroyed homes bereft Of most of their house
holds and awaiting the c!ub Of assassination
to put them out of their misery.
No wonder that The ply sicians Of that re
gion declared that among all the men an