The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1913-01-08
ARABIAN NIGHTS
TREASURE HOUSE
The Khazna at COnStaOtlnOpIG
Holds Priceless Jewels,
GOLD DIVANS SET WITH GEMS

DR.. Young, Permitted to Visit the Re-
pository, Says There Were Precious
Stones Enough In Sight to Buy the
Worlds Largest Navy-New Testa-
mont Manuscripts In st. Sophia.
The Rev. DR.. Edward S. Young of
Brooklyn, who visited the sultans
treasure house, gives a description of
some Of the contents that rivals an
"Arabia Nights" dream Of wealth
and tells what the fall of Constantine
pie might mean to the world at large.
"Constantinople's fall would mean,"
said he, "the opening up of unparal-
leled treasures of precious articles,
archaeological stores and memorials of
Christianity. By an trade Of the sui
tan we were admitted to the Khazna
and saw jewelry enough to buy, l sup
pose, the worlds largest navy.
There were enormous pearls and
rubies and other gems believed to be
the biggest known to man. A divan
there taken by Selim l. from the shah
of Persia is of beaten gold and set
with thousands upon thousands of
pearls, emeralds and rubies, while in
the gallery of the same room is a
divan incomparably more exquisite and
priceless.
Muhrad's Jeweled Scabbard.
when Christian nations were ask
ing for reimbursements of property
lost to our missionary stations at the
time of massacres of Armenians Abdul
Hamid could have taken the scabbard
of the scimitar of Muhrad Nv. and paid
the whole bill with the diamonds on it,
and the relic would not have been
missed from the piles Of like riches in
the Khazna.
"Who can guess the value to stu
dents of the monuments and tombs and
other antiquities in the museum at
Seraglio Point? Scholars have not yet
been given free access to these, which
appear to me the choicest finds of all
the expeditions.
There is nothing on earth At to be
mentioned alongside of the collection
of sarcophagi you there gaze upon, the
most gorgeous being spoken of as that
of Alexander the Great.
you read ON the lid that rested
above Emperor Tabnith of Sidon this
inscription: If thou openest my coffin
and disturbest me, mayest thou have
no posterity among the living and no
resting place among the dead! Then
you look inside the glass case behind
and behold Tabnith's embalmed body.
Christian Antiquity In st. Sophia.
"And what shall say of the sacred
remains Of Christian antiquity to be
found in the Church of st. Sophia,
which was dedicated 1875 years ago
the 26th of this December? Out of 1t
passed the Christian congregation, the
emperor and the dignitaries on May
%, 1853, the conqueror Mohammed IL,
| then taking possession and holding the
congregation captives.
"Will the students not find in its
! walls or cloisters or foundations one of
the fifty manuscripts of the New Tes-
! lament and Septuagint made by skill
full calligraphists at the order Of Con-
stantine the Great? This Church of
st. Sophia was the cathedral church of
eastern Christendom-yes, of the whole
of the then Christendom-and whatever
was cherished most of Christian me-
MORALS was brought to it's mighty in
closure.
"The fall of Constantinople would
mean new chance for the Bible to
defeat the Koran. The Christians OF
the Holy Oriental Orthodox Apostolic
Catholic Greek church Ito translate its
official title) comprise the majority OF
the soldiers in the ranks Of the allies
The war is between Christians and
Moslems, and the capitulation Of the
capital OF Mohammedanism, seat Of the
sheik ul Islam, would lower the pres
tige Of the false prophet throughout
the regions where, taking the three
continents, he has some 100000 fol
lowers"
E..IT, TLo.Lo. 4. n p.-oI