The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-02-07

 cannot fail to be directed against that mighty Mosque which covers the site of the Temple of Solomon con- sdered by the Turks only second in importance to Medinah and Mecca There is the great stone consid- cred py them the centre of the earth which orig nay selected by the site upon which his son Solomon was to erect the Temple, as he did.
 Will there be bombardment of Calvary? How there be thought of such thing in this Twentieth Christian century? Yet 1t is not without the possibility in fact it becomes than probable the very moment the allies land the shores of Syria.
 The dream of the re-establishment of the Jews in Palestine appears doomed according to the reports that the American cruiser Tennessee is making trips from Jaffa the seaport Jerusalem to Alexandria and is taking away the refugee Jews Many of these having come from Russia, considered by the Ger mans and their friends the Turks as enemies and are being driven out of the country It is stated in cable that 6,O00 or more Jews have been taken to Alexandria in this way all the founding Jewish agricultural colonies of the last thirty to be destroyed without waiting the British invasion.
 But if this invasion does come, will stop even at this little border province Palestine, but go further toward Damascus and Bagdad
 The destruction of the holy places in Palestine would be the first step for these would certainly be forts by the Turks, and in trying to capture them irreparable damage would certainly be done.
 What shall we say when read in the invasion of Bethlehem, and the besieging of the Church of the Nativity? And after Palestine has been reduced to ruin and the invasion goes further what will be the next objective point?
 None other than Damascus will come next attack This is the oldest city in the world having existed more than four thousand has been called the Garden of the Lord" for it is a paradise in a wilder ness At the foot of the mountains of AntiLebanon it is the edge of the great desert which requires eight days travel to the Euphrates River It was to this city that Abraham pursued the four kings who attacked Sodom and years later it conquered by David It is the of great wealth and stands forth as one of the strongholds of the Turks. Un- touched by European civilization it still many cen tures behind the age yet its and treasures it is wonderful according the evidence of all authorities Ot is famous in Christian history the place at which St. Paul first received his inspiration where he saw the first vision of Jesus, whom he had never known in the flesh. To-day the wall is shown near which this vision by Paul. and it, too, is held be one of the sacred sites of Christian reverence.
 This wall of St. Paul would perhaps be the very first wall to be laid low by the cannon of the invaders. because it forms ideal place of defense for the Turks.
 The prospect of this invasion is disturbing in all of the thousand suggestions of the consequences which follow. The work of desecration has already begun by the Turks It can hardly be anywhere than in the setting of the around the hills of Nazareth. The only hope that may still be cherished is that the report exaggeraton coming from the fear of what be rather than what s Yet the real informtion already at hand gives for mis- gvings
 The Holy Land may to be Holy all at once, torn asunder by the dynamite and cannonshot of our Drenched in the blood of infdel and Christian alike the sanctity will pass away for all who believe that Christianity is actually religion of and love of mankind. It may prove the destruction of much that passes for Christian out of it may stll the peace for which the Christian works and prays.